The man, a living inferno of black flames, now stood in the center of the room. His eyes were glowing red; two burning crimson in the maelstrom of darkness that consumed him.
"EEEEEEE!"
He made inaudible sounds, as he tried to call out to Damian and her, the screeching, guttural noises scraped against Damian's eardrums, a sound that felt more like a physical assault than a simple noise. The air around him began to shimmer and distort, the heat radiating from his body was clearly visible to both of them.
"Eee... Cassie! Damian!"
He finally called out, their names barely audible but somewhat clear.
'Did that just say our names?' Damian thought. 'So she's Cassie.'
Cassie was her name, and her face was now a mask of grief and terror.
She took a trembling step toward him, her hand outstretched. "Father?" she whispered, her voice barely audible over the roaring fire that now consumed him. It was a plea, a desperate hope that the man she knew was still in there somewhere, buried beneath the inferno.
But as she reached out, Damian's hand shot out, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. He didn't think; he just acted, a primal instinct taking over. He had to get her away from this… thing. This wasn't her father anymore. It was something else, something monstrous.
'What am I doing?' he thought, as he reacted to how he grabbed Cassie. 'But, this. This thing can't be human anymore.'
"Let go of me!" she screamed, her voice now raw and jagged sound. She thrashed against his grip, trying to break free, her eyes still fixed on the flaming figure of her father.
"What are you doing? Let me go! He's going to get hurt!"
'I myself don't know why I'm doing this, but something just feels off right now, and damn, fucking Omni hasn't even responded yet,' Damian thought.
Damian couldn't find the words to explain. He couldn't tell her that their father was probably gone, consumed and replaced by the very thing in front of them.
How do you explain to someone that their loved one has just combusted and become a literal fire demon? The words felt stupid and hollow. So he didn't say anything. He just held on, his grip tightening as she continued to struggle.
The house began to shudder, the rafters began to fall under the sudden, intense heat. The black flames from the man's body erupted, shooting upwards and touching the wooden ceiling. The dry timber caught instantly, and the fire spread with terrifying speed. The heat was suffocating, a heavy blanket that pressed down on them, stealing the air from their lungs. The roof began to crumble, the old wood turning to ash as it was consumed by the fire. A shower of sparks and flaming debris rained down on them.
The paralytic man, or whatever he was now, was still standing there, his body the epicenter of the destruction.
"We have to get out of here," Damian shouted over the roaring flames.
Cassie was still fighting him, her face still filled with tears.
"No! I won't leave him! He's all we have! He's all I have! Why can't you understand! You don't care about Father!"
She finally wrenched her arm free and slapped him hard across the face. The stinging pain was a momentary shock, but it didn't change his resolve. He couldn't let her die here. He didn't know her, he didn't know this place, but he knew what he was seeing, and he knew they wouldn't survive if they stayed.
Without a second thought, Damian grabbed her again, this time slinging her over his shoulder. She screamed and pounded on his back.
"Let me go! Put me down! You bastard! You don't care about our father!" she shrieked, her voice hoarse with crying.
He ignored her, his eyes scanning the room for an escape route. The front door was engulfed in flames. The windows were too high, and the frames were already beginning to warp and crack from the heat. He turned toward the back of the house, where Cassie had come in from the garden. The doorway was still clear, though the fire was spreading fast, eating at the walls.
He ran, the weight of Cassie on his shoulder a secondary concern to the heat that was now blistering his skin. The air was thick with smoke, and the taste of ash was strong in his mouth. He could hear the crackling of the fire and the sound of the house as it began to fall apart around them. Just as he reached the back door, a large beam from the ceiling crashed down right where they had been standing just seconds before, filling the air with sparks and debris.
He stumbled outside, gasping for breath, and put Cassie down. She immediately fell to her knees, coughing and sobbing, her body shaking. He looked back at the house, which was now a complete inferno, the black flames devouring the building with unnatural speed.
The sheer power of it was terrifying. He didn't know what the man was before, but whatever he had turned into was pure, unadulterated evil.
Suddenly, a group of people emerged from the treeline at the edge of the clearing. They were dressed in strange, tattered robes, their faces obscured by the shadows and the smoke. They were old and weathered, their movements slow and deliberate. They were just standing there, watching the house burn, their faces lit by the firelight. They didn't seem surprised, or even concerned. It was as if they had been expecting this.
One of them, a woman with a gaunt face and a single white eye, pointed a crooked finger at the burning house. She turned to the others and then to Damian and Cassie. Her voice was a dry, raspy whisper, a sound that seemed to come from beyond the grave.
"The Paralytic Man has turned to a demon," she said, her voice filled with a grim finality.
"The blood ritual has succeeded, but not as intended. The vessel has been purged, and the demon has been born." The others nodded in solemn agreement. They watched the house burn, their eyes reflecting the ominous black flames, as if they were a mirror to the terror within.