Tampering with Fate

Chapter One: Complicated Irritations

Raging flames surrounded her, licking hungrily at her body. The heat was excruciating, but she shouldn't have felt it, she should have been able to control it. Her clothing caught fire and she screeched as she tried to snuff the flames out with her hand. However this only resulted in burning her hands. Blaze looked at them in horror as blood began to drip from her finger tips.

Without warning the flames recited to her peripheral vision, and the blood was no longer her own. In front of her lay her sister, Neoma. She had tears in her eyes as she tried to smile at her sister. But then her eyes glassed over, Blaze knew she was dead. She because she had killed her. A wail pierced her ears as Amon sobbed over her body.

"You killed her!" Amon screamed, tears cascading off his face.

Blaze stood staring at the scene as if in a trance. Xavier came over to her and started shaking her, trying to get her attention. 

"Blaze, Blaze!" Xavier was shaking her awake.

She sat up bolt straight her heart pounding painfully. Someone was screaming. What was wrong?

Oh, she was screaming.

Blaze drew in a shaky breath. She had seen things like this so many times now that the sheer repetition should be numbing the pain. It wasn't though, if anything it was getting harder. She started to rub her hands together again. It hurt to do so though because the skin on them was so dry and cracked from her constantly rubbing and washing them. She shrugged Xavier's hand off her shoulder and got out of bed.

"What time is it?" she asked like nothing had even happened.

"Almost time to go meet Anton and the others," Xavier said, also acting like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Although by now, Blaze thought, this probably would be considered ordinary.

It wasn't long after that the two of them were knocking lightly on Amon's door before letting themselves in. Amon was in his usual withdrawn position. Today he was sitting on the bed with his knees pulled to his chest and his head leaning against the wall. Amon wasn't even blinking he was so lost in thought.

Blaze made her way across the room to the window above his bed and yanked aside the curtains, allowing some light into the gloomy house. Xavier did the same with three remaining windows. Finally Amon blinked, lifting his head away from the wall and giving the others a tiny nod to acknowledge their existence. 

There was another knock at the door, followed by Zannia and Anton entering the house together. Before Blaze could even say a simple "hello" Zannia was across the room at Amon's side. The look he gave her was almost a glare, and Blaze felt a twinge of guilt for the green haired girl. She cared so much about him but he just kept pushing her further and further away.

"Are you ok, Amon?" Zannia asked gingerly. Amon was looking especially worn down today, like he could drop dead at any moment.

"No, I'm not," he snapped at her, "stop asking!" 

Zannia flinched and let her hair fall in her face to hide her hurt expression. Amon didn't notice, or at least if he did he didn't react. His grief had been coming across as anger increasingly often. Blaze wasn't sure what was worse; him on days when he refused to even eat or him on days when his temper was twice as short as her own. 

Amon closed his eyes leaned his back against the wall, his head bowed so that his hair shadowed his malnourished face. "I give up" he said, abruptly reverting to his depressed state.

"Huh?!" Anton asked, needing a more clear explanation.

"The prophecy, I give up on it. We've been meeting for weeks trying to figure out what it means when we don't even know is it is about us. I mean, this prophecy might not be destined to be fulfilled for hundreds of years." Amon said, expression blank.