The world used to be an endless nightmare, covered in flames and darkness. There was no sunlight for the air was thick with smoke and ash and the people had no hope or faith and had to live in fear for their lives with each passing day. The reason why it was like this was because of Iblis or as most called the "Flames of Disaster". Iblis was a god of a sort and no matter how many times you destroyed him, he would always rise again: Like a phoenix from it's ashes. No one thought that he would ever be defeated... Until one day the sun light came and every one looked up across the lava filled lake to see a hedgehog; a silver hedgehog.
Every one cheered and their hopes were returned but, when they looked up once more to see their savior, they saw that he had vanished. Since that day nobody has seen that hedgehog and most say that he had fallen to the flames in exhaustion while others say that he is still alive... and is watching over them.
At that time I was 13 but, it being four years later, now I am 17. My name is Twilight; I am a black hedgehog with blue tipped quills and I have crimson eyes. There is a greenish birth mark on my forehead in the shape of a diamond and for clothing I wear a no sleeved red top that has blue trimming and pants to match it. A blue sash is tied around my waist and on that sash to the left is a yin yang sign. It's a cliche symbol but I am too fond of it to make my own. On my cheek I wear the mark of the dragons which use to state who I was back in the days of terror.
After the first rain fall started, it went on for about 100 days and nights causing the flames to disappear and the lakes of flame to turn to lakes of cool blue water. The Grass and trees soon started to grow back and people started to clear the land, build homes, make gardens, and raise animals for milk, wool, and food.
"Life is as it should be now... and it's all thanks to you..." I said to myself as I looked up at the statue of the silver hedgehog. Closing my eyes I think about the past and how I had to fight Iblis to protect the people... But, now I am no more than a girl to point at and say "Look at how pretty she is today!" I don't even use my power anymore. I shook my head before turning away from the statue to head down the old, dirt road. I take a right turn and find myself walking towards the lake where, with a small smile, I decided to stop for a rest as I sit at it's edge and slip off my shoes so as I may dip my feet in the water. I looked at the place where the hedgehog in the stories had defeated Iblis. Many people have tried to go up there to find clues as to what had happened to him, but all have said that they could go no further then the edge of the forest. No one knows why but for some reason they have to stop there, like some sort of force is keeping them out. I would have gone to see if it was true myself but then I just thought "what's the point if I was just going to have to turn back?".
As I thought I took my CD player out of my hoodie, turned it on, and listened to the first song. I took out one of the phones and started singing to it. The song that came on was known as "One last Breathe" by some guy named "Creed". It's an old song... by two hundred years but I still enjoy it as I sing to the lyrics "Hold me now, I'm six feet from the edge and I'm think'n maybe six feet ain't so far down.." and as the music goes I sway a little and bob my head to the beat. I know I must look stupid but, I don't care. I love my music. When the song was over I turned off the CD player and put it back in my hoodie, got up, put my flip flops on, and started home. I got in right when my mom had made dinner and I went and sat at the table.
"So honey how was your day?" she asked as she was placing a plate in front of me.
"Oh good, I guess." I told her. "Tim asked me out again, I told him no and then I went for a walk around the village, stopped in and saw Mrs. Holiday, and then I took a walk over to the town square." I breathe and then continue "I stopped and rested at the statue before going to the lake and sitting there for awhile... and now I'm here." I give a smile as I finish.
"Well," she said to me with a small laugh "Your day sounded interesting."
"Yeah mom, totally interesting!" I said sarcastically with a roll of my eyes.
She sat down with a plate in front of her and then said "I met some one today."
I looked up at her and gave her a sly grin "What's his name?" I drag out the last word in a teasing tone.
"His name is Rick and he just moved here from the village a few miles south of us." she replied, giggling to herself.
"Is he nice?" I asked.
"Yes, he is very kind and he has a son about your age too."
"Oh great, not another guy that can hit on me..." I sighed and slumped a little in my chair as I take a bite of warm pasta.
"How come you don't give any guy a chance?" she asked, a look of slight disappointment in her eyes. Seeing that, I just know she's thinking about my future as someones wife.
"Because all the guys in this village are pigs that only think with the head between their legs." I said, quite point blankly.
She just stared at me before shaking her head "well maybe someday you'll find Mr. Right, but until then you could at least make a friend out of them." she said, shaking her fork at me.
"Okay mom..." was all I muttered as I finished eating.
After dinner I went to my room and turned on my Memorex CD player and listened to some music. I went over to my bed and laid there and by the time the next song played I had fallen asleep.
That night I woke and just couldn't get back to sleep. So I decided too go for a walk as I slipped on my hoodie and then went outside, not bothering to turn off my music. I started down the road and took a turn right. I just kept going straight until I had to choose a way to go so, I chose to go right and headed down to the lake. When I reached it I sat down on a bench near the fishing docks as I took out the CD player that I still had in my pocket and started to listen to it. I looked at the water and looked at how the stars seemed to dance on it. I looked up at the moon and saw that it was a full moon, big, round, and almost blinding to look at. It was beautiful, I had to admit, and just to imagine what it was like back before Iblis even existed was like trying to imagine what heaven was like. I sat there and just imagined all the things we may never know... BANG! All of a sudden a loud crash was heard and I stood up. I looked around and saw smoke coming from what looked like my house. "What the..." At the moment, I realized that it WAS my house and I took off like a speeding bullet as I ran to see what happened.
When I got there people were all around trying to see what was going on. I pushed my way through the crowd too see what it was and that's when I saw the shock of my life; There was my mom, lying there on the ground, unmoving, and not breathing.
"Mother!" I cried as I opened the gate and ran to her side. I shook her and begged for her to wake up, to open her eyes, to hold me... but, when she didn't open her eyes, I knew that she was gone... and that's when the village doctor came to my side. I was crying by then and clinging to her burnt shirt.
"Come away, child." He told me and he held out his hand for me to take.
I looked at his hand and then I looked back at my mother. Before I took his hand I took the necklace, that I had given to her for her birthday, from around her neck; It was a yin yang sign that was in the shape of a heart. I then put it in my pocket and let the doctor lead me away from the sight.
"What happened?" I asked through soft sobs as we walked to the other side of the yard.
He sat me down on the bench we had by the rose bushes "We're not exactly sure yet but we think that it was an electrical fire that caused the gas heater in one of the rooms to blow up."
My eyes widened and I started to breath harder as I realised what it must have been before screaming with my new found agony "It's all my fault! I left my CD player running when I left and then is started a fire and then got too close to the heater and then blew it up!" I sobbed "It's my fault that my mother is dead!" I kept going on and I started to cry harder than I had been.
The doctor looked at me and said softly "it's no ones fault my dear, how were you supposed to know...?"
But I just ignored him and kept on crying. He finely gave up on calming me down and so he left. I cried for about 20 more minutes until I finely fell asleep crying on the bench.
In the morning when I awoke I found myself in a strange house. I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it said 10:33 AM and so I sat up. I guessed that I was in the living room because it had a couch and a love seat and there was a book shelf over by the door to what looked like the kitchen. There was also a lot of boxes on the floor so I guessed that they had just moved... and it hit me; I was at that one guys house that my mom had told me about. At the thought of my mom I started to cry but stopped when I heard some one enter the room. It was a tall, male cat and he looked to be a little older than what my mother had been. He was carrying a trey filled with food "Are you hungry?" he asked me as he sets the trey down in front of me.
I just stared at him for a long time before I finally, slowly, shook my head.
He sighed and nodded before looking up with a small smile "I'm sorry for what happened to your mother, she was a kind woman."
I nodded my head and told him "you don't need to be sorry." before looking away from him.
"I know..." was all he said before he went back to the kitchen.
When I had gotten my hair brushed I went outside I went straight to my house... or to what was left of it to look around to see what had survived. I looked in the kitchen and found nothing, I looked in my mom's room and found nothing, and then I looked in my room. When I first saw my room you couldn't even tell it had even been a room. It was completely gone, besides a wall near the back of it but all the furniture that had been there had been turned to dust. I decided to look around anyways thinking that maybe, I might get lucky. At first I found nothing as I sifted with my foot around in the soot and ashes but, as I got to looking by my beside I felt my foot touch something solid. I knelt down to blow the ashe away and I found that my Cd case had somehow survived. It was under a metal chair that had fallen over it. I opened it and looked at each cd carefully to see how damaged they might have been and each one was in the same shape as they had been before the fire.
After that I went to the back and headed to the barn where we kept our livestock. When I got in there I saw that my 2 horses were still there and that my mom's cow Bell was there. The goat and the 2 sheep that we had were there too. I looked over at the horse carriage and sighed a little. I remembered that when I was little and my father was still alive we had lived in this creeky old thing. But after the Age of Flames had ended, we fixed it up and used it to travel into town in back when he had to get big things. At the memory and thoughts of my mother I felt I was beginning to tear up again and I walked over to the carriage to down on the step that led up to the drivers bench. I sobbed for quite a good time, thinking about my mother and our life once again. I shook my head, wondering why she had, had to go "What did I do to deserve this...?". I yelled towards the celling, half hoping someone would answer me, but, there was nothing but silence as I listened. I wiped my eyes and stood up once more, shaking my head "I can't stay in this town.. I need to get out of here.." I said quietly to myself, deciding that it was the only way I could ever hope to live with my mother being gone. I opened the barn door even more and then went over to one of the horse's stalls.
"Hey Silverstreak" I said to the horse "did you miss me?"
Silverstreak was black and has a silverish stripe that goes down the middle of his face. The horse looked at me and then let out a loud snort.
"I thought so, come on boy." I said as I opened the door to his stall. I led him over to the carriage and hitched him up to it. After I had him secured I went over to the other horse stall "How about you Twilin?" My mom had named her that because she had resembled me a little. She was white and had a black diamond shaped mark on her forehead and her tail and maine were also black. She just gave a little stomp and a snort to answer my question. I smiled at her and led her over to the carriage to hook her up as well. Afterwords I took their reins and led them, with the carriage, out of the barn. When I got them outside I went back in and got all the animal feed we had before I got all of their equipment. After that I went and got the cow, sheep, and goat so I could hook them up to the back as well. When I had everything I climbed up to the drivers' bench, sat down, and taking the reins in my hands I snapped it. Each horse gave a high pitched nay and loud snort as they started forwards. I snapped it again to get them into a trot. When we got to the road we turned towards the village and headed towards town square.
Once I had gotten there I went straight to the Doctor's house. He opened the door and I told him that I was leaving.
"What!" He gasped in surprise.
"I'm leaving." I said again "I am going to the next village over to see if I can start a new life over there."
"But!"...He started to say but, I cut him off.
"I can't stay here anymore." I prompt "It would be way too painful for me..."
He looked at me with a sigh before rubbing his neck and giving my a slow, slow nod "Okay... okay... just promise me you will come back someday."
I looked at him, thinking, before nodding "I promise." and with that I waved good-bye and got back onto the carriage.
On my way out of the village I bought food and other items with what money I had and soon I was ready. Once I was out of the village it felt strange to me, probably, because I had never been out of it before. I started down the road and not once did I ever think of going back. As we were going I remembered my CD player in my pocket, I took it out, put one of the ear buds in, and turned it's on. I grabbed my CD case, put a different CD in, and zipped the case back up. As the song started to play I started to sing to it "Hello there, the angel from my nightmares, the shadow in the background of the morge... The unsuspecting victim of the darkness in the valley, we can live like jack and sally if we want, where you can always find me, and we'll have halloween on Christmas and in the night we'll wish this never ends, we'll wish this never ends... I miss you, I miss you.." I breathe, smiling just a little to myself "Where are you? And I'm so sorry, I cannot sleep I cannot dream tonight. I need somebody and always, this sick strange darkness comes creeping on so haunting everytime... and as I stare I counted the webs from all the spiders, catching things, and eating their insides. My indecision to call you, and hear your voice of treason, will you come home and stop this pain tonight? Stop this pain tonight...? Don't waste you're time on me, you're already the voice inside my head.. I miss you, I miss..." before I could finish singing I felt the tears come.. this song made me think of my mother.
Soon the song ended without me and as it did we came to a fork in the road. There was a sign that said "Swayworth Village Right" but it didn't say what was left. I thought for a second which way I should take. I did say I wanted to go to the next village to start a new life but, what about going a different way? I didn't know what could be waiting for my on the other path, danger? Even more grief? But, as I kept thinking about it, I felt myself grow excited at the mysterious thought. I wanted to start a new life? Then I'll have a new life, one without a village. "Besides," I thought to myself "A village would just be a painful reminder of my life without my mother... at least going this way I won't have to deal with people and their questions..". I tugged on the reins to turn the horses and before I knew it I was heading towards god knows where.