Borne of Fire

Chapter 22

Braxter took a reflexive step backwards even as he reached out to clap his friend on the shoulder, his hand stopping just short as his heart gave his brain one message and his eyes gave it another. The expression on his face changed immediately from one of excited relief to one more akin to confused alarm, yet still he could not help but stare at this new guise his friend had adopted.

It was definitely Randyl, of that there could be no doubt - the same thick, dark hair, the same clothes he wore previously, still carrying the effects of their frantic journey. He had the same slightly crooked nose - crooked as a result of an overzealous bout of stickball Braxter remembered somewhere in the back of his mind - and the same stocky build, if not a little stockier now. And a little taller as well.

But the eyes.

The eyes were where all similarities to his friend ceased and some other version of the boy he had grown up with had begun. Where once his eyes had been large, round and dark brown in colour, now they seemed a mixture of blues and greens...no - more than that - more like sapphire and emerald with flecks of gold and silver sparkling within. The shape of his iris had changed also. No longer circular, it was now elliptical as if stretched at the top and bottom and as a result of this "stretching" it had narrowed.

Two words came to mind as Braxter stood and stared.

The first was predator. The second was reptile.

And yet, as disconcerting as the change in colour and shape was, it was not the most alarming change.

Where Randyl's eyelids touched around the tops and bottoms of each eyeball, small flames licked and danced, harmlessly and seemingly without causing any pain to him. The delicate, soft skin around the eyes neither blistered nor blackened and yet as Braxter focused on them specifically, making sure they were actually there and not something he was imagining, they continued to burn away at some unknown fuel.

Braxter found his tongue at last.

"Randyl? Is...is that really you?"

"Of course, my friend. It's me."

"But your eyes...your eyes are...on fire!"

Randyl smiled then, his teeth bigger and whiter than Braxter remembered them being, the embodiment of a strong, healthy person, and closing his eyes he slowly drew in a long, deep breath.

He held it for a few seconds and then slowly let it out again, opening his eyes as he did so.

The reptilian similarities and the dancing flames were gone, replaced by the large, dark brown, entirely human, very normal eyes that Braxter knew so well. His heart and eyes finally sent the same message to his brain and it was all he could do not to leap onto his friend, instead he took an enthusiastic step forwards and threw his arms around him.

"All hells Rand!" Braxter grunted. "I thought you were going to die! All hells! I thought you'd died a few times!" His relief at seeing his friend looking in such a fine bill of health overrode any of the usual sensibilities that young men usually have about showing their true and honest emotions to their peers. Braxter held and squeezed his friend as hard as he could. In return Randyl clapped his hand across his back and gave a reciprocating hug, laughing as he did so.

"Well I didn't die and I'm here, so what say you stop trying to kiss me and let go before you break something." With a hand on Braxters shoulders, he gently pushed him away, holding him at arms-length while the two friends looked at each other. Braxter lifted his arms to grip Randyl by the shoulders in return, only to find that his reach was a couple of inches short, his hands reaching only as far as Randyl's upper arms.