The Nixes

It was a cold winter’s day when my whole world went up in flames. The day started as any late-winter morning- a group of five of us bundled up in our furs taking off into the forest to see what meat we could get for our village. Over the years we’d found that we could bring in a larger catch if we crossed the pond. Frozen that time of year, we walked easily across to the forest. On the other side we began our hunting, the hours passing slowly in that frozen land with the bare trees, silently sleeping animals, and temperatures low enough to freeze toes and fingers.

We’d planned to hunt for five days, but that night, just as we were falling asleep, we were attacked by a wolf pack. The first thing I noticed was the growls, way too close for comfort and my heart began thumping loudly. I opened my eyes to see yellow eyes staring right at me. Heart in my throat, I jumped up with a yell, waving my arms. The wolves took a step back and paused their growling to assess how much of a threat I was. In that moment the other four of my group woke up and I noticed that the fire had died down to barely more than embers. I grabbed one of the two branches still on fire and handed it to Marco as he got to his feet. Marco waved the branch around and shouted at the wolves while I frantically worked to build up our fire. The others quickly joined me, throwing in kindling and fanning the flames as Marco moved around behind us in a circle trying to ward off the wolves.

Just as the fire began to grow, one of the wolves came from the side opposite Marco, which happened to be behind me. It jumped on my back, grabbing a mouthful of my furs and pushing me forward into the flames of the growing fire. I remember the yelp of the wolf as it jumped away from me, my own screams as my body caught fire, the searing heat and pain of the fire, and then nothing.

I awoke sometime later with a cool breeze across my skin, the winter sun rising in the sky, and my four friends surrounding me, staring down at me with awed looks on their faces. I sat up, realizing that my furs were gone, but I wasn’t at all cold. Jare looked at me with eyes nearly popping out of his head and said, “You were on fire and you lived!” Kaans told me, “You like exploded with fire and we lived!” Then Bane, the least likely to exaggerate, told me, “You caught on fire and we thought you were dead. We tried throwing snow on you to put out the fire but it just kept burning. The fire burned all your clothes away and then slowly fizzled out. Then we could see you were not only alive but uncharred. Just a little pink. Your skin has been warm since then, so we didn’t give you any clothes.”

I stared at him in amazement thinking it couldn’t be true but believing it had to be since Bane would never lie to me. “I’m not cold,” is all I could tell them. We had no idea what had just happened. In our excitement and fear over the rare and terrifying event, the five of us left our hunting and headed back to our village to tell what had happened and maybe get an explanation.

After the entire village had been told the tale, one of the elders told us she had heard a similar tale when she was younger. She didn’t know the details, but sent us to an Elder Yang in another village who she believed did. So my four friends and I left our hunt for food for a hunt for knowledge and travelled to a larger village in search of Elder Yang.

Over the three weeks it took for us to find the elder, I seemed that I was now impervious to fire. I could feel its heat but it no longer burned or even pained me. My friends and I experimented all along the way, seeing if my skin would burn or my hair. With all the playing with fire, I learned that I could also manipulate fire, which I practiced a lot in games of snow to fire fights with my friends.

We finally met Elder Yang in her house, a small cottage with many little fires all throughout it. We introduced ourselves and told our tale. After we finished, she looked at me with a small smile and said, “Rin, welcome to the life of a Nix. I will tell the tale of those who came before us.”

I found out that the Nixes were a people scattered across the world, united by our mutated traits. Awakened through fire, the Nixes are impervious to fire, can manipulate the element, and can create fire under certain circumstances. Elder Yang told us that Nixes around the world were protectors; that many used their abilities to help others. I was also told of the cost. I could protect people with my fire, but every time I did, similar to the bird we are named after, I would be consumed by my flames. Though I would live, I would experience extreme pain.

After staying with Elder Yang a few days and hearing many stories about the Nixes, my friends and I returned to our village. We retold the stories of the Nixes and I learned to use my fire in my everyday life.

Six months later, I returned from hunt to see my village in flames, caught in a forest fire. Using my abilities, I redirected flames and rescued people from their burning homes. For hours I ran around with the fire licking at my clothes and skin, my heart racing as I tried to save everyone I could. By the time I had finished it was late at night and everyone sat huddled by the river recuperating. I finally collapsed on the ground from exhaustion hoping to catch my breath only to burst into flames. I screamed through the pain, mollified by the fact that my people were safe. Such is the life of a Nix.