[Round 12] The Fire - Consumption

[Ryan Horn]

The Fire - Consumption

((Conference Room, Inn on the Moor, Whitby England))

::The hungry creature suddenly burst into life. If it had cared, it might have wondered what brought it into existence. It may have thought of thanking the bipedal creature that fired the phaser that managed to catch the supply closet on fire for giving it life. But it didn't care, and, really, it didn't have brains so it couldn't think.::

::All that mattered was consumption. And quite wonderfully, it had been birthed in a place with plenty of things to consume. It licked hungrily at the chemicals, burning with a hot fury, but they fed without satisfying.: :

::It could feel itself growing in size and power. The more it fed, the bigger it grew. It sent out little pieces of itself, younglings that would also grow big and strong on the chemicals - and the wood the bottles of chemicals had been sitting on. It stretched out its arms, encompassing the room and realized that the whole building was likely made of wood. There would be plenty to eat.::

::It greedily licked at the door, and burst from the room. This place was like an all-you-can- eat buffet. It ran down the antique carpets and lapped at the walls, threatening to destroy everything. Suddenly, it felt pain. It was coming from the ceiling. WATER!::

Fire: Noooooooooooo!

::Water was its antithesis, its arch enemy. How had it found him? It pushed itself bigger, and tried to burn hotter, hoping to evaporate the water before it could hurt. For a second, it thought it might be successful.: :

::Then it ran into something. It was hard and invisible, but it was there - with desperation, the creature realized that it couldn't be consumed. It coughed and sputtered. The water was raining down and it couldn't burn hot enough to quench it. It was trapped and loosing... oxygen. That was it. It needed oxygen but the oxygen was... disappearing. Where was it going? It saved up all its energy, determined to hit the invisible barrier with everything it had, hoping that it could break through. With a final burst, it burned hot and bright, consuming the last of the oxygen in the area. It sputtered and sizzled and went out.::

::Steam hissed up from the charred floor as the sprinkler system drenched the area, cooling it. The supply closet was an empty wreck, a shadow of what it had been before. The few shelves that hadn't been turned to ash clattered to the burnt floor. Broken glass littered the area and shriveled, melted plastic was permanently sealed to some of the boards. Steam and smoke filled the area enclosed by the fire suppression force fields, ensuring that there would be no oxygen to allow the creature to be reborn like the legendary Phoenix.::

::The Inn still stood...::

[Ryan Horn]

Another one relating to the now near burning down of the Inn where the Ronin crew stayed at.

Having watched enough burning buildings, the thought that it had no real intelligence but a voracious hunger really describes any fire well.