The lands

Chapter 2

Fires burn brightly here.
They burn longer.
They burn hotter.
And they burn everything.
That's what I'm staring at right now.
A fire. Not to keep warm, or because I find it interesting. But because if there wasn't fire, there would just be ash. Cold grey ash.
I hate the Magna lands.
I was born here, like everyone else. But I want to leave. I want to leave like my parents did, and my brother too. Especially now, with the Ignis so active. At any minute they could come and destroy everything. Not that that would matter to me, I have nothing left.
Well, I had her. My best friend, my soul sister. She lost the very same things I did. But she's fine, as happy as could be. She's sleeping now, wrapped in scathed blankets, even though it's a hundred degrees.
The stars burned in the sky. I tried to blink them away. Just more fires that burn just for the sake of burning. Except down here, in the Magna lands, the fires could be put out. But no one will, because we know that everyone is too afraid of what will happen without them.
I heard voices coming from down the street long before I could put faces to them. Then clanking, like horses hooves on steel. I focused on it, willing my mind not to wander like it does so often. The noise got closer. And closer. And stopped. Then continued. I froze. They're coming.
"Astra."
"Hmmm." She stirred. I got up swiftly and walked over to her.
"Astra we need go now. They're coming."
"Ugh. Cassy, they aren't going to come here. Even if the authorities did come back here, they wouldn't cause us harm."
"You don't know that Astra. What if they're looking to take us and put us in fight. Then what we do?"
"Cassy. It's fine. Try to sleep."
I heard them turn onto our the street before I saw them. The authorities were people trying to round us up. They weren't looking for the Burnt, but I knew that eventually they would.
"Astra they're on this street they're coming here!" I hiss.
She finally threw off her blanket and peered down the road.
"There!" I heard a man yell. The next few moments were a blur. Astra threw some food into the blanket, wrapped it up and we took off.
I ran harder that night than I did any other time in my life.
Harder than when I was playing kickball and our team was one point and ten seconds away from winning.
Harder than when I ran after my dog, Gumpy, when he chased after a ground squirrel.
Harder even than when I ran away from my burning house, dragging my little brother, only because I didn't want him to turn to ash.
Not Terry. I couldn't let that happen to Terry. Or the little stuffed pig he carried around.
And now I've lost it. I've gone completely insane without them. I don't know what exactly happened to Astra, but I know she was caught that night. Because I could sense that there was a little more death, in the city of ash.
The big ball of fire in the sky enters the frame that we can see, abolishing the thousands of small fires that were there minutes ago.
I stand up and pack my things into a grey sheet I sleep on, and leave the small back alley, letting the fire live for as long as it wills.