Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

The plain was not silent anymore—it breathed. The glass beneath Elena's knees pulsed with faint light, veins crawling outward like roots. Each vessel's bowed form seemed to anchor those roots, their flames feeding into the crown above her head. The crown blazed steady, circling, but every beat of its fire was a chain coiled around her chest.

Elena's body shook with each pulse. Her ember was no longer hers; it synchronized with the crown, with them, until her breath rattled in rhythm with a hundred hollow lungs.

Mira staggered back from the heat, her shards flickering erratically. She had seen Elena broken, burning, unrecognizable—but this was worse. This was submission wrapped in reverence.

"Elena," she rasped, the edges of her shards vibrating with fury. "You are not their throne. You don't belong to them."

Elena's head lifted slowly. Her face glowed with a faint, otherworldly radiance—half serene, half hollow.

"But I am," she whispered. Her voice trembled between her own and the vessels', layered like an echo rolling through a cavern. "I carry their flame. I breathe their silence. Without me…"

The vessels shuddered, as though fearing the unfinished thought. Their flames bent closer, tethering harder.

"…they vanish," Elena finished, her lips cracked from the heat.

Mira's shards hissed, slicing at the air in wild arcs. "Then let them vanish! Let them burn out! You don't owe them your soul."

Elena's laugh was brittle, almost mocking, but it cracked into pain. "I am them, Mira. Every scream, every ember—they were carved from me. If I let them go, I lose myself too."

The crown pulsed violently, and the plain groaned. The molten veins returned, glowing hotter, spreading outward like rivers of fire across the horizon. The kneeling vessels were no longer still—they trembled with anticipation, their hollow forms twitching as though waiting for her command.

Mira's jaw clenched. "So what happens now? You give them orders? You rule them?"

Elena's gaze drifted across the kneeling choir. "Rule?" Her voice cracked. "No. They don't need a ruler. They need a core. They need… a sacrifice."

The crown lowered fractionally, its fire licking at her hair. Elena winced but didn't resist. The vessels bowed deeper, as though in worship.

Mira couldn't stand it. She stormed forward, ignoring the blistering heat until her shards screamed, forcing her back. She hurled her words like blades instead.

"Listen to me, Elena! If they've carved pieces of you out, then I'll carve them back. You don't have to be their heart—you can be yours."

For a moment—one fragile flicker—the crown dimmed. Elena's ember flared unevenly, breaking rhythm with the vessels. Her hands trembled as though she might tear the tether free.

The vessels wailed, a low groan like stone splitting, their heads jerking in unison. The plain shook, veins of fire flaring hotter in rebellion.

Elena screamed. Her ember surged, trying to keep both rhythms at once—hers and theirs. The strain cracked her body further, glowing fissures racing down her arms and throat.

The crown blazed brighter, forcing her down.

Mira reached for her, even through the fire. "Elena, don't let them decide what you are!"

Elena's eyes met hers—burning, breaking, but still hers.

And with a sob that scorched the air, she whispered:

"Then tell me… what am I?"

The crown thundered, sealing itself around her head.

The vessels rose.