My body jolted against a vertical metal slab holding me upright in the center of a stone dungeon. The Fireborn had stripped me down to my undergarments, leaving me in a sleeveless white chemise. A cold draft blew through the room with a howl, and I shivered.

Where in Hades am I? How did I get here? 

Rearing my head, I grimaced at the crick in my neck, which must have been dangling like a broken ragdoll. My tongue stuck to the roof of my parched mouth.

Where's Bragda?

With a desperate yank, I tugged at the iron chains binding me to the metal slab, but they didn't budge an inch. "Release," I commanded as I focused on the restraints. The locking mechanism stubbornly refused to shift no matter how much I strained.

"Where in Hades is my sister?" I yelled into the empty room. "You promised me I could see her! You'll die if you don't keep the heart blood oath."

That was a private agreement, came his sinister hiss from nowhere. Not part of the contract.

My blood curdled in my veins. "Please let me see her one last time. Let me explain to her."

The only answer came from machines whirring to life with a cacophony of mechanical sound. Various switches cast an array of colored lights on the granite walls of what seemed like an underground lab. I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the glare.

Stabbing pain in my skull. I groaned.

A hiss came from metal spigots on the ceiling, and my eyes widened in terror. "No, please," I yelled as I tugged in vain against the restraints. "Don't do this! Father!"

The rank smell of disinfectant clashed with the stale air in the dank dungeon. When the fumes burned in my lungs, I began to gag. But to my utter relief, the hiss stopped, and the air cleared.

I was still alive.

"Where is Bragda?" I roared as I tugged against the chains. "Please tell me she's all right."

Stay calm. The rational part of my psyche echoed in the caverns of my mind like a distant, distorted murmur. Just observe.

"Avian sight," I muttered with a flick of my wrist.

My psyche broke away and floated to the ceiling, watching the scene from above. I could feel the astral tether tugging at me, forcing me not to stray any further from my physical form.

Thank the gods! It worked.

My spirit froze in shock when I gazed down at my physical shell.

Covered in grit and ash, my body was dotted in welts as though an acid was burning through it. The Fireborn had shaven my fiery locks. Not a single strand was left on my head, which glowed like a white skull under the unnatural fluorescent light.

My scarred flesh and shorn head were monstrous. My eyes hollow and lifeless.

What had they done to me?

My hazel eyes flashed with fiery hatred. Thanks to the tether, every wave of that anger crested and crashed upon my soul like an ocean of flame.

Father will pay for what he's done.

My unspoken words tasted like bitter ashes in my mouth.

"Shield," I whispered under my breath.

A gray energy field thrummed in front of my hovering spirit, protecting my psyche from my volatile emotions. My physical shell ignored me, not once glancing up at the ceiling.

I gazed around the room, observing my surroundings with cool detachment. The technology came from a land with knowledge far beyond our ken.

Wait a minute. I've seen this all before.

All that time I refused to see the truth.

The vision I had before Induction Day wasn't a fisca at all.

I'd seen the future. The real future. And now I was living it.

Panic raced down my spine like an icy chill. Flashes of memory bombarded me. The black-skinned Wizard. Red, swirling liquid. Searing pain, like giving birth to fire.

Get the chaff out of there, Liselle!

A metallic screech resounded in the chamber and made my skin crawl. The lab door creaked open, and Marcus entered the facility. Dressed in a blue lab coat, Marcus made his way to the counter and prepped his instruments and elixirs without a word.

After several moments of awkward silence, he sighed. "Liselle, please. I beg you to reconsider."

"I won't discuss this with you any further," my physical shell growled in reply. "I will save my friends, but Father will pay for his treachery."

The Wizard grimaced as though my words had caused him physical pain.

No, I won't let you make the same mistake this time, Liselle. You can choose differently.

There's no such thing as an inescapable fate.

Grasping the astral tether, I jumped back into my body with a gasp.

"Marcus!"

"Thank the gods! You're lucid again." He ran towards me and held my hand. "You're like a sister to me, Liselle. I can't do this to you. You're Alicia's best friend. She'll never forgive me."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "If you don't, they'll kill us all."

Marcus clenched his jaw, making the pronounced muscle jump in protest. "I'd rather we all died than face the torture before us."

"How could you say that?"

He ran his hand over my hairless scalp. "Morphing feels like your first astral projection, only a thousand times worse."

I grimaced, recalling the horrific pain of that day.

"They strip your soul away," he continued, "piece by piece like skinning you alive until there's nothing left for the Tree of Life to find."

I balked.

"Over time, you don't feel anything. Just rage and anger. Only vile, aggressive emotions." He swallowed audibly. "They administer a chemical that consumes parts of your prefrontal cortex."

I gasped. "How do the patients survive?"

"Many don't," he replied. "Those who do survive become mindless Fireborn drones. Only a chosen few don't have the extra treatments. Like me. We keep our minds and a sliver of our souls. In some ways that's worse because I remember what I lost."

"This isn't possible," I said as my body began to tremble. "Tell me it isn't possible."

"And that's when the physical changes begin."

"Why haven't people resisted?" I whispered. "Surely--"

"They torture you if you step out of line," he insisted. "A few of us planned and executed a brilliant escape."

"What happened?"

"They died of multiple hemorrhages. Didn't even get a hundred feet away."

"The heart blood curse."

He nodded.

The entrance to the lab slammed open, and another Wizard entered the lab dressed in black leather armor and a black cape. His black snakeskin and silver horns shone under the light.

The Wizard from my vision. I knew those gray eyes.

Peter.

He must have found the Lost Fireborn!

"Leave us," the new Wizard barked.

Marcus' face blanched to a pale lavender. "The lieutenant ordered me to--"

"New orders!" Peter's eyes glistened like serrated steel. "The Creator sent me since you're too weak to see this through."

Marcus glared at Peter and clenched his jaw. "Please, change your mind, Liselle," he whispered to me before he backed down and exited the lab.

The new Wizard inserted a syringe into a glass vial and drew a portion of red elixir, which he injected into a different glass jar filled with a saline solution. The serum swirled and danced through the salty liquid until the contents resembled diluted blood.

He walked over to me, hung the glass jar from a metal hanger, and wrapped a rubber device around my bicep.

"Peter?"

No, it couldn't be him. Peter would never mindlessly obey Father's wishes--unless his new form imprisoned his soul as well. Ice crawled down my spine.

"Liselle Carolina Alta, are you prepared to join the ranks of the Fireborn?" he asked in a terse voice.

I glared at the Fireborn Wizard.

"You have one last chance," he said. "I need your active consent, or the heart blood curse will kill you."

That was my last chance to die with bravery. My last chance to take a stand.

But I failed.

I couldn't die knowing Bragda was still at Father's mercy.

"I am ready," I whispered, jutting my chin.

"You will have never known pain like this before," the Wizard said as he probed the crook of my arm for a suitable vein. "Even stalwart barbarians writhe in agony."

My hands and feet turned ice-cold and clammy. Please, Mother Nature, give me strength.

He lowered his voice to a whisper. "But you're not alone."

"Peter?"

"Shh, they're watching us. I have a plan."

Squeezing my eyes shut, I spoke in a loud, clear voice. "I'm not afraid."

"Once we begin, there's no turning back," he whispered in a tremulous voice. "Do you understand?"

"Just do it," I said through clenched teeth.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I never wanted this to happen. They lied to both of us."

Peter jabbed my vein with the needle, and I didn't even flinch. He released the valve, and the stream of red liquid traveled through a flexible tube until it entered my body.

A sudden surge of stabbing pain rushed through me as though I was being skinned alive. The sensation intensified until it felt like I'd been impaled with a spear of burning flame.

Fireborn. Born of fire. A chemical inferno scorched my veins.

Don't panic!

My breathing became erratic, and I began to hyperventilate. Writhing in agony, I struggled against the restraints. A ragged groan came from my throat, so animalistic and monstrous that I couldn't believe it came from me. The sound echoed from the depths of my soul.

"Gods, I can't! Please!"

The Wizard cupped my cheek. "It'll all be over soon. Be strong, my love."

"Hold my hand, please," I whispered as my body began to tremble and convulse. "Stay with me."

Peter clasped my hand in both of his and whispered, "I'm here."

The pain stabbed me like a thousand knives ripping my soul to shreds until I couldn't hold back my screams. Tension built within my chest until it could no longer withstand the pressure.

My soul exploded into a thousand fragments of black ether.