Burning Cinders Novels & Stories

A fire is crackling there, fighting the damp chill of the sea air. I throw the box in. It lands on the logs. The white cardboard begins to brown. The tissue paper curls. Then the lace catches. It doesn't burn like normal fabric. It flares. Green and blue flames lick up the chimney. The smell of burning chemicals fills the room, sharp and acrid, choking out the smell of old books. Ciro coughs, covering his mouth with his arm. I don't move. I watch it burn. I watch the white turn to black ash.

However, this may as well have been a past life to her now. Passing a standing candelabra holding dozens of cathedral candles nearly at their end. Burning all night, the wax had collected on the floor beneath them like small stalagmites. Chiri reached her thin fingers out. Pressing her thumb and for finger together on a wick, she snuffed the light out of the closest one. There was a sting and the vague hiss as the flame died. Flexing her fingers, Chiri was satisfied that she could no longer feel the strange buzzing at their tips. However, she was soon irritated by an even greater annoyance.

The golden sigil flew like a guided missile, striking the corrupted runes on the creature’s chest. CRACK. The chains shattered. The Cinder-Husk let out one final, mournful cry as its iron body began to crumble into ash. From the wreckage, a single, pulsing sphere of red light floated up—the Flame Essence. Caleb caught it in one hand. The heat was intense enough to melt steel, but his skin just shimmered silver, absorbing the thermal energy. He looked up at Scarlett, holding the burning heart of the volcano like a trophy. "One battery, acquired."

"Because Ignis is wrong. Love is not weakness. He's dying, and he won't admit it. His fire is consuming him. He thinks burning bright is the only way to matter." "Can you help us reach him?" "He won't listen to me. But he might listen to you." "Why?" She touched the stone around my neck. "Because you carry the light. The same light that saved the Hollow. That saved Nox. That saved everyone who was lost." --- I brought Cinder to the council. She told us everything: the Emberkin's history, their beliefs, their weaknesses. Their fire gift burned through their life force. Most died before fifty. Ignis was thirty and already coughing ash.

"Their leader—I saw her. A woman, dark-haired, beautiful. She's not here." "Lilith?" "Not Lilith. Someone else. Someone working for her." Caspian's voice was grim. "This feels like a probe. Like they're testing us." Lena's blood ran cold. "Then this is just a distraction." "A distraction from what?" --- The answer came too fast. Fire. Behind them, the camp erupted in flames. Lena spun, her heart stopping. The shelters—the hybrid cabins—the *children*—all of it burning. Orange and red consumed the homes they'd worked so hard to build. Black smoke rose against the darkening sky. And through it all, she could hear screaming.

She dished up for them thinking about her dream. Her cruel step mom made her to eat the burnt scrapings from the pot of stew as a punishment for burning the stew. She did not eat that night and went to bed with a sore heart. She wished for that dream she dreamt earlier to come back again. She tried to close her eyes to fall asleep but her heart was heavy. Her mind was racing replaying all the events of that day. She was all by herself with no one to cry to.

Miranda exclaimed," don't say that. Claudia and I still need you here with us. I don't know what I will do if you too left me." " Oh dear, you should now by now that death will come to us in one way or another, living in denial will not do you any good." " I know dad. I just don't want to think about it." " Ok okay let's go inside now and I must say,I love how you are taking care of mom's roses." Claudia said. " Thank you honey, I remember how Clara used to devoted herself to these flowers. She would always say that if reincarnation was real, then she would want to come back as a red rose."

They all bowed to us as we made our way to the front where five bodies were wrapped in pre-soaked burial cloth. The sound of silence is deafening as we watched Gamma Cyrus light each body, leaving Zane’s until last. The flames took hold and flickered a bright orange, licking the night sky and thick air. As the moon came to its peak, the flames turned from orange to blue, and embers began to climb high into the sky.

Being a bit confused, she tried guessing from her head but at that moment, it seemed her brain was about to fail her. "Let me go and check to be sure mom"......she said and made her way out to one of the rooms in the house. She came back in a jiffy and related her remission in these words, " they are just two remaining there". The trees were very many before, so definitely, they had given some to their neighbors as a way to celebrate christmas together in one spirit. So, the remaining two trees had no where to go yet. "We still have two remaining...., I don't have anyone else in mind to send them to unless you do",

“We’ll complete the rite. Together.” — The Temple of Cinders stood atop Mount Varn, a jagged black peak said to be the heart of a long-dead volcano. The ancient lava that once spilled from it had cooled into obsidian spires, and from its summit, the wind howled like forgotten spirits. Kael and Luna climbed in silence, their hands occasionally brushing, sending sparks of heat up their arms. Her touch calmed the fire in him, yet stirred another flame entirely—one of desire, deep and unrelenting.