𝗦𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗖𝗲𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘆 | 𝗳! 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘅 𝗸𝗻𝘆

𝐈𝐜𝐲 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞 | 𝟎

From a black canvas, a sea of flames erupted.

Everything was red - everywhere you looked, flames surrounded your vision. The fire, the burning walls, and even the eyes - they were crimson, black pupils slit, thick veins on the verge of bursting.

It's like they were imprinted in your mind.

How did that-

They followed you everywhere. You reached a hand out to the shoji screen in front of you, intending to open it, but as soon as you touched it, the screen crumbled to the ground, as the piece you held onto sank through your burning palm.
You wanted to scream, but your throat was so dry that it hurt to even talk.

-Come to this?

You shook it off as fast as you could. Taking a small breath, you gazed over your shoulder-

A feral, greasy and bloody creature followed you on all fours.

-And ran towards the exit.

You momentarily forgot about the fire, as there was a much scarier threat behind you, but the burn on your palm made you remember that it's as deadly as that was. You didn't even want to think of what could happen if any of those caught up with you. As you followed the trail of fresh air, it became even harder to ignore the feeling of your skin melting. Your eyes were red and dry, hot liquid streaming down your face. From sheer emotion or the flames, it was unclear.

Every time you looked back, you felt like the thing could freeze your body in place with a single step, and you had a difficult time convincing yourself otherwise, even if it was clearly impossible.

. . .You don't know what's impossible anymore. If that is real, which it definitely is, then you don't know what is impossible in this world. You didn't have the will to deny it's existence after it brutally killed and ate all of the other people living in the same orphanage as you.

Your pupils dilated when you realized you were running out of energy. It was a struggle to think and act rationally while you were rushing. But the purpose of this chase was clear - escape. So, when you saw the dark silhouette of a thin door in front of your eyes, you ran at it with all of the might you had left, despite being exhausted and scared to the bone.

Taking the chance, you slammed your leg onto the front door. It budged, but it was not nearly enough to open. Looking back, fear spiked in your stomach, prompting you to grab the nearest piece of furniture you could see and ram it into the door until it burst open.

Breaking off it's hinges, it fell onto the ground.

As you looked ahead, the dark night was painfully contrast against the raging fire you witnessed earlier, and it numbed your senses for a brief moment.

Dropping the blunt object and running out, you breathed in the cold air and roughly coughed out the ash that got into your lungs, blinking rapidly. Looking back at your home for the last time, you didn't notice how you started sprinting away from it, fatigue blurring every thought.

Tripping over branches, stopping to catch your breath, only to hear rapid footsteps approaching. Shoving forward stray branches that were in your way, the sharp ends grazed your skin, though you could barely register the sensation.

The air numbed your limbs and froze your lungs to the core. Each breath was as refreshing as it was painful. You were terrified, cold sweat dripping down your skin as harsh wind picked up, making your hair and clothes fly.

As the dark trees rustled their leaves, you momentarily sunk into a memory, your figure stilling even though your consciousness screamed at you to move.

The familiar action reminded you of the days you would go out, somewhere at noontime, when the sun shined most brightly, and take a slow, steady stroll down this same path. It felt comforting, walking under the cooling shade of the trees, admiring the way the leaves glinted in the sun, moving on and about in the steady flow of wind, as if waving hello.

But this. . . Was wrong. The vivid memory of the warm shade of green burned down, it's ashes dropping to the ground as you stepped on them, quick to forget all about it.

It was too sudden, too rushed - unnatural. This time, the leaves were almost alerting you of a dangerous presence, frantically moving.

The weight in your gut had silently threatened to bring you down, but it was already too late.

You didn't even have to think to know exactly what you were feeling.

You knew it was obvious by the creature's horrifying smile, rows of sharp teeth exposed to it's prey. You were about to die, but you couldn't take your eyes away from it, frozen in fear no matter what was about to happen.

Memories flashed before you.

The orphanage. . . Your home. It was hardly the best, but in the end, it was home.

Your views rarely matched of those living under the same roof as you, leaving you to be the distant one of the group.

You grew up to think that you would do many great things once you moved out, accomplish your dreams, do everything you couldn't. . . That's exactly what you were doing before that thing came and destroyed everything.

Now, you just want everything to go back to how it was. Just another moment of peace.

Freedom. . . Not much was left of that word. It seemed dull. The sight of bodies of even those that mistreated you made you sick.

You tightly closed your eyes.

. . .And all you felt was wind.

Slowly opening your eyes, you saw no one in front of you. You slowly turned around, and saw a blade glisten in the moonlight, a familiar corpse laying in front of a blurry figure. Finally allowing yourself to think, you mustered up the only thought you had energy for.

What?

You blinked as fast as you could. The blade was gone, replaced by the faint smell of blood. In the bitter cold, someone was slowly and cautiously approaching you, and just as you opened your mouth, you started to feel light.

You almost fell, but they caught you, kneeling down in the process. Your vision was a blur of dark colors, but one stood out the most - vibrant, icy blue.