Rise from the Ashes (The Fated Book 1)

by Candy Crum

  Cars cluttered the roadways, people ran in the streets, and people packed up important things in their homes. Everyone stopped listening to the warnings being blasted on TV and radios. Everyone stopped altogether. Those driving looked behind them to the great mountain in the distance, the walkers doing the same. Those packing stopped to walk outside their homes to look miles away at the dangerous smoking volcano. Everyone was in total awe. The surrounding towns growing eerily silent. All of them drawn by the same thing. The same sound. It could be heard over the alarms. It could be heard over the panic of the towns. It was low. It was terrifying. It was a voice. The mountain groaned.

  Then, it yelled. A loud voice, a forceful scream, boomed out over everything, echoing miles away as another earthquake rocked the land. Rocks began breaking away from the mountain and rolling down as the earth began to crack apart. Buildings began to crumble in the yellow zone, creating widespread panic in an area that believed they had more time to prepare.

  Another scream echoed out from Vesuvius as lava sprays arched into the sky. A thunderous clap reverberated through the air as a massive hand clamped down on the edge of the volcano. The people were caught between the need to save their lives and the undeniable desire to see exactly what was about to come from the mountain.

  Κεφάλαιο VIII

  WEDNESDAY MORNING

  (US Eastern Standard Time)

  Southern Indiana

  Joe awoke to his alarm, the sound jolting him out of a deep sleep. He felt sick the moment his eyes opened. He groaned as he rolled out of bed, making his way to the closet to get his clothes before heading to the shower. Before he even made it in, he threw up twice. He flushed and rinsed his mouth out before sluggishly heading to the shower in hopes that it would help him feel better.

  When his shower was finished, he came downstairs. Alee was already eating breakfast. As usual she was very perky, especially for someone who didn’t drink coffee.

  “You look like death, little brother,” Alee said, taking a bite of eggs.

  Joe mumbled something before sitting down at the table.

  “Are you feeling okay?” Grace asked. “Are you hungry? I made eggs and bacon.”

  Joe wrinkled his nose. “No. No thank you. Maybe just some Sprite. I’ve already thrown up a couple of times. I thought a shower would help, but it didn’t.”

  Grace crossed the kitchen and put the back of her hand to his forehead. “No fever. Did you eat something bad last night?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “Maybe you should stay home from school today,” Grace said.

  “Yeah. You don’t want to puke in class,” Alee said. “Talk about another embarrassing thing to happen. That would be like the cherry on top.” She laughed.

  “I’m so glad you find this amusing,” Joe said.

  “Actually I don’t,” Alee said. “I’m just giving you a hard time.”

  “You’re staying home today,” Grace said firmly. “Go back upstairs. I’ll make you some warm tea. That used to settle your belly when you were little.”

  Joe nodded, not having the will to speak at the moment. He stood, walking to the arched doorway of the kitchen, but stopping short. He leaned against the frame as dizziness took hold.

  “Joe?” Grace said.

  “It’s happening aga…”

  Joe didn’t get to finish his sentence before he passed out, hitting his head on a shelf as he fell to the floor.

  “Joe!” Grace screamed.

  She and Alee made their way to his side, knocking a chair over in the process.

  “He hit his head on the way down,” Alee said. “Should I call 911? It looks like he’s actually seizing.”

  “It always does,” Grace said. “Go get a pillow. He isn’t bleeding too badly.”

  Alee rushed off to do as her mother asked. Grace did her best to protect his head as he flailed around.

  “No,” Joe said in his unconscious state. “It can’t be real.”

  Alee ran back into the room and handed Grace the pillow. Grace was careful in how she moved her son as she worried he may hurt himself, or her. She managed to get the pillow under his head, the cloth already smeared with blood.

  “He’s talking,” Grace said. “It’s not a seizure. It’s another episode.”

  “Should I try smacking him awake? It worked the last time when he was in class,” Alee said.

  “Alee Marie!” Grace said. “Absolutely not! He’s bleeding anyway. We don’t want to cause him more harm. What’s the matter with you?”

  “Sorry!” Alee said. “I just get freaked out by all this. We’re twins. I can feel his anxiety. Right now I can feel that he’s afraid. But I can’t see what he does. I’ve never had these visions like he does. I don’t understand. I believe them, but I don’t understand. He’s so scared right now, and I have no idea how to help him.”

  “Just reach out,” Grace said. “Sometimes touch is the best way to ease someone.”

  Alee nodded, reaching out and laying her hands on her brother’s arm. As soon as her skin touched Joe’s, his eyes flew open, the irises a startling cloudy whitish-blue.

  “Oh my God,” Alee said, looking into them.

  Without warning, Joe reached up and grabbed Alee’s arm. She gasped, her eyes rolling in the back of her head as she, too, passed out on the floor.

  “What the…” Alee said, looking around her.

  Everything was black. She heard screaming and crying, but she saw nothing. Everything sounded so chaotic. She searched, moving through the darkness, but could see nothing. Without warning the world around her changed. It was as though a fog had lifted. Alee looked around and saw hundreds of people running. Horns in cars honking while the people inside screamed at the top of their lungs. She couldn’t understand anyone. Everyone spoke a different language.

  Soon, Alee realized that the people moved through her and not around. She wasn’t even there. It was as if she were a ghost there. The look of terror on their faces as they ran in the opposite direction started to overwhelm her. She saw women carrying their children, children screaming for their lost pets, and fathers carrying bags of what she assumed was limited supplies. Wherever she was, it was frantic. It was horrible. It brought tears to her eyes.

  As she looked around, she saw her brother, Joe, standing twenty feet ahead of her, staring off into the distance as the people ran through him. He, too, was like a ghost, but she could see him plainly enough. He looked like all of the other passersby, but he was just as she was.

  “Joe!” she called ahead. “Joe!”

  He didn’t seem to hear her. She took a few steps forward, realizing that it was relatively easy to move, though it still slowed her down having random people shove through her. When she reached her brother, she placed her hand on his shoulder. He felt completely solid to her, unlike the world around her.

  Joe’s attention turned to her, his eyes wide with surprise.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “You grabbed me and somehow pulled me into this mess. What is this?” she asked.

  Joe pointed off into the distance. “That,” he said.

  They looked forward, miles away into the distance where the great Mount Vesuvius stood, smoke billowing from the center. Alee looked around her and noticed the ruins that was once a town. There were buildings toppled everywhere, though some still stood. She turned back to the mountain.

  “Where are we?” she asked.

  “We are in Italy,” Joe replied.

  Alee looked forward again. “Is that Vesuvius?”

  Joe nodded. He seemed strangely calm to her, given the fear that she felt from him moments earlier before she was pulled in.

  “Why are you so calm? On the outside of all this your body is flailing around. You were afraid. I felt it,” she said.

  “I can’t control my body. My body fights what’s happening. In here though, when I’m seeing it firsthand, I’m calm. I can’t explain it. I guess it’
s because I know that I’m not really here, but my body is reacting to what I’m seeing.”

  “You’re afraid,” she said. “Like I said, I felt it. That’s why I reached out to touch you in the first place.”

  Joe shrugged. “Again. I think it’s because my body fights it. I see everything in here, but my body is the thing reacting to it. It’s afraid. Once I’m out of here, I will be, too.”

  “That is the most confusing thing I’ve ever heard,” Alee said.

  “It was to me, too,” Joe said. “But Apollo told me not to fight it. I’m trying to do that. I was always scared before. Now, I feel like I’m supposed to be this way for a reason, so I’m trying to embrace it.”

  “Apollo. The Greek god?” she asked. “I asked you that before, and you dodged the question.”

  “No. I said that he’s the only Apollo that I know of. Still, I don’t know,” he said. “It could be anyone, or it could be no one.”

  “It’s certainly not nobody,” Alee said. “I’m in here with you now. I am seeing all this, too. I absolutely believe someone spoke to you. If that’s what you say happened, I believe it. I won’t ever question any of this again.”

  “Look,” Joe said. “That volcano is about to erupt.”

  “I assumed so,” Alee said. “I imagined that’s what all the running was about. Why are you seeing it? It’s not like it affects you.”

  “Actually,” Joe said, looking at his sister. “I think it does. Apollo said something about the twelve. He said that there were twelve ‘Fated.’ He said that I’m one of them. If I am, that means that you probably are, too.”

  “What?” Alee asked. “That’s absolutely ridiculous. Why didn’t you tell us that before? You wouldn’t tell us anything at all.”

  “I was afraid,” he said. “If that video that I saw is real, if what Apollo said is true, if what we are about to see now is true, then... Alee, I think there is something big ab…”

  A loud explosion cut Joe off. Alee screamed, and Joe grabbed hold of her, pulling her closer. Thick black smoke rolled out of the volcano then, the sky darkening more every second.

  “Relax,” he said. “Whatever happens in here can’t actually happen to us for real. This is only in our minds. Remember that and it can’t hurt you.”

  They looked forward, watching as lava sprayed from the top of the volcano. Loud groans and screams could be heard from inside the mountain. The earth began to quake, toppling even more buildings. A huge crack began at the top of the mountain and quickly split its way down the side, making its way toward the closest towns. Within moments, the entire side of the mountain gave way, pyroclastic flows breaking free and rushing down, incinerating anything that it touched.

  Rock and ash exploded into the sky, smoke quickly covering the sun and turning broad daylight into darkness. The world around them moved fast, and Joe could feel their panic.

  Then nothing.

  Everything stilled. Everyone stopped moving. People in their cars opened their doors and stepped outside to look as a low groan filled the skies.

  “What… was that?” Alee asked, nervously shifting from one foot to the other. “Joe, what is this?”

  The thundering groan turned into another strained, deafening yell as the earth shook again. The crack in the mountain grew as the side almost completely crumbled away all at once. Rock and earth tumbled and rolled down the mountainside, and soon, it was gone altogether. From inside, something began to rise up from the river of lava. A cephalic shape rose first, followed by a broad trunk that soon revealed itself to be a head, shoulders, chest, and torso. Smoke continued to fill the air as ash began to peel and flake away from the creature unfolding from the bowels of the volcano. The head lifted, the lava running down the face and neck. The shoulders expanded, the arms stretching out. One hand grabbed hold of each side of the volcano, using it as leverage to help it stand.

  “No,” Alee said. “This can’t be happening. Joe!” She grabbed hold of her brother, trying to get his attention. “Please! Get us out of here! I don’t want to see this anymore!”

  As she looked at him, she saw the fear in his eyes. Whatever peace he’d spoken of in his visions, he’d completely lost it. The fear that his body felt, the fight or flight response that his body was reacting to in seeing these things, was beginning to leak into his subconscious. He was about to lose control, and Alee could see it.

  “Joe!” she said again. “Hold it together and get us out of here. I don’t know how to do this!”

  Alee looked back to the volcano, seeing the creature stand in its full glory. As his body completely unfolded, he stretched, his moans filling the blackened skies. He stood there, looking down on the fleeing people. He was terrifying. Ash still flaked away and flittered through the air like burnt, shedding skin.

  “Oi ánthropoi,” the creature said.

  Alee and Joe both gasped, their eyes widening as the gravelly voice spoke for the first time.

  “Epéstrepsa. O Krónos tha eínai to ónoma pou ourliázoun oi póleis sas pései.”

  The twins stared into the distance, hearts racing and breathing hard. The world had never been a more terrifying place than it was right then. The creature turned his head, his coal black eyes were rimmed with icy blue irises that were only thin circles. He stared in their direction, leaning forward as a dark smile spread across his face.

  “Geia prodiagegramméno aftá.”

  Thunder cracked overhead, lightning raining down around the mountain in a terrifying display. The flashes stopped as quickly as they started, and the creature was gone. There was nothing aside from a destroyed and deadly volcano.

  Joe and Alee woke with a start, both of them sitting bolt upright on the floor.

  “Joe! Alee!” Grace shouted. She ran over to their sides. “How are you?”

  Joe was about to answer, but he overheard something coming from the other room.

  “Were you watching TV?” Joe asked.

  Grace shook her head. “No, but I was listening to it. You were both mumbling something about Vesuvius. So I turned on the TV and cranked the volume up so I could hear it from in here.”

  “It’s erupting,” Joe said, his eyes widening as he realized that what he’d seen was happening right at that moment.

  “That’s an understatement,” Alee said.

  “You saw that?” Grace asked.

  “And so much more. If what we saw is real, Cronus really is rising out of that volcano,” Alee said. “I think what we saw may have been real time. I think he may have already risen.”

  Joe stood, stumbling a bit before taking off running. He ran out the back door towards the woods behind their home. Alee was quick to follow, shouting out after her brother as she ran.

  Joe ran for quite a while, heading down the path through the woods that he walked often. It was familiar terrain, somewhere that he used to relax and collect his thoughts. He was determined to clear his mind and hearing the TV regurgitate everything he’d just seen was beyond maddening to him.

  “Joe!” Alee cried from behind him. “Stop! We need to talk!”

  “No!” he said. “I don’t want to talk about this. I don’t want anything to do with any of it!”

  “Joe. You said it yourself in there. Apollo told you –“

  “Apollo?” Joe shouted. “The Greek god, Apollo? Do you not hear how insane that is?”

  “Yes!” Alee shouted back. “I do! But you didn’t seem to think it was too crazy when we were locked inside your head. You acted like all of it was completely normal! I realize how all this sounds, but do you know what is even more insane? You pulled me in, Joe. You pulled me into your head. That’s never happened before. Mom and I have always believed in your abilities. Always. But I never imagined how it worked. I tried a few times and it was far too confusing to me. Then you pulled me in. I saw firsthand just how terrifying those visions can be. I don’t want it. I can’t imagine how you feel because it’s not my gift. It’s yours. But it is a gift, Brother. You have
it. And you said that a man named Apollo spoke to you. Given that we just watched a god –”

  “Titan. Cronus is a Titan,” Joe corrected.

  A shadow passed overhead, the twins both stopping to look in the sky. They saw nothing, just as before at the archery tournament. They both paused before coming back to the conversation at hand.

  Alee sighed. “Given that we just watched a titan climb out of a volcano, I’d say it’s a very good chance that the god Apollo truly was the one that spoke to you. We need to talk about this. You said something about the fated twelve.”

  “I don’t believe any of this. I can’t,” Joe said. “I know that I said that I was trying to give it a chance, like he told me to do, but I can’t. I changed my mind. This is horrible. If that’s what is truly happening over there, then the world is doomed. Especially if it needs us to save the day.”

  Something large rustled in the branches a few dozen yards behind them. Alee heard it, but brushed it aside, her irritation blinding her to their surroundings. Instead of paying attention to what was clearly in her view, she focused on her brother.

  “I know that you don’t want to believe it, but… Oh my God.”

  Alee realized at that moment what she’d heard. That it hadn’t been a deer, or anything similar that was easy to simply brush off. The regret in allowing her senses to be dulled by an argument was both swift and harsh.

  “What?” Joe asked, seeing his sister’s face change from determination to fear.

  “Turn… around,” she said, her voice soft, barely a whisper. “Slowly.”

  Joe turned, not listening to her warning about speed. He saw what she had and jumped back, a short yelp coming out of him. It was a beast. A monster. He couldn’t think of any other ways to describe it. It had the head and powerful body of a lion with long ram horns curling upwards from its skull, and hooves for feet. It had large wings that resembled something wicked, like a bat. The tail was not a tail at all, but a snake. One that Joe imagined was more than likely poisonous. It growled, its lips curling back to reveal large, sharp teeth. Alee had no idea what the creature was, but Joe had spent his entire life with his nose in a book.