Rebellion Against Heaven - Part 14

Chapter 14: Chad Blake

Chad Blake never knew peace. Since he was a child, fire ran through his veins, not only in a figurative sense, but literally. His earliest memory is the glow of flames devouring his home, the scorching warmth on his skin as his mother screamed his name. No one knew how the fire started. No one, except Chad.

Raised on the margins of society, Chad spent his childhood in an orphanage in suburban Detroit. But structure and rules were never his thing. Every time someone tried to subdue him, something exploded: a lamp, a window, even the orphanage director's car. They called him a "problem child," but he knew the truth: His gift was not a curse, but a promise of absolute power.

At the age of fourteen, fed up with the monotony of his existence, he fled. He became a nomad, traveling the highways of America, surviving in underground fights and shady jobs. His temperament was a short fuse, his attitude a spark, and the result was always chaos. He learned to control his gift, to channel it through gloves with explosive inscriptions that amplified his destructive capacity. He didn't need weapons, he didn't need allies. Only his fists and his fury.

It was in one of those fights that he earned the nickname "Ignis". An opponent attempted to stab him in a fixed match, and Chad, in an instinctive act, touched his jacket and set it on fire. The man screamed and fell to the ground writhing in pain. The audience fell silent. And Chad just smiled. From that moment on, his name became a legend in the underworld: the man who could blow up anything with a simple touch.

However, fame brought enemies. Criminal organizations wanted him on their side, governments considered him a weapon, mercenaries sought to collect his head. But Chad belonged to no one. Destroying was his art, his way of existing. His black leather jacket with flaming details, his carefree gait, and his arrogant smile were a warning: playing with fire had consequences.

One day, Chad arrived in New Orleans. The city vibrated with music and debauchery, but also with dark secrets. In a seedy bar, he stumbled upon a man calling himself Elias Crane, a mercenary with scars of war and an air of danger that Chad instantly respected. Elias was not there by chance; I had been following him for weeks.

"They are looking for you everywhere, Ignis," Elias said, lighting a cigarette. But there's someone who doesn't want to get you... wants to hire you.

Chad raised an eyebrow, intrigued but not letting his guard down.

"And why the would I do that?" He asked, leaning against the bar.

Elias smiled half-way and took out an envelope from inside his jacket. He slipped it on the table.

"Because what's coming... You can't do it alone.

Chad looked at the envelope and then at Elias. For the first time in a long time, he felt more than just disinterest or arrogance: curiosity. He took the envelope and opened it. Inside was a photo of a ruined building, with a symbol etched into the charred concrete wall. It was a kind of rune, something ancient... and what was worse, he recognized it.

I had seen it before. At home, the night everything burned.

The memory of the flames returned with force. The heat, his mother's scream, the blinding glow of the explosion that had orphaned him. He always thought that it had been his fault, that his power had been unleashed uncontrollably. But now...

"Who did this?" He asked in a low voice.

Elias took another photo. A cold face, with dark and empty eyes, and a scar across his cheek.

"His name is Viktor Lazarov. A bastard with a lot of blood debts. And if you want answers, I suggest you come with me.

Chad felt his fists shake. Not of fear, but of anticipation. For years he had lived aimlessly, burning everything in his path just because he could. But now... Now I had a goal. And he would not rest until he reduced that man to ashes.

What he didn't know was that this trip would lead him to cross paths with others like him. Warriors, assassins, monsters disguised as humans. A group that would change his destiny in ways that even he could not foresee.

Chad Blake was about to discover that the real destruction... It was just beginning.

This one is going to help me a lot," Ryuusei said enthusiastically, "And a question, I can give you a nickname, is that calling you "Death" is very long for me.

Never in all his years of life had Death asked him, he wonders.

- Well, Ryuusei, because it was the last time we didn't see you, you'll know why I leave you the honor of giving me a nickname.

- Since you give me that honor, you are pretty even if you already know it and well my proposal is to call you Lara, does that seem right to you?

"It's nice, I like it," she said blushing for the first time.

"Lara, all these people you are showing me, apart from their powers can they regenerate like us?"

"No, Ryuusei, they can't regenerate like you."

Continue...