It wasn't the first time Ozzie had felt and seen it before. All around him, the forested place was no more then an expanse of fire. Smoke clouded his surroundings and it took everything he had to keep his eyes open with ash masking the air. Breathing was unbearable, he had to cover his mouth and breath through his sleeve. Oz could barely walk straight but he continued to pace forward with little control of which direction his feet would take him.
The sharp pain in his side felt so real; looking down to see the large gash he had received years ago fresh and open, his blue shirt stained purple. It didn't come to his mind he would have to stop the bleeding, all that ran through his head was fear of what could happen. It was Kourtney. She was only a couple hundred feet away from him on the ground. Clouds of smoke billowed around her, one of them having the shape of a human figure. Kourtney clearly wasn't faring any better then he; he had to get to her before the shadow got her first. Every dizzy step seemed to take all his strength.
"KOURTNEY! Run, get up before he finds you! RUN!" He shouted over and over, his voice hardly making distance before the roar of fire swallowed it like the trees. His throat burned from yelling in heated atmosphere, but he continued again to reach her. Anything to stop what he feared most. He was so close to her.
Reaching to his side and grabbing the gun he had, unstrapping it from the holster to aim at the shadowy figure only feet away from her. The thing moved like the fire, a grin forming on its sharp face.
"Get away from her!" Ozzie screamed, letting three shots fire, all of them seemed to hit their target, but to no avail in dropping the monster. The figure was almost on top of Kourtney, who only crawled towards Ozzie, her face pleading for all of this to end. If only he could fight off the beast long enough to let her get away...
"Ozzie... He's here...Adar...he's gonna kill us, please, you have to stop him." Her voice was so cold, how he heard her over the flames he had no idea. Ozzie's stride couldn't stretch any further as he ran to her, draining every bullet he had left in his handgun at the creature in front of him, tears seemed to escape his burning eyes, only to dry up in the dehydrated air. It was all too much, his suffocating lungs burned, Ozzie's head growing cloudy until he fell flat on his face only yards away from her. He looked up quickly to Kourtney, watching as the figure came to a solid form behind her.
It was him...
Adar's shadowy figure had Kourtney by the neck before Ozzie found the strength to get up, lifting her with inhuman strength. A smile stretched ear to ear on Adar's face as he choked her in front of Ozzie.
"NO! Adar, this stops now. I'm the one you're fighting, let her go!" Ozzie's voice was weak, coughing to regain a sense of breathing. He looked up to the man before him, who let Kourtney down; her exaggerated breathing and coughing filling the air. She couldn't hold herself up long, slumping to the ground kneeling.
Everything about the situation was Ozzie's worst nightmare, but it was her face that scared him the most. Her face had haunted his every move, his thoughts, ever since he saw this the first time. Blood running from her forehead, dripping off her chin; the pleading in her eyes, the loss of hope.
"You messed with the wrong man Ozzie. Was it worth the trouble?" Adar's voice was as smooth as ever.
"Please...Adar, I'll do anything...I can't...I can't lose her again, stop...please stop..." Ozzie begged deeply, but every time he had seen this, he could hear the words burn into his mind as deep as his Love's face.
"Forgiveness is weakness Oz; fire never shows mercy."
Time slowed to almost a stop, the whole scene erupting into bright light. Ozzie watched Adar's body erupt in fire. The next moment he watched as flames reigned down on Kourtney as she reached for him in one last effort. Her body incinerated slowly before his eyes, every gruesome detail, evidence of the horrific power Adar could display. Her screams cut through the fire's roar for only a short and unforgettable moment.
