Future of Flames

Latia led the girls through the crowd of people to the entrance of the fog the loud bell continued ringing as it signaled for everyone else to do the same. The area became bustling even more as the excitement of the children peaked.

There were sentries placed around every corner and there were large crystal-like drones with strange mini-guns attached to them, they were surveying the area of the Mirror.

– "What are those mom"

– "Those are the Mirror drones. They are released from the Mirror after it opens, their sole purpose is to keep an eye on those surrounding and entering the Mirror."

– "Is the mirror self-conscious, It's like it knows whatever is happening with it, or does it have someone actually in control of it?"

Karma asked a question as she stared up at the fog a slight gleam in her eyes, the Mirror was something she had been looking forward to seeing for a while, so being here and seeing it do even more unique made her even more curious.

Pulling her eyes away from the fog she turned to Lulu, who was still silent, she was staring up at the large mass of fog – her eyes still glazed over, as if she was in some sort of hypnosis.

Latia also noticed the strange occurrence going on with Lulu's eyes and she wanted to ask her what was wrong, but Lulu was already not talking. She had learned that she was in such a mood that she didn't want to talk; It would be better to leave her alone.

– "Come on, let's go Lulu."

Pulling at the distracted girl's arm Latia led her to the front of the mass of fog, where a woman dressed in a simple uniform stood with a large packet of papers in her hand.

She was flipping through the pages, ignoring the squirming and excited children waiting in front of her. This was her fifth time doing this procedure and she was honestly just tired of the entire thing, so she threw the packet of papers on the nearby table as she observed the children wishing to Transcend.

When her eyes passed over Lulu she paused as the empty air around the blue-haired girl was something that she had never seen before. After a moment she shrugged her shoulders since it wasn't her problem and grabbed the small box in front of her.

– "Usually we are supposed to have dedicated groups and whatnot where you then enter the fog, but that'd be troublesome, so I'll tell you now – group up with whoever you want, it's not like you'll be with them anyway."

As the woman spoke in the box her tired voice was made loud enough for the hundreds of people in front of her to hear, even those in the back were able to hear her clearly.

With her words out she placed the box back down and watched the children form their little cliques and group up, there were some bigger groups and some smaller groups, but the smallest group were the two children in the forefront, Karma and Lulu.

The two girls hadn't bothered to look for anyone else to group up with since they knew that nobody would want to in the first place, so what was the point – one was a halfbreed and the other was a figure of disdain.

Lulu looked at Karma with confusion on her face, she seemed to want to ask something, but she also didn't want to talk.

Karma being the smart little lady she was knew what question Lulu had in mind so she turned to their mothers and raised the question.

– "What did the woman mean when she said that we wouldn't be together after forming a group?"

– "Ah that, well she meant what she said. After you and Lulu enter the fog you'll be separated and left to approach the fog all by yourself."

Latia who was rubbing Lulu's head answered her question.

Trying to Transcend never seemed like a simple thing to Karma whenever she heard about it, but she didn't know that so many things were made a specific way by the Mirror. Not to mention that those that have become Transcentials can't even share their experience with those that haven't.

Karma turned her head back to Lulu, who nodded her head, confirming that she got her answer.

– "Mm, looks like everyone's grouped up and prepared, let's this done alright everyone."

"Yes!"

Speaking into the box once again, the lady received loud shouts from a majority of the children.

After she spoke she waited as she watched the parents and families saying some final parting words and final pieces of advice.

Looking down at her firey child Helia gave her a small nod and a simple reminder – "Remember what I told you."

– "Yes mom!"

With her reply, the mother and daughter pair left each other with warm smiles on their faces.

Kneeling in front of Lulu, Latia placed her hands on both of the girl's shoulders. Her gaze was full of care and determination that hid the worry in her eyes.

– "Lulu, remember, the only thing you need to think about when you are in there is that you must stay strong and focus. I know of what you, my daughter, have had to deal with since you were you; so I know how strong you are, know that I'm always rooting for you."

Giving her daughter a short speech she embraced her in a hug, she didn't need to hear Lulu give her a reply or a sign that she understood, she just wanted her to listen. Either way, she could tell that she understood by the two little arms hugging her back.

Wrapping up their hug, Latia stood up and patted herself off, giving Lulu one last nod she went over to join Helia off to the side.

After a few more moments and everyone was finishing their farewells, the kids began to enter the fog, with Karma and Lulu being some of the first to enter.

***

Wiping her hands at her eyes, Karma squinted, after entering the fog her eyes were left to adjust to her new locations.

Looking around she could see a stairway heading upwards in front of her. Her surroundings were covered in red and she could smell things burning, yet she didn't know where it was coming from.

The air itself felt like it was burning, the hairs on her arms, on the back of her neck, and the hair in her nose felt like they were being burnt, but she knew for a fact that they weren't.

When she had entered the fog she had expected there to still be black and gray fog surrounding her, but instead of that, she was surrounded by red fog that was considerably less thick, compared to the fog that was outside.

As her gaze traversed her surroundings, she caught sight of bright flashes of blue, yellow, green, and white.

She felt the urge to jump into the fog and chase the flashes down but something was urging her, pushing her to go up the stairs.

One step.

With one step the stairs were dyed blood red.

Two steps.

With her second step, the stairs were painted white.

Three steps.

With her third step, the stairs shifted to blue.

Looking up she could see that there were more than twenty steps she would have to go up to reach the top – and so she moved up.

With every step up the stairs that she took, they would all transition into different colors, red, white, blue, green, and yellow; the colors she could see in the fog.

They didn't change in any order, they changed as if it was entirely random as if every step of hers was a roll of the dice, and that's what this entire event felt like to Karma. She felt that going up these stairs, going to the Mirror, was a complete gamble, she was gambling her life, her fate, her future.

But that was alright. After all, what was thrilling life without a little bit of chaos and unknown?

Final step.

With her final step, the stairs all turned blue and they remained that way – as if a decision was made. She was finally at the top of the staircase and what stood in front of her was the very definition of grand and mysterious.

In front of her was indeed a Mirror. It was a mirror taller than anything she had ever seen in her life, she couldn't even see the top of it, and it gave off an air that made her feel small.

The cool blue glass of the Mirror was surrounded by a frame that had fiery birds engraved in it, along with the figure of a woman.

Looking back behind her, she found out that the stairs she took here were gone, the ground underneath had turned blue and it was now only her, the grand mirror, and the red fog surrounding them.

Karma felt her very being begin to be sucked towards the Mirror, that addictive feeling was striking back at her again. She had to control herself, she would not fail herself or her mother here.

Taking in a deep breath, she waited for a moment before exhaling a heavy breath. Not having calmed down she did so once more; for a few more minutes she repeated the process several times.

Having somewhat calmed down she opened her eyes once more and she was welcomed to her surroundings slightly changed once more. The red fog that had previously shrouded the area was now gone like it never existed, yet there remained flashing lights in the surroundings, except they were now only blue lights.

– "Ugh."

Covering her eyes to the sudden flash of blue, Karma her eyes for there to be floating lanterns lit by blue fire surrounding her and the Mirror.

– "How mysterious, but what..."

Seeing the lanterns' appearance Karma began to speak to herself, but her voice trailed off once she caught sight of the Mirror's glass twisting like a whirlpool had taken hold of its surface.

Looking into the glass, she felt an even more overwhelming feeling of attraction toward the Mirror, except it didn't feel dangerous this time. Was this her purpose for approaching the Mirror?

Coming to that conclusion, Karma willed herself to get ever closer to the Mirror and she stopped as Images began to appear in the Mirror's glass; no, they couldn't be images, they felt so real, and so close, yet ever so distant. They were confusing feelings to have toward the images appearing on the glass, almost as if what she was seeing hadn't happened yet...

Shaking off those strange feelings she moved her head closer to see the images better but then she was blown back out of nowhere.

– "AH!"

Landing on her feet and sliding to a halt she felt burning air start to spill from the Mirror as her face was hit by a major heat wave. Not affected by the heat one bit she continued to stare at it.

Not even seconds later she had the sound of loud birds cawing and many small birds chirping, and those noises echoed within the space around her, but Karma could remember where she heard that chirping from – they were the bird cries that rung out whenever she user her flames.

Once she came to that realization, birds, large and small began to fly out of the Mirror, leaving behind them dissipating trails of fire, a majority of them left behind them blue trails, while the minority left orange trails.

The birds took to the air, letting out their cries while they circled Karma and the Mirror.

Looking up at the majestic birds, she couldn't help but feel like she had some sort of connection with them... Perhaps these were the birds of fire she would always make with her flames? She knew it was an absurd thought but she couldn't help but think that when she looked up at them.

Remembering that she had yet to see what was happening in the Mirror Karma once stepped toward the large mirror, every step she took forward another heat wave would assault her.

Each heat wave sent from the Mirror rose to higher and higher temperatures each time, even if she was quite resistant herself, Karma knew that there was a limit to the amount of heat she could handle – and that thought was further accented when beads of sweat began to form on her forehead.

– "Hah, hah, hah..."

Karma was panting when she was back in front of the Mirror, sweat was rolling down her face and she decided this time to focus her strength on her legs – she didn't want to be blasted away once again.

Once her eyes were set on the Mirror, they widened. She was shocked at what she was seeing.

– "What the hell?"

The Mirror displayed an image of utter destruction and flames. She didn't want to believe that what she was seeing was real but the heat pouring out of it made it ever so real.

She couldn't hear the burning flames or the burning buildings, even the burning of people; yet she could feel it, she could feel everything that was happening in the city, the city being burned, the city she was in.

No. It wasn't just the city being burned, all the land and forest surrounding it were being burned as well, the total devastation was unimaginable.

– "What is this– No, why can I feel this, what's going on. Why did this, why did I."

Karma grabbed her head as her head began to flood with complicated emotions of anger, guilt, and sadness. She didn't know why she was feeling these things, no she didn't know why the Mirror was flooding her head with these emotions; that was when she saw it.

In the Mirror there was a figure, that figure was standing atop a pillar of flames, her face was despondent as she stared down at the burning city with a gaze full of indifference.

Getting a closer look at the figure, the feminine figure, she was once more hit by a wave of shock and surprise.

– "Mother...?"

Wait no, that wasn't it, she squinted her eyes and almost took a step back. The figure looked in her direction, did she know that Karma was there? But she didn't say anything – so maybe not?

Karma squinted her eyes, now that the woman was staring in her direction she could tell who it was, the figure certainly looked like her mother, but so does she..., so does she...!

Repeating her words, she could now make out the woman's large forehead, her mother didn't have a large forehead, so that could only mean that this person was... her.

She looked quite a bit taller than she was currently, and her body was slightly more developed, how many cycles in the future was this? When will this happen? No. Why did she think this would happen?

Spitting out questions to herself Karma paused, the older Karma was mouthing something – "Protect. Her. Look. Below. What is she–"

She looked at the plaque that was on the bottom of the Mirror and was given her answer: "Mirror of Yuletti, Visioner of The Future, and all that it entails."