Conflagration

Posted Jun 18, 2020, 8:18:06 PM UTC

The fire season had been particularly bad this year. They hadn't had much rain in the winter and spring, so the snowpack was diminished, and the trees were dry. Streams ran low in their banks, and dirt cracked from thirst.

The perfect environment for a fire.

Kya knew this, and had told the villagers that lived in the lower valleys. They took her warning, though she could tell that they didn't want to. It was never easy to accept that a disaster might occur.

Even so, with all the warnings and all the preparations, Kya didn't think any of them could have predicted... this. This apocalypse of flame in their quiet mountains.

She and the villagers lived up here, away from the eyes of man. Humans rarely came up, and when they did they stuck to paths and roads and were easy to avoid. It was a delightful home.

Kya lived apart fro the villagers, however. It wasn't that they were mean, or that they treated her badly, it was just that she didn't really like anyone, if she was honest. She much preferred the quiet sound of birdsong and the gurgling of streams to the bustle and jumble of a village. She had a few friends in the village; she had grown up there, after all, but that was about it.

She hoped they had gotten away.

Forest fires were a fact of nature, something that came and went, just another thing to be weathered. They weren't bad, usually, but this conflagration topped them all.

Entire valleys were filled with flames. Flames licked up the sides of the mountains and along ridges, and guttered in far away valleys. Kya had been off on her own again, and had come back when the ash had started to fall. She had expected to help with an evacuation, or at the very least a firebreak, but this? There was nothing she could do.

As she watched the valley burn, she felt something crack deep inside.

There was her life, her friends, her family gone up in flames. Maybe some had survived, but the chances were few to nil.

She bowed her head in grief, then turned away from the flames, butting the blistering heat an the crackling roar to her back.

She would go on, she promised herself. If only to carry the memory of those who could not.

Rostronairs (c) https://www.deviantart.com/kjfromcolors

Kya (c) me

Comments

BogusRed
Jun 20, 2020, 3:55:30 PM UTC
The grief is really captured in the colors and composition. well done
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- SilveryStormWing
  Jun 25, 2020, 4:48:28 PM UTC
  Thank you! I'm glad I managed to convey it
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Areetala
Jun 20, 2020, 1:07:04 AM UTC
This is such a pretty scene; I love the contrast of the bright orange against the dark. It does a very nice job of highlighting the character and giving the rest of the image a sense of the severity of what's happening
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- SilveryStormWing
  Jun 25, 2020, 4:49:25 PM UTC
  Thank you! I'm happy it came out that way!
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Shyftlock
Jun 19, 2020, 8:19:13 PM UTC
This is a very eye-catching piece. I love the fluidity of Kya's pose and design.
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- SilveryStormWing
  Jun 20, 2020, 9:13:17 PM UTC
  Thank you so much! This was my first time drawing her species so I'm glad she came out well
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