Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

The plain shifted.

The vessels, once bowed, unfurled in unison, rising like titans from prayer. Their faceless heads turned toward Elena, each flame burning brighter now that the crown sealed above her. The sound of their motion was not footsteps, nor breath, but the groan of the earth itself bending beneath their weight.

Elena struggled to rise with them. Her body jerked like a marionette pulled on too many strings, the fissures across her skin glowing as though molten fire ran through her veins. Every time the crown pulsed, she flinched, as if the fire scorched her from the inside.

Mira stood before her, shards spinning in defiance. "Stop it! She's not your vessel—she's not your core!"

The risen choir did not answer. Their flames tilted, every ember leaning toward Elena like supplicants bowing before their sovereign. The crown above her head roared, its flames flaring wide, so bright the horizon warped into mirage.

Elena clutched her chest, choking. "I can't… hold them—"

"Then don't!" Mira shouted. Her shards lashed out, slicing at the tether-threads binding Elena to the vessels. Each strike hissed through the fire, sparking violently but leaving the bonds intact. The flames only bent harder toward Elena, as if mocking Mira's defiance.

The plain itself reacted. The veins of molten glass cracked open, spilling rivers of fire that spiraled outward into towering columns. The vessels stepped into the fire without hesitation, their hollow bodies drinking the flames, feeding it back into the crown.

Elena convulsed. Her ember swelled larger, pushing against her chest like a living thing. Every flicker of the crown dragged her closer to the edge of breaking. "Mira—if I tear free—they'll collapse. All of them. Every piece of me in them… gone."

Mira's heart hammered. She saw Elena's body trembling, caught between surrender and obliteration. Rage burned through her veins hot enough to steady her voice.

"Then let them burn. Better ashes than chains."

The shards spun faster, forming a storm around her. Their edges shrieked against the crown's fire, cleaving sparks into the air. For the first time, the flames bent toward Mira, as though recognizing her defiance as fuel.

Elena's eyes snapped to her, glowing with the fractured light of a hundred hollow souls. "If I break… you'll lose me too."

Mira staggered forward, even as the fire scorched her arms raw. She reached for Elena's hands, wrapping them in her bleeding grip.

"Then break on your terms. Not theirs."

The crown pulsed violently, sensing rebellion. The vessels wailed, a thunderous sound that rattled the plain. Their flames writhed in unison, lashing upward, feeding the crown until it blazed like a second sun.

Elena screamed. The fissures in her body split wider, spilling molten light that dripped like blood. Her ember surged, torn between feeding the crown and tearing loose from it.

Her voice cracked, a prayer and a curse all at once:

"Mira—don't let me go."

Mira's shards stabbed through the fire, embedding into the crown itself. Sparks exploded, blinding. The vessels convulsed, their flames sputtering in agony.

The crown split.

And in the shattering blaze, the plain howled—half in triumph, half in rage.