1 Flames

The man stared into the fire, silent, still as the trees next to him. Picking up a piece of wood, he shoveled it into the fire. He watched as the flames bounced up with a neutral, uncaring look on his face.

"You really haven't heard us yet?" Sounded a bandits scraggly voice. The bandit eyed the man, measuring him up. He looked like any other poor farmer, though younger than most. He had shoulder length black hair and a short but scruffy beard that covered nearly the whole bottom half of his face. The scraggly bandit walked closer, waiting for a reply.

". . ."

The bandit scratched his beard, turning to the other bandits behind him. "Looks like we found a wild idiot," the bandit laughed, resulting in more laughter all around him as the bandits circled the man."Well, you might as well just hand us over your money. We wouldn't wanna hurt a moron after all. That would weigh on our consciences."

". . ."

"What? You want my name first or something?" The bandit teased. "It's Arthur."

". . ."

Arthur laughed again, this time slightly rife with irritation. "Okay, I don't know what I was expecting, you being a moron and all. We'll just take your money." Arthur walked closer to the man and reached towards him. Suddenly, he stopped short, eyes widening. "Woah… fellas, come look at this."

The other bandits walked closer. One by one, they looked at the man. One by one, they were stunned by what they saw. "What's wrong with him, Arthur??" A lanky bandit stated, looking away from the sight and toward their leader.

I don't know, Micah. But his eyes… they're swirling. And they're pink. What the hell." Arthur stared into the man's eyes, mesmerized. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he looked away.

The man sighed softly, barely audible. He turned his head slightly in Arthurs direction, but said nothing still. His eyes had a look of sadness… no, a look of resignation. It was slight, but it was there.

"The guy's crazy, Arthur," the last bandit, decidedly pudgy, said to Arthur. "Let's take his money and leave."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Arthur shuffled awkwardly.

The pudgy bandit raised one eyebrow at the sight. "Well, are you gonna do it or not?"

"Yes! I'll do it. Give me more than a second, Joshua. Piss off." Arthur made a shooing motion with his hands. Scratching his beard one last time, he took a deep breath and slowly reached his hand toward the man. The man made no moves when Arthur reached towards him. Would he just let him rob him? Or would he lash out? Hand quivering, he got closer. Before long his whole arm began to shake as he reached his hand toward the strange man.Within fingers touch, the bandit bent his fingers, avoiding touching the man's clothes. The whole forest seemed to become silent in anticipation as Arthur neared the man. Then, taking a deep breath, he stretched his fingers as all the bandits watched in silence until, finally, he—

"I got it!" He yelled triumphantly, holding up a pouch full of coins."

"You didn't even touch him though. You just grabbed the pouch out of his pocket." Joshua looked from Arthur to the man, disappointed.

"Oh, piss off. Why don't you touch him if you're so worried about it."

Joshua looked down at his feet. "I don't want to."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. We got the money, and this guy is still a moron staring into a fire. Everybody wins. Let's leave." Arthur turned on his heel, stalking away from the fire. Soon after, the other bandits followed."

Looking back at the man, the bandits saw that the man was still staring into the fire. "Is that guy even alive?" Joshua mused.

Micah began to walk slower, looking upwards at the sky. "You know… Arthur, didn't that guy seem familiar to you? His eyes are similar to… that one guy's." He shivered before nervously looking towards Arthur.

"You couldn't be talking about who I think you're talking about, right?" Arthur responded spitefully. "We agreed to never bring him up. Besides, you're wrong anyway. His eyes were yellow. This one's eyes were pink."

"But they were both swirling. Even if the colors are different, they may be connected. I know it's painful, but if there's even just a small possibility, don't you want answers?"

"Piss off." Arthur walked in silence for a few moments. Taking a deep breath, he slowed his pace. He took slower steps until he had completely stopped in place. And then he turned on his heels

.

"Arthur? Oh shit, Arthur's going back!" Micah yelled at his pudgy friend, Joshua, making crazy hand motions.

Arthur approached the light through the trees. Would this man provide the answers he once looked for? He'd denied himself the hope of it long ago, and likely this too would turn up fruitless. He approached the man, extending his arm to his shoulder. "Hey, I'm bringing your money back. I know I just robbed you and all, but there's something I-

As he went numb, his words slowed. Looking down… where his arm was. Where it was supposed to be. "What?"

"Shit! Get him!" Micah pulled out a bow and nocked an arrow. He pulled back the string and aimed at the man. It wasn't a hard target to hit. He was sitting in place. As Arthur yelled in pain, clutching at the stub of his arm, Micah loosed his arrow. It was shot truly—right towards it's mark.

A translucent shield, pink and red, materialized out of thin air, blocking the arrows. "Shit." Micah looked behind himself, towards the forest, then back at Arthur, wreathing in pain. "Goddamnit, Arthur! Where's Joshua?" He looked around frantically and saw a pudgy man with an arrow in his chest. "What… How?" Taking deep breaths, the lanky bandit fell to one knee. After one last, deeper breath, he stood up with a roar and charged the man in a desperate rage. He unsheathed his sword and slashed where the man was sitting. "Uh…"

Micah's stomach felt hot. Looking down, he had a huge gash from his shoulder to his hip. He coughed up blood and fell down, breathing quieting.

Arthur looked up, taking in the scene. speech broken and frantic, he yelled at the man. "Why?" He looked at the man, still staring into the fire. "Why?" He yelled. "First my sister, now my friends? Do you shits need to take everyone from me? Even me?"

". . ."

"Say something, dammit! I-"

"Look at the fire." The man had a deep, calm voice. Almost soothing.

"Wha-"

"Look at it."

Arthur looked at the fire. Staring at it, images started to appear. He saw himself, dead on the ground. He saw Micah with a gash through his stomach, dead. He saw Joshua, stuck with an arrow.

"I couldn't do anything about it." The man said, tone of his voice unchanging. "It was meant to happen. That's all."

"What? That makes no sense. Why couldn't you have run?" Arthur's voice was getting weaker, and his face paler. "Talked to us. Anything? Why couldn't you have done anything to stop this?"

The man looked away from the fire and straight at Arthur, pink eyes swirling. "You think I haven't tried before? The silent, indomitable rage in the man's eyes drove Arthur to silence. Even in the face of death, although just for a moment, the rage emitting from that man scared Arthur more than his own impending death.

"But, my sister… at least-"Arthur's speech slurred, and his head dropped to the ground.

The man sighed softly, turning his head away from the scraggly bandit back to the fire as his eyes gradually turned from a swirling pink color to a normal blue. He looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. Then, he stood up. It wasn't graceful. Rather, it consisted of bones cracking and joints creaking. He left the fire burning—there was no point in putting it out. And then he walked away. He didn't look back.