Smoking Hot: The Diary of a Fire Demon

by Amy Mah

  AKA Extinct, but some elements, such as Colds and Heats, have it as a secondary ability.

  FYI I am told the testers said I should have this ability, but that was the previous owner of this body. My secondary ability is diary keeping, and judging by the number of blank pages, I suck at that as well.

  Day: 480

  I’ve been playing again with trying to create Fire. Look, if Stone Age man can do it, why can’t I? If I ever sort it out, I will treat Pink to melted marshmallows.

  Day: 481

  I spent like forever trying to explain to Pink what a marshmallow was. I now realize that apart from coming in bags and being pink and white, I also have no idea what they are! More courses on magic start tomorrow… ick!

  Day: 490

  Pink is giving me those funny thinking/listening looks more often now; she used to only do it in class, but now she does it to me when we are alone. Today I got so fed up that I asked her what she was doing, and she said listening. She had to concentrate, as I must think differently than I speak, as she can pick up deeper meanings to some of my weird statements. I asked if she could read my mind, and she laughed. She said no, but when you are close to someone, undertone meanings can be picked up the same way sisters of the same brood can at times think as one. Then she ruined it by saying I am louder than any of her sisters and I shout thought meanings so loudly I must give any passing Mind a headache.

  Smoking Hot: (17)

  The course on element magic was, for a change a course, that started off nice and easy with everyone saying what they were, as if that was not so obvious to everyone anyways. Earths, Lights, Minds, Airs, Dreams, Venoms, Colds, and, of course, Energy, and Heat. Apart from Moas, Alyce did not know any Minds, Dreams, or Venoms socially, as they did not normally do the same sort of combat courses she attended, but she did know a number of Earths as they were the mega-good fighters and all of them could hit far harder than she could. As for the Colds, one of the many names for the Snowflakes, most tried to ignore them.

  The following listing of what a Demon could do proved more handy to know what she should be able to do than to worry about how a mega-powerful Light Demon could zap you with a laser beam by accident, as most just ended up as clerks lighting underground bunkers in the war effort and would be more likely to get killed on purpose by some Ice Demon that should be on your side.

  It did help to know of Clouds and how the Snowflakes teamed up in a special way unique to them; a spell bound them together and created something called a Cloud, and then they were able to pool their powers. A well-formed Cloud could take down any single, high-powered Demon with little problem, and they knew it. They had special classes on group action. She asked about other element Clouds but was told they were tried in the past but were never that stable. Electrics apparently were the only ones that semi-mastered it with something they called a Storm Cloud, and Alyce imagined a thunderstorm and thought it must be something like the way Pink looked when someone tried to steal her food or made a rude remark about the color pink.

  Earths normally stayed in groups. Heats and Electrics used to also work in groups and once made up most of the Queen’s firepower, but that had all changed. Nowadays they acted more as individual attack units. This information sounded like she was going to be used as cannon fodder. Alyce also wondered if the Queen got her war skills from a Dungeons and Dragons game and pitied the poor Earths, as they looked to have taken on the role of Orc, as in “let’s slow the enemy down and send in another mob of Orcs.” Personally, Alyce thought they were the nicest, cutest bunch of Orcs you could hope to meet.

  Alyce found out that basic magic could be done by anyone, and there was a lot of crossing over on who could do what. Your own element was easy to master, but others would find it hard. The best example would be the small viewing windows, a spell that would create a small window that you could then cast spells into. Alyce thought of it as a Kindle or iPad that only Airs and Lights had been given the instruction book for; you knew it could do wonderful things, like making phone calls, but the best you could do was read a book on it. When you tried to do more, you normally ended up dropping it.

  Day: 492

  I got Pink laughing today. I said that if she ever wanted to eat her meat cooked, then I am the roomie to help. She said if she ever wanted indigestion then she would zap it with lightning. I still cannot explain what a marshmallow is, and my best translation for sugar is an edible white sand. I am so not going to try to explain chocolate.

  Day: 500

  And yes, I am the only one in the place who knows we are half way into term 3 of year 1, and no, of course no one apart from me calls it that: only 100 sleeps till the end of the year.

  Day: 510

  My fighting style is changing, or more like being changed for me, as I have been banned from nutting. I am the only person that can do a ballerina spin (others get dizzy if they try) on the spot, creating a lethal tail-slashing curve. That move is still allowed, but I just can’t use it in class, or the Academy, er… or on this side of the planet!

  Day: 511

  I have now dropped one fighting move, which is useless here; kicking and kneeing your opponent between the legs is never that helpful when all your opponents are female! It may be obvious, but growing up with so many brothers, it was locked into my fighting moves skill set, and I have now grown tired of hoping about on one leg due to having my kicking leg trapped between an opponent’s thighs.

  Day: 520

  It was a bit chilly tonight, so I put on a pair of PJs. Looking in the mirror, I could see something that would make a great cartoon, as here I am a horned and tailed Demon girl wearing PJs. It does look funny!

  Day: 522

  I hope Pink is only joking when she says some Demons develop wings. Horns and tails are cool but would be hard to get accessories for back on Earth, but wings! That would ruin the fashion industry on Earth, as wearing tops and bras would definitely be a mega problem.

  Day: 533

  For some reason it feels colder. I would like to wear my PJs to sleep, but I now worry about setting them on fire when having a hot dream. My blanket is already looking more of a burnt brown color than the white it used to be, and it smells very odd in the morning as it sits and smokes in a heap on the floor. Besides, Pink gives it such dirty looks that I am sure she is going to bin it when I am not looking.

  Smoking Hot: (18)

  Pink could not sleep; she felt cold, so throwing the useless blanket to one side, she stretched and yawned. She was naked and loved the freedom, as clothing made her feel trapped. But then, so did living in the Academy. She was a Surface Demon, and her essence was linked to hot desert storms.

  Her roommate was forced to sleep nude for other reasons, and she was still fast asleep, so Pink would not disturb her. Her blanket was on the floor and smoldering, so she was now sleeping on plain stone: possibly a better idea so that she did not cause a fire. Pink wished she could be as warm as her roomie and not just get the munchies from the fumes the smoldering blanket was giving off. She did still take the blanket off her at night, but now Alyce dragged it back on.

  As she wandered onto the balcony and tried to lean over but was pushed back by an invisible barrier spell, she wondered if many students had tried to jump off only to discover that it would be like throwing yourself at a wall and therefore a painful way of not killing oneself. She looked up, and about 40 feet up was another balcony. Movement caught her eye as something was crawling about under it. The barrier spell was designed for students and not bugs or even small creatures, so when everyone was sleeping, small creatures came out to hunt bugs and the like.

  Pink wondered if she could make 40 feet, and if she did, would anyone notice? But the thought of it so close made her tummy rumble as she closed her eyes and let the storm build up inside her. When she next opened them, she was ready and pointed her hand upwards. There was a flash and a crackle as she swung her tail around to pluck out of the air the falling creature: a bug eater 6 inches lo
ng including the barbed tail. She bit off the tail and spat it out. Next she leaned her head back so that she could drop the rest of the creature in, and with a single swallow it vanished. She could at first still feel it fighting for life, but that stopped as soon as it was crushed inside her. Such morsels made life worth living, and she carefully licked the blood off from around her lips.

  Pink was slowly getting stronger. She may have been young, but she now knew she was no minor Electric Demon but something a lot better: maybe one day a Storm. Only 1 in 1000 made it to Storm level. She was developing fast: too fast and too soon. She still carefully made sure the silver did not show in her hair. She let people think she was weak: not too weak, as that was a sure way to get culled, but storms needed to build up slowly. Soon she would be able to kill Ice Demons singly at first then as they cowered together in a Cloud.

  The Queen favored Ice Demons at the moment for her wars, and so they bred in large numbers. Should she talk to Alyce about her thoughts on Fire Demons? They were at one time plentiful and powerful, but then they turned on the Queen and were culled to almost extinction, leaving just a few that never became very powerful. Alyce, she expected, was now the only Heat remaining in the Academy. There had been another one that Alyce had got friendly with, but not anymore, and rumor had it that she had been killed by some Snowflakes.

  Pink looked up at the Sun and could see clearly now the shadow in the bottom corner of it. She knew it was just the start and first warning of the cold times to come; soon she would have to wear something to sleep in, and maybe the uniform would change to replace the skirt with some leggings. With the cold coming, her hot friend would be worth her weight in lizards.

  As she walked back into the room, she made her way to the sleeping form of her roomie. It was so odd, but she felt more connected to this Heat than any of her sisters, and she guessed it was because they shared a common enemy. Their powers, while not fully the same, also did not clash. She knew Alyce was strange, but that was because she was a hot head, and all Heats were a little crazy.

  Pink also knew that Alyce liked her. She would have known if they had been on other sides of the planet; Alyce leaked so much it had at the start given her a headache. Pink was not a Mind, so she could not mind read as such, but thoughts were made from little sparks. She was an Electric Demon, so she could not so much hear as feel a static mumble coming from her friend.

  One year olds were taught not to leak, but Alyce leaked all the time, so perhaps she had forgotten how to mask. If Pink listened really hard when the Heat tried to put over an idea, she could pick up meaning that did not come over with the words. She sometimes felt that she had become addicted to the static mumble, as when they were apart she found herself missing it and struggling to try and hear it.

  She placed one hand on Alyce’s back and sent a small charge through her fingers that made the sleeper sigh in her sleep. She was so warm! A reading of 90++ as a 4 year old? No, it was when she was 3, Pink remembered. That’s high, she thought, maybe too high. Alyce was showing a lot more strands of color in her hair recently, and it was not the Fire Demon orange/red but a lot darker: a blood red.

  Pink ran her fingers through the hair and watched the red color lighten. She let the same number of colored strands show but she would camouflage the shade; something was going on, but it was not something to ask any Moa about, as no one should know what she suspected. And that was her friend’s dormant Battery ability was becoming active, and somehow it was not just Alyce that was able to draw power form it.

  Could being close to her roomie affect her power development? She had not heard of it before. In the past, an Energy or a Heat with Battery ability could create a type of Cloud, but that was when you were the same race. True, Energy and Heat were similar, but they were not the same.

  She had just used a lightning bolt to gain a snack at over 40 feet, and no 4-year-old Sparks should be able to do that.

  Pink curled up around her sleeping friend who had once more covered up with the blanket. She sighed, pulled the blanket from her, and dropped it on the floor before it started smoking like it did every night unless she parted it from her roomie. Tiny little flames were now covering her friend’s back, which Pink thought must be normal for a sleeping Fire Demon.

  She thought they made a good team, as she was fireproof and got cold easily, and her friend was hot and a deep sleeper. As she linked tails, she was now warm; she decided she would have to do this more often. Her friend was odd and too proud a Heat to come over to her for comfort, and she must feel the same loneliness of not having sisters nearby. True, it was nice to have so much space, which was done to force them to become independent.

  She thought that she should not complain, but ever since being born she had had the comfort of her sisters’ tails wrapping around her as she slept. Her crazy roomie may not be a sister, but she was the closest thing to one here, and she liked her friend. From the thought leaking, she knew that her friend also liked her, so producing a pleasant static charge that covered both of their bodies, she snuggled up with the tickling little flames and let her static charge do its work: to help all the hurt and aching bruises mend faster, and to give them both a good sleep. It was only fair in a friendship that you give and take. Was this giving? Or taking? Not that she cared about such crazy thinking, as only her friend worried over such stupid ideas. With that she was once more asleep.

  Smoking Hot: (19)

  Day: 540

  Pink has been acting odd over that last few days. She will not say what is wrong yet. I know there is something on her mind that she is not saying.

  Day: 541

  I confronted Pink, and she says it is the sun being eaten that is upsetting her, and that it will now get colder. She does not like the cold, and she misses her sisters. Now that I know what is wrong, I can help.

  Alyce noticed that the offer of a massage made Pink’s eyes light up. Apparently one thing a Fire Demon is good at is heating up parts of her body, so heating up her hands would be a simple task, if she only knew how. Alyce had wished more than once that her body came with a user’s manual, but she would at least try.

  As Pink lay face down on the floor, Alyce imagined a flame and then mentally moved the flame to her hands. They did not burst into flame but heated up and made Pink sigh when she rubbed her back.

  After a little while Pink was fast asleep, so Alyce covered her with a blanket and went over to her own bed, but before she could sleep she heard a plaintive cry from Pink.

  “You stopped! But I’m still cold!”

  Alyce got back up, warmed her hands, placed one on Pink’s back and waited. Her friend was soon fast asleep again, but upon taking her hand back, Pink moaned. Alyce made a mental note to never have children as she placed her hand back again, getting sleepy herself and very bored with the new title of masseur Demon or even being someone’s personal central heating Demon

  She used her practice stone, a fist-sized stone that she had been using to test her heating skills, and for the first time she succeeded in heating a stone up. She then placed it on Pink’s back to replace her hand and left Pink again asleep. Back in bed, she heated the stone eunder her body then she shut her own eyes and fell asleep herself.

  Day: 542

  Pink asked why when she woke up she had stones in her bed; I told her she must have been sleepwalking and thought it was food to eat.

  Day: 543

  I looked at the sun today, and it is hard to see but there is a bit missing, so this dark time must be some sort of eclipse as the sun never changes its position in the sky. I wish I knew more about astronomy! All I can guess is some planet or moon is going to get between us and the sun, but Pink’s idea of it being eaten by a large snake could be just as true.

  Day: 550

  Only another 50 sleeps till the end of term and the end of a very, verrrrryyy long year. Pink give me one of her one-too-many-bangs-on-the-head type looks; numbers do not mean that much to her, it seems.

  Day: 551 />
  Oh, crap, does my back itch today! I had been rubbing and scratching it with my tail point until Pink pointed out that I looked like I had been flogged.

  Day: 553

  There is an extra-point tag tournament tomorrow, so we will need to get up early, but not before I get Pink to do her magic massage on my shoulders. She said it was normal, which is crap, so I told her to shut up and keep rubbing.

  My back itches most days now, and Pink laughed when she caught me rubbing my back against the wall. I put Dyson in overdrive to check if I have dustcrabs or the like.

  Just to prove I am not all needy, I gave her shoulders a hot finger rub in return. I just know she also has an itchy back but won’t let on.

  The tag fight was not going well. It should have been her in the ring first and not her friend. It was an error on Pink’s part and a bad idea to add magic into the fight against full colors as the Snowflakes had the magic advantage but could only use their magic if the underdogs used it first. Without thinking, Pink blasted the opponent with a static charge when she was hit hard. It was very pretty but not a fight-winning move, as they were fighting full-colored Snowflakes (or Icemaidens, as they chose to call themselves).

  The pole the Snowflake was using in one hand was so cold that it was covered in Ice, and Alyce was sure she was using her other hand to flick small darts of Ice as Pink looked to be in pain and unable to use her own magic. Somehow she could also feel the cold pain of her friend, and her body reacted in the only way a young Fire Demon could, and that was in getting hot.

  Trying to do as Pink said she did, Alyce pictured a ball of energy spinning inside her. Some classes said to relax, and other classes said you should build up at the center and project. Full Fire Demons could project flame from their fingers and not just a few flames to frighten her pet tornado, but that was hard to do when she relaxed and not something to try when facing an invisible fight square barrier. Only a tail could pass through the magic barrier, as they had to touch tails; that was why it was called tail tag fighting.