Origins Chapter 6: Fire, the Queen of Flames

Fiamma is at her work, as usual. While she’s good at making food and could make something mean at a professional eatery, she’s currently just putting chicken tenders into the Flying Chicken’s fryers. Making fast food is something she hates, but something she begrudgingly does.

During another quiet night, Fiamma sighs, tired and worn from a long day. Meanwhile, Aria is acting pretty nonchalant about her current situation. She’s bobbing her head, singing one of Micah Phone’s songs.

“I don’t need anything else, you are my desire. Please stay with me, baby, cuz you set my heart on fire!” Aria sings, reciting Micah Phone’s lyrics.

Fiamma looks at her friend. “I don’t understand you. How can you stay happy about this job?”

“Oh, this job isn’t that bad!” Aria answers. “I just have to deal with taking orders from customers.”

“Including the entitled ones,” Fiamma quips.

“Yeah, that does happen,” Aria admits. “But, hey, why be mad when you can be glad?”

Fiamma sighs. “You have a point, but it’s tough to keep a smile when having to cook for hundreds.”

Aria gazes at the clock. “Oh my! Our shifts ended 5 minutes ago! Guess that’ll make you smile, huh?”

Fiamma grins, looking at the clock. “Yeah, it does.”

The two workers make their way out of the Flying Chicken after clocking out of work. Fiamma, in particular, is happy about her work shift being done for the night. She gets into her gray car and rides off to her apartment.

The apartment Fiamma lives in is nothing extravagant, but nothing terrible, either. It’s somewhat blocky and modern-looking, with warm black, white, and toasty wooden textures across the exterior. The crimson-haired girl parks up next to her house and enters.

Within the home, a man sits in the deep, brown couch in the living room. He has reddish-brown hair similar to Fiamma, combed to both sides of his head. He is also wearing brown shoes and a black suit with a red tie. The man is tired, simply watching TV while resting.

“Hey Dad,” Fiamma greets the man. “Been a late night at work as usual?”

Fiamma’s Dad faces his head toward his daughter. “Hey, sweetie. Yeah, it’s been another heavy day.”

Crossing her arms, Fiamma replies. “You always work overtime, Dad. Do we really need the excess cash, or are you just enjoying being a workaholic?”

Fiamma’s Dad chuckles a bit. “I guess I just enjoy working a bit too much. At least tomorrow’s my day off.”

Fiamma rolls her eyes jokingly. “I don’t get you, even after all this time,” Fiamma says, before starting to walk across the living room. “I’m gonna go rest myself. It’s been another long night at the Flying Chicken, as usual.”

“Alright, sweetie.”

The brunette girl heads into her room, replacing her work outfit with her usual red tank top and brown pants. She sits on her scarlet-coated bed for a little while, sighing with tiredness. Man, I wish my life could be less mundane. Fiamma thinks to herself internally.

While lost in thought, Fiamma suddenly catches a glimpse of something going by her open door. She only saw it for a split second, but it looked brown and flat. What the hell was that? She wonders.

Fiamma gets up and strolls to the kitchen, searching for the thing that flashed past her eyes. She looks near the pantry, and there’s nothing. She looks under the sink, and there’s nothing. When she looks at the dark crack between the fridge and the counter, though, something crawls out.

A somewhat large Salamander looks up at Fiamma. It’s colored a deep shade of mauvish brown, with a cherry-colored streak across the middle of its head and back. Notably, there’s an odd, red bracelet wrapped around its tail.

Out of nowhere, the Salamander begins to speak in a deep, sassy, feminine voice. “There you are! I’ve been looking for you all night!” She says to Fiamma.

Fiamma screams in surprise and disgust. “Is that a fucking salamander?!” She screeches, taking a second to realize it just spoke to her. “And did it just talk to me?!”

“Yes, I-”

“Daaaaaad!”

The salamander begins to panic. “Wait, don’t call anyone here! I need to tell you this in-”

Fiamma’s dad struts his way into the kitchen, looking at the scene with widened eyes. “Fiamma, what’s going on here?!”

“There’s a fucking talking salamander in our home!” Fiamma responds brashly.

The salamander isn’t sure what to do. “I… uh… You see-”

“Well, what are you standing there for? Get rid of the vermin!” Fiamma’s Dad says, not fully focusing on the fact that the salamander is capable of speech.

“On it, Dad,” Fiamma says, pulling out a broomstick. She swings it down towards the Salamander, who manages to dodge the first.

“Hey, watch where you swipe that thing!” The salamander barks at Fiamma. Fiamma ignores her, though, and swishes the broom at her a second time. The salamander is hit, wincing in response.

“Out of this house!” Fiamma shouts at the Salamander, beginning to chase it towards the front door.

“I just wanted you for something! You’re making a huge mistake!” The salamander pleads. But her protests fall on deaf ears as she continues to be driven outside.

While swinging at the salamander, one of the slaps Fiamma manages to do on her causes the red bracelet to slip off her tail. A few moments later, the salamander is successfully taken out of the home, being met with one last slam of the door behind her.

“Ugh, that was weird,” Fiamma comments. “You don’t see a talking animal every day.”

“Yeah, I work with a goblin and he’s nowhere near like that thing,” Fiamma’s Dad adds. “Capable of speech or not, that Salamander’s still a pest.”

“Welp, I’m gonna go rest as I was trying to do.”

“Same.”

Both Fiamma and her Dad begin to revert to what they were doing previously. Fiamma’s Dad plops back onto the couch as Fiamma returns the broomstick to its place in the kitchen. The brunette woman looks back towards the door for a bit, but stops for a moment when she notices the red bracelet.

Where did that come from? Fiamma thinks to herself, approaching the strange object and taking it. Inspecting the bracelet, Fiamma realizes that it looks like the one the salamander was wearing. Fiamma continues to think. Guess this was that thing’s bracelet. Why was it wearing such a thing?

Fiamma flips the bracelet over. On the other side is a white gem that looks like a flame. On the sides of the crystal are two words etched into the bracelet: ‘Royal Fire’. Fiamma’s eyes grow with surprise as her brain begins to work on recognizing the bracelet. Why does this look familiar? She wonders.

The woman recalls Aria and how she became Royal Air. She found a bracelet that gave her her powers. Fiamma tries to remember what the bracelet looked like. Yellow… white gem… something written down on it…

Fiamma gasps in revelation. Excitement fills her body when she wonders if it’ll turn her into something like how Aria is. Something Fiamma has admitted to her before, but something she keeps thinking about is her envy towards Aria’s powers. This might be the chance to get similar abilities.

The brunette speeds her way into the warm, wooden, cubic bathroom and then puts on the bracelet. “Heh… I’m gonna be awesome like Aria!” She says out loud.

Fiamma takes a second to gaze at the bracelet, wondering how it works. Now, how do I activate this thing?

After a bit of thinking, Fiamma touches the white gem and notices it’s a button. She pushes it. “Did that-”

A bright, pinkish light showers Fiamma’s vision all of a sudden. She screams in both pain and surprise. During this moment of blindness, she could feel as if a syringe was poking into her wrist. On top of that, a warm feeling fills the veins of her body, its heat increasing to a point where it almost feels like a burn.

The feeling goes away within a few seconds, including the burning feeling within Fiamma. The light also goes away, leaving Fiamma back in her normally-lit bathroom. Despite the light being gone, it takes a bit for her to shake off her disorientation. “Did it wor-”

Fiamma’s eyes find themselves landing on the mirror. Instead of her brown pants and red tank top, she finds herself wearing a toasty, poofy dress that goes through the three colors of red, orange, and yellow, shaped like fire. A red brooch with a white flame lies on her chest. Black, bicep-high gloves coat her arms, and leggings of the same color cover her legs. On her feet are red shoes with a yellow base. And last but not least, a yellow crown with red gems lies on the top of her head.

Fiamma gasps as she stares at her reflection for a good moment, unable to help gawking at her new dress. “Holy shit… I look AWESOME!” She shouts. “Am I some kind of fire princess now?”

At the very least, Fiamma thinks she’s a fire user, considering what the bracelet said and the fact that both Aria and Marina can use air and water magic, respectively. She admires herself for a little while longer before wondering if she can summon fire.

The brunette holds her palm towards the ceiling. Focusing her energy, it doesn’t take long for a small ember to pop into her hand. “Whoooooa….”

Fiamma can’t help but gaze at the flame for a little while. Surprisingly enough, even though the fire is on her hand, it isn’t burning or hurting her at all. “Heh… Royal Fire… I’m royal alright!” Fiamma mumbles to herself as ember dances on her palm.

The newly-crowned princess eventually snuffs out the flame with relative ease, deciding to turn around and leave. But as her hand touches the door handle, Fiamma realizes that her dad might see her in this form. Ah crap, how am I gonna explain this to him? Would he believe me?

Fiamma attempts to take off her brand-new outfit, but struggles to do so. It’s attached to her as if it’s skin. Even trying as hard as she can, the dress stays put. Damn it, I can’t take this thing off!

Now frustrated, Fiamma soon realizes that Aria had mentioned to her that she couldn’t get her magical outfit off herself. “God damn it…” Fiamma curses under her breath.

The brunette realizes that she’s going to have to explain to her dad about her outfit one way or another, but a part of her is hesitant. He saw a talking salamander today, and while he was a bit surprised, how would he react to his own daughter looking like this?

Fiamma ultimately decides to wait a bit, wanting to let her dad decompress a bit from a night of work. Luckily for her, since he’s watching TV, it doesn’t take much stealth for her to slip from the bathroom to her room.

Without much else to do, the brunette slips into her bed. Even though she’s usually tired from a night of work, she’s restless this time since her thoughts begin to race a bit. How am I gonna go to work… How am I gonna go out in any way… How am I able to change my looks…

It was then that a thought struck her like a hammer.

Fuck, I really didn’t think this through.

Fiamma just stares at the ceiling for a while, that same thought reverberating through her mind. Her rashness to be like Aria has now led her to be like this. She got what she wanted, even being able to cast fire now, but what are the consequences of her actions? She just hopes that they aren’t too bad.

One restless night later, Fiamma gets up with the events of last night still fresh in her memory. Despite her concerns, at the very least, her brand-new fiery dress feels like it’s a part of her, despite it being on her for only a night or so. It essentially is a part of her since she can’t take it off, anyway.

Once fully awake, Fiamma figures that it’s probably time to show off her new form to her dad. She trots her way out of her room and towards the kitchen, where her dad just so happens to be making lunch. “Hey, Dad…” Fiamma lightly asks.

Fiamma’s Dad turns around. “Since when did you get that outfit?!” He says in shock.

“Heh, yeah, about that. I’m probably gonna make no sense, so you’re gonna have to believe me, okay?”

“Okay…?”

Fiamma begins to explain. “Basically, I found a bracelet that gave me this cool outfit through magic.”

Fiamma’s Dad raises an eyebrow. “Magic? That stuff's not really common.”

“Yeah, but there’s only one issue: I can’t take it off,” Fiamma reveals.

“Well, that’s certainly an issue,” Fiamme’s dad comments. He then chuckles a bit before joking. “Hey, at least that cursed bracelet or whatever turned you into a pretty princess.”

Fiamma smirks at her dad’s comment. “Heh, true! I’m a fiery queen! I still have the issue of it being stuck on me, though.”

The dad puts his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Hey, if there’s no way to undo it, I’m sure we can figure something out.”

The brunette woman starts to feel more encouraged. “You know what, yeah! I’m a strong woman! I’m sure I will keep going even when dressed like this!”

“That’s my girl.”

“By the way… I didn’t just get this dress from that bracelet. I also got fire magic.”

Fiamma’s dad becomes even more shocked. “What?!”

The woman smirks. “Yep, you heard me. And if you want me to prove it…” Fiamma holds out her hand and brings a small fire to life, making her dad’s jaw drop. “Ta-da!”

The father stays agape for a while before finally continuing. “Well then… that’s something. Guess one day, I find a talking salamander and the next my daughter’s now a witch.”

Fiamma makes the fire disappear. “Well, at least I won’t be burned at the stake or anything. I’m pretty sure I’m immune to fire now since I can hold it.”

Fiamma’s dad chuckles a bit. “Well, this’ll certainly be an interesting story to tell my coworkers. Just be careful with those flames, okay? Don’t want to burn down the house.”

“Heh, of course.”

The dad takes a look at the nearby oven’s digital clock. “Say, honey, don’t you need to go to work soon?”

“Huh?” Fiamma asks, looking at the oven. “Ah shit, you’re right! I’m gonna be late at this rate!”

Fiamma realizes that she has work today. She isn’t happy about it, but it's not like she has much of a choice. She has to pay the bills, and calling sick for having a magical fire dress is a no-go. But it’s also likely that her boss Ashton might not approve of her fiery dress, either.

Thinking of some way to go there in her new form, Fiamma remembers that Aria is just wearing her work outfit over her cloudy dress. It seemed to be acceptable enough for Ashton and a good number of customers, some giving her odd looks here and there. Maybe she can just take her idea.

The royal brunette slips on her white and blue workers' outfit and slaps together a quick lunch of pasta to eat on her future lunch break. Once she finally gets ready for work, she slides into her maroon car and drives off to the Flying Chicken. While on her way to her workplace, another thought appears in Fiamma’s mind, filling her with curiosity.

I wonder what Aria’s gonna think about this.

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