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Slowly Burning Flower

CharOhCoal
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Chapter 1 - Prologue: Falling Stars

High above the world of Lillyflora a huge white lilly floated, suspended in the air by the natural magic of the planet. This lilly was the life blood of this planet, one could tell how well the planet was doing by simply looking up and seeing the splendid petals bloom outward, glistening with life and vibrancy.

Every creature on the planet when they were born received their own lilly of life, albeit much smaller than the planets. At the moment of any creatures birth a bright light would appear and reveal their lilly to them, then it would fly high into the sky and join the great white lilly floating idly by. The colors of the creatures lilies of life varied greatly some had blue lilies, some had purple lilies some red and so on and so forth. It was said in some folklore that you could tell how grand someone would be by the brightness of the light their lilly emitted as well as the type of magic they would have an affinity for by the color. Over a vast period of time hundreds and thousands and even millions of colorful floating lilies dotted the sky. When the sun fell behind the horizon the lilies let off a soft shimmering light that made the whole sky twinkle like a million stars overhead.

On one particular night, when the lilies shined like no other letting off the most beautiful light, a child was born. Born to a loving couple on the outskirts of the kingdom of Glade. The father held the babe in his hands having just finished wrapping him in a blanket. He stared down at the baby with complete awe. He waited until the midwife helped his wife sit up before sitting next to her on the bed and handing her their child.

"He's beautiful isn't he?" The father said.

"So beautiful. The most beautiful thing in this world." The mother said as tears gently fell down her face. She wiped her face with her sleeve and looked out the window as her husband asked, "What are we gonna name him?" The mother began thinking while staring hard at her child's face. She squinted her yellow-aburn eyes and then sighed, she couldn't think of anything. Just as she was about to give up and relent, letting her husband pick the name, a bright light assailed her eyes.

As the light died down a bright red lilly was visible. It hovered in front of the newborn looking as though it had been warmed by the sun, it radiated warmth and let off a soft warm light. The baby gurgled in happiness reaching his hand out to touch the lilly slightly brushing against the pedals before the flower sped out the window and up into the sky. When it reached the others a red hue lit up the night sky followed quickly by a wave of multicolored flashes. The light show only lasted for a few moments but all who witnessed it said it was the most beautiful thing they had seen.

The mother, father and midwife stared out the window in amazement at the brilliance of the lights. The mother smiled knowing that whatever had just occurred was the fault of her darling child. She turned to him with a thoughtful expression on her face. She smiled warmly at him and said, "Sol,

Your name shall be Sol."

**********

Years passed and Sol inherited wild black hair from his father and piercings yellow-auburn eyes from his mother. Sol was a quisitive young boy. By the age of five he was following his father around the house asking him what, why and how things worked. His parents were happy to indulge his curiosity and nearly never scolded him for asking rude or offensive questions. They would smile and tell him that next time he needed to work on his phrasing but would answer the question regardless.

One night when Sol had asked his parents repeatedly to the see the lilies of life at night they gave in. The two of them were sitting outside on the shabby wooden fence around their house with Sol in-between them looking up excitedly at the sky. The two parents shared a knowing look expecting an onslaught of questions.

"What's that?" Asked a curious Sol pointing towards something smoldering and falling from the sky. His father's face darkened looking at it and he didn't reply for a long time. His mother however tried to change the subject.

"Sol, honey, it's getting late maybe you should go to be-" before she could finish her sentence Sol's father spoke.

"It means that someone has died." He said in a harsh tone. "When we are born our lilies fly into the sky and when we die they fall, plummeting back to the earth. Someone has died tonight there is nothing to be curious about. It is sad and tragic." His father said with a serious tone. He pulled his son into a tight hug as the wife hurriedly did the same. At first Sol didn't react. He didn't know how to react but knowing that his father was pained in some way Sol hugged him back and then asked a question that sent shivers down his fathers spine.

"Father, if it was just one person then why are there so many?" Sol asked softly. Sol's father turned around to see what Sol was talking about only to be met with a scene of absolute horror as thousands of burning lilies plummeted from the sky. Smoke filled the sky as panic set in for the two parents. Sol's mother quickly snatched him up and darted off towards the house only to stop halfway when her husband wasn't behind her. She turned around to look for him.

He was still standing by the fence but slowly turned to face her. Blood poured from his eyes and mouth as a burning lilly hovered slightly next to his head. He reached his hand out towards his wife that he had loved for all his life and the lilly dropped to the ground as he did. She shoved Sol's head into her shoulder stopping him from seeing his fathers corpse as tears rolled down her cheeks.

She grabbed his face to look at him and say something but as she was about to speak blood spilled forth from her lips and streaked down her face in the place of her tears. In front of her face hovered a small smoldering lilly it fell weakly to the ground and all she could do was muster a small smile on her face as she slumped forward and stopped breathing.

Sol stared down at his mother with shock all over his features. He reached out a trembling hand but was stopped by the midwife who had been a long time friend of his parents and helped to take care of him. She had been over for that reason today and had witnessed the death of two dear friends. She hugged their child crying with all her might as Sol stood there hand outstretched slightly unable to make a sound as tears rolled down his face silently.