>>24545286 (OP)how do i bully it to improve this?
Ashes and Amber
The forest burned behind them—autumn leaves curling into flame, smoke twisting like black serpents through the canopy. Sir Corven ran with sword drawn, armor scorched and dented, dragging breath through fire-choked lungs. Beside him, barefoot and radiant in torn silks, ran Elira—no longer a slave, but something far more dangerous: free.
They had stolen her from the obsidian tower at dusk, when the sorceress Almyra was deep in her crimson trance. Corven had cut the chains with a blade dipped in ash and oil, whispering, “We run west. Through the fire. Don’t look back.”
But the forest was alive now, warped by Almyra’s rage. Trees bent the wrong way, sap bled upward, and strange shapes danced in the smoke—children with glowing eyes, owls with human mouths. Corven swore he saw a river flowing uphill.
Elira grabbed his arm. “We’re dreaming.”
Corven blinked. “No. This is her magic.”
They kissed in the dark between trees—a fast, desperate kiss full of smoke and teeth. Her hands were warm against his breastplate, and for a moment, he forgot the fire. But a shriek shattered the stillness. The sky above them tore open like wet paper, and Almyra’s voice poured out: “You carry my heart, girl.”
Elira gasped. “She means it literally.”
Corven stared. “You don’t mean—?”
“I stole the organ she used to cast eternal youth,” she whispered, lifting her blouse just enough to show the faint, violet scar over her ribs. “I buried it in me. Deep.”
Suddenly, Corven laughed. Loud and mad. “That’s metal.”
The flames surged. Almyra appeared ahead, her body too tall, skin glassy, pupils spinning like whirlpools. She raised a hand.
But Elira stepped forward, firelight painting her skin gold and red. “You want it back?” she shouted. “Then take it!”
She screamed—and from her mouth came not sound, but wind. A blast that tore through Almyra like glass through sand. The sorceress shrieked and split into a thousand moths, which burned before they hit the ground.
The forest went quiet. Just crackling ash, and the smell of rain coming.
Corven fell to his knees. “What are you?”
Elira smiled, stepping over him, hips swaying, smoke curling around her ankles like worship. “Free,” she said again. “And not done yet.”
Behind her, the trees began to grow backwards.