Dance of the Damned

Flames

Micah gasped awake, feeling around him for anything familiar when he felt sharp pains in his lower half.

Touching the area, he realised that a wooden beam had fallen on him under a pile of rubble.

"Again?" he mumbled as the sounds of screams filled his ears while he struggled to pull himself out of the rubble.

This time was slightly easier as he kicked a loose rock at the side, causing the structure to collapse on the other side.

Pulling himself out of the rubble, Micah managed to stand up, clutching his side as colours blinded his vision, heat surrounding him.

He could not make out one colour from the other as people were pushing each other and trampling over one another.

Managing to avoid most of the crowded areas, Micah went to a lesser crowded area, limping.

Where are they? He thought, trying to sort through the colours only to come up empty. Where are they?

His heart hammered against his chest while trying to look through the colours only to come up blank.

Wh-

"Micah!" A hand grabbed his and relief washed over his body as the comforting aqua colour burst into his vision. "Where were you? Come on."

"Bradie," Micah said, as the boy pull him through the wreckage and the heat.

He tried to walk as fast as possible but the wound on his stomach made it difficult to speed up. I need to recover, I need to find a person to k-

"Are you hurt?" Briar stopped walking as he inspected Micah's stomach, cursing under his breath.

"Leave me here, Bradie," Micah said, trying to push him away. "Go."

"Like hell I will." Briar hissed, bending down. "Get on my back."

"Bu-"

"Now!"

Reluctantly, Micah got on Briar's back as the boy began to speed up, pushing through as many people as possible while they were pushing back.

The heat grew and Micah tried to bury his face in his friend's jacket, the colours in his vision making his head as well as the overwhelming sounds all around him.

"The entire city is falling into a blaze," Briar shouted, stumbling in his step. "We will need to get out of here before we can seek help for your wound."

"I'm sorry." Micah cried on his back. "I am so sorry. If it wasn't for me, you would not be in this position."

"What are you talking about?" Briar asked, his mid-back length hair brushing against Micah's face.

"It is all my fault. Everything is my fault. This is my fault."

Before he could say anything else a scream broke out and Micah, subconsciously, turned in the direction of the scream as he felt the heat suddenly grow.

Micah was shoved aside as he heard a loud crash and even more people screaming all around him.

Getting up from the ground, he rushed to search for Briar. The Aqua of his colour is very faint now.

"Bradie! Bradie!" Micah shouted as the colours around him slowly faded away. "Where are you?"

He searched and searched, grabbing onto burning wood and other things as he began to lose feeling in his hands.

But he finally saw the aqua. The colour he knows so well and is very faint.

"Bradie!" He shouted, digging until he could feel skin in his numb hands. "Bradie. Bradie."

"Why are you still here?" He coughed out the aqua regaining some of its colours. He pushed Micah weakly. "Go. You can make it."

"So can you." Micah sobbed. "Come on, I will carry you out of here."

"You can hardly stand on your own. How will you be able to take me?" He chuckled, pushing him away. "Go, you i***t. Live. For me, if you can’t for you. Damn, I never did get her that pomegranate ja-"

As soon as those words were spoken, the aqua disappeared completely and Micah tried to reach for his friend as the smoke grew.

"Bradie?" he touched his face, feeling the skin fall off no matter how gentle he was.

A scream loud enough to tear his lings escaped Micah's lips as he stood in place, more rumbling in the distance and more screams.

"Don't worry, Bradie," he said, taking off his burnt shirt and covering his friend with it as something broke behind him. "I am not going anywhere. You hate the cold right? I'll keep you warm.

"Once we are out of here, what should we do? I heard that there is a rare tree that blooms only once every few years. We should go see that. What do you say?

"We can bring her as well." He said, looking at his friend as the heat suddenly grew again, the sounds of buildings collapsing around them filled his ears. "Right? Brad-"

__________________________

On the morning of the thirteenth of June, Micah sat up on his bed with a sigh.

Reaching across the bed, he felt Briar's hand, the familiar Aqua blinking in and out with his soft breathing.

Holding it tight, determination filled his eyes.

"Don't worry, Bradie." He said, squeezing his hand tight. "As long as I am here, everything will be fine."

“Hmm?” Briar turned in his sleep, eyes opening as he looked up at Micah’s gentle smiling face and almost punched him. “What the hell are you doing, Micah?! I almost hit you.”

“Were you that scared?” Micah laughed, moving away from him. “Sorry. I thought I heard you talking in your sleep so I had to check.”

“What was I saying?” Briar turned his entire body in Micah’s direction. “I don’t usually talk in my sleep.”

“Something about pomegranate jam,” Micah said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

“Pomegranate jam?” Briar said confused before bursting into a laugh. “Why would I be talking about pomegranate jam? And that too in my sleep?”

“I do not know.” Micah shrugged. “Do you crave pomegranate jam or something?”

“I don’t think so,” Briar said, looking around. “What time is it? I don’t think it is even morning yet. The sun isn’t up.”

“It feels like two in the morning to me,” Micah said, turning to the large window with the curtains drawn and the large moon shining down on them still. “If you are still sleepy, you should go back to sleep, Bradie.”

“And you?”

“I can’t sleep once I am awake,” Micah said, staring at the window before reaching for the book on the table. “I think I will do some reading until the sun comes up- well that is peculiar.”

“What is- Micah!” Briar jumped out of the bed, running to the window while gasping in awe. “This is incredible.”

Micah did not need to look to know what was happening. All the flowers in their garden below are blooming. Usually, depending on the intensity and number of death, the flowers may start to change colours into a wave of the whole spectra of colourful flames.

Yes, they burst into flames if the number of deaths is too high.

Not that Micah would ever know. The scene in his dream earlier might have been really pretty to look at, honestly.

Right now, there is just one death. Micah thought, turning to Briar as his aqua jumped around like an excited beaver. 

“Micah, the flowers are in full bloom!” Briar ran back to him, beaming. “It’s beautiful.”

“What are the colours, Bradie?” Micah asked, putting the book down on his table again.

“Let me see.” He ran back to the window. “Blue, red, pink, yellow. The garden is glowing.”

“Should we go outside?” Micah asked, already getting out of bed and grabbing his walking stick resting by the bedpost. “Come, Bradie.”

The two held hands as they ran out of the room as quietly as they could, Briar guiding Micah the entire time. In his excitement, he piggybacked Micah and ran faster into the garden.

As soon as they reached the garden overflowing with colours from all angles, Briar placed Micah down, standing still in awe.

“I really wish you could see this, Micah,” Briar said, turning to Micah who only looked at him as the only colour he saw his aqua blue in the darkness. “It is so pretty.”

He could make out what his surrounding was, leaves of bushes sound different compared to the leaves of trees, but with no life, they do not produce a colour for him to see.

“I agree,” Micah said, resting on his walking stick while watching the single colour run around with excitement like some kind of spirit in its natural habitat.

“Here you go.” Briar handed something to Micah who took it, feeling every petal of the flower. “This is how you see right? The petals are red, though they look a little like blo- never mind this one.”

He threw the flower in Micah’s hands and gave him another one, “This is yellow, like the colour of my eyes.”

“Your eyes are yellow?” Micah asked tilting his head to the side. “I didn’t realise that.”

“They are golden when the sun hits them,” Briar said proudly. “I think they are pretty.”

Micah nodded his head agreeing wholeheartedly as the two continued to stay in the blooming garden until daybreak.