Page 14 of Axis of Fire

The Santa-like man... and the tall one in blue.

No guards in black stood behind them.

The place had changed.

I was standing in front of a massive red-brick building,

its entrance sealed by towering iron gates.

At the center was a large metal dragon’s head, its jaws stretched wide open.

A soft light glowed from within.

Its serpentine body coiled around the iron bars, winding through them.

And the statue’s eyes—

black, yet somehow reflecting an entire spectrum of colors—

shimmered with an eerie glow.

It was beautiful.

And terrifying.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that at any moment, the dragon might come alive—

lunge at me,

and finish what the flames had failed to do.

Wait.

I was dying in those flames.

Lowering my gaze to my body, I stared at my half-burned clothes almost hungrily.

In some places, they revealed charred skin.

Wounds.

Dried blood.

In others, they were coated in something black—

tar.

Or ash.

Or both.

My hands had taken the worst of it.

There was nothing left to cover them.

A hardened red crust exposed the raw skin beneath.

Injuries like that should have been screaming.