Fire

Preface

"...As the days end so shall I, in a matter of sense. Once my day is up, that is the end. No more..."

~Anonymous

1764

While picking corn for his beloved mother, a boy, no older than thirteen, heard a horrendous screeching noise. It sounded aweful. He looked up as a shadowed figure fell from the heavens above. He thought that it would never survive the fall. The figure fell in the woods. He waited, and waited for the sound of tree branches crushing and bones breaking, but no such sound ever escaped the shadowed trees. They harbored secrets, he thought. He was intrigued by no sound whatsoever escaping the woods. He wanted to go investigate, yet he heard his mother calling his name in the deep recesses of his mind. She truely was calling for him, but he gave no answer. Instead, he dropped the corn ears he was holding and started walking towards the silent woods. Almost, as if hypnotized by their eerie hush. He moved swiftly through the chaos of trees he had been through all his life. In the dark, rational part of his mind he remembered his mother telling him to never go near the woods when they were like this. Yet that part of his mind was swept away. It was as if his mind was a raging sea of nothingness and the rational part had been pulled into the undertoe. The trees that surrounded him were pulsing with a sinister darkness that, amazingly, did not impair his vision through the mangled and broken limbs of climbers past. Through fallen limbs and over toppled bodies of trees he climbed, deeper and deeper into the woods. When he walked into the clearing in the middle of the woods, he saw a body. It was lying face up, palms up, outstretched. It looked comfortable in that pose, he thought. It was a boy, he noticed. A boy, with midnight black hair. The boy had no shirt. Only loose, brown trousers kept low on his waist and held together with a rope. The boy must've been no older than eighteen. Though, he could not tell for the strange boy lying on the ground had not yet opened his eyes and his face was relaxed. Almost as if he was sleeping. Suddenly, the strange boy's body lept to life. He stood across the clearing crouched, ready for attack. Though he looked weary, he seemed strangely powerful. His eyes, were the deepest of blue. That was the first color besides brown and black the boy seemed to have in features or in clothing. Clearly the strange boy had to have been trained somewhere in the art of fighting, and was clearly the first young boy's superior. The older of the two decided to speak first.

"What do you want? I did not request for anyone to come and help me." he growled, almost as a warning.

"I am not here to hurt you." The younger said, "I just wish to help. What can I do?" He asked. To this, the older smirked evilly. A sinister grin held with malicious intent behind it. He straightened up quickly and started circling around the younger. Yet, the younger one made no move to flee or run.

"Lend me your body and mind for two weeks. Every year of your life. And your name. I need to know your name." The older purred softly, with still some growling behind it.

"M-my b-b-body?" the younger stammered. "H-how c-can that h-happen?"

"Simple, give me your name young one and I will tell you how."

"Francis. Francis de LaGrange." the younger said with much pride. The older one only smirked wider and made a noise in the back of his throat that almost sounded like a laugh. Almost.

"You are no LaGrange. That man has not yet cheated on his wife with your hussy of a mother." Upon hearing that the younger, without thinking, reached out to slap the older. But the older caught him by the wrist.

"Do not speak about my family in such a tone." the younger growled through gritted teeth.

"Besides," the older went on, "You look nothing like the man. He is tall, lean, and a small amount of muscle to his build. While you are short, more muscle than fat, yet still husky. He has blonde hair, blue eyes, and is pale as ice. You stick out in the crowd with your dark hair, dusty skin, and green eyes." the older laughed. The younger boy's hand balled into a fist yet he still could not move it for the older had it still.