The Fire Child: Chapter 1
The Fire Child: Chapter 1
Draden stood up on the chair, placing his front paws on the stove top. His tail wagged slowly back and forth as he stared out the kitchen window. Outside of the house, the sun was setting behind the tall hills. It made the hills black and the sky orange and red. It was like the hills were a charred log in a fireplace and the sky was the fiery hue caused by the flames that ate away at the log. It was hot enough in the kitchen that it sure felt like the hills could have been on fire. Draden knew better though, he had witnessed and marveled at the sunset many times before, it was different each time, but always seemed to end with the world beyond the hills catching fire.
The soft tone of his mother's voice rang out from behind him, "Paws off the stove, Draden." There was a hint of sternness in her voice, so the wolf pup quickly did as she commanded. He brought his paws down on the chair and turned around to look at his mother, sitting in a very wolf-like fashion with a small smile on his face.
If she didn't know better, she would have thought Draden was a feral wolf pup. Most of his kind were anthropomorphic, meaning they were structured very similar to a human. But Draden wasn't like that, sure he was still the same species, but he had the rarest traits of his kind. He was shaped mostly like a wolf. He was not able to walk or stand on his hind legs for long, his paws were not hand paws, but were very similar to wolf paws. He didn't have the opposable thumb that allowed people to grab objects and hold them for an indefinite amount of time. However, he wasn't the same as a feral. His paws, arms, and legs were slightly more flexible than a feral has, allowing him to pick objects up and hold onto them for a long period of time, but not very easily. Draden's dark gold eyes, while shaped very much like a wolf, were able to see colors. Unlike a feral, Draden had the capacity to think as much as any human. He was also capable of speaking and smiling, while a feral was not. It was easy to mistake him for a feral, he even acted like one most of the time, but he really wasn't.
His mother was different, though. She was had the common anthropomorphic traits. Her body was structured a lot like a female human would be. She had the capacity to think as well as a human. She could talk and smile, and often did. She had two breasts instead of the many nipples that she-wolves had. She could walk and stand on her hind legs, and even found it easier than walking on all fours. Her paws were very similar to that of human hands, having distinctive fingers and even an opposable thumb. However she was quite different from a human as well. She retained distinctive wolf details. She had a head that was shaped very much like a wolf. Her cool silver eyes were distinctively wolfish as well. She had a tail that subconsciously moved according to her emotions. Like Draden, she was covered in black wolf fur.
She smiled at the little wolf pup as his dark gold eyes locked with hers. She walked up to him, still staring into those eyes and spoke in a warm loving voice to him, "You have your fathers eyes, Draden." He responded by wagging his tail faster and smiling at her. She reached down and scritched him behind his ears. His hind leg started to kick at the chair while she scritched behind his ears. She laughed at the sight and patted him on the head, "That's another thing your father used to do." She leaned down and kissed the pup's forehead.
Draden smiled at his mother as she stood up straight and turned her attention to something she was stirring in a large bowl on the counter. He liked hearing about his father. Draden never knew him, but had learned a few things about him from his mother. He was a grey wolf, who had the same eyes as him. He was usually happy and loved talking about life and how it worked. Something Draden didn't really understand. Why talk about life when you were already experiencing it? His mother didn't know what his father did for work; it was apparently a big secret. One day, his father's work needed him to go somewhere else for an indefinite amount of time. His father told his mother it was too dangerous to take her with him and eventually vanished to never be heard of again. Draden's mother later found out she was pregnant and had Draden. She had moved on after he was born, there was no point in dwelling on the past when you had a pup to take care of by yourself.
Of course, it wasn't that simple. Nothing involving that many emotions could ever be as simple as, "moving on." She had shed many tears and said many harsh things about his father before he was born. She suspected the grey wolf of cheating on her and leaving for another wolf, she was extremely upset. It made no sense to her, but after she had Draden, she came to a decision. She was going to love the little wolf pup, even though he was a constant reminder of his father. Draden would fill the hole that was left in her from when his father had left, and for all Draden knew, it had worked. She was always kind with him, of course she had to be strict at times, but he knew she loved him. All she ever did was give Draden care for him and give him love. He was never a large problem, which made loving him so much easier.
Outside, it seemed to get brighter and the room got hotter. Perhaps, the sun wasn't setting, but was actually rising. Draden did have problems distinguishing between the two, how long had he been up? Was his mother making breakfast or dinner? He sniffed the air to see if he could figure out what she was mixing in the large bowl on the counter. He could smell cooked meat in the air, causing his stomach to rumble. He reached up and tugged on one of his mother's pant legs. She looked down at him, smiling as he spoke, "Mommy, I'm hungry." The black wolf pup's dark gold eyes looked up into her cool silver eyes, begging for something to eat. She gave a small laugh and ruffled the fur on his head, "I guess we're just going to have to make you something to eat, Draden. Aren't we?" He nodded his head eagerly and turned to the stove, putting his paws up on top of it again.
"Paws off the stove, Draden." his mother's voice rang out again. Draden quickly took his paws off the stove and sat in that wolf-like fashion on the chair, craning his neck to look up onto the stove. He was too short to really see what she put on the stove; his head was level with the burners. He looked up through the metal rings, watching as his mother placed a pan over one of them.
He leaned forward, sniffing to see if he could try to figure out what she had in the pan. She pushed his nose back while saying, "Move back, hun. We don't want you to get burned." Draden did as she said, but didn't understand why. He was careful and knew what he was doing; he had never been burned before. One time he even put a paw on the burner when the little knob had said "on." It was warm, but didn't hurt him. He didn't understand why the stove was so dangerous; perhaps the burner wasn't working right. Wasn't it the burner she had just put the pan on? He was pretty sure it was.
He looked up and saw that his mother was more focused on putting things in the pan than on what he was doing. He smiled and pushed his head up to the pan and sniffed, he could smell cooked meat. Her paw reached down and turned a knob as he stared under the metal ring. A small blue flame leapt up underneath the ring, directly in front of Draden's eyes. He yelped and moved his head back away from the burner quickly.
The burner was suddenly engulfed in flames; he quivered in fear, staring at the inferno on the stove top. This wasn't right, he knew it. The fire was dangerous, it was bad, and it was everywhere. He leapt off the chair and ran across the room; the room had caught on fire. He moved to go in the hall and stopped, he had forgotten something in the kitchen. What was it? He wasn't sure, but he had to go back and get it, it was important.
He turned around, looking through the mass of fire. The room seemed to be gone; it was now just a large field of flames leaping up at monstrous levels, infinitely large. He saw a black object far off in the distance, he couldn't quite make out what it was, but that must have been what he had forgotten. It was important and he couldn't just leave it behind. He slowly made his way across the fiery field, approaching the object. He wasn't sure of what it was.
Somewhere from behind him he heard something, he couldn't quite make out what it was, but it sounded like his name. He looked behind him, seeing nothing there. He stared for a while into the mass of fire behind him, wondering what it was, and then slowly turned his attention back to the object. He started walking towards it again, as he got closer he could smell burnt flesh in the air. He shivered and whimpered, he really wanted to leave, but it was too important to leave behind. What was it?
He stopped again, hearing a voice behind him call out, "Draden!" This time he was sure it had said that, the voice sounded familiar, but he wasn't sure who it belonged to. He looked and saw something off in the distance behind him; it seemed to be approaching him. What was that? He squinted his eyes, but wasn't able to make it out. He slowly started back towards the first object, it was large, and probably three times his size.
The smell of burnt flesh started to fill his nose as he was practically on top of the object. He looked down at it, even reached out to touch it. It was badly charred and had a familiar shape. What was it? It was so important, and even this close he wasn't sure. That voice called out behind him again, much more clear and louder, "Draden!!" It was the voice of another boy, one he was sure he had heard before, but was still unable to place. He looked behind him and saw the object was getting closer to him; it was a white wolf pup.
"Draden!!!" the pup shouted out as it bounded towards him. Draden stared at the pup, the familiar voice fit with the pup, he knew who it was. He glanced down at the charred object, the sickly smell of burning flesh stronger than ever now. Draden looked up and the pup leapt through the air at him, shouting his name, "Draden!!!!!!" Draden whispered in shock, "Ketch?"
Draden's eyes snapped open as he felt something smack him hard against the head. He stood up immediately, snarling in an attack position. There was an intense heat surrounding the wolf pup, along with a glow that let him see out a few feet into the darkness. In front of him stood a white wolf pup that was a little larger than Draden, holding his paws up in the air and shouting out, "Whoa! Whoa! Calm down, Draden! It's just me, Ketch!"
Draden glared at Ketch, his snarling slowly stopped and he sat down. The cave suddenly went dark and Draden shivered as the heat that had surrounded him disappeared. His eyes started to focus to the darkness and he stared at Ketch. The white wolf pup sat down next to him and spoke, "You were sleeping, Draden... Was it the same dream as last time?" Ketch tilted his head; he had genuine concern in his voice. Draden nodded his head; the dream had seemed so real, even the smell of the charred flesh. He shivered; he could still smell it in the air. "Do you want to talk about it?" Ketch asked as he stared at Draden. The little black pup shook his head; he never wanted to think about that dream again. Ketch nodded his head slowly, and then hugged Draden. Draden didn't move for awhile as the white wolf hugged him, and then he slowly leaned into the hug. Ketch tightened his grip around Draden, hugging him closer, not saying anything.
Ketch was like a brother to Draden. They had met a while ago in the city and ever since then had grown a strong bond to one another. Ketch would protect Draden from anything, no matter what. Even though most of the trouble Draden found himself in was caused by Ketch, Ketch would die fighting before anybody could harm Draden. If it wasn't for Ketch, Draden might not have ever made it as long as he had. Draden would do anything Ketch asked him, so long as he knew that it wasn't a joke. If any trouble happened to Ketch, Draden would step in and help, so long as Ketch didn't push him away. Ketch was very capable of getting both him and Draden into and out of trouble by himself, but Draden wasn't about to let anything happen to the other wolf without him trying to help.
Ketch let go of Draden and stood up. Draden stared at him, watching what the white wolf was doing. Like Draden's mother, Ketch was anthropomorphic. He could walk on his hind legs; grab things, think, and talk, which he did quite often. Ketch picked up a stick off the ground, probably what he used to wake Draden up. Draden rubbed his head, remembering the sharp pain that woke him.
Ketch prodded something on the ground with the stick; the smell of charred meat filled the air. Draden thought back to his dream, the object that was in the fiery field was giving off that smell. He shuddered. Ketch picked the thing up off the floor and looked over at Draden with a sigh, "You don't want to know what I had to get this steak." Ketch was right; Draden didn't want to know what he had to do to get it. Sometimes being cute and pathetic orphans was not enough to get them food, and they had to do some rather disturbing things to get it. But, Ketch could have also meant that he had to do a lot of work for the food, something Ketch hated to do and decided everybody did. Draden didn't mind working for his food, but Ketch preferred to just take it if he felt he needed it. Something Draden didn't approve of either, so Draden decided he really didn't want to know what Ketch had done to get it.
Ketch walked over to Draden holding it in his hands, it smelled of badly charred meat. Draden shuddered again, thinking back to his dream and the object that smelled just like the charred steak Ketch was holding. He realized that the object in his dream was a wolf, a badly charred one. Ketch sat next to Draden, still holding the charred meat. "I came back and saw you were covered in fire, like you usually end up when you sleep. So, I tried to cook the steak, but you burned it badly." Draden glared at Ketch as he heard this. Ketch looked over to him and then gave him an angry look, "Oh, come on Draden! We haven't had a cooked meal in forever because you don't like fire! I saw an opportunity, and took it!"
Draden looked down at the ground in shame, Ketch was right; they hadn't had anything cooked to eat. He was sure that it wouldn't be too hard for him to make a fire that they could use. After all, he often burned in his sleep or whenever he felt a strong emotion. He couldn't blame Ketch for anything anyways. He was just so afraid of fire. Fire was bad; it was used for evil more often than anything else. How could he possibly let anything like that near him? Not only that, but he was cursed with the ability to create fire out of nothing! The universe was cruel and ironic, and he never did anything to deserve this punishment.
Ketch dropped the badly burned steak on the ground. It crumbled and pieces flew off, the smell of burnt meat filled Draden's nostrils. He was instantly reminded of his dream again. The object, it was so important to him, it was so badly charred, it was a wolf, and not just any wolf, it was his mother. Draden shuddered violently and leaned over, throwing up. His mother, dead and charred beyond belief. He saw her, he touched her, he hadn't understood at the time, but that was her. He felt so sick. He threw up again; emptying his stomach of what little was left of his last meal. Ketch groaned next to him, the intoxicating smell of vomit filling the air. The white wolf pup leaned over and threw up as well. Both pups groaned at the smell. Ketch stood up and said, "Come on Draden, let's get some fresh air." The two wolf pups quickly ran out of the cave, escaping the smell of charred meat and vomit.