The fire engulfed the Anul within seconds, its heat rising. Devouring everything beneath it, fueling itself.
The people yelled as the flames engulfed Rahiel's body. The crowd began pushing back, as the heat from the Anul increased steadily.
The air in the city square danced as it heated up. Crows cawed from the skies above, delighting in their new body, the brightness of the flame reflecting in their retinas.
The governor watched as the fire consumed the Anul, along with Quantum in a bright orange flame that challenged the heat of the sun.
The flame pulsed angrily like a rapidly beating heart, almost as though it were alive.
The crowd continued to push back as the temperature of the flame increased, burning more and more of its fuel, its color changing from orange to a slight yellowish orange.
As the flame continued to burn ferociously, the crowd stood in silence as they awaited the scream of a man.
However, there was nothing.
All that could be heard was the loud crackling of the flame and the periodic rapid pulsation, along with the cries of the crows. Smoke began to fill the skies, darkening them.
There were no cries.
No screams.
It was difficult to see Quantum, as he was at the very heart of the flame coated in a bright whitish yellow.
However, as the temperature of the flame fell, the people began to see him. He stood tall and looked straight, unfazed by the fire he dwelt in.
His flesh was partially burnt, with parts of his arms and torso blackened like ash, yet he continued to stand tall. He had not crumbled. He had not fallen.
He was alive.
The people marveled at such a sight. 'What sort of man was Rahiel?', they wondered. 'What was he made of?' Quantum's blue eyes shone even through the orange flame and all who saw it feared.
The city council head ordered more oil be poured on the flame. They had to make sure he died, there and then.
A deep bloodlust emanated from the city square. It seemed many wished for Rahiel's destruction.
In any Anul ceremony, the sacrifice was supposed to be burnt up completely, as it was believed that Calor himself, the god of fire, was devouring the sacrifice.
However, Quantum continued to stand.
Barrels of oil were hurled at the Anul, catching fire violently.
The fires lit up once more and licked up the oil, hot and violent, reinvigorated.
Orders were given for arrows tipped in oil to be launched at Rahiel. A hundred archers stood facing the flaming post from the tops of platforms created, and the tops of buildings surrounding the city square. On the outside, they looked like cold-blooded executioners. On the inside however, an inexplicable fear was building up within them.
They fired at him simultaneously, the arrows cutting through the air. Many of the arrows launched struck Quantum, digging into his flesh. They tore through his neck, his head, his torso, and his legs.
One of them lodged itself right at the center of his head.
Three others struck his eyes and his cheek.
As barrels of oil were launched at him, the fire burned and his flesh began to sear and crackle as his body broke down. His skin began to peel off little by little, searing in the hellish flame.
Black patches spread fast across the entirety of his body.
The people screamed as Quantum began to fall.
Even with this, Quantum did not yell or give as little as a whimper. He was falling, yet quietly, to the disappoinment of all who surrounded him. In place of the excitement they once had, fear grew.
Amidst the crowd, a little girl stood, struggling against countless other bodies that surrounded her. A girl who had lost everything and had run away from a self-destructive father. A girl who had a particular interest in her hair and had loved her mother very, very much. Men and women stood tall above her. Pushing and pulling; struggling and shouting.
Even where she was deep within the crowd, she could still feel the heat as beads of sweat streaked down her body.
She had no one left for her.
She had nothing else set for her but slavery and a darkness that loomed high over the city, reveling with the smoke.
Mustering courage, all she did, forcing to stand within the crowd, was to scream.
"QUANTUM!".
The voice was too low to be heard by even those around her. It was downed by the intensity of the screams and jeers of the people in the crowd.
The girl screamed again and again, "Quantum! Quantum! QUANTUM!!!", tears mixing with the sweat falling from her face.
She rooted herself in the crowd, resisting the shoves by those around her. Her hope began to dwindle.
The darkness began to devour the light.
All of a sudden, the screaming and jeering began to turn. She had believed her efforts were futile and vain. Her last wish had passed. There was no hope for her. The commotion began to rise as the crowd began to marvel and exclaim, "What is this?", "This is impossible…", "Run!", "Someone stop him!".
The girl became confused. She wondered what was going on, her amber eyes lit with the last sliver of hope. The people exclaimed more and more. A few then began to break out, pulling themselves out of the crowd.
Soon enough, the entire crowd began pushing back, those at the front seeing reason to run, those behind oblivious to it.
Guards became alarmed and frantic.
The city council stood confused; outrageous expressions drawn over their faces.
Quantum was breaking free.
The metal bindings around him were stretching and groaning as his muscles pushed them outwards. They began to snap one by one, the sharp sounds searing through the now alarmed crowd. The foundations of the post began to break as a large force pushed them down. The metal bindings broke faster and faster and a roar emerged from the flame.
"NHEA!!!"
A shockwave blew from the center of the flame, blowing hot oil and licks of flame all across the city square, generated from the force of the roar. Stands caught fire. People as well. There was great turmoil as people rushed to escape. Men and women scattered from the town square. Some people tripped and fell, a frantic many trampling them underfoot.
The Anul had collapsed and lay in a smoky mess, with a few flames breathing their last here and there. Within the chaos and turmoil, guards rushed to the fallen Anul. Buildings began to burn, and the fire spread from place to place, coloring the city in a thick black and orange.
Within the smoke and the bright orange chips of flame, Quantum's blue eyes stood out. Clattering noises came from the Anul, as arrows torn from flesh, fell to the ground. One by one.
Quantum burned with a brand-new conviction etched upon his heart. The voice he had heard was the catalyst to the reaction. A pure voice that stood above all the mindless voices. One that touched Quantum's heart and awakened him. His spirit stood in defiance of death. He knew what his purpose was, new found yet ancient, burning fiercely within his heart; to set the girl on a pedestal above the world itself, that he would lead her to being beyond them all. He would hold her hand and take her above all things.
Quantum grabbed the hot metal wires that once bound him and leapt from the ruins of the Anul into the city square, bursting through the smoke. Upon seeing him, the guards attacked him in twos, threes and fours, with archers raining arrows from the rooftops. Quantum decimated them all, swinging the wires like whips, slashing, cutting and breaking limbs in a mix of fluid movements and inhuman speed and strength.
He bound, threw and lashed his attackers as the buildings burned down and his skin seared with the heat. The guards were no match for his strength and his movements, as he threw bodies across the city square, crashing into food carts and buildings.
He used his metal whips to bind the necks of the guards, pulling them towards him and then launching them with powerful kicks and punches, their blood splattering within their armor. Breaking their bones, and incapacitating them.
The archers above delivering support to their comrades below were soon met with their arrows returning to them. Quantum caught arrows midair and sent them back to the archers at terrifying speeds and even more terrifying accuracy. They tore through the archers bodies, leaving them gashed and lifeless, their bodies falling down to the ground.
In no time at all, all the spears, swords and maces had fallen down, now still and silent. The armour of the fallen gleamed in the sunlight.
Quantum stood covered in the blood of his attackers. His chest heaved as he breathed, the desecration he had caused ongoing about him. The blood of the fallen dripping from his arms and the metal wires cleched within his hands. His blue eyes distinct upon his blood red countenance. He dropped the metal wires in his hands, and they clattered sharply. Quantum slowly walked towards Nhea, who lay at the base of a building, at the entrance to the city square. Her face was bloodied as she had sustained a blow to the head, most likely during the stampede. However, she was alive, only unconscious. She breathed, yet slowly, and her little heart continued to beat. Quantum looked around at the city in turmoil. The burning buildings. The city square painted red. He said to himself, between breaths.
"Yes…This…is my…awakening."
The had streaked past its median point and was now falling to the west, its light piercing through the smoke. Quantum followed the road towards the West Gate of Rhea-Nori. He saw bodies on the streets, with crows pecking at the corpses. People were trying to put out fires. Many others were recuperating, searching for their loved ones. Others still, confused, wondering what exactly had just happened. Quantum moved on, Nhea in his arms, in full sight of the people.
Many ran into corners when they saw him, frantic and in fear, crying out, "Monster! Monster!".
Others went on their knees and began to beg him for mercy. Quantum was unfazed. He had been through this before. The same people screaming for his destruction, were now seeking solace to hide from him. The same people screaming for his destruction were now begging him for mercy. He was beyond them. Beyond their confusion. Beyond their violence. Beyond their bloodthirst. And he would continue to grow as well, further and further beyond them, with Nhea. Nhea reminded him of his purpose; his desire to meet with his creator, and to break through every barrier in his path. He had been scared for a while, but he had now gained strength, through an unseeming little girl.
Quantum soon reached the West Gate, and many run from him. Guards, nobles, mercenaries and commonfolk alike fled from him in all directions, fearing for their lives.
A man they wanted to murder continued to stand and walk normally, even after sustaining such severe burns and wounds.
Why wouldn't they run?
Quantum walked out the gate and looked beyond Rhea-Nori. There was a vast forest in the distance, clothing the hills on the horizon.
He didn't understand, but his spirit was drawn to the place. It had began pushing him after he found Nhea and took her in his arms.
Something lay there, essential to him and Nhea. His body was partially burnt, severely degraded.
His mouth was torn open, revealing his set of teeth on one side of his face. His right orbit had been blown open, such that the entirety of his eyeball was visible.
His cloak was long gone, and he had nothing to cover himself with. He was in extremely bad shape.
Yet, he carried on.
Nhea in his arms he walked through the grassland, towards the Akar Forest.