Day 31: Write a flash fiction piece involving your fictional character, your hero and your villain

Matthew hoisted the camera higher, the blaze was raging despite the valiant efforts of the firefighters.  They had got everyone out and it would be easy for him to walk away but if the fire spread the whole block could go up leaving hundreds of people homeless.  different possible solutions raced through his mind each dismissed as impossible to pass off without drawing attention to the fact greater forces were at play.  For the first time in a long while Matthew was stumped, he could see no way to quell the flames.

She looked down as she did so often, her eyes flitting across the continents nothing engaging her thoughts, nothing worthy of her time.  A famine in one land, a flood in another, once she would have interjected, sent rain to water crops, sun to dry the pools but now she did nothing.  Orlando stood watching her, he thought she was unaware of his presence but she knew he loitered in the shadows waiting as always but she felt neither the inclination to encourage or banish him.  If she concentrated hard enough she could summon the memory of what it was to feel but it required so much effort and rewarded her only with pain she seldom indulged the whim.  Then she heard him.

His voice travelled through the air and whispered in her mind as he tried to find a way to save the buildings, she had heard telepathic voices before but they had been nothing more than murmurs, this voice was different though still quiet the tone was urgent and demanding.  She followed the signal back and saw him she sensed his turmoil, could feel the power bubbling beneath the surface caged by his desire to remain unnoticed.  With a flick of her fingers thunder cloud gathered above the blaze and the downpour begun.

She watched as the people who had been watching the fire fighters battle the flames ran for cover until only he remained, staring skyward as if searching for her silently thanking which ever deity had intervened.

The flames fought against the onslaught but gradually smoke was replaced by steam and the threat of more harm averted.  She closed her eyes and willed herself down, down into the restrictive human form, down through the air and the clouds until she felt the earth beneath her feet.  Like a moth to a flame she was drawn to him, fascinated by the secrets he held so close to his heart.  She had deliberately arrived out of sight, she knew that the other mortals would not notice her appearance but she was uncertain as to what he could sense.

Orlando watched as she moved towards the human, torn by his desire to come between them, to claim her as his own and the realisation that for the first time in many many moons there was fire in her eyes.  It would be so easy to strike the feeble mortal down now where he stood but then what?  Watch her fade once more, diminish until nothing but an echo remained.  For now he must stay his hand until the fire within her heart blazed with strength enough to consume the mortal then he would step forth and take his rightful place by her side.

As she approached the sodden man Orlando turned away before his resolve could be tested.

Matthew stood watching the woman walk towards him his feet firmly rooted as if he had lost the ability to move.  Something about her entranced him, he had a feeling they had met before despite the fact he knew they had not, he would have remembered.  He stared straight into her eyes as she drew closer until her body pressed against him.  She was almost as tall as he was and it only required the slightest tilt of the head for her lips to meet his, he felt a warmth flood through ever fibre of his being and knew nothing would ever be quite the same again.