"Name's Marsha Hopper. You?"

"L-Luna. Luna Clark..."

"... That your mom?"

"Yeah... her name is Demi."

"Nice."

Marsha seemed content with those answers. "Don't worry my kindling, I'll spoil you plenty later." Her eyes went wide for a second. "... Fine... but I want a nice lunch still." she says as Scortch starts the car & begins to drive off. "H-Hey, we left our car-" "Took care of that already. That's what this lovely lady was for." Scortch says, kissing Marsha's hand. "Keep sweet talkin..." she says with a smirk. "My uncle drives a tow truck. Told him that my friend's car was messed up & to drop it off when it was fixed." I was stunned. "You both realize I can at the very least charge you with kidnapping & endagering a minor?" Marsha gave a little gasp. "She really is a cop. You liar, you said I wouldn't get in trouble for this." Scorch let out a chuckle. "You know I like to find dangerous people. But she won't do anything; isn't that right Demitree? Or do you still go by Tre?" Demi's eye twitched. "Demi... what is he-" "Call me that again boy & I will hurt you." Scortch chuckled. "There's that fire... my bad. Had to see if you're the same punk ass, scrappy little kid from back then." Demi glanced at me. "I swear to God... I'm gonna book you fa this." Scortch gave a sarcastic laugh. "Oh, I highly doubt you can put any of this into your police report. What, you're really gonna tell them about how you took your God to a old temple where weird shit started to happen, & another God came & focred you into a car with the help of his smart, & beautiful might I add-" Marsha scoffed jokingly. "Not only follower but lover? Or do you have a whole police department for Followers that'll belive you?" I suddenly got nauseated while Demi went silent. "I... I don't have any followers... it's been almost 11 years since then..." Demi gives me a concerned look as I feel my body twitch. She puts a hand on my shoulder, eyes scanning me . "I-It's fine. I'm fine." Scortch laughed. "Nah... you still got them. All the people you're around? They choose to follow you. That's what makes a follower. Everyone does it differently. Mine though-" he gives a loving look to Marsha, who leans out of her seat facing him, grinning. "Well, I like to get to know them a little bit better. Helps ensure their devotion..." I looked between the two of them, noticing flames around them; Scortch's flames were like an oil slick. Jet black with pops of color here & there; its honestly beautiful. Marsha was a deep blue, with pops of the same oil slick black in her flames. They seemed to understand each other at a deeper level than just being in love. "After all-" Marsha mused. "A god is nothing without a believer." Scortch gives her a quick kiss, which smokes off of her cheek. This was a love that seemed to have always been there for each other... it was mutual. Scortch seemed to worship her just as much as Marsha does him, if not more so. "Luna... honey, your... your horns." Why couldn't I control these things yet? It used to be so easy. I got them to shirnk back. "So... why are you actually taking us?" Scortch sighed. "Cause even though some of the older guys wanted to leave you alone, the smart ones came to try & help you. Now-" The car suddenly stops in front of some huge store looking place. "Who's hungry?"

"We're eating, at least, we're going to. Figured you'd be hungry... I don't really like eating non burned food, but it's ok sometimes. I gotta be in the mood for it usua-"

"I meant why did you come to us? Why did you show up there-how did you even know that's where we were?"

"Honestly? I tried using your boyfriend to talk to you again, but I couldn't for some reason. So-"

"Hold on. Boyfriend?"

"Yeah. Your little human that follows you around. The one with a bird name."

"Crow isn't my boyfriend."

"You sure about that? I was in his head after all... h-"

Scortch suddenly takes a sharp breath when I glare at him. I can feel my eyes straining. "L-Look, I-I sometimes go into him when he... what was his word for it... disassociates. It's mainly just you, but he never noticed me in there until he was at your place. When I was in his head that day, most of his thoughts were about you... I just assumed that you two had a thing going. I... I thought we wre similar." I blinked a few times in surprise. He forces a cough. "When I couldn't possess him, I tried sensing you. Lucky for me, you were putting out crazy amounts of energy. So, we got you. Truth be told... I got nervous something happened to you out there. Sides, Angie would be pissed if something happened to you..." I glanced at him. "Do... do you know what that place was?" he sighed heavily. "Not really... I know it's pretty old though. Energy is usually too thick to stand. Few of us even like to go there, even though it's got such pure energy." Wait a second... "Us...? T-There's even more? How many more? How old are th-" "TABLE FOR CHARCOAL IS READY! TABLE FOR CHARCOAL!" he nudges me a bit. "Let's go eat shall we?" we catch up to Demi & Marsha, both of them have a grin on her face. Scortch goes on Marsha's right. "We grew up in the same town. Cool huh?" he chuckled. "I see you're throwing my last name around like it's yours." With a cheeky grin, Marsha nods. "Damn right it is." Once we find our table, I sit down next to Demi; Scortch & Marsha are on the opposite side of the table. I noticed another empty chair at the end of the table. Demi gives me a nudge, giving me a once over. I gave a forced grin as she sighed. "Understand that I have questions for you. Starting with who you are & how the hell you know my daughter." Demi's voice is rougher than usual; she's trying to intimidate Scortch. "Wouldn't you like to k-" "Just answer her. Playing around only makes her more upset." Scorch glared at me but slowly responded. "Ugh... Combustian Oxidation. But man just calls me Fire; they have for centuries. With my birth came the first flame. I've lived 6 lives after being born to the one before me. So I'm technically a new god. I was technically created by your daughter eons ago." I was stunned, but Demi had more questions.

"How many new gods are there?"

"3, if we include this one here."

"Which ones?"

"Fire, the earth itself & the beginning. The beginning is the one you call your daughter."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I know the others. Process of elimination. Plus, the record keeping of who is reborn when is well documented, except for Beginning, which dropped off about 35 years ago. That it?"

"Why the extra ch-"

"Luna?"

I heard a voice I didn't expect. It was Crow, who seemed lost as to how he got there. "What... how are you even-" I give Scortch a glance, as a woman serves us drinnks that we never ordered. "You did this?" he gave a nod as Crow sat down next to me. "If you mean the drinks & food that'll be here soon yes. If you mean bringing your boyfriend here, also yes." Crow gave me a glance at the word boyfriend, as Demi gave Crow a glare from the opposite side of me. "I mean seriously; do you understand how long it's been since I've been able to possess someone without them exploding right after or during? Let alone have someone fight to push me out & nearly succeed? Too long... way too long-" "EXCUSE ME!?!" Marsha slapped Scortch upside the head. "What is wrong with you? You could've killed this poor boy & you still possessed him knowing this! I am so sorry for him. He has ablsolutely no regard for others sometimes, but I swear he's-" "Hey. You don't have to apologize for him. He's the one who should say it." Crow said. "How noble." Demi muttered. "Well, now that the big players are here, I want to hear your side of the story." Scortch says & suddenly, our food arrives. "Absolutely not-" "I... I don't know what you want to know." Scortch shrugged as Demi looked bewildered. "Honestly? Everything. I wanna know everything; not just personal reasons, but so I have something to tell the others. For them, the older ones... you kind just up & left." I gave a hesitant glance at my food, then at Demi & Crow. "Stories were best told around a fire; as time went on, food became customary around the fireside stories. That why he's here specifically." Marsha says. I took a deep breath & let the words flow.

"I... I don't know anything from before I was born. Most of what I know before me came from the cult. It had been called Tribe of New Beginnings. According to the leader-" my mouth felt like cotton as I recited words I had heard told to me over & over & over again. "He spoke to the Alpha of all & it told him to create a community for itself. It would judge others & ones deemed worthy would be kept safe. No matter who you were or from what walk of life... you had a new beginning with them. I guess that seemed to appeal to Momma. She joined before I was born... she was pregnant for a while &-" "What was her name?" Marsha's question threw me off guard. "E-Eden... but everyone there just called her High Mother... seems like she ascended the ranks. I still call her Momma though; helps me to hold on to the good memories." Demi shifted in her chair; talking about Momma seems to make her uncomfortable. "When I was born, Momma died for a while. They laid me on her chest & suddenly... she came back. That's when they started calling me their new god. Born of a fresh start & life... but the never seperated us. I still don't know why... they all just ignored her for the most part. She could eat & a lot of the younger members spoke with her. She was everything to me." Scortch sighed. "What happened there?" Here it goes. "I... I was worshipped as their new goddess of life. I remember my old room exactly. It was bigger than it had any right to be, soft pink walls, this massive bed with pink, white & sky blue sheets; pillows stacked high. A desk with a fuzzy pink chair in the corner, drawers filled with all the crayons a kid could want. Lots of soft chairs all around the room & a huge amount of toys everywhere. Two armed guards outside my door who's job it was to help me get dressed in a long white dress, do my hair & escort me to a holding cell where random people would be from time to time. They would exclaim 'a new beginning has blessed you' before leaving the room. These people would be beaten up, or looking sickly when they saw my face. Some would just hug me close & apologize, some would laugh, as if they thought it was a prank... one man tried to touch me. His is the only death I don't regret. The ones who had fear in their eyes were the ones who tried to help me... they saw that I was unsafe & tried their best to take me away from there. Away from people who clung to the words of a toddler. Away from people misused your gift that you didn't fully understand to do bad things to other people. Away from people you've seen kill because someone asked to take me to a real hospital when I asked where Momma was. Each time, we would get so close, just for something to go wrong & I would watch a life leave a person. & y'know what makes it worse? I could bring some of them back... some, not all. Just some. A select few. They stopped hiding the killing from me at thait point. That's when the powers really went crazy... but the kids?" I had a fond smile. "They acted like I was normal... somewhat. They were scared of me, but they still let me play. I know it was out of fear though... but 2 kids were always kind to me. Charlie & Jacob really acted like I was a normal kid... Jacob was the oldest out of all of us. He was 18 the last time I saw him, but he was a big kid at heart. He helped take care of us... Charlie's dad was the leader but you'd have no clue about that. He didn't seem to care, he was just a kind kid... he helped give me a real name y'know." Crow gave a interested glace. "I told him I liked his name & wanted to be named Charlie too. He said 'girls use Charlie as a nick-name. Use Charelotte; it's a nicer name than Charlie'. So I did..." Scrotch asked me something. "How'd you get the rest of your name then?" I was a bit embarrassed to admit this part. "It's a dumb reason... Luna & Soul are my favorite words, so I used them for my name... Clark is Demi's last name; I took it when she adopted me." Everyone was silent for qquite a while. "Alright... I think I've heard everything I needed to hear." Scortch said. "H-Huh?" I was lost; did I even say anything worthwhile? "If you want, we can try & figure out where your mother is. If you were Godly at birth with automatic healing, then your dad is probably Godly too, & used his magic to heal you at some point. Meaning he still has the bulk of memories. Me & the others... we can help you try & find him." I started to speak, but was cut off. "Take some time & think about it, we can deal with it later. For now, enjoy this Godly company. It doesn't happen often."