My sight was engulfed with swivels of flames. I could feel the pain scorching every inch and atom of my body. I screamed and I screamed, but the fire was louder, crackling inside my ears, and crackling along my skin.
Who were they, that man and woman?
It was a momentary glimpse—both wore beanies, one black and one purple. Everything else was but a vague distinction.
Why did they do this to me?
I looked down at my hands. For a moment, I'd seen my flesh melted down to the bone. Even the fat beneath my skin was dripping to the floor like a gelatinous pig roasting over an open fire. Then suddenly, like I'd abruptly waken up from a horrid nightmare, it all extinguished.
The flames were gone.
What happened?
I tried to speak, but only a croak of ash left my throat. I noticed that my skin was bare and almost nonexistent. I glanced at a morphed reflection of myself in one of the pots on the corner of the stove and saw that I stood there resembling a musculoskeletal system and nothing more. Appropriately, I was mortified. I had been burned alive by scorching flames and somehow managed to survive. But my mind and its thoughts were swept away in the instant I heard one of the kids call out to me.
"Dante, we're cold…!"
I've left them alone for too long.
I immediately left the kitchen, forgetting about the crispy rice treats in the back of the pantry, forgetting about the unknown man and woman that were just there in the kitchen, forgetting that all my hair, skin, and fat had been burned away from my body completely just now.
I forgot about it all the moment I heard one of those dear children call my name.
"Dante…?"
I barged past the cafeteria door, out into the hall, dashing back towards the atrium where I must have left the poor children freezing for too long. I found them all gathered in one corner of the room.
Oh my gosh, you must have all been so cold to huddle in the corner for warmth like that! I'm so sorry! But don't worry, Dante's back! I'll warm all of you back up!
They didn't reply to my words. In fact, they all stared at me, eyes wide open, jaws dropped.
What's wrong?
As I said those words, only dust left my mouth. I finally remembered that my vocal chords had already been burnt to a crisp. They couldn't actually hear me talking, but rather, just croaking.
"You're not Dante…" One of the kids said.
"Where's Dante…?"
"I miss Dante!"
"Dante! I'm cold!"
Their words began to bounce off one another.
I'm right here!
I tried to reply, yet it was only in my head. I could no longer talk and tell the kids that I was the Dante that they were looking for. To them, I must have looked only like a—
"Monster!!!" One of the kids suddenly yelled. Like a domino effect, they all began to cry. One after the other, they were sobbing, tears spraying everywhere, with snot dripping down their noses. They were calling me all sorts of names: monster, freak, zombie, devil, and more. It hadn't occurred to me that I stood before them, unaware that all my identity had been burned away with the flames from the kitchen.
I really did look like a monster to them. And what I did next, unintentionally, engraved that label to my name.
"I'm scared! Dante!!!"
The kids continued to scream. All of them were crying. I hated the sight of seeing all the children I cared for this scared beyond measure.
"I'm cold! I'm scared!"
"I'm so cold!!!"
They were shivering in the corner out of both fear and temperature—fear at the sight of an unfamiliar face, while the cold winter air took over their bodies. I knew, deep inside, that my role had always been to take care of these children no matter the circumstances. I was choosing to be here out of the pureness of my heart to look after them in this freezing winter. Therefore, nothing would stop me from fulfilling those responsibilities I'd set for myself, even if the kids didn't recognize me anymore.
"I'm cold… and scared…!"
They were all huddled as far back into the corner as they could, watching me as I approached.
I know I must look like a monster to you all, and I'm so sorry kids. But you're all so cold. Let Dante warm you up.
I raised my arms, widening my posture in front of them like I always did. The stance was to emit the maximum amount of heat that I could from around my body to efficiently warm all the kids at once. After all, I was just the guy who volunteered to be an infrared heater for all the kids at the orphanage.
Maybe this'll help prove to all of you that I really am the Dante you're looking for.
I smiled as I felt my Fractal initiate.
You can all be happy and remember me once I warm you kids up again.
My pores flared open, and heat poured out towards the children. But I quickly realized that the heat was much hotter than it normally was. In fact, I could even see it this time.
Fwoosh!
Fire, flames, were pouring out of me, and they were spraying all over the children.
"Dante—!!!"
I watched as they screamed my name, searching for my help, while I stood right in front of them, burning them all. Their screams evolved into horrid screeches that were soon overturned by the crackling sounds of the flames.
I stared in horror.
I did not comprehend what I watched.
I could not comprehend what I watched.
I did not want to comprehend what I watched.
Wh—what—! What—?!? Augh! The kids—! They're burning—!!!
I began regurgitating at the sight. I was hyperventilating. Streams of tears began flooding down my eyes, stinging the exposed flesh on my face as I watched the beloved children I cared so much about burn to ashes in front of me, and it was all because of me.
I had brought fire to these children I sought to look after.
How did this happen? How did this happen!?!
I could not understand why fire emitted from my body when it had only ever been infrared heat.
My Fractal is Infrared Heat Emission. My Fractal has nothing to do with fire. So why… Why am I emitting fire?!?
I knew I didn't have a Fractal that could do this. Yet I'd done it anyway, somehow, some way.
What the actual fuck has happened to me!?
As the flames burned the children to charred corpses that melted into the floor, the blaze began to spread across the atrium and eat away at the wooden furniture, the same way an uncontrollable guilt ate away inside of me. I couldn't bear to know I was responsible for the death of these innocent children, no matter how many fingers were pointed at me.
And that was because I knew, deep inside, that I was not at fault for this.
I didn't do this. I didn't kill these children. I couldn't have! I never would—!
I watched as the flames continued to aggressively blow through and out of my pores.
I didn't know this would happen. I wouldn't have initiated my Fractal if I knew this would happen. Therefore, I can't be at fault for this! I can't be!
I tried desperately to convince myself that this wasn't my fault.
It isn't my fault.
I had to pinpoint the fault somewhere else, on someone else. Then it finally occurred to me.
It finally occurred to me what must have happened.
I… had a Fractal Activation, didn't I?
I disabled my Fractal, and the flames suddenly stopped. I re-enabled it, then the flames poured back out. That simple moment confirmed everything. My Fractal had changed completely from one of infrared heat emission to fire emission instead.
I'd quickly found the people to point my burnt fingers at.
They're the reason I turned out this way. They're the reason the kids are on fire right now. They're the reason this entire orphanage is about to burn down right now. It isn't because of me. It isn't my fault. Those two set fire to me. They tried to kill me—a kind, generous volunteer at an orphanage—right inside the orphanage itself! They'd unknowingly caused me to undergo a Fractal Activation, and now, because of that, I'd unknowingly set all the kids on fire. This was their doing. This was their fault. It wasn't me. I didn't do this. I didn't do any of this!
My mind was spiraling out of control. The realization that all the kids were now dead because of the flames from my Fractal was beginning to settle in, and it was making me feel insane. With the tremors of emotion raging inside of me, the blaze I emitted only continued to grow, and grow, and expand until every crevice of my surrounding was engulfed in the fiery hell I'd been forced to experience.
I will find whoever did this to me, and inflict on them the hellish pain of 52 burning children.