53 Locked

It took her all of three seconds to set the candle down on the floor and sit down in front of it.

Then she was faced with the absolute quiet and unbearable boredom the Queen had promised her.

She ran her hand through the flame a couple of times experimentally, but the result was nothing she hadn't known for a few weeks already.

Fire couldn't harm her, yes. It could soothe her if she was tired and heal her if she was injured, but that was true for every other Fire Demon out there. What else could the fire do for her? What could it do for her specifically? For her and only her?

Brightise tried every crazy thing she could think of. She spoke to the fire, sang to it, waved her hands around it, danced like silly in front of it. The flame didn't grow any bigger or smaller, nor any brighter or dimmer. No smoke or sparks were produced. That stinking candle remained exactly the same.

The only thing Brightise couldn't try was blowing the flame out. That small source of light was her only hope of getting out of there.

Hours went by as she tried to think of new experiments to test out.

As she got more desperate, she started talking to the flame again. She didn't believe that it was going to work this time around, she just felt better when she thought out loud. Voicing her concern was a good way to vent, even if the only one listening was a candle that refused to cooperate.

"Well, this is nice," she muttered. "I'm going to die before your flame does. Isn't that just amazing?"

Brightise stood up and started pacing around. She walked three full circles around the room and then turned abruptly and acted like she was going to kick the candle down.

"Show me my power, goddamnit!" she yelled.

The candle did not respond to her outburst in any way or fashion.

Brightise groaned in exasperation and dropped down on the floor.

This was a waste of time. How did she know for sure that she had a special power anyway? Just because Clober did and the Queen said so? What did the Queen know? Maybe Fire Powers worked differently than Thunder Powers. Or maybe they worked the same, but she was an exception. No one could answer these questions for her, except a Fire Demon.

Unfortunately, Brightise had only ever met two Fire Demons: the one who had abducted her sister and the one who had killed Syd. Neither meeting had been a good opportunity for conversation.

"This is stupid!" she yelled.

Her sister was being led to slaughter as she stayed in that room, playing the Queen's game.

Well, the Queen had said that she was allowed to find another way out, hadn't she?

She wouldn't technically be breaking the rules...

That's what Brightise told herself as she picked up the candle, walked over to the wooden door and set it on fire.