The Elemental Chain Saga Book Three: Phoenix Blaze

Chapter Seven: Ro'lepr

His first sense was smell.

The first smell was blood. Thick and coppery, his nose wrinkling in repugnance.

Max groaned, his eyes flicking open, taking in the lofty night sky above him. His second sense had been sight.

His body tingled all over. Another groan, at least he could hear. Now feel - the soft squelch of something beneath him, the scent of blood growing as his hand squeezed, liquid running through his fingers. He resisted the urge to vomit, his head reeling like he had been spinning for hours.

His thought process ran like syrup, each line of thinking taking what seemed like forever to process. He sat up, forcing himself to take deep breaths to calm himself. Besides his slow thoughts, he felt good, his body healed.

His eyes snapped open, green eyes wide with alarm, he was in the last Entral.

Max pushed himself off the ground, the squelch making him want to gag once more. He forced himself to look down at it. The spongy dark-red surface oozed with a viscous red liquid. Bulbous mounds stuck up here and there, each one secreting more of the red, adding to the smell of blood.

Max yelped as one of the mounds burst, the red liquid erupting upwards, spreading out as it fell. He dashed backwards, his boots slipping over the slippery surface.

Max didn't like the place one bit.

He missed Alerdreamia, he missed Willembra. The tall buildings, packed streets, familiar faces, all things he longed to be amongst once more, all these things denied to him by this last task, this last Entral. He hardened his resolve, swallowing the bile that had rose in his throat, refusing to be sick by this place. This was it, the last of his task for redemption.

He felt out with his aura, feeling it like warm liquid around him, calming his nerves. He reached outwards from his bubble of safety, feeling for that tug that he knew would be the last Ring. He searched for it, his eyes squinting with care as he still roamed. After a minute, he realized there was nothing to find. There was no Ring to take him home.

He looked up at that black, starless sky, wishing, hoping, pleading he was wrong, hoping that he just had to walk some and then he would feel the tug.

The smell of coppery blood assaulted him once more, making his eyes water and his mouth fill with a rancid taste. He blanched, stumbling, tripping over a bulb in the ground, his face smacking wetly into the surface, the scent pushing itself into him.

He couldn't keep it in anymore. He emptied what was in his stomach, as the hopelessness set in in full.

He could....Max hadn't a clue what he could do. He wiped his mouth on his robe sleeve before positioning himself in a sitting position, burying his head in his hands. He tried to take deep breaths, to let his mind catch up with his actions.

His head lifted, his eyes roaming the land. He swore he had heard a voice - a girl's voice.

He piqued his ears, paying close attention, grasping onto what he thought he had heard, lighting that feeling into certainty and then further into hope. He listened, not daring to breath in case he missed it, missed his chance at freedom.

"Don't come to me! The exit is close, just a couple minutes west of you! Don't falter, don't...." The words were cut off with a scream. Max jolted to his feet, already sprinting towards the sound of her voice, sprinting towards the west.

His boots bounced across the top of the sponge-like ground, that sickly fluid splattering over them with each step, forcing the smell to linger with Max as he ran. He kept his mind off that, the running finally helping to boot his thoughts into first gear, his head feeling fully functional for the first time since he entered this Entral.