Mount Nerva, the volcano that was silent for centuries, now erupted with an eerie green ash that bled into the night sky. The cloud swelled by the minute, staining the heavens with a sickly green glow.

  Ampelius and Bella stood frozen at the window. The awe of what that they are witnessing held them for a moment, until Bella’s shock snapped into full panic. She stumbled back, voice trembling as she spilled frantic fears about Emmett and death, but her words tumbled too fast to follow. Ampelius barely paid attention to her as his eyes stayed fixed on the mountain.

  The cloud’s steady expansion into the atmosphere was almost hypnotic, pulling Ampelius into a deeper state of fascination. Yet beneath it all, he was still battling his need to stay calm and take charge for Bella’s sake. Run? Stay? Watch? All great questions that hammered within his mind, but worsening the uncertainty. Hesitation was no longer an option as his instincts were screaming for action while his thoughts scrambled to catch up.

  A glowing green fireball tore out of the rising ash, hurtling toward the ground before smashing into the base of Mount Nerva with a blinding flash. He felt the wave of heat wash over him, searing his skin even from that distance. The following roar of the impact rattled his ears, knocking his balance as he stumbled back. His eyes went wide with astonishment. “What was that?” he muttered, more to himself than to Bella. She ignored him, panic already driving her to tear through the apartment, shoving random items into a backpack.

  Before Ampelius could process what he’d just seen, another green fireball ripped from the roiling clouds and soared even farther from the mountain. Its glow flooded the apartment in a sickly light green before vanishing behind a distant hill in another fiery blast. Seconds later, the thunderous echo rolled over them, vibrating through the floor and sending a shiver up his spine. Bella froze, her eyes wide.

  “What is going on?” she asked, her voice shaking.

  Ampelius didn’t answer right away. That question settled in his mind as he scrambled for the right words. After a few seconds, he finally muttered, “Some sort of lava bomb… but with green flames.” He kept his voice steady, but his thoughts were a storm of fear and disbelief in what he was seeing. This can’t be real, can it? His courage faltered, yet he forced himself to speak, trying to calm himself.

  Bella’s frantic breathing finally began to ease when the world split with a thunderous blast, the air shaking so hard it felt like the whole city rattled with it. Both of them flinched, hearts skipping as the delayed roar of the second fireball rolled over them.

  “Well… that was loud,” Bella muttered with a shaky laugh. “Guess that’s why they call it a lava bomb.”

  “Lava bombs are common during Strombolian eruptions,” Ampelius said carefully.

  “But this… this is different. I've never seen anything like this.”

  The green glow reminded him of the whispers he’d once overheard from Roman engineers. They mentioned something about weapons that could twist nature itself into something deadlier. Standing at the window now, he couldn’t shake the thought. Had Rome finally gone that far?

  Another green fireball ripped free from the rising green clouds, but arcing much farther than the last. This ball of flames was aimed straight for the outskirts of the city. Ampelius tracked it until it slammed into a lonely farmhouse he could barely see beyond a hill. The blast lit up the night like a second sun, with the explosion tearing the structure apart in a storm of fire and splintered wood. It wasn't a long wait for the thunderous clap that followed.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Another lava bomb?” Bella whispered, her panic forming into terror.

  With a deafening roar, the green ash cloud ripped open and expanded, spewing fireballs in every direction. Ampelius and Bella staggered back as several streaked toward the city. One slammed into a skyscraper, tearing through one side and blasting out the other in a violent eruption. The fireball didn’t die there, it plunged downward, smashing into a cluster of smaller buildings and ripping them apart in a chain of explosions.

  One after another, the green fireballs kept coming and rained down on the city, each strike bursting into blinding flashes and earth-shaking blasts. The skyline was constantly being lit up under the barrage that felt more like a bombing raid than an eruption.

  Bella couldn't take it anymore, she bolted from the window and darting through the apartment like a fish, yanking open drawers and shoving whatever she could grab into her backpack.

  Ampelius couldn't make sense of the nightmare that was unfolding before his eyes. This storm of green fireballs turned the city into one large battlefield, with each blast casting the city in a greenish hellscape.

  Bella’s voice cut through the daze, snapping Ampelius back to reality. “We have to go! Now!” He tore his eyes from the window and rushed to join her in the frantic scramble to grab what else they could and get out.

  With the backpack stuffed, they traded a grim look. No words were needed, as they knew there was no turning back. Ampelius moved for the door, but Bella suddenly spun away, yanking open a drawer. Her hands trembled as she dug out a pen and scrap of paper.

  Ampelius’s stomach knotted as he watched her, frustration bubbling. The scratching of the pen against paper felt rather deafening in the charged air, with every stroke dragging precious seconds from them while the city outside burned.

  “Bella! This is no time for writing poetry!” Ampelius screamed. “We need to leave, what are you doing!” Panic was making it hard to breathe as another explosion thundered nearby, rattling the walls as the explosions got closer. Every second she wasted felt like a death sentence.

  Bella’s head then snapped up, tears forming in her eyes, but behind it all burned something stubborn. “This isn’t poetry!” she cried, her voice breaking as she held the trembling paper tight. “If Emmett comes back, he needs to know where we went!” The words tumbled out raw, desperate, torn between terror and hope.

  The paper shook violently in her hands while Ampelius stared in disbelief, caught between fury and something much deeper. He wanted to rip the note from her fingers and drag her out into the night, yet he couldn’t ignore the weight behind her plea, the kind of love and fear that made a person cling to even the smallest chance of being found.

  He knew she was clinging to the hope that Emmett would somehow find them, but to Ampelius, every second she lingered felt like another roll of the dice against their survival. The risk wasn't worth it, yet the way she clutched that note with her hands trembling and knuckles white, it made it clear that wasn’t just paper. It was her anchor, her last lifeline to him.

  For a moment, Ampelius’s anger faltered. He saw past his frustration, and into the raw desperation in her eyes. Scrawling those words was the only control she had left in a world falling apart. He let her have it, even as every tick of the clock felt like it was counting down their lives. But it added one more burden to his shoulders, which was the weight of protecting her hope, as well as her life.

  “Okay, okay, just hurry,” Ampelius muttered. His impatience was growing as he cast a wary glance at the door. Each explosion outside sounded closer than the last. Through the cracked windows he could see the fireballs streaking across the sky, looking like vengeful comets that were painting the apartment with their color.

  Bella’s hands continued to shake as she scrawled the final words. She placed the note carefully on the kitchen counter, as if setting down something sacred. For a few seconds, she stood frozen, her eyes locked on the paper, unwilling to look away. Then she took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders before turning back to him. “Let’s go,” she whispered. Her voice trembled, but he could see in her eyes that there was a hard resolve that hadn’t been there before.

  Ampelius felt the relief, but also the dread churning in his gut. He doubted the note would ever reach Emmett, but it had steadied Bella, and for now that was enough. Still, he felt the weight of it pressing down on him, all because survival wasn’t just about running anymore. For Bella, it was about carrying hope through the fire, and he knew that hope now rested on his shoulders too. The world outside might be falling apart, but as long as she held onto that hope, he had no choice but to protect it.