The fire broke loose.
It spilled into the market in a torrent that could not be stopped, black flames licking the sky, twisting into shapes that looked alive. The crowd turned, first with confusion, then with horror, as the glow swallowed the stalls one by one.
And then they saw her.
The queen. The tyrant. The monster their prayers begged the gods to erase. Eris stood at the heart of it, fire writhing over her body like a second skin. Her pale hair shone in the blaze, her eyes burning brighter than the flames themselves.
Someone screamed her name. It ripped through the market, high and broken. Others followed. Mothers dragged children away. Merchants left their goods to the fire. Men tried to form lines, but the heat blistered their skin before they could even lift a blade.
They had prayed for this moment. They had begged for her destruction. But what they saw was not deliverance. It was doom.
"Monster!" a voice cried, before the fire ate him whole.
