Authors Note

I wasn't prepared for what came next. As the heat of flames licked the skin on my back, terror shot through my veins. The pain was blinding. I fell to my knees, screaming and writhing. I thought it would never end.
What felt like hours later, the pain dulled and I could move from the clenched fetal position I was in. Everything hurt.
The worst part was the empty feeling I had. Like my essence had been stripped from me. As I crawled to my knees, my hands landed in a pile of something that looked like ash. My body reacted before my mind did, dry heaving over the pile of ash.
What was left of my wings.