ARISE
The pieces are scattered. A new nightmare dawns.
The end is coming.
AriseWith the aid of Kyro, a smart-mouthed street hustler, and Redd, a
cunning investigator at war with her conscience, Joel and Aimee Phoenix follow a
lead to Salvation Asylum, where they hope to find their daughter alive. But
Emery and Adam have already fled from captivity into even more chaos and
confusion. Danger haunts every action and darkness seeks to claim her
protector’s life as a result of using too much of his power too soon. Adam’s
soul now hangs between life and death, yet Emery can’t help dwelling on the boy
who once tempted fire and her love.
From inside his coma, Arson roams the fiery halls of past nightmares,
looking for the code of escape. But when a stranger slides into his
subconscious, promising new abilities and a way out, part of him is ready to
accept the revelation and be free, and part of him questions the ghost’s true
intentions. Divided and fearful, Arson’s mind is now a deadly game of wills.
There’s no telling what will become of the outside world. Arson’s only choice is
to enlist every power within and arise from the ashes of who he used to
be.
Excerpt:
The patterns of
his nightmare were a disease. Arson hated the hallways, the rooms—they all had
the same ruined look: identical flaking, green-black walls and dead windows. His
rage had spawned a reckless trail of flames that wandered beyond and behind
their cautious footsteps. Faded lockers had hindered some of his harshest
memories from being exposed; nevertheless, he noticed that a sequence of metal
cages had been pulled open, bent. Rust formed along the lockers’ twisted edges.
A leak from the ceiling now trickled down to corrupt their feeble frames. It
didn’t take long at all for things to decay in this place; that much was
obvious. Arson’s pulse quickened at the sight of all the torn-open
realms.
Adam approached
each step with a certain fearlessness Arson desperately wished he possessed. A
steady pace that suggested he was looking for something and was close to finding
it. But all the silence was driving Arson crazy. He had so many questions, about
his powers, about sliding, about why he was plagued to live memories that
weren’t his. If Adam could enter another’s subconscious by sliding, did he too
have to endure someone else’s intense past? Had he ever before gotten stuck
inside of a nightmare like this?
Arson’s eyes
opened and shut rapidly, as if his body—or, the body of his mind—knew that doing
so was a waste of time. He took a deep breath. As much as he wanted to know the
answers to all of his questions, there was one mystery he needed solved first.
It was the one thing that mattered above all. He’d been distraught over it since
he got trapped in this distorted reality, prior to Adam’s arrival, which had
only made everything even more of a blur. Was Emery still
alive?
Why
hadn’t she broken through?
Why hadn’t she
crossed into this supernatural existence?
Why hadn’t the
vision of his escape been real? He’d held her against his chest. He’d felt her
skin on his skin. Emery was real; all of it was. Arson knew he had mutilated
every last one of the sick fiends who had fed him lies and injected him with
poisons. They all turned to ash in a matter of minutes. He’d risen out of his
coma already and ended their scheme. In fact, he was there again now, his body
unleashing a torrent of wrath, power he barely could control. With one breath,
he’d watched a doctor become dust. Just by thinking it, his father’s heart had
incinerated. The asylum was laid to waste, and Emery’s beautiful smile was first
to welcome him back to the real world. If he entertained this reality long
enough, maybe he’d smell her again, feel her hair slide across his knuckles, and
even sense his knees quiver as her warm breath tickled his neck. He would never
let her go.
“Cut it out,” Adam
said with a rough nudge. “You wanna get out or stay in la-la land? If we plan on
escaping, keep all that sentimental garbage at bay. You need to be able to tell
the difference between what’s real and what isn’t. Your ‘breakthrough’ never
actually happened. This place just made you think it did. Get over
it.”
“This
is my nightmare,” Arson snarled. “My mind created it. I can control
it.”
“Can
you?”
No reply. Arson
just kept walking.
“Some people say
you can control what happens in your dreams. I say maybe, if you’re strong
enough.”
“I am. Look around
you.”
Adam studied the
fiery shapes blazing around them. Colorful flowers that bloomed into the bodies
of creatures only a teenage mind could fathom. Dragons and bats and spiders and
combinations of reptiles and mammals blended together. An intoxicating splash of
sapphire, crimson, and golden light.
“Okay, showoff.
But starting fires doesn’t mean you can control everything that happens here.
There’s some stuff that goes way back. It’s deep in your subconscious. I’ll bet
you don’t even know half the stuff that’s locked in here with us. Or even
remember it. I’m talking memories, ideas, bad dream kinda crap. It’s no wonder
you haven’t gotten out yet.”
Adam spoke like a
frustrated teacher. As they walked by another classroom, Arson was instantly
reminded of several teachers he hated. Maybe Adam’s voice was theirs.
“It makes sense if
you just think about it for a second. Your mind is a powerful computer. It’s
capable of storing images you may have only seen once, thoughts you probably
didn’t even mean to think. You read a book, and in that book a woman gets
brutally murdered. Your imagination takes a picture with the words that
described the action. That picture is now floating around in your brain,
forever. You hear a song and it makes you angry. Watch a movie and you get
excited because some couple is going at it. All of those things—the lusts, the
fears, confusion, hatred—it all lives in here. A part of us can contain it only
for so long, but when you’re stuck, like this, all bets are off. There is no
delete button, no shut-off switch. You get the good with the bad. Unfortunately,
your mind seems to like letting out all the bad. Not to mention, in here, you’re
weaker.”
“You make it seem
like I’m powerless.”
Adam stopped
midstride and scratched his temple. His eye twitched when he spoke. “You’re
missing it, Arson. It’s not just about power.” Adam snapped his fingers, and his
thumb lit like a candle. As the flame crossed fingertips, a grin toyed with his
mouth. “See? You could be your own personal superhero in here if you want, but
that wouldn’t be enough. You still wouldn’t get out. Because that’s not how it
works.”
“I know, the code
and whatever.”
“Hey, lose the
attitude. I’m trying to help you. There is a specific code that should be
able to set you free. Maybe if you got over yourself and started thinking about
the future instead of drowning in the past you might be able to help me find the
locations of these codes. And just maybe, we get out of here alive.”
Adam quenched the
fire in his palm and continued walking.
“Wait a second.
You mean it’s possible for me to die in here?”
Adam abruptly
replied, “I’ve seen some strange things in my years, but like I said, this is
different. All bets are off. Anything’s possible.”
“But if I die in
here, maybe I just wake up.”
“You’re in a coma,
Arson. Your real-world body will atrophy. A day in here can wear on you out
there. Given your weak physical state, if you die in this place, I don’t think
you’re just gonna wake up. Besides, if you do, it’ll just keep going. More
experiments. More tests. It’ll never step until we end it. I can
help.”
A tidal wave
collided with Arson’s mind. He was close to drowning, couldn’t breathe. His
thoughts crashed into one another—a jumbled, fearful mess. “But these are my
thoughts—”
“Most of
them.”
“Right. They can
kill me?”
“An idea is more
dangerous than a bullet. One thought can destroy you. It’s perfect, in a sick
way, how the mind works. A nightmare of your own design. You’ve got some freaky
stuff in here.”
If I could see
your brain, I’m sure I’d be shocked too, Arson
thought.
“Maybe you would
be, maybe not,” Adam said.
“I hate it that
you can do that.”
“We’re in your
head, remember? I can feel everything you think. For all intents and purposes,
I’m just another memory. I slid into your mind and chose Danny’s shell because
he isn’t a threat. A lot of other things in this place are.”
The heat from the
fire he created was starting to push into his pores. Arson began to sweat. “If
what you said is true, you know, about the memories and the things trapped in
here with us…why should I trust you?”
About the Author:
Estevan
Vega used to hate reading and sucked at writing…until a 5th grade writing
assignment changed everything. With the help of his father, a spark was ignited
into his imagination. When he was 12, he got the crazy idea to write a book and
threee years later decided to release it. Since then, he has unleashed 7 books
and a number of shorts stories which have been read around the world. Known for
weaving a poetic style with raw and realistic characters, he has set himself
apart in the literary world, often blending several genres together. The Arson
Saga is his most praised and most popular work. Arise, book 3 in The Arson Saga,
has just released. Read way too much. East mint chocolate chip ice cream. Spread
the fire!
GIVEAWAY!!
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