Young Flame

I remember the tales my mum told of the wondrous landscapes outside the wasteland. She used to tell me about the incredible forests to the east, the endless mountains to the north, and the horrifyingly vast oceans to the south. It was one thing to hear about it, but with only the wasteland as my point of reference, I had no way of truly understanding the diversity these landscapes contained.

After leaving Morne, I had travelled through the forest following the moon north west. I hoped this would be the fastest way to return to the wasteland. I had been lucky so far — having gone almost a week without rain — but I didn’t believe for a second that my luck would last. I either had to find shelter for when it finally came, or I had to get back to the wasteland fast. The wasteland was a good month travel from here at the very minimum. I hope the surrounding trees would be enough cover when the eventual rain finally came.

As I had moved further through the forest, the trees grew wider, larger than I could have imagined back when the only plant I had seen was the brittle shrubs out in the desert. It was far different from what I’d ever believed possible from my mum’s stories. Even the horizon spanning views I’d seen from the train couldn’t have prepared me for the feeling of being in this new world.

The roots of these trees grew out of the soil, coiling through the underbrush. The density of the roots below my feet forced me to walk over them rather than the ground below. Although these large roots were hard to work around, I was glad they were there. The undergrowth of the forest had become almost a natural snare. There had been a few times I had stepped on the low-lying bushes and weeds between the roots of the giant trees and found myself falling into it up to my chest.

The further through the forest I walk, the more deceptively deep the ground below became. To my eyes, the weeds and bushes I’d placed my foot were only a thin covering of the ground, but I fell so much further than I was prepared to.

I had, of course, not panicked and properly extracted myself from the restrictive trap without nearly burning the forest down.

The random forest-fire occurring at the same time was a complete coincidence.

Thankfully, the trees themselves seemed more resistant to flames than ursu buildings, so I was able to put the fire out with ease.

I continued my way through the forest, jumping from root to root. The trees didn’t look like they were growing any taller, but they were definitely growing wider. Some reaching an ursu’s height in width. Of course, the roots continued to grow almost longer than the trees themselves. At least that’s what it felt like, what with the amount of entangling and knots made between the roots of different trees.

Making my way under a particularly highly arching root, I notice an uncomfortable silence had settled over the forest. The constant cacophony of humming and whistling bird tunes I’d grown used to within the forest had stopped. I look around, trying to spot whether the birds high in the trees had flown off or just grown quiet. It was hard to make out as they blended in with the foliage, but I’m pretty sure I could see a few huddling up on the branches.

Curious about their behaviour but wary as to what caused it, I stay still.

An ear-piercing shriek shook the forest and cut right into my very being. My body went stiff as in an instant multiple of the giant trees topple not a house length from where I stood, crashing and splintering to the ground. Sunlight shines through the now missing patch of tree cover.

I look towards the damage, but still I only barely caught the sight of the giant bird as it returns to the air with its talons grasping what I thought were dingoes.

It had all happened in a moment, but now noise fills the forest. The trees not obliterated in the massive creature’s path creak and crack as their supports struggle from the weight. The birds sung once again, almost cheering the damage caused by the giant. And the howls begun.

The sound came from every direction. Their mournful cries setting me on edge. I hadn’t noticed the creatures around me until the giant hawk snatched two of their numbers. The bird itself, gone before I could even really process what was going on, had been large, but not titanic. It was about half as tall as the trees, but it had still rammed through them with little care.

The howling stops, but that doesn’t ease my nerves. I am surrounded, but hopefully after losing two of their members, the beasts would move off. A hope that was dashed almost immediately as a big wolf — they weren’t dingoes, as I had mistakenly assumed — moved into my sight and growled as it approached me.

The beast was larger than I remember Leal describe it, almost as large as an ursu and probably as heavy as one. The wolf moved towards me, drool dripping from its jaws as it eyed me. But the wolf wasn’t alone, right? Where were the others? I turned my head to look for them. That was a mistake.

The wolf in front of me launched itself when I tried to look away. I jumped to the side as fast as I could, which was enough for me to dodge the jaws of the beast as it went for my neck. Its teeth missed me, but the weight of the wolf hitting my shoulder tosses me like I weigh nothing.

I now had space, but my chest now throbs in pain. I hear growls behind me. A glance back and I spot four more wolves approaching, spread enough to prevent escape. These not nearly as large as the original, but still far larger than I was. With the thought of the original, I turned to see it approaching at the same steady pace it had before.

I had little time, the space I had left to work with was steadily decreasing. I launch a spear of flame towards the largest, trying to push it back. The beast yelps but jumps out of the way easily enough. That reaction was the best I could hope for. I throw out a wave of flame at the four smaller wolves and run past them as they focus on evading my distraction. I’d rather take my chances against the four smaller ones than the original. The beast just felt stronger somehow.

After breaching their line, I run as fast as I can, jumping along roots and avoiding the underbrush. I felt fearful, but it was manageable. I could fight these if I had to, I wasn’t defenceless, not against them. Some things I’ll never be able to go against; the Titans and maybe the hawk from before, but these wolves are just big dingoes. We hunted them all the time back in my tribe. The wolves would tear me apart if they got a hold of me, but they weren’t unbeatable.

Turning my head, I smother the dread trying to rise within me as I saw the wolves catching up. I launch myself at the nearest tree, grab a hold of the bark lining the trunk, and pull myself up. I burn my hands into the tree where there isn’t anywhere to grab and rise to the branches of the canopy.

With a foothold underneath me, I glanced down at the wolves. And of course, they were trying to climb the trunk behind me. Their sharp claws dig deeply into the wood, letting them climb the trees as if they were walking on normal ground.

I consider jumping off when they reached my height or maybe leaping to another tree if I could get close enough. But the sight if the original wolf sitting patiently on the roots of the forest ground simply waiting for me, made me reconsider.

This was my best opportunity. If I could knock them off the tree while they were climbing, I had a good chance to remain safe up here until they got bored and gave up.

I wait until the first wolf is almost upon me when I surprise it with a stream of flame right into its muzzle. It yelps and flinches away, its grip comes loose and falls to the ground below.

Without paying any more attention to the first wolf, I move the stream of fire towards the second not far behind, not caring about what I might set alight behind it. The second didn’t have much more time to react than the first and soon found its sibling on the ground.

The next wolf had climbed close enough that it could launch itself off the trunk, pouncing towards me. In a panic, I sent out a quick burst in its direction, which fortunately was enough to either distract it or push it off course enough that it flew over my head as I duck. The wolf sailed far through the air before landing in a particularly large section of undergrowth.

Snapping myself away from watching the creature’s descent, berating myself for being distracted, I turned to find the last wolf missing. Looking underneath the branch I had been standing on revealed nothing. Where was it? Had it given up? I glance back towards the big one, who was still sitting in the same position, but was directing a loud snarl towards me.

Nope, the wolf didn’t re-join the original.

I snap my attention above me. Almost too late, I bring my arms up to protect myself. The wolf bit down hard on my arms as my back slams into the branch below me. If I wasn’t in such a horrifying position, I would have praised my luck not to have fallen into the waiting maws below.

Pain rushed through my arms, it felt like they were being torn apart. The sharp teeth of the wolf filled my vision, pushing closer towards my head. I could barely keep the beast at bay through the pain. In desperation, I pushed as much of my flame into the wolf’s open gullet as I could. The pained howls roared into my face as the beast continued to push its razor jaw towards me.

After an eternal moment, I felt the wolf’s cries end and the beast fell limp on top of me. I felt the flames within it burn away much faster at the flesh than I thought possible for anyone but the elders. Gloria burned quickly too, and I considered if it was possible that all creatures outside the desert were as unresistant to fire as I had seen. I remember creatures of the desert taking a lot more punishment before they burn.

I probably got stronger too, but I knew I was still nowhere close to the strength and power the rest of my tribe had. I pull my flame from the wolf, stopping the burn and trying to retain as much of the body as I could. Uncle had always stressed the importance of using everything from our kills, that we should use anything that remains of other creatures to allow them to be useful even in death.

I pushed the heavy weight of the wolf off myself and let it fall below. I cradle my aching arms to my chest and look down. One wolf pulls another out of the undergrowth it had fallen. The original kept its growl rolling through the air between us as it glares up at me. With a final snarl in my direction, it barked at the other wolves before marching off in the other direction of my tree.

Did they finally give up? I watch as the wolf that was trapped and the one that helped it out, gave a glance at the ground below me before following the original away. I let the relief fill me for a moment, before I realised that there should still be one more wolf around. Looking down, the ground around the tree was burning, but not too far outside the flames was one wolf, dead. Its head bent at an odd angle. Did it snap its neck after falling down?

I should put out the fire before it ruins the creature’s pelt. Well, I should, but I’m still hesitant to come down with the wolves so close. Did they leave because they had already lost so many? Was it because of the fire? If I had realised how prone they were to burning earlier, this whole situation would have been much easier to deal with.

Honestly, I shouldn’t even be scared of them.

A sudden jolt of pain through my arms reminds me they could still hurt me, and I change my thought.

I shouldn’t have been that scared of them.

Well, if they were as scared of fire as I was of water, then I should be fine to continue on.

My arms hurt too much to properly climb down, so I shrug to myself and jump off. Slamming into my back on the roots below hurts more than I expected, but it was nothing compared to the jolt it sent through my arms. Attempting, but failing to ignore the pain, I distract myself by extinguishing the flames burning through the bark of the tree and the surrounding undergrowth.

It’s kind of relieving that these immense trees aren’t easy to burn, it makes preventing the spread of flames effortless. After what happened in Morne, I know I have to be a lot more careful not to let my flames spread too much. It’s still shocking to me how much damage it could do.

Uncle told me I shouldn’t waste resources, I should take the pelts whenever I could. But right now, being bogged down by a couple of wolf skins is the last thing I need. So, to not disrespect uncle’s memory, I send my flame out and consume the corpses. If I was with my tribe, this would be far too wasteful, but I’m not. I can’t do everything how we did back then.

I take as much energy from the animals as I can, before resuming my hike in the direction I believe is west. I can’t see the moon anymore with how dense the foliage had become, but I hope I was heading the right way. Now I just need to pay attention to my surroundings, so those wolves don't corner me again.