Big fireblast prep

I gather the air, set it alight, and squeeze. Between my hands, sparks ignite, blazing golden fish swarming. They shudder, frantic, turning arsenic-white. Like I've done a thousand times before.

Baral tips his dented helmet back. It clatters across the roof. He's smiling. "I killed your daddy, renegade," he says. "I killed your auntie."

The wind's growing. More air. More heat. Pin it down. Press until it can't move. Until all the breath is gone. I grit my teeth. My light is arctic now, throwing sharp blue shadows.

"And now I'm going to kill you." He pulls a dagger from his sash. A simple dagger, with old stains on the blade and a charred grip. "And the best part, the absolute best part, is that there's nothing you can do about it."

It's so easy. I should've thought of it before. We tried it in Baral's trap but I was too upset. Now everything's clear. Blank, flat, and desperately clear.

"There is something I can do," I tell him.

I can make amends. For Mrs. Pashiri. For dad. For mom. For the old women and little kids I killed in the Sanctum of Stars. For a lifetime of screwing up. All the awful things I've done. All the people I failed. The air between my hands is packed with stars, vibrating, superheated. Streaks of light scratch through my vision.

"...Something I can always do..."

I can take out Baral. The ships and the Gearhulks. Tezzeret and the Consuls. I could take out all of Ghirapur, if I want. It's so easy. I just have to bottle it up, and release. I just have to let go.

Because it doesn't matter anymore, does it? Everything's ruined.

Let it go.

Close your eyes.

Let it happen.

Let it be over.

Doesn't matter.

I close my aching eyes on Kaladesh, and whisper, "...I can burn."

***

I stop adding power. I stop squeezing. The stars slip and shiver between my hands. The light ripples, silver-blue sparks buzzing like angry flies, hissing like oil in a skillet.

Something's wrong.

The fire's gone strange. It's still getting hotter, collapsing inward. It's burning on its own, burning itself, without anything from me. I blink, and scratches of light claw through the brief dark.

It's still growing.

I bleed off the heat, careful, slow, but it snaps at me, eager to escape the trap I've made. A wisp of impossibly hot flame jets free. I clamp it down, press my hands close to the raging blue light. Baral gasps. Somewhere nearby, there's the shudder and grind of buildings crashing down.

***

BURN