Page 121 of Spark of the Everflame

Thevoicepaced like a predator inside me, snapping its jaws and urging me to action. It wanted me to move, to leave, to save myself, tofightfor myself—all the things my own head and heart had willingly abandoned.

I pulled in a deep gulp of air, surprised to find my lungs clear and unscathed. The room was still swirling with black, noxious smoke—surely I should have fallen unconscious by now.

Fight. Fight. Fight.

“Fine,” I growled, dragging myself to my feet. “Leave me alone. I’m up.”

At full height, the air felt molten, far hotter than it had been on the ground, but for some unexplainable reason, it no longer bothered me. A frigid tingling sensation had spread from my chest up into my head and down through my arms and legs, numbing me to the surrounding inferno.

I’ve gone insane, I thought.It only took two months off of the flameroot powder, and I’ve really, truly lost it.

I lumbered out of the room and wavered in the corridor while my smoke-fogged brain tried to orient itself in the smoldering darkness.

The way out was to the right.

But the people I’d come to save were to the left, if they were even still alive to be saved.

As if the gods themselves were listening, a flaming chunk of the crumbling wooden rafters crashed to my right side, narrowly avoiding a direct collision with my head. Another, larger piece fell beside it, and I lurched to the left and swore.

A quick glance up confirmed I didn’t have much time before the rest of the roof came crashing in. If I was going to do this, it was now or never.

I broke into a jog down the hall. “Hello?” I called out. “Anyone still alive?”

Soft and weak, nearly inaudible over the crackling flames and tumbling debris, a voice cried out in response.

“Hello?” I shouted. “Can you hear me?”

“Please... help.”

My heart kicked into a sprint.

“Keep talking! I’ll find you.”

“H-help me... Blessed Kindred, please... I don’t want to die...”

In a room just off the main corridor, I spotted two men—one in a heap on the ground, the other trapped beneath a fallen beam. Under the heavy wood, his hips appeared flattened in a way that turned my stomach, his legs bent at an unnatural angle.

His eyes found mine, dark and hopeless. I didn’t need to tell him the grim reality of his situation. “Please don’t leave me,” he begged. “Please... save me.”

“I will, I promise. You’re going to be fine.” The words tasted sour on my lips. The massive beam was far heavier than anything I could possibly lift. Maybe I could go back and get one of the Descended guards, convince the others to hold the opening long enough for us to—

A hailstorm of rubble rained down into the hallway, sending a wave of flame surging through the corridor and flooding into the room. On instinct, I threw myself over the injured man to block him from the fiery blast.

Fight.

Again thevoicepulsed, and a cold burst crested over my skin. I heard a hissing sound and looked up to see a cloud of steam rising toward the ceiling.

Definitely going insane.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Perthe.”

“Alright, Perthe—can you push this beam off of your leg?”

He shook his head, despair pooling in his azure eyes. “Can’t. Too weak.”

I shifted to the man sprawled beside him. A quick check of his pulse confirmed he was alive, but several firm slaps to the face did nothing to rouse him back to consciousness.

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