The Crimson Mystic Legacy Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Arrow

Read chapter 15 of The Crimson Mystic Legacy by CRIMODAS on NovelPedia.

Uzi swallowed hard; the air tasted like a mouthful of burnt paper. He forced himself down the gangplank; boots thudding onto the warped dock planks that groaned under even his slight weight. Ash puffed up around his ankles with every step; soft and weightless and wrong. Guntic followed slower; cane tapping deliberate; each breath a rasp that worried Uzi more than he wanted to admit. Garnet came last; tall frame bent slightly against the heatless wind; scarf already pulled high over nose and mouth. They had packed light but thorough: water skins; dried fish; hard bread; strips of smoked meat; a small medical kit; two lanterns; oil; rope; and three scarves soaked in mint water to press over their faces when the air turned too foul. Guntic had moved like an old turtle while packing; deliberate; wheezing; but he refused help with stubborn pride. The moment their boots left the dock and touched the land proper the smell slammed into them full force. It wasn't just smoke anymore; it was the reek of a thousand things that should never burn: plastic melted into black puddles; rubber tires fused to the ground; paint blistering off walls in long curling strips; toys warped into grotesque shapes; dolls with half-melted faces staring up from the gray drifts. Uzi gagged; bile rising sharp in his throat. Garnet pressed her scarf tighter; eyes watering above the cloth. Guntic coughed hard enough that he had to lean on his cane; shoulders shaking; face turning red beneath the soot already collecting in his beard. "Keep moving," Garnet muttered; voice muffled. "Standing still just lets it settle in the lungs." They pushed forward; boots sinking ankle-deep in places; ash billowing like dirty snow. The town was simply gone. Where houses had stood only charred ribs remained; beams collapsed inward; roofs caved; windows blown out by heat. A child's tricycle lay twisted on its side; red paint bubbled and blackened; wheels melted into the ground. A market stall's awning hung in tatters; the cloth fused into brittle lace. Food had burned too: loaves turned to charcoal bricks; fruit shriveled and blackened; a crate of apples reduced to fist-sized lumps of carbon. The plastic smell was the worst; chemical and sweet and nauseating; clinging to the back of the throat like syrup. They hurried as fast as Guntic could manage; stopping every few minutes so he could cough into his sleeve; face purple; eyes streaming. Uzi hovered close; hand half-raised to steady the old man but never quite touching; unsure if help would be welcomed or swatted away. Garnet walked point; long legs eating distance; occasionally glancing back with worry she tried to hide behind the scarf. Uzi's mind kept drifting even as his body moved. Yesterday's questions gnawed at him like rats in the walls. The face in the water; the voice; Rathra's scratches; the stone petal; the way his own reflection had stared up blank and accusing. He shoved the thoughts down hard; focus on the now; focus on breathing; focus on not vomiting from the stench. Later; he told himself. Think later when the air didn't taste like death. Uzi did not say anything, he didn't know why, but; why where there no bodies here. Its wierd, but its not a great question to ask really. They reached the far edge of the town in what felt like hours but couldn't have been more than twenty minutes. The buildings thinned; then stopped entirely; giving way to the burned forest. Here the ash was different; finer; tree-ash instead of plastic-death; still choking but not quite so poisonous. The ground rose gently; the charred stumps grew farther apart; and the air; while far from clean; no longer clawed at their lungs with quite the same viciousness. They walked for nearly two hours after that; boots crunching over brittle branches; ash puffing up in soft clouds. The forest pressed close; black skeletons of trees leaning like drunks; some snapped halfway up and hanging by splinters. The sky above stayed a dull; oppressive gray; the