Chapter 17: Pranu
Fire. I saw its orange-yellow glow in the horizon, saw its hungry flames lick the treetops. It was exactly the same as the flames in my dream. I felt chilled as I realized that my dream was a vision of the future.
"FIRE!" I screamed at my troops, trying to warn them. "FIRE!" But my voice wasn't enough to warn everybody. Not everyone could hear me. Please, I thought as hard as I could, Please. There's a fire- I tried to reach out with my mind to someone, anyone, who would listen...
Raven
I became aware of, very faintly, the resonance of a forlorn voice calling to my mind. -ease... th-ss... fir- I frowned in concentration, and strengthened the link. Fire! it cried out again, soft but distinct. Ov- th- tre-! The voice sputtered, then faded away. I glanced over the treetops, and nearly doubled over with the sight.
I would need to notify the others immediately.
Ruidi
'We have a problem,' Raven's voice cut through my thoughts. Normally, I would've ignored her, but was that... panic in her voice? Her usually neutral tone?
I made a snap decision. "We're taking a detour!" I shouted to my little group. They nodded and followed me as we zipped through the forest toward Raven's transmission.
When we arrived at the transmission spot, give or take a hundred meters, I saw the smoky flames soaring high above the treetops. Even from here, I could feel the intense heat. Then I looked up, and my breath caught.
It was Shirley. I saw a flash of her face, in the burning trees, before she spun around and vanished. A second later, an explosion occurred, leveling the surrounding trees and sending us spinning. I hit my head on a tree branch and fell down, my head spinning.
"I thought you made the trees inflammable!" Neesik shouted to Raven, who was at the other side of the clearing trying to transport some water to douse the flames.
"Only from the typical wildfires!" she shouted back. "This one's cause was much more powerful-" she was cut off by a flaming branch almost landing onto her head. Raven shimmered and disappeared, then reappeared at Neesik's side. "We lack adequate amounts of water. Perhaps..," and Raven looked at the Poseidon cabin. They nodded their heads. They understood.
Almost immediately afterwards, a large hurricane of water flew towards us...
It sacked right at us and everything was soaked. There were few... uh... minor... screams from mostly girls. The fire was at first diminished, but suddenly it sprang back to life, growing brighter and brighter. It rose above the trees, towered over the campground. It swallowed everything in it's path, nothing remained of the burnt trees but blackened cinders as the flames tore across the fields. Everyone stood open mouthed at this huge disaster. No one was reacting. Until finally, I snapped out of it and shouted at everyone to "DO SOMETHING! STANDING OPEN MOUTHED LIKE FREAKS DOESN'T HELP!"