The Fire – Chapter One from Nevermore, Book Three of the Tether Saga
Chapter One – The Fire
Tom pulled on his beaten up brown leather jacket over his worn black t-shirt with the white boxing glove graphic and looked out of the window. Even from his very limited view he could see the orange flicking glow of the fire reflected in the windows of the houses all down the narrow lane of Princes Street. The row homes huddled together glowing an eerie hellish brick-red as the fire grew in its intensity. He knew he couldn’t stand by and do nothing, there had to be people trapped within because there is always people trapped inside burning houses and the Fire Department would arrive too late to help.
Luckily he had the power to help, he had the Gauntlet an artifact of great power hurriedly placed in his charge by his Vigilie when his Custodiet Chapter disintegrated as the SAS stormed the complex. Tom liked to refer to those days as the dark days of his origin story. Why he a lowly Auxilia clerk would be given this device, he did not know. Somehow his Vigilie must have found out that only he could bond with the artifact and in the chaos of the evacuation choose him to safe guard it. At first he tried to ignore the black case, but over time it gnawed at him until finally he broke the wax seals that bound the case shut and placed the Gauntlet onto this hand. It was like it was made for him, the confidence and power it bestowed upon his rotund frame was intoxicating. The Gauntlet over the last two months had allowed him to live out his superhero fantasies; he was Captain Avenger fighting against Doctor Dark and his Ninja minions. Every night he would go out and patrol his city righting wrongs and doing right. Even the local paper had started to call him the Gauntlet, as his often extremely violent vigilante antics made the local news, although he would rather they call him Captain Gauntlet; after all he made great pains in announcing himself to the villains he faced. All he needed was nationwide coverage and he could get his merchandising deal, maybe even a reality show. It was only a matter of time now and he was googling himself every night to see if Captain Gauntlet fever was catching on.
Tom ran his hands over the case and he was already breathing heavy; the case was warm to his touch and the Gauntlet was calling to him. He grinned at his reflection in the mirror as he pulled it on and donned his cowl with the stylized fist icon. His blue eyes looking back at him burned with an inner light, he could feel the power flow through him as the dark gem set into the hand seemed to pulse. He felt invincible, “Time to Punch!” he shouted before leaving his house via the backdoor, it was hero time.
Panting he worked his way through the back alley and entered his street from the far end. He knew from his intimate knowledge of superhero comics that he didn’t want to give his Neighbors a clue who he really was and misdirection was the best way for a hero to keep their identity secret. As he ran towards the blaze he could feel the heat a crowd was already gathered and were just standing around not knowing what to do. Some of them were already pointing at him and he was certain he caught a glimpse of a camera phone.
“Never fear good citizen’s! Captain Punch is here!” he pulled his best heroic pose and do not fear grin.
Tom then took a deep breath trusting the Gauntlet would protect him from harm and ran headlong into the inferno to the collective gasp of all the onlookers.
He felt a flash of heat and then everything turned blue; the air around him cooled down and the flames danced around him. Frantically he looked around the downstairs rooms, the fire wasn’t as intense here yet but the rooms where filling up with smoke. Tom stepped out of the kitchen to work his way upstairs as part of the back bedroom fell through the ceiling. He had to hurry as the entire building was in danger of collapsing – he could feel another presence in the house and he had to rescue them from the inferno.
Tom made his way up the flame covered stairs, it did feel very surreal walking through the fire and not feeling any heat and stepped out onto the landing. The entire upstairs was a blazing inferno and he couldn’t see who could still be alive up here.
“We are very glad you could make it.”
The voice sounded like two people speaking at once slightly out of sync with each other. Startled Tom span around to see a lanky man in a dirty brown long coat and unkempt straggly hair standing in front of him. The man’s eyes were wide and his face was bent to one side with a nervous tic as if he was struggling to contain something. He didn’t seem to be affected by the fire at all.
“Come on,” said Tom stepping towards him. “I’ve got to get you out of here before this place collapses.”
“Yes you are here to save us…” said the man quietly his tick disappearing. “Ledo is ferreus in vultus…”
Tom felt like a wall hit him and he staggered back, “Wha… What was that?”
“Nothing you should concern yourself about,” said the Man grinning lopsidedly before gesturing towards him.
“Ledo is ferreus in vultus…”
This time Tom was knocked flat onto his back and he felt winded, it was like huge hand had slapped him across the face. Puzzled he tried to stand up finding that he couldn’t and he started to feel the heat of the flames. The lanky man scampered towards him before sitting down on his chest and pulled at the Gauntlet, “I believe this is ours.”
With a sucking sound the artifact was removed from Tom’s hand and instantly he could feel the intense heat shearing at his flesh and he started to whimper. The man pulled his face close to Tom’s, “Your foolish antics saved us weeks of divination, we thank you.”
“Plea… Please help me,” whimpered Tom his body burning.
“No, we don’t think so,” said the man standing up putting the Gauntlet on his hand fastening it to a matching vambrace that also was decorated with a dark gem.
“What are you?” croaked Tom looking up into the man’s soulless eyes.”
“A new beginning Tom, a new beginning…” said the man as he dissolved into thin air.
