[ WP ] fire is a manifesting force that can only be put out through hand to hand combat . You are training to become a firefighter

Lydya sat cross legged in the center of the firepit, feeling the tongues of flame flicker against her skin. She was meant to be meditating, and if any of the other students had glanced her way, that's what it would appear she was doing. She was less certain that her stillness would be enough to fool Teacher, but he had n't called her out on it thus far. 
 
 The exercise was designed to get the students to a place where they could forget the burn of the fire even in the moments it kissed them. The idea was to train them, so that they could become better firefighters, one day capable of beating any blaze into submission without being distracted by pain. But Lydya did n't want to forget the pain, she wanted to feel it. She knew, it would not stop her. It would make her stronger. 
 
 No one had ever seen someone fight the fire the way Lydya did. Everyone knew the fire was more than it seemed, that it had evolved into a living thing that needed to be beaten to be subdued. Or at least, they said they knew. But only Lydya treated it like the living beast it was. 
 
 Lydya knew how to dance with the fire. To make it bend the way she wished, spread the direction she wished- all it took was a carefully placed series of strikes for the fire to flinch away from her, or a few unexpected caresses to draw it near. Lydya knew had to curl the fire in on itself, so that its tendrils might suffocate under one another's weight. 
 
 Lydya knew how to make the fire fear her, and the people around her sensed it. They grew to fear her too. 
 
 She wished she could make the people understand- there was nothing strange about her, she'd only figured out what should have been obvious to them all- that fire was a thing meant to be harnessed. That it was mankind ’ s destiny to claim it as a tool to enhance their world. 
 
 Silently, Lydya fluttered her hand, fanning a young flame that had bloomed beside her in the firepit, helping the flame to grow until its wisp was tall and its heart burned blue. Smiling, in one quick motion she brought down her palm and smothered it. 
 
 She met Teacher ’ s eye. 
 
 The tests were coming soon, and those would determine who would go on to fight on the front lines of The Great War with the Neverending Inferno, the fire that had been consuming the west half of their nation ’ s lands since long before Lydya had been born. This was what Lydya had been working for all these years- she could practically smell the way her skin would crackle as she battled back the flames, her arms and legs raining down a never ending stream of blows. 
 
 But first, there was the question of if she would even be allowed to take the tests. 
 
 There had been talk. Around the academy, even amongst the higher ups. It was clear to everyone that Lydya was gifted, but also that she was strange. She made people uncomfortable. They didn ’ t understand how she did the things she did with fire, and when she tried to explain they only grew more uneasy. They weren ’ t sure they ’ d let Lydya take the test, that they ’ d take her to fight the Neverending Inferno. They weren ’ t sure what would happen if Lydya was allowed to interact with that much flame. 
 
 After the lesson in the firepit, Teacher pulled her aside. He told her a story, a warning- from a time before the fire lived. Back when fire was mindless, burned without soul or direction. When mankind easily used it in precisely the way Lydya had always believed they could. When simply water was enough to defeat its force. He told Lydya of a woman who had breathed life into the fire, and taught it to be more, trained the fire to obey her commands. When the people of her land saw her dance with the fire, they were frightened. They killed the woman. And so the fire rebelled, and began consuming the Earth. And so the Neverending Inferno began. 
 
 People had seen Lydya dance with the fire, just the way the woman once had. It made them uneasy. 
 
 The day of the test came, and Lydya was allowed to take it. She did not know how to be less than what she was, despite Teacher ’ s warning, and she frightened all who saw her. Lydya would not be allowed to see the Great Inferno, no. 
 
 Lydya would not be allowed to live. 
 
 Lydya would be sacrificed by fire, as was the way of the firefighters. She would be afforded that dignity, at least. But her arms and legs were bound, and she was tied and hoisted up on a stake- they could not risk her fighting the fire into submission. But what they did not know is Lydya did not need her arms or legs- she had the flutter of her eyelids, the tilt of her head, the pucker of her lips. With these alone Lydya soothed the fire, she eased it, she convinced it to fear her and flicked it in the direction she desired. It ate away at her binds, and Lydya became free. 
 
 Lydya burned the academy to the ground, and in the confusion she and her Teacher escaped. 
 
 Many towns over, but not nearly far enough, Teacher secured Lydya passage to the borderlands. From there, she could walk straight into the Neverending Inferno. No one would be there to stop her- for who would want to try what she intended to try? Lydya bid Teacher farewell. She would never see him again. 
 
 Lydya would tame the Inferno. She would teach it not to fear her, but to love her. She would spend her days dancing amidst its burn, where she belonged. Lydya realized the foolishness of thinking mankind should harness the fire, that they could use it as their tool. They did not deserve the fire, they did n't understand it. None of them. 
 
 The fire was free. And now, so was she.
