Freddy Heinz awoke to the thick smell of smoke. In his third story bedroom, he struggled to open the door, the handle glowing bright red. Outside his window, a stranger stood, unmoving, but Freddy couldn’t see him clearly through the smoke. He screamed for his mother and father, and heard them downstairs coughing. Intense fire caused the door to begin disintegrating and allowed Freddy to elbow down the wood of the door and make his way out. His skin was burning and he struggled to breathe without clean air, heaving forcefully as he moved towards the stairs.

Atop the first step, Freddy collapsed, tumbling down to the bottom level of the house. He suffered contusions and his body was damaged significantly, his skin beginning to burn.

Meanwhile, in a realm deep below Freddy’s, a rogue demon named Morgul ran around stealing Beemon’s eternal flames. Other demons tried to capture him, but he was too elusive - a powerful trickster. As he channeled a spell to devour a flame, he was caught by Beemon itself. The horrifying, infinite figure floated before him, and he had but one option.

Morgul sacrificed his body for his soul to ascend and enter the mortal realm. Of the entire world, all the fires called out to him, but only one had a body for him to inhabit. He traversed the realms and possessed young Freddy.

Freddy’s body healed and withstood the flame with ease. Lifted from the floor by firemen, Freddy was placed in a mask to provide oxygen. Morgul panicked within, needing flame to sustain his level of energy. The firemen were shoved back with great force and Freddy ripped the mask apart. He bent over to an area of raging flame and wore the flames as a mask to feed Morgul’s incessant need.

As Morgul became dormant within, Freddy stepped outside to see his mother laying on a stretcher, sobbing. The responders working on quelling the flames were stunned to see the fire resting on Freddy’s face. In the open air, however, those flames began to die down and he fell over, weakened without them.

Morgul took command and ran Freddy’s body towards the burning home. Four firemen tackled him and placed him on a stretcher. They nearly failed to stop the demonic boy from returning to the house. He was held in place and strapped down, then placed in the back of an ambulance beside his mother when someone opened the door.

“Your father didn’t make it, son, I’m sorry.” a fireman told Freddy, and left him to mourn.

Freddy and his mother sobbed together each on a gurney. At the hospital later, the same fireman introduced himself as the captain of his squadron. He came by to check on them and handed Freddy a toy fire truck. “I know you’re a little old for toys, but I know you’ll be bored enough here while they figure out how to treat you.”

“Thanks.” Freddy offered his solemn gratitude, his voice stifled through the breathing tubes. The captain began to walk out of the room quietly, as Mrs. Heinz was sleeping. Freddy stopped him with a question. “How did the fire start?”

The captain made a strange face. “Well, your father left a cigarette still burning near a curtain.” Freddy nodded and the captain left.

After many attempts to correct Freddy’s breathing, the hospital staff called for Dr. Downings, a renowned surgeon and expert in strange cases to come aid the troubled boy. Breathing was near impossible, he even wheezed painfully from the fresh air they fed him.

A glowing hand touched Freddy’s head, causing him to lose consciousness. When he awoke, the doctor was starting a small fire on a table. Freddy leapt from the bed to satiate Morgul, giving Downings the information he needed.

“I could feel something within you craving fire. It rejected my light. Whatever it is, I could help you remove it.” the Doctor explained. Morgul cackled within Freddy’s subconscious.

“I think it’s the only reason I’m still here.”

Dr. Downings respected the boy’s opinion and began to figure out a way forward for him. Freddy was given a mask and breathing tubes designed to keep a flame alive, his exhalation feeding the cycle of ignition.

Many years later, Freddy joined the local firemen, hoping to save families like his own. He was considered one of the best amongst his peers. His record of saved lives far surpassed any other. Others noticed he was empowered by the flames when others were harmed and attributed his success to that ability. 

After a shift one morning, Freddy called to speak with his mother.

“Hey mom. I’ve been thinking…” his voice was muffled through his mouthpiece, “...do you resent dad for causing the fire?”

“What do you mean?” his mother asked.

“His cigarette. He left it near the curtain, remember?”

“Oh, honey, no. Your father never smoked. He hated cigarettes. If anything, they told me my hair dryer was likely the cause.”

Silently, Morgul focused Freddy’s mind on his memory, feeding on a different kind of flame. The figure he saw through his bedroom window all those years ago, before the rest of the firemen even arrived, was none other than the captain, smiling creepily and nodding up at the window. 

Freddy knew right away that he had been lied to, that his father was killed not by a careless mistake, but by the captain himself. He geared up and petitioned Morgul to grant him his power. He knew he had to track down the captain and extinguish him, avenging his father. Freddy left his squadron to operate as a fire-starved vigilante, bringing his equipment with him to become his own Firehouse.