Prologue

It came to life from within him with a slight, almost imperceptible tremor. The heart that was not his own pounded in his chest, making his breath tighten. His stomach tingled, and a feeling of wrong exhilaration overcame him as waves of pleasure rolled outward.

Then as sudden as the feeling came, it vanished.

The beating paused, motion rocked into silence, the silence stretched into stone.

Everything was still.

An echo of an explosion reached his ears. It seemed close and yet far away at the same time.

The stone shattered; the beat became fiercer, and heat poured throughout his body, becoming tingling stabs of pain prickling its every pore.

Ezekiel opened his eyes only to watch in absolute horror as everyone were blasted away from him by some unknown force.

They hit the wall of the plush room like deflated rag-dolls. Their breaths were forced out of their lungs, spit and saliva flying everywhere as eyes constricted of shock and pain alike.

Everyone in the sagged to the floor, blood gushing from every orifice, red and hot.

Then the fire came. Writhing and wriggling, black as the darkest night, it poured out from Ezekiel's fingers like a million tiny, ravenous maggots. He tried to grab it, but his hands passed right through. So, in the end, he could do nothing but watch as the soul-sucking thing began to lick the floor, crawling toward them and devouring everything in its path.

Ezekiel clawed at his face, pulled his hair, and screamed for everything he was worth. His feet didn't want to move, the force kept him locked in place. He watched previously joyous faces melt like hot wax under the fire that was not fire – as if touched by a malevolent version of Saint Iron.

Ezekiel's knees broke the silence as they slammed into the floor at the same time his mind shattered.