Flame Allure

It was the crimson flare that first drew her toward him—the fire, the cinders, the surging smog.

It was his size, so colossal—the beast walked on stilts, lived on stilts, thrived in the heavens.
It was his scent, so pungent—the dull reek of rot and grime, of death, oozed from the inferno.
It was his surface, so sinister—he was but a skeleton, clad in tattered storm clouds and dusk.

Flames blazed from bare sockets, scorching torn flesh and bone. Their rank remains laughed
with the radiance of fire; golden heat flowed from every gap, every crevice. The king's crown,
lit by an eternal glow, stretched far beyond the horizon, above the treetops, into the stars.

An ocean of red, flickering, guttering, gushing. An ocean of black, smoldering, twirling, rushing.

Darkness.

Come here.

There was a sternness to Kaoori's gentle voice that seemed almost alien to the fawn's ears.
It was unreal.

The child stood in the shadow of the beast.

Flames sputtered.

Sparks.

Do you understand me?

Amazon could not tear her gaze from the magnificent creature.
And worse, yet: she could not keep her distance for the world.

Her approach was sudden, her smile broad with youthful bliss.
She romped: showy leaps and bounds, joyful spins and whirls—

This spirit did not dance, was perhaps not made for the dance.
He was a cat basking in its own pride, too great for the dance.

But he's a cat who lacks the light-footed prowess of its kind.

Not every deer will play, little one.

The voice grew fiercer still.

He will not play. He will not dance.

Yet the stag rose.

Antlers. Tines as countless as the stars.

The creak of bone, desolate—

"Kao-ree!"

That big gray deer, he didn't dance. He lunged at me, and lunging means he isn't gonna dance.

Featuring:

- Bylah
- Kaoori
- Amazon

Oh, I hope I did your characters justice.
This writing is based on Amazon's first encounter with the creature Bylah.