An Ember's Tale

Chapter Nine

 Ember was standing by a grave.

Dressed in black and sorrow, quite like the foggy, grey afternoon. She looked down to see she was wearing a long, black dress but had several layers. The sleeves were long and extensive, while the end was full of bright red, rose patterns. The dress itself seemed all too tragic as her fingers lightly gripped the lace edges of her sleeves.

Ember didn't even know where she was or whose grave she was at. The name and the dates were too blurry and foggy for her to make out. It seemed a little odd of a grave- with its soft edges and vines wrapped around it. It looked old, but something inside of her told her that it was very new.

Ember looked down to see she held a bright red rose that looked like the ones on her dress. She examined it closely, and even in the dim light, she could make out what looked like bright, crimson blood on the thorns of the rose and dripping down on the stem and onto the faded grass. Her eyes looked down to see her fingers were bleeding, but she felt nothing.

She figured she was in a dream due to the vagueness of the day and the peculiar features. She made out that she was in a large graveyard with a thick mist covering the bare ground beneath her. She saw some trees and even other people around her, but she couldn't see their features. All she could see was they were dressed in black, like her, and looked upset. Some were even sobbing violently as Ember turned back to the grave.

She set the rose tentatively next to the grave and noticed that the ground looked like the body beneath the grave had just been buried.

A tear fell from Ember's cheek, but she wasn't quite sure why she was crying. She didn't even know who had died.

She crouched down next to the grave and gently touched the headstone. "I'm so sorry..." she sobbed lightly as more tears fell from her cheeks and down onto the monument. "I'm so sorry that I didn't do more to protect you. I will always love you..."

Ember didn't even know why she was saying these words, but she felt it.

She felt a strong emotion inside. The guilt, the pain, and regret. Ember thought it all as more tears streamed down her cheek and onto the fresh grave. Even though she didn't know who she was grieving for, she let herself feel all the emotions inside of her.

The happiness, the sorrow, the joy, the pain, and the love. The love seemed to consume her so much that her heart ached violently. It was all there in complicated and unfathomable emotions that she could barely describe.

But the most prominent thing Ember felt was an unfathomable loss. A loss that would consume her for many years to come. She hoped that she didn't see the future. If she was seeing the future, then Ember didn't want it. She didn't want to feel this pain or loss that consumed her. She didn't need any more death in her life, but Ember felt as if this future was more inevitable than she cared to admit.

"Ember?" a voice asked above her, and a hand touched her shoulder.

Ember thought she recognized the voice, but when she turned around- no one was there. Nothing was there anymore. She was no longer standing in a dull graveyard, but in fact, she was standing in what seemed like an endless white void. She couldn't even tell where the floor and the walls began.

"I told you..." Ember spun around to find Fiammetta.

Her eyes looked redder than they had the previous night before. Her skin seemed paler, and her hair was duller. She wore the same dress as before, but it seemed to be taking a significant toll on her. Her shoulders slumped forward as if the weight was too hard for her to hold any longer.

"I told you, Ember," she shook her head as her gaze fell to the floor. "You can't continue on this journey. You can't save your brother."

"No," Ember told Fiammetta. "No, I have to save him. He is my brother... he's all I have left."

"Ember," Fiammetta pleaded. "Turn back, please. Don't continue on this journey... your family is already lost."

"I can't," Ember said as she stepped toward Fiammetta while she clutched her aching chest. "I have to do this."

She shook her head sorrowfully. "Then this will be your fate."

She waved her hands, and Ember was once more standing in the graveyard, but she could now make out one of the graves. She could only make out one singular name, but it was enough for Ember's eyes to widen, and a mighty cry released from her lips: Timothy.