Sean bent forward, gasping for breath, his hands upon his knees. He had been in a dead sprint for what seemed like a mile, but they were safe. They had escaped the clutches of Moarte, the hidden City of Death.

“We made it! Can you believe it, Mike?” There was no response. Sean turned and looked all around but Mike wasn’t there. “Mike! Mike! Where are you?” The huge gate was slowly closing behind him, and there was no way he would abandon Mike to that city. Before the massive gate slammed shut he squeezed his way through the slim opening and made his way back into the lifeless hell where they had been trapped for the past several days.

As he crept through the darkened alleys of Moarte he was struck by the sulfuric smell of death. But he also sensed an energy, a glow, that was emitting from himself. Everywhere he stepped and everything he touched left a neon print of light, from his presence. The darkness that encompassed him didn’t swallow him up, instead he sensed that the darkness was afraid of him. Sean strode on, and with every step he took, his fear faded away. Soon he began seeing signs of light which he knew would lead him to Mike.

Mike trembled as he crouched behind a cold stone wall in the dark. The Dead of Moarte were everywhere, searching for him. He felt their presence, but they never approached him. They were bodiless, only black tendrils of smoke that darted around him wildly as their strained groans washed over him. It was as if his very presence was tormenting them.

Between the wisps of blackness, Mike saw a speck of light that was growing in size. The speck became a glow and it moved directly toward him. Mike saw that the glow looked like a person and as it got even closer, it walked straight through the flutter of smokey wisps. They fled from the light’s presence. Then he heard his friend’s familiar voice, “Mike, come on out. They can’t hurt you!” Mike slowly got to his feet and ran to Sean. “How did you find me?” He asked. “I followed your glow for a few blocks and before that I tracked your footprints.” “My glow?” Mike asked, bewildered. “Yes!” Sean said, and twirled his body around waving his arms as if too say, “Look around you!”

Mike stood awestruck as his eyes finally grasped what Sean was talking about. There were neon specks of light all around them, on the buildings and walls that they had touched and on the cobbled stones they had walked on. It was as if they were in a field full of fireflies.

At that moment the shadowy wisps of blackness began to swirl over and around them. Gradually the swirl tightened itself into a whirlwind of utter blackness that towered over them, blocking their way out of the city. Raspy moans and groans erupted from the vortex, vomiting themselves onto the boys. Thousands of arms emerged from the whirlwind reaching and grabbing at them trying to suck them into their darkness and death.

Mike began to shrink back but Sean put his arm around his friend and they strode straight into the whirlwind. But before they reached the it, all of the specks of light around them came to life. Fireflies rose from the pavement and pealed themselves free from the walls of the city. They formed themselves into a javelin of light and flew right into the heart of the whirlwind destroying it, leaving only a shower of ash.

As the ash settled to the ground the fireflies enveloped Mike and Sean and led them out of the city. When they reached the gate the fireflies bombarded it, disintegrating it to rubble. The city walls crumbled down and the entire city imploded, swallowed into the ground.

When the dust settled Sean and Mike felt the warmth of the setting sun at dusk, they were standing in a beautiful field of wildflowers. Birds chirped and bees buzzed, but what they reveled in the most were the thousands of fireflies flitting around them, welcoming them back home.