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I have been running for days. I miss my mother, and I wish I knew she was okay. But I don't know anything. All I have is hope, and even that seems as empty as the winter forest I am surrounded by. The weather has not been kind to me today, as it hasn't been since the Fire. The biting cold wind swirls long-dead leaves from the snowy ground, whipping them into a frenzy and soaring above the bare branches of the winter trees, falling back to the ground as frost-coated works of art, far underappreciated as they melt onto my thin shawl and add to it's soaked condition. Shivering, I know I must press on. Whoever they were, back at the house, they are chasing me. It's like when I used to see the rich men go hunting, galloping past our lonely village through the forest, and roaring with laughter. But this time, they are the men with the horses and dogs and I am the fox. I am being hunted.
The trees ahead of me flicker from grey to green, but I push through their thick branches, soaking my shawl as the bare bows drag their fingers through my hair and catch my skirt, ripping and pulling as I press on. I want to stop. To stop running, to rest, to be back at home with my mother. My father. Before the Fire. My memories swirl through my tired mind and take me back further and further, spinning me around in a dizzying circle until I feel my knees land on freezing snow, and the world tilts sideways and tips me off the cliff of consciousness, into the chasm of backness waiting below.
Cold tendrils of ice wrap around me, lifting me gently, handing me along before disapperaing into mist. Around the corner of my vision, red fire awaits, but the ice slips my limp body along carefully, as if the fire will not burn. The harsh red of the flames does not flicker to grey, rather remains constant, something that I am so unused to that I just stare blearily at it as I am carried swiftly along. As we reach the wall of flames, I close my eyes, afraid that I will be burnt, but I feel only a slight pleasant warmth, and when I carefully reopen my eyes, the wall is behind me, and yet I am still surrounded by fire. A sudden thought makes me start - am I burning? But I soon realise that the fire is not centred on me.
It is everywhere. At first I am scared, but nobody in this shadowy world seems able to see me. If they are even people.
They are shadows, their forms drifting over the ground rather than walking. I see fingers of flames streaking out like cloaks behind them, and they seem to be the ones burning. Their faces are of flame and rage, and I am only comforted by the prescence of the ice. Their figures are distinctly human, and yet they seem superior, as if they have lived a thousand lifetimes of men. They probably have. And their city. That too is alive with flames, dancing, and beautiful yet terrible all at once. I am transfixed. Small flames replace flowers on high charcoal balconies, where women of flame stand with long dresses, alive as embers in a fireplace, occasionaly sparking into glorious light, or sending little flames running along the floor of hot coals.
I am carried past small houses, with red light shining through windows ablaze with light. My icy carriage takes me past huge halls ablaze with dazzling flame, and cold, dark areas of emptiness. I can see a city of mortals in the pattern if the land, and yet this city has nothing in common with one. As I reach the last house, I think I see a man, or whatever they can be called, standing right in front of me, but then I blink and he's gone. This leaves my silent visit on an eerie not, not helped by the silence following. I am now in pitch blackness, scared now and confused, when I hear a voice, distant and echoing, calling. I can't make out the words, but the tone is comforting, and I allow my eyes to finally slip closed.
When I awake, I am still in the snow, but I am not alone.
Thank you for reading this story! I know it only has two chapters but more are on the way! Thank you for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any comments and votes are very much appreciated! Every time I get a notification saying that I have a new follower or a vote on my story, it makes my whole day! Please keep my days bright! I know I keep saying this, but thank you all!!!!!
I still have no idea what will appen next chapter! :D
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Shades of Grey and Red
RomanceJuline is 15. She lives in one of thousands of universes scattered across the Nothing. Her situation is getting desperate. Since the Fire, when her father died and she lost part of the vision in one eye, money has been hard to come by. Her mother...
