Dream Killer: Book One in the Nadia Chronicles
Chapter 9: Running Hot

Dimitri stood very still for a couple minutes, deeply touched by Nadia’s simple statement. He cleared an area and got a small fire started while he waited for her to return. He sat near the fire, staring off. He was deep in thought about what histories Nadia needed to learn first and what their next move should be. When Nadia returned sometime later with a large bundle of fire wood she was slightly embarrassed again. She did not want to admit to Dimitri that she had gotten a little lost because of her dreadful sense of direction. She had to ask the trees to guide her back to the fire. She was relieved to see that Dimitri was sitting very still with his eyes closed when she returned. Nadia set the wood down as quietly as she could and tiptoeing to gather her belongings.

The sun had not yet set and she wanted to take advantage of the little light she had left. She began to organize her things and take stock of what she had. She was glad when she found her small sewing kit at the bottom of her back pack. She groaned as she remembered she forgot to grab her ruined clothes. She glanced up at Dimitri before she went and retrieved her burnt clothing. They were still airing out on a low tree branch a few feet from camp.

Nadia’s groan did not even make Dimitri stir. He appeared to be meditating and Nadia had a twinge of jealousy watching him. She had never been able to meditate. She liked the idea of centering herself and trying to calm her mind as well as body, but she was never successful. Her mind always raced and sometimes she swore she even got flashes of visions.

Nadia sighed almost silently as she tossed a small log onto the fire. She settled back onto her sleeping bag and began salvaging pieces of her shirt and blue jeans that she had destroyed the night before. She cut her old clothes carefully and quickly removing the burnt sections. She turned the larger pieces into strips for bandages and the smaller odd shaped pieces she put aside for patches. If her uncanny clumsiness was all she had to worry about, she may have been a little less careful and probably would not have saved so many pieces. However, she knew she would have to fight again and could get injured a hundred different ways even before the next monk or militia showed up.

She looked up at Dimitri to ask him about the battle and was disappointed to see he was still meditating. She glanced up through the trees and could tell it was dusk and the sun was setting quickly. She thought about interrupting Dimitri but instead she let her own mind wander.

She was very comfortable with all things sewing because when she was younger and all her friends were playing sports Nadia went to sewing lessons. She played sports too. But she enjoyed her weekly lessons on how to thread machines, pin patterns and make something interesting out of nothing. As an adult. Nadia could sew in her sleep. It did not take a lot of her mental focus to cut some ruined fabric.

As Nadia continued to separate the fabric she started to replay the fight and analyze the monk she had faced. She tried to figure out how she could use the elements like she did. She thought about if Gaia was right and she was always meant to wield the elements. Would this ability grow if I gain more control or diminish the more I used it? There were so many questions she wanted to ask Dimitri, but she didn’t want to push him too much. She saw how the short conversation earlier had upset him. He takes way too much responsibility onto his own shoulders, she thought as she stared at the hunched outline of his broad shoulders.

Her eyes wandered over to the dying fire as her mind tried to understand all she could do with fire. “How was I able to hold it,” she wondered. She stared deep into the fires heart, day dreaming of what it would be like to walk among the embers. She had always been fascinated by fire, ever since she was a little girl. She understood how dangerous it was, but that didn’t stop her from experimenting with it.

She even accidentally lit her shirt on fire during a play she was in, but instead of panicking she put it out without a second thought. She was not shaken either. On the contrary, she thought it was a great story to tell at parties. As a cool breeze whipped through the camp site, Nadia wished she could play with fire more or even wrap herself up with a blanket of fire. She could imagine feeling the warmth of the embers wrapped around her cold shoulders and back. Her lips twitched into a smile as she imagined the cold wind never being able to penetrate her cozy fire blanket. As Nadia stared into the depths of the embers the fire grew, burning brighter, hotter and much bigger. She could sense the fear of the forest around her.

“They can’t understand the fire,” Nadia said, almost giddy with excitement. “They feared the power of fire and their inability to control it.” Nadia was enthralled by that power and leaned in even closer to the fire, craving more heat from it. The more she gave herself over to the idea of the fire the more it seemed to glow until all she could see was fire. The fire continued to grow though there was nothing left in the fire pit to burn. Nadia was reaching for the growing flames as it burst upward into a six-foot tower of heat and ash. Nadia was standing before she even knew what was happening. She could hear Dimitri shouting to her but was unable to hear what he was saying because of the loud crackling and popping the fire tower made. She continued to reach out to the fire as if someone else was controlling her arm and the fire turned to her. It was no longer a shapeless tower of rolling flames. It had a powerful face, long, strong arms and legs, and a semitransparent perfectly fit body. The fire man looked right at Nadia and she shuddered with cold. She could feel the wind feeding the fire, but she could no longer feel any warmth from the fire. She felt cold to her very core. She took an involuntary step toward the fire. She was hoping to feel some of its warmth once more, but the fire man held out a hand to stop her. He looked slowly to the right and then the left as if taking in his surroundings. He looked fierce and terrible as his smoke-filled eyes pierced through Nadia.

“Why have you done this?” The fire man asked of Nadia. His voice was that of crackling, burning forest fire ragging out of control. His pungent, burnt breath smoked into Nadia’s face. “Are you Nadia of the prophecy?”

“My name is Nadia,” she replied in a choked whisper because her throat felt closed and charred. “But I have not heard the prophecy so I am not sure how to answer you.”

“To have brought me to the Forest of Amare you can be no other,” he looked straight into her eyes as he spoke. “Our meeting is too soon and may prove fatal. How long have you been in Baako, Nadia of Earth?”

“Less than a week, I think.” She was trembling and her chattering teeth were affecting her speech. “Wh-why am I s-s-s-so cold? You are m-made of fire; wh-why can’t I f-feel your wa-warmth?”

“To bring me to being,” he began matter-of-factly in an almost lecturing tone. “You forfeited your own warmth, your own fire within you. I am unsure of the process, but the outcome may cause you much pain or even death. You may take comfort or alarm to learn I have never been brought to being by a mortal or one so young. If you successfully achieve the blend, your fire element gift will increase. It will become second nature to you. You will replace that you are stronger, healthier and hotter to the touch, but only if you can endure the blend. If we do not blend, you will run cold and no fire will ever warm you again. What say you?” he finished abruptly and almost menacingly.

Nadia thought about life without fire and shuddered again from the extreme cold. She had never enjoyed being warm, but she could not imagine living without heat. She looked past the fire man and into the eyes of Dimitri. He looked terrified and extremely confused. Nadia could tell Dimitri was preparing to do something foolish. She had to choose quickly. She looked at the fire man, “I can’t live without fire. That would mean living without a part of me. What do I need to do to blend?”

“Close your eyes,” he said in his burning voice. “Walk toward me and we will embrace. A word of caution, you must remember and respect how powerful fire is. Remember, how all consuming. Fully respect fire in all its forms. Then open yourself up to the reality that fire can be as small as a candle’s flame or as grand as a fire storm. Do you understand fire, Nadia of Earth? If you do, embrace me and all the fires of old, new, and those yet to come.”

Nadia hesitated. With her eyes closed, she thought about the first time she could remember fire in any form. It was a simple flickering candle flame. It looked so pretty, but when she reached out to touch it the flames burned. She remembered all the Christmases her mom had a fire going in their fire place though it was never cold enough in Gilbert for a fire. She could feel the heat from the neighbor’s house when it burned to the ground a few years after Nadia moved into her neighborhood. It was shocking to see someone’s home burn to nothing more than ashes and memories. And yet, the way the flames danced from room to room, not discriminating against any one item or sparing even the smallest of pictures or trinkets. It destroyed and devoured all in its path.

Nadia’s decision was made. She opened her eyes smiling calmly at Dimitri. She hoped to convey that everything was alright and then closed her eyes again.

“I’m ready.”