Don't Shoot The Messenger

Five minutes earlier before Damon was hit by the eternal flame.

Inside the hospital.

"Damon? Do you smell something?" asked Luna as she gravitated toward the door.

Damon looked at Aria through the window. Her operation was now complete, but she was still recovering. He turned back to Luna. He felt like something was off. That something was coming.

"Luna, something is coming. Take Aria and get as far away from here as possible."

She swung around, her face in fear.

"But... Are you sure? What about you?" she asked back worried for his safety.

Damon grabbed her by the shoulders, "I can't die, remember. Just meet me at Marcus's place. And don't get followed."

He opened the door to the hallway and walked out into the rush of patients and doctors. He looked at the walls running toward him. The flames on the outside turning the inside into a smother of smoke.

"Run! Run!"

"Someone call the fire department!"

"We have to get the patients out of here first!"

"Who cares about them, the buildings going up in flames."

Everyone ran away from the burning inferno, except for Damon. He stood opposite the rush, opposite the raging flames.

He slowly walked down the steps to the first floor, where he saw the entire building turning into a smolder of smoke and fire. He took in a deep breath and...

Step...

He stepped into the wall of orange, of death. He walked one step at a time. His body burning, the pain, but he took it all in, he resisted the urge to cry out, to scream. He just walked through it all, all until he reached the front door.

---

Minutes later.

Damon punched Mr. Chain, in turn getting tapped by a flicker of eternal flame.

Mr. Chain slowly backed up, releasing his body from the pain of eternal burning. Damon leaned forward, his entire body engulfed.

"So you can outlast the eternal flames?" wondered Mr. Chain as he stood up on the other end of the street, slowly backing against the blue glow of Damon's night.

Damon stepped forward.

"It hurts... But the pain of losing them would hurt more."

He bent down, back into his sprinting position. His arms forward, his legs one after the other, like he was climbing a mountain.

Mr. Chain raised up his chared right arm.

Damon jumped up, his body in an instant sprint. The blue running against the soft black darkness around him. Like ocean waves flowing with every step. With every inch.

"Not so fast."

Snap!

Burn Spell: [Erupted Explosions]

Crackle...

Mr. Chain blasted out a small chain of light explosions.

Damon tried to dodge, but the distance between the small crackles in the air and him were too short.

Crackle...

Boom-boom-boom!

Damon went flying, his body blown to bits. He was sent across the street, to the other side of the curb. His arms and legs were blown off.

He laid back on the ashy sidewalk. In an instant, he healed back to normal, but instead of the eternal flames raging like normal they started to grow and expand. Every time Damon healed up, the flames would take more and more, growing larger and larger. Expanding to a colossal scale.

Mr. Chain stepped further back as the blue flames took up half the street side.

He pondered Damon's Immortality, "interesting... That immortality... He's feeding the flames more than it can take... That's no mere Immortal. Not even the strongest regular immortals can do that. He's... He's a True Immortal..."

Damon sat back up. The blue eternal flames slowly started to settle down as his regeneration went back to normal and he was fully healed up.

He stood up on his two legs. He stepped closer to the distanced Mr. Chain. The pain. The feeling of his feet against the cold street. That feeling between the cold and hot. The wind against his burning skin.

With every step, he started to lose the feeling between cold and hot.

Mr. Chain asked, "Damon, are you a True Immortal?"

Damon laughed, "I am more than a True Immortal."

He ran at Mr. Chain once again.

Mr. Chain stepped back. His charred right arm extended out again, pointed at Damon's eternal flaming body. But this time something was different. He wasn't sacrificing his body. He wasn't casting any spells.

He sighed, "Damon, you fool. You will never be able to reach me. You can never touch me. You see... I can control all the flames that I create. Even eternal."

He pointed to the sky.

Whooosh!

Damon started to fly. His body lifting with the flames.

Mr. Chain pointed across the street.

Whooosh!

Damon was sent flying back, down the road, his body grinding against the pavement, burning everything he touched, to infinity. He fumbled back, his legs breaking against the asphlat. He instantly healed back to normal.

He got up.

Mr. Chain pointed to the ground.

Smack!

He was knocked to the ground.

He got back up.

Whooosh!

Smash!

Crash!

He got back up.

Again and again.

Whooosh!

Sccreatch!

Grind!

Thunk!

He got back up again. Every single time. After every attack, every murder. He would get back up on his feet again and again. Over and over. All for that small chance. For that small memory. Of his sister?

No. He forgot about her a long time ago. This was different. A different motivation for the future. A future where he wasn't bored, where he wasn't lost wandering the world. Where he enjoyed life and didn't resent it. He got back up every time not for death, but for a future of happiness.

Mr. Chain stopped.

"Hmmm... I've never seen an Immortal last this long against the Eternal Flame. Not even a True Immortal could last this long. Who are you?" He listened to the sirens of the firetrucks and police cars as they slowly approached the street, "but it seems our time is up, Damon. And I'm not in the mood to continue fighting, nor am I in the mood to lose. So..."

He watched as Damon slowly marched forward. His blue flames still growing. Still burning.

"I'll let you go for now."

Mr. Chain pointed toward himself.

He sacrificed one of his fingernails.

Burn Spell: [Ignite]

Fwooosh!

He lit himself up in an orange fury. His body sizzling to the touch. Burning to the tips of his fingers, to the points of his black hair, to the ends of his toes.

Orange against Blue. Two fires. One eternal. The other temporary.

Mr. Chain pointed to Damon, "Damon, I'm going to leave you here, to burn for all of eternity. And if you somehow survive, don't come back to the world of Witches. And don't ever think about coming after the Chain Family. Just remember, I am only the messenger. Your real enemies are the Immortals. Remember that!"

He looked up to the sky.

Burn Spell: [Rocket Explosion]

Boom!

He disappeared into the night above, launching himself away with the propulsion of his explosive fire.