"Bang!"
We both crashed through the door, our coats preventing us from coming into contact with the fire.
"Where do we go next?"
Litch questioned from next to me.
I tried to figure out the way, but the fire had already caused major damage to the interior, making it hard to figure out the path.
'Hah, damn. Where do we go! Think!'
My eyes darted around before I spotted what seemed to be the entrance to the kitchen.
"There! In front slightly to the right beyond those flames."
I pointed it out, while steeling myself to charge through.
We both gritted our teeth and tried to cover as much skin as possible with our coats before we ran through it.
With adrenaline coursing through us, we made our way to the kitchen, suffering minor injuries.
I used my coat to quickly pat the area on my pants which had caught fire.
However, to my dismay the back door was blocked by a few fallen debris, making it impossible to exit through the door.
"Shit! What now Amon?!"
"Uh, uh."
My heart raced as I thought of another solution, which was getting harder and harder as time went by due to me inhaling too much smoke.
'Upstairs? Yes upstairs!'
"We will go up to the second floor, break a window and jump out."
"What?! You--Argh never mind, lets go!"
Litch, also seeing no other option, listened to me as we ran back through the fire to where we came from.
Back in the living room, we spotted the staircase going up.
We bolted towards it as I went up first. Step by step we made our way up until the last stair beneath Litch gave out, breaking apart.
"AHHHH!"
Luckily I reacted in time and gripped his hand before he fell all the way down.
I leaned my body back to counter his weight as I pulled with all my strength to bring him back up.
"Don't let go!"
"I won't so quickly get a grip and get up!"
I felt my right arm start to lose strength due to the gunshot wound I received earlier.
"I can't hold on for much long!"
He then finally managed to grab the floor, pulling himself upwards. With our combined strength, he managed to make it to the second floor.
"Huff, huff."
We both rested for a few seconds, huffing non-stop.
"To the bedroom!"
I made my way to the room in front of us, kicking the door down.
The inside of the room was almost completely engulfed in flame but it was still possible to reach the window.
We both ran forward, but just before we could reach it, I felt something heavy slam onto me from above.
"Hah!"
I fell to the ground, unable to get back up as I felt a searing heat emitted from my back.
'Don't tell me.'
I turned my head a little and, to my dismay, I was pinned down by a piece of debris which had fallen from the ceiling.
"Amon!"
Litch cried out in panic from behind me as he wrapped his coat around his hand, trying to lift the piece of wood up.
I too pushed from below in an attempt to escape.
'Why is everything that could go wrong going wrong? It is like the world is trying to actively kill us!'
Pushing past the pain, I slowly got pushed up from the floor, the wood also rising from the combined efforts of Litch and me.
"ARGHHHH!"
As I fully stood up, we both pushed the wood aside, clearing the path once more.
I however fell back to the ground in pain, as a patch of clothes on my back was completely on fire.
Litch tried his best to put out the fire using his own coat, smacking it onto my back which only sent more pain down my spine.
"Could you hit softer!"
"If I did the fire wouldn't go out! Or would you prefer to remain on fire the whole escape out the window."
I gritted my teeth at his words as I pushed back the intense nausea rising from within me.
Once the fire was put out, Litch ran to the window and punched it with his coat-wrapped hand.
It shattered into many pieces, creating a small hole, which Litch continued to kick at to prevent any sharp protruding shards from piercing us as we jumped through.
"Lets go!"
We both hugged each other as we jumped off in an attempt to mitigate the impact from the fall.
In normal circumstances this would be useless, but in this case we were landing on a lawn instead of a hard pavement, which also helped absorb the impact.
"Bang!"
We both crashed into the ground, groaning in pain.
"Hah. I think I broke my arm.."
"Tsk. I think I broke my leg..."
We both slowly got up as I supported Litch with my left arm, as my right was now not only shot by a police officer but broken by the fall.
Litch hobbled forward under my support as we finally saw the exit to another street in front of us.
Police officers and civilian volunteers there immediately spotted us falling from the building.
They were momentarily shocked but a few ran forward trying to support us.
"The hell? How did you two get up there?"
"Two people, grab the young man in the suit and support him, his leg is broken!"
"The brown-haired man looks like he is about to faint, grab him!"
We were both quickly surrounded by people who dragged us out of the danger zone.
Finally, we were safe.
The voices of everyone around me sounded muffled as my ears rang.
But I had a huge smile on my face.
Litch at first was wearing an extremely angry expression, but after seeing mine his expression could not help but soften and eventually turn into a faint smile.
"Tsk. You stupid mama's boy, if only you weren't so blind to not recognise a completely destroyed house we would not be in this mess."
"But we are alive aren't we?"
At my words we both started to laugh maniacally, which caused the surrounding people to give us weird glances.
***
In a two-story office in a random street.
A man sat in complete darkness with only a small gas lamp by his side to illuminate the room.
He was reading a telegraph that was recently sent to him.
"Information about a rogue visionary in my town.... this could be troublesome."
In his hands was a pipe which he smoked from as he leaned further back into the chair.
"I have a bad feeling about this... a really bad feeling. The amount of spiritual energy in the area has risen considerably in the past two days."
"I am almost sure. There is definitely another visionary, at minimum a grade two here and they are using their ability right now."
His brows were furrowed, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the table.
"Mr. Carrow! May I enter? This is extremely important."
From beyond the door, the voice of a young girl could be heard, worry evident in her voice.
"You may enter."
Bursting through the door she quickly ran towards Thomas Carrow who was seated in his chair.
"Fire! The houses near Blackthorn Street were just burnt down in a huge fire. In fact the whole residential area around there is already in ashes and they are barely able to contain the fire!"
"They are already calling this the worst fire we had in forty years!"
At Emily's words, Thomas's face instantly darkened.
"I heard that Amon lives near there! We should visit to make sure he is ok."
"..."
"Uh Mr. Carrow?"
"Yes... I should indeed..."
He then stood up from his chair, placing his pipe onto the table and putting it out.
"Great then lets go--"
"No. You stay, I will go alone."
"Why?"
Without answering, he just stepped out of the room.
Emily, seeing this, breathed out a soft sigh and shook her head.
"I will never understand him sometimes."
***
Time quickly passed by as we both were brought far from the fire and treated at a makeshift hospital in the middle of Blackthorn Street.
Litch was lying down on a piece of cloth as he got his leg wrapped up by a doctor.
Me on the other hand had my right arm being wrapped up while my left was cuffed to a street pole.
This was due to me firing my gun earlier, which caused the police officers to be wary of me.
The best part of all this was that I was finally reunited with my mother.
"Amon!"
"Mother..."
We both stared at each other in silence for a while before she ran up to me and embraced me.
"Why did you run in carelessly like that Amon?"
"It was because I thought you were inside... I wanted to save you."
"Oh my dear boy!"
I was crying as I placed my head onto her shoulder, fully embracing her warmth.
She slowly patted my head as tears started to flow from her eyes also.
"Mother I love you."
"Amon I love you too."
With that we both cried next to one another as the world passed by around us.