Chapter 27：Burn

Screams and shouts filled the entire camp as tents burst into flames, one right after the other. No one knows where it started but it's destroying everything in its path.

The injured were rushed out of the tents to a safer place while the rest tried what they could to put out the fires. Especially on their, very limited, supplies.

Rosalind walked out of the tent she was in with Vincent and Titus, who had rushed out as she was trying to steady herself and looked in horror at everything going on around her. Reinforcements had just arrived and they had just come up with a proper strategy, only for the camp to burst into flames.

She looked at the flames that refused to go out no matter how much water was poured on it, feeling a pull on her hand. A beckoning.

The call came from the woods behind, urging her to follow.

Rubbing her bandaged hand, she listened to all the screams and shouts that surrounded her, the people that fell all around her and rushed into the woods. She couldn't understand why but she felt like she'll find the solution to the sudden flames there.

Titus is going to be so mad when he finds out that I left the tent.

She passed the trees, following the call; stopping at a clearing, not far from the camp and saw the man, dancing there like a lunatic with his hands in flames, all the while laughing.

"Hello, my dear." He called to her without turning around. "Do you like what I did to the camp? The flames will never go out until everything is burnt to the ground."

He spun around and laughed at her, clearly enjoying himself.

"Why are you doing this?" Rosalind asked, rubbing her hand, feeling like it was burning with every step he took to her.

"You're like me aren't you?" He asked, two inches from her face, his eyes crazed.

"I'm nothing like you." Rosalind spat back, gripping her hand as the burning feeling got worse.

"Really~" Smoke came out of his mouth and nostrils as he said this. "So you didn't make a deal with a spirit and tampered with the spirit world?"

Rosalind widened her eyes at him as he backed away slowly, a knowing smile on his face.

"How did you know?" She asked in disbelief, no one but Adriel and Titus, maybe, Ralph and Vincent have an idea about this; but other than the first two, no one has a clear idea about this.

"Simple, my dear. I did the same thing." He pulled up his shirt to show his entire torso completely blackened up to his collarbone.

He then grabbed her, pulling the long glove away to show her arm blackened past her elbow. He held her arm gently and stroked it with, an admiring look in his face. Rosalind snatched her hand away from him and stared at him in disgust.

"See? We're the same." He keeps getting closer to her until she had her back pressed against a tree.

"We're not the same." She looked up at him, twitching a little while the burning feeling in her hand begun to hurt.

He looked down at her, hands over her head on the tree trunk. He was so close, she could feel his breath on her.

"You can deny it as much as you want but we are the same." He reached out and untied her hair from the bun it was in, letting it flow down to the ground.

His smile never left his face as he took a handful of her glistening hair, bringing them to his lips. Rosalind felt a shiver run down her spine as she made eye contact with him, her hair between them.

"You wished to be able to heal people right? At your own expense?" He continued playing with her hair while she continued to look at him.

How did he know?

"You do know that the type of deal you made is one that will take more off of you than you believe. Like for me, I made a deal so that I can wreak havoc wherever I went and its barely taken that much from me. Whereas, you-" he glanced at her arm, "Let me guess, you haven't even healed ten people have you?"

Rosalind couldn't look at him anymore, her eyes fell on the ground. He's able to read her out so easily.

"How did you know?" She asked.

"I wasn't lying when I said that I am smart. You make a deal with a selfless motive and they test to see if you'll really remain that selfless all your life. Whereas, you make a deal with them selfishly and you get to be as selfish as you want to be." He tucked his hand under her chin and made her look at him, a hint to sadness in his eyes.

"People like you will keep giving everything of yourself to everyone until the day you die and you won't even be remembered for it. Why not go with me? I'll make sure you never have to put others before you anymore." His smile was so soft when he said that, almost making him look normal not like a maniac.

"Why?" She couldn't help but ask, the burning sensation slowly cooling down.

"You remind me of someone." He tucked a stray hair behind her ear, talking softly. "The world and everything in it kept taking everything from her too until it sucked her dry. Then it discarded her like she was nothing. Now, I'm just here to watch the world burn like it watched her."

His auburn eyes glowed as he said this, raw hatred in his voice.

Rosalind frowned, "Fine. The world wasn't fair to you or her, but it never is fair to anyone. This isn't an excuse to let innocents get hurt, like what you're doing to the camp now. You're becoming as bad as those you hate. What makes you so different from them?"

He lost his smile as she said this, then burst into laughter, "You don't get it. I want to protect you, they want to see you break."

Rosalind pushed herself off the tree and glared at him. "I don't need anyone to protect me. I can do that myself."

"Oh really?" He took a gun out of his pocket, anger radiating off him. "It is because of that man, isn't it? He made you believe you're safe, didn't he?"

He grabbed her shoulder with his free hand and shoved her against the tree, looking crazed again. "He can't protect you, sweetheart. He has no idea of these things, I do! I even have a first-hand experience. Look at your arms."

He grabbed her arm and held it up, "You know that you don't have long left. Only I can help you with this, I can cancel the deal for you."

Rosalind felt her blood boiling with every word that came out of his mouth. She snatched her hand back from him.

"I chose this knowing the consequences that come with it. I don't need you to 'save' me." She spat out. "Now, if you really want to help me, you should just put out the fires."

"Nononononononononono. No way. No. People like you should be hidden away. That man told you that you could do all these things yourself, didn't he? He and everyone else's is just hoping to brainwash you so that it's easier to use you." He grabbed her face in his hands, shaking with a wide Cheshire cat grin. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you ok? Right after I take care of everyone here."

Rosalind reached into the pouch at her side and gripped the dagger in her hands. He's not listening to her, trying to reason with him isn't working. She needed to escape and go back to the camp, maybe she can come up with something then.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." He looked at Rosalind who looked with wide eyes at him.

"Don't worry." He pointed the gun at him. "I'll save you from them all."

"No!"