Wet Fire

Fear of Fire (E4)

It was waiting for her, she knew, and it looked everything like she had imagined it as a child.

In fact, it was even greater than she had imagined. By its claws, the Arsi hung on the edge of the Caldera in front of Petra, just watching her. It stared right at Petra, as if examining the entirety of her soul. Petra's heart was racing, each of its eyes were as large as her head, and its body...was enormous...she had never seen a thing so large. Shining scales covered its skin like a layer armor, and glowing red cracks appeared between them, and made the Arsi look like it was made of wet fire itself.

But what most intrigued her was the Arsi's face, which looked like it had been intricately crafted out of fine materials. Its face was thin, and beautiful, with long bony teeth and three twisted horns just behind its ears. Its eyes were warm and white, glowing with heat. The Arsi had two leathery gills as well, which flapped back and forth as it took a breath, and multiple protruding spikes all the way down its neck and back. Petra just stood there watching the Arsi, and the Arsi watched her.

How can I possibly slay such a creature? Its beauty is beyond anything I have ever seen before. But look at all of those scales, our tribe would never have to move again for a thousand years. We could leave this place forever and go and live in the lands outside of the Flats, where the air is clear. All this time we have been toying with a monster so much more than what meets the eye. Its worth is far more than anything we could have imagined. Petra thought about leaving right there and heading back home, But then she remembered her promise, and charged at the Arsi's face.

The arsi let her make the first move. It remained as still as a statue as Petra bought down her knife upon its snout with a clang. Petra's knife bouced harmlessly off the Arsi's snout and she ws thrown backward and landed on the ground again, into the dust. The arsi, feeling the pressure of the blow, growled and then shifted its grip on the rim of the Caldera. Its claws dug deep into the rock, which crumbled as the arsi scooted over to the left.

Petra ran towards the Arsi once again, but this time it let go from the side of wall and plummetted into the depths of the Caldera. Wet fire splashed up and landed just a few feet away from Petra, who was careful to watch where she stepped. She apprached the edge of teh Caldera and gazed downward, but the arsi was nowhere in sight. All she saw was the wet fire far below. bubbling and gurgling. How is it that the arsi is able to survive the wet fire? She wondered. Of course, the gills. It breathes wet fire. Somehow, this didnt surprise her. But it breathes air as well. Hmmm...

Then she saw a familiar sight. The tentacles.

Five molten tentacles rose from the pit and wavered around in the air. They hovered there for a moment and then came crashing down around Petra. She had luckily anticipated its move and was able to throw herself out of the way before the tentacles crushed her. The force of the Arsi's blow made a huge crack in the side of the Caldera. Rock, sand, dust flew everywhere. Wet fire splashed so closely to Petra that her pant leg caught fire. Petra tried to swat at it, but instead burned herself, rubbing her leg up next to a nearby rock. She let out a yelp, which in turn caused the tentacles to make a second move.

This time, they tried to sweep her into the chasm. Just as Petra got back on her feet, a tentacle swiped her legs, and she was back again on the ground. What am I doing? She thought. The arsi is just toying with me.

Petra jumped over the next tendril (thankfully it was thin enough), but was immediately caught-off guard when another one smacked her directly in the chest. It felt like all the air had been squeezed out of her and she flew forward and rolled onto the hard ground. The next moment she found herself handing onto the edge of the Caldera, by her fingers. Her body was dangling in the air, with nothing to grasp on to. Her hands and arms were screaming and burning. Her feet were burning from the heat of the fire below. It is probably trying to cook me before it eats me. She thought.

I am going to die like this. All it has to do is give me a little nudge and Ill be gone. The end of Petronel. In that moment she thought hard about whether or not it was worth it to let go or to climb back onto the rock. It would be so easy to let go, to let herself die, and it would be hard to keep on living and climb out of this. But I don't want it to end. I want to die fighting. And she managed to haul her body upwards onto the cool rim. For a while she just layed there, thinking about the burning pain in her arm and hands and all over her body.

But the Caldera would not hold her for long. The sides of the Caldera were caving in around her and crumbling down into the fiery pit. The ground shook violently as huge boulders were pried loose form the side of the mountain and came crashing down in an avalanche of igneous stone. Petra's instincts took over and she immediately started looking for a way out— if she remained there, she would surely be crushed and then fall into the chasm. Then she saw it, an stationary bit of land at the other end of the Caldera. It appeared as if it were made of a different type of rock, hence its bright grey color, and luckily it hadn't cracked yet. Petra made her move and sprinted towards it.

When she took off, the ground where she had just stood gave out and collapsed into the center of the Caldera. Each time her feet touched the ground, it cracked and fell away into the ever-expanding fiery pit below. She ran with all of her might and dodged a few boulders where passed her on their way downward. They landed with a thud, and then brought down the whole mountain with them. Petra could barely keep running. A cloud of noxious gas spurted up in front of her and sprayed her right in the face. Coughing and retching, Petra ran slower and her vision became clouded.

Over a jagged rock she tumbled. Petra held out her hands to break her fall, but then realized she was carrying her bone knife in her right hand. It was too late. She did a somersault in the air and then hit the ground. Her knife went deep into her skin, through her gloves and shirt, and cut a gash spanning from her hand to her mid arm. Her left arm was soaked in blood, but the would itself did not hurt so bad. From Tyrek she learned this was probably a bad sign—the would had gone deep enough to cut her nerves.

But she had to keep moving, for the ground underneath her was just starting to crumble into dust. The safe patch of land was so close ahead. Petra felt herself sinking and made a leap for it with all of her strength. She landed on the hard grey granite and rolled over, breathing heavily. Petra got up onto her feet and immediately felt lightheaded. Her lags trembled and her eyes burned. and she tasted blood and salt in her mouth. Petra sniffed and wiped her nose, surprised to find it too covered in blood, which was quite messy—it had dripped down face and stained her fur cloak. Her arm felt warm and wet, but she dared not look at it.

The arsi's head rose from the center of the Caldera, dripping with wet fire. From it nostrils, it breathed black smoke, which curled and twisted upwards until it blended into the black night sky. Its eyes were bright yellow-white and glowed with an intense fury. It was ready to feast. Glancing around, Petra saw that she was trapped, she was on a single island suspended above a sea of wet fire. There was no where to escape.

She watched the arsi's face—ugly and beautiful at the same time—and wondered what it might be thinking. The arsi breathed a strong breath of wind at Petra, but she managed to stay standing somehow. There was only one thing left to do.

She jumped onto the creature's face and landed on the crest of its head. The scales made it slippery, but she hooked her feet around the arsi's horns and held on tightly. Petra knew that her knife was probably long gone by now—she had dropped it when she cut herself—but there was still something she could do. She punched both fists into the arsi's eyes and broke the surface of the eyeballs. Glowing yellow blood and white eyeball jelly sprayed everywhere, and the arsi shrieked and dove downward.

Petra's entire body was covered in arsi blood, and the wound on her arm felt like it had been dunked in alcohol. Intense prickles of pain made her head swim and her mind go numb, and she barely realized she was falling. With her good arm, Petra clutched onto the inside of the arsi's eye socket and managed to hold onto the creature as it hit the pool of wet fire. Still they sunk downward, and Petra realized she was still alive, She opened her eyes and saw a bright light—death? But it wasn't death, it was blood.

The arsi thrashed around and let out a shrill cry that sent shivers down Petra's back. Petra was still hanging onto the eye socket when the arsi burst upward into the cool air. For a moment, Petra and the arsi were flying together and soaring upwards, until her stomach dropped, and they plummeted. With its arms extended and tentacles outstretched, the Arsi came crashing forth onto the side of the mountain, dead.

From the heavens, black scales fell like rain upon the broken body of Petronel.