Fighting with Fire #2 ✔

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟖 - 𝐄𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫

"Why?" I questioned, before clamping my mouth shut in order to refrain from throwing up whatever was in my shock-filled body.

"They will stop at nothing until they get what they want."

"What do they want?" Tears rolled down my face as I demanded answers.

"You, Ember Milburn. Or, more specifically," the voice specified, "Your fire."

I realised why the lake was so dark — it was full of dark, thick blood, and as I stared at it, it seemed to bubble and spill over the lake edges. I glanced at my hands to see them alight and dancing with flames. I had not summoned my fire, yet here it was.

Collapsing to my knees once more, I fell forward onto the bones. My fire licked at the ground below me, burning up all the skulls and bones, destroying everything; leaving nothing.

They want my fire, with the thought came stronger flames. I won't let them take it. I won't let them harm my Phoenix. Never.

My hands shook as the last of the bones cracked and crumbled into milky-grey ashes — leaving a river of blood flowing past my bare, dirty feet.

The rest of my clothes were gone as well, leaving me standing naked and exposed on the lake shore. I folded my arms tightly around my body, purely out of modesty, though it wasn't like anyone was around.

Then my feet were sinking into the river of blood, slowly swallowing me. It was hot and fresh and smelt rancid. The metallic taste of the stuff entered through my nose and lingered in the back of my throat.

Flailing around, I was trying desperately to grab onto something; yet nothing was around me apart from the thick, deep river of blood that I was being sucked into.

Before I knew it, I was up to my neck in the river, and yet my feet couldn't reach the bottom — if there even is one, that is. With my body coated in the blood of the innocent, tears began to roll down my face.

They didn't deserve this; I didn't deserve this — none of us deserves this.

I took one last deep breath as I became fully submerged in the river. It was clearer underwater than it was above, so I squinted into the murky red and swam forwards to what looked like a figure in the water— blood. In the blood.

How I'd managed to hold my breath for this long, I didn't know. But I kept my mouth tightly shut; I didn't exactly fancy drowning in blood.

Drawing nearer to the figure, I saw a bare chest and bare legs; the figure of a naked man. I froze momentarily but then continued swimming. If he was drowning, I wasn't going to leave him just because he was naked. I mean, I was naked, and I wouldn't've wanted to be left to die in this murky river of blood just because of my nudity.

It's Theo, I realised as I swam closer to him.

Looping my arm around his midsection, I pulled him up from the riverbed, kicking my feet off and propelling us towards the surface. I gasped as I emerged from the river of blood, rubbing my eyes clear of the gunk while keeping a hold of Theo.

Reaching the river bank, I wriggled myself up, before pulling Theo up the grassy slope. I wiped away the blood from Theo's eyes, nose and mouth, before leaning over him and giving him CPR.

Unafraid to break a few of his ribs, because I knew they'd heal, I pushed down strongly on his chest, over his heart. I didn't have to continue for long before he spluttered out a mouthful of blood and sat up.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

His eyes skimmed over my naked body, and then over his own. "Why are we naked? And why are we covered in blood?"