Looking up at the serene cloud barrier, it's hard to imagine anything bad in this world. But looking left or right will prove how wrong you were.
The Flames had nearly destroyed the city I had been born into. Only a few spots of land were untouched by the fire…but nothing could grow there because of the heat. Our food was imported from other parts of the world; where they still had enough land to farm. They were where water was. I had never seen the ocean or even a lake. The heat had evaporated them all where I lived.
Another thing I hardly ever got to see was rain. I think in my entire life so far, it had only rained twice. It was only enough to steam up the land for days on end, creating a smog-like substance that made us cough for what seemed like forever.
I really want to see the ocean. Just a glance. I can't believe that so much water can be in one place like they say it is in books, and besides, I don't believe the pictures. I'm one of those see-it-to-believe-it types.
I guess another thing I could add to the list of 'hardly ever/never seen before' would be humans. In the past, they had been co-living with us…but once the Flames began destroying the world, they vanished. I've heard that they've all been killed, but I don't believe a whole race can be wiped out within a few weeks.
My name is Silver, Silver the Hedgehog. I'm seriously underweight, I have bright golden eyes, and I'm the color of the clouds before they turned dark. I have a nice pair of boots, I like bananas and I've never seen the ocean. Many of you might think I'm weird, but that's just how I am, although my kid-ish personality can be explained:
During the day, everything's as fine as it can be. But at night…that's when the nightmares come. The images of the Flames tearing my house apart and killing my family. The Flames haunt me both in the day and at night. I can never escape. I try to make jokes and comments not just for others, but for myself. I can almost stop thinking of the fires because of them.
But then something happened that changed everything.
That night I dreamed of the Flames again. They tore open the ground and rose out of the dirt, burning everything in their path. I saw the smoke through the window, but there was nothing I could do. I screamed for my family to get out of the house, but they couldn't hear me. That was when the ground shook and the house split in-
I was suddenly aware of a trembling in the ground. I jumped out of my bed and ran to the window to see it happening. I darted from my room to my sister's.
"Get up! Get up, Cobalt!"
"Wha…? Silver, what…?" She sat up quickly, startled.
"The Flames are heading this way!" I shouted, darting from the room and pounding on my parent's door.
Cobalt was by my side in an instant. Her golden eyes were wide, scared and determined, probably matching mine. My dad stumbled out of the room, closely followed by my mom.
"The Flames!" I shouted, pointing out the hallway window.
My mom grabbed Cobalt and literally dragged her to the door. My dad more or less pulled me off my feet as he ran. But we didn't make it to the door. Another fierce earthquake shook the land, making my dad lose his balance and stumble into a table. A huge crack grew in the wall closest us and china fell in the kitchen. I tried to pull my dad to his feet but the shaking in the ground was too intense. I fell onto shattered glass, cutting open my arm.
I could hear my mom shouting from outside. I tried to crawl to her, but the shaking grew in intensity and my arm began to bleed heavily. I didn't know what happened to my dad.
Then the Flames came. First in the living room, then the kitchen…and then the dining room, where I was. The heat burned my eyes and the smoke began to choke me. I couldn't see where I was, or what was happening. I thought I heard laughter…evil laughter…
I heard Cobalt scream my name and then her hands wrap around my arm, trying to pull me to my feet. My leg brushed against a piece of burning wood and pain seared in my nerves. Cobalt let go of my arm, shouting something. There was an enormous crack and the roof began to cave in. A piece of burning plaster caught the side of my head and I caught the scent of burning fur. My strength was nearly gone…where was Cobalt? My dad? My mom? I tried to open my eyes only to see an inferno of fire rush at me.
I couldn't be sure, but I probably screamed. I couldn't hear myself over the crackling and burning of the house. I saw a flash of red, and then nothing at all. My hearing seemed to mute itself. The pain everywhere was dulling. I was dying.
And then someone grabbed my arm and lifted me off the burning floor, dragging me out of the house. Cobalt wasn't strong enough to carry me, and my dad couldn't have possibly made it out. But this wasn't my mom either. I just barely made out the words my rescuer said:
"You're going to be fine, all right? Stay with me…I'm going to get you somewhere safe. My name is Blaze…"
XxXxXxXx
It had been at least twelve years, but no one really paid any attention to time anymore. It was all about surviving, keeping your family together, looking for something edible. I never really had a probablem with that. Since that day so long ago I had never left Blaze's side. She was like an older sister…like Cobalt…watching out for me.
My eyes hadn't healed correctly. The burning had wrecked havoc with the pigmentation in my fur and skin and left black bands around my eyes. I could barely see. Everything near and far was a blur without any variation. I could only make out certain colors. Scars covered my entire body from experiences with the Flames since that day.
I dragged my hand over a wall, trying to find the doorway. I still wasn't used to the near-blind feeling, and sometimes still dreamed in full sight. When I woke up, it was always a terrible shock. I would be back to near-blindness with the Flames still outside.
Blaze had slowly nursed me back to health and then taught me how to get around by myself without my eyes. I knew the area pretty well around her small house, but anything beyond that I couldn't do anything. I had grown a small apple tree in the backyard, using it if we couldn't find food for the day. More than once we had picked it clean.
"Blaze, where are you?" I asked, finally gripping the doorknob and opening the door. "Blaze?"
She didn't answer me. That could mean one of two things; either she was out looking for things to eat or she was still sleeping. After all, it was only about nine in the morning. I had never been able to sleep more than a few hours after what happened to my family. I still had terrifying nightmares that I feared would come true like it had then. I always kept a watch on the fires burning in the distance, but they never seemed to grow closer.
I rubbed my eyes and stumbled into the small room that I guess qualified as the living room. My eyes couldn't see the color of the walls, but Blaze had assured me they were gray, like the sky's clouds during a rainy day before the smoke turned it all charcoal black. A small comfy armchair was pushed in the corner, the color I could see. It was a very light green like some of the still living blades of grass in the backyard. Greens and blues were some of the only colors I could see now. I curled up in the chair, my head on the left armrest. This was where I usually slept because there was a window across from me, so I could see the faint glow of the fires.
My leg ached from earlier in the week when I had fallen in a rather deep ditch. I really hated the world sometimes, but at least I was still alive and not deaf. If I was deaf, then I would probably kill myself because that meant no music. If there was one thing in this destroyed world I could look forward to, it was music.
Well, music, Blaze and food. Because Blaze brings me food. That and she was my only friend. Others don't usually want to hang out with a nearly blind hedgehog.
I sighed, still staring out the window. The fires had been burning in the distance like that since forever. I supposed it was a good thing, as long as no one was in trouble. I must have dozed off at some point because I dreamed I was back at my old house. Cobalt was with me, showing me how to climb onto the roof of the house without falling. I tried to join her, but something was wrapped around my leg. I glanced behind me and saw that a rope of fire had been tightened around my ankle, slowly dragging me into a pit of fire. I screamed for Cobalt to help me, but she just kept saying, "Come on, Silver! You can do it!" Something wrapped around my wrist and I realized it was another rope of fire, although it wasn't hot. I lost my grip on the roof and slid into the fire pit…
"Silver, wake up!"
I jolted myself out of my dream to find Blaze kneeling in front of my chair, her hand wrapped around my wrist to keep me from punching her. I took a deep breath, thankful that it was just a dream.
"What was it this time?" Blaze asked.
"Cobalt," I whispered. "she was trying to teach me how to get onto the roof of the house…but the fire pulled me back into a huge pit."
Blaze let go of my wrist and stood up. "Well, if you're up for it, I found some food."
I shook my head. Dreams of my past usually left me feeling sick, making me unable to eat for a while. I buried my head under a pillow, trying to recover. I heard Blaze leave the room and probably go to the kitchen. The shadow cast by the pillow over my eyes made me drowsy again, and before I knew it…I was back in my dreams.
It was dark; the only light came from the Flames in the distance. My sight was restored to how it had been before that night. I glanced around, but no one seemed to be near me.
"Hello?" I called.
Nothing and no one answered me. I began walking towards a group of trees when a soft voice called to me. I couldn't make out who said it, but I could tell what whoever it was said.
"Help me,"
I spun around, but the only thing I could see was darkness; although I knew where the voice had come from. I ran forward, hoping to see whoever had called. A loud crack caught my attention, but I couldn't turn. I glanced down and saw my feet were buried in darkness, rooting me to the spot. Before I could come up with a plan, a black raven flew down from the sky and attacked my eyes…
I woke up as my back hit the ground hard. Blaze ran into the room shortly after that. "What happened?"
"A-another dream…" I shuddered; the pain had been so real. "You w-were hurt…" Of course it was Blaze, now that I thought about it.
"You're just not having a good day, are you?" she sighed, helping me to my feet. "Come on… isn't it time you checked on your apple tree?"
I found my own way out of the house and to the tree that grew exacally fifteen steps away from the house. Unlike most apple trees, this one had smooth bark and produced darker green apples than usual, which were rich in vitamins. It was about the size of the house now and I could make my way up into its branches without trouble.
I began to climb the first few branches, waving my arm out in front of me to find the next branch. Blaze gave a loud sigh from the ground. "If you get stuck…"
"You're just mad I can out-climb you." I said, finding a smaller branch. I was nearing the top now. "And you're a cat. For shame…"
Blaze gave a soft hiss of annoyance. If there was one thing I could do better than her, it was climbing. It just came naturally to me, like my grandparents had been part squirrel or something. I reached the top branches and found the one that curved over, making a nice chair. I sat back and squinted over the land. There seemed to be more fire, but that was just because I had a better view of the land. I heard and felt Blaze begin climbing up the tree.
"I doubt you can see it, but there's a small shack over there." She said. "I've seen it a few times, but I've never had the time to explore it. Although it is sort of close to the Flames. Want to explore it?"
"…Sure." I had nothing to do. I might as well do something…
"Then come on." Blaze began climbing down the trunk. I waited until I felt her let go of the tree before following. It took me longer, but I didn't fall. I just lost my footing and slammed into the thickest branch in the tree.
"AAAGH!" I shouted as my face planted itself firmly in the dirt after that. Actually, I said more of an "ANNNN!"
"I'm almost afraid to take you with me." Blaze sighed, grabbing my arm and pulling me up.
"I'll be fine." I muttered, brushing dirt out of my fur. "Let's go."
"All right. Just follow me." Blaze began to walk towards the edge of the yard. I followed, keeping one hand out in front of me, just in case. I felt like some sort of zombie.
After a few minuets we came to the trees. "All right, we'll just go through here slowly. I'll warn you if there's something on the path." Blaze said.
We did go through the forest rather slowly. It must have taken about half an hour to go a fourth of a mile. I fell so many times I couldn't keep count, and my face seemed to be a magnet for tree branches. Every twenty seconds…slap...I swear!
"Can you see it, Silver?" Blaze asked after what seemed like forever. "It's darker than the trees."
I could barely make out a dark blob of something, that was for sure. It looked like anything but a shack. I followed Blaze to the door.
"It looks as though it's been burned," She said after a few seconds. "everything in here is covered with ashes. Oh, look…how sad…"
She pressed something into my palm. I ran my fingers over it, eventually deciding that it was a ball with a stick attacked to it, colored a bright green. It made a rattling noise when I moved it. "A…baby's rattle?" I asked at last.
Blaze didn't answer. Instead, she entered the house and began looking through the ashes. I turned my attention back on the rattle. It was small, barely bigger than my hand.
A newborn's.
Blaze came back, holding a few things that were stained black. She handed me something square; the middle was scraped out.
"Picture frame?" I asked.
"Now just a frame. The photo's been burned." She took the frame and the rattle from me and gave me something else.
It was small, flat, circular and metallic. I couldn't think of anything this could be used for. "What's this?"
"I think it's money." Blaze said, taking the metal thing from me. "We could use it to buy food."
The last thing was rectangular, about six or seven inches thick, and slightly bendable. But I could take one side of the rectangle and open it, presenting its insides, which were stained back from the smoke. I flipped back and fourth between the paper-thin things a few times, creating a nice breeze from it.
"That's a book." Blaze said at last. "There's two more in there, but this one was in the best shape."
"What do you do with it?" I asked, continuing to flip back and fourth.
"You read it." Blaze said, taking the book from me. "I'll read it to you later, if you want. You need to be able to see to do this."
I barely remembered my mother telling me about 'books'. She said that they had nearly all been destroyed from the flames, because their pages were made of paper, and paper burns easily. She had one book in her possession, one protected by a metal binding. More than once I've caught her reading from it.
"What's it called?" I asked.
I head Blaze drag her hand over the book's cover, wiping away the ash. She paused for a second and then said, " 'The Flames of Time.'"
I just nodded. I wondered if enclosed in that binding was someone's story of how the Flames had destroyed their life, as they had done to mine. I wondered if the author was still alive.
I reached out and found the side of the shack. I felt my way along the wall until I came to the door. I entered the house and the light dimmed dramatically. The smell of smoke was unmistakable. I kept my arms out in front of me, making sure I didn't run into anything. I found the opposite wall and followed it until my foot hit a loose board in the floor. I nudged it and it popped up with a loud creak. Blaze gasped slightly and said, "Silver, there's another book in there."
She moved the floorboard out of the way and picked up the book. This one was bright blue and not black from the smoke, like the other books. It had been protected from the fires. Blaze opened the cover and said, "I think this is the only intact book in the entire world."
"What's that one called?" I asked, reaching out and touching the binding. It was slightly fuzzy, like a soft leather.
" 'Soul.'" Blaze said. "Looks like some sort of action adventure novel."
I continued feeling along the walls, eventually coming to a corner and turning. I stepped into a room near the back and thought I heard someone talking. But as soon as I tried to make out the words, whoever it was stopped. I stood in silence for a while, trying to hear anything else.
"Silver, are you ready to go back?" Blaze asked from the other room.
"Do you hear anything?" I asked, suddenly nervous. My nearly blind eyes searched the room, looking for any movement.
"Just you." Blaze said, coming up behind me. She fell silent.
"What's wrong?"
"In the corner there…there's a pile of burnt wood. I think that used to be a baby crib." She whispered.
I crossed the room and ran my hands over the darkened and broken wood. It curved sort of into a semicircle before it splintered off. A few beams lay nearby, some connected to each other, some just broken off and charred. I even found a few scraps of blanket fabric.
"Maybe they got out." I said at last. "Maybe they escaped before what happened to my family happened to them."
"That is a possibility." Blaze sighed. "The bookshelf seemed as though it was picked over, and there should have been a lot more pots and pans in the kitchen."
I got up and made my way back to the doorway. "Let's go. I keep thinking of my family."
"I don't blame you." Blaze said, gently guiding me around a pile of some sort of debris.
We exited the shack, and Blaze gathered up the intact items she had found. I glanced worriedly towards the Flames behind the house, but it seemed as though it wouldn't be moving anytime soon.
We made it back to the house after an hour or so. Blaze gave me the picture frame, the rattle and the coin to wash off while she tried to brush more ash out of The Flames of Time. The only thing that didn't need cleaning was the other book.
After cleaning most of the ash off of the items, Blaze took the two books into the living room and sat me down on the couch. "Which one first?" She asked.
"The Flames of Time," I said almost instantly.
I head Blaze pick it up and begin leafing through the first few pages, finding the beginning of the story. She paused for a second before saying, "Silver…this isn't exacally a book. It's more like someone's diary."
"What's it say?" I asked.
" 'March 2, 2989,'" Blaze began. "That's about…twenty years ago. When the Flames first came."
"Keep going." I said.
" 'It started as an earthquake. But it quickly grew, splitting open the earth and spreading the Flames over the world. My neighborhood was destroyed. My friends were killed. The only person in the neighborhood that survived beside me was Nick, my best friend. We tried to get away from the fires. We tried to escape the horrors. We tried our best. It lead us here, to the most remote place on the planet. We built a house. Food is scarce. We hope to survive long enough to be rescued.
" 'Signed, Jennifer H.'" Blaze finished the first entry. "Amazing that this had survived for twenty years."
"What else?" I asked.
Blaze continued reading. Jennifer's life was hard after that night, much like mine. Her writing was incredible, though. The detail almost let me see it as though my eyes had never been damaged. Her story was of loss, death, survival, and friendship. She and Nick were a team. They constructed their house by themselves; and made everything inside. They were bent on survival.
And when they both thought that the Flames had died down enough, they welcomed a baby into the world.
" 'Her name is Soul. Her eyes are as blue as the ocean; the color of a pure soul. She looks so much like Nick…like both of us. She loves the world. I wish so much for her. If only the world she had been born into was as pure as she was…so many things are possible.'" Blaze paused for a second. "That other book…Soul…do you think…?"
"Her diary? Maybe." I said, still taken by surprise by Jennifer's writing.
Blaze flipped to the last few pages. "Her last entry." She whispered. " 'The Flames are growing closer again. Nick is getting Soul from her crib…we're getting out of here. Please, whoever finds this diary, return it to…'"
"To who?" I asked.
"It's burnt." Blaze said softly.
I sighed. "Do you think there's any possibility of anyone knowing who Jennifer H. is?"
"Probably not." Blaze admitted, shutting the diary and putting it to the side. She picked up Soul. "Should we read this one too?"
"Might as well."
I heard her open it and read the first page or two. "This is weird…" She said at last.
"What's weird about it?"
"There are numbers written on the sides of the pages…all over them. Chemical formulas and equations. Pictures…it's like some sort of scientist got ahold of this."
"What do the words in the book say? Research, a story, or another diary?" I asked.
"It's a novel." Blaze said. "About supernatural powers. But in the back it's got a list of references twelve pages long. Apparently a lot of research had gone into writing a science fiction-ish book."
"Weird…" I muttered.
"Indeed," Blaze put the book down. "wow, it's already almost five. I'll get us something to eat."
XxXxXxXx
I woke up that night, freezing cold even though the world was alight with flames. I couldn't stop thinking of the tiny crib in the shack…or Jennifer's story in the diary. And then the voice in the back of the shack…It was like it was calling me. I had to go back there. Something told me to.
I uncurled from my chair and felt my way to the door. The Flames cast enough light so I wouldn't need a flashlight, but I couldn't see anyway. I felt my way through the yard and through the forest, until the fires brightened as I neared them and the shack. I found the door and entered, feeling my way along the walls to the back.
It was still the same, just darker in the room. I thought I heard whispered voices again.
"Hello?" I whispered back, almost inaudibly.
The whispering immeadentally stopped. I felt fear wash over me and took a few steps back, only to trip in the hiding place of the book Soul. I fell backwards, landing loudly on some charred wood.
I used the wall to pull myself up, and that was when I caught scent of the acidic smell of burning. I glanced towards the door to see a huge dark cloud of it rising over the forest. The Flames were moving again. I moved as quickly as I could to the door to see that a tree had caught, and the fires were spreading up it and to the land.
I could only stare in horror and shock as what looked like a column of fire rose from the Flames. The column split off into two different parts, and those parts slammed into the ground around me. All around was fire. I heard a mighty bellow, like the devil itself was crawling out of the hell. I glanced back up and somehow managed to make out features in the fire. It really did have a form…
A stream of burning pain hit me from the side. I flew backwards, slamming into a tree. Something snapped inside of me, making the agony triple. I slid down the tree and landed hard on my other side. A small, scared sound escaped my throat and I tried to get up, but the pain inside of me was too great. I collapsed back onto my side. I felt my fur burning. Another fiery blast caught me in my stomach, sending me rolling a few feet to the left. I clasped my hand over my wound, feeling blood pour out. The skin around my injury was burned terribly, blisters popping up everywhere. I tried to scream, but my voice had gone. The world was going white. I thought I saw Cobalt, standing in front of a white tree…
There were shouts. Then a hissing sound, like some sort of gas, and the fires melted away. A white figure dropped to their knees and shouted something I couldn't hear. Another figure came, and they tore my hand away from my severe burns. This time I really did scream. My burned flesh had fastened itself on my hand. There was a female voice, shouting at the two at my side…Blaze? Did she come for me?
Another white figure loomed into view, whispering something soothing into my ear. I couldn't make out the words, but I knew from the voice that it wasn't Blaze. I whimpered again from fear and as the pain in my side flared up again. The white figure stuck something sharp in my arm, and the world faded from view.
XxXxXxXx
My dreams were some of the worst I've ever had. I dreamed I was being burned alive, watching as Blaze let the Flames burn away my body. She smiled at me evilly and said, "You need to learn."
Then the dream changed and I was holding the diary of Jennifer, but instead of her entries there were just newspaper articles of how the Flames had killed my family…how they had killed her neighborhood…how they killed the world. I dropped the book to the ground, and it turned into fire, burning away the ground beneath my feet and sending me plummeting down to the faint glow of death below…
Then I was in my apple tree, looking over Blaze's backyard. Only instead of the grass and trees, it was all Flames that were slowly spreading up my tree. But before they could reach me, the tree branch I was on broke, sending me to the fires below. The pain was so real…
And then I was somewhere dark. There were no Flames. Just darkness. "Hello?" I called nervously.
Then the Flames erupted from the shadows, burning all but the small patch of darkness I was on. I glanced around, trying to find an escape route, when the smoke condensed and a swirling ball of dark formed.
"Who are you?" I asked it.
"You know me." It said in a cold, cruel voice. "I am Fear."
"What do you want?" I asked, backing up.
"I know what you fear, Silver. There's no escaping the Flames. They will burn forever." Fear said before melting away into darkness again. I didn't dream any more after that.
XxXxXxXx
Wow…I think this is actually pretty ok. Hope you do too. Please review and stuff.
And the later chapters will be a bit shorter and better, cuz I'll be really getting into the swing of things here again. I missed writing a good story. All my stuff lately has been really dumb… Anyway, read on, Readers!
