Monster

As a young child, I avoided becoming perfect. Being perfect meant being isolated from others. Just being good would make you accepted as one of them.

"Tiantian!" Jiang Tian looked to his right and saw Shen Fu, his best friend. He quickly glanced around in embarrassment, hoping no one else had heard.

"Hey! I've told you to stop calling me Tiantian, you know?" he said, his entire face flushing red.

Shen Fu tilted her head and smiled brightly. "Well, do I ever listen to you, Tiantian?" she teased with a big grin, her eyes full of warmth.

Jiang Tian sighed heavily, shaking his head but unable to hide his smile. Shen Fu had always been the light in his life—the one person who could make everything feel alright. She never cared about his power or potential. She just saw him as Jiang Tian, the boy who loved to laugh and joke.

But as the years passed, the burden of Jiang Tian's power began to grow. The darkness inside him, the one he had been trying so hard to suppress, was always lurking beneath the surface. The more he pushed himself to be stronger, to protect the people he cared about, the more unstable that energy became.

One night, when he least expected it, everything unraveled.

Jiang Tian had been practicing alone in the courtyard of his family's estate. The moon was high, casting a pale light over the grounds. He was attempting a new technique, something dangerous but necessary if he were to prove himself as a protector.

As he pushed his power further, the dark energy within him flared up violently. Before he could contain it, the flames ignited around him in a wild, uncontrollable burst. The fire spread rapidly, fueled by his fear and desperation.

He screamed for it to stop, but the flames only grew more ferocious. They tore through the estate, consuming everything in their path. His family—the people he loved most—were inside. Their screams filled the night air as the flames devoured the house. Jiang Tian tried to reach them, tried to save them, but the fire was relentless. His power, the same power he had always thought would protect them, had turned on him. It had turned on them.

And just like that, everything was gone.

The estate, once filled with life and laughter, was reduced to smoldering ash. His family—his parents, his siblings—were gone. Dead by his own hand, his own power.

Jiang Tian stood in the wreckage, numb. The realization of what he had done sank in slowly, like a knife twisting in his chest. He was the cause. He was the reason they were dead. The flames had been his, the destruction his fault.

The silence after the fire was suffocating. The world felt too quiet, too still for the devastation that had just occurred.

For hours, he remained there, staring at the charred remains of his life, his heart heavy with guilt and grief. He could hear the echo of Shen Fu's voice in his mind, calling him by that playful nickname—Tiantian. But now, that voice felt so distant, so far away from the monster he had become.

Finally, Jiang Tian rose to his feet, the weight of his actions pressing down on him. There was nothing left for him here. His home, his family, his life—they were all gone, swallowed by the fire that he had unleashed.

He walked away from the ruins of his past, his heart a void of sorrow and regret.