Dying Embers

Naomi breaks into a forest hollow beneath the grand mountain range, lungs burning and feet slipping over wet roots. Thick moss and tangled trunks swallow her small shape.

Beyond the hollow, the hooded figure advances at an unhurried pace, following the crushed fern stems and muddy prints. Their face and form remain hidden beneath dark cloth.

A thin curl of smoke threads through the hanging moss. Then a tongue of flame catches on a low branch, and orange light shivers across Naomi's pastel scales.

Fire begins to take the trees around the hollow, closing the hidden refuge one burning limb at a time. Smoke thickens beneath the mountain sky, while the roots press cold against Naomi's back.

Naomi clamps a paw over her snout and folds herself into the smoky glow beneath the burning branch. Heat prickles her scales as flames veil her small silhouette.

For one breath, the fire masks her. Then smoke leaks around her paw, catches in her throat, and forces a sharp cough from the hollow.

A burning limb cracks overhead and drops across the hiding place, scattering sparks. Naomi must scramble clear as the flames seal the hollow behind her.

Beyond the fallen limb, the hooded figure stands visible through wavering smoke, blocking the clearest trail while the mountain slope rises steeply at Naomi's back.

Naomi darts toward the gap beside the fallen limb, claws skidding over ash and wet bark. She twists under its smoking edge, but a snagging root catches her ankle before she clears it.

She tumbles hard onto the far side, shoulder striking the slope. The limb blocks the direct trail now, its flames crawling across the ground between Naomi and the hooded figure.

Below the slope, smoke parts around a narrow ravine Naomi had not seen from the hollow. Cool blue light glimmers between its stone walls, promising a path beneath the burning trees.

The hooded figure remains beyond the fire, unable to cross without circling the fallen limb. Naomi has only moments before the flames consume the narrow opening.

Naomi closes her eyes and pushes down the steep slope. Her claws rake through wet soil and exposed roots, finding each handhold by touch as ash-laden air burns her throat.

The descent succeeds, but a stone tears across her forearm and leaves a bright scrape beneath the edge of her fox-fur armor. She catches a root, swings, and lands hard among cold ravine stones.

Blue light pools along the narrow ravine floor. Above, the burning forest becomes a jagged rim of orange, while the fallen limb blocks the direct slope and the smoke thins below.

The hooded figure remains above, reduced to a dark silhouette between flames. Naomi is down in the ravine now, one scraped arm braced against the stone and a shadowed passage opening ahead.

Escape the hooded figure