We call it living because it pulsates steadily, like a beating heart. It also reacts to any person who holds it by burning brighter, and the reaction differs with person. The fire is strange as well, normally not able to burn anything, but we suspect it can be excited by a certain kind of stimulus we couldn't figure out yet. The thing reeks of Shadowtech (and brimstone); not only there is no discernible source of its energy, it is also impossible to damage; it absorbs energy and slowly releases it later. We could probably overload it with enough power, but 'enough power' in this context means enough to blow up the whole lab, if not the whole Hideout, so we didn't try.