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Get up, get off, get out of the door You're playing cold music on the bar room floor, drowned in your laughter and dead to the core There's a dragon with matches loose on the town Take a whole pail of water just to cool him down Fire - Fire on the Mountain Fire - Fire on the mountain Almost aflame still you don't feel the heat Takes all you got just to stay on the beat You say it's a living, we all gotta eat but you're here alone there's no one to compete If mercy's in business I wish it for you More than just ashes when your dreams come true Fire - Fire on the mountain Fire - Fire on the mountain Long distance runner what you holdin' out for? Caught in slow motion in your dash to the door The flame from your stage has now spread to the floor You gave all you got, why you wanta give more? The more that you give, why, the more it will take to the thin line beyond which you really cannot fake There's a fire Fire on the mountain -Grateful Dead, "Fire on the Mountain" *** Chiami woke slowly, coming alive to a world she didn't remember. The first sensation to register was warmth. A slowly fading warmth that suffused her entire being. She felt at first drifting, then it was as though she was cradled in the soft arms of a caring mother. Wait, she didn’t have a mother. Did she? How did she know what a mother was? Her train of thought was interrupted when the warmth cooled suddenly and she shivered. She could feel a frigid breeze ruffling her feathers. Feathers? Fur? Skin? The confusion caused her to open her eyes. The bright blue sky made her shut them again. Why was she here? Were was here? She could smell something... something was burning, or had been... the breeze was carrying the scent away almost before she could catch it. Was the forest on fire? Alarm jerked her upright and her eyes flew open again. This time the shock wasn't so severe, and she only needed to shield her eyes from the glare of what she assumed to be the early morning sun. Forest? What was a forest? She knew a moment ago, but she'd forgotten between then and now. On the verge of tears, Chiami curled up, bringing her knees up under her chin and wrapping her arms around her legs. If only she had something to protect her from the chill. If only she could remember how she'd gotten here, who she was... It would be helpful. She shivered. There was no sound, which somehow, she thought was strange. She didn't know why or how, but something told her that this area should be singing with sounds, both in the trees and the sky, and from the ground. She seemed to remember chirping sounds, but when she pushed, that memory too disappeared. A single, salty tear made a trail down her cheek and dripped onto the grass she sat upon. She thought it made a strange noise when it touched the grass, but then, how was she to know? She couldn't remember what sort of sound it was supposed to make in the first place. Well, one thing was certain; she couldn't just sit here curled up in a ball for the rest of her life. She thought she remembered that as the day wore on, it got warmer, and then darker and colder. That would be bad, because she was already freezing. When she stood, she discovered that she'd forgotten how to walk, too, and flailed her arms instinctively to stay upright. It didn't work, needless to say, and she flopped over backwards, with an indignant 'oof.' Humph. That was no good at all. Chiami crawled over to a nearby tree (she was pleased that she could remember what it was called... either that or she'd made up the word on the fly) and used it to prop herself up against as she stood slowly. For a moment, she thought she'd gotten the hang of it, but then the young girl wobbled dangerously and had to clutch desperately at the tree again. It scraped her hands, and for the first time, she looked at herself. She didn't know why, but for some reason the pale fingers and arms looked foreign. But then again, she couldn't remember much of anything, so it made sense that she didn't recognize herself, didn't it? She also thought there was something missing from her body, though the only thing she could think of was something to keep her warmer. The wind was dying down a bit, and the sun warming up, but her bare skin was still goose bumped from the cold. She'd figure that out later. Right now, all she needed to do was learn how to walk. Or re-learn, whichever the case turned out to be. It took the better part of the morning, but somewhere in there, she remembered how to balance and move properly, and soon she was walking at a brisk pace through the trees. It still seemed too quiet to Chiami, so she sang to herself softly. She didn't know the tune, but if she just let her voice do what it pleased, something pretty came out, so she didn't worry too much about it. It amused her a moment later when life seemed to return to the air. Did she sing them back? Who knew; she sure didn't. After a short time of walking, her bare feet began to hurt, and she looked at them, surprised to see them scratched and red, and her hand came away sticky-moist and stained red when she touched the sole of one foot. That was probably not a good thing, but she couldn't think of anything to do about it at the moment. She didn't have anything to cover her feet with, and she sure wasn't going to try walking on her hands. She needn't have worried. Well, at least not too much. The forest had been getting more and more open as she progressed, and a moment or two more of walking brought her to the edge of the trees, and she peered out onto a vast grassland, specked here and there with a squat, sprawling sort of tree. Chiami slumped to the ground, tears once again stinging her eyes as the pain in her feet suddenly hit her. She leaned up against the last tree, trying to ignore the hot pain. No longer shielded by a canopy of leaves, the sun beat down on her skin, warming her. She enjoyed the warmth, though after a while, it hurt too. Which confused her. However, before she could wonder why she was confused by that fact, she caught sight of a movement out on the plains. She couldn't see it very well; there were disturbances in the air that she seemed to remember as being caused by heat. That memory pleased her for a moment, but then her world began to go dark. Or perhaps light. It was very warm, but she cooled suddenly, and felt very sleepy. She should take a nap; it had been a long morning. Her head slumped forward, and she fell sideways, before whatever had been moving in her direction had even gotten close enough to hear the faint rustling sound she made as she hit the ground. And it had very sharp senses. Back | Next |