The man who had burned people no less than minutes ago was standing in front of me, blocking my path. He emanated an aura of scorching heat, and I could feel the waves of heat radiating from him. His eyes glowed like embers and were fixed on me, penetrating my soul with their fiery intensity.

He was a black man with long dark hair, braided back, and bright blue eyes like sapphires. His skin, or what was left of it, was burned and distorted, revealing ugly scars resulting from countless burns. His clothes looked like worn and blackened military clothing in the middle of that ash bath.

"Violet," His voice sounds hoarse and carrying an unknown weight, "You need to come with me."

I stepped back, my gaze fixed on him, a mix of fear and distrust filling my thoughts. "Who are you?" I could barely articulate words, my voice was shaking with apprehension. "How the fuck you know my name?!"

He didn't answered my questions instead he reached out his burned hand toward me, as if he wanted to touch me. My reaction was instinctive. I cursed and slapped his hand hard, pushing it away from me.

"To hell with you!" I screamed, my voice shaking with anger and fear being drowned out by the noise of the crowd. "You think you can just show up out of nowhere, scare me, and expect me to go somewhere with you? You are nuts if you think I am coming to any place with you!"

As my words echoed through the station, I noticed a crystal attached to the skin of his hands, which glows in shades of orange but begins to dim, transforming into some type of black crystal, with some type of metallic scar emerging from it that runs along his forearm. I was mesmerized by the transformation, my curiosity almost beginning to overcome my fear.

"What is it?" I asked, my tone now thick with perplexity. "What the hell are you?"

His fiery eyes looking at me seemed to show a glimmer of understanding. "I don't have time for explanations right now," He insisted, his voice sounded urgent. "Violet, you need to come with me. It's the only way."

Fear and distrust still engulfed me. I couldn't just follow this stranger, this being who looked like a villain from some cartoon, to who knows where. "I'm not going anywhere with you, dude! You just charred half of the place back there!."

He took a step forward, the heat surrounding him increasing in intensity. "You don't understand, Violet. There are things in this world that are beyond human understanding. Everyone is in danger, and you are the only chance we have."

My mind was a mess, trying to process everything. "Us? Danger? What danger?"

He sighed, and after a brief glance at the police light reflecting off the windows of nearby buildings, and as he approached, he looked back at me as if my reluctance frustrated him. "We don’t have time for explanations now."

The sound of the cop siren echoed loudly throughout the room, getting closer to the station, mixing with the growing confusion and fear I was feeling. The cryptic words of the burning man echoed in my mind, but before I could say something, my mind was torn between the commotion in the subway and the bewilderment caused by the mysterious man when I heard my own name echo through the station, someone was calling my name with urgency.

"Violet! Violet!" It was Zoey. My sister was calling for me, trying to find me in the chaotic crowd.

I turned back with a quick movement, my expression of relief about to turn into words of comfort for my dear sister. I saw Zoey struggling to move against the crowd, her desperate eyes darting over the people, and she said my name once again, her desperate voice cutting through the air.

"Zozo!" I prepared myself to reach, to calm her, to tell her everything was okay. But before any sound could escape my lips, a swift and brutal blow hit me hard in the neck.

A shock of pain exploded in my mind, and everything around me seemed to spin in a dizzying spiral. My vision blurred, and my legs wobbled, losing all strength. The last thing I saw before I was plunged into darkness was Zoey's anguished face, and her tears seemed frozen in time as she continued to look for me in the crowd, but it was too late.

Everything around me began to spin, and my vision became blurred and distorted. My body felt like it was falling apart, and I fell toward the cold floor of the subway station. Before I completely lost consciousness, the last thing I heard was the echo of the mysterious man words:

“I have only one job here, and I won’t let you delay it. I’m sorry, Violet.”

And then, the world disappeared into a dark and endless abyss, and I sank into the darkness of swoon.