Burning, he was on fire. Pain-how had he-when had it. He remembered talking with his friend, planning a beach trip for some surfing. It had been the hottest week of the summer but it hadn’t been like this. Falling, Jason tried to step forward and catch himself before realizing that he could not feel his legs. He collided with the floor-more pain-he attempted to push himself up with his arms, but failed to find them. Where are my limbs? He tried to scream, needing someone-anyone-to help put him out, out but heard no sound; he could not feel the vibrations that meant he was screaming but scream he tried. He opened his eyes but saw nothing. In desperation he tried feeling the floor he was on and that was when he noticed it, close to him, a source of cool, of release. He lunged instinct taking over as he floated towards the cold that meant relief. He collided with it, a sharp pain then Ahhhh, the burning was gone, relief swept through him as the pain was reduced to almost nothing. He clung to that cool, that cold and just held there for a minute then, slowly, his mind returned.

  What happened, where am I? He and his friend Caspian had been speaking of surfboards when, oh he thought numbly, the fire. He had been in his class room right after school, before anyone had left when Lizzie, his little sister, had barged in looking panicked “run!” what followed her into the room was a fire, was it fire? The flames had not burned nor ruined anything they touched but when they came into contact with someone the person disintegrated almost instantly, vanishing into nothing. The class had tried to run but fire covered the only exit and in a matter of seconds, all of the people had vanished. The flames had not burned him they had not been hot, not until he had lost conscious. Then he had awoke here, burning.

  He shuddered remembering the pain, where has it gone? It was as if the pain of the fire had simply vanished, he could not feel his body. A cold fear clawed its way up his throat as a memory rose to the forefront of his mind. Jason and his family had gone to the small section of beach they owned with a grill and a few coolers to set up for a backyard party they where hosting. His father had taken him, how old had he been 5, 6? and was teaching him how to cook the slices of pineapple and beef. He had been having the time of his life, before the cooler he had been standing on caved in and he had grabbed the glowing wrought iron bars of the grill. His father had rushed him to one of the open coolers and put Jason’s hands in the ice filled water, the shock of the water had been almost as bad as the heat from the grill, but the relief that came soon after was worth it. His father, in a serious tone had asked, “Do your hands still hurt?” Jason had nodded, his eyes squeezed shut from the pain, “that is good, if you ever receive a burn that doesn’t hurt, then you are in more danger then if it did.” My nerves he thought numbly were they burned away? He tried opening his eyes again, but as last time he could not tell if they were open or closed.

  Panicking, he turned his attention to what he could feel, the source of cold next to him. It was round, tall and hard, reaching up out of his reach of feeling. He paused, how could he feel this thing if he could not feel his own body. Perturbed he realized that he could feel around the object all at once, he was not moving his arms around it to understand it, merely focusing on specific parts at a time. He tried to focus on the whole object at once, and he realized what it was, A tree? It was the trunk of a tree A tall, somewhat skinny length of timber. He was confused; how had a tree saved him? Then he noticed something else, the tree was quickly dissolving. He could feel the diameter of the tree shrinking and the cold that had sated the pain vanishing as it did so. He watched as the tree slowly dissolved as if it were, burning. The thought struck Jason as parts of the tree popped and broke away. He could not hear the fire, no sound of flames or breaking wood, but he could feel each and every spark of ash that shot away from the tree into the air. What’s burning the tree, and why isn’t burning me? He tried to touch the tree as it popped again and the rate of the tree’s disintegration increased noticeably. Wait, He tried feeling his body using this new sense he had found. It did not take long for him to find himself. He was a dot, a dot in a ball of fire, he was a fireball.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  A small detonation of ash and sparks flying around him pulled him from his stunned state. He looked back towards the tree as the piece of the trunk closest to him broke away and the tree fell away from him and out of sight. He lunged, following the tree and landing on top of it. It had not been for long but as the tree had fallen away from him the pain returned, and the fire that had burned the tree returned to him burn him instead. As his flames, as he, began to burn away the fallen tree something clicked into place. Despite his panic and fear he understood that if he was to survive he needed to understand what he had become. He needed more wood, he tried reaching out again, feeling his surroundings. He felt another tree at the edge of his vision, about a meter away. To get there he would need to leave the quickly vanishing tree beneath him. He tried to push the tree he was on towards the new tree but as he was more fire then substance he just burned the tree faster. Is there no other way? He braced himself then began floating towards the untouched tree.

  It came quickly, the pain, it burned anew. His new sense dulled and he felt two sources of cold, he floated faster. Instinct took over and he lunged at the colder energy. The pain vanished and he could feel again. He looked down, this is not a tree, this is he gagged, or, did the mental equivalent and tried to to close his vision? touch? but was unable to now that he had found it. He was steadily burning away what appeared to be a child, wait no, it had pointed ears and overly large feet, hands, and eyes. A goblin? At least that was what he thought, it was not human that was for sure. He realized that he could not feel color just the shapes. Something new touched him and he felt the goblin again. The cold that stopped him from feeling the pain was slowly moving from the creature and coiling around his point of a body. The energy that fulled his fire was collecting around him. Suddenly the energy pressed into his core and it got bigger, only by a fraction of an amount but it went from a strawberry seed to a pencil tip. As his core grew a sense of euphoria hit him and he felt stronger. The goblin burned away leaving a skeleton and the pain returned. Jason quickly found a new tree and took a moment to recover, burning the tree as he rested. He still felt happy, even as he was confused about why he did. Shouldn’t he feel disgusted, or at least queasy? Instead he felt content. He had grown, he could feel a bit farther and his flames where a bit bigger. Even as his worry and fear returned this small boost gave him direction. He wanted to grow, Then he thought glumly his fear overpowering his short euphoric spark, I might be able to live long enough to find out what happened to me.