🔥 The Leaves

Start your story with the line, “By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire.” (Whether this is a literal fire is up to you.)

"No, young lady, this place has never met fire. These beautiful and frozen leaves can't be heated. They emit a radioactive wave that destroys everything you use to try to burn them." said the Blue Bishop. 

    "Fascinating," responded Namina, the mist coming out from her mouth, mixed with the greatness of those four-meter-high and black trees perturbed her focus. 

    "When I was young, I lost dozens of lighters playing around with these old friends." added her grandfather.

    He is lying to me. Nobody is that stupid to try more than three times the Fotia chance, she thought. "Why are you still alive?" Namina asked naively. I heard that three times is the maximum time of amounts you can disrespect the forest." 

    "Bullshit. That's what we tell people to avoid acting stupid."

    "Oh, I see. Thank you for the knowledge, grandpa. I must go to school right now,"

    "Get out of my sight." 

    "Was life better in the past, when the fire was everywhere?"

    "Sure it was, my dear Maria, sure it was...." the librarian faced down. "Food tasted amazing. You could be tooling around with your buddies and sleeping outside, too." 

    "The last time I saw those burning occurred two-hundred years ago. The fire temple controlled all the basins and plateaus of Arrakis. No object could freeze the magic leaves. Until an accident made history change. Did you know that?" he added.

    "There used to be a quote that was mentioned in thousands of scrolls said that the only form to make a fire leave froze was 'killing the poison.' For years, no one knew what that meant; the universe of that strange planet could refer to anything until a heated discussion finished by the death of the Red Bishop, the great house supervisor." 

    "Is this real?" Namina wanted to cry. Her voice gave her away.

    "It is. Look at this book. Can you read aloud the author's name, please?"

    "It says...Ekon Ros, my grandfather!"

    "Marla—the assassin and grand-daughter of the bishop's brother—after committing said misfortune, went out of the palace and saw the forest freezing. You are doing the exact same actions she did two hundred and ten years ago."

    "I need to talk to him; I got to go. Maybe he didn't know this tale!" exclaimed Namina.

    "Oh, I assure you he knows." Zane finished.

* * *

 

"Grandfather, I have a question. Why did you lie to me? I discovered the has been a fire world before this cold country."

    "Where did you hear that? It hasn't been anything like that."      

    "I know it has. I read it in the local library. And you even wrote it when you were twenty-two."

    I forgot to hide those damn papers, the bishop thought. "Insolent and arrogant, girl, keep silence."

    "Are you scared I discovered the way to turn this place hot again?" her challenging tone made her look confident.

* * *

"What happened next, grandma?" asked a young lad.

    "I pulled the trigger, Camil. And yes, by the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Beneath the trees, white moon rays lines shone in their outlines. Everything was getting hot, and nothing was being consumed—no ashes or debris. You are a fire generation, thanks to my recklessness."

Onward...