Lucas didn't remember the drive back to the station.
Later, he would try to piece it together—traffic lights, empty avenues, the distant wail of sirens—but his memory stopped at the moment the ambulance doors closed. Everything after that blurred into motion without meaning.
His body moved on instinct.
His mind stayed behind, standing in front of the collapsed building, staring at something that should not have been there.
A survivor.
A countdown.
A fire that behaved like it was watching him.
The station was unusually quiet when they returned. No jokes. No casual remarks. Even the veterans avoided eye contact, moving through the locker room with a kind of restrained tension Lucas had never felt before.
Captain Moreira disappeared into the office without a word.
Lucas sat on the bench, helmet resting between his boots, hands clasped so tightly his knuckles had gone pale. He could still feel the heat on his skin—not the physical kind, but something deeper. Like embers buried beneath muscle and bone.
"You okay?"
The voice startled him.
It was Renata, one of the paramedics assigned to their unit. She stood a few feet away, arms crossed, eyes sharp and observant.
"I think so," Lucas said. He wasn't sure if it was a lie.
She studied him for a moment. "You went in alone."
"Yeah."
"That building was already compromised."
"I know."
"And you came out with someone no one knew was there."
Lucas swallowed. "That's what the report will say?"
Renata's lips pressed into a thin line. "The report says what command wants it to say."
Before he could ask what that meant, Captain Moreira returned.
"Lucas. Office. Now."
The door closed behind them with a soft click that sounded far too final.
Moreira leaned against the desk, arms folded. His face was unreadable.
"You broke protocol," he said calmly. "Twice."
"Yes, sir."
"You entered a structure without clearance."
"Yes, sir."
"You disobeyed a direct order."
Lucas met his gaze. "Someone was alive."
"That's not the point."
"It is to me."
Silence stretched between them.
Finally, Moreira sighed. "Do you know what happens when firefighters start trusting instincts over procedure?"
"They save lives?"
"They die," Moreira snapped. He took a breath, lowering his voice. "Or worse. They get others killed."
Lucas nodded. He had expected this.
Then Moreira added quietly, "But that doesn't explain what happened."
Lucas looked up.
"The structural analysis doesn't match the collapse timing," the captain continued. "The building should've gone down at least two minutes earlier."
Lucas's pulse quickened.
"And the survivor?" Moreira asked. "No ID. No records. No history of residence. It's like he appeared out of thin air."
Lucas said nothing.
Moreira studied him closely. "Did you see anything unusual in there?"
This was the moment.
Lucas felt it instinctively—the wrong answer would change everything.
"No, sir," he said.
The captain held his gaze for a long time. Then he nodded once.
"Get some rest. You're off active duty for the next twelve hours."
Lucas stood. "Am I suspended?"
"No," Moreira said. "But don't mistake that for approval."
As Lucas left the office, his vision flickered.
Just for a heartbeat.
> OBSERVATION LOG UPDATED
SUBJECT RESPONSE: WITHHELD
He stopped walking.
The words vanished.
His breath came shallow.
Observation log? he thought.
He didn't sleep.
He lay on his bunk staring at the ceiling while the station lights dimmed and brightened again with the passing hours. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw flames folding inward, shapes forming where fire should not have shape.
Sometime near dawn, the pressure returned.
Stronger than before.
His vision sharpened unnaturally, details snapping into focus—the cracks in the paint, the hum of electrical wiring, the distant heartbeat in his own ears.
Then the text appeared.
> INCOMING EVENT DETECTED
STATUS: UNREGISTERED
TIME TO MANIFESTATION: 00:07:32
Lucas sat up so fast he nearly fell off the bed.
"What?" he whispered.
No alarm sounded.
No radio crackled.
The station remained silent.
> LOCATION: UNKNOWN
DISPATCH: DENIED
The timer began to count down.
07:31… 07:30…
Lucas stood, heart pounding.
"This isn't happening," he muttered.
He grabbed his jacket and slipped out of the dormitory, moving through the station like a ghost. No one stopped him. No one noticed.
Outside, the city was waking up. Early commuters. Delivery trucks. Normal life.
The timer ticked down.
05:12… 05:11…
"Where?" Lucas demanded under his breath.
The answer came not in words, but sensation.
A pull.
Not physical—directional.
Lucas followed it.
He walked fast at first, then broke into a jog as the pressure behind his eyes intensified. Each step felt more certain than the last, as if his body knew where to go even if his mind didn't.
The city shifted around him. Streets grew narrower. Buildings older. Maintenance neglected.
01:48…
Smoke reached him before he saw the fire.
A thin, acrid scent, barely noticeable, drifting out of a half-abandoned apartment complex tucked between two newer structures.
No sirens.
No flashing lights.
No sign anyone else knew.
> THERMAL EVENT CONFIRMED
SEVERITY: LOW (ESCALATING)
Lucas stared at the building.
A fire.
Unreported.
Unacknowledged.
The timer hit zero.
The front door burst outward in a rush of heat and smoke.
Lucas didn't hesitate.
He pulled his jacket tight over his face and rushed inside.
The interior was different from the first fire.
Quieter.
The flames clung to walls instead of spreading, crawling along surfaces like living things. Heat pulsed in uneven waves, alternating between stifling and eerily cool.
> OXYGEN LEVELS: STABLE
THREAT: INDIRECT
Lucas moved carefully, every sense heightened. He felt… sharper. Faster. His movements flowed without conscious effort, dodging falling debris before it happened.
On the third floor, he found the source.
Not a person.
A room.
The walls were scorched black, but the center was untouched. In the middle of the floor lay a symbol burned into the concrete—not carved, not painted.
Imprinted.
Lucas's vision screamed warnings.
> ANOMALOUS MARK DETECTED
DO NOT TOUCH
His foot froze inches from the edge.
"What are you?" he whispered.
The fire recoiled from the mark, flames bending away as if repelled.
Something shifted behind him.
Lucas spun.
A man stood in the hallway, coughing violently, eyes wide with terror.
"Help me," the man rasped.
Lucas grabbed him without thinking, guiding him toward the stairs. They made it outside just as the fire surged, swallowing the marked room whole.
As the man collapsed onto the pavement, gasping for air, Lucas felt the pressure ease.
Then his vision updated.
> EVENT CONCLUDED
INTERVENTION RATING: ACCEPTABLE
DEPENDENCY INCREASED
Lucas stared at the last line.
"Dependency?" he said aloud.
The man looked at him, confused. "What did you say?"
"Nothing."
Sirens finally sounded in the distance—late, but coming.
Lucas backed away.
By the time the fire trucks arrived, he was already gone.
He spent the rest of the day in a haze, replaying the events over and over in his mind.
This time, no one questioned him.
No one knew.
That night, the dreams began.
He stood in a vast, dark space filled with flickering points of light. Each one pulsed like a heartbeat.
Fires.
Some bright. Some dim.
Some… watching.
A presence loomed beyond the darkness—not a voice, not a shape, but awareness.
And it was paying attention now.
Lucas woke with a gasp.
His phone buzzed on the nightstand.
No caller ID.
He hesitated, then answered.
"Hello?"
A pause.
Then a voice, calm and unfamiliar.
"You shouldn't have survived the second one."
Lucas sat up slowly. "Who is this?"
Another pause.
"There are fires that burn," the voice said. "And fires that choose."
The line went dead.
Lucas stared at the screen, heart racing.
His vision flickered one last time before fading.
> CONTACT CONFIRMED
NEXT EVENT: PENDING
Outside, somewhere in the city, something ignited.
And this time…
It was waiting for him.