Ash & Flame: Season One Read Online Free PDF

Anne took his hand in hers, the frown still on her face, and pulled him towards the door. She swung the door open and pushed him gently through the doorway, into the fading light of late evening.
    A concrete landing stood outside the doorway, surrounded by rusted rails. A ramp descended from the landing at a slight angle along the front wall of the building. Pocked, white sand and jagged rock was everywhere, glittering under the sunlight.
    To his left, a series of factory buildings stood across a stretch of open ground, square towers and towering silos joined dozens of feet up by connecting rails and long sections of pipe. In the distance, a huge white dome, segmented by triangle-shaped sections, jutted out from the ground, more pipes and maze-like rails leading away.
    One of the pipes from the dome ended abruptly in a small, squat building maybe twenty yards away from where Ren stood. A man stood on top of the building, leaning against the rails that lined the roof, a rifle in one hand. His head swiveled to the left and right as he scanned the area.
    A dirt road led north, past the armed guard, intersecting a wider road that ran from the west, rounding towards the southeast, past Ren's current quarters. Mounds of white sand had been piled up to the north of the road, countless trees standing silent vigil over the embankment.
    A narrow shelf obscured Ren's view to the east, but he spotted the greenish-blue tinge of water just past the earthen barrier. Gentle waves carried to the south, rising, falling, dancing in the tumbling chaos of the river. The sun's fading light glinted off the swift current.
    "Is that—"
    "Yes, that's the Mississippi," the woman finished for him.
    A man and woman strode by the building to Ren's left, talking quietly. One of them kicked up sand as they headed towards the squat building a short distance away.
    Ren pointed down towards the white-flecked sand and stone. "And this white stuff? Sand?"
    The woman smiled, like he were a young child who continued to ask a patient parent silly questions.
    "Haven is mostly just an old cement plant. There's a lot of limestone build-up, obviously," Anne said. "But when we discovered the effect salt had on... them , well, now there's more than just limestone piled up around here."
    "Salt?" He had seen people empty clips of ammunition into the demons, hid and watched as braver men and women than he charged unrecognizable howling beasts. A chopper had flown low once, rotors beating down the grass, its mounted guns blazing.
    Too low, as it had turned out. All the implements of war mankind had created were little more than annoyances, and the angels and demons had smashed them all.
    Anne ignored the question. She leaned out over the railing and pointed off to the west, towards the large dome that dominated what Ren could see of the compound. "There."
    Ren followed her pointing finger and shielded his eyes with a hand as he focused on the silver triangles that made up the dome. A figure stood on the apex of the span, holding a glowing lantern overhead. Was it a man, watching guard? What did Anne expect him to see?
    He leaned forward, his brow furrowed as he tried to make out the details of whoever stood on top of that dome. He wondered why someone would bother, because there was no easy way down from there. One misstep, and it would likely be a fatal one. He caught a spark of light and glinting metal, and then his eyes widened.
    Wait . No, it wasn't a man at all. Not exactly.
    Wings unfurled behind the creature, the long feathers a shimmering white. The wings pumped once, lifting the creature clear of the surface of the dome, and it swooped low, darting over the barren sand. Its wings beat against the air, sending up puffs of dust, and the creature soared into the sky overhead. It passed over Ren, and he saw what it carried. Not a lantern at all, but a tall spear, the tip a shining, brilliant beacon.
    His mouth fell open, a thrilling panic holding him rooted to the spot