freedom

...Rachel...

I walked, my body was still warm, but the flames were already fading from me. Everything around me was still burning, however, and the embers released a black smoke. As soon as I reached the entrance to the pit, I saw one of the guards lying on the ground while another was dragging him back. The fabric part of his armor was burning.

The guard trying to help his comrade widened his eyes when he saw me. He stammered and his fist tightened around the sword he held. The man's eyes focused on me; he realized that the marks that had previously been only on my hand had somehow spread, covering my entire body, even my face... And if that wasn’t enough to make him question his sanity, the marks glowed like the flames that had burned his companion.

“Demon!” he screamed, dropping the comrade who was already dead from the flames. I took a deep breath, knowing what would happen next.

The guard raised his sword, advancing toward me. Again, the act of raising my hand and stretching out my arm with my palm open forward was just instinct, the glow was intense, and then flames erupted, originating from the marks on the palms of my hands!

He screamed, trying to dodge the flames, but it was completely useless. He had already been engulfed by the flames that were hungry for destruction. He fell to the ground, rolling from side to side while the searing fire continued to consume him.

My heart felt like it was about to explode. I knew what I was doing—I knew exactly that the lives of both of them were being taken and that it was because of me. Still, I shook my head... The wounds on my back, the memories, the other prisoners. I wasn’t a monster—those guards were. I was only bringing justice to them.

I walked barefoot through the cave toward the stone corridor that led to the mines. There were more guards in that place. But flames in such a narrow space were far more effective than their metal swords. All I had to do was walk forward, keeping my hand pointed at any threat while the flames consumed and melted everything in my path.

The smell of burning flesh, hair, and metal was completely unbearable... So horrible and disgusting that it made me want to vomit. Still, I continued, because if I stopped, the guards would easily reach me, and as a result, I would be promptly executed.

I heard everyone’s screams—chaotic screams that I couldn't understand at the moment. They were the cries of the other prisoners. They had seen the flames, and the instinct for self-preservation forced them to try something. Some used their pickaxes to break free from their chains and try to find a way out, some helped one another and worked together to fight the guards.

Everything turned into chaos, but I was blind to it all. The prisoners were starting their own revolution while I simply walked forward blindly through the labyrinthine paths. The mines all looked the same, with only stone corridors that seemed to stretch infinitely... The only thing I had to guide me was the flames and the burned armor of the guards—if I saw them, it meant I had already passed through there.

Wandering aimlessly brought me to a place I never wanted to return to again... That damned torture room. My eyes were filled with fury, as if they were also on fire now, and it wasn’t just the memories of that place that made me feel that way. My fire gleamed on the torturer’s metal mask... He was there, and that room was completely sealed, and like any good torture chamber, it was completely isolated so no one could hear the screams of those suffering inside.

I couldn’t see his face, and even so, the step backward the man took told me everything I needed to know—he was terrified. The whip in his hands was completely useless against the infernal flames I carried within me.

My flames were passively consuming everything around me; this time it was different. I threw myself at him, using my strength to restrain him. He was bigger than me, but the heat of the flames prevented him from counterattacking.

“You were so eager to know what my mark was—I can show you now!” I shouted through my laughter. My expression, previously blank with only a look of irritation, turned into a terrible smile of satisfaction upon hearing his muffled scream... “I’m the cursed one, and I’m going to enjoy making you suffer!”

He struggled, trying to escape. I had managed to make the sadist reveal his true form—a coward who only preyed on the weak to try to show some kind of power. And I showed him that any attempt to escape was futile.

“I’m really going to love every second of this!” I shouted, ripping the whip from his hands and taking a deep breath, because I would need energy for what I had to do next...

---

To me, it seemed to have happened quite fast, but I’m sure that for that cruel man, time must have frozen. He was still breathing but with difficulty, especially now that the metal mask had fused to his face due to the extreme heat of that room. His body was covered in burns and deep marks from the whip.

A whip that had been completely charred in my hand. The mixture of fire and the whip’s cuts made the wounds cauterize—he was suffering. And with every heavy, painful breath, every torturous contraction of his muscles was penance for his crimes as a torturer.

Part of me said I should end his life right there... He didn’t deserve mercy. After all, he had never shown any to anyone in all his years as a sadistic jailer.

“Suffer...” I kicked him, but the man didn’t even react. His body was already numb to pain, and so he must have been floating between consciousness and unconsciousness. “Suffer for all your sins! Especially for what you did to me!”

My voice echoed powerfully in that place, now filled with my flames instead of shadows and dust. The torture tools had been destroyed, and the chains were covered in ash. That place was finished—no one else would suffer there again, except for the torturer who had once taken pleasure in that room.

My hands trembled slightly as I looked at them. The flames were slowly disappearing, and the mark that had covered my entire body was gradually fading. I took a deep breath, taking in the horrid smell of that place. I couldn’t stay much longer there or I would become defenseless.

I ran through the now-empty stone corridors. The chains where the prisoners had been were broken, and bodies were scattered everywhere. Burned bodies, and others who had been caught in the confusion... Whether by prisoners trying to escape or guards trying to suppress the uprising.

In the end, it was obvious who had come out on top. The number of prisoners outweighed the number of guards, and the only advantages the guards had were their swords and armor. The fire that indiscriminately enveloped everyone helped balance things out, and the moment a prisoner got hold of a guard’s sword, they all began to fall like dominoes.

All I had to do was follow the trail of blood that had been created as the prisoners made their way to the surface. I was exhausted. The mine seemed endless—no matter how far I had to walk, I couldn’t give up... And in the distance, a light appeared. With each step, it transformed, growing stronger and stronger. My eyes felt like they were burning, and my body trembled... The last time I had seen a light that strong was when I died. This time, it was different. That light was special, and as soon as I passed through the massive metal gate that had been forced open, I took a deep breath, feeling the fresh air for what felt like the first time in centuries.

That light was special... It was the glow of my freedom...

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