Smolder

Chapter 25

Russell's mind felt scattered, literally.

As he tumbled down the dark hole he was thrown down, he had not one but millions of different perspectives, Every one of them seeing the same thing, sensing the same environment. But there was no thought, no feelings; fear, anger, longing-nothing. It was as if the world was a very long play and he himself was a very sleepy audience. He felt what could only be defined as nothing, yet everything, because fundamentally, they are one and the same.

And they exited the tunnel and he could feel himself merging again, the bits of his mind coming together, to form into one single entity that could be called Russell. And this time, he had a body.

He sat up and looked around, the red rocky ground stinging his palm. And, there was nothing to see, literally.

Red mist rolled on the ground, so thick he couldn't see more than twenty feet in front of him. It smelled, weirdly, like burning coal and garlic. His eyes stung. The mist tasted spicy in his mouth. It swirled and twirled in front of him like a freakish dance performer. Above him , the sun was blood red through the mist.

Russell stood up and looked around. If he needs to survey this area, he needed to get to a higher place. So first, he has to see which way the ground is sloped. Best way to do that is let a ball down on a comparatively even surface, where it can roll without strain.

Russell searched for his pockets and made the next big discovery.

He was naked.

'cause why not?

"Woop!" He yelled as his hand instantly went to cover his private parts, although he suspected the red mist did a very good job with that. The environment suddenly felt much colder. He wished there was a fire around.

Wished, mind you.

His hands, still close to his private parts, burst into flames.

"AAAAHHHH!!" He screamed as he fell back on his butt, his hands not even there to protect it. They were too busy flailing over his head.

He waved it above his head like a flag until he realized it wasn't hurting, not even a bit.

He brought them down, in front of his eyes. His hands burned like twin torches, bright and orange. His hands appeared black inside the fire. Bright red spots ran on his skin like ember.

Wow.

Russell had never considered himself a hero or some other magical thing he was not, that was solely Vivi's job-

His fire snuffed out at the thought of her.

Wherever he's been before, whatever he'd seen that made him question the world he knew, he'd been leaning on Vivi and Vivi had been leaning on him. She was always the hand to hold and the ear to trust.

But now she was not there anymore, and he was all alone, again. And he'd hurt Vivi. Who knows how deep he cut when he plunged his talons in her shoulder. She might be...

No!

He could not afford to believe that.

For now, at least.

He wished his hands to burn again. His hands flared up like hot coal.

Now he took the time to look at them at awe.

His hands were black as, well, coal. As they burned, fissures appeared on it, spewing bright orange and red flames while exposing a brightly glowing interior. The fire made a very distinct hissing noise only heard with charcoal furnaces.