Don't leave, they whispered.
Stay, they said.
It's dangerous, they warned.
But here is dangerous, it said back.
I can't stay, it pleaded.
I have to go, it cried.
They were coming.
Like a thousand whirlwinds on the backs of rumbling earthquakes, they trampled the light and all that is good in an ambush of fire and darkness. The elements could fight this darkness, but not with their broken shard hope that was greater in size than their numbers. Even fire was consumed by fire.
Brilliant radiance and dancing life was murdered by the scorching and ravenous vulture that was starving for more.
The darkness hadn't gone, for it lingered in the thick air of ash and dust. It loomed in the charcoal clouds and stung in the piercing needles of rain. The depression and danger hung low, entering the heart of the greens and blues of life, feeding off of the vibrance as a parasite until nothing was left.
Still, it did not disappear. Storming and thunderous, the perilous void took root in the base of life, keeping an underlying leash on the slave of the dying light.
In the end, nothing survived. Not even the wisp of a dandelion that danced along the river in the warmth of summer. The malignance in the shrine of radiant gold had scratched the steps and burnt the columns and rubbled the altar.
Nothing except for a ray of hope. Faint and uncertain, timid and reserved. It glowed faintly through the clouds of treacherous deception. It was pure and soft, however small. And it wandered throughout the darkness, cloaked in an invisible robe of fear and determination.
And this ray of hope would save the firsts.
YOU ARE READING
The Phoenix
AdventureI didn't expect to be the last. I didn't expect to meet the first. I didn't expect to escape. But here I am, scared, hunted, and running like hell. Because that's exactly what's after me.
