Angel Evolution by David Estes Page B

pit, he opened the bag to find that the snake had been reduced to black ash. Sifting through the ash, his fingers took on a dirty look, like he had just been reading a newspaper.
    Confused and tired, Clifford drank two swallows of water and lay down to sleep.
    Later, he awoke screaming as he watched fire spread up his legs to his torso. The flames licked the sides of his makeshift pup-tent, setting them ablaze as well.
    He managed to roll outside of the inferno and into the dead of night where he writhed on the rainforest floor. His eyes closed and Clifford saw images of burning flesh, his burning flesh, but at the same time felt that something was missing. He lay burning for what seemed like hours, but was really only a minute, before he figured it out.
    He felt no pain .
    Death by burning had always been sold as an excruciatingly painful way to die, but Clifford felt nothing at all, as if he was numb with shock. He slowly opened his eyes to see that he remained engulfed in flames, which had now covered the whole of his body. But still, no pain. He waved his arm in front of his face, and through the flames he could see the pink of his arm, rather than the charred flesh he had expected.
    As his breathing slowed and his heart rate returned to normal, the fire seemed to diminish until the last flame had expired. His clothes were gone, having been reduced to ash by the heat of the fire. His tent had created a small fire nearby, but its heat was waning as well. He inspected his naked body, but found no evidence of what had transpired.
    He remembered the snake and wondered if the venom had entered his brain, causing hallucinations. He checked his hand, looking for the telltale holes from the bite. The skin on his hand was smooth and unmarked.
    The next few months were exciting for Clifford as he quickly learned that he was not hallucinating and that he was not only not dead, not even injured, but had been improved . He gradually gained mastery of his new abilities: he could now cause his entire body to be engulfed in fire one moment and then appear to be a normal human the next. Advancing in his skills, he learned to direct the firepower away from his body, setting trees and bushes on fire.
    He could also heal exceptionally fast, which he enjoyed testing by using his knife on his own body and watching his blood evaporate into thin air as the wound sealed itself. The previously crimson blood that had once pumped from his heart had been replaced with the black blood of the snake. His movements were exceptionally fast and he became a deadly predator in the forest, killing animals to survive while he trained his new body.
    Gazing at his reflection in a quiet freshwater pool one day, he noticed that his appearance had changed drastically as well. The color of his hair had darkened from nearly blond to deep black. The effect was not limited to his head; the hair on his arms, chest, and even eyebrows had all adopted the dark hue. His eyes had also changed from their previous brown to an inky black.
    The changes were positive. Clifford was never considered to be a good looking man and rarely received any interest from women, but now when he saw himself in the pool, he was in awe of his rugged handsomeness and muscular physique.
    The final major change that Clifford became aware of continued to intrigue and baffle him. Even on a cloudless sunny day, a smothering darkness seemed to surround him. He wasn’t sure, but his new instincts told him that somewhere within this darkness lay an even greater power than what he had discovered so far.
    Months, or maybe even years later, Clifford emerged from the Amazon, bored of the monotonous days in the forest. He was ready to repatriate into society, in spite of his changed being.
    His first human contact was with a tan-skinned woman who was drawing water from a well. She didn’t hear him approach and when he spoke he startled her.
    The woman jumped back, her eyes wide with terror as she gawked at