Frosted Dreams (NaNoWriMo2020)

'Umi kūmākahi

Hika beams at the deities around her. They've all amassed to meet her, traveling from their respective homes. Loo-Wit of the Nisqually is overjoyed to meet her, even in the form of a mountain. Smoke curls from her top and Hika can feel the heat deep beneath the ground, rising in tendrils to meet her and curl against her skin.

She laughs at the feeling and pulls her fire stick from the bag, laying it against the ground. After a moment of hesitation, she presses the end of it into the rich soil of Mount St. Helens. Molten fire bubbles up from the base of the fire stick and she scoops it up into her hands before it can run down the slope of the mountain.

Hika cradles the liquid flame, passing it from one hand to the next. Drops of it run down her arm, painting her dark skin with deep orange light. The fire drips from her elbow to the dirt before she can catch it and when she looks down, trying to catch the droplet while still holding the small pool of it, she finds that something is growing from the soil.

It wasn't there a few moments ago, it was only green-carpeted earth. The plant is feathery, its flowers growing from the green-black stem in tufts of color. Deep red lies at their base and transitions to orange and then the bright yellow-white of her stars. They remind her of feathers and of flame at the same time, glowing softly with an inner light.

Hika crouches down to touch a flower, feeling the soft tendrils of it. After a moment, she plucks it from the ground. The flowers lie in her palm with a dulling light before the plant crumbles into ash. Hika frowns as the wind swirls past, taking the dark dust with it, curious. Flowers shouldn't act like this, even with exposure to magic.

Perhaps if she had set them aflame, but they crumbled at her touch alone. The mountain rumbles beneath her feet and she digs her feet into the soft earth. Hika murmurs to the woman sleeping inside the volcano.

"It's alright, they were just curious flowers."

The mountain falls silent again and Hika moves to take a step up its slope, only for the ground to crumble away beneath her. The other gathered deities lurch forward, trying to grab her arm. Most of them can't move fast enough, she's already sliding down into the earth. Rainbow Crow dashes into the earth with her, flying so close that Hika can feel his wingbeats on her streaming hair.

He can't bring her back up if he catches her, he must be following to help if he can. The tunnel keeps going down, Hika tumbling over and over herself into the center of the mountain. She can feel the heat growing, they're getting closer to the magma chamber of the volcano. Hika calls out over the crashing sounds of falling rock, trying to reach Rainbow Crow.

"Move back! We're approaching the magma chamber!"

Rainbow Crow calls out something in response, But Hika can't make out the words. She can feel him move back just slightly, only enough for his wings to not get tangled in her hair. A new section of the earth falls away, bathing Hika with orange light. She plunges into the thick magma and twists around along with a kick back up to the surface.

Rainbow Crow is flapping his wings, circling around the chamber. Embers trail from his dark feathers but he doesn't burn. He wheels toward her, cawing. Hika waves at him, pulling her golden hair from the thick magma and tying it up into a quick bun. He hovers above her, hesitating in confusion. Hika laughs.

"Stars burn hotter than magma, I'll be fine!"

Rainbow Crow swoops down toward her and perches on her head, digging his feet into her bun. "How are you going to get out?"

"Well, I must be down here for a reason, so I'll see what that is first." The tunnel they fell through seals off and Hika sighs. "Our way out just disappeared too."

Rainbow Crow caws again and launches into flight. Twisting around, Hika finds a stone platform jutting up from the magma on the other side of the chamber. It flows like the magma, a familiar dark stone. Hika takes swift strokes through the dense magma, moving towards the platform. When she reaches it, she heaves her body up onto the stone.

She almost stumbles at the lack of pressure around her skin, it's so much easier to move in air than in lava, even as dense as the air may be this far beneath the surface of the earth. The stone is warm beneath her feet yet cold compared to the lava itself. A hole in the wall opens up in front of her and Hika steps toward it, Rainbow Crow swooping in ahead of her.

His caw echoes out behind him, a plea for light. With a soft laugh, Hika summons two stars. She sends the smaller one after him to light his way and keeps the other to herself, fixing the star at a point a few inches above her head. It floats along with her footsteps, casting a soft white light over the stone.

The passageway is naturally formed, jagged outcroppings jutting from the wall and casting long shadows. She trails her fingers along the wall, sparks of flame dropping from her fingertips. The embers don't die as they fall, they lie still-glowing on the ground, creating a path of light from the magma chamber.

Rainbow Crow calls from ahead, but it isn't necessary. Hika can see the light from a room at the end of a tunnel, a red light. It's tinted with orange, a softer red. Hika dismisses her star and calls back the one following Rainbow Crow, spinning it around her fingers once it arrives. The star dances among the sparks still trailing from her fingertips, weaving amongst tiny flecks of red and gold.

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'Umi kūmākahi = eleven, when counting

Did you think Hika would burn? She is a fire Demigoddess, who controls stars, and she was taught to swim (in magma) by Pele. It would be quite a hard task for her to burn.

Why do you think the mountain opened beneath her? Is it bad? What's going to happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out