Aurora Articles

[Katie]

The Destruction...
written by Katie


Aurora Island. A bustling paradise for many. People came and people went, some with a bounce in their step, some a hole in their heart, but all in all the Village was at peace. Everything seemed just so serene, so calm and joyous. The inhabitants learned to love others and themselves, marrying off and starting families in the Village proper, many working in their own little shops.

Yes, the world as they knew it, was indeed, at peace.

It seemed like any other day, the sun was shining, a couple clouds on the horizon, but the sea. Oh, the sea was beautiful. It shone with a radiance I had never seen before. I stood there on the beach, and all I felt was a light and warm rush through my skin. Was this… what joy felt like?

All of a sudden, I heard footsteps behind me–no, not footsteps. Running. Someone was running through the sand, panting as they neared. The rush died down as I turned my head, and my face fell considerably. I spun, and questions plagued me.

"Kerrigan? What-what's wrong?"

Her firey red hair was strewn over her doleful violet eyes as she looked at me, those irises filled with a fear I that scared me more than anything. For her to be afraid, to feel unsafe…

"We 'ave ta leave! Leave now, b'fore we die."

"What?! Ker," I rushed over to where she was, wavering in her standing position. She was breathing heavily, as though she had run for a long time, without pause. Rubbing at her eyes with her wrist and facing me with a grave set frown, I also shared the fear she felt right then.

"Tell me what's going on." I pleaded, holding her shoulders, staring her right in the eyes.

That's when I felt it. At first, it was nothing more than a shiver, a small vibration I took as Kerrigan shivering. But I realized quickly as she whipped her head over my shoulder, eyes wide. The tremor grew in size and force quickly, and my only instinct was to pull Ker down to the ground, to throw one arm over her and wait for the shaking to cease. Ker shreiked at the shaking, covering her head with one hand.

But almost as quickly as it had begun, the trembling ground calmed, and I opened my eyes, looking around. What had that been? Surely not an earthquake, not on an island. Not here. But what had it been?

I gasped in surprise as from beneath me, Ker pushed me away, rising on her feet again. She yanked at my arm, dragging me in the sand before I could rise as well.

"It's tha volcano, tha volcano's gone an' 'rupted! If we do nah git out now, we're dead."

I couldn't process it. Volcano. I suddenly was deaf to everything as I turned in slow motion, looking at the far end of the island where the mountain of crag loomed above. A billow of black smoke winded into the once clear sky, which now seemed choked in ash and a burning odor. Wrenching away from the sight, it tore me apart as I relaized the truth of it all.

Grabbing the faun's arm and looking at her with a serious expression, I nodded.

Together we ran, ran towards the dock that was starting to swarm with the inhabitants, from the young to the old, the tall to the tiny, they moshed together on the moaning wooden planks, where a dwarf ferry was being loaded down with people and their armloads of last-minute survival needs.

Within another five minute period, I had forced my way into the crowd, Kerrigan close behind, shoving our way onto the ferry. Just as I set one foot off the dock and into the boat, hand clasped to the girl behind, a second tremor, much larger than before, rocked the earth and water, the boat lurching forward into the dock.

In a crunch of wood and several screams, the boards of faulty wood gave way. The people once on their feet were strewn into the water, swimming desperately towards the ferry. The captain, deciding that was the last he wanted to see of this doomed island, whirred the motor warningly.

"KER!" I screamed, leaning over the railing and calling out her name, searching for her curly hair. A moment later, she returned my call, paddling several feet away, gasping above the surface. I reached out as far as I could over the ferry's side, stretching my fingers out towards her.

The ferry began to reverse into the tide, and I only stretched further out, my body straining from the pressure. But as I felt the clammy and moist hand grip my own, I pulled back, hauling Kerrigan onto the ferry. Holding her tightly I shivered. I almost lost you.

Someone nearby handed me a towel, which Kerrigan gratefully wrapped herself in, letting herself be held in my arms. After a few endless minutes of silence besides the ferry's motor, I looked up, over the bed-rangeled heads of the surviving villagers, few of which he recognized. but it was beyond them, beyond the water, beyond the slowly dissapating beach.

The volcano, which was well known to have been dormant, was not so. Lava now seered over its sturdy sides, vastly and swiftly slithering into the forest below. It was then I knew another ferry wouldn't ariive in time. It was then I realized those people still in the water, who must have washed onto the beach by now, were trapped. Utterly and horribly trapped.

As Aurora began to fade in the hazy smog of smoke that began to ring around it, I felt my eyes begin to prick with tears, tears of sorrow. Tears of guilt.

I was one to survive. Why? Why not those people on the shore? Why not the woman with her baby girl and young son? Why not the heavy-set carpenter who towered over the group? I looked down into Kerrigan's curls in dismay. Why us?

Others on the ferry had begun to break-down, restlessly holding their heads in their hands. It would be a long ride back to the mainland. Why, why had the volcano erupted?Was this some cruel fate, as Pompei had been? Is this how the survivors, if there had been any, had felt?

I can only hope that this has all been a dream, that tomorrow I'll wake up beside the one I love, at home. But for now, I'm stuck. On ferry, in the ocean, clinging to a thread of sanity, keeping the dot of black smoke in sight for as long as I could.

For now, there are no answers. All I know now, all I know, is that Aurora will never be the same again.

Zach.

[Emaria]

The Rebirth...
written by Peng


Lava poured everywhere, hot and caustic over anything in its path. Children, dogs, trees, buildings all succumbed to the oozing red demon. All was lost in a matter of moments, the entire island reduced to glowing orange as the last ferry chugged further and further away. The island had cooled, turning to rock in seconds and sealing the bodies of the dead in a tomb of perforated pumice.

The town had been leveled, everything gone. The cobbles were dust; the bakery’s chimney no longer puffed smoke or stood at all. All the homey signs of life were noticeably absent, save for the fountain. The rim had cracked, and leaked just a little. Instead of the water pooling on top of the volcanic stone beneath it, just a drop dissipated it into fresh spring grass. Oh, if only the townsfolk could have seen what happened next! Their entire hubbub about the spirit in the fountain would be rationalized, as a form picked itself up out of the water.

She used to be bright; the reflection of sunlight off her skin blinding- but now she was fading slowly. Her form broke up every so often, water-droplet dress and snow white skin scattering with every other inch she rose higher. She took dainty feet and stepped out from the fountain, not quite touching the ground, surveying the damage done. The volcano seemed to shiver under her gaze, stopping the lava with a sputter and then laid quiet. Her eyes were large and black, taking up most of her small face, and they blinked once and only once. The crack in the marble strained and groaned and finally burst, shattering the smooth ring and sending gallons of water out from its captivity.

The water reached out with lazy fingers across the square, turning out seedlings and flowers where rubble and destruction had been. Dead trees flourished, popping new-bark backs and grazing the sky. The forest outside the village became dense and dank, and the hills righted themselves and flourished. The island had been reborn in a matter of moments.

The figure sank back into the water, and at the same time, the young mayor of the town had just awoken from a startling dream. She had to see if it was real, and so she took a ferry over and discovered that maybe, just maybe she could bring the island back to life. She gathered up carpenters aplenty and they set to work.

Now the island is back in order, and villagers are slowly being notified. So what are you waiting for? There’s a whole new Aurora to explore!