The Initials | Nanowrimo 2023

27| Chaos Walking

Cloud pries his eyes open, laying with his back on the cold, hard, floor, wondering when the sky replaced its fluffy white clouds with black bodies of wafting death.

He lifts his chin, looking back to get a peek at Casey's tuft of golden hair, noticing how motionless he is whilst laying on his stomach with his hand outstretched towards him.

Cloud drops his head, his lungs aching when he coughs, the heat combined with the melodic crunching of the flames making it harder for him to keep himself awake.

Trails of hot tears leave his eyes raw, giving Cloud time to consider how It'd be so easy to close them, to give up, to let the fire claim his body and be buried underneath the crumbling infrastructure.

Of course, if he does decide to do nothing then it'll be the smoke that gets him first. Now that is a bleak thought.

"Cloud, Cloud, wake up!" Justin pleads, dropping to his knees next to his friends, his eyes immediately looking towards the fresh coat of blood trickling down from his hairline. "Oh god."

Arden sprints through the smoke next, gently slapping Cloud in the face to stir him awake, even going as far as to squish his face until Justin decides to intervene.

"What are you doing?" he yells, slapping Arden's hands away before he even realises what he is doing.

"We have to keep him awake somehow."

Justin flinches when a crumbling pillar adds fuel to the fire, a strong plume of dust and tainted air wafting over them, taking a while before it clears up.

He opens his pinched eyes once everything settles, noticing how far the flames were pushed back but becoming increasingly more aware at how fast they're returning, smearing the black soot staining his fingertips across his neck as he hurriedly loosens the black tie strangling his neck.

Justin's eyes flicker like the exposed cables running through the walls, glowing brighter once they catch a glimpse of a faint glow surrounding Cloud, revealing to him the veins of mana flowing into and out of his body.

Justin follows the strands with his eyes, realising that the flames that surround them remain at bay where they come into contact with his powers, releasing a sigh of relief knowing that at least he won't burn to death right away.

He gingerly reaches for the nearest strands, surprised to feel his influence over the mana as it bends to his will, vibrating in-between his fingers in a way that feels almost living.

He hears a chorus of indistinguishable whispers in his ears, his knuckle turning white as he struggles to unclench his grip on the strand.

Justin catches a secondary mass of light that reacts differently to the first, the burning in his hand from this one reminding him of how the air nips at his skin in the middle of Winter, tunnelling deep into his bones.

Arden feels his mana draining from him now that Justin's eyes are no longer flickering, observing silently as he performs what he considers to be a miracle.

In his trance, Justin opens his mouth, releasing the word that seems to summon itself from his tongue, the strands of mana quaking like quick sand in anticipation.

"Wake!" he roars, pumping his hands down on Cloud's chest with extreme force.

Cloud thrusts himself up into a sitting position, sucking in a great breath of air, his irises momentarily sharing the same hue as Justin's before disappearing after a single blink.

"What just happened?"

Cloud wipes his mouth with the back of his ruined sleeve, filled with a new spark of power that seems to numb his physical aches and pain. "I don't know, but I feel great!"