"Ben! I'm not kidding! Grandpa says the bacon is ready and it smells like wet dog! Get back here!" Gwen's voice was closer now. The sound of her boots snapping branches echoed from the tree line.
The smoke from the crater curled into the night air, smelling of burnt ozone and sulfur. Ben stood at the lip of the pit. His heart hammered against his sternum so hard he could feel the pulse in his fingertips.
CRACK.
Ben's neck muscles tightened. He looked back toward the camp, then down at the metallic sphere.
'If I find a piece of a satellite, I can sell it on eBay and buy that limited edition Sumo Slammer set,' he thought. 'Gwen will be stuck reading her stupid book while I'm rich.'
"I'm just checking something out, dork! Stay away or you'll get radiation poisoning and your hair will fall out!" Ben yelled back. He didn't wait for her reply. He sat on the edge of the crater and slid down the loose dirt.
SHHHHHHHH.
The hot soil scorched the seat of his pants. He reached the bottom, his sneakers sinking into the ash. In the center sat a grey, metallic pod. It wasn't smooth; it had hexagonal plates that pulsed with a faint green light.
HUMMMMMMM.
The sound was low and vibrated in Ben's teeth. He reached out a hand. His skin was pale against the dark metal.
"Ben? What is that?"
Gwen stood at the top of the crater. She was holding a flashlight, the beam cutting through the smoke. Her eyes were wide, her pupils reflecting the green glow from below.
"It's a pod or something. Probably from NASA," Ben said. He took another step forward. The soles of his shoes began to melt slightly, the rubber making a SQUELCH sound against the heated floor of the pit.
"Don't touch it, you moron! It could be a bomb or a septic tank from a plane!" Gwen started to climb down, her movements clumsy as she slid on the loose gravel.
THUD.
She landed on her backside, her face twisting in pain. "OW! My tailbone! I'm going to sue you for this, Ben!"
"Sue me for what? Being a klutz?" Ben reached the pod.
As his fingers brushed the surface, the hexagonal plates shifted.
CLICK-CLICK-CLACK.
The pod hissed, a jet of pressurized steam shooting out of the seams. The 150°C vapor hit Ben in the face. He recoiled, his eyes watering and his skin turning pink from the flash-heat.
PSSSST!
The pod opened like a metallic flower. Inside, resting on a bed of glowing green filaments, was a device. It was a thick, gauntlet-like watch made of black and grey metal. The face of it featured a Pink hourglass symbol.
"A watch?" Ben's voice was flat. "I came down here for a watch?"
"It's not a watch, it's a... actually, it looks like a cheap toy," Gwen said. She stood up, brushing dirt off her jeans. She stepped closer, her shoulder brushing against Ben's.
He could feel the heat radiating off her body from the climb. "Probably some promotional junk. Leave it."
"No way. It fell from space. That makes it mine." Ben reached into the pod.
As his fingers got within an inch of the device, it suddenly jumped.
The black bands of the device snapped open and wrapped around Ben's left wrist. The metal was cold, a sharp contrast to the heat of the crater.
"AH! GET IT OFF!" Ben grabbed the device with his right hand. He pulled, the skin on his wrist stretching and turning white under the pressure.
WHIRRRRR.
The watch tightened. Ben could feel the individual gears inside the device clicking against his radius bone.
"Stop pulling! You're going to rip your hand off!" Gwen grabbed his arm, her small fingers digging into his bicep. She pulled in the opposite direction.
GRUNT.
"It won't budge! It's like it's glued to my skin!" Ben's face was dripping with sweat. He felt a sharp prick...like a needle, piercing the underside of his wrist.
BEEP.
The hourglass symbol began to glow with a blinding pink light.
The pink light from the Chaquetrix intensified. It wasn't a soft glow. It was a violent, strobe-like flash that turned the smoke in the crater into a neon-pink fog.
BEEEEEEEEEEP
The watch emitted a high-frequency pulse. Ben's eardrums felt like they were being poked by needles. He squeezed his eyes shut.
"BEN! GET AWAY FROM IT!" Gwen's voice was muffled by the roar of displaced air.
WHOOSH.
A column of heat erupted from the center of the pod. The temperature in the crater spiked from 30°C to 120°C in less than a second.
The dry leaves on the rim of the pit spontaneously ignited.
CRACKLE.
Ben felt a hand. Huge, heavy, and searingly hot, that wrap around his bicep. The heat didn't burn him to a crisp; the Chaquetrix formed a thin, pink translucent film over his skin, acting as a thermal barrier.
But he could still feel the crushing weight of the grip.
"What... is... this?" Ben managed to open one eye.
Standing before him was a figure that towered over him. It was seven feet of solidified magma and shifting flames.
Its body was a collection of dark red volcanic plates, chiseled into a feminine form with wide, powerful hips and a chest that heaved with every breath of oxygen.
HSSSSSSSS.
Steam curled off its shoulders. It face was a mask of dark rock, but its eyes were twin pits of molten gold.
She leaned down, her face inches from Ben's. He could see the liquid fire swirling behind the cracks in her cheeks.
The Pyronite sniffed the air near Ben's neck.
SNIFF.
"Small," she rumbled. Her voice sounded like two tectonic plates grinding together. "And soft. But the device does not lie. You are the one."
"The one for what?" Ben's voice cracked. He looked down. Her hand was nearly as large as his torso. Her fingers, tipped with sharpened obsidian claws, traced the line of his collarbone.
SCREE.
The claws left a faint white mark on the pink energy film protecting his skin.
"You're need for the restoration..," the Pyronite said vaguely. She turned her head, spotting Gwen standing frozen on the crater's edge. "Is this other small creature a rival? Do I need to extinguish her?"
She raised her other hand. A ball of white-hot plasma formed in her palm, the air around it wobbling and distorting from the 500°C intensity.
VROOOOM.
"NO! Don't extinguish her! She's just my annoying cousin!" Ben yelled. He tried to pull his arm back, but the Pyronite didn't budge.
She was like a mountain anchored to the spot.
"A cousin?" The Pyronite extinguished the flame with a sharp POP. She looked back at Ben, her golden eyes scanning his small frame. "Disappointing. But I have waited cycles for a compatible match. I will make do with your limitations."
She reached out and placed her other hand on the back of Ben's head. Her palm was broad and heavy. She forced him to look up at her.
"I am Pyra," she stated. "And you, little Sire, are now mine to protect. And mine to cultivate."
"..." He was speechless at what Pyra said at the moment.
The weight of Pyra's hand on Ben's head was immense. He felt the individual grains of her stone palm pressing into his scalp.
The pink energy film between his skin and her hand hummed with a low-frequency vibration.
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HIM, YOU OVERGROWN TORCH!" Gwen screamed. She scrambled to her feet, her face covered in grey ash and her hair sticking out in wild.
She grabbed a nearby rock, the size of a grapefruit, and hurled it with all her strength.
WHACK.
The rock hit Pyra's shoulder blade and shattered into a dozen pieces. Pyra didn't flinch. She didn't even turn around.
The stone fragments that touched her skin instantly turned white-hot and melted into liquid glass, dripping down her back like glowing tears.
SLURP. HISS.
"The small rival is persistent," Pyra rumbled. She slowly rotated her neck, the sound of grinding granite filling the crater.
SCRUNCH. CRUNCH.
She looked over her shoulder at Gwen. "She lacks the thermal capacity to be a threat. Why does she bark so loudly?"
"I told you! She's my cousin! And stop calling me small!" Ben wrenched his head away from Pyra's grip. He stumbled backward, his sneakers slipping on the loose, charred soil.
THUD.
He landed on his elbows. The pink film on his skin flickered. He could feel the heat of the crater beginning to seep through, making the sweat on his neck boil.
"HEY! WATCH THE ELBOWS, YOU BIG FREAK!" Ben yelled. He looked at the Chaquetrix on his wrist. The pink hourglass was spinning rapidly.
WHIRRRRRRR.
"Explain this! Why are you here? And what is a 'Sire'?" Ben demanded. He pointed a trembling finger at the watch. "And get this thing off me! It's pinching my wrist bone!"
Pyra stepped toward him. Each footfall caused the earth to sink inches deep.
The ground under her feet turned into a pool of bubbling, orange slag.
"The device is more like a bridge," Pyra stated. She reached down, her massive hand hovering over the Chaquetrix.
The pink light from the watch reflected off the obsidian plates of her chest. "My world is a husk. The fires of Pyros are cooling. Our males are husks of ash, unable to ignite the spark of the next generation. We searched the stars for a biological anchor. A compatible genetic donor who could withstand the transition."
She leaned closer, her golden eyes fixed on Ben's face. "The Chaquetrix selected you. Your DNA is... malleable. Primitive, but sturdy. You are the Sire. You will provide the catalyst for our restoration."
"I'm ten!" Ben screamed. His voice cracked, hitting a high-pitched note that made Gwen wince. "I don't even know how to drive a car! I'm not donating anything to a bunch of fire monsters!"
"Ten cycles?" Pyra tilted her head. A drop of molten saliva dripped from her rocky jaw and hit the dirt.
SIZZLE.
"You will grow," she said, her voice dropping into a low hum. "The device will ensure your survival. It has already begun the Synchronization. It protects your fragile, watery flesh from my heat. Eventually, it will allow for... deeper integration."
She reached out and traced the line of Ben's jaw with a single, heated finger. The pink film glowed brightly at the point of contact.
"What 'deeper integration'?" Gwen shouted, sliding the rest of the way down into the crater.
She marched up to Pyra, despite the fact that the heat was singeing the tips of her eyebrows. "Listen, Sparky! I don't care what planet you're from. You can't just fall out of the sky and start touching my cousin like he's a prize at a carnival! Hey, Ben Give it back the watch and let it go find a volcano to sit in!"
Pyra finally turned her full attention to Gwen. She stood up to her full seven-foot height, her shadows stretching long and jagged across the crater walls.
"You speak of things you do not comprehend, sterile one," Pyra rumbled. She raised a hand, and for a second, Gwen flinched, expecting a fireball.
Instead, Pyra snapped her fingers.
SNAP. CRACK.
A small burst of sparks flew into the air, dancing around Gwen's head like angry hornets. Gwen swiped at them, cursing under her breath. "GOD! SHIT! OW!"
"BEN! GWEN! WHAT IN THE NAME OF—"
Grandpa Max appeared at the rim of the crater. He was holding a high-powered camping lantern in one hand and a rusted tire iron in the other.
He froze, the white light of the lantern illuminating the scene...
The smoking crater, his two grandchildren covered in soot, and a seven-foot-tall flaming alien woman standing over Ben.
Max didn't scream though...instead his jaw set into a hard, horizontal line. The muscles in his forearms tightened, his grip on the tire iron turning his knuckles white.
"Step away from the boy," Max said. His voice wasn't the shaky tone of a grandpa; it was a cold bark...
Pyra turned her head toward the rim. Her eyes flared with a brighter gold light. 'An elder. This one carries the scent of the Galactic Enforcers. But he is aged...' she thought to her herself while gazing at Grandpa Max.
"Grandpa! Help! This lady wants to use me as a battery or something!" Ben scrambled up and ran toward Max, his sneakers kicking up clouds of ash.
He reached the top of the ridge and hid behind Max's Hawaiian shirt. He could smell the bacon grease and old spice on Max, a comforting contrast to the sulfur and heat of the crater.
"Grandpa, what the hell is that thing?" Gwen asked, climbing up behind them. She was rubbing her arm where a spark had singed her sleeve. "It came out of the watch! And it keeps calling Ben a 'Sire'!"
Max looked down at the Chaquetrix on Ben's wrist. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second, a look of pure dread crossing his face before he masked it with a cold expression.
"Ben... don't touch the dial again," Max whispered. He looked back at Pyra, who was now walking up the side of the crater effortlessly with grace.
Each step she took left a glowing, molten footprint in the grass.
The grass ignited instantly. The smell of burning pine filled the air.
"You recognize the mark of Azmuth, Elder," Pyra said, stopping ten feet away from them.
The heat radiating off her was so intense that the plastic buttons on Max's shirt began to warp and soften.
"I recognize a biological summons when I see one," Max replied. He lowered the tire iron slightly, but he didn't relax his posture. "But he's a child. He isn't ready for the Contract."
"The Contract does not care for time," Pyra rumbled. She looked at Ben, who was peeking out from behind Max's hip. "The signal was sent. The bridge is open. I am bound to him. And he is bound to the survival of my race."
Suddenly, the Chaquetrix began to BEEP rapidly.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.
The pink light turned into a swirling vortex around Ben's wrist.
"What's happening? It's vibrating! It's vibrating my whole arm!" Ben yelled. He gripped his left wrist, trying to hold it still.
BAM.
A pink shockwave erupted from the watch. It didn't hurt, but it pushed Max and Gwen back several feet.
Pyra's body began to pixelate. Her solid stone form turned into translucent pink energy. She looked at her hands, her expression one of mild annoyance rather than fear.
"The standby cycle begins," Pyra voice echoed as if it's from a long distance. "Rest well, little Sire. We have much work to do when the sun rises."
SHLOOP.
With a final flash, Pyra vanished. The air where she had stood was empty, save for the circle of burning grass and the lingering scent of charcoal.
Silence fell over the clearing. The only sound was the crackling of the small fire Pyra had left behind.
Max immediately dropped the tire iron and grabbed Ben's wrist. He inspected the watch, his thumb tracing the pink hourglass symbol.
"Grandpa? You're hurting me," Ben muttered.
Max let go, his hand shaking slightly. He looked at Gwen, then back at the dark woods.
"We need to get back to the Rustbucket. Now," Max ordered.
"Not until you tell us what that was!" Gwen yelled, her face turning red. "That wasn't 'nature' Grandpa! That was a giant fire woman who talked about breeding with my cousin! I'm going to throw up! I'm actually going to barf!"
"Into the van! Both of you!" Max's voice left no room for argument.
They trekked back through the woods in silence. Ben kept looking at his wrist. The watch was quiet now, but he could feel a strange warmth beneath the metal...it felt like the pulse matched his own heartbeat somehow.
THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP.
As they reached the Rustbucket, the man from earlier(the one with the flat tire) was still there.
He was stumbling drunk, a half-empty bottle in his hand. He looked at the smoking woods behind them and then at Ben's glowing pink watch.
"Hey! What the fuck did you kids do?" the man slurped, spit flying from his mouth. "You set the goddamn woods on fire? I'm callin' the rangers! You little shits are gonna rot in—"
Max didn't even look at him. He grabbed the man by the front of his stained tank top with one hand and slammed him against the side of his truck.
WHAM.
The man's head hit the rusted metal. The bottle fell from his hand and shattered on the gravel.
SMASH.
"Go home," Max said, his voice low and dangerous. "Before I decide to make your night much worse."
The man stared into Max's eyes, his pupils dilating in pure terror. He scrambled into his truck, the engine screaming as he peeled away on a flat tire.
SCREECH.
Max turned back to the kids, his face returning to its calm, "Grandpa" mask. "Inside. We have a lot to talk about."