The Colors of the Water

 I am Iris Aqua. I am in the middle of the most amazing place on Earth, or any other world that you might go to. And I am on fire.

But I digress. I guess you should get to know me a little better before you start screaming for water. I am exactly 14 years, 11 months, and 12 days old. How I can know this at an instant after wondering, I don't know. It should be impossible, given that no one has ever actually told me my birthday. But I have calculated it out, and found that I must have been born on the fifth of January.

I don't know much about my family. I think I had a brother, but I have no evidence other than my rampant thoughts to back it up. I may have had parents for a little bit but I have a very...bad feeling whenever I try to remember something about my parents. So I don't try.

Where do I live, you ask. I live in the most beautiful place you could ever find. I live in a forest with mossy ground that cradles me every night, with tall, ancient oak trees that bend down as if to grant me their wisdom of old age. There is a creek that relaxes me so that I am able think clearly, or as clear as my thoughts can become. Its waters are unlike any other body of water; the colors of the creek are more numerous than you could find in a rainbow. The clear, crisp blue sky welcomes me to the world every morning, as I rise for another day of contemplation. There are bountiful areas of berries, roots, and plants that I somehow know how to prepare. I have everything I need, and could not ask for more.

Until now, when want a little more time with it.

A few minutes ago, a spark of flame suddenly appeared next to me. I simply stared at it in shock until it began to spread at an unreal pace, consuming the entire area around me in a matter of a couple of seconds. The ancient trees, gone. The moss, smoldering. The berries, bursting and cooking. The only thing left untouched was the creek. It colors shone more brilliantly than ever before, and then it happened. The flashback.

-15 years earlier-

"What shall we name her?"

"Iris. It is the name of, oh, that Greek goddess of colors and the rainbow."

"Are you sure? Doesn't that sound sort of...eccentic to you?"

"I am positive, my dear. No one with an ordinary name will have an ordinary life. We don't want her to have an ordinary life, now do we, Madeline?"

"Maybe I do. Suppose I want a perfectly ordinary, happy, and boring life for my girl."

"Do you? Exactly. You don't. So Iris it is then?"

"Is there no chance of naming her Carol?"

"None at all, as the name Carol Aqua sounds absolutely horrible, madam."

"Well then, all right. Iris Aqua. She will grow up to be important, of course, but also as colorful as the name she was given, and possibly have your gift of memory. I can only hope that she may be able to, one day, see the creek that she comes from."

"It will be all right, Madeline. It is only right that we have to leave here. We will all meet again, you know that."

-Present, right as Iris was talking to you-

I had a milisecond of time to ponder over what I had just remembered when a wave of orange swept over me, and the world lost all color.