Page 15 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

“Did you just shh me?” The thing sounded so shocked Ra might have laughed if he hadn’t been desperate to figure out what the hell was wrong with his mind.

“Nobody shhs me!” The demon roared with a violent snarl.

Ra felt a breeze across his face, but nothing touched him. The demon cursed, and Ra felt the breeze again. The beast was trying to hit him, but it could no longer touch him. Ra’s lack of fear was weakening them.

“You cannot get out,” one of the demons hissed. “Soon, you will realize that, and the fear will overtake you until you cannot breathe.”

“You can’t see, stupid pharoah. You will simply roam, stumbling, tripping, and looking like the dumb human you are, getting nowhere.”

“Can’t see?” Ra muttered. That wasn’t right. Ra didn’t have to be in the darkness, ever. He was literally part of the light because it burned inside of him. The fire of an elemental king of light was a part of his very being, given to him by the elementals.That’swhat he had forgotten.That’swhat his fear had ripped from his mind.

Ra called on the fire that lived in his soul, and his body was engulfed in the flames. The demons screeched and yelled and whimpered as they retreated into the shadows. Ra looked around and waited, but none of the demons dared approach. Surrounding Ra was a vast open landscape. He started to jog, and he could feel the demons keeping time with him, though they never crossed the line from the shadows into his light.

After a while, a few of the braver demons reached a hoof or a claw into the light, but it singed them, and they pulled back quickly.

Finally, ahead of him, Ra saw the pathway leading up the side of the mountain to the next level. The closer he got to the exit, the harder the demons pushed against the edge of the light.

“No!” They screamed as one, and the sound was so loud and high Ra thought his eardrums might burst.

When his foot finally hit the bottom of the pathway, Ra felt something trying to block him. He was pushing forward but wasn’t making any progress. He shoved the flames out further, allowing them to engulf his sword and dagger. He slashed out with his sword. Once again, a demon screeched as Ra’s blade made contact. The force holding him back melted away, and he surged forward. Amongst a chorus of screams and curses, Ra ran without looking back.

The pathway turned sharply and switched back. It wasn’t as steep as the one going up to the fifth level, but it was definitely longer. There was another switchback and then another before he finally reached the third level of the underworld. He pulled the fire back in, and this time there was no darkness. Instead, Ra saw a city burning down around him. He turned and realized the pathway from which he’d just emerged had disappeared. The burning city was behind him and in front and on all sides. Tall buildings were wrapped in flames, and black smoke billowed into the grey sky. And this was the level on which his ancestors resided? Ra coughed as toxic air hit his lungs. He covered his face and crouched low, but he still found little breathable air. The atmosphere was going to make it very difficult, if not impossible, to get through this level. He looked around, wondering where his ancestors could be in the simmering ash and dancing flames. But he guessed since they were dead, it really didn’t matter. They had no need to breathe, and if they were burning, well, they were in hell, so what else did he expect? He just hoped they would know something about Shelly and how he could get her out. Although Ra knew he could get into the Underworld and navigate it, he had no clue how he was going to take a mortal humanoutof the Underworld.

There was no sense in simply standing there wondering while the place burned. He started forward and tried not to breathe too deeply. “At least there are no demons,” he muttered under his breath as he looked around to verify there was nothing lurking behind the crumbling structures or burning cars.

“So far so good,” Ra said. “Now to just keep from getting crushed by falling pieces of the buildings.”

* * *

Osiris,ruler of the underworld, stared at the demon, Crescious, before him. The little mongrel was going on and on about some mortal female falling into hell.

“She’s on fire, my lord, but she’s not burning up,” Crescious whined as if the mortal not burning up was an affront to him personally.

“Creature.”

“Crescious, it’s Crescious,” he huffed. But then he recoiled as Osiris snarled. “But you can call me whatever you want, my lord.”

“Do not forget your place, demon.”

The demon bowed low and raised his hands in surrender. “Of course, my lord, of course.” He panted as the fear wafted off of him.

Osiris wanted to kick the affronting muck, but then he’d just have to find a new lackey to report back to him. He’d already gone through twenty before he finally found one who didn’t tremble and try to hide behind things when Osiris summoned him. Though Crescious was an annoying twit, at least he trembled in front of the king of the underworld instead of behind a wall.

“Did you see this mortal with your own eyes?” Osiris asked the demon.

Crescious nodded vigorously. “I did. I wouldn’t waste your time if I hadn’t. I overheard two of the level-seven demons whispering about it.”

Osiris frowned. “I thought you said the mortal was on level one.”

“She is. She is.”

“So how would the level-seven demons know about her?”

“They were on level one and heading down to level two when I heard them. I assumed they were headed back to seven, though I cannot guess as to why they were on one to begin with,” Crescious explained quickly.

Osiris stood up from his throne and paced restlessly. It had been a very long time since a mortal had fallen into his lap.

“Did you try to touch her?” he asked.

---