I could only stand and watch as the toxic fumes exploded at their flash point and the entire room was swallowed in the inferno. But I felt no heat. My clothing flapped wildly in a gale as the blazing engine fed furiously off tons of air fueling its screaming machine. All about me the building shuttered, then appeared to curl over and silently surrender to its doom. A sheet of flame rippled across the floor, then back again passing over my feet and splashing up my legs. Lapping tongues seemed to skip about and slash at my legs, then disappear as if losing interest when I would not burn. The blackened frame and remaining walls of the house supported brazen spirals while ripples of orange fire cascaded upwards like waterfalls retracing their route. Then a vortex appeared.
The brilliant yellow twister sucked fire from the floor and twirled it aloft into the cauldron of deep red smoke sailing from the carnage. It danced towards me as if to gain a better look. Back and forth it passed about me before pausing as if satisfied with its discovery. It hung before me, swaying as a glowing cobra, dipping and weaving as it curled in place. Suddenly a brilliant light splashed behind me, crystalline in its purity, blinding as the shock of lightning. All about me the glowing inferno now appeared dirty, grimy, and soiled as it chewed away at the carcass of the house. Even the vortex dimmed and became darkened.
Turning about, I was overcome by the brilliance of the light. So bright in fact, that I could scarcely see the source between my hands now guarding my face.
"Why do you not burn?" He asked.
"Lord, I do not know why." I stammered.
"Turn and put your hand into the vortex." He commanded.
I turned back to the vortex and dipped my hand into the spinning blaze. Immediately, it curled around my hand and forearm like a constrictor latching onto its target. I held my hand up before my face and watched as the weakening flame slid up to my fingers and flickered about before snapping off with a puff.
"How did you do that?" He asked.
"I did nothing." I responded.
"You could not stop the fire, nor could you escape it. Yet you were not consumed." He said.
"I was helpless�how could this be?" I wondered.
"Tell those who have suffered in the flames, that only at their complete despair can I be found at this depth." He concluded.
The fire was gone. All that remained of the house was an overgrown foundation surrounded by blooming countryside, cool and peaceful. Still with my hand absentmindedly raised, I began to look about in wonder. But I understood.
