Member-only story
Midnight: On the Island
Chapter Five of Midnight and the Shield of Mars
Note: This is the fifth chapter of my novel, “Midnight and the Shield of Mars”. The first chapter can be found here. The fourth chapter is here. The sixth chapter is here. I publish a chapter twice a week, on Tuesday and Saturday.
Midnight stepped from the portal onto a pink sand beach. A cerulean ocean lapped its edges on his left and a crenulated red slope faced him on his right. Atop the slope he could make out trees, the wide pale leaves throwing gray shadows on the shore. They provided only slight protection from a sun that battered him with heat. Its glare turned his eyes into emerald slits.
He decided the first order of business was to find some shade, and then some water. He turned towards the steep slope. It was a tricky climb. The surface was slick, and the crenulations were too shallow to provide much in the way of footholds. It didn’t help that he was damp with sweat. Moist palms made it harder to grip the rock and the trickle of moisture on his face got into his eyes and stung. He was half-way up the almost vertical face when he paused to wipe his brow. He thought he’d a good hold on the rock with his other hand. Big mistake. He ended up losing his grip and falling on his back in the sand.
