A Prologue, Believe It Or Not
(Sorry this is late, I thought I uploaded this before bed last night but apparently the ADHD won. This is a prologue to something I've been mulling over for about two years now and just recently found the beginning. Enjoy!)
He heaved, his arms and shoulders straining as the rising heat around him made him sweat. The roof above them was groaning as his brother Sean heaved beside him. Together they got Jace, Sean’s husband. out of the window, hearing the crash into the bushes outside while they both panted for a second. He gave Sean a boost, then put his hands on the window, ready to haul himself up but unwilling to leave yet. Camden. They’d gone for something, but they were taking too long…
“I’m going to find Camden!” he yelled before turning back to the doorway and it's flames.
“There's no time!" Sean called after him.
He couldn't hear if Sean said anything after that. He was already through the door and all he could hear was the flames crackling and roaring around him.
Camden was exactly where he'd thought they'd be, huddled and shaking in their room over a stack of books. He didn't even give the teenager time to argue, but slung them in a fireman's carry in one swift motion and rushed back to the window. Camden was clawing at his face and arms, but he ignored the autistic panic, already used to this behavior. He shifted his hold on his nibbling, shoving them out the window feet first. His back groaned as he did and something cracked ominously in his ribs, but everyone was out of the house except him. He panted, clutching his chest, then gamely braced his hands on the edge of the window to follow them.
Unfortunately, it seemed something besides his ribs was ready to break.
The roof above him gave with a crack of the beams and a gush of flame. One of the beams fell on his shoulders, knocking him down and breaking… probably several other bones besides his spine, he decided when he was done blacking out. He could smell his flesh burning, but he couldn't feel anything below his upper chest anymore. Sean and Camden were screaming his name outside. Sirens were wailing in the distance, too late to save the house, too late to save him… He could taste blood. Everything was starting to go misty on him again.
He could see in his mind’s eye a figure reaching out a hand for him. A figure he had seen once before. Long ago and all too recent, when the world had gone misty in just this way. He’d seen other things then too; people and places, gods and demons, things he still could not name. One of these, he had promised a child. Only later did he realize who the child was. He had long argued since that the child was not his to give, but that was no longer something he could control. He had sworn many things, during that time. It was time to honor the last one.
I promised you, didn't I? I'd go with you when I could no longer keep fighting. Well, I can't fight anything ever again, now. Please, then.
He reached with mental fingers for the outstretched hand. He heard Sean and Jace still screaming for him, heard Camden sobbing hysterically.
Camden…
He paused for one, excruciating moment. Camden. Please, will they be alright now? Did I save them from the dark path they were once walking?
Death sighed in his mind’s ear. Yes, you have accomplished what you should not have been able to, however foolish the endeavor once was. They will no longer fall to the cruel forces that once sought to destroy them, but they will long for your voice all their of days. Perhaps that will lead them to a different dark path, but for today, they are safe enough.
He closed his eyes and mentally took Death's hand. Then it will have to be enough. Please, Death. Get me out of here. I am so far beyond tired and… and I missed you.
Death hesitated for the briefest of moments, so quickly he wondered if he’d imagined it, then drew him out of his burning body and into the dark beyond all things.
