Frozen Ash, Burning Skies - Quips and Snippets

Hey guys! Sorry I sort of suck at posting in any sort of timely manner, but I shall make excuses! I’ve decided to take on a project to write a novel in 6 months (I can thank Carly again for this idea). I’m filling up posterboards with character ideas, plot points, and a whole assortment of craziness.

I’m really excited, but it does make it harder to write all these quips and snippets. I need it though, so keep watching out for posts! Thanks for reading! I really appreciate any comments you have on it! Enjoy!

Frozen Ash, Burning Skies

            Frozen ash twists through the gray sky. It’s only a few hours past midday and yet you’d never know it. I look to the darkened sky searching for any sign of sun. It was lost long ago as the darkness spread over this country. The Shade had done her work. Many still fight, though I don’t see why. The war ended long ago.

            It’s such a cold night.

I can feel the poisoned air seeping into my lungs. There is no life anywhere I look. Is it my fault? Maybe. But maybe I don’t care. Maybe I’m happier this way. I know I’m lying to myself, but it makes my work easier to survive.

I tred lightly on the charred ground beneath me causing flakes of lofting ash lift with each footstep. Fire. Anger. Peace. It’s all the same emotion to me now. I don’t remember what it was like to be human. I’m nothing near to it now. The Shade made me this way. Years ago, though it feels like yesterday. That idea feels so cliché, but that’s the only way to describe what’s happened to me. That bright eyed brunette that I once saw in the mirror was left behind the day The Shade completely.

            Victims lie prone before me as far as the eye can see. Such terror they must have felt when they saw my army coming, such fear knowing they could never get away in time. I wish I could feel some type of sympathy for their souls, but that was stripped from me the same day they came to take me away. Adults never survived the onslaught, but the children… They would be taken back to the Academy just like I was to be stripped of everything that once made them human.

            I don’t often wonder who I would be now had I not been taken. Things like that are what get you killed at the Academy. But in secret I try to hold on to the dreams I once had. I wanted to be a Singer. Or a Dancer. Or a Quima, a storyteller. All the things that existed back before they came for me. After that there existed but one choice—kill or be killed. I chose the first and the old dreams no longer come to me.

            I see something glint amidst the ashes below me. I crouch to the ground sifting my hands through the rubble and pull a silver arm band from the scorched earth. Lifting it to my eyes I can immediately see the crimson leaves of the Cradac Tree wrapping around a silver crescent moon. It’s the signet held by the Carriers, the only challengers to the throne. We killed at least one of them in this battle.

            The Emperor will be so pleased.

            I feel an unexpected flicker of anger flare inside me. Fire instantly lights in my palms slowly creeping up my arms. I am surprised by my emotion. I feel anger often, but this is something different. I haven’t lost the control of my powers in many years and I don’t even have an explanation for it.

            Why do I feel so angry? Why is this different?

            It feels as if my mind is reaching for some answer I forgot long ago. No… Not forgotten. An answer that was stolen from me. I look back to the band intertwining around my hand. It’s almost glowing as it remains unscathed from the fire searing through my fingertips. I’ve seen these more times than I could ever count, so why does this insignificant band bring me so much disdain?

            Shaking my head, I throw the band back to the earth. The fire dwindles in my hands as I begin to recover my lost breath. I look to the band in the ashes, somehow still polished clean amongst the rubble surrounding it. I want to stomp it down—bury it deep into the soft earth below it. But I can’t… I stand here looking like some traitorous imbecile wavering in my dedication to the Emperor. I have to keep moving. I have to finish disposing of any survivors. But I can’t tear my eyes away.

            I walk back into the gray clouds of cold ash and leave the confusion in my wake. I know who I am. I am one of the Chosen. One of the Elite Guard. I survived the Academy. My loyalty is to my Emperor. My heart and soul belong to her. I shall not waiver.

            Yet the band burns a whole in my pocket. I can feel its light. It feels warm against the ice of my skin, alive, like a heart beating along in time with mine.

art by CGsoufiane