Voltage

It was not the warmth of my bed, or my warm apartment, the heat would fade from my skin and pulsate through my fingertips at the same time.  As I opened my eyes, my vision blurred, but I could see sparkles flying above me, a rich smell of burning wood filled my nose. I looked above to see the sparks flying up into the dark night. The night, just the thought made my skin cold. But something was beautiful about this night, the burning sparks faded into the bright stars that littered the sky. A sky filled with stars so bright, was something I rarely got to see. Back home we had scarred the sky, so few stars shined like what I was seeing now. I grew nostalgic, for the stars.  I remembered playing deep into the night with just the light from the stars keeping my vision from becoming completely black. 

My eyes drifted downward to the spark’s path. Two sparks danced above my face, making the urge to grab the heat impossible to resist.  But as my eye followed the spark’s path downward, in the distance the fire’s reflection echoed inside dark eyes.  My body flew backward, and crawled back. As I moved, the eyes moved out from the darkness, and stood in the light from the fire.   My body moved slowly backward, as I stared into the large wolf’s eyes. A deep growl sounded from its chest, and without any other warning, the wolf lunged forward. I flew backward into the arms of a dying tree; I closed my eyes tightly and waited to feel the jaws of the wild animal.  I felt a tear squeeze out of my eyes as I held tem tightly shut. I waited for what seemed like hours on end for the inevitable pain.

“So it is true,” A voice boomed from in front of me.  I opened my eyes so see a man crouched by the fire with his eyes on me.  His thick black hair tied away from his face with a leather band, leaving a few stray hairs dancing in his face.  He was dressed in thick animal hides, leathers laced with leather bands, and his jacket lined with fur.

“Excuse me?” I asked him. As my eyes snapped to the dark wolf that now sat obediently at his feet, staring at me as if it secretly wanted to kill every inch of me.

“You bring life when there is only death.” He said as his eyes shifted off me into the tree that I clung to.  My eyes wondered down to my hand that rest on the darkened roots. But I did not see the black roots, nor did I see my hand, I only see the pure electricity that surrounded my fingers in a wave of purple smoke and mist. I moved my hand quickly from the roots, and the lightning died within the tree. I turned away from the man, to the tree, where my eyes followed the dissipating electricity through the tree to see the first sign of a flowering bud.   I watched the purple wave suction to the first bud, and intensify the electric sparks that surrounded the flower, it began to unfold and bloom before my eyes.  It was unlike anything I had ever seen. I sat confused, staring at the tree, and soon the tree glow brightly of purple smoke and tiny sparks. I sat only feet from the tree, slowly backing away; taking in the whole sight of the new life it had been given. Soon flowering buds covered the trees branches, and with every flower came an intense wave of electricity, making the tree brighter, more beautiful, and almost breathing with life.   I couldn't peel my eyes away from the tree as the last bud began to bloom. The wave of purple electricity swallowed down into the tree trunk and disappeared into the sparkling ground.  The ground began to shake; I felt life beginning to form beneath my body as tiny blades of grass poked through the sparkling dirt.

“You are our gift, you are to return this land to a time of life.” I turned from the tree, back to the man. A motion that reminded me of the wound I have acquired in in the pond. But as my fingers traced my stomach, the wound was gone, as if nothing had ever happened. 

The man’s eyes followed my fingertips across my stomach. “You see, as you give life, life rewards you.” He paused and moved closer to me, “a wolf’s kiss is as sweet and rare as capturing the first drop of rain.” The statement shifted my eye from the man to the over-sized darkened wolf that lay still by the burning ember. The wolf’s eyes snapped to me, and for one moment I saw the real beauty inside the large wolf. The wolf had saved me once again, I felt my heart yield as I began to think of being inside the boulders, the wolf had given me a second chance, but not only that he had saved me tonight as well.

I felt the wind blow my hair from my shoulders. “You must be on your way.” The man said shortly, “if you remember any of this, remember that if you believe it makes it possible.” The wind surrounded me, as I looked to him, but as I tried to focus on him, the wind whipped through the tree branches causing it to howl in the dead night.  I looked to the tree, seeing the petals being lifted from the flowers. A wave of soft petals, began cyclone around the tree, and as I watched I saw another wave of electricity surge through the tree.  The purple glow was swallowed into the tree. as the swirling petals danced around the tree, a huge lightning bolt struck out into the sky, but it did not come from the clouds, it came from the tree.  The bolt sent my body flying backwards. As I lay on shimmering sand watching the tree strike out into the night, my eyes began to see the electricity form under the earth, soon grass and other trees became green with life.  The earth began to seizure beneath my feet, I stood from my place and ran from the trembling ground.  As I ran the wind pushed petals  at my foots steps, so I ran with the soft flowers. I heard a crack of thunder, I turned to see the tree growing taller, living and breathing with all it’s strength. Lightning poured from the tree into the sky, creating a rain of petals.