X-Men: Black Fire

By Paradox


Notice:  All Marvel characters are copyrighted by Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc., and all White Wolf powers, race names, and clan names are copyrighted by White Wolf, Inc.  The material herein is intended as not-for-profit fan-fiction; no copyright infringement is intended.


BOOK I


Prologue



In the quiet of the night, a singular voice rose in song. The words were of an ancient and lost language that the world had not heard in centuries. In a heavily wooded area, next to a running brook, a large bonfire blazed. Its flames licked high enough to threaten tree branches, yet the great oaks did not become damaged. A black silhouette clothed in what appeared to the naked eye to be shadows danced about the fire in a clockwise direction. Its arms moved about in a fashion not unlike praying, with the exception that the prayer was not solely aimed at the heavens, but at the ground, the water, and the fire as well. More words in an ancient tongue floated through the air. Almost immediately, the wind picked up to the extent that scientists would have classified the phenomenon as an F1 tornado. The shadow thrust both open palms at the ground and a low tremor shook the earth with the effect of an earthquake of level three on the Richter Scale. With a muttered word, the shadow swept one arm across the brook, making its waters crash against the dirt sides and splash into the air a few inches. Spinning, the figure faced the blazing fire and thrust both arms wide, calling out a single phrase.

Anal Nothrok Dochiel Dienday!

The flames of the bonfire roared into the air, licking at the air above the tallest tree. For several moments, the fire remained a pillar stretching to the sky. Then, it shrank back to its normal size, shivering and shaking to the side, as though it were trying to form itself in some other way.

Suddenly, fiery wings burst from the sides of the bonfire, stretching out to a length of ten feet each. The main body of the fire shrank and thinned out into the form of a reptilian body. The top of the flames flattened and spiked in certain areas, forming a head with horns.

The flames had taken on the unmistakable form of a dragon. It looked down at the silhouette and bowed its head, as though acknowledging its master. The figure mimicked the gesture exactly. “You know the question on my mind, can you answer it?”

The fire dragon stretched to its full height and regarded the questioner for a moment. Then, it collapsed on itself before exploding out. The silhouette shielded its eyes for a moment and then looked up just in time to see the fire had become to singular rays. They wavered and bowed, like a charmed cobra. Then, they crossed over each other and reformed together, making the plain, ordinary bonfire once again.

But the whole event had not gone misunderstood, for the shadow-figure had seen the image that the fire dragon had wanted him to see. For a second, the two fire rays had given him a symbol to seek out to aid him.

The symbol was an X.


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