Hub2 Ember: Twice Born

"Everything will be okay now, little one."

I came slowly to my senses, dragging my eyelids apart. Turning my head felt like a lot of work. I decided it wasn't really worth it when greeted with the sight of a dead kobold. Icky. Light streamed through the trees and dug into my eyes like tiny invisible daggers. Tearing up, I shut my eyes again. Grass. Dirt. Trees. At first it smelled nice. Then it started getting up my nose. I stubbornly laid there for a while, but learned early that all good things come to an end. Gotta pee.

I got up and flitted to the edge of the clearing. There wasn't just one kobold. There were a whole bunch. They were all dead, lying there, empty eyes and pools of blood, broken bones and splattered brains. Not one had a weapon in its hand -- bows stashed neatly on their backs, swords in sheaths and slings tucked into belts. Slaughtered. The little wave of nausea made me forget I had to pee. Okay, maybe not.

Ah, better. Now what? Everywhere I looked I just saw more trees, but that's just because I didn't want to look back at the kobolds. So I picked a direction and went. I mean, walked. After a while, I tried flying again. And then I walked more. So many birds and bugs and critters. I found some berries on a bush that were pretty tasty. I stopped for a nap when I got tired, but just as I was dozing off, I got sniffed by a rabbit. It freaked me out, with its big twitchy nose and crazy long ears. Thank the gods it bolted when I screamed. I don't know what I would have done next. No more sleeping under bushes, that's for sure.

When my heart stopped pounding, I still couldn't sleep, so I went ahead and walked some more. Everything was noisy and distracting, and soon I was exhausted again. This time I flew up into a tree to sleep. That went a little better. There was a pretty little green snake snuggling me when I woke up. He must have been cold. I just moved nice and slowly and then glided away. I don't know why, but going that direction just seemed like the right thing to be doing. So I did. It got cold and the colors around me changed, and the sighs of the trees grew deeper. I looked up through the leaves again. The suns had set, and in their place, five moons were dancing across the sky. I danced with them for a while.

In the morning, the suns were back up in the sky. I suppose that's a silly thing to think, but I didn't really notice until I'd already thought it. I walked and flew and slept and it felt like there would never be anything else. There were a million different creatures in these trees, but none of them were like me. The bat was cute and had beautiful wings, but he wouldn't talk to me. The mosquito bit me and made me itch. The chipmunk tried to bite me, but I got away. I learned to watch the furry things -- whatever they ate, I could eat, and it wouldn't make me sick. Why didn't I think of that before i tried eating those mushrooms? Every thought I had seemed so obvious, once I had it. And the funny thing was, they stuck around. The next day, I remembered. All the way back to the kobolds. I'd actually like to stop remembering them. But before that? Nothing. What were they doing? Was I just sleeping? Why don't I know what happened before that? It gave me a headache to think about it.

Eventually, I reached the end of the forest. I didn't know there would be anything else until I got there, but all the sudden, it seemed totally natural that there would be and edge to the trees, with grass beyond. One last nap up in the trees.

It was dark when I fell asleep, then all the sudden it was light again. The sunlight was streaming through the trees making exaggerated sunbeams, and dust was meandering through the air in slow, glorious swirls. Then the dust started to swirl around me, and I spun in circles watching it. It swirled faster and faster, and then each little tendril swooped towards the ground and turned into a kobold, and they were drawing swords and bows and stalking towards me. I flew away, but then they were flying too, and catching up with me. I flew back down into the trees and along the ground, and when I came around a corner, there was a giant rabbit in a suit of armor with a sword pointed at me and I couldn't stop --

I woke up with a start. The grass was back, and there were no kobolds and no rabbit. I decided I didn't like dreams very much. But I had learned that walking was therapeutic, so I set out into the grass. I quickly discovered I couldn't see a thing walking through tall grass, so I flew. Once I got up high, I could see how far the world went. Grass, dirt roads, farmland. Of course there was a city. Why wouldn't there be?

This was when I learned that farms grow food. And that blackberries are delicious. It might've been the very first time I was ever happy. Right up until the farmer came around. I had snuggled into a bale of hay inside the barn and slept for almost a whole night. It was cozy and luxurious. I was drowsing when the door slammed open and the farmer announced himself. "Good morning, Liza!" He was walking towards the cow with a bucket in his hand when he spotted me. There was a moment where everything paused. Finally, here was someone who spoke! A real person I could talk to, ask where I was and why I was here. Then his whole face changed. He dropped the bucket and lunged for a pitchfork that was leaning by the door.

"Demon! Get out of my barn, evil creature!" I jumped up with a start. Was there a demon behind me? I panicked, looking all around, but didn't see anyone. That's when he swung the pitchfork at me. I tried to leap out of the way, but it all happened so fast. I threw my arms in front of my face and turned aside, but the tines flew by so close, grazing my arm, my hip, and my leg. Three little stinging lines of blood. He was getting ready to swing again. Was that it? I came here to be mauled by a pitchfork? Tears filled my eyes, and for a moment, I just wanted to disappear so badly. Fade away and never be seen again. I sighed, and a faint tingle swept across my skin. I looked up, waiting, but he did not strike again. His eyes were darting around the room.

"Where did you hide, demon?" he muttered. "I will find you." I took a few steps, and he reached out to move the bale of hay. I launched myself into the air and flew right past him, but he didn't seem to see me. He was busy kicking and shaking the hay. I flew, half-blind, out the window and off his farm, and finally collapsed on the side of the dirt road. A drop of water landed on my hair, another on my wing. A chill morning rain began to fall as I curled up in the dirt and cried. My arm hurt and my leg hurt and I didn't know what else to do. When I was finished being sad, I was angry. The clouds turned black and lightning tore across the sky, and the world felt angry too. Torrents of rain pounded into me, turning my little depression in the road into a muddy lake. In the distance, bolts of lightning streaked to the ground and thunder rolled constantly. The wind chilled me to the bone, but at least my arm didn't hurt anymore. The last sight I caught, as I fell into the dark, was a sharp flash of lightning streaking towards the barn.

As I lay invisible and unconscious in the ditch, the storm faded. I never saw the rainbow. I awoke that night with a smoldering bitterness in my heart, knowing now what the world expected of me.