Red Glass Bastion

Night fell cold across the pavement. I marched away from the patio heaters into a narrow passage paved with dark granite setts. A towering wall of smooth, glazed ceramic bricks blocked my advance. Above me hummed a bent glass tube burning with sharp red fire. A discarded wooden stir-stick lay across my vector; my boots snapped it in two without breaking stride. I slammed my torso straight into the glossy brick face. Solid rock. I jammed both rigid hands into a recessed masonry groove, levered my legs up, and locked my boots onto an iron mounting bracket beneath the humming tube. Deep crimson radiance poured over my head. My legs are locked. The red light hums.