Bound by Hellfire

Chapter 13

The animals trampled behind us as we raced across the grassland! Their guttural barks giving obvious hints that they were gaining just steps behind us.

My mind scrambled as to what we could do. We were only a few yards from the forest across, but the maze of trees wouldn't save us. There had to be something. A plan that could get us out of this situation, but there wasn't one. Even if there was--- everything was happening so fast. It was a miracle that I could think at all.

So our plan was to run. Run until we couldn't run any longer. Until our legs gave out and we were overtaken and mauled by these blood-hungry beasts.

A great plan if I do say so myself.

The blustering wind fell silent as we stepped through the tree line, leaving only the sounds of the hoard behind us. They were close! Close enough that I couldn't discern the sounds of my feet from theirs.

"This is the end," I thought to myself.

My legs struggled to keep moving, to push just one more step, but my thoughts slowed them. I was tired of running. Tired of gasping for that last breath of air, only to sink to the ocean floor once more.

I turned to face the monsters behind me. Lifting my arms instinctively to my face as I embraced what I believed to be death. My mind went blank and my vision faded, leaving my body to fall unconscious as a maw of teeth sunk into me.

My eyes opened as I blinked into my new surroundings. Ethan stood at the corner of my yard. His famous ear-to-ear smile radiating back at me as he waited for me to step off my porch. My feet sank into the damp summer grass as I did; my socks now drenched in morning dew.

"Ethan?" I called to him as I approached.

"That's what they call me," He chuckled.

"Oh god, am I dead!? Are we dead?! Is this heaven!?"

Ethan cocked his head to the side. The smile on his face now only a smirk as his eyes squinted back at mine.

"Do you want to be?" Ethan asked concerningly.

"Do I want to be what?" I responded under panicked breaths.

"Dead. Do you want to be dead?"

I scratched my head at his words. My brow twisting with confusion.

"I didn't realize there was a choice."

"There's always a choice Adam. To keep fighting--- until the very end. Or to concede and let your worries fade away."

My eyes fell to the ground as I sat on the curb.

"It sounds like I've already decided," I mumbled.

Ethan joined me. His gaze on my face as he pried for my eyes to look at him.

"You have a gift, Adam. A gift that breathes life into everything around you. A fire, that in time, will beacon across the sky, leaving you as the spectacle for everyone to see."

His hand gripped my knee and my eyes finally gave in to his as he rose to his feet.

"The trials ahead will be challenging, but if you give up now--- then that fire dies with you."

My eyes fell back to the road, deep in thought.

"You aren't Ethan, are you?"

"No... I just figured you needed to hear that from a familiar face, but he is in trouble. Him and that girl. And you are the only one that can save them now."

Ethan extended his hand toward me. Red flames flickered across his palms and down to his fingertips. I looked down at my own hand to see that the embers had returned, reaching once again toward the crease of my elbow.