Phantom in the Fire

Phantom in the Fire: Prologue

Michelle put her head down onto her pillow letting her blonde hair flow in a mane off to the side the tips swaying gently off the side of her bed. As she closed her eyes and fell asleep quickly, a dream started to engulf her mind in swirling images of flashing colors in different hues and shades. She realized that she was soaring over Everwind fields on the back of a horse.

"No..." She whispered as she slept. I am the horse she thought. She couldn't control her dream but she could watch and as she did she found herself flying through the grass on strong legs and swift hooves taking her into the woods by the field and over the river that runs through it. She started to slow down a bit and her surroundings sharpened like the lens of a camera to reveal that she had gone up to Valedale Lake. As it sharpened she could see the sky and the millions of stars blazing like tiny flickering candle flames in the sky. The image in her head blurred and she realized she was herself again. She was leaning against a pink trailer  close to the sandy slope by the shore and as she looked she could see a pure white mare standing up to her knees in the calm water of the lake. The mare was bathed in the full moon's light and it seemed to reflect off of her making her look almost like a phantom.

The picture swirled again and she was in a different forest but their were bright flashes of light and she saw herself flying through the air then landing in mud and looking up at a blazing orange and yellow sky with smoke forming the clouds. In the smoke outlined like silver against the moon she noticed the words: Mist, Phantom, and Glory. "W-what in the world...?" Michelle thought groggily. Then the smoke reached her and she started to choke on it the flames seemed to engulf till it looked as if she was staring at the sun. Michelle closed her eyes against the blinding light and she found herself in utter darkness. She felt water rush around her then evaporate into vapor when she opened her eyes.

Michelle woke up in a bed of sweat as if she had been just that close to the flames as she had been in her dream but also felt as cold as if she had just jumped into a pool filled with ice from the water. She untangled herself from the blankets and silently crept downstairs and out of the house and turned left from the path and walked out of the village. She stepped silently off the path into the grass as it waved in the soft breeze of the night. She closed her eyes for a minute and when she opened them she saw the mare from her dream only a foot away from her head although something was different that she couldn't quite place. Michelle froze and stared into her gaze that was icy and as blue as the ocean. The mare dropped her head and turned it to the left looking at Michelle with her right eye.

Tentatively Michelle reached out and stroked under her soft whiskered muzzle, along her jawbone, up to her ears, and down her muzzle as the mare turned her head straight again. The white horse whinnied softly and took a step back. Michelle watched then froze as the huge horse reared up high above her head then whinnying loudly in the still night air as if shattering the quiet vale like glass. The horse came back down and Michelle closed her eyes thinking she was about to get pounded by the horses hooves. She felt no impact but when she looked up the mare was gone without a sound.