"Kagami! Kagami! ... Mommy loves you baby!"
A woman's voice shrieked, as she burned alive.
A shaken Kagami, while grasping for breath, woke up. Sweat sprinted from her forehead and down her sharp jawline. Her dark brown eyes widened while her hand clenched her chest.
"Are you okay?"
Kanna said as she swung Kagami's bedroom door open, with a bottomless feeling of concern and a look mixed with dread and empathy for her sister.
"Was it the dream again?"
"Yeah…"
"It was about 15 years since our parents died in a house fire, leaving me and my sister Kanna orphaned. My little sister was only 2 when they died, so she has no real memory of the event or them. As for me, it comes in glimpses and glances with the only thing holding me to that night being the scar on my right hand. But on this day the nightmares are at their worst."
"Kagami!"
Kanna called out, with a worried look still residing.
"I'm alright, jeez."
Kagami said, with a slight smirk and softened eyes as she tried to mask her fears of the past from her sister.
"Okay fine… then you better get ready because I am pretty sure you are going to be late for work."
Kanna said, with a softened laugh.
Kagami looked at her alarm and gave a sharp yell.
"Shit!"
As she lunged out of her bed to get dressed whilst frantically getting all her clothes on.
"Have a good day with online class! I'll see you later!"
Kagami yelled as she ran out of the house. Running throughout Hogo village, Kagami stumbled over her footsteps while trying to greet its members.
Whilst running, she noticed an elderly member of the village screaming:
"The demons are coming, the demons are coming!"
"Demons?"
Kagami confusingly stated as she ran into a woman.
"Oof!"
Kagami looked up. In front of her is a youngish woman, possibly late thirties, with short grey hair and off-gold eyes with light crow's feet around them. She is wearing black slippers and a black robe.
"Really sorry about that. I wasn't paying attention."
Kagami said as she got up from the ground.
"It's quite alright my dear, but you should listen to your elders, Kagami"
The woman said, with a calm demeanour.
"Huh? You mean all that stuff about demons?" Kagami asked.
"There's no such thing. All those stories about demons, sea creatures, and Beastmen were just folk tales told by our elders to make us behave as children."
Kagami said, adamantly with an assertive tone.
The woman looks at Kagami with softened eyes, a gentle smile, and places her hand on her shoulder and says:
"With age comes knowledge, with knowledge comes experience, choices, and regrets, and it is with that experience that we need to make sure to not make those same choices or suffer the same regrets."
Kagami raised an eyebrow in annoyance, gave a weak smile, and left running to make it to the bus. As the woman turned her head and watched Kagami run, with a sweet smile on her face, she yelled:
"I will see you soon, Kagami."
Kagami turned her head and saw a dragon symbol on the back of the woman's robe and thought to herself:
"Wait a minute, I never mentioned my name?"
***
"Last bus leaving for Kathercrest City!"
Kagami hears from the loudspeakers of the bus's intercom.
"Wait! I'm here! I'm here!"
Kagami yelled as the bus left
"Dammit!"
She said while she placed her hands on her knees and panted. After Kagami regained her focus, she stood upright. Annoyed and frustrated she states:
"Okay, okay I have about 30 min before my shift starts, and the city is about an hour out by foot. Dammit! This always happens when I have that stupid nightmare. (Sighs) You know what it's fine. I'm fine."
Kagami took 2 deep breaths, tied her short black hair into a low bun, and began to sprint. With every half step taken, she took a deep breath. Her heart beating like a wild animal in a cage as her legs began to feel chained to the ground.
As Kagami was running, she heard her mother's voice in her mind:
"Mommy loves you, baby!"
At that moment, Kagami's eyes began to lightly glow a reddish-orange colour. Kagami felt her body begin to slowly heat up. Her breathing became easier, her heart calmed down and her legs became freer. She was getting faster and felt lighter in her movements.
"What the hell is happening to me?"
Kagami questioned as to why her body suddenly felt so different.
***
"Firefighter Kagami reporting for duty chief."
Kagami said while taking light languid breaths and perspiring plentifully.
"Kagami, you really surprised me. Here I thought you would make it four in a row, but low and behold, here you are with seven minutes to spare, no less."
Fire Chief Rex said, with a surprised look and a joking tone.
"What can I say, sir, I like to keep the public guessing."
"Don't I know that, firefighter Kagami? But that's not why I wanted to talk to you."
Chief Rex said jokingly, but his tone quickly became serious. Kagami's grin quickly fades.
"Kagami, I know that today isn't a normal day, well at least not for you."
Kagami clenched her teeth and took a massive gulp.
"Look what I am trying to say is that… I believe it would be best for you to take it-"
"SIR!" Kagami yelled.
"I'm not a child that needs to be coddled nor am I a defenceless little girl that needs to be babysat. These are the few things that make me feel useful. Don't take that from me...please."
Kagami said as if she had sharp needles pinned against her throat.
Chief Rex sighed.
"I understand Kagami…Okay, you may resume your regular duties, but if I see that it's getting too much for you, I will be removing you from duty immediately. Is that understood?''
Kagami nodded her head and left the room.
"If only you knew, sir, that being close to the fires is the only way that I feel connected to them."
Kagami softly muttered to herself, as she looked back into her memories, picturing herself at the incident. Crying out for her parents, whilst holding her younger sister in her arms, she helplessly stretched out one hand, reaching for them to no avail. She got burned. Kagami clenched her right hand and muttered to herself in a wistful tone.
"Never again."
"Code 99! On Valkor Road by the outskirts of the Northern Village."
Kagami's thoughts quickly became unclouded as the sounds of the fire alarms went off in the fire station.
"Let's get rolling guys! Kagami are you with us or not?"
Captain Henry said to his crew and Kagami.
"That was never a question."
Kagami said, with a fiery smirk which Captain Henry quickly mimicked.
"That's my girl"
The fire engine, fully packed with squad A firefighters, Captain Henry, and the designated driver, drove off to the site of the fire. With the sirens wailing like crying children, the firefighter's piercing focus was so intense it could choke the air. This was the atmosphere that Captain Henry instilled in his team and just another reason for Kagami to never want to leave.
As they drove to the site, they could see smoke rising in the air.
"We are approaching the site, sir. 7minutes out."
Every firefighter perched on their seat, Kagami more so than anybody. As the fire engine rolled up Kagami readied herself for the fire. When the fire engine stopped Kagami was the first one to lunge out of the truck and said:
"It's… a dumpster fire,"
Kagami said, with an air of disappointment in her voice.
"A fire is a fire, Kagami and since you're so eager you can deal with this one all by yourself."
Captain Henry said, smiling.
"I… yes, Captain,"
Kagami said, reluctantly.
As Kagami got the hose from the fire engine and readied herself to extinguish the fire, her heartbeat increased in speed.
"Why was this called as a code 99 and where are the paramedics? Was it a mistake?"
Captain Henry quietly questioned himself, as he radioed in to figure out this situation.
Kagami's body then started to heat up again like a blacksmith's furnace. Her eyes began to glow a brighter reddish-orange again and at that moment she said:
"Something doesn't feel right."
At the same time, Captain Henry's radio goes off.
"Captain Henry! Where is your team!"
A woman's voice shouted over the radio.
"Captain Henry here. We arrived at the outskirts of the city. We are surprised you called a code 99 for a dumpster fire," Captain Henry said.
The woman's voice responded immediately.
"NOT THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE CITY! THE NORTHERN VILLAGE! YOUR TEAM IS AT THE WRONG FIRE!"
"Village… which northern village!?"
Captain Henry said, in a panicked voice.
"HOGO VILLAGE!"
All the firefighters looked in the direction of Kagami with grim expressions.
"Kanna-"
Kagami said, with a fretful voice.
Earlier in the day
"Have a good day with online class! I'll see you later!"
Kagami yelled as Kanna saw her sister frantically run out of the house.
"And that ends today's online session. Thank you to those who attended."
A male voice said, over Kannas laptop.
"That said, I marked all your tests and no surprise that our top scorer with 100% is Kanna."
The male voice continued saying, in a proud and praising tone.
A seated Kanna gave a joyful smile, but she expected nothing less of herself of course. As Kanna closed her laptop, she stood up from her seat and walked around the house, coming across a mirror.
She looked at her reflection, running her hands through her long black hair and tapped the rose gold shield pendant clipped to it. She then started looking at how her bookshelf brown eyes shined in the rays of sun beaming from the house's windows. Her eyes quickly shifted to the 2 beauty marks on the right side of her eye.
Kanna gave herself a curious look and stated:
"I wonder who I look more alike to? My mother or my father?"
Kanna said, knowing very well she does not talk about her parents, especially with her sister. Then Kanna felt her stomach begin to growl as she walked away from the mirror to the kitchen and saw a barren fridge and sighed.
"I'll ask some of the other villagers if they have extra eggs."
Kanna said, heading to the door to leave. As she was about to leave, she saw money scattered atop a shoe rack by the door. Kanna gave a blissful smile.
"Thank you, sis."
Kanna said as she left the house.
On the way to the villages' markets, Kanna greeted its members, bowing to every elder that she passed. Arriving at the market, Kanna greeted the merchant and asked for 2 dozen eggs, some fruits, and vegetables.
"You've got it, Kanna."
The merchant said, with a sunny smile on his face. Kanna then looked at some green bottles with golden caps on them. Kanna then said to herself:
"Kagami deserves something. Especially today."
While Kanna retrieved her groceries she asked the merchant for 2 bottles of saki to go with it.
"Oooh, Kagami having a hard time at work?"
The merchant asked, concerningly.
"Yeah, something like that,"
Kanna answered, vaguely.
As the merchant handed Kanna all her groceries, they heard a sharp scream coming further out.
"THE DEMONS, THEY'RE COMING! THEY'RE COMING!"
Both the merchant and Kanna looked at where the scream came from and saw it was an elder of the village. The merchant with a heartbreaking voice stated:
"Age is really the ultimate killer wouldn't you s-."
At that moment Kanna heard a loud crashing sound and felt water droplets shooting at her face. Pieces of wood flew, while other villagers and visitors ran past her. Kanna turned her head back in the direction of the merchant and saw him completely pulverised by a large boulder. His feet project outwards as a pool of blood flows from the bottom of the boulder.
Kanna frantically took her hand to touch her face and saw that the watery feeling she felt was from the merchant's blood.
"ROOOOAAAAR!!!!"
Kanna then heard a sonorous roar so loud it shook the ground. She turned her head away from the merchant's crushed body to the sound of the roar.
"What… is that?"
Kanna said, in a quivering tone as she saw a massive monster with a humanlike face, black as an empty night's sky and completely made of a rock-like material. It was stomping and crushing the lives of villagers and visitors still trying to run away. Grabbing villagers nearest to it and squeezed them until their heads popped off their shoulders as it was approaching her direction.
"Crap!"
Kanna yelled, as her eyes widened, her heart beating with the power of a thousand drums and a sharp jolt hit her spine like lightning. She did not realise until she started gasping for breath that she had already started running away.