SALAMANDER, n. Originally a reptile inhabiting fire; later, an anthropomorphous immortal, but still a pyrophile. Salamanders are now believed to be extinct, the last one of which we have an account having been seen in Carcassonne by the Abbe Belloc, who exorcised it with a bucket of holy water.
~ The Devil's Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce

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I sat in my car, parked in my driveway. It wasn't lunch yet and I’d already been fired from my job. Not a record, but it was fairly early. Too early to drink, not that I'm allowed to.

It’d been close today. Even wearing my suppression collar, I'd come close to unleashing my power. Most of the time the collar worked. Under extreme pressure and stress the collar sometimes fell short at doing the job it needed to. I dreaded the day it failed its purpose.

Tilting my head back I raised the collar as high as I could. Over the years calluses had built up in a few spots. In others only blisters would form and form again.

My neck always felt raw and irritated. I think I still had some aloe vera left. The stuff doesn't help. Not much does. It always chafed, no matter how I adjusted it.

I adjusted anyway.

"Well tomorrow's gonna be a brand new day, Daniel. Just let today go. You've had worse. Just let it go. It’s over.”

Did I really believe what I said? With how often I ended up saying this crap, one would think I did.

This morning I had let others get the best of me. They thought I'd knuckle under. I should have. I'd still have a job.

"Well, you can't stay out here all day. You might as well go inside while you have an inside to go to." I stayed another minute for that to sink in. No job. No money. No payments on the mortgage. No home.

“Fuck it all.”

I grabbed my backpack, and got out of the car. I’d have parked in the garage but the door failed to open upon my arrival home. The blasted thing probably broke again.

My front door, rarely used, had paint peeling up from the bottom. What was I kidding. The whole house needed repainting and seemed one windstorm from falling down.

Just one more thing I need to worry about.

I opened the door and stepped inside. It was dark. I could barely see anything with what light came through the entryway behind me.

Nothing happened when I reached to the switch and flipped it. Nothing at all. Maybe the garage works and power’s out. It worked this morning. I flicked the switch twice more rooted in thinking a miracle could occur in the few seconds between flicks. It was not forthcoming.

The door would remain open, providing a faint light source. Strange how the bright sun outside didn't seem to illuminate anything in here. Taking a few cautious steps forward to not hit anything, or misstep, I entered the living room feeling my way.

The door shut, cutting off all light, leaving me in pitch black darkness. Definitely strange. Light should be coming through the windows. I didn't have any window dressing that could block out all light.

A hand pressed the collar into my raw tender skin, pushing me forward. Whoever this was, kicked out my legs collapsing me. I went down to my knees and they shoved me face first into the carpeted floor.

Maybe the rug burn on my face wouldn't be too bad. My heart raced. I breathed fast. Eyes scrunched, both from the pain, and exertion of will.

Stay calm, Stay calm, Don't use your power, Don't use your power. Don't burn your house down. Relax. Relax and don't use your power. Don’t use your power. I ran that through my head a few times. My collar beeped away alerting me it worked right at this moment in suppressing my powers.

It was hard. My assailants manhandled me, roughly binding my arms behind my back, and my legs together. They were silent. Ninjas most likely.

Why would Ninjas want to do this? I wasn't expecting any.

Hopefully my collar had notified the local law enforcement that I was panicking and at risk of using my powers. If anyone could handle these assailants, it'd be them.

I didn't know what the threshold was for the collar to trigger its alarm. I'd asked and none with knowledge would give me the answer. The beeping slowed and stopped.

My willpower won out as I focused on calming myself.

Maybe I’d be rescued.

Maybe I wouldn't.

No one could be this quiet. They picked me up and carried me further into the house before setting me down on the ground.

I’m not a small guy at almost six feet tall and weighing in at just over two hundred pounds. However these people moved me, they had no problem. It’s as if I floated along in the blackness.

I rolled partly onto my back. There's no easy way to lay on the ground with your hands tied behind your back.

Still can’t see anything. They've covered the windows letting no light in, keeping the room in absolute darkness.

At least they haven't gagged me, but what would I say. Hi, I'm Daniel. Please don’t hurt me. You’re really good at sneaking around. Can I go now? Nope. I’m not going to say a thing.

Blinded by the sudden influx of light, I blinked and scrunched my eyes again. Light streamed in through the windows, everything illuminated in the sun's glow.

What the fuck? Magic playing with the light, or my senses maybe. I don't know.

Three women, no. two women and one girl stood next to each other a few feet away from me.

My assailants are not Ninjas. Not even close.

I've gone off the deep end. The three looked as if dressed for some sword & sorcery fantasy movie. I'd say one is an elf, one a dwarf, and the other I’m not sure but somewhere between and yet not human.

The elf girl had to be at least six feet tall. Double the height of the dwarf. Possibly even taller than me. I’m only five feet eleven inches. She had the cloak thing going for her. It hung open in the front revealing a suit of bright silver ring mail and leather pants. A sword hilt jutted out. Her hood was down, revealing her face. Ears pointed out more like a Lodoss Elf. Gold-brown hair done up high and tight to keep it out of the way.

I guess it was possible the dwarf could have been a gnome. She wore some heavy leather armor. It was well worn, patched in several places. Her face weathered, hair gray with age. Her forearms exposed looked well-muscled. A double bladed ax slung on her back with an head the size of her torso.

The girl looked way too young to be anything but. She was between the other two in height. Probably around four and a half to five feet tall. She wore a plain blue sleeveless dress, cut as if she had taken one of my shirts and cut the sleeves off. Her ears had a point. Instead of projecting out like the elf girls, they were more like ones you'd find on a Vulcan.

The other strange feature of the girls was the crown of her head. A bony ridge of some sort ran around it and her pail blue hair spilled out from it. For all I know she could have been old. It was hard to tell with her. I didn't recognize her race from any fiction or movie, but I knew she wasn't human.

The girl stepped over to me. She held a some device out. I couldn't see much of what it was. Looked to be the size of a cell phone. The only distinguishing feature I could see was it glowed red the closer she brought it to me.

"See, it's her. I mean him. The guide stone doesn't lie.”

They spoke English so maybe this was less weird, but maybe more weird. What am I kidding the situation was just weird.

The elf moved over. She grabbed the red glowing thing out of the girls hands. The girl appeared disturbed by the invasion of her space.

"It does appear you are correct." The elf didn't seem happy about this. She moved the device closer letting the glow get brighter, then farther away letting it dim.

"It appears we found her… him." She pocketed the red glowing thing, and moved out of sight.

"Why isn't he a she? Didn't your vision show a girl?" The dwarf asked.

The girl said, "It did, but the artifact doesn't lie. I'm not wrong. The vision showed a girl needed rescuing. I don't think he ate her. Maybe he's really a she."

"You can check to make sure." The dwarf laughed.

"Ew, gross. You check, it's your idea."

"It's your vision that's wrong."

"But the artifact."

"Excuse me ladies.” I interrupted. “Um. Might I ask why you think I should be a girl? Because I'm not. Never felt like I wanted to be one. Oh and by the way, my name is Daniel, what’s your name? Nice sneaking by the way. You really caught me by surprise.”

Oh crap. I opened my mouth. Both glared at me. I had that nervous smile on my face. Anyone looking would know it was forced. Maybe.

“Uh. Don’t hurt me.”

The girl spoke first, “My name is Juliva. This is Sah'rona." She indicated the dwarf, "and our other friend is Larathia. I saw it in my vision. And let's see, there’s also the Starfan Prophecies which speak of this and the Inlow Tablets of Destiny and The Fate spoken by the Desert Gramlorsh tribal shamans."

"Okay, I get it," I cut in "What does any of this have to do with me?"

The girl looked to the dwarf. The dwarf shrugged. The girl nodded. She stepped over and placed her hand on my head.

The world went away and a new one took it's place. No break in my perception of reality could I perceive.

A battlefield between two groups of people. One side consisted of humans, dwarves, elves, and those similar to the girl. They slowly lost ground leaving the dead under the feat of the other army. A wide variety of creatures composed the other side, none of which looked familiar. Leading the side of unfamiliar creatures was a humanoid figure, resplendent in glowing archaic armor.

It seemed No one could stand against him.

The view changed to one of a girl bound in a straight jacket wearing a collar similar to the one I wore now. Her features looked to be of a pacific islander. Small and slight of stature, her black hair disheveled. She huddled as far into the corner of her padded room as she could. The door to the room opened, and two orderlies stepped in. She panicked and appeared to not want to have anything to do with them. She tried to resist but they drugged her with an injection making it easier to move her.

My perception shifted back from this vision, to Juliva standing over me. She removed her hand from my head.

"This vision, along with the Starfan Prophecy speaks of a time our world is in a state of unbalance. The elements are disrupted. Outsiders from other planes of existence attempt to bring ruin to the established order. The Fire of life will be held captive and only by sending her to meet the outsiders will our world be saved.”

“That’s nice, but If I’m this whatever the prophecy speaks of, I’m right here. I haven’t disappeared? Earth is safe. I'm pretty sure that the government knows where I'm at. They have the military in case anything goes wrong such as an alien invasion. I feel that we’re pretty safe."

"No, not this world. It's our world, Jord. This world you call Earth, is nothing but a reflection of Jord."

"I don't want to burst your bubble but the same could be said for Jar, Jurt, or whatever it's name is being a reflection of Earth. Um. Look that’s nice and all. Can you help me sit up? This laying down while tied up is kind of uncomfortable."

Sah’rona picked me up. She was stronger than she looked. She could have been the one who carried me while there was no light. Yet her hands felt rough, nothing like the gentle touch I experienced before. Maybe it was the elf who carried me. Maybe it was magic. She set me down so I sat on my couch facing them.

"Can you create fire?" Juliva asked.

"Yes." I could create fire. It is the basis and entirety of my power.

"Could you demonstrate your power for us. I wish to see it.”

"No.” Some would say you should give into your captors demands. Maybe they’d be nicer to you. Maybe they’d be more lenient and let you go. A concession on this wasn't worth any of that.

"Why not?"

"Two reasons. I don't want to hurt you, and the collar suppresses my power."

"Ha, you think you could hurt us. We’re tougher than you think.” Sah’rona seemed skeptical. At this point, I’m positive the dwarf did not like me. She climbed up on the couch next to me and inspected the collar. I wore my collar for a reason. I didn't like others messing with it.

“Don’t be a baby.” She said after I involuntarily jerked away. How could she not see how raw and tender my neck was.

After several minutes, she gave up. I can’t do anything. We need someone who can pick locks. I can break it, but I’d probably kill him. We should wait. till we get back to Jord and have Nolla take care of it.” The dwarf got off the couch and walked out of the room.

Juliva appeared upset. ”This is barbaric how they’d collar you to stop your powers.”

“I collared myself. It was that or kill and probably die."

"What, why would you do that."

"I killed several people when I gained my powers. The authorities weren't too happy, but those people attacked me. Lucky for me the judge saw my power activation was a stress induced reaction so the blame was laid at their feet. I don’t ever want to have to explain why my collar is off and why there are dead people, and why my house is burned down. The collar does what it’s supposed to and I’m fine with it. So are you going to kidnap me?"

"Why would you think that? We're here to free you and you can come help save our world."

"So why did you tie me up?" I extended my bound legs out.

"We thought you were someone else, and not who we're looking for."

"Uh, could you untie me then." I turned as well as I could to allow access to my bound arms."

"Sure I can do that." Juliva drew a knife from her belt and cut my leg bindings, and then my arm bindings.

Free, I rubbed feeling back into my limbs.

"Thank you, but I'm not interested. It's nice you think I'm this chosen one, but I really don't have any interest in this." I stood up and limped towards the kitchen.

"What? But I untied you. You're coming with us." Juliva said

"Sorry but no. I'm fine where I'm at. I don’t have any interest in traveling to your world."

"What is he doing up?" It was the elf girl. I don't know where she came from, but then again she's an elf so I should have expected her. If ninja was a race, it would probably be Elves.

"Oh? Hello, you must be Larathia. I'm getting something to eat from the kitchen. You're welcome to join me. It's the least I can do for this quite wonderful and entertaining time we've had together." I shrugged.

"Juliva," The Larathia yelled, "Why is he unbound?"

Something struck me in the lower back. The closest approximation to how I felt would be someone had rubbed every fiber of muscle in my body with sandpaper. I fell forward to the ground, or I would have. Fate conspired for the kitchen door to intervene itself between my meeting with the floor. I didn’t know for sure until now but a kitchen door is stronger than my head. I'd have pondered more on the meaning of this event except I had blacked out.