Comet

The cold wind fighting and bashing my warm body

The night was young. Alleha and Dylan were playing in the park together. The nice breeze hugged them. Samantha was sitting on a bench, reading a book. Dylan had two eyes instead of one. 

Alleha tagged Dylan with his hand, "Gotcha!"

"I literally just tagged you! That's not fair!" Dylan frowned.

"Run faster, then!" Alleha laughed, running up the metal slide. 

"Sam!" Dylan shouted.

"Yes, Dylan?" Samantha looked up.

"Do you think it's fair to be tagged right after tagging someone?" 

Samantha pondered the question, "No, I think it would be more fair if there is a countdown before the tagger is allowed to chase the runner."

"You hear that, Alleha? I'll tag you and I'll have 5 seconds to run!"

Alleha yawned, "You gonna just stand there, or what?" 

"Nah, imma catch you with ease!" Dylan climbed the metal slide as Alleha jumped down another one. They both had cute smiles, enjoying the competitiveness. Samantha smiled, watching the two little boys run circles around the park. They giggled and laughed together. 

Samantha faded away as if she was never there. Then, Alleha. His laughs and the sound of his footsteps disappeared. Then, Dylan disappeared. You couldn't hear anybody playing tag anymore. It was so quiet, you could hear your own heartbeat. 

"There's so much fire! It's spreading!" Dylan said, pointing at the smoke in the dark sky. Oliver jumped on his leg and crawled up to his shoulder. Roger jumped out of the waterfall cave, splashing water on the two. "We need to stop that fire!" Roger exclaimed, picking up Dylan and Oliver and running towards the fire. 

It was a disgusting sight to see. The beautiful greedy flames that Darius admired did not want to stop their journey. They wanted to dance as much as possible in the night. Trees fell as the fires raged on, burning everything it touched. The animals, big and small, had a hard time breathing in the thick smoke. Animals struggled to escape the fire that didn't worry about engulfing their children who were too young to run fast enough. Some were abandoned, having their cries in solitary be deafened by the fire's harsh screeches. Beautiful flowers had nowhere to go. The bears that once ruled the forests with their sharp claws and teeth were now at the mercy of the fires, fearing that they would become the fire's next meal. 

To Roger, what he saw flying in the sky was alien, embracing the flames instead of dying in them. He needed to find out what it was. Maybe it was the reason this was happening. 

Later, they found the culprit, near a small body of water.

"Hey!" Roger shouted, holding Dylan and Oliver in his arms. Dylan coughed after inhaling the smoke, "Roger, who is that?"

Darius looked insane, kneeling beside an unknown charred corpse. He straightened his back, fixing his face to a more assertive demeanor. 

"Did you cause all of this? I saw a fiery alien flying in the sky. Was that yours?" Roger asked.

"What?" Dylan said, coughing even more.

Darius smiled, "It's all me. I did this! I did all of this! I'm the one who made this forest an infinite times more beautiful! The flames jump around in joy, isn't that wonderful? It doesn't discriminate, it doesn't care. It's own interest is all that matters!"

Roger gently placed Dylan and Oliver on the grass that wasn't burned yet. Oliver jumped into Dylan's hands, shaking. "Don't attack him. I'll deal with him. Figure out how to deal with the fires," Roger said, sprinting at Darius.