The Deadly Trials

8.2 | Lava

// lava | part 02 //

Its bright green eyes were the size of my head. I could see my reflection in the slitted pupils: my eyes were round and my jaw was slack with stunned fear. The bird's gaze reminded me of a documentary I'd seen about hawks and their hunting habits.

It resembled a Macaw, a tropical bird with its turquoise and lemon drop yellow feathers, gold beak, and plumage lifted on display on its neck. It was easily twice the size of a Clydesdale, with claws sunk into the mountain on either side of me.

My instincts screamed at my legs to move, at my arms to attack. But I was frozen with the knowledge that I was this beast's intended meal. I was positive it could scale the mountain in easy strides — it was hopeless.

Instead of flashbacks on my life — like they usually claim you'll see before death — my mind replayed my conversation with Jack. The old-fashioned laws holding Eternity captive, her citizens convinced that darkness was inevitable, the possibility that I could bring change to this beautiful land if I just won.

Was this how the people of Eternity felt as they watched the incarceration of their Queen? Like they stood before the opened beak of a predator? Helpless, trapped, doomed?

Determination crashed through me, and I peered about for anything that would work as a weapon. I caught sight of a loose stone a couple feet away. I wasn't sure I'd make it before the bird bit at me, but I had to try.

As soon as I moved, it released a screech that made my ears ring and caused me to wince. But I used the distraction to dive for the rock.

It nipped where I had been standing mere seconds before. By the time I lay on the ground, with the rock in hand, its eyes zeroed in on me again.

I had one weapon — one chance to get away. I aimed for its eyes, and when it inched closer, I wound back and hurled the rock.

Bullseye.

As the creature wailed, turned from me to reel from its injury, I scrambled away. I slipped, almost rolling down the mountain, until I managed to find some holds.

I wished I had taken more rock climbing lessons as I clambered up the mountain. In my periphery, I could see the birdlike creature swing its head about. Had I blinded it?

Gritting my teeth, I hoisted myself up along the mountainside. My arms quivered, my lungs pleaded I stop, my mouth was dry and tasted of dirt.

Suddenly, it got hotter. It wasn't my temperature kicked out of homeostasis — it was something external. My body demanded I give up, but I reached up once more regardless, the heat worsening.

My hand caught hold of a sturdy grip, and relief tempted to relax my muscles — just one more haul, and I would be at the top of Mount Volum.

As I lifted my weight, a sharp pain shot through my right leg. I screamed, tears welling in my eyes. Glancing down, the birdlike creature had latched onto my leg. Blood dripped off my shoe into the dirt.

"No," I shrieked, kicking to get my leg free and trying to pull myself away. But my strength was depleting quickly. "Don't! Please. I can't — please. Let me go. Please, don't."

The salt of my tears was a strange reprieve from the dirt and dry in my mouth. My voice was sore, my throat was hoarse, and dirt and blood gathered beneath my fingernails.

The pain increased, the pressure almost unbearable. Then, a loud bang sounded, the air tasted like ash, and the pressure was gone.

Still sobbing and screaming, I gave a final heave of my body and collapsed onto the peak of the mountain. I sucked in lungfuls of polluted air — ash, debris, sulfur — and trembled.