The Holy Flame
I woke up and found myself outside the gates of a large mansion, as something dragged me in. I was sore from the beating I took, but I must have done enough to wake them since I found myself stretched out on a table. My arms and legs were wrenched out in various places, my clothes had been removed. The room was dark and he was lighting a fire.
I attempted to call out but it felt as if my vocal cords had been removed. I attempted to move and break free but found that my limbs were restricted. I was unable to break free from the binding on my hands as they were tied to the table. He then pushed the logs from outside, into the fire. The fire was of most intense, hot red as it began to burn anything that would come near it. The smoke began to fill the room; he came over to me, opened a bottle of clear liquid and slowly poured it over my body.
He then went to the back of the room and took out a small stick-like object and waved it at the fire. The fire began to burn gold. The pain from the heat began to intensify. I even felt the smoke in the little openings my skin had, due to all the torture. I began to scream in pain, but all that came out was air. As the smoke thickened the fire began to die out, I could see the silhouette of what I assumed to be a man in the room.
He then began to get on a table nearby and picked up something, it looked like a strange fork with a curved point, which glowed gold as he pointed it to the fire. He then pushed it into the fire, I began to hear a pained scream-like sound, the smoke had filled up my lungs by then, and I began to lose consciousness.
He came over to me and I could see the stumps coming from where his arms and legs had once been. They began to glow at the end and vanish into his skin. He then placed the fork-like object from before on my chest and began to wave it. I felt more of my flesh melting into the heat. I heard him laugh as he stood there and I could see the gold beams explode out of his hands in the shape of a coin. A coin cracked as it continued to be created and it then floated towards me, I could feel it float by my face as it once again shattered as it entered my body. The acidic liquid burned through my skin and as it revealed itself from inside, I could see the filaments like wires embedded in the flesh. As the Flames died down, my body began to jerk. I began to feel pain throughout my body as I felt the gold filaments remain within me.
I observed the room looked dramatically different after about 5 minutes. Cells were erected all around me, and other captives were housed within them. From my vantage point, I could see them and a stream of water from a faucet was going through their heads, through the skull, and back into the same stream of water.
The first of the prisoners I saw began to scream and kick his restraints as they became active; his restraints were made of some sort of iron that helped to lock his arms and hands in place. The water pressed against his face, a streamline cutting out a perfect circle into the prisoner’s head.
He then raised an axe and drove it down into the table I was strapped to. I saw the axe sink into the wood and leave a dirty red mark on my lap, I attempted to scream but my torso began to be cut open as well. He then stopped, the water disappeared and he began to place what look like glass disks on my chest and each of my fingers. He began to snap his fingers and the fire began to reappear. The pain began to intensify as it came alive again. I saw the smoke being forced out through the cut on my torso.
As it came alive, I began to see this man again. He placed his hands over the disks and began to laugh. It began to crack and burn. The pain was intense; the smoke began to fill my lungs again. As I lost consciousness, I could see his figure this time; he was not much taller than a grown woman, he had long green fingers and he had a tall pointed head like a gargoyle. He turned to look at me, his eyes green and gleaming from the red fire. He began to laugh again as he opened his mouth wide and showed two rows of razor-sharp teeth. He then laughed and disappeared.
I woke up in a room that looked like a hospital. I could see other people sleeping but they were sleeping on built-in beds instead of being strapped down. I began to struggle and try to break free of my restraints, but they were made of strong steel mesh.
After a while, I began to hear the generators in the hospital slowly turn on. I could hear the machinery tip over one at a time as they came to life.
After about 5 minutes or so, the PA system began to emit static. The static began to spread through the hospital. I could hear other people talking as the static popped around them, causing them to go silent. After about 10 minutes of the static permeating the hospital, the PA system began to hum and the static dissipated. It then began to produce a cloud of gas. After a minute the gas began to dissipate and the floor started to get warmer.
I saw a white fog start to drift in through the doors of the hospital. It went over the beds and people began to wake up.
My restraints fell off. Without a second thought, I went out of the exit and began to run down the hallway. The fog was everywhere; it never ceased or began to recede. It was as if it was spreading by itself.
I then burst through the doors to the outside and saw an Army truck drive down the street. I wanted to call to them but I didn’t have a voice. I tried to shout but the words wouldn’t come. I didn’t have the strength.
I crawled up amongst the trees and hid as fast as I could. In about a minute, I saw another Army truck drive past in the opposite direction and turn the corner away. I immediately started to run towards the truck. It drove through the fog on the side of the road. I watched as the fog dissipated and found out the car was not human in origin. It was shaped differently and had a different design and colour.
As I ran down the street, I began to hear the same laugh and screams. I could also hear the people behind me. It sounded like; Zombies.
The trucks drove past me as I moved aside branches. The trucks raced past as I ran, going the other way. I could hear their engine change, less and less of a growl. I could hear a boy’s voice, as it grew closer to me.
The sound of laughter and screams got louder as the boy and others came around the corner. I put my hands up in front of my face, dropping them back to the ground minutes later as they got closer. I could hear the cough of the fog and the fog began gaining ownership of all life forms inside. I knew I was doomed. They were so close now; they were now just 10 feet away.
I heard a crack; the fog began to dissipate as it moved away from the centre of the road; as the boy glared at me. I looked and saw that a log had come crashing down from a tree behind him, taking out the child-like thing. He lay motionless on the road as his brain was revealed, as it was crushed by the log. I went closer to inspect what was the boy, but as I reached down to him, he rushed up and pounced on me. I dodged and started running away from him as he ran behind me, with his brain sticking outside and him completely covered in blood.
I continued to run and he hesitantly followed. As we came closer, I could hear a woman’s voice. “TNT?” She inquired. “Yes, I am afraid so,” a male said. I then heard the female’s voice. “I think it’s time you learn some sort of building tools,” she replied.
I could see a figure coming from the fog, about 20 feet in front of me. A tall slender black figure taller than a man with a long slender face, and sharply pointed nose. He was dressed in a long robe and had long blond hair that flowed down to his shoulders. His face had a sharp jawline and looked extremely old.
He began to laugh and then stated, “I will take over.”
Their voices faded away as they walked down the street, his voice echoed around as he approached.
I turned to run, but in doing so, I fell on a branch pointed away from the street. My arm cut the inside of my leg. I let out a shriek of pain as I rolled to the side. The boy was still chasing me and he was just a few feet behind me at this point. He was trying to catch up to me.
I turned around and stood up with my back towards the tree. He turned around the other way. I could hear his hands reaching out, trying to grab me. His hands touched every part of the tree trunk. He walked all the way around, I was now on the other side and I heard a branch break.
I ran around, only to be caught by the throat and held up against the tree. He stared at me with his dark eyes, filled with an ominous presence. I just screamed aimlessly, trying to break free. He began to laugh, while his skull healed as the fire burned inside him, with a bright golden dome of light.
He was about to close in on my face. He began to lean in, his face now inches away from mine. I could feel his hot breath. He began to giggle.
He then said, “You’re not from this place.” I didn’t say anything, I tried to breathe, but I couldn’t seem to breathe through my nose.
I felt something enter my body, I suddenly felt a pressure. I began to feel my eyes drooping. There was a sudden flash of white as images moved quickly by. It was as if I was being shown something in fast motion. I then saw a picture of me standing in front of a large black door.
In the picture, a voice said, “This is the doorway, the way in.” I then saw the image change to an image of the boy. He was standing in front of the same door. His hand was shoved into a different part of the door side.
I began to feel numb; my eyes fell closed as I felt his hands clamp down on my throat. I then felt my body begin to move as he pushed me the other way. I tasted something; it was like a very bitter chemical that burned my tongue.
He held me there for a little bit. I began to see the floor coming at me. I couldn’t seem to see anything now. I began to feel my body move and do things other than my own. I hung limp, this time. I felt like I was being pushed down by my own body as it was dragged down by the boy. He stopped after a few seconds.
I heard a voice, “Grab a log,” it said. It was deep, it was a low tone. “Pick up one of the logs,” it said again. I felt my body lift and my hand reach up. I saw the log in my hand. “This is the tool you need,” his voice said.
I felt my hand grab the log, and then I saw a flash of light. I then felt a pop in my hand as the log dropped to the ground. “You cannot lift the log in this state,” his voice said. “Your strength, it is lacking. It will always be like this, it’s our abilities that are stronger than humans. We are a different race,” it said.
I then heard the boy call out, “Brother!” It sounded like he was just a few steps away. He ran around the corner, jumped into the air and came down on the boy with the log. The fire collected and exploded as it hit the log. It sent the boy soaring through the air. He then crashed and hit the side of a nearby building. The boy caught on fire as he crashed through the window.
As I lay there, still paralyzed. I watched while the boy ran around with fire coming out of his back. He began to grab my clothing; he stuck his hand through my shirt. He was blinded by the fire surrounding him. I watched as he reached squinting, he was trying to see me.
Then the boy grabbed my shoulder and started to drag me towards his ‘Brother’. I felt myself moving, and then I felt something else. He was tugging on my arm and I felt it cutting into me. It was his hand, but I felt strange. I looked at it and it was blood.
I then saw the blood rush out. The blood was beginning to clot up, now I could see the cut. The cut was going down my arm. He then threw me down on the ground. I then saw his Brother, the other boy; he had a large tow chain in his hand with a hook. He threw the hook at the boy who had just grabbed me.
I watched, as the boy threw his head back, the hook entered the skull, and radiating out of the skull was the light. Followed by blood clotting. I watched as the log was brought up and placed into the skull.
The other boy then looked up at him, “You are of the same height, and you are the same build. You are the same person. You are me, but you took over, you lost your mind.” his voice said. I could see the Flame reach up to the other boy as if he was a fire bender. He started to absorb some kind of light from the boy who had a hook stuck in his head.
His head was still stuck, but he was almost off the hook. He was snarling as he struggled to get off. After absorbing all the light, I watched as the head broke and burst. The other boy vanished, as the fog took over the place again.
I sat up, terribly frightened, I looked at where the other boy was. I couldn’t see him, but I could feel his presence. “You are safe now,” his voice said… “In this world, there is no friendly rivalry,” his voice now said, “I am like you, a watcher. I have been watching you since you left your home.”
“Your people have been mining for me, and after you left for the village, I went in your place. There is only one who can save this world, you must enter the village and spread my word, or else all will perish. You will have to move quickly.”
“The Holy Flame shall need a sacrifice and all will be well, until then, it shall be the first to attack.”
I sat up, at this point. I began to walk away quietly; I felt my head go black.
“I am not your brother, I was not sent to save you. I am not like you, but you are your brother.”
I heard the voice say something, but it sounded like it was underwater. Once I could hear, I asked, “What did you say?”
“That is a secret; you will have to leave now, for the village.”
“Yes, I am going to the village. What about the shadow guy?”
The voice began to chuckle, “He was never real.” The voice went away as I stood there, confused.
I began to run; I sprinted through the forest, as fast as I could. I had no idea what was happening, I felt my bloody arm clutch my chest and I fell to the ground.
I felt strange, I felt like part of me was not the same and couldn’t feel my body too well. My legs were beginning to feel heavy, like maybe I was getting the bends. It didn’t matter anymore though; I was going into the village and would find out it all there.
As the village came into view, I saw villagers running out of the village. They were running towards me, someone was chasing them. My chest was feeling heavier. I began to feel light in my legs; I started to fall over as the villagers ran towards me.
They helped me up, I couldn’t feel my chest, but I could feel it numb like it was cold. I began to have trouble breathing as I saw the villagers help me up. They all were carrying hunted game and moving at the same pace. As I saw the last of them run, I saw the fog grabbing them.
I struggled, as I tried to run towards the forest, but I felt it grabbing my pants. It then grabbed my leg and I fell into the fog. I fell through the fog and stopped at the forest’s edge.
I could make out a cave at the edge. There were numerous caves in the forest, but that one stood out because it was shrouded in an eerie fog and was glowing as if inviting me to explore it.
As I stood there, all I could hear was my heavy breathing and my heart pounding. Another sound filled my ears as the rocks exploded, I fell into the cave, as the sound filled my ears, and I felt someone coming after me.
I sat up, and I felt something bring me to my knees, it began to force me to look to my left. The something seemed to be on the ground, but it began to lift the rocks that were trapping me. The something grabbed my head while I was sitting up.
I began to squint to try to see what was in front of me. In the eyes of the something that was pulling me was a dark redhead. The head took a deep breath — and with that breath a skull shape formed in front of my eyes.
The shape was the same as mine, except it was made out of fire. The shape began to suck the living light from me. I could feel my body start to slip away, but then I heard a voice say,
“Do not give up the light before the path is half done!”
I felt a bolt of energy hit my chest as my body was brought back to life. I began to struggle as the shape in front of me, opened its mouth.
It suddenly turned its head to the left as if it had heard something and fled in fear. The boy from the forest who had rescued me appeared, carrying a massive burning sword.
Who are you? I asked him helplessly as I stared at him. What’s going on here? Why did you come to my aid in the woods? What do you want to do? As he stood there motionless, the questions kept coming.
“Who am I? I’m the one who will free you. I’m the one you’re looking for.”
A strange feeling came over me as he said those words. “What do you mean the one I’m looking for? Who am I? What do you want from me?” The questions continued to pour out.
“You are Lucas. I am going to free you from this strange curse you face. Let me remove this from your chest and we should be off.” He said, as he suddenly appeared in front of me and pulled away what appeared to be a ball of fire that was shooting out a tremendous amount of striking golden light.
He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me up.
We felt as though we had been travelling for a very long time as we walked deeper and deeper into the cave when we finally stopped at what appeared to be a ruler’s throne.
“This, this is what’s been bothering you, and this reigns here”, he continued as he stopped and pointed at the throne.
He started to speak,” In a world where the Holy Flame rules supreme, merely surviving is a continual battle. The magical fire can possess everyone who comes into contact with it. It suddenly appeared from the sky one day. The Holy Flame transforms those who are possessed into zombie-like beings with luminous eyes and an endless hunger for flesh.
There are two groups in the world: those who worship the Holy Flame and those who are afraid of it. The followers consider people who are possessed by the Holy Flame to be the chosen ones because they consider it to be a gift from the gods. They surround those who are possessed, shielding them from unbelievers and giving them animal flesh and the flesh of other unbelievers.
On the other hand, the Holy Flame is viewed as a curse by the unbelievers. They think individuals who are possessed by it should be shot dead right away since they are nothing more than mindless zombies. When a possessed person is slain, a tremendous amount of light is released, as if the body were returning to the Holy Flame. For non-believers, this light has come to represent hope and a show of resistance to the darkness that has consumed the entire planet.”
“How are we supposed to destroy this?” I asked with a confused look on my face. He smiled and continued to talk.
“I don’t know. All I know is that someday it will fall into the right store. Until then, we must use the tools given to us. Here, have this knife I forged from the shrapnel of the leftovers of this sword. Come on, we must walk to the edge over there, I see someone”.
The way to the edge was long and was covered with deep mud and traps probably set by the followers and protectors of the Holy Flame. It was there that we stopped, and I felt something pull at the back of my head, something like a fishhook. I felt a sharp pain, and everything became hazy. When I came to consciousness, I was sitting on a rock. I felt a little bit better, but I was still in the cave. The boy told me that I had been hit by a poisonous dart set as a trap by the followers, but he had gotten rid of both the poison and the followers.
I could see that we were deep inside the cave now, and far away from the entrance. I looked around, and I noticed that there were multiple pathways leading out. They were all very narrow and dangerous and would be much easier to crawl through than walk.
I decided to take the path that led to a sort of dead end with only a single path leading out of it because it felt safe and boring. I took the tunnel to the dead end, walked to its middle, and waited.
We were both sitting on a jagged rock when I heard a loud noise behind me. The boy had taken out what appeared to be a jawbone and was making a strange noise with his mouth. I wasn’t sure how to react, but I began to make a noise of my own, more of a hissing sound, using my tongue.
Both the boy and I continued to make the strange noise. I felt as though my skin was crawling, and strange shooting pains began to flow through my body.
“What is this noise? My ears are hurting!” I said, after what seemed like hours, while my eyes were closed. The boy said, “It’s a means of communication that is trained among the wise. I was taught how to do this to escape from a similar cave. We currently are in a safe passageway between the mountains of the ruined, and here itself lays the Holy Flame. No one has ever managed to get as far as we have gotten, and like this, we might even be able to destroy the Flame.
The boy’s face displayed a level of happiness that I had never seen before, and I must admit that I felt a little joyous upon seeing it. A follower suddenly charged at us from behind. The boy was attacked and taken advantage of. I pulled out the knife the boy gave me and immediately pierced the follower’s skull with it. It emitted a tremendous amount of light, but instead of spreading out in all directions, it all entered me and healed my wounds. The boy was shocked to see this.
He said,” I have never seen anything like this happening ever before, does that mean you are the” A large roar came from above interrupting him. Both of us traced our steps back, as the entire cave began to tear apart and fall.
After a lot of running and dodging the falling debris, we came back to the throne, but this time, something was waiting for us, and it was not welcoming.
On that throne, the Holy Flame was seated. It had a human appearance but was a brilliant golden colour. It was enormous and had fiery-red hair and soulless, dark eyes. I thought of running away, but the Holy Flame immediately shot up and pierced through me with its fiery hands. I fell in agony. The boy, however, stayed calm and pulled out his forged steel blade. He charged at the Holy Flame and stabbed it in the head. It flickered, staggered, and looked about at us. However, before the boy could strike any further, he was overcome with exhaustion. In the time that I was filled with pain, I had seen the Holy Flame hum an unfamiliar tune and cast a spell on the boy. The spell was a charm, and the boy was immediately burned to ashes.
I then heard a deep demonic voice coming out of the fire. The Holy Flame was now talking. It said, “Now that we are alone, I can talk with you. You Lucas are The One. You are the one who I was warned about. You are my destroyer, you are here, the prophecy did not lie.”
I had no idea how I could be The One, and I was utterly perplexed. “You were able to endure such suffering and torture, and you were even able to heal yourself by taking in my light, the Holy Flame continued. You put me and my entire kingdom in danger. I won’t allow you to live.” As he was saying this, the Holy Flame swung his hand and struck me hard. After taking the blow, I flew off and smashed into the cave walls. I lost consciousness.
I was now able to visualise everything that occurred, from the Holy Flame’s arrival on earth to its rule over everything in this place to its eventual weakness. The boy’s sword was the only weapon capable of permanently putting an end to the Holy Flame, but he lacked the strength to do so. He was shocked to see how I had not turned into one of them after being so badly hurt when he found me one day running from the other boy in the forest.
I then started to have another vision; this time the boy was in front of me with all the dead rebels who tried to put an end to the Holy Flame. He smiled at me and started to walk away.
I shouted and asked, “Wait! Where are you going? I cannot do this alone please come back.” He looked back at me, chuckled, and said, “Yes you can, because you are The One! You are the hope that we all had lost, but found once again and you are the one who can destroy the Holy Flame once and for all.”
I regained consciousness after hearing this and felt a surge of energy. I was lying on the ground when I witnessed the Flame laugh and climb back onto his throne. I stood up and yelled his name. He glared back at me with rage, screamed, and ran back my way to strike me once more.
As he was about to strike me, an invisible force of energy and purity stopped it from doing so and it went flying, crashing into his throne, smashing it into pieces and falling to the ground.
To stop him from hitting me more vigorously, I ran towards him while grabbing the boy’s sword and cutting off his arms. He shouted, “But this is not supposed to be possible!” in a fit of panic, he said, “How did you revive yourself? How did you stay alive?”
To that drawing my sword, I responded, “It’s simple, I am The One, you said it yourself.” and pierced his forehead with the sword. As I stood there, holding the sword near the Boy’s ashes, the Holy Flame erupted into a tremendous amount of light, all of which entered me.
Suddenly, some of the light fell off the ashes, and all the ashes began to reconstruct themselves as if time was rewinding. There he was, the Boy, revived standing in front of me. He hugged me very hard and thanked me for saving the entire planet from the damned.
He showed me the way out and we finally went to his village, where all the non-believers of the Holy Flame lived. They all thanked me and the celebration that night went on till the morning.
A few months later, the Boy came running out of the forest we were in. Behind him, was a horde of followers of the Holy Flame, who came together to take revenge on the fallen one. I thought for a while and conjured a sword out of pure light and fire, chuckling at them.
“I guess my work here is not done yet.” Looking up I said, as my eyes glowed bright golden white and I dashed towards the horde, swinging my sword along with all the survivors by my side charging towards the horde too.
