Page 28 of Crown of Flame
But she isn’t there. Instead, I am alone in the dwelling I created at her behest.
“Was it all a dream?” I mutter to myself. As I flex my feet on the ground of the dwelling.
“Did I dream her? Did I conjure her existence up out of thin air? Was I so hungry for companionship that I fabricated the events of an entire day?”
I mull over the possibility of this for some time, until I come to the conclusion that I did not, in fact, dream up Serena.
I do not know what convinces me. Maybe it is the intensity of my feelings, the strength of them, overwhelming and all-consuming, that sways me to believe that Serena is – was – real.
My feelings for the now-vanished human woman burn brightly inside me, as intense as the fire I am made of.
I realize, as I step outside the dwelling, that I am confused, more than anything else. I am confused by her presence and her absence. And I am confused about how I feel about her.
“Where did you run to?” I let out a sigh as I examine my surroundings. This place is barren and bleak, very unlike the opulent luxury of the fire plane that I come from.
“And why did you leave at all?”
Unless something has taken her?
The thought crosses my mind swiftly, and I straighten up, my back becoming erect, and my chin sticking out determinedly.
I recall every word that Serena told me about this place. About this planet called Protheka.
It is dangerous. Particularly for humans. The fire in my chest, not my own fire but fire stoked by my feelings for Serena, flickers and spits furiously and a low growl escapes me.
As I sprint into the forest, jettisoning through the air, moisture falls from the sky, far more quickly than the snow.
I can feel a tortured soul nearby, fused with another being without consent.
It is the unnatural presence of an experiment.
I pick up Serena’s scent then too. Light and fresh and as sharp as the kaleidoscope colors of her eyes.
It is mingled with the scent of the laboratory beast, and for a second I cannot tell who the blood belongs to.
But what I do know is that Serena is no match for those experiments.
The roar that I let out stills the forest. The little creatures that dwell under rock and soil and in the branches of the trees go deathly quiet.
No one will hurt Serena. Not now. Not ever, I think to myself as balls of fire grow from the palms of my large hands. She is my only way home! My only guide through this realm!
I accelerate now, flying so quickly that the trees blur past me.
I find her quickly enough, and when I do, a hole seems to open in my chest. A hole carved from despair and fear.
She lays, prone on the ground, and I have never seen her look so small before. Not even when I rescued her from the dark elves.
A laboratory beast is bent over her, and it paws at her. Her skin is cold and gray, her body unresponsive.
“Serena!” I find myself roaring her name. I hope to rouse her from her state of unconsciousness.
I hope that I am in time and that when I drag her body from the ground, her kaleidoscope eyes will open for me again.
The beast looks up and snarls at me as I land heavily on the ground just a few paces away from it.
I burned up a lot of my strength just getting here, I think, feeling my energy still partially depleted. I’m not going to be fighting at full capacity.
It does not wait for me to attack but lunges at me, claws and teeth white and razor sharp and deadly.