Discalimer: I don't own "Flame of Recca"/"Rekka no Honoo" Ha! Betcha thought I did, didn't you? Didn't you!
Burning
Souls
"How
can a place seem so cold, yet so unbearably hot at the same time?" The
young woman wondered to herself. "Where is this place, anyways?" She
was floating in mid-air, suspended by some invisible force. Everywhere around
her, flame was born from nothing, swirled, and dissapered once again to nothing.
She pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them tightly.
She
was a tender young woman, hardly past a girl, actually. All she could remember
was the beating... and the pain... and how she was ripped apart from the inside
out so unexpectedly... She was now alone... was she dead? Was this hell? A
terrible fear began to show. Oh God, oh God, oh God... Hell? What had she done
to deserve that?
"Konichiwa."
A
voice from the nothingness! A kind, caring, female, voice! She felt inclined to
seek out and embrace the hiden speaker, simply because she was a person. Or,
more prescisely, sounded like a person. She couldn't be too sure, she didn't
know too much about this place.
Her
eyes scanned for the voice's owner. When she saw no one, a fear of being
driven insane washed over her. "H... hello...?" She said back. Her
voice was frail, tiny, and barely audible. "Please answer" she thought to
herself "Please let someone be there. Please let me not be crazy."
"Don't
be afraid. You've got nothing to fear now that you're here. The worst is
over."
The
voice was so soothing, so reassuring... but it's owner still had not chose to
revel herself. Never the less, she had questions she wanted answers to, and this
voice sounded sincere enough. "Where am I?"
"I
can't tell you yet."
Well,
that was a let down. "Why not?"
"You
can't know yet. But all in good time, all your questions will be answered."
She
breathed a small disapointed sigh, accepting the stubborness and moving
on."Where are you?"
"I'm
close by."
This
voice seemed to have a thing for ambiguoisity. "Can you show me yourself,
then?", she asked timidly.
"That
much I can handle." A fireball sprung from the surrounding flames,
approached her, and began to take a humanoid shape. It stopped merely
approaching and took on the definite human style of walking. With every step,
more and more of the flames flickered out, and what was left was a woman,
dressed in 15-th century ninja clothing. She looked every bit kind as the voice
made her out to be.
Changing
from her question slightly from before, she asked in bewilderment, "...what
are you?"
The
woman smiled., "I'm not always sure of that myself. I still like to think
of myself as a woman, but I'm also much more... as before I'll have to tell you
later."
"Why
am I here?"
"I'm
not too sure of that, either. I can only tell you why I'm here... A long, long,
time ago... I lived a good life,
and I had a good family... it was my duty to protect them, as well as everyone
else in my village. But, although I was powerful... I failed in my misson, and I
ended up here, instead of moving on.…"
"you
failed? This really is Hell, isn't it?"
"No,
I don't think someone like you could wind up in Hell. You seem too nice."
"So
do you."
"Appearences
can be decieving."
That
little remark caught her off-guard, and she decided to quickly change the
subject. "What's you name?"
"My
name... is Nadre. Now that you know mine, would you care to share yours?"
"Kurenai."
She replied.
"Kurenai...
what a nice name. Come on, I'll introduce you to a few others."
Kurenai
smiled at the woman's hospitality, the idea that this was hell was getting
farther and farther from her mind. However, she couldn't shake the feeling
that she was going to be in this place for a long, long, time…
To be continued…