[Pippin]

Anjo

TW: Burning to death(This topic is touched on in all 3 posts)

Fire edged her vision, darkness claiming the spots between the bright points of flame. This wasn't right. This was her old home, but she had escaped the fire. Right? She had survived. A scream of pain sounded from somewhere in the raging inferno, almost lost amidst the roar of fire. Anjo turned her head in the direction she though the sound had come from. She had a duty to her herd to try and save as many as she could, she had to try. But didn't everyone die? She shook her head in confusion trying to peace together what was happening now to what she knew had already happened. But when another scream sounded she lost all reason and plunged into the depths of the world on fire seeking for her herd and family.

She soon was completely lost within the forest, fire licking as her sides and smoke burning her eyes and choking her. The screams now came more and more often, seeming to be all around her but she now only had one goal. Get out. Get out. Get out. But she could not find the way out, fire blocked her in, smoke confused her scene of direction. Panic now led her actions. Suddenly the form of a horse was before her. "Mother?" She coughed out staggering to a stop. "You left us!" The figure of her mother spoke. "You let us all die!" The older mare was now aflame and Anjo screamed and fell to her knees. "I'm sorry!" She sobbed. "I tired to come back! I tired!" Hey mother was gone, consumed by fire and now that very same flame came from Anjo. Unlike before she didn't run. She stayed on her knees as the fire reached her and set her fur aflame, eating into her flesh and devouring her soul and body.

Pain. That was all Anjo knew. The fire in her soul burned and burned. Then slowly darkness came. She fell into it and as the darkness claimed her, the pain ended and Anjo knew no more. The darkness went on and on, there was no end to it. No reason to it. No knowing it. No escaping it. But then, finely, there was an end. 

Anjo opened her eyes to an empty bleak grey world. A dead world. The sky over head was black, no stars, no moon. Nothing. Somewhere a pale light light the place to flow weakly, though she couldn't see more than a few paces before her. She looked around and when her eyes landed back at the space before her it was no longer empty. A horse stood there. Was it a horse? It held the shape of one. But the thing seemed to be made fully a black twisting smoke, with gray smoke where eyes should have been. Dread filled her heart. "Who are you? Where am I?" She asked, trying to sound brave but her voice felt frail and weak. "This is the in between. You are dead and I am hear to judge your soul worthy or not." His voice hissed out and Anjo shivered at the uncaring menace it held. 

Dead? The fire. But she had escaped. She hadn't died. Right? She had gotten away. Or had that been a dream? Dead. She shivered again. "Judged for what?" She asked, wondering if she really wanted to know. "If you are worthy to ascended, or if you belong in hell." The not horse spoke. She had lived a good life. She was kind and good, and did all she could for her herd. But then the flaming image of her mother flashed before her eyes, accursing her. Fear gripped her. "You will spend the rest of entirety in Hell. To atone for your sins." The creature said and before Anjo could even fight for her soul it was gone and the world again went black. 

Slowly, light grew again and Anjo got the first glimpse of what her hell was to be.        


A z z y

[Pippin]

It was a forest? But no, something was all wrong about it. The trees looked twisted, barren, dead. There was also something that seemed just out of sight, a flicker of light at the edges of vision that didn't seem to get any closer when Anjo tired to reach it. She soon realized that it was fire, the visible horizon on all sides was on fire. She shivered and stopped her senseless walking forward. Even though it seemed that she could not reach that flicking fire she did even want to try. Fear licked at her bonds just as assuredly as the flames had, knowing it surrounded her, caged her in. Anjo shivered once more and closed her eyes. Why was she here? What had she done to deserve an afterlife in hell? 'You left your heard to die.' An inner voice sounded in her head, accusing. 'But I didn't!' Anjo found herself thinking back at the voice, 'I'm dead too.. I didn't leave anyone.' She shook head head and closed her eyes tighter as if she could block out that voice with darkness. 'They are all dead because of you.' The voice taunted, 'You could have saved them if only you tired harder.' Anjo whimpered, the desire to fall to her knees as she had done when the fire had claimed her so strong she almost let it win. Let that voice win. "No." She sent back to the voice, shocked for a moment to hear the word spoken aloud and just in her her head. That shock was doubled as the voice answered her, also spoken aloud and from somewhere in front of Anjo, "They died because you where not good enough to save them."

Her eyes snapped open and Anjo found herself face to face with, herself. Only it wasn't quite her, the odd gray that coved parts of Anjo was muted and almost over taken by the black fur. Her soft Chocolate Brown eyes looked cold and mean. "That's not true." Anjo responded, finding her bravery and standing taller. "There was nothing I could do, no one expected that fire. It would have been a miracle to get everyone out alive. To even get one out alive." She glared at her double, "I can't be blamed for a freak storm of nature." Her double seemed to snarl at her in a sound that was so unhorse Anjo almost lost her nerve again. But she held her ground. "It wasn't my fault, and I shouldn't have been dammed to hell for something I had no power over." Then her double made that snarl again and reared up on his legs, pawing the air with deadly forehooves. When it landed back on all four the double rushed forward. Anjo tensed ready to meet the mare head on. But before the double reached Anjo it broke apart, falling into many smaller winged shadows. Bats. They broke around Anjo, pulling her mane and tail in a furry of wind and high pitch screeches. She ducked her head and ran, kicking out backwards as the bats tried to follow. Almost all at once the bats stopped there flight after her and faded away into the gloomy black. Anjo pulled herself to a stop panting hard. 

Slowly she became aware that she was standing in a shallow pool of something, sticky and warm. It looked black, an oily stain upon the ground but as she lifted one hoof up she saw it covered in deep red. With a cry Anjo scrambled backwards out of what she now knew was a pool of blood. As she moved she saw a still form laying not far off. Then it moved, weakly lifting up it's head to look her way. Wondering what torment now awaited her Anjo crept forward, skirting all the blood covering the ground. She was now closes enough to see what the thing was. She felt her heart break as she saw the form of her father, his once strong and proud face covered in blood, his eyes clouded and filled with pain. "Father!" She gasped and rushed the last few steps forward. She bought her head down to his level but pulled back an instant before touching him. Uncertainty filling her. "Listen my sweet Anjo." He all but whispered and she had to dip her head even closer to here his words. "I risked much to get here to you," A moan of pain from him interrupted his words and she realized that the pooling blood was coming from him, "I don't know what he'll do to me. But I had to see you. Tell you." His head dropped back to the ground for a moment and Anjo feared he would not be able to continue. He seemed to pull strength from some inner place and lifted his head once more. "You don't belong here." His gaze cleared for a moment and she was caught in his stare. "You need to find a way out. Now before it is too late." She shook her head, "Father I don't understand." She said but his eyes bored into her and she fell quite. "Anjo. You need to escape." The strength he had seemed to find faltered and his head dropped again. "Find your way home. I love you Anjo." She could hardly hear the last part of his words and then he was gone, the only sign of his being here the cooling pool of blood. 
      
With an effort Anjo lifted her head and gazed around. 'Find my way home.' She thought to herself wondering what her father had meant. Home. With a new degermation growing in her heart and soul Anjo started walking forward once more, her thoughts running circles and circles around her fathers words.  

[Pippin]

Anjo hadn't been walking for long before the twisted tress about her started to close in, closer and closer. Until the flickering fire that bordered her hell was blocked from sight and she was forced to walk down one small path. Then her path ended. Anjo thought at first that she would have to turn around but as she got to the ending she saw that the path branched out in two different ways. She stopped and looked left and then right wondering what crossroad to take. From the left it looked as if the trees started to branch out again, and as far as she could tell she did not see the wall of fire at the edge of view. On the right, the tress looked closer than ever and at the end of the dead tunnel the fire seemed even closer and brighter. 'You have to find the way out...' The thought echoed in her mind again. She looked both ways again, the open and easy look path tempting her. But Anjo knew. She knew deep down that the way out was towards the fire. Towards danger. Towards fear. So taking a deep breath in and than out Anjo turned right and started down the dark closed path, towards the fire. 

Soon she could feel the heat, it pressed in from all sides. She thought she could see fire in-between the tress on either side, though they where so close together it was almost impossible to see past them. Every step forward Anjo could feel her own fear mounting, as if it the emotion was not hers to control. She could almost taste it. Or was that smoke she was tasting? Without warring the forest fell away around her and the fire was right there. All around, yet not touching her. It reached out on either side, racing away to incircle the place she now found herself. A clearing she thought for if she looked hard enough she could see more tress just beyond the flames. In the middle of the clearing was the ruins of some kind a man made building. It's walls blackened and scared from fire, windows broken and edge jagged. Anjo thought she saw movement within, a darker shadowing moving against the other shadows within the window. With slow steps she approached the ruined building and entered the dark door. 

For many heartbeats Anjo saw nothing, the light of the fire did not seem to reach inside the building and it was darker than the blackest night inside. But slowly a glow seemed to grow, from everywhere and nowhere at the same time and standing in the middle of the big room was a Sorrel Sabino mare, with feathered wings that seemed to envelop the world and sad violet eyes that held Anjo in there grasp. "Who.. who are you?" Anjo asked, her voice a whisper as she crept closer. "My name is Bittersweet Violet." The mare said simply. "I am an angel of your world. Anjo you do not belong here." Anjo shook her head, "But how am I here? How do I get out?" Bittersweet Violet was suddenly before Anjo, the distance between them gone in a heartbeat. "You need to face the fire Anjo. Face your fear. Find your brother." The angel paused, her muzzle lightly touching Anjo on the head before she went on. "But most importantly, you need to find forgiveness." Then the angel was gone, the softly glowing light with her. But now Anjo could see the flickering light of the fire though the broken windows. 

Anjo made her way back out of the building, the path she had entered into the clearing was now also covered with the flames. They circled her completely. Face the fire. Well that part of the angels words made sense. Anjo had to cross the wall of fire. And, she assumed, somewhere beyond that wall of fire was her brother. Slowly Anjo moved closer to the fire, the memory of how it burned and ate at her flesh like a brand in her mind. Fear shook her and she stopped, the flames a few small steps before her. "You can do it." She spoke aloud to herself. Then she took the last few steps. Through the fire. It grabbed for her, licked her, tired to hold her back but with a cry Anjo rush forward and suddenly she was past the wall. She kept going, dodging tress and leaving the fire far behind. When she could no longer see the flames anymore Anjo stopped running. 

Maybe some outside force had been guiding her flight because before her Anjo saw the familiar form of her younger brother laying on the ground. With a cry of glee Anjo raced forward but suddenly stopped dead as she saw that her brother did not move. He was as blackened and charred as the ruined building she had left behind. Anjos joy died and she feel to the ground at his side. "Oh brother.. I am sorry." She wept. She hadn't been able to save any of her herd. But her brother, her baby brother. Why had she gotten out and he did not? What right was there in that? Why could she not have at least saved him? "It wasn't your fault sister." A soft voice filled the air, her brothers voice, it came from all around her and Anjo looked up from his body and glanced around. But she saw nothing. "Anjo." He spoke again as her eyes came back to rest on his still form. "It was not your fault. You need to forgive yourself. You need to let go and live." But how could she do that? It was her fault they all died. Her fault she hadn't been good enough to save anyone. "Do it for me big sister." His voice sounded once more and Anjo felt hot tears roll down her face.

"How?" She whispered. "Just start with forgiveness." He spoke, "The rest will come." Slowly Anjo nodded her head, she would  try. "Say it." He urged, a demand in his voice. "I forgive myself. I know the fire that killed... that killed you all was not my fault." She spoke, her voice gaining strength. She touched her muzzle onto the burnt body of her brother and as his body started to glow and her own with him she spoke once more. "I will live for you. I love you." Then all was erased in a blinding flash of light.

Anjo started awake. Still lying in the place she had chosen to sleep for the night. Far far away from the place she had called home and the fire that destroyed her family and herd and life. A dream? Had that only been a dream? But it had felt so real. "I promise baby brother. I promise." Anjo found herself saying. She would live for him. She would. Dawn was not far off and Anjo knew she would sleep no more, so she got up and left the small hollow and again started the long journey she had set forth on. Seeking a new home, a new life.                      

[Pippin]

A z z y

Words:
Post 1: 666
Post 2: 964
Post 3: 1197
Total: 2827

Additional points:
Bat Country!
Trick or Treat
Raining Blood
Creaking Doors, Squeaking Floors
Birds of a feather
A friendly face
Hearing Voices
Frayed Edges
One way ticket