CORRUPTED FILE [Lumina Chronicles Past Drafts]

Level Nine

[KINDLE'S PoV]

In my mind's eye, the sunset became burning fields, the clouds became the suffocating black smoke of charred bodies. One blink, it was my homeland, my people screaming for salvation as I ran the other way. Another blink, it was the battlefield, fallen comrades and enemies indistinguishable as the burning and screaming and dying continued.

I closed my eyes tight, breathed deep, then opened them again. The sunset was just a sunset. The clouds were just clouds. The past was in the past, and here I was, sitting perfectly still at the command of a human.

My jaw ached, my legs were slowly going numb. I'd been stuck like this for the past hour and a half, and for the past hour and a half Blondie's been repeating, "almost done, sorry, just a few more lines, sorry." A low growl rumbled in my chest and I shifted ever so slightly in place.

Blondie looked up from her canvas. Deep red flared across her cheeks for the millionth time, darkening otherwise invisible freckles. "Sorry, I really promise I'm almost done."

"This is a sketch, is it not?" I asked through barely opened lips, attempting to keep my expression unchanged. "Do sketches usually take this long?"

"I have a difficult time drawing people I'm not as familiar with... I really want to get it exactly right." She chewed on her lip as her pencil flicked across the canvas. She continued, speaking more to herself than to me, "I'll mix the colors tomorrow. The eyes will take the longest, of course, there's like seven different shades of red in there, and then I'll have to figure out a way to fake the gold. Maybe Faye has gold leaf I could borrow? Would definitely give the proper effect..."

I bit back a chuckle at the intensity in her odd green eyes as she muttered and continued her sketch. Eyes had been a frequent talking point. She found it odd that green wasn't a human color in this realm, while I was unsurprised she had never seen Firestone before. I myself hadn't seen my eyes in another since the Fall, over a decade ago now.

At that moment, Carlyle materialized directly behind Blondie. "...Don't worry Kindle, it looks just like you. Giant nose and everything..!"

She jumped, then spun around on her stool to glare at him. "Okay, new rule. Don't do ghost things when I'm working on something. You almost set me back a good fifteen minutes!"

"Gods please don't make me sit here longer than I need to, Carlyle."

He pouted at Blondie and I. "...But it's fun having someone new to spook, Kindle's used to me now..."

"Realistic art is difficult enough without you scaring the bejeezus out of me."

"...Bejeezus..." Carlyle echoed with a snicker. He gave a little wave, then faded out of sight.

Blondie turned back around. Glanced at the canvas, then up at me. "Your nose is not giant, by the way."

"Thanks for the reassurance, for a moment I was terrified," I deadpanned.

Within only a few weeks Blondie had mastered the perfectly cold, unamused stare I usually only received from Nar. If there wasn't the whole "humans are the epitome of evil" thing between them, I honestly believed they would get along well.

"Okay, you can move now."

"Praises to the gods," I muttered, immediately standing and stretching. I walked over to where Blondie sat. "Let me see how bad it looks."

She immediately leaned away from me and pressed the canvas to her chest. "Absolutely not."

"Oh come on, you had me sitting there for over an hour and you're not even letting me look?" I tried my best to mimic one of Faye's pouts and regretted it immediately. It was uncomfortable and probably looked ridiculous. "That's harsh, Blondie."