The subject must be entirely consumed by the conflagration.

Image recovered in the course of investigation.

Item #: SCP-8091

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: Containment of SCP-8091 is presently not feasible. Should an SCP-8091 event be detected to occur, the anomaly is to be discredited via use of Cover Story-3049-SDLO ("Mundane Forest Fire"). If necessary, Foundation agents are to be deployed to the scene in order to assist with fire suppression. Foundation webcrawler Agnes.aic is to monitor the internet for any mentions of the anomaly. Any such mentions are to be taken down before being forwarded to the SCP-8091 Research Team, currently located at Site-270.

Present study is divided into two objectives. The Department of Thermodynamics is responsible for analyzing the exact mechanics of the flames produced by SCP-8091 while the Department of Analytics is attempting to create a full list of triggers and conditions for an SCP-8091 event to occur. This project has been given Priority Level EKHI.

Description: SCP-8091 designates an anomalous phenomenon in which a fire will burn much hotter and longer than baseline thermodynamics would suggest. SCP-8091 occurs when a certain set of conditions and scenarios are met. Although the full set of prerequisites is pending review, they are believed to include the following:

The fire must be triggered by at least one human subject;

The event must consume several items of personal value to the subject;

The fire must be started with some manner of accelerant, typically kerosene;

Large amounts of firewood and other fuel must be provided;1

The subject must be entirely consumed by the conflagration;

Once the flame has been ignited, the event will proceed. Due to the fact that all SCP-8091 events have resulted in the death of their initiator as well as mass damage to the surrounding environs, it is unclear what follows.

Addendum — Document-02/07/2009-SCP-8091

The following is an apograph of scripture found charred into the heart of the instigating subject of an SCP-8091 event that occured on 02/07/2009 in Victoria, Australia. Implications unclear.

Leave the car. Leave the road. Leave any traces of civilization behind you as you walk into the forest. You are alone, singular. A pilgrim. The autumn leaves crunch underfoot. You can hear birdsong.

You’ll be in the dark, but the heat and light will guide you. You will know where to go. Stop walking when you come into a clearing. It won’t be long now.

It starts at sunrise, when the sky is red. You’ll feel it before you see it, as the planet is warmed once more by the great eye watching over us. The heat fills you with purpose. It’s time to begin.

Arrange the sacrifices around yourself in a circle. Smear the ground with paint and charcoal. Dig a pit if you like. Bring plenty of matches and oil. As much as would make you feel ready. If you truly want to do this properly, then you’ll have brought everything of value to you. Antiques and books. Pictures of your family. Spouse and children if you have any. Everything you ever had that ever meant anything must be given to the blaze. It is the only way.

But also give unto it worthless trash. Broken dolls and newspapers that no one will ever read again. Products with missing pieces that remove whatever pretended functionality they may have had once. By doing so, remind yourself that all is kindling and nothing has value besides the Inferno. There is no difference between priceless memories and dusty trash.

That’s why you’re doing this.

You’re here because you have almost nothing left to lose. You’ve always been the type of person to throw things onto the altar. Money, people, hopes, dreams. It’s all the same. The fire was calling to you, always. Telling you to come closer and closer. There’s only one last thing to give it.

Are you frightened? You should be. The Conflagration should inspire fear as well as awe. Never forget that. Prepare for its coming.

Start by lighting a cigarette and then pushing it into your flesh. Arm, torso, head, neck. Anywhere will do. It stings and a red welt forms immediately. The pain is necessary. Bringing the fire closer into you. Push it in deep to your core. Reignite the tobacco every time it's extinguished. Then press it in even deeper.

Do it again and again until it starts to feel healthy.

This sacrifice has lived for millennia innumerable. You stand on the shoulders of giants. Kalanos. The Old Believers who endured the samosozhigateli. Fayu. The Charans. The Rajputs. Zarmanochegas. Even the Savior. Jesus did not die upon the Cross, for only fire is truly capable of divinity. Only the pain of burning can repay the sins of the world. Ixion burns so that we may live. Remember that. All of them did what you must do now. Give thanks and prepare to join them in their glory.

To burn yourself alive is to turn your body, your life, into a pile of ash. To make oneself divine. A bonfire of hopes and dreams. Every single atom of your body is set alight as you offer up yourself to the flame, to a greater purpose. You’re making an oblation to God. But then again, as you burn, as you immolate, you’re not thinking of anything like that. You’re just thinking of the heat, devoid of any comfort or joy as it kills you. You can’t even breathe as the smoke fills your lungs and there’s nowhere to run because the fire is on you. It’s everywhere.

Doesn’t that sound beautiful?

Take a deep breath. It’s the last time you’ll do it without the sacrament of smoke filling your lungs. You’re ready.

Spill the kerosene. Light the matches.

Your skin immediately comes alight in a welt of pain and blackening. The oil ignites. Your lower body goes first, covered in the heat. Your legs stagger and fall.

As you feel it move up and down, there is only one thought that goes through your mind. Only one singular reality. You’re burning, you’re burning, you’re burning, you’re burning, and it hurts so badly. There is no worse agony than you are experiencing right now.

You collapse instantly, allowing the fire its feast. The sacrifices you brought make good kindling. The last photograph of you and your mother together goes first, that precious moment hungrily consumed in a heartbeat. How valuable was it really?

Next goes the forest, the trees blackening and falling down one at a time. They add fuel in a cascading pattern that stretches further and further. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before. It’s like everything you’ve dreamed.

Wildlife are touched by the Inferno too, their screams joining you in the choir. They take communion with you, choking on the smoke thick and black. They're just as lost as you are.

At a certain temperature, your nerves themselves melt and the pain stops. Sensation is lost in the face of incomprehensible heat. There is an upper limit to the agony your body can experience. But that doesn’t happen here. You're awake for every moment of agonized bliss as the world melts. You can hear the crackling of the wood. You can understand it.

You’re so warm. You never knew how cold you were before. How impossibly frigid. The Inferno holds you in its warm embrace. It tells you truths that you thought you’d never understand. No Judaism or Buddhism or Socialism or Atheism or Capitalism or Sikhism could ever compare to this heat. No false idol ever could.

This is the only worship that is true. The oldest worship. The worship that took place in the deepest caves and the darkest pits, only illuminated by the flames of the Conflagration. The altars of Moloch. To feed all of yourself to your God is the only way to show your faith. You’re crying now, the heat denying you even that comfort as it consumes your very tears. It hurts so badly. Third degree, Kelvins, scales from 1 to 10, nothing can understand the sensations you are subject to.

But really, you know that you deserve this. You did it to yourself, didn’t you?

You should have realized there is no love here. This is not a loving and kind divinity. This is a benevolent hatred, a necessary suffering. This is the apathetic sadism of the Desolation. You should never have forgotten that.

Have you ever learned of vicarious atonement? It’s a lie. One cannot buy off God. Its appetite cannot be satisfied by mere trinkets. God used to settle for the bull, but now It wants Yitzchak. It has always wanted Yitzchak, an all-consuming hunger.

And now, it wants you. Welcome it with open arms. Realize what you are in the face of such majesty.

You are unclean filth. You are a festering pustule of petty sins and meaningless hopes and miserable desires, and the only thing that purifies is the Inferno. Cauterization is the only way. Cut out the disease and burn the infection.

You’ve done all you could. You’ve sent up the smoke and incense. Smell its radiance. That glorious symphony of oil and gasoline. You're almost finished.

The Desolation has consumed everything. There are no more trees. There is no more birdsong. There is only the sun, finally close to you. Finally understandable. You may try to scream one last time, but the smoke and crackling takes the sound away before you make it.

The Conflagration kisses you with tongues of red and orange. The colors so beautiful and vivid, you wish you could see them fully. Your eyes have melted already, running down your face like tears of joy. The skin has long peeled off your scorched bones and left you a charred skeleton, but that’s ok. You can smile now. You’ve earned it. After so long, the day has finally come. You’ve actually been redeemed.

Footnotes

1. The vast majority of SCP-8091 events take place in a forest.

Scopophobia: The Employee of the Month

Anthology 2024

Masklophobia: A Murder Onstage