From Ashes and Dust (Book One)

Chapter 24.2

Stirring awake, Vatra felt a sharp pain across the side of her head. Sticky, already dried blood coated her hair, which was untangled from its braid and laid in a dark heap beneath her cheek almost as if a cushion. She pushed herself away from the ground slowly, but stopped when her head spun about. A groan left her lips. Vatra touched the side of her head and tried to recall what happened.

She remembered leaving the beach and cutting across the docks. Then, a strange man she never met before had stopped her. Their exchange of words was caught on the tip of her tongue like a fish on the end of a line. The only worry she had, ahead of even the concern for her own life, was if her brother had made it home safely.

Vatra blinked a few times. The scene around her took solid shapes instead of fuzzy outlines. There was rock surrounding her on all sides, even beneath her. It wasn't smooth like a finished stone worn down by water or rain, but it was rough and angular. Simply prodding the ground with a curious finger almost cut her skin.

The stranger wasn't around. Vatra looked about, careful not to move her head too quickly, and tried to find any sign of life. Wherever she was, it was empty.

As her senses sharpened, Vatra caught the pungent smell of sulfur in the air. She stifled a cough, willing the urge to clear her throat away. It wasn't difficult to imagine the feeling of her eyeballs exploding in her skull from the pain of coughing.

Standing slowly, Vatra held her arms around her despite the warmth in the air. She wobbled on her feet before reaching out to use the wall for support. Though the rocks pressed sharply into her skin, she couldn't risk falling down. Vatra glanced at her feet and realized she was wearing her sandals.

I don't remember putting those back on, she thought. Vatra's mind was too hazy to think anymore about her sandals, and she pressed on.

Step by agonizing step, Vatra navigated her path through the cave. It was dark and lit only by some unknown source of light drifting in from a distance. A torch by chance, or someone's campfire. Though she wasn't sure who would want to set up camp in such a place.

The cave was quiet and seemingly empty. Only the echoes of her steps dragging across the rocks rolled up and down the different paths around her. She hoped she was going in the right direction, wherever it might lead her.

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice questioned from the shadows.

Vatra turned her head sharply, darkness enveloping her vision momentarily before the light caught the stranger's face beside her. It was the man who had taken her. Her head continued to spin despite the fact she was no longer moving. Vatra wanted to vomit all over the ground, but she swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Please, let me go," Vatra said. Her voice was strained but desperate.

The man stepped even closer to her, looping a hand around her elbow. "I can't do that," he replied sternly. "It's almost time."

"For what?" Vatra asked, her stomach sinking to the very ground she walked on.

There was no answer to her question. The stranger gripped her tightly around the arm and tugged her down the pathway. He was more confident in his choice of direction. They made their ways through the caves without a second of hesitation when the path split.

Warm air turned to smoldering heat against Vatra's skin. Sweat mixed in with the blood once dried to her hairline, and the red liquid dribbled down her cheek. She couldn't even gather the strength to wipe it away from her eyes.

"I don't want to go with you," Vatra said, her voice small.

The man ignored her.

She was helpless in his grasp. A weakness had already taken over her muscles from the strike to her temple, but fear only paralyzed her even more. Where was he taking her?

The light ahead of them danced across the rocks walls. An orange and red glow burned brighter at the end of the path they walked down. Vatra didn't know exactly what was on the other side, but she knew her death awaited her. And there was nothing she could do about it.

They exited the winding pathways and entered an open cavern. An overwhelming heat rose from the edge of the narrow rock ledge before them. Daring a look, Vatra noted a bubbling mass of red and orange sludge. Steam hissed through the hardened surfaces on the sludge, almost like stone, but the patch-worked pieces moved as if they, too, weren't solid.

Vatra's heart was racing in her chest. Her fist tightened and she pulled against the man's grip, but he only grabbed her tighter.

"Why won't you look at me? Tell me why we're here!" Vatra dug her heels into the rock and reached behind her with her free arm. She grabbed for the wall, but her fingers enclosed on open air.

"This is how I become strong," the man said with no regard to her fight for survival.

Then, with barely a grunt of effort, the man swung Vatra as one would swing their partner about in a dance. Only, as her feet and body twirled over the open air, he let go of her. Vatra's arms were stretched out in front of her, fingers defeatedly curling closed as she made eye contact with the man that had killed her.

He looked remorseful, only for a moment, before all emotion vanished from his face.

Vatra fell to the bubbling liquid. She couldn't even scream before she was enveloped in darkness. It was sudden, like a strike of lightning all over her body. But, just as quickly as a flash of lightning, the rumble of thunder followed. The sensation wasn't as fast as death, more like a wake from a deep sleep.

Gradually, Vatra awakened. Her fingers twitched first. They opened and closed, testing their strength. Then, her toes and legs shifted. As her body slowly recognized it was once again whole, Vatra's eyes shot open.

She gasped for breath. Her airway was clogged immediately by thick ash, which, after a moment of confusion, Vatra realized was covering her entire body. Vatra sat up and dusted the ash off her face, casting a glance around. The landscape was covered in it, too.

Houses once bustling with families sat in ruin. Fishing boats and the dock were abandoned, covered in a layer of gray ash. The ash continued to cover the ground as it fell from the sky like snow, settling on top of Vatra's head as if trying to hide her away once more. What she noticed most of all, though, was how quiet everything was. There was no one left in her village.

"My family," Vatra said, her lips pulling apart as if they'd been burnt together. She ignored the metallic flavor that pooled on to her tongue and scrambled to her feet. In doing so, she realized she was completely nude.

There was no time to have shame. She had to find out what happened to her family.

Vatra followed the edge of the hill she had awakened on, looking down at her village below her with growing fear. Her feet dragged through the thick ash. She ignored every instinct telling her to run away. To get to safety.

She pulled her arms around her tightly and stopped, her gaze lifting from her village to the figure of someone blocking her way. Unlike her encounter with the stranger that had ended up killing her, Vatra didn't feel a looming sense of dread. Instead, she felt as if she'd run into someone she'd known for a long time.

The old man in front of her held out a cloak before him. "Welcome back, child," the man said. His voice was warm and inviting.

Vatra glanced over his graying beard and shaved head with cautious curiosity. His brown eyes were as warm as his voice, and he had a smile that made her feel like everything was going to be okay.

Stepping forward, Vatra took the cloak from the man and wrapped it around herself. "Who are you?"

"My name is Hephaestus," he replied. "And we have much to discuss."