Shot Down In The Blaze Of Glory Novels & Stories

My veins burned like fire. The storm that had been building inside me finally shattered free. I screamed. The sound tore through the sky, through the very air around us. The light exploded outward, knocking soldiers off their feet, ripping through the dock. Adam shielded his face from the blinding glow. “Scarlett!” I couldn’t hear him anymore. I couldn’t feel anything but power like I had never felt before. The world was burning red. That was all I could see. The attacking soldiers screamed as the light consumed them. The water itself steamed as if it was evaporating. Everyone and everything men stood frozen, staring in awe and terror.

When I struck the match in my cramped rental apartment, my whole body trembled with excitement. I could not believe the truth was so close to me all along, and yet it had taken me so long to figure it out. The second the flame went out, I caught a glimpse of a tiny red dot flashing outside the window. I calmly held up the burned-out matchstick and made sure she could capture it on camera. Then, I texted Vera. [I've already made my third wish. In a few days, you'll definitely come begging me to spare you.]

Heat. Fire. An explosion of light so searing bright that Marcus himself was briefly blinded. Years of drilled in reflexes took over in an instant, and in a split second he grabbed Vivienne and yanked her into his arms, spinning around to shield her from the flames and noise. Screams filled the parking lot, but Marcus could hardly hear them over the ringing in his own head. The army-green cotton shirt he was wearing singed his back, half-melting into the skin and leaving gaps for flying bits of shrapnel and gravel to stick and flay across the burned flesh.

"Open fire!" The command echoed across the battlefield, and a barrage of crimson beams arced into the heavens. The arsenal was a bizarre mix, some relics from a bygone era. A helicopter, less fortunate than the rest, took a hit and spiraled down in a plume of black smoke. Below, the ruthless crowd believed Yahooda had come for them. The downing of a chopper sent up a victorious roar, their fighting spirit surging. "Beat it! This turf isn't yours!"

Because she was still standing in the flames behind me. The envoy. Bleeding. Smiling. She whispered, “This isn’t the end.” I replied: “It’s the last beginning.” Then I shot her in the heart. The facility collapsed. The ice cracked. And we left it behind— Burning.

I, on the other hand, would walk toward the light and live life like I wanted. I rolled down the window, and winds came flowing in with the scent of flora. They also took away the last strand of Jackie's stench. That was the best ending ever.

The flames blazed brighter, consuming the darkness until nothing remained but ashes. The battlefield fell silent, the echoes of the battle fading into the wind. Elysia stood amidst the smoldering remnants, her chest heaving and her body battered. The price of victory had been high, but the realm was safe once more.

It was a song of mourning and reclamation. Her voice—low, smoky, unpolished—carried the names of every soldier she had trained. Every one she had buried. Every one who had whispered to her that they were afraid, and every one she hadn’t known how to comfort. But the chorus changed. From grief to glory. “Let the ashes sing Let the flame not die Even names unspoken Still reach the sky…” The entire courtyard lit up with silent flames—each listener’s hand catching fire not from magic, but memory.

But my joy is short-lived as I begin to I concentrate, pulling on Luca’s sputtering wind and Jackson’s raw power to grow the fire in the air even as the debris of the plane falls to the ground. Slowly, the flaming whirlwind forms in the sky above the Atalaxian troops. Even as I miss Jesse and his shadows, there is something so…so magnificent about the bright flame against the dark sky that thrills within me. I take a moment, not destroying anything else, just…letting the conflagration hang in the air, a clear message to the enemy that reflects all of the rage and pain in my heart. That I’m here now. And their time is short, because the fire is coming and I’m going to burn them all to ash.

I failed to realize that promises were only ever true in the moment they were spoken. He kept promising, again and again, showering me with kisses. I had to ignore the bright notification that flashed on his phone screen under his pillow. Camila.