Chapter 3: The flames of anger!

Sal found himself floating inside a void of emptiness feeling nothing other than weightlessness, drifting through what seemed like an infinity of nothing.

However, all dreams must come to an end and the time for this one was up.

Snapping upright Sal took in his surroundings, feeling a little foggy from the past events.

Sal could see he was still inside of the fancy hotel, having been sleeping in a huge bed.

"Ah good, you have awakened sir," Flavio said as he entered the room a moment after.

The memories of what had happened came flooding back to Sal, including the crazy part about the ring and fire.

"What the hell!" Sal shouted, looking at the ring as the memory flashed in his mind, quickly trying to take the ring off of his finger.

Flavio watched as he attempted to remove the silver ring, only to fail in all of his attempts, no matter how hard he tried.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Lord Salvator," Flavio said as he pulled a chair towards the end of the bed to sit on it.

"Why won't this blasted thing come off!" Sal shouted, trying with all of his might to pull the ring off.

"I'm afraid the only way to get that ring off now, is if you die," Flavio said, shrugging his shoulders as he did.

Sal looked at him, feeling very angry right now.

"And you failed to mention that part how!" He said, feeling his anger burning inside of him.

Suddenly blue flame burst from the ring, igniting it on his finger.

"Ah, it's on fire!" Sal said, not knowing what to do.

"Calm down sir, the ring is only responding to your anger and frustration right now," Flavio said.

Sal stopped waving his hand around and instead took a deep breath doing his best to calm down, which caused the flame to get smaller before it went out.

"It worked..." Sal said, shocked that it had done so.

In fact, shocked wasn't even the word he would use right now, as all of this just seemed insane.

"Now that you have unlocked the power of your birthright, we will make the nessacary arrangements to head to HQ, where we can announce your candidacy to the rest of the family," Flavio said, seeming excited by this whole thing.

"HQ? Go and do what?" Sal said still not getting it.

"Hang on a second here, I can't just up and leave, I have a job, I have a life!" Sal said, suddenly going quiet as he said it, thinking about how terrible his life actually was.

Flavio stayed quiet, understanding his situation.

"Please, take a day or two to come to terms with what is happening. I can understand that all of this must be a little overwhelming for you." He then said, surprising Sal.

"I need out... I just want to go home." Sal said, not being able to process anything else, feeling as if his mind was fried.

Flavio sighed, closing his eyes for a moment before he clicked his fingers.

The door opened soon after, with two men dressed in black suits coming into the room.

"Yes sir?" They asked, waiting to be told what to do.

"Master Salvator would like to return home," Flavio said, getting a nod from the men.

"I will prep the car at once." One of them said as he dismissed himself.

Sal was surprised that this was happening and looked at Flavio.

"You mean I can go?" He asked.

"But of course, you are the boss now." He said with a smile.

"Please sir, follow me when you are ready." The other man said extending his arm for Sal to follow.

Sal looked at Flavio again and then back to the man, quickly getting up and heading for the door.

"Make sure you get some rest sir, oh and try not to kill anyone," Flavio said as Sal reached for the door handle, causing him to flinch, not understanding yet another thing he said.

"Just take me home!" Sal shouted as he opened the door and walked out into the hallway, seeing that it was lined with more men, all dressed in the black suits they all wore.

"Sir!" They all said, coming to attention before him, shocking him as he looked at them feeling dumb.

"Y-yeah like I said, just take me home," Sal said, watching as the man who was escorting him nodded.

"Of course sir, follow me." He said, leading him down the hallway and towards the lift.

Flavio watched as he left, folding his arms over his chest as he looked at the door knob.

It had been a perfectly round gold-painted metal doorknob, but now it was a crushed bit of metal, having suffered the grip of Sal, who had not realised his own strength yet.

"Sir, was it really wise to allow him to leave?" Another member of the group said, seeming a tad concerned.

"I think it will be very entertaining to watch what happens from here no out," Flavio said as he unfolded his arms and pulled out his packet of cigarettes.

"Make sure you keep an eye on him with the drones, I don't want to miss a thing." He then said as he struck a match, lighting his cigarette and taking a large breath of smoke.

"Of course sir." The man said, giving him a nod before he left to make the preparations, leaving Flavio alone.

"Things are about to get very interesting from here." He said, seeming excited as he took another drag on his cigarette, looking out of the large window at the city below.

"Very interesting indeed..."

Sal now found himself in the back seat of a blacked-out range rover, seeming to be a top-of-the-line model with a private plate.

He looked out of the tinted window, watching the busy streets as they made their way through the city centre, heading east back towards his home.

Sal hadn't realised how late it was until he looked at the digital clock in the back of the car, knowing he had been absent from work all day.

"My boss is gonna kill me." He thought as he leaned back, letting his head bang softly against the headrest, trying to make sense of everything that had happened.

But no matter how much he thought about it, it all seemed like one big crazy dream.

Sal took a deep breath and slowly leaned forwards, holding his hand up so he could look at the silver ring on his finger.

"Is what Flavio said about this thing really true..." He whispered to himself, looking intently at the engravings on the ring.

He could see that they were some sort of words, but it was written in a language he had never seen before, further spiking his curiosity.

Sal suddenly felt the car coming to a slow stop, seeing that they had arrived at their destination.

"We have arrived, sir." The driver said, looking into the mirror so he could see Sal.

"Y-yeah, thanks..." Sal said as he opened the car door to let himself out.

The man didn't say anything as Sal got out of the car and shut the door behind him, not turning to look back as he headed towards his block of flats.

It was late now, and the sun was starting to set, causing the large tower block flats to shadow over the ground as Sal headed over to the entrance.

He had been lucky that no one had seen him arrive in the car, being able to slip into the building without drawing any unwanted attention, as he felt exhausted and just wanted to get in bed.

Sal made his way up the stairs, leading to the top floor where he lived, finding his front door before he rooted around in his pocket for his key. Sal put the key into the door suddenly realising that the door was already open.

"What the hell, didn't I lock it this morning?" He said to himself, opening the door slowly so he could peek inside.

Sal could hear voices coming from the living room. So he slowly shut the door and made his way in.

"There you are, Sal!" A voice suddenly said as its owner appeared from the kitchen.

"Sal recognized the man as one of fat Tony's men, clearly helping himself to the fridge.

"Tell you what tho lad, you gotta get some better scran in here, there's fucking nothing to eat man." He said as he walked through into the living room.

Sal sighed as he slowly followed, having forgotten he was supposed to meet fat Tony to pay his due earlier today.

"Well here he fucking is, fuck me lads I thought he had done a runner!" Fat Tony said as he stood to his feet with his arms open.

He was a large man, standing at around six foot four, and built like a brick shit house to boot. Why they called him fat Tony, Sal would never know.

"S-Sorry Tony... I had a thing." Sal said, not sure what to say.

"Ah don't worry about it laddy," Tony said as he walked over towards him, towering over him.

"Just pay us what you owe, and we will be on our way." He said, waiting for Sal to give him his money.

Sal gulped, looking up at the large man as he tried to think of something to say.

"I-I don't have the money..." Sal said, looking down at the floor.

Tony sighed taking a step away as he turned around.

"Ahh, kid..." He said as he rubbed his hand over his skinhead in frustration.

"Ya know kid, your mum never missed a payment. She always paid on time without any trouble... I know it's not easy, with her accident and all, but this is the second time you have missed a payment." Tony said, taking a cigarette off of one of his guys.

"You know Sal, I can't just leave empty-handed." He said as another of the boys in the room lit the cigarette for him, moving to the side once he was done.

Sal looked around the room, seeing the others smile as they already knew what was going to happen.

"I mean, what kind of example would I be setting if I let you off for a second time," Tony said, blowing a small cloud of smoke towards Sal.

"Tony wait, I can get the money!" Sal said, trying to think of a way out of this mess.

Tony sighed, looking him up and down.

"I reckon a broken arm should do it..." Tony said, taking another drag of his fag.

Sal's eyes opened wide as he said the words, threatening to break his arm.

"Jonny, do the honours," Tony said, putting the cigarette out on the small table that was in the living room, leaving a burn mark on it.

Sal looked over to Jonny as he stood up, wearing his black hoody that he always wore.

"Yeah boss, whatever you say," Jonny said as he got ready, pulling out the crowbar he had under his sleeve.

Sal couldn't believe this was going to happen, here he was inside his own apartment being threatened by these thugs over money.

"No..." Sal said, feeling his anger start to build inside of him.

Tony looked at Sal, raising an eyebrow as he heard him say something under his breath.

"What was that kid, got something to say?" He asked, waiting to see if he had the balls to talk back to him.

Jonny was also a little surprised, watching and waiting to see what Tony wanted to do as he stood in front of Sal.

"Well speak up kid, if you have something to say, don't keep it to yourself," Tony said, looking at Sal with a smile.

Sal could feel his anger growing and growing, almost burning inside of him, feeling the heat rise through his core, down his arms and into his fists.

"I... I..." Sal Said, muttering his words.

"Yeah, whatever brav!" Jonny suddenly shouted as he swung the crowbar towards Sal's head, expecting it to crash off the side of his skull.

Sal watched as the weapon came swinging towards him, watching as it seemed to be moving in slow motion.

"So slow... I can see it."

Sal reached his hand up and caught the bar, stopping Jonny's attack in it's tracks and taking everyone by surprise.

"What the hell!" Jonny shouted, shocked by the impressive defence Sal had just displayed.

Everyone else in the room was also stunned into silence, not believing what he had just done.

Jonny tried to pull his crowbar free of Sal's grip, only to find that he couldn't budge it.

"Let go fam!" Jonny shouted as he pulled with all of his strength, but Sal refused to let go, seeming as if he wasn't even trying.

Suddenly the crowbar around Sal's hand started to glow red, travelling down the metal bar towards Jonny's hands.

"Arghh! Fuck!" Jonny yelled as he suddenly let go of the metal bar, waving his hands in the air as he tried to cool them down.

"Shut the fuck up man!" Tony shouted, growing annoyed at his antics.

"I don't know what you are playing at laddy, but it stops now. Get him, boys." Tony said, giving the order for the others to attack him.

Sal watched as the others got up and started moving towards him, feeling his body brace itself as he dropped the red hot bar in his hand.

"Get out of my house..." Sal said, finally having had enough.

"I said get the fuck out!" He suddenly yelled, finally letting his rage spill out, setting his ring and both hands ablaze with blue flames.

"Yo yo yo brav, what the fuck is that!" One of the guys said, not believing his eyes.

"He's on fucking fire guv." Another said, backing away a little.

Even fat Tony, the so-called hard man was put on his back foot as he stared at Sal, feeling an overwhelming urge to run at the sight of him.

"I don't know what this little fucking magic trick is, but it doesn't scare me!" One of the other men said, pulling out a knife from his back pocket and running towards Sal with it, fully intending to stab him with the large blade.

Sal watched again in slow motion, slowly raising his hand towards him before he spoke.

"Disappear," Sal said, urging the flames in his hands to burst forwards towards him, engulfing him in a blast of blue fire.

The boy let out an agonizing scream, dancing around the room for a second before he collapsed to the ground in silence, still surrounded by the blue fire as it cooked his body to a crisp.

Everyone watched in horror at the sight, having never seem anything like it.

"H-H-He set him on fucking fire!" One of the others said, shaking in concern as he said it.

Tony didn't know what in the name of hell was going on, or how he had done it. All he knew was that he didn't want to be burnt alive like him, knowing he had to try and get out some way.

Sal watched the boy collapse, still burning from the blue flames that he had set upon him.

"I did that... This is my power..." He said, looking at his hand that was still surrounded by the bright blue flame.

"It's not hot..." He said to himself before turning his attention back to the others.

"He killed Luke!"

"Let's get the fuck out of here!"

The group was quick to start panicking, and rightly so as they had watched their friend burn to death.

Sal watched as they started trying to run through into the kitchen to head towards the hall and out the front door.

"I don't think so," Sal said, turning his attention to them, raising his hand again and causing them to all freeze.

"No Sal! Come on pal, you know we didn't mean any harm!" Jonny shouted, begging for his life.

"It was all fat Tony! Come on Sal, you know it!" Jonny shouted, pleading for his life as he looked like he was about to cry.

Sal was past the point of caring, as his anger had already taken over, knowing there was nothing any of them could say now that would change his mind.

"Burn in hell," Sal said as he clicked his fingers, willing him to set on fire.

Jonny screamed as his body was suddenly engulfed by the blue flames, melting the flesh off of his bones in an instant.

The others all screamed, this time making a move for the exit as quickly as they could, pushing and shoving past each other as they all scrambled.

All apart from fat Tony, who stood his ground, watching Sal with interest.

Sal let the others make it past him into the hall, heading towards the front door as the first of them grabbed the door handle, trying to open it.

"Where are you going?" Sal said as he suddenly let another burst of blue flames loose, watching as they flew down the hallway and hit the group of screaming men, killing them like the others and setting the entire hallway on fire.

The smoke alarms had also started to sound now, beeping loud over and over again, leaving only Tony and Sal left in the room that was now on fire.

Sal turned his attention back to Tony, giving him a dangerous look.

Tony slowly pulled out his pack of cigarettes, placing one into his mouth as he had seemed to accept his fate.

"Ya know kid... This life, it's a dog-eat-dog kind of world... And there is always a bigger dog out in the yard somewhere." He said, looking for his lighter.

"I suppose it's too much to ask for a light?" He then said, seeming to have let go of all his fear.

Sal smiled at his question.

"Allow me." He said, pointing his hand at Tony and willing his flames to unleash.

The blue fire burst forwards from Sal's hand, fully engulfing Tony, causing him to give only one scream in pain before he too dropped to the floor as nothing but a set of burning bones, leaving Sal left alone in his burning flat surrounded by the bones of those he had burnt alive.