Divided by Hostilities (Chapter 19)

[jiminee]

 Hey, sorry it's been such a long time between chapters! Anyway here's chapter 19 :)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18

He was standing in a field in a beautiful world filled with plants greener than any he’d ever seen before. The leaves on the trees looked denser, the grass looked softer, and the sky looked bluer. There were animals too, ones he recognised – the homely farm animals of his land, cows and pigs and sheep – and ones he’d never seen before, even stranger than the animals of Ancor. There were crystal lakes and far off in the distance a mountain range, with one peak standing taller than the rest – it’s pointed tip a beacon for hundreds of miles around. Multicoloured dragons swooped freely around – they lived in sympathy with this world, feeding on the creatures but never taking too many, never harming the populations significantly. He somehow knew this, even just by standing here. He knew that everything was balanced.
But there came a roar from the earth, the ground rumbling under his feet, the world seeming to double and triple in his shaking vision. Animals began to flee instinctually from the epicentre, all dashing away past him. He couldn’t move, but he also felt no desire to – he stayed still, staring at the mountain as the earthquake intensified. And then he saw that the top of the mountain was turning to fire. It was spewing hot liquid and smoke, roaring into the sky with such heat that he could feel it even from this distance. The column rose up, red and angry, and the sky darkened. It was becoming black with ash, spreading out from the top of the mountain like a stain of blood on a shirt. It kept spreading, clouding over the entire world and blocking out the sun.

Pause gasped, jerking out of the vision. The floor of the tunnel was pressed against his face, warm and hard. He’d fallen over, even though he couldn’t remember. He was in the tunnel, and it was dark. Pause turned, looking towards the entrance where he’d come in. What had he just seen? It was clearly this world. The mountain he’d seen in the vision was identically shaped to the one in this world. But it looked so beautiful, and there were animals, and dragons of different colours and species, and they were all on the surface…
Had the eruption wiped out all the living things? Pause stood up slowly. But why did he have a vision of something that happened in the past? And there were dragons here. They appeared to be the only living species, but they still survived somehow. It didn’t make sense. Pause brushed dirt off his cheek and continued downwards. The cavern wasn’t changing much, aside from beginning to slope even more sharply downwards. Pause’s head spun with what he’d seen.

The fire was still burning, bright and hot when the three entered the ground floor of the half-built palace. It was quite strange, Pyro thought as they approached. The flame didn’t seem to spread or catch, just staying as a tall column in the centre of the floor.
“What is that?” he asked. Zisteau was ahead, walking towards the flame with curiosity. Arkas and Pyro stayed behind, hesitating to get close to the fire.
“What did Aureylian say?” Pyro asked. “Zisteau?”
Arkas shot a horrified look at him for his neglect to address the king properly. But Zisteau didn’t seem to care.
“She said she needed to light a fire in here. Asked if it was okay. Said she was in danger but she was sending Pause and – and Beef to fix things.”
“What?” Pyro said, his voice cracking as it rose. “She put Pause in danger?”
“We have to go,” Zisteau said.
“Go where?” Arkas asked.
“Where is Pause?” Pyro said in desperation.
“Arkas, Pyro,” Zisteau said, turning slowly. “We have to go in there. In the fire.”
“What?” Arkas said in unison with Pyro.
“In there. I think it’s a portal to where they are, come and take a look.”
Pyro stepped forward, wondering if the king had gone crazy. Zisteau was gesturing at the flame. “Can you see it?”
“See what?”
“There’s a world in there, look. We have to go.”
Pyro peered at the flames, staring until he saw. There was a world in the centre of the heat, shimmering like a mirage. It looked unlike any place he’d ever seen before.
“Follow me,” Zisteau said, stepping into the fire without warning. Pyro watched, shocked, as the king’s body disturbed the mirage, shimmered, and disappeared.
“We have to go in,” Pyro said finally. “Arkas, you right?”
Arkas nodded, and stepped forward. “Let’s go.”

Pause stopped as the tunnel stopped abruptly, and he gasped when he looked down into the cavern it opened into. The cavern itself was not extraordinary; it was smaller than the two he’d already been through. But Pause’s eyes were fixed on one thing only; the fantastic beast that sat in the centre of the cave, enveloping everything around it with its magnitude.
It seemed to be a creature of fire, somehow almost a part of the lava that poured down from openings in the cave walls and surrounded it in pools. Its body looked like molten rock, and fire seemed to flicker off the creature's surface with every tiny movement. It had a horned forehead and two emerald green eyes.
Pause moved back, breathing hard. Keeping in what he hoped was a shadowy part of the tunnel he peeked down at the creature again. He had no doubt that if it saw him he would be dead in an instant. Further inspection of the room made him even more afraid; there were large piles of bones around it, some large enough to have only come from the dragons, but some - Pause squinted through the hazy heat and the sweat in his eyes to see - some could be human bones. Had that creature eaten Aurey and Beef? No. No. No. NO. It can't have. Pause forced himself to look down again, just a quick scan to see - to see if there were any fresh bodies. They couldn't be - could they? The only fresh corpse he could see was the carcass of a dragon, upturned with most of its stomach and chest ripped out. Pause put a hand to his mouth. Even despite his hatred for the dragons, for some reason he couldn't help but feel sorry for it. Focusing his mind on his quest, he hid as far back behind the rocks jutting from the wall as he could. No way could he get down there - the fire-creature thing would destroy him. Would he have to turn back now?  Pause hated himself for thinking this. He'd promised himself he'd find Beef. He couldn't stop, even with this creature in the way. There had to be some way of getting down. Pause gripped a jutting rock of the tunnel, leaning out over the dizzying height to see if there were any caves or openings in the walls behind the creature. He prayed it wouldn’t look up as he tried to see through the bright haze that surrounded it. It was hard to tell what was the rocky wall of the cave. Peeking out again, he leaned out further, knowing how risky it would be if the creature looked up. But it was staring straight forward at the rocky wall. Pause leaned out even further, his hand gripping the rocky wall. Panic jumped into his throat when he felt his hand slip, and he pulled himself back. Inspecting his hand, which now had a long red gash on it, Pause didn't see the creature look up.

“Wow, this place is really pretty,” Arkas said after the flash of hot pain had passed. He was standing in the centre of a beautiful, crystalline world, all bright hues and flat land stretching as far as he could see.
“Now isn’t the time to admire the scenery,” came Zisteau’s voice from somewhere below. Arkas turned to make sure Pyro was okay.
“Where are we?” Arkas asked.
“Get down here,” Zisteau said. “We need to move.”
“Arkas, we have to go,” Pyro said urgently. He began scrambling down the side of the jutting outcrop they were standing atop. Arkas followed, slipping down the smooth sides of the crystals and catching his hands on the sharp points. He landed on both feet at the base of the crystals, the flame portal they had come through still shining at the top.
“Let’s go,” Zisteau was saying, already ahead. Arkas almost asked where they were going, but Pyro’s outstretched hand showed him, the huge tongue of flame off in the distance.
“Another portal?” he asked.
“Yes,” Zisteau said. Arkas wondered how he knew.
“Are Pause and Aureylian in there?” Pyro asked. “And – and Beef?”
“I think so,” Zisteau said. Pyro began walking faster to keep up with him and Arkas did the same. After a while, they arrived at the tall portal. Zisteau stepped in as soon as they arrived, wasting no time. Arkas hesitated for a second, but followed Pyro as soon as he entered the portal.
Pain again, then it subsided. Arkas blinked at the new world, which was as different as the first as seemed possible. It was dim and grey, the sky cloudy and the landscape ashen.
“There’s nothing here,” Pyro said.
“Yes there is,” Zisteau said. “It’s that way.” He pointed at a mountain in the distance and began walking again. Arkas was beginning to feel that his legs couldn’t keep up; they were tiring and becoming sore. He noticed Pyro beginning to slow down too. As they got closer to the mountain, Arkas noticed that it was getting warmer. At first he thought he was imagining it, but the warmth grew steadily stronger.
“It’s getting really warm,” Arkas said.
“Good,” Zisteau said brusquely. Arkas shared a glance with Pyro, but neither of them said anything. Although it seemed irrational, he supposed there was nothing to do but trust Zisteau.

Zisteau scratched his blind eye and looked up again in the direction of the mountain. It was the right way to go, he knew it. There was nothing around for miles but the warmth emanating from the mountain like a heartbeat. It was the only living thing in this place. And he hadn’t said it to the two men – Arkas and Pyro – but he felt drawn to the mountain. And he hadn’t only felt it after they arrived here. From the first glance into the portal back in Abattia he’d felt it. Something was guiding him, and even though he knew that it might lead them into danger, he had to follow it.
Why was he so focused on finding Aureylian? Zisteau had asked himself this many times this night, and all he could think was that she had made him a better person. Maybe a week or two ago he wouldn’t have cared that she’d gone missing. That was scary to think about. But he wanted to help Pyro and Arkas find Pause too. Deep down, he even cared about the man from Daedalia. Maybe that was Aureylian’s effect, too.
Zisteau reached up to touch his eye again.  It was quite itchy, probably because of the haze that looked like dust that hung in the air. They were getting closer to the mountain, and closer to the warmth. He took a quick look back to see if the two were keeping up, then turned back to the mountain and walked faster, his mouth set.

Pause had never felt so close to death before, never in a vision or a panic attack or even in battle. The great creature had easily swiped him from the mouth of the tunnel with a giant fist, dwarfing Pause in its rocky palm. He felt heat sting his skin almost instantly, and was grateful for the diamond armor he wore. It protected his skin, even though it was heating up fast. Pause squinted through the haze surrounding the creature, realising this would be the last thing he saw before he died – just heat and fire and the glow of two emerald eyes, staring him down.
His skin was burning now, and Pause wanted to scream but there seemed to be no energy or air in his lungs and he was dying, he was going to be dead in one more second and –
The creature dropped him on the ground. Pause felt something strangely like gratitude before blackness enveloped his head.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Oh gods. O_o

-Calamity (don't have an account here so . . .)