Ember

Fire. What is fire? A chemical reaction consisting of oxygen, heat and fuel? Or, is it a weapon? A resource? Something you can use to hurt and heal someone? Fire works a little differently where I'm from.

In this world, you're either born with it, or you aren't. Simple enough. I was one of the many who wasn't born with it. You're usually able to tell pretty quickly when someone has been blessed with Ignokinesis. A toddler unable to control their strength? Likely to light one of their toys ablaze.

Some are late bloomers, and some are like me; unpowerful, and lacking the pyrokinetic power that everyone around me has. I never liked being powerless; it made me feel small, made me feel like I was worthless.

That sense of purposelessness was only emboldened by the deaths of my parents. They burned to death in a fire. A bitter irony, if you ask me; I can't produce a lick of flame and it's what ends up doing my folks in. Funny how that works.

It was a few months after I'd moved in with my aunt and uncle that the thought worked its way into my head. "Make them proud." If they were somehow watching me, maybe. "Go to that school you've heard so many good things about." But I couldn't.

It was too prestigious. Ember High. If you can guess, it's a school. Established in 1984, this school has housed some of the most prodigious Ignokinetics in the history of, well, Ignokinetics. Ever heard of Justin Hughes? Graduated top of his class in 1988. World renown Ignokinetic. Still not ringing a bell? Remember the Capitol Hill Scorching of 2003? Remember who stopped the madman trying to burn and destroy everything within the neighborhood?

That was Justin. A proud, open-minded individual who strived to help everyone he could in any way he could. Accepting of everyone. Like Superman, but with fire. Get the point yet? I could never have even dreamed of dreaming of going to this school. Even with powers, what was I going to do? This was the question flowing through my head in July of 2013.

I had a little shack. It was an hour and half walk Northeast of my aunt and uncle's house. There, I'd do whatever I wanted. Reading comics, playing video games (because somehow, the shack had power). Hell, sometimes I'd take my friends there and we would end up getting in trouble because we stayed out too long.

This day was different. I couldn't forget the date even if I wanted to. July 27th, 2013. That was the day everything changed for me. That was the day I was set on a path that would lead me to the darkest corners of my life.

That was the day I got my powers.

"COME ON!" I yelled. I was frustrated. This had been the third time in a row in which I attempted to create something; anything. Whatever may have resembled fire. If I had made even a spark, I could have died happy.

I strained until I thought a blood vessel would burst in my face. But, nothing still. Zmp. I was starting to get all-too used to that sound. The sound of my hopes and dreams fizzling out like a spark. But, then, there was something; a spark. I couldn't produce flames, but I had been producing sparks lately. A lot of sparks.

Zmp. Again, the beginning of something great once more fizzled out. I was starting to get sick of the lack of progress. Zmp. "Wha?" I asked. I was getting nowhere, and worse yet; I was getting nowhere fast. This wasn't working. I'd have to go back to Aunt Rachel and Uncle Harry and tell them that I couldn't do it. I'd been trying for years and I couldn't even produce anything beyond a little spark.

"I'm never getting into Ember High." I said, slumping over and curling up into a ball on the wooden floor. "Sorry, mom, dad." It was devastating. The one chance I had at doing something with my life and it had continued to fizzle out like a spark in the rain. I was crushed.

It felt almost funny. They died horrifically. Caught in the scalding grip of an inescapable fire. They had wanted me to attend a school for Ignokinetics and it had ended up being the thing that caused them to kick it. "Ha. Ha-ha. Ha-ha-ha-ha. Ha-ha." It was all I could do not to break down right then and there. It was all I could do to just laugh.

I didn't know how long I'd been asleep for. Could have been hours. I knew it wasn't a substantial amount of time, because Rachel and Harry would have come to find me if that were the case. No, I was still within the bounds of being able to stay out. But then, what had woken me up? The pattering of rain still persisted outside of my little shack. It had a metal roof, so I was made very clear of when the weather decided to take a more aqueous route.

Then came the crackling. It was quiet at first; a low, consistent pop-pop—pop-pop. It was the strangest thing. I thought the crackling was quiet because whatever was causing it simply wasn't close enough to me for it to be louder. Pop-pop—snap-pop. Was it getting louder? No it wasn't, but it felt like it was somehow closer. Just because I was curious, I decided to cup my hands over my ears and see if I could hear it better like that.

POP-POP—POP-SNAP.

The sound was inside me. It was coming from inside me. But, how? What could have possibly been inside my body that was capable of producing such a noise? Was this it? Was this the moment in which my powers flourished and I became an Ignokinetic? No, that couldn't have been it. Something else was inside of me. Someone.

"H—hello?" I muttered. "I—is someone there?" At first, there was nothing. Then, an imperceptible flutter in my chest. Was it my heart? Could whatever was inside me have been messing with my organs? My heart?

"Go." The voice was distant, foggy. I could almost make out what it was saying clearly, but it was still so far. Maybe I had to cover up my ears again. Maybe then, something would chance. Once more, I cupped my hands over my ears and concentrated, closing my eyes.

"Hello?"

"Go." The voice said once more. "Use what you have been given. Use the power bestowed upon you. This world is cursed to tread the path of damnation. But you—you can stop it. You will stop it. When the time comes, you'll know. You will know."

And like that, the voice was gone. I unclasped my ears and began to focus on the now, very-present fluttering in my chest. No, it was on my chest? I couldn't tell. I lifted up my shirt. There, on my left pec was a small, ashy mark. I touched it and it didn't hurt, but it was warm. Really warm. As I retracted my fingers, the mark disappeared and I felt that same heat course through my body. It was hotter, like the potency had increased. Still, it wasn't unbearable. What the hell had just happened to me?

I need to tell Rachel and Harry.

I waved my hand, raising it to open the shack door. That's when it happened. At first, nothing more than a small spark left my fingers. Without control, those sparks transformed into a bright, glaring flame. It was small, but I knew for sure that what I was seeing was, without a doubt, Ignokinesis.

"Holy crap!" I yelled. "Oh my god! Oh my god!" I really did have to tell Rachel and Harry about my newfound powers. My aunt and uncle would be so proud of and excited for me. Would I finally obtain my dream of getting into Ember High-School? Would I make my mom and dad, wherever they may have been, proud?

I went to open the door but there was some resistance. "Huh?" I muttered. "It isn't usually like that, right?" No, it was not usually like that. Before I could register what was going on, the door had been slammed open in my direction. I was knocked over and I lay, dazed in the ground as droplets of rainwater pelted me from outside. Over me stood a tall man in a jacket.

"Was wondering when I'd find someone in here." He said. "Hm, a kid. That'll be different." What? What could he have been thinking of doing that required waiting outside of some abandoned shack? For how long had he been waiting? For what? What did he want to do? What did he want to do to me?

"What?" I asked, raising my head to look at him. "What'll be different?" I knew the urban district of our city wasn't safe. Drifters, vagrants, killers. Any crime you could think of, there was a good chance someone in that zone had committed it. I was just glad murder was the only thing on this man's mind.

"Just close your eyes. It won't take long." The man said, pulling a knife out of one of the pockets of his jacket. "Got an itch I need to scratch."

I scrambled to get up. He sprinted at me as soon as he saw what I was doing. "And just where are you gonna go?" He asked. "Little shack; nowhere to run."

With all of my 11-year-old strength, I kicked the man right in the groin. He went tumbling to the ground. I would have been able to exit through the doorway, but he was blocking it and I wasn't trying to find out what would happen if I stepped over him. So, stupidly, I backed myself into the corner of the shack instead. I needed to figure something out. How was I going to leave here alive. That was when the voice echoed in my head again.

"Use what you have been given." I had just acquired a way of defending myself. "Use what you have been given." I could fight back. "Use what you have been given."

Use what I had been given. I had to use what whatever force in the world had given me. What else could I have done? He was bigger than me, stronger. Wasn't sure about whether he was smarter but I didn't want to stick around and ask questions. And he had a weapon.

But so did I.

"Y—you little SHIT!" He yelled, struggling to get up. "Couldn't have got me anywhere else, huh?"

I remained silent. I had put one of my hands behind my back. This was where I was charging up a spark; a spark that would evolve into a beautiful flame. I just needed a few more seconds. The man gripped the knife with intent. "He's going to kill you." The thought wormed its way into my head. "He's going to kill you unless you do something first." I was aware of my situation. "You need to stop him."

He was on me. Well, not really ON me. But he was right in front of me and I knew that this was the moment I had to strike; the moment that decided my fate. And so, I struck. I whipped my hand out from behind my back and released the pent-up pressure that had been building over the last 30 seconds. In an instant, my hand and all of the space around it ignited in a bright, blazing firestorm. A contained, igneous maelstrom.

The man couldn't have known what was coming. He, in all of his fervor, didn't expect a handful of flames. But that's what he was dealt. The flames quickly found their home on his clothing and hair. The locks atop his head ignited in a white flash. And then they were gone. His clothes took longer to burn, but in that time, the flames began to bite at his skin, threatening to burn the more precious parts of his body.

It all happened so fast. His clothes burned up and he with them. What now stood before me wasn't a living being. No. It was a vaguely human shaped mass of charred skin and bones. Just as I was about to reach out and touch it, a strong gust of wind from the storm outside ripped through the little shack. It didn't do much to me or the building itself; only getting the floor wet and smattering me with the droplets coming down from the sky. But the wind transformed the mass in front of me. What I had assumed to be flesh and bones was nothing more than a pile of ash scorched through and through. The wind swept through the little room and took the recently incinerated corpse of the man with it. Only remaining on the floor was a black stain where the man had perished.

I ran out of the shack. The reality of what I had just done was finally beginning to set in. "I killed a man." I had just killed a man and what? Was I just going to keep going on after this? I mean, he had tried to hurt me first, so, I knew I was justified in defending myself. I thought of the consequences of my actions, but those thoughts were quickly snuffed out when I reminded myself that he was a resident urbanite. No cop or policeman would give a damn about some drifter from the dark side of the city.

Still, the fact that a man's blood was on my hands crushed me. I wasn't paying attention and my foot was caught on a root sticking up from the ground. I fell face first into the mud. I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't care about what other people saw; I didn't care if the people nearby saw what I did. I had to get my anger out; I had to purge the guilt.

Once more, I released a fiery discharge from myself and engulfed the roughly six-foot area around me. When the strength in my legs returned, I stood. I wiped the mud off of my face and looked into the sky. "No." I told myself. "He wanted to hurt you. You can't let this drag you down."

As I let the rain wash away the last of the mud, the clouds began to part. A single ray of sun landed on my face. "You're gonna be okay." I told myself. "You're going to do great things. Some day."

And I would.

September 9, 2019

It was hard to believe that six years had already passed. Since the day I'd gotten my powers, my life only began to improve. Aunt Rachel and Uncle Harry couldn't have been prouder of me. I honed my abilities to a pretty good level. Without the need to worry about whether my Ignokinesis would manifest or not, I was able to excel at my schoolwork and I managed to do it. I got into Ember High School. It was sort of like a boarding school. Well, not sort of; we did live within the building. It was big, likely to be seen on all of the "best schools in Pennsylvania!" lists.

We got our schedules a week in advance. I decided that I didn't want to miss a thing, so I showed up to school... 30 minutes early. Yeah. I was pretty excited, because I started talking to myself. "Well, mom, dad. Aunt Rachel, Uncle Harry. I did it; your son made it into Ember High." I was about to trail off with what I was saying when a lighter, but still masculine voice rang out from behind me.

"30 MINUTES EARLY!" I turned only my head around at first. Who else could have been here? I decided that I'd shoot back.

"WHAT WAS T—."

It was another student. He was wearing the same, trademarked uniform that I was. Regular old blazer with a reverse collar that extended all the way around the neck. On the left breast, the logo of the school. It was a simple flame decal, but the color of it was owned by the school, so that's what made it special.

The guy who stood in front of me was different from me in just about every way I could imagine. While I had loose, straight blonde hair, his was spiky and parted to the left, kind of. He also had way darker eyes than me. I've got blues. He looked to me about the same height and weight as me, though. And we were going to the same school, so I guess we had that in common too.

"Oh, well. Guess I can't really knock you for it." He said. "I did show up early too."

I turned around fully now. This guy wasn't some jerk who had called me out for being early. He was making a simple jab at himself for doing the same thing. "Eh, it's not a huge issue." I replied. "Just means that we're gonna get in before the other students!"

He smiled and crossed his arms. "Damn right. What's your name?"

"Charlie." I responded. "And yours?"

"Miles."

"Cool." I said, stepping closer to him. "So, how do you feel?"

He stood for a second and put a finger on his chin. "Hmm. Well, if I had to say." He replied before exploding with excitement. "PRETTY GOOD!"

"Woah." I said. "You're eager, huh?"

"Yeah, man! It's Ember High. Like, the best school in our city! In Pennsylvania! Hell yeah, I'm excited! What about you? Huh?"

Well, I was feeling pretty good about this too. Not to the extent that I'd scream it out at the top of my lungs, but I was still completely overjoyed to have been accepted into this school. With all of this in my mind, I responded calmly and politely.

"ALSO PRETTY GOOD!"

I guess the whole "time moves faster when you're having fun" statement is true, because 27 minutes had passed before the two of us were made aware of how much time we had left before our first set of classes started.

"Can you two keep it down?" A feminine voice came from behind the both of us. Another person who had shown up early? Didn't think so many people were this dedicated, but then, it was Ember High. "It's 7:57, I mean, someone might hear you and get upset!"

Turning around, we could see a girl. She was definitely shorter than the both of us; 5'4, give or take. She had light orange hair, and it was done up in a spiky-shaved-bob style. No undercut, though. The little portion of hair on the back of her head was tied into a small ponytail. She was clad in the same uniform we were, and a watch on her left wrist read 7:57 exactly.

"And you are?" Miles asked, uncrossing and crossing his arms again. "I'm not great with strangers."

"Ashe." The girl replied. "Ashe Morin."

"Well, Ashe." Miles said. "I'm Miles. And this is—well, you introduce yourself, man!"

"Charlie." I said. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet the both of you, too." She responded. "Funny that we all ran into each other like this."

"Maybe it's a sign!" Miles exclaimed. "We're destined to be best friends or something!"

"I guess we'll find out." I said just as the bell began to ring. "Looks like it's time to go in."

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Miles asked. "Let's go!"

I walked into Ember High School, primed and ready to begin my first day at the best Ignokinetic school in Pennsylvania.