The sensation of falling wasn't pleasant. Imagine being eaten, mauled, chewed... then spat out in a matter of seconds.
We were pulled, pushed, squished and I swear my waist twisted at one point. I couldn't tell how long we floated inside the light, or when the world around us stopped resembling the throne room altogether.
But once my feet hit the scorched dirt, reality felt... normal. My senses returned. Everything around us seemed... ordinary, as if we'd never even entered the painting.
With each passing day, I'm starting to hate magic.
Only the five of us remained. Laef was hunched over, barfing into a nearby singed bush; his bow nowhere in sight.
Melissa helped dagger girl to her feet as they whispered something about the king's appearance.
And... then there was Isaac.
His arms were wrapped around his legs as he rocked back and forth, muttering something under his breath. Eyes wide with horror.
I didn't want to know.
Ash covered the entire landscape, softly drifting through the wind like snow in mid-December. Soot-stained trees blended with the dark sky, their bark scorched beyond recognition.
In the distance, the painting's mountain village burned, flames engulfed the sky, their embers sparkling like stars.
Suddenly, Isaac screamed, rolling across the ash. His hands covered his ears as he released loud, shrieking groans.
"I can hear their screams!"
"Eli! We gotta move!" yelled Melissa, pointing towards the village. "We have to finish the trial."
The others nodded, grouping to move.
I turned to the village. The flames were too large to be natural. They didn't burn like fire should. They swayed, moved... watched.
Isaac's screaming wasn't just noise... it was real. His whole body shook, convulsing like he was having a seizure, or trying to shake something off that no one else could see.
"I can hear them!" he wailed. "The ones I couldn't... I didn't..."
I dropped beside him, remembering my first aid training.
"Isaac. Breathe. What are you seeing?"
He didn't look at me. His eyes didn't even notice me. They stared somewhere else, past the burning sky. Past all of us.
"The ferry…" he whispered. "I was on it. And they were screaming in the water. I should've jumped. I can't swim, but I should've... "
"Isaac," I said, firmer now. "You're not on the ferry."
Suddenly, the trees began creaking. Their loud groans replaced the cackling of embers.
"Eli! Isaac! Hurry!" Melissa screamed, her eyes wide.
Isaac blinked once. Then twice. His eyes slowly registered his surroundings as his breathing slowed, only barely.
A shadow moved through the fire ahead.
Laef stumbled over, still pale. "Screw this. I told you... I don't do ghosts. Whatever trial this is, I say we fail it and live."
"Failing gets us killed," Melissa snapped, stepping forward. "Or do you think the emperor was bluffing?"
Laef hesitated.
"Look," she continued, her system directory open. "We were assigned a quest and that has to be it... the heart of the fire. We get there. We end this." She paused, her gaze locking with mine. "We only have two hours... according to the hourglass."
"System open," I yelled, louder than intended.
The system screen slowly flickered, it's teal glow muffled by the falling ash.
[Trial Quest: Reach the Flame's Heart. Extinguish the source. Caution: Illusions are not always illusions.]
Then, to the far right of the screen, it said: [0/5 Sources Extinguished]
"Great," dagger girl muttered, jogging over. "Cryptic system messages. Always helpful."
I nodded, helping Isaac to his feet, his body still shaking.
We moved into the forest and towards the mountain. Slow at first, with Isaac clinging to my side at every loud noise like he was afraid the ground might open up and swallow him.
Minutes passed before we reached the outskirt walls of the village.
Then we saw it.
It wasn't just a fire. The flames didn't consume the buildings... they held them. The homes burned without collapsing. Their fire clung to rooftops like vines. Almost if they were being preserved for us to see.
"I don't like this..." complained Laef, his bow manifesting in his hands.
"At least the heat is tolerable," muttered Melissa, hesitantly stepping over a half-collapsed cart with charred wheels. "Actually... Laef, take point. You have a weapon."
"Wha... Hell no," Laef spat, cocking an arrow into the notch. Their glowing pink light flickering down it's string.
With one glare from Melissa, he grunted, cursing under his breath as he moved towards the front.
"No ghosts... I mean enemies yet. Either that's good, or it's really bad."
We followed him through the charred path, eerie tension keeping us from breaking the silence. Just the cackling of embers, the hiss of flames, and the stomping of ash beneath our boots remained.
Suddenly...
Isaac and Dagger Girl stopped.
Isaac pointed, his eyes locked on something down one of the side alleys.
"What is it?" I asked.
He didn't answer.
I turned, and for a split second, I saw them too.
Flames spun, morphing into figures within the flame. People. Burning but not screaming. Staring at us, mouths moving like they were trying to speak.
I blinked... and they were gone.
I turned towards Isaac again... he was shaking.
"They're here," he whispered. "Again."
Melissa moved beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Ignore it. They aren't real."
"They were real," he snapped, tears bubbling in his eyes. "I let them die."
None of us had a response.
I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him along. My thoughts drifting to what dad said,
"Fire plays tricks on your senses." This had to be one of those cases.
But, Dagger Girl didn't move.
Her eyes fixated on a burning building, their flames swaying. And for the first time since we've met... she looked scared.
"Hey... It's only the fire. We gotta move," I called, walking over.
I glanced in it's direction, expecting another flicker of illusion.
But this one... lingered.
A man stood in a hospital, pussy blisters covering his face... not burns but from a disease. His voice didn't match the flames; it was calm, soft. His eyes stared with dread, almost sorrow.
"You said you'd come back," the illusion said. "But you left me."
Dagger girl didn't move. Her hand hovered near her blade, but she didn't draw it.
"Keep walking," Melissa warned. "They're trying to pull you in."
As I grabbed Dagger Girl's arm she whispered one word,
"Dad."
Wait... Dad?
That's when it clicked. They weren't illusions of people who died in the village.
They were people from our memories.
"No matter who you see or what the fire says... keep moving," I shouted, my distress leaking through.
"Eli! What's wrong?" asked Melissa, her pace slowing beside me.
"They're people from our memories." I whispered. "The trial is about people we've failed."
Her expression broke, eyes widening.
We moved on. Our heads pinned to the fallen ash, occasionally looking up to realign our direction.
I felt it first. A cold chill down my back. Only for a second.
"Heads down, keep moving!" I shouted, then softer. "Another one's coming,"
It wasn't a person that struck. But, a voice.
"Murderer... You froze," it laughed.
Everyone stopped mid step, glancing at one another.
Who's the murderer? Who's it talking about?
I spun but nothing was there. Just a plume of smoke curling into the shape of a firefighter's helmet before dispersing.
"You were always slow... Eli," called the voice.
"Eli... what's it talking about?" demanded Laef, angrily stepping forward. "We're walking with a killer?"
I clenched my fists. "Get away from me! It's clearly playing tricks on us. Keep walking."
"Why am I so mad?"
We rounded the final corner, and the village center came into view.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Shouted Laef for the world to hear. "Why is it's body so large and bubbly..."
A monster stood before us, made of bubbly lava-like flames and shaped like a giant man.
"It's a cyclops..." whispered Melissa, astonished. "A giant, lava, monster... cyclops."
It didn't stand. Had no legs, just glided like a snail or slug. Oozing Lava as it moved. The body was made of bubbly magma that oozed every so often. Deep inside gleamed five rays of light. Ember Sources I assumed.
They pulsed like hearts, each heartbeat releasing a wave of heat that seemed to distort the air around us. The arms and horns were the only tangible part of the creature. They stretched unnaturally, stitched from burnt bone and molten wood that creaked whenever they moved.
As it turned towards us, I realized... it had no face. Only a scorched mask of flickering flame where eyes should be; eyes that didn't glow. Didn't blink but somehow I knew they stared. Judging...
Melissa was the first to move. With a quick flick of her finger, blade fragments manifested from the air. Her eyes were glued to one of the embers inside the creature's body. I followed her gaze and as I stared the reflection twisted.
In it was a teenager's room with an open window and wind blowing through papers scattered across the floor.
I didn't speak. None of us did. The beast harbored our darkest regrets, the things we tried not to remember.
I shifted my gaze to the green ember.
And inside it...
was myself.