Fires of Hell

As I bolted to the gates, I could see the townsfolk scurrying around, house to house trying to douse the flames with water. Turning to the guards with me I quickly sent them in to gather as much of the remaining survivors and bring them back to the castle. The ground shook beneath my feet, the sound of hooves like a hammer on an anvil getting louder and louder as they progressed into the town and leapt through the flames in their way. The sound of steel clashing echoed over the cries of terror through the town, quickly we let through some of the townsfolk into the keep, and then a high pitched trumpet sounded from behind.

"CLOSE THOSE GATES, LET NO MORE THROUGH!" as I turned in disbelief, I slowly realized the utter selfishness of my family, and the reasons I had hated them for grew ever further. I gave the guards the signal to hold to signify not to close the gates, as I hurried into the bonfire. Dipping under fallen posts, raising up pieces of burning lumber to free those trapped below. I moved ever further into the burning pits of hell, the wind becoming a silent whisper of despair, the smoke formed a blanket over the town covering the moon and becoming a trap for air.

I approached a familiar street to me, at the end I could see a few figures running from what seemed like a monster made of smoke that came galloping after them. Breaking into a sprint to save these few lives, swiftly drawing my blade, the fire glinted off its flattened side, the blade itself reflecting the fire completely. Then in an instant of clarity, I brought forth my sword, quickly I poured all my might, anger and hatred into it, and then in an instant the blade was engulfed in a blue flame that spewed off its edges. My magic had activated on accident, even when I had learned to control it, yet still it was uncontrolled. I could feel the flames burning at my hand, and then I sliced it towards the figure in the distance. In an instant the blue flames leapt off my sword and flew straight towards my enemy, they formed an crescent as it travelled through the air and when it hit the impact left with a thunderous roar and from what I could see through the smoke, the man and his horse were split in two.

Rushing forwards to help the people towards the keep, I realised one of them was the man I met when I first arrived back here, and his wife. Panicked I realised that their daughter wasn't with them, and grabbed him as he passed me.

"Where is your daughter!?" I tried to shout over the screams and falling timber.

"She's trapped in the house, she's still unmoving after all this, there's nothing that can be done!" He tried to remove my grip, struggling against my strength.

"Why have you abandoned your own!? What sort of man are you!?" my eyes filled with that same blue fire that I created on my sword, the sparks of pure hatred igniting a fire deep down inside of me.

"I don't care what sort of man I am! I just want to live!" quickly his words snapped me back to the reality at hand, what he had said to me was that of a man who was falling deeper into despair, I slowly released him from my grip and watched as he and his wife ran towards the castle. For a moment I lost track of where I was before turning to their burning home, was it possible to still save her? I quickly moved to the door, timber had fallen down in front of it, I quickly called out to the girl to no reply, to my right I could hear the sound of hooves nearing again, so I tried to do this quickly. Grabbing one of the burning timbers, my hands burning as they touched the wood, the pain circulating through my body.

As I cleared the last of the timbers at the door my arms shook, the palms of my hands were burnt completely, yet with all the pain my mind remained resolute as I burst over the flames and into the house, I quickly sifted through the remains of this burning hovel till I saw it, burning in the corner, trapped under a fallen beam there was Leona. Slowly I exited the house and fell to my knees, my brain turned to the path that I had only prolonged her death, my mind began to fade and my body filled with rage. Everything around me shook as my hate grew ever higher, my eyes changed colour from an emerald green to a translucent blue and then to a blazing purple.

I walked slowly back to castle like I was possessed, my eyes never blinking and just as I turned a corner a few hundred soldiers appeared to my left. Something was controlling my actions at this point and animalistic desire for revenge. All my regret and desperation had built up to this point and joined with my rage and hatred for these people. This was a part of me that I had never known about, and in that split second I cast a blaze of fire that moved faster than the lightning strike from before. It tore into the enemies ranks, the few front rows of soldiers were split or decapitated by the flame, from then ever backwards the soldiers were either mortally wounded or burned to death in an instant.

As I walked back to the gate I hoped more of them would show up, I hoped someone would antagonize me, I hoped someone would try something with me. I hadn't noticed that the pain in my hands had subsided, entering the gate, I gave the all clear to close it, not even noticing the slain soldiers and townsfolk that lay beside it. The soldiers after I left had been given the order to only let a few in, so the rest were all butchered. Leona's family lay bloodied, the fathers head struck clean off his shoulders whilst his mother had been repeatedly struck by arrows then left to bleed to death over her husband.

Slowly ascending the steps of the castle till I reached the main hall, I slowly came back to my senses. As I approached the door I turned to the town, the flames had grown ever higher and most of it was a smouldering ruin, catapults had been rolled towards the edge of the town and were now preparing to bombard the castle. I walked past my father who stared at me blankly and as I turned my gaze away from his I realised my hands had been healed. I didn't know how but they were fine, no pain could be felt from anything.

Morning broke over the smoky haze, it glinted through the clouds and showed fully the destruction that had been left by the attack. I had stood looking out from the battlements the whole night, so I decided that I should get some rest before anything else happened. As I approached my chambers a young woman around my age was stood waiting for me, she calmly curtseyed before me as I reached my door. I payed her no mind but she somehow caught my eye, she had nice azure blue eyes, her skin was quite pale and she had nice long hair brown hair. She wasn't wearing anything fancy like the rest.

"I'm Lillia, it's nice to meet you. I hope you'd do me the honour of getting to know each other better." She turned on her heels and walked away, whilst I was just stood at the door dumbstruck at what had just happened. I couldn't even get a word in before she left then to myself I said under my voice.

"Bit of a wrong time to say that, you might not even survive long enough through this." before entering my chambers with a small smile. Passing out on my bed a few seconds after taking off my gear.