Prophecy

I Prophecy

I was born of the flame of the volcano. The first breath I took was smoky and warm. The atmosphere seared against my skin. The crystals beneath me glowed red and passionate. It hung thickly about me like a blanket. All encompassing, all fire and flame.

At the very first I lay cradled in my maker's mild embrace. Ebony orbs peered into darkness, unbroken. Of time, there was no such thing. Only of unending chasms and rivers of flowing lava. The heart of the very world. The gate to the underworld. The gate of all worlds. Ironically quiet. Ironically isolated. My ears twitched. All that could be heard was the ghostly echo through the great caverns, the bursting of bubbles from the surface of the lava and the quiet, ever constant song of searing heat trapped under hundreds of miles of solid rock.

For years I roamed the quiet, dark chambers. Wandered the empty cavities and strayed through the caliginous halls. The silence was natural, normal. My slim body was almost snow white against the somber walls. My hair was a deep a red as the magma, reaching my thighs. Honestly, I was tiny, I felt tiny. In the world of men however, you call it loneliness, I knew it not then.

It streamed into my world like water. The light. It fell through the ceiling penetrating my world. I was far below when I saw it, when a I was blinded by it. The intense white painful to my eyes used to the hundreds of years of darkness. A draft swept through with it, cold, raw. It hit me hard. My body was numb. Shivers ran down my spine. Feet carried me up. Towards it. The nearer I was carried the more frigid and tempestuous it became till I froze. My small hand reached out to capture it. My eyes widened. My pale fingers were illuminated. Cold. I began to climb into it. Up and up. My hands and toes gripping the rock practically ascending straight up. Living creatures grew around me. The higher I climbed the denser it became. Till all around me was green and alive. I reached the top. My head peering over. Grasslands. Endless fields of swaying vegetation. Rows upon rows of of green-gold stalks rolling in their military ranks. The ceiling was perfectly grey and waxen. It met the fields and rolled over the land like a blanket. But it was a strange ceiling. I went straight through it without my feet leaving the ground. It melted around my body. It left me wet and soggy. My body began quavering. I wanted back. I turned to flee but the world was shaking. I tumbled about. My legs collapsing beneath me. What is this? I scowled. Was this world angry that I dare enter their domain? When I could finally stand the hole was gone. I searched the ground everywhere, there was nothing but the endless seas of grass. I was frozen and too bewildered to do anything. The mist encompassed me and I was lost. Suddenly from out of the white I was thrown aside. My body fell weightless. Four legged beasts came galloping out of the gloom. With fiery eyes and outstretched limbs they charged on. Straight towards me. The sides of the animals whipped past me. Riders bumped into me as their mounts raced, tossing me about. Whipping my hair into a frenzy. The animals' long tails stung my bare skin. Their hooves pounding the earth mercilessly. With a shout they abruptly turned back and formed a large circle about me.

One I distinguished from the rest. He sat tall in his saddle. His keen eyes watching. He brought his hands up to remove the silver plating from his face letting his blonde hair fall to his shoulders in a mess. I could feel his emotions merge with mine and the mental blow forced me to my knees and left me gasping. He felt so much behind that stone mask and erect posture.

When I looked up his eyes were studying me. My nakedness. My hair. They were hard and set as stone. I watched his reaction.

"What witch are you?" he asked, his voice husky and cold.

His eyes softened when he looked into my own. Large, bewildered, and painfully innocent.

Then,

"Lorato for God's sake get the child something to wear," he exclaimed turning to the man behind him who imediately jumped from his mount and slowly, cautiously moved towards me. I cowered. But gentle, calloused hands simply dropped a giant coat over my small shoulders concealing my exposed torso. He backed away again. My body no longer shook as the fur lining warmed my bare skin.