They tell me that I am special, that my ability to heal is a gift that should be treasured and appreciated. But nothing in this life is free, not even gifts. There is always a price to be paid somewhere, somehow. My healing gift came with twelve Rules of Darkness, rules that I must follow at all times, until the day I die. The rules are ingrained in who I am. They dictate how I live my life when I am awake, and they haunt me when I'm asleep. Don't look into a graveyard, Katia. Don't touch the dead, Katia. Never seek out the lost, Katia. It's enough to drive a person mad. And perhaps that's where I find myself now. A victim of a disease I can cure in others, but not in myself. It's madness to break the rules, and yet, I don't care anymore. I'm tired of living my life this way. I'm tired of the rules. I won't do it any more, and if that means I suffer the consequences, then so be it.

Once upon time, a long time ago, in a far away land, a young girl journeyed to a magical desert temple and met a handsome prince... To most, this sounds like the start of a beautiful fairytale. To me, it’s the start of a horrible nightmare. My name is Angel, and I am that young girl all grown up. You might have noticed me around. I am that “strange chick” everyone talks about—the one who enters a room and somehow causes all illuminated candles to extinguish. The one who has an irrational fear of salamanders. The one who freaks out and runs away every time she sees a large bird with crimson and gold feathers. But if you knew the rest of the tale, you would understand. I have spent the last seven years of my life secretly following the Rules of Fire. My family and friends have no idea of the danger I’m in, nor can they fathom how something as simple and elemental as fire can be my undoing. They don’t know that, just beyond the flickering flames, he beckons me... And I yearn to go to him.