Burninggrass: Return to Fireos.

First part (6 Jan 2026) This is the opening sequence of Burninggrass: Return to Fireos, a free-to-read fantasy/sci-fi novel. New chapters and revisions will be added over time.

The door slammed down behind him as Burninggrass stepped out into the cold glare of the control room.
“How long do we have?”
“Maybe five minutes.” Pwsome called back. “We’re just finalizing the landing sequences now.”
Five minutes until they landed back on Fireos after nearly a year of exile.
Five minutes until he could reclaim the land that had been stolen from him.
Five minutes until Personman would go down.
Burninggrass’s hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. He would not let his people down again.

The ship shuddered as it made contact with the ground. Dust surged up covering the windscreen, once it cleared Burninggrass could clearly make out the devastation done to his home.
Vast sections of the city had collapsed under the weight of the ice that did not belong here. Buildings were split and crushed, entire streets were frozen. Vegetation had crumbled to dust, built to survive much higher temperatures. The icy cold of Personman’s invasion had decimated the planet.
Burninggrass felt a surge of rage, they had destroyed his home and killed his people, and he had been forced to retreat and let it all happen.

The door to the ship opened with a hiss, striking the ground softly.
Burninggrass stepped out first, closely followed by Pwsome and the few others who had managed to escape with him. There were no signs of life anywhere, their landing seemingly unnoticed.
“This way.” Burninggrass hissed and led the others into a dark familiar alleyway. The sound of their armour clattered as they moved, the sound piercing through the city's unnatural silence as the five made their way through the winding buildings.
His Tech-Watch lit up, “They know you’re here.”
He quickly typed out a reply, “We are on our way.”
Burninggrass led the small group further along until they reached a main street. Here there was life, Fireosians working, building, and trading. Armed Iceys standing guard on every corner.

Burninggrass slowed, pressing the group against a low wall. He glanced at the countless Iceys out on the street.“We’ll cross here,” he murmured, pointing to a narrow alley between two market stalls. “Keep your heads down, and stay silent. If anyone raises an alarm we split up and meet back at the ship.”
Pwsome nodded, his hand already on the rough handle of his holstered plasma blaster. “We only have one shot at getting to the castle. We must make it count.”
Burninggrass quickly scanned the road one last time, then gave a signal. He sprinted across, weaving between the stalls and into the alley. The others right behind him. No Icey called out, yet from the corner of his eye, Burninggrass caught the hopeful glance of a Fireosian vendor.

Burninggrass led the group deeper into the twisting streets, every step carefully measured. The further they moved towards his old castle, the more the city felt foreign, controlled. Iceys stood at every corner, tall and still, their frozen forms reflecting the harsh light like mirrors. A constant hum got louder as they traveled further into the city.
“Hover-Tec,” Pwsome muttered, glancing up at a sleek drone hovering over a warehouse roof. Its polished surface gleaming in the sunlight, and the faint glow of its sensors swept across the street, scanning for them.
Burninggrass’s hand instinctively went to his Tech-Watch, tapping it once to check for tracking or nearby patrols. Nothing yet.
The streets narrowed as they went on, buildings growing taller and more modern. Shipping crates branded with Hover-Tec insignia lined the sidewalks, and reinforced doors with energy locks held every warehouse captive.
Pwsome pointed at a group of Iceys carrying what looked like advanced Hover-Tec rifles, “Those guns are not meant for public use,” he said. “Those are way too advanced to hand out to random troops.”

Burninggrass slowed, crouching down behind a container. “We’re getting close,” he whispered, “but this is where security ramps up. Watch everything, and at any sign of danger, run.”
Power lines ran along the buildings now, thick cables bolted openly to the stone, glowing faintly blue beneath layers of frost. This part of the city had been completely rebuilt.
Burninggrass clenched his jaw. Fireos had never needed this much machinery.

They passed beneath a massive archway, once carved with cultural symbols of the Fireosian people. Now those markings had been scraped away, replaced with smooth metal plates. Erasing what once was.
A distant rumble echoed through the street.
Burninggrass froze, raising a hand. The group stopped instantly.
An Icey patrol marched past the far end of the street, their boots striking the ground in perfect unison. At their center rolled a Hover-Tec transport unit, hovering just above the ice, its cargo sealed behind reinforced plating. Frost steamed from its underside as it moved.

As the patrol disappeared, the group quickly continued on. The castle slowly came into sight. Revealing the damage of Personman’s control.
The familiar spires remained, though now they were encased in steel that glowed dully under the harsh sunlight. Every tower seemed to bristle with some form of ranged artillery.
“What has he done to my castle?” Burninggrass whispered in shock.
His watch lit up once again, “Meet me in the stables. They’re unguarded. -L”
Burninggrass lowered his wrist, the glow of the Tech-Watch fading.
“The stables,” he murmured. “Someone’s waiting for us.”
Pwsome frowned. “Who?”
“A friend,” Burninggrass replied. “Someone I trust.”
They moved again, keeping to the edge of the street, slipping through piles of meticulously arranged crates.
A drone passed overhead, scanning for intruders in a slow methodical arc. Burninggrass froze, pushing the group into the shadows of a once magnificent building — a shop that he had frequented before the war.
The drone beeped twice then moved on, speeding down the street towards the castle.
“I don’t know if that's good,” Pwsome said. “We best get a move on.”
Burninggrass just nodded in agreement. They hadn’t heard beeping from the other drones before.

Pwsome took the lead as the group crossed the road, silently now, making their way towards the stables.
The ground beneath their feet became uniform and clean as they entered the castle's outer grounds, the walls that had once failed to defend from Personman’s attack stood tall, completely repaired, there was no sign of the destruction that had taken place not that long ago.
As the stables came into view through the rising dusk fog, Burninggrass could make out a shadowed figure standing deep inside.
She beckoned as the group slid through a narrow gap in the massive wooden doors.
Burninggrass stopped in his tracks.
It had been nearly a year since he had last seen Larissa.
Last time she had been surrounded by Iceys as she fought to reach the escape ship he had taken.
“Still slow,” Larissa said quietly.
Her voice was hoarse, worn down by months of occupation, but unmistakable.
Burninggrass let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “You’re alive.”
She stepped forward into the dim light. Her armor was scorched and patched with unfamiliar metal, Icey frost still clinging to its seams. A long scar ran down the side of her face, pale against fire-lit skin.
“Barely,” she replied. “You left at the right time. Another minute and none of us would have made it.”
Silence hung between them, heavy with things neither of them said.
“I thought you were dead,” Burninggrass said.
Larissa's jaw tightened, “So did Personman.”


End chapter 1

 This is an original Sci-fi Fantasy novel project by Leah Ashburner.

 There is NO AI used during the writing or editing process.
This is a project that's been vaguely in the worldbuilding works for almost 10 years.

Contact: burninggrassnovel@gmail.com for questions and anything related to the novel.