Was this really a good idea?

Red.

Boiling red.

Hot- burning.

Pant! Pant!

Theo- somehow moved about. 

Sweat dripping, and instantly vaporizing.

His feet burned- often blood and pus leaking.

Even the wind was scorching hot and the few sounds- were nothing but the squishing noise of the lava-

"Mend…"

His voice didn't quite come out.

But- the spell activated and eased his pain- just barely.

Sky clouded with ash- slowly falling on him, suffocating him, burning him, killing him… 

Nothing but red and dark and death in sight…

Body burnt, blood boiling, heart almost stopping- he was at the brink of death- or maybe he was dead?

How did it come to this?

Why?

'Am I just going to… die here?'

***

"So, you're going to turn yourself in?"

Just the night before the eventual confrontation, Theo had a little chat with a certain woman- a woman from another world.