The Ghost of Fire

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. When this candle lit up, scratches could be heard across the glass surface of the window. It was a dark and stormy night when two characters appear. Both wearing raincoats obscuring their faces, one significantly taller than the other one, the shorter one leading the way.

“Are we there yet?” asks the taller one.

“In fact we are,” answers the shorter one as he points towards the log cabin as lightning flashes, “Inside that cabin is where we’ll meet your mentor. If you’re going to survive, you’ll need all the knowledge you can get on the Dark Arts.”

The thunder sounds from the lightning as soon as he says that. They continue walking as the taller one asks, “And why aren’t you teaching me?”

“Kid, I’m a terrible teacher. Believe you me, you’re better off with this guy than you are with me.”

They enter the cabin, the door creaking as it opens, with its lights completely dim except the one candle burning in the window. The shorter one completely closes the door and puts a panel in front of it, locking it. He takes off his raincoat revealing a short, stout black man. He notices the candle burning and comments, “Oh, this place is haunted.”

“Haunted!?” practically screams the taller one.

“Keep your voice down, it’s not a good idea to disturb the dead,” warns the shorter one.

“You literally raise zombies,” argues the taller one.

“That’s completely different. I’m just making corpses move, not dealing with the spirits of the dead.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Whether or not a soul is involved. Now take off your raincoat, your new mentor should be here by morning.”

Thunder sounds as the taller one takes off his raincoat revealing messy brown hair. He hangs it up on the coat rack and walks over to the candle.

“Be careful there. Plenty of ghosts occupy candles and those ghosts usually have a bad habit of draining your life force,” warns the shorter one.

The taller one gulps and walks away from the candle slowly. The flame crackles as the shorter one says, “Some ghosts are friendly and even help passersby. Others attempt to either suck the living lifeforce out of you and take your spirit to Hell. There’s no in between.”

“And how do we know which one this is?”

“Simply, we leave it the hell alone and hope for the best.”

The taller one says sarcastically, “You are really inspiring a load of confidence here.”

The short one walks into a different room. He comes back out with a couple of sleeping bags and tosses one towards the tall one who catches it. “That’s your sleeping bag for the night. Now rest up, you’ve got a long day ahead of you tomorrow.”

Scratches could be heard coming from the window. Mike, the short one comments, “Ok, so that answers what kind of ghost that is.” He pulls out a dagger and asks casually, “You want to be the blood sacrifice to appease it?”

The tall one, who goes by the name of Zack, practically yells out, “No way! Keep that dagger away from me.”

Mike puts up the dagger and says, “It was only just a joke, mostly.”

Now Zack is a little more convinced that Mike isn’t the right person to teach him. The raindrops could be heard hitting the roof on the outside. A little bit further in, a water drop from the roof leaking could be heard. Zack heard this unceremonious drop and panics, “What’s that?”

“Just a leak. Speaking of leaks,” says Mike before he leaves the room to use the can. While the sound of running echoes across the place, Zack unrolls his sleeping bag and wonders why they aren’t using beds. Surely, there must be beds in here. Suddenly, he hears a scream. He runs over to the John where the scream was coming from, and Mike was nowhere to be found.

“Oh crud, the spirit dragged him to Hell!” stammers Zack.

The scratching echoes across the house. More candles suddenly alight, including a couple in the bathroom. Those two’s flames erupt and take the shape of Mike screaming in damnation. A voice echoes across the house, “All those who trespass on these hallowed grounds are doomed to Hell forevermore. Lest your heart as black as night, all light shall leave thy sight.”

“Heart as black as night?” Zack trembling in fear. “Does this mean one has to be pure evil to live here?” The flames form a hand and attempt to grab Zack who starts screaming and running like a coward. He tries to get out the front door, but it’s locked. “Come on! Open up! OPEN UP!” More hands of fire erupt from the flames and he closes his eyes not wanting to look and then it hits him. He opens up his spellbook and rapidly scrolls through it and finds what’s he looking for, but “I don’t have time to draw the spell circle.” He runs narrowly avoiding the hands. Zack finds himself in the kitchen as the flames in the Living Room coagulate into a giant flaming skeleton that barely fit in that room. The skull looks in at him as hands form from two candles in the room. Noticing the fridge behind him, he opens it and finds some ice which he tosses at the flaming hands and a white crystal. “This might work,” he stutters out as the flaming conglomerate places it hand on the doorway and enters the room.

“In the dawn of time, ice ruled all. Heat came in, and melted the ice. Let the ice from long ago reign supreme, and set this area back into an eternal frost!” The crystal glows as a blizzard bursts forth from Zack. The fiery golem screams in agony as it begins to freeze. He begins to read another set of lines, “Nullify all flames, render their existence meaningless in the coming of the second ice age!” The golem completely freezes and collapses shattering. Ice covers the entire house completely dousing any flames remaining. The ghost appears in front of him as the crystal shatters. “Oh poo. Must this happen every time?” says the young, child ghost.

“You’re-”

“Don’t need to rub it in,” says the ghost as slow clapping comes from further in.

An old cloaked figure comes in and congratulates, “Bravo. Well done. You passed the test.”

“Test?”

The old figure does a singular clap and all the ice shatters across the house. “Yes test. My name is Elderbark Gonzales, the dark magic instructor of this district.”

“Wait, you’re the instructor old man Mike mentioned?” questions Zack.

Elderbark burst into laughter. “Old man Mike, now that’s a good one. Yes, I am. The test was very simple. Stop the ghost. Mike informed you of the danger as soon as you walked in those doors. Your test began right then and there. Mike was kidnapped by the ghost in order to isolate you. That crystal you found is a little safety measure I put in in case the ghost did not leave you enough time to make a spell circle. It’s of a special variety that makes it well suited for beginners. Being in the fridge along with all the fire was a hint of how to stop the ghost with its rhyme being a guide of what needed to be done.”

“But what about Mike? Where is he?”

A door opens up and Mike walks out of it, “You think this being a test would have answered your question?”

“Now with this test over, your training begins tomorrow. For now, get some rest.” With that Elderbark leaves the room. “Yeah, he’s still as nuts as ever. He’s a dang good teacher, but he’s also an absolute sociopath.”

“Let’s just go to bed,” says Zack as he walks back to the Living Room and crashes into his sleeping bag.