The story is in Notes and Credits. I know I'm more of a poet on Scratch but I thought I'd give a short story a go. Please review and give me feedback with which to improve. Wish me luck! By the way, if anyone cares, the narrator is called Ash Jadeflame, is female and belongs to the Forest Tribe.
I duck into the rocky cave, constantly looking over my shoulder. Breathing heavily, I crawl on my hands and knees, small stones biting into my skin, until I see a weak amber glow within and the cave expands dramatically. Even though a tiny fire flickers at the corner of the room, I fumble for my lantern and swiftly set it alight, heart still racing. If they caught me here... The feeble flame casts shadows on the walls of the rock, indistinct shapes on the walls jumping out at me as light hits their jagged angles. I lean closer to the rock, tilting my head and trying to make sense of it. A flame. A cage. A battle. That's all I can make out. I slowly bring my lantern across the span of the wall, until the flame within suddenly catches on to more of the fuel. The scenes before me leap out and I can suddenly make sense of all of it. A phoenix, surrounded by worshipping people. An intruder, capturing the phoenix and taking it to a different tribe. A war breaking out, the phoenix in the centre of it all. Thoughts swirl in my mind, until it all clicks together. Wait, a phoenix is what started the notorious Battle of Flames? I recall my most recent memories. My tribe, sending me and my fellow volunteers, all of us fighting in the war, to gather information from our enemy about where they've hidden the 'prize.' At first, my thoughts were, 'What do they want, a treasure map?' But now everything makes sense. I'm so engrossed in the stone scenes before me that I almost don't hear the angry shouts or the bullets whizzing. Almost. Hands with iron grip roughly bind mine in ropes, shattering my lantern as it flies out of my hand. A thick rope is around my ankles before I can even inhale, and as a sack goes over my head, the last word I hear hissed at me is, 'Traitor!' * My head is pounding like a bass drum as I awake. All I can feel, apart from the overwhelming desire for a cool glass of water, is hard stone against my back. I shake my head and gradually, my limbs awake. Rope still binds my hands, but my legs are free. I look around, taking in the cold greyness of the room, the steel bars just in front of me and the incredibly uncomfortable-looking bed beside me. I'm in a cell. Food is roughly shoved through the bars by a burly and bored-looking man, but all of a sudden I'm not hungry anymore. I walk to the edge of my cell and peer through the thick steel. The prison is small, and mostly empty. There are no more than five rooms, with only one occupied. I crane my neck to the right. No, two are occupied. And my head feels so incredibly light with disbelief as I look at my inmate, so much so that I feel as though a gust of wind could knock me over. A gorgeous amber and scarlet bird is looking me right in the eye. The Phoenix. As it lets out a mournful cry, I am whipped away, no longer standing in a prison cell, but by some kind of enchantment, I can see into the phoenix's mind, as though peering into a glass box. With a deep inhale, the bird begins the tour of its memories. * A happy life she lived. A tribe she so dearly loved all around her. A large open space in which she could fly free and stretch her enormous fiery wings. Steel. All around her with only small punctures to stare through. Thrown about as her captor sprints away, deposits her in a cell. Unloved. Battle cries outside, her beloved tribe fighting for her back. But her captors will not release her. And so the fight continues until this day. * My feet are once again on the hard stone of the cell, my face still pressed against the cool steel, my eyes closed. I cannot lift my hand to wipe the tear that trickles from my eye. I feel so much guilt and loss on her behalf that I almost fall to my knees and sob like a small child. I am about to reach out, to say something, anything to comfort the poor creature- BANG! I fly ungracefully through the air and land, hard, against the wall. I groan with the sharp pain that reaches through my abdomen with cruel, vicious fingers. A small rock lands on my head and a shower of dust quickly follows. With no further warning, cracks knife across the ceiling and debris rains through the prison. A particularly sharp stone slices through the binding ropes on my hands and I immediately use them to shield my face. My lungs feel rough with dust and each breath is a challenge. I jerk my hairclip from my messy tangle of auburn hair and fiddle with the lock. My eyes begin to water and I can't stop coughing. Finally, finally, the door springs open and I see a slice of daylight. Without a second thought, I begin to race for it. A despondent cry pierces me. Don't leave me. I stand still for a second, frozen, the slice of light getting gradually smaller and I make my decision. Spluttering like a fish on land, I reach out a hand, crawling on my stomach under a huge, jagged chunk of the ceiling. My forearm is momentarily embraced by an intense yet pleasant warmth- A sudden impact on the back of my head. All went black.
