Scarlet in Glezentine

Chapter 1 - Fire

Keep running! I'll lose them in the trees. I pick up my pace, heading straight for the denser part of the forest. I'm breathing heavily, and the stitch in my side isn't helping. Along with the fact that I've been running for a while now. Not 'On the Run', like I ran away from home. I mean like non-stop running. It feels like a marathon. If it were, I'd be dead last. Actually, no. They are still behind me.

I zig-zag through the trees, hoping I lose them. Then I see an even denser patch of trees. Finally! A stroke of good luck!

I can hide better in there! Forcing myself to go a little faster, I head for the trees. The pain in my side increases. It's getting harder to breathe. At this rate, I'll topple over from exhaustion in, what? Two minutes? Probably less. I slow my pace slightly once I reach the trees.

Watching my footing, I try to keep the same pace. It's way harder when some trees are less than an arm's length across. The deeper into it I go, the slower I move. I'm walking and exhausted when I feel a small, invisible force pushing me back. It does nothing, but there's a quiet voice in my head telling me to turn back. As I go through another part of the trees, there isn't any push, just that same voice, this time louder. The sound keeps getting louder as I walk further.

Great. Even my own conscience is against me.

I take another step. That's it. One at a time. I take two more and stop. My feet are rooted to the ground. I can't move forward. Only go back. Grunting with effort, I slide one foot in front of me, then I bring the other one to meet it.

By now, the voice is both persuasive and loud. Very loud. Loud enough that I didn't think it could get any louder. So it didn't. It got more persuasive. Instead of the voice being in my head, I felt it start going down to my heart. By this time, I knew it wasn't my conscience. It makes me do things without me knowing. This, I knew was happening.

This time though, it's like my body was being forced. Half of me wanted to comply with the voice. Be safe. Go back. Go home. What home? I live in an orphanage and I'm too old to get adopted. No one adopts older children.

The other half is the curious half. What's over there? What's so important that there's a. . . magic shield? What's the voice in my head?

I try to force myself to take another step. All I feel is pain burning my whole body like it's on fire. I scream so loud a flock of birds scatters. Let me try to explain. Imagine each of your muscles being torn in half, sewn lazily back up, and slowly being torn apart again.

Screaming in agony, I place my foot down in front of me. My breathing hurts so much, I think I'm going to die. Then again, I should already be dead. I lift my foot slightly and take a tiny step forward. Either I'm getting used to the pain, or it got a little less intense. I took another small step. It wasn't my imagination, that was less pain.

I'm going for it! I take the biggest step I can. The pain in my head decreased a lot. I take another step. And another. And another. The pain in my head is almost gone.

Except for the fact that I'm on fire. I can't see anything but the flames in my eyes. The weird part is that it doesn't hurt.

Then it sinks in. I'm on fire.

I scream in fright and run forward. Then I trip on a root jutting out from the ground. I land hard on my hands, feeling small rocks stabbing into my palms. I look up and see the fire around me is gone and nothing else caught on fire. Not even a single corner on a single leaf is charred. I look to see how bad my hands are. I brush off dirt and examine them. Other than the small dots, my hands are fine. Not burnt. Fine.

Trying to calm myself I take deep breaths and try to slow my racing heart down a little. Then, I get up and look around. I twirl in a circle a few times to try to see where I am, but instead, I see the air glimmer. It was just for a millisecond, but I still saw the gleam of light. Facing it, I carefully march forward. I reached the spot and slowly took a small step forward.

My body goes straight through.

Sorry this chapter was a little short. I just had to get it started. Please tell me what you think! I can take criticism. Thanks! :)