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. With regained vigor, 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, after seconds of being frightened by the being in front of her.
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...