Death Becomes Us

Chapter Nineteen (Pt. 1)

"No!" I scream.

My mind snaps as he begins to disappear and I dart forward, unhindered by thought. I jump, latching onto his arm and we tumble into the vortex, the gateway swallowing us and closing.

A surge of electricity turns my body rigid, the crackling energy of the vortex lacing up my spine and burning pathways through my veins. It bubbles beneath my skin like acid and I can feel the flesh tearing. My eyes, opened when we entered, cannot be closed against the twisting dimensions shrieking around us. Every fiber of my being is bathed in a fire that rages in my bones and threatens to turn me into dust. I can't breathe, my human lungs exposed to the vacuum and slowly compressing themselves under the airless strain.

Fighting the warm darkness seeping in through my limbs, I clamp my arms around Donovan's torso and yank my body backwards. His hand digs into my face, pushing me to arm's length and I am only able to hold on to his wrist. Swinging my legs behind me and bending my body out, I wrench myself forward and violently collide with Donovan. It is enough to jar us from the swirling mainstream and the portal explodes in a multitude of color and fire.

Donovan is ripped from my hand as I rocket across a night sky, carried by a crackling portal fragment unleashed from the interrupted fracture. I gasp desperately for air, constantly spinning in a state between Earth and the howling vacuum.

There are glimpses of the world below. Chaotic flashes of lights and sounds. A great city crowding on the coast of a sea, boats rocking to and fro in a harbor. It flashes out of sight with a surge of energy from the portal, reappearing in a blazing haze of white and blue. Ahead, the white arcing architecture of the Sydney Opera House rises swiftly in the path of the stray fragment I ride and I fling my arms over my face, screaming.

The velocity of my descent sends me straight over the opera house and I clip its highest point. The impact triggers another surge of energy, transporting me once more, and I am now zipping low through the city, between its buildings, over its streets, and racing ever closer to the ground. I reach out to touch the asphalt blurring beneath me and break myself free from the last of the fracture's grip.

I tumble onto the streets, rolling amidst the sound of sudden panic and screeching tires. Throwing my arms out and digging my feet into the street, I slide to a stop in the middle of an intersection and collapse.

Face pressed into the warm asphalt, I inhale a strangled breath and feel anew the effects of the trip. I can't control the spasming, my chest tightening with every mind numbing shock left over from the vortex. It is a wonder my heart hasn't stopped from the frequent bursts of electricity. My vision blurs, traffic lights and head lights forming halos around the smears of people running to investigate. None of them come close to me, gathering to form a wide barrier around the intersection that even the cars don't breach.

With a groan I turn my head and find another body on the ground. Donovan. His clothes are smoking at the edges and he is shaking...with laughter?

He pushes himself to his feet, ruffling out his tangled hair. His eyes shine with a manic glow when he slowly turns to take in the crowd gathered around us. In a moment his gaze lands on me as I struggle to move.

"Still alive, James?" he asks, darting to my side. "Still ticking?"

Crouching, he lifts me up by the collar and takes firm hold of my chin. I wince, several lacerations splitting open on my face and oozing drops of blood.

"I always wondered what would happen if a human was thrown into a fracture." he says, inspecting my face with unbound curiosity. "Honestly thought you'd burst into flames, but you certainly proved me wrong, didn't you?"