[He was about to respond, but the seeing the flame in Ashura's hand drained all color from his face. He jerked the arm that held the offered water bottle back as he took two, three steps back to put distance between him and the flame.
Trying to keep his breathing even, he bit his lower lip and sharply looked away, fists clenching and body tense, before the light of the flames engulfed his mind's eye, and before his memory summoned the suffocating smell of burning metals, rubber, and wood doused in oil...]