• “Yeah... This one’s for Aids over there” I yelled into the mic over the howling feedback from the guitars onstage. Our drummer, Aidan, stood up and waved, as the few lights in front of us strobed several different colours into our faces, cutting beams of light through the haze. “It’s called...DARKNESS DESCENDS!!” I hit the opening notes and the hundred- odd crowd roared their approval. Adrenalin rushed through my veins as the crowd in front went crazy. I leant towards the mic and laughed evilly, the music pounding my ears I turned my back on the crowd and strode to the back of the stage. Suddenly our bassist faltered, followed by our lead guitarist. I stopped playing, puzzled, and turned to our lead. “What are you doing, man? Why have you stopped playing?” I shouted in his ear.
    “Look over there Marsh, over there!” he yelled, eyes widening in fear. He pointed towards the middle of the crowd. I turned, dimly aware that the crowd’s cheers had turned to screams. Aids stood up from behind the drum kit and joined me staring at the middle of the crowd. A huge tremor rocked the warehouse, and the large steel roof support beams started collapsing in showers of sparks. The strobe lights cut out, plunging the whole place into darkness.
    “Holy s**t!”
    “Oh my f-“
    In the middle of the crowd a fountain of fire suddenly shot up, and began spreading in a 7 pointed star through the crowd, too quickly to be outrun. It reached the stage with an evil crackling sound and spread towards me. I was paralyzed with shock, watching numbly as the fire swiftly spread towards me. The white- hot flames spread across me with an excruciating pain. As I fell to the floor, convulsing in agony and seeing only red, I discovered I did have enough consciousness left to scream after all.

    “Who’s that?”
    “What, the guy on the floor? Dunno. He’s been there for a few days...”
    “What, just lying there?”
    “Yeah. I reckon he just had way too much to drink...”
    “Dumb alcoholic...”
    The voices faded. ‘A few days? W-what? Where am I? Who am I? Why am I even alive? I shouldn’t be after that unearthly fire...’

    “Err... hello?”
    I felt soft hands on me, checking my pulse. My eyelid was lifted, and light flooded in, half blinding me.
    “Ouch” I tried to say, but it came out as a half- defined croak.
    “Don’t try to talk, OK? You look like you’ve been set on fire, or something.”
    ‘Hm. That sounds about right’, I thought. I was lifted into a sitting position, and some hot liquid was poured down my throat. It made me cough weakly, but it felt wonderful, like someone had put a shot of pure adrenalin in my veins. I cracked my eyes open for the first time in days and found myself staring right into the face of a teenage girl in a white robe.
    “Father, he’s awake” she shouted behind her and turned to face me again. An old man, also in a white robe, came round from behind his daughter and looked at me with concerned eyes.
    “Now... Who are you?” he asked, staring deep into my eyes.
    “M-my name’s-“ I broke off, coughing and spluttering. The girl ran off, and came back a few seconds later with an amber- coloured glass bottle. She tipped it into a spoon and poured it down my throat. It was more of the liquid I’d had before. “I’m called Marsh” I managed to whisper. My parents had been eco- freaks, and had named the entire family after natural landmarks. ‘First chance I got, I’m gonna change my bloody name’ thought a detached part of my brain.
    “I see” said the man thoughtfully. “And do you know where you are?”
    I shook my head mutely, trying to save myself a bit of pain. My throat felt shredded.
    “I see” said the man again. “Well, that is interesting. We’ve been finding these bodies around town, and each one looks like it has been burnt.” The man shuddered. “They seem to have appeared out of thin air, and you’re the first one we’ve found alive.”
    I felt my jaw drop. I was momentarily speechless.
    “All those people... The band... all dead?” I finally managed to stutter.
    “The band?” asked the girl.
    “I think it’s time you told us what you can remember before coming here” said the man. He and the girl lifted me out of my sitting position and onto the hard wooden seat of a cart, which gave me my first look around. I was in the gutter beside a dark, smoky, dingy street with rows of dirty wooden houses belching smoke from the chimneys. No cars, only various types of cart and carriage. The road itself was cobbles, with two deep ruts where countless wheels had weathered it down over time. The man and his daughter sat facing me, and I began telling them everything I could remember.

    The cart rumbled down the street, bumping over the cobbles and sending jolts of agony through my battered body.
    “So, it was Wytchflame” muttered the man to himself, wringing his hands.
    “Pardon?” I asked, puzzled.
    “It’s usually used by warlocks, to obliterate their enemies. Blood magic. Nasty stuff. It looks like in your case it just went totally wrong” said the girl turning pale.
    “I can’t say I’m happy to see apparently ignorant warlocks using Wytchflame” said the old man with a grimace on his face, apparently lost in thought.
    “Erm...” I said, just realising I didn’t know his name. “Sorry, what’s your name?”
    “Oh right! I’m Fenrir Herlassen and this is Inge” he said, snapped out of his reverie.
    “Ok... Fenrir? What’s going to happen to me now?” I asked.
    Fenrir frowned. “I reckon you’ll have to stay a few weeks with us recovering, but I wonder...” he broke off.
    “Yes?”
    “I wonder whether it will be different in your case. You see, the only person who could have possibly survived the Wytchflame would have to be a warlock himself” he finished, staring at me with an unreadable look in his eyes.
    My jaw dropped. Again.
    “I... What... Me... Warlock?” I finally managed to finish.
    “It seems like it” said Fenrir seriously. “Oh, it does happen. People live their lives having absolutely no idea of their powers.”
    “It’s quite sad really” said Inge.
    “I think it’s rather funny” I said, chuckling. “What losers.”
    Inge gave me a playful cuff on the back of my head, which judging from my recent condition, hurt quite a bit.
    “Ouch.”
    “Oh, sorry.”
    The moment of levity passed, and I listened silently to the creaking and rumbling of the dirt spattered cart as it rolled through the town that wasn’t in a much better state, my thoughts returning to all the people who had died. An empty hollow seemed to grow inside me, comsuming my innards, leaving me incapable of any emotion. It was the realization that in this alien country that I didn’t even know the name of, I was alone. Everyone i knew had been taken away. In the back of the cart, I hung my head and cried.