"Ben! I'm not kidding! Grandpa says the bacon is ready and it smells like wet dog! Get back here!" Gwen's voice was closer now. The sound of her boots snapping branches echoed from the tree line.
The smoke from the crater curled into the night air, smelling of burnt rubber. Ben stood at the lip of the pit. His heart hammered against his sternum so hard he could feel the pulse in his fingertips.
CRACK.
Ben's neck muscles tightened. He looked back toward the camp, then down at the metallic sphere.
'If I find a piece of a satellite, I can sell it on eBay and buy that limited edition Sumo Slammer set,' he thought. 'Gwen will be stuck reading her stupid book while I'm rich.'
"I'm just checking something out, dork! Stay away or you'll get radiation poisoning and your hair will fall out!" Ben yelled back. He didn't wait for her reply. He sat on the edge of the crater and slid down the loose dirt.
SHHHHHHHH.
The hot soil scorched the seat of his pants. He reached the bottom, his sneakers sinking into the ash. In the center sat a grey, metallic pod. It wasn't smooth; it had hexagonal plates that pulsed with a faint green light.
HUMMMMMMM.
The sound was low and vibrated in Ben's teeth. He reached out a hand. His skin was pale against the dark metal.
"Ben? What is that?"
Gwen stood at the top of the crater. She was holding a flashlight, the beam cutting through the smoke. Her eyes were wide, her pupils reflecting the green glow from below.
"It's a pod or something. Probably from NASA," Ben said. He took another step forward. The soles of his shoes began to melt slightly, the rubber making a SQUELCH sound against the heated floor of the pit.
"Don't touch it, you moron! It could be a bomb or a septic tank from a plane!" Gwen started to climb down, her movements clumsy as she slid on the loose gravel.
THUD.
She landed on her backside, her face twisting in pain. "OW! My tailbone! I'm going to sue you for this, Ben!"
"Sue me for what? Being a klutz?" Ben reached the pod.
As his fingers brushed the surface, the hexagonal plates shifted.
CLICK-CLICK-CLACK.
The pod hissed, a jet of pressurized steam shooting out of the seams. The 150°C vapor hit Ben in the face. He recoiled, his eyes watering and his skin turning pink from the flash-heat.
PSSSST!
The pod opened like a metallic flower. Inside, resting on a bed of glowing green filaments, was a device. It was a thick, gauntlet-like watch made of black and grey metal. The face of it featured a Pink hourglass symbol.
"A watch?" Ben's voice was flat. "I came down here for a watch?"
"It's not a watch, it's a... actually, it looks like a cheap toy," Gwen said. She stood up, brushing dirt off her jeans. She stepped closer, her shoulder brushing against Ben's.
He could feel the heat radiating off her body from the climb. "Probably some promotional junk. Leave it."
"No way. It fell from space. That makes it mine." Ben reached into the pod.
As his fingers got within an inch of the device, it suddenly jumped.
The black bands of the device snapped open and wrapped around Ben's left wrist. The metal was cold, a sharp contrast to the heat of the crater.
"AH! GET IT OFF!" Ben grabbed the device with his right hand. He pulled, the skin on his wrist stretching and turning white under the pressure.
WHIRRRRR.
The watch tightened. Ben could feel the individual gears inside the device clicking against his radius bone.
"Stop pulling! You're going to rip your hand off!" Gwen grabbed his arm, her small fingers digging into his bicep. She pulled in the opposite direction.
GRUNT.
"It won't budge! It's like it's glued to my skin!" Ben's face was dripping with sweat. He felt a sharp prick...like a needle, piercing the underside of his wrist.
BEEP.
The hourglass symbol began to glow with a blinding pink light.
The pink light from the Chaquetrix intensified. It wasn't a soft glow. It was a violent, strobe-like flash that turned the smoke in the crater into a neon-pink fog.
BEEEEEEEEEEP
The watch emitted a high-frequency pulse. Ben's eardrums felt like they were being poked by needles. He squeezed his eyes shut.
"BEN! GET AWAY FROM IT!" Gwen's voice was muffled by the roar of displaced air.
WHOOSH.
A column of heat erupted from the center of the pod. The temperature in the crater spiked from 30°C to 120°C in less than a second.
The dry leaves on the rim of the pit spontaneously ignited.
CRACKLE.
Ben felt a hand. Huge, heavy, and searingly hot, that wrap around his bicep. The heat didn't burn him to a crisp; the Chaquetrix formed a thin, pink translucent film over his skin, acting as a thermal barrier.
But he could still feel the crushing weight of the grip.
"What... is... this?" Ben managed to open one eye.
Standing before him was a figure that towered over him. It was seven feet of solidified magma and shifting flames.
Its body was a collection of dark red volcanic plates, chiseled into a feminine form with wide, powerful hips and a chest that heaved with every breath of oxygen.
HSSSSSSSS.
Steam curled off its shoulders. It face was a mask of dark rock, but its eyes were twin pits of molten gold.
She leaned down, her face inches from Ben's. He could see the liquid fire swirling behind the cracks in her cheeks.
The Pyronite sniffed the air near Ben's neck.
SNIFF.
"Small," she rumbled. Her voice sounded like two tectonic plates grinding together. "And soft. But the device does not lie. You are the one."
"The one for what?" Ben's voice cracked. He looked down. Her hand was nearly as large as his torso. Her fingers, tipped with sharpened obsidian claws, traced the line of his collarbone.
SCREE.
The claws left a faint white mark on the pink energy film protecting his skin.
"You're need for the restoration..," the Pyronite said vaguely. She turned her head, spotting Gwen standing frozen on the crater's edge. "Is this other small creature a rival? Do I need to extinguish her?"