Into the forest: Flamea
Beth searched the thick overhang for the animal that had saved her.
Amid the ruined web, she saw a giant ignis avis.
It chirped, swinging its head back and forth.
Beth's eyes began to burn. Her tear ducts filled, and she quickly looked away.
Her call for help had been answered by the most beautiful bird she had ever seen.
Its exquisite plumage was arranged in a fiery pattern of blues, oranges, and yellows. Its face was nearly parrot-like, while the feathers on its head resembled a campfire, complete with what appeared to be tiny logs and kindling.
The phoenix sat where the arachnids had once been, clicking and clacking their tarsal claws.
The bird warbled and looked at her for a long moment.
Then it cocked its head again and flew away.
Beth breathed a sigh of relief.
After being saved by an Avis ardens, she thought things could have gone much worse.
She was truly grateful to have been saved by a burning bird.
Moments later—
Whoosh!
The Avis went up in flammae.
Beth stared in amazement.
That was when she decided to name it.
“Flamea.”
The flaming bird disappeared into the trees.
Beth got up, brushing what was left of the tela from her clothes and body. She found it especially difficult to remove from her hair.
After finally freeing herself from the sticky webbing, she began following the winding path deeper into the unknown.
The pathway was covered in fallen leaves. They crackled and crunched beneath her feet, just like the ones that decorated her beautiful driveway at home.
The trees created an arched pathway through the forest, their branches stretching overhead like a natural tunnel.
The colors of the sky began to mimic the fallen leaves below, with a hint of the purple mountain's majesty in the distance.
Then she heard rushing aqua.
The sound alerted her to a nearby rivus.
Beth turned toward it and followed the rushing water until she found its flumen.
Cascading colors of flowers filled her view.
A meadow stretched alongside the river.
Beth stepped into it after accidentally sloshing water down the front of herself.
She paused.
Then she heard a disturbance in the aqua.
A pisces suddenly looped through the air before disappearing beneath the surface.
Beth's stomach growled.
Dinner.
She began looking for a sturdy stick and something she could use for fishing line.
Then she spotted someone's old hook lying forgotten along the bank.
Digging down beneath the florae, she found a few earthworms.
Perfect.
She set the bait, attached the hook, and cast her fishing line into the water.
Crisscrossing her legs, she sat on the bank and prepared herself for a long wait.
She waited.
And waited.
Then the end of her stick dipped.
Beth immediately jerked back on the fishing line.
There was resistance.
She pulled harder.
Dinner was caught.
Beth smiled.
The best simple sushi was on the other side of the world.
The sun was disappearing, and dusk was darkening into media nox.
Beth looked toward the forest.
She knew she had to find shelter.
Finding her way back through the arched trees, she turned onto another path.
Soon, she came upon a small, vibrant, brush-covered, overgrown cave.
She cautiously stepped inside.
It was pitch ater.
Beth began moving through the cave, feeling along the walls and searching for a torch.
Nothing.
She continued deeper into the darkness.
Then she became disoriented.
Beth paused and turned around, searching for the light from the cave's mouth.
Before she could find it, something gently grabbed her.
She barely had time to react before she was taken away.
The next thing Beth knew, she was inside a padded room.
Her captor had sigillas her inside.
Beth looked around.
The siccus mustiness of the cave left her gasping for air as her lungs tried to rid themselves of it.
A small hole, about the size of a porthole, allowed lux solis into the room.
Beneath it sat a small, dark viridis cot.
This was where Beth plopped herself down.
Across the room stood duo rows of cabinets shaded in a pristine caeruleus caeli. They had canitia chryseum handles and gold trim.
A jet-black, round rolling doctor's chair sat silently and motionless in the corner.
The floor was frigus durus canitia marble tile.
Then Beth smelled it.
Bandages.
The olfacere turned her stomach.
First arachnids.
Now strange people in caves.
Beth sat up and rested her head between her knees.
“What is next?”
She looked around the room.
“Flaming balls of stink falling from the sky?”
She sighed.
Beth decided she would not eat anything they offered her, regardless of how delicious the food looked or how hungry she became.
She had barely finished the thought when she heard a soft mechanical sound.
Food slowly slid down toward her, ending its descent neatly in front of her.
Beth stared at it.
The cibus chute closed.
She stared at the food.
Her stomach growled.
She looked away.
Beth shielded her eyes from the lux caecans pouring through the doorway.
A gentleman entered.
He wore a black-and-white striped laboratory coat and had short, tightly coiled chestnut capillus.
Something about him seemed strangely familiar.
Beth studied him carefully.
His nasus and os were covered with a larva facialis, making it difficult for her to place him in her notitia.
She couldn't explain it.
But there was something about him that felt familiar.
Very familiar.
The man stopped just inside the doorway.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Beth watched him.
He watched her.
Then his eyes met hers.
Something inside Beth shifted.
She didn't know his name.
She didn't know why he was there.
She didn't know why he felt so familiar.
But somewhere deep inside her memory, a voice whispered that she had known him before.
And somehow, she knew this was only the beginning.
