The drum beats slowly, like a heartbeat.
I step into the flames.
A collective gasp mirrors my movements, and the flames lick my dark, exposed skin.
I am more than aflame. I become the flame. It circles my limbs and I twist to the external heartbeat, wearing the flickering jewels like clothing, encasing armor of heat and light.
Around me the stage is dark, but where the flames sneak through the cracks in the floor another world can be glimpsed, a vista of hot pools and magma and the pulsing lifeblood of the earth. The drum surrounding me does more than mimic a heartbeat; it becomes the earth’s steady rhythm. Air against my face is scorching, fire in my veins something soothing, and my fingers twist in the dance.
The flames follow where I lead.
Image by Kieran Macaulty.