The smell of smoke was overpowering as Sophia awoke. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she could feel the heat against her face.
Sophia wasn't in the Council Elder's chambers anymore. She was in the middle of what looked like a field of wheat. Sophia was tied to a wooden post set into the dirt floor. A ring of fire surrounded her, burning the crops.
The flames were enclosing slowly. Almost unnaturally. In a matter of minutes she knew the fire would engulf her.
She looked around but couldn't see through the wheat. “Help! Is anyone there?” she screamed.
No response.
“Tyrex! If you're out there, I could really use your help right about now.” Sophia struggled against the rough ropes tying her hands around the post. Blood ran down her wrists as she twisted to try and get free.
But it was no use. The fire inched its way closer and closer. “Help me,” she yelled over and over.
–
Tyrex undressed Sophia slowly, following the curves of her hips and breasts. Her skin was milky white and soft to the touch. He pressed his index finger against her lips before kissing them hard.
But Sophia didn't kiss back.
Tyrex pulled back to see that Sophia was replaced with a doll that looked exactly like her. Except its features were hard, angular, and wooden.
“What is this?”
He heard someone calling his name.
“I'm right here!” he replied into the darkness.
Tyrex awoke from his dream and wiped the drool off his cheek. A layer of dirt came off with it. He lay in a field of wheat, under a bright blue sky.
A voice came crashing through the crops. “Help!”
Tyrex knew who it was instantly. “Sophia?”
He shot up to look around but the crops were too high to see past. “Where are you? I can't see you.”
“I'm over here, Tyrex!”
Tyrex picked up the direction of the sound and set off into the field. The wheat whipped his face as he sprinted through. “Keep talking so I can find you. What do you see around you?”
“I'm tied to a post and there's a fire burning the crops around me. Tyrex, it's getting closer.”
Tyrex stopped for a moment to realize that his Intended was in mortal danger. “I'm coming, Sophia!”
Tyrex finally saw smoke in the sky above him. He was close.
“Be careful, Tyrex,” Sophia yelled in the distance.
He reached the wall of fire that was burning the crops. He walked around trying to find an opening but it completely surrounded Sophia. He could only see glimpses of her through the flames and wheat. She seemed okay.
“I'm almost there, Sophia.”
But the fire actually wasn't burning the crops. It was acting in a way he had never seen before from fire. As the flames moved slowly away from him, the crops were unharmed. He didn't know what that meant but he didn't have time to figure it out.
Tyrex jumped through the flames, feeling the fire singe his face. He came out the other side and immediately rolled around on the ground. But he wasn't on fire. It was all just a trick.
He ran to Sophia to find her just as she said: tied to a wooden post.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I think so. I don't know if the fire will actually hurt us. And I don't want to wait around to find out.”
“Is this what they meant by Trials?” she asked, struggling to get free.
“Must be,” Tyrex replied, going around to her back. Blood ran down Sophia's hands and dripped onto the soil. A flash of anger boiled through Tyrex's veins. He didn't like seeing his Intended injured.
The ropes around her wrists were tied tight. He had no knife and trying to slip them off was only hurting her more. The heat from the fire caused them both to sweat.
“How you doing back there, Tyrex?”
Tyrex examined her hands and the rope. There was no way she was getting her hands free without injuring her even more. “I'm working on it.”
He looked down at the post where it entered the dirt. The soil around it looked fresh like the post had just been driven into the ground. “I have an idea, Sophia. We're going to try and break this post out of the ground.”
“Well you better hurry because this fire is getting closer.”
Tyrex looked up to see the fire only a ten feet away. He pulled against the post and felt it give a little. “Help me push it forward.”
Sophia leaned forward as Tyrex pushed the post. It came loose from the ground. Sophia got down on the floor and Tyrex lifted the post until her hands were free. The ropes slid right off her wrists.
Tyrex took Sophia into her arms and hugged her tight.
“We don't have time for this, Tyrex,” she said, pointing to the fire.
Tyrex took her hand. “We're going to jump through the fire.”
“Are you sure?”
“Do you trust me?” Tyrex asked, looking into her sea-blue eyes.
Sophia nodded.
“On count of three. One. Two. Three!”
They both jumped through the wall of fire. Sophia screamed as they landed but it was just from fright. Neither one of them were harmed.
“The fire on your planet acts differently than the fire on Earth.”
“This is nothing like the fire on Jeorn. This is something special the Council of Elders cooked up for us.”
“And what is this all supposed to prove?”
“To see if I would risk my life to save yours.”
Sophia kissed him hard and it was nothing like the doll in his dream. “I'd say you passed.”
“Well I don't think were done yet.”