PYRO's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

PYRO had hunted the doorway between worlds for years, and now it stood in front of him, and he could not make his feet move. The stone arch glowed with blue light. Runes crawled across its edges. Past the bright center waited the fairy tale world he wanted more than anything. He was a giant, tall and barrel-chested, wrapped in dented armor. He had crossed swamps and ruins to reach this place. Yet his boots stayed planted in the dirt. On his shoulder, his ferret shifted and chattered. The little creature glowed with the same runes that marked the arch. Strange rings of light spun around its brown body. It nipped his ear, urging him forward. PYRO reached up and steadied it with one huge finger. "Not yet," he whispered. "If I step through, there's no coming back." The ground answered for him. Behind him, the flowers began to move. He had passed them without a thought, a cluster of fall-colored blooms with layered petals. Now their stalks twisted. Their petals peeled back to show rows of white, tooth-lined mouths. Vines whipped out and wrapped his ankle. Thorns bit through the gap in his armor. PYRO roared and ripped at the vine, but three more seized his arm. The plants dragged him down. For all his size, he could not break free. A toothed mouth lunged at his throat. Steel flashed. A short blade sheared the vine in half. A woman dropped between PYRO and the blooms, red hair spilling from a black hood. She moved fast and low, cutting as she turned. Her green eyes never left the plants. She was a stranger, but she fought for him like she'd meant to find him here. "Get up, big man," she said. "They don't stop until you're eaten." PYRO heaved to his feet. The woman slashed another vine, then grabbed a loop around his wrist and sawed it loose. More blooms split the soil behind the first ones. The whole field was waking now. There were too many to fight. "The arch," she snapped. "It's the only way out. Move." PYRO looked at the glowing doorway he had feared a moment ago. He looked at the hungry field closing around them both. The choice he had stalled on was gone. The ferret dug its claws into his shoulder and pointed its nose at the light. He wrapped one arm around the woman and shoved toward the arch. Vines snatched at his heels. She ducked a mouth that snapped at her face. Three steps. Two. A thorn raked his cheek. "Now!" she shouted. PYRO lowered his head and drove them both into the blue light. The runes flared. The field, the vines, the world he knew all vanished behind them. Cold brightness swallowed his body. Then he was through. He hit solid ground on the far side, the woman beside him, the ferret still clinging on. The way back was closed. The fairy tale world had him now.