Prologue

Richard Seymour gazed at the burning building. Embers sparked and snapped at the starry night sky above. The wood foundation was still burning intensely, which meant the building caught fire not too long ago.

Richard stood a few yards away from the wreckage. His black hair fell in front of his eyes, masking his growing impatience. He stood six feet tall, with a long black cloak that gently fluttered with the wind. He knew not a soul was anywhere near this location, nor was there a living soul in the building anymore, so he would not be disturbed as he waited. It wasn't survivors that Richard was waiting for. On the top plank of the doorway, a ten point star was etched into the wood. He could feel the resisting energy rushing up against him, preventing entry. Fortunately, by the time Richard had arrived, the building was already alight. The building was a house, at least before the fire started. A few hours ago any passerby who was qualified to pass through the seal outside would see just a normal house. Richard knew otherwise, and so did the people who placed that symbol on the doorway to stop him from entering. The doorway creaked and crackled as the tongues of heat licked it up and down, but it stood standing, stubbornly refusing to crumble. Richard even tried to will the wood to fall with his mind, though he knew it was a pointless action.

Soon enough, the wood pillars finally crashed in a shower of sparks, the star symbol buried beneath the white hot coals. Feeling the invisible pressure slowly give way, Richard mumbled a few words to himself as he walked toward the inferno. At first the heat was about to make his hair catch fire before he felt a cooling sensation throughout his body. Now inside the burning building, he walked through the entrance, careful not to step on already rotted wood below him.

Carefully walking through the flames, though feeling only a slight tickling sensation, he navigated into what seemed to be an engulfed living room. This is what hell must be like, Richard thought, mesmerized by the dancing colors of black, red and orange. Then the dark memory pierced his mind. I’ve experienced far worse than hell.

Walking over to a burning bookcase, he moved his hands under the shelves, trying not to withdraw as the flames mercilessly tickled his palms. Finally, he felt something metal; a button. Pressing it, a section of the wall slid open. At least, it opened halfway before crashing down into a pile of ashes. Satisfied at least that his path was laid bare, Richard quickly hopped over to the newly opened hallway. It inclined deeper into the ground, with stairs leading down. More fire and smoke flew up the passage. Thankful that the stairs were made of metal, therefore still intact, he made his way down.

As he arrived at the bottom, Richard looked around the underground room, seeing nothing but smoke and things ablaze. Taking a closer look, he noticed narrow tables and shelves lined up against the walls. A laboratory, Richard thought, why would there be a lab underground? Richard noticed amongst the flames were bodies, burning to a crisp. Scientists, he pondered, an accident?

Reaching the far end of the room, he stopped in front of a cracked glass cylinder the size of a large vending machine. The fire was spilling out from inside it, like water out of a broken pipe. His entire body twitching from the ticklish fire, he peered inside the cylinder.

Inside the container was a little girl, a child of about nine. She was just lying there, curled into a ball as if asleep. The thing that Richard found odd was that...she wasn't on fire. She was naked and seemed to be unconscious, but unharmed. Another thing was that the fire seemed to be coming out of her, though it seemed that the girl was not affected by it.

Richard knew not what he was seeing. Who is this girl?

A sharp, long creaking and a small load of ash fell beside him, waking him from his thoughts. Crackling could be heard very clearly from above. The house is collapsing! Bending over into the capsule and picking up the girl, Richard breathlessly ran toward the stairs, the girl's emitted flames taking his breathe away. The floor above him was starting to break and fall around him. Richard hurriedly climbed the rickety stairs. Once on the ground floor, the house was beginning to topple. Richard was about to run to the door before he noticed the ground had collapsed in front of him. Thinking quickly, he found a blown out window a few feet away. Dashing to the opening, the house gave a final groan as it came crashing down. Richard jumped through the window, the girl in hand, as the building collapsed in a ball of flame.

Landing hard on the ground, Richard felt the girl fly out of his hands. Dropping his heat resilient shield, he achingly got to his feet. The house was now a heap of burning wreckage. Glancing at the girl, Richard noticed that she was no longer spewing fire out of her body. Tenderly picking her naked form up, he walked away from the scorching light, the night quickly enveloping him.

An hour later, government troops arrive at the now burnt out house. After carefully checking and rechecking the ruins, they quickly reported of everything being accounted for. Everything...except for the experiment.