Aestivus

3. Holy shit, my pants are on fire

EDWARD woke up to intense pain in his arm, as his blanket burst into flames. He blinked at the fire, trying to register what exactly happened before someone swung a jacket in his face. Then his brain clicked. someone found him in the storm and set fire to his blanket pile. but that still doesn't explain the velociraptor clinging to his arm. 

"Get the blanket off and stay still!" Yelled the guy who swung the jacket. Ed threw off the flaming blanket, only to find that his pants are now on fire. he screamed like a kid. "Nevermind. roll! It'll extinguish the fire!" shouted the same guy. Without any better advice, Ed rolled. 

Into the flaming blankets. Everyone started screaming, and the dinosaur fell off his arm. Ed rolled off the fire, trying to focus on his instincts. A knife appeared in his hand, different from the other two knives he already had. What the heck, I don't even need this many knives, he thought, and aimed the knife at the 3 people who disturbed his sleep. "who on earth are you people?" 

Two of them stared at him. The third- the one with the jacket was trying to beat out the fire by slapping the blanket against a tree. Even from a distance, his eyes were unmistakably red, glowing faintly in the darkness. 

The girl with an oil lamp stepped forward. "Jeremy, tell him. You... oldest." The guy with the flaming blankets turned around, visibly annoyed, eyes blazing. "Stop calling me Jeremy!" 

The third guy just stared at the two. "Ophelia, Rem, chill," he spoke slowly, with an unfamiliar accent.  "I assume you fell through the warps... we're outpost guards of Celdenege. Teammate saw you from the tower.  It's raining, thought it's better to take you back to camp." 

Ed looked at them up and down, unsure if he should trust them. But then, warmth in the middle of a storm is tempting. "Sure, then. Lead the way." 

*** *** *** ***

A girl stood under a crumbling arc, volcanoes rumbling at her feet, as she laughs into an obsidian mirror. She stretches her arm to the sky, and a snow-white swan with glowing markings etched into its feathers descended from the heavens, gently landing on her wrist. "Greetings, Princess. What are your orders?" 

She gently stroked the bird's feathers. "Stand guard at the Pyruvian strait. when the time comes... help me break the seal. You know which one. Set him free."