After lying there for a while, I soon realized that my arms and legs were still stinging. I lay there and thought about what I had heard them talk about earlier. What do they mean..' until everyone is captured'...? Who's good side were they supposed to stay on? Why can't I remember anything before the fire? What started the fire? I was so full of questions and deep in thought that I hadn't heard someone walking toward me. 

     I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to still be unconscious.

   "Yup, still unconscious." Said a man whose voice was deep and raspy. 

   "Not surprising, Kate did hit her pretty hard..." Came another voice outside the tent. This one sounded like a girl's voice. Also deep but more like a loud whisper.

   "Not my fault! I didn't know she was just a girl. You can't trust anyone these days." Said who I assumed to be Kate.

 

   The man with the deep voice grabbed a nearby blanket and wrapped me up in it. It felt good somehow, it made the stinging go away, and I felt all the pain just disappear like magic. The man stepped carefully out of the tent and back to the fire. I slowly opened my eyes and realized the blanket was covered with a purple liquid. The shadows from the fire danced on the blanket making it look more like a magenta color. The fire had died down a bit since I had last saw it. 

                                                                    ❖ ─ ✦ ─『✙』─ ✦ ─ ❖

   

   I listened to them talk for a couple of hours. From what I've heard, a group of people is starting these fires called The Basilisks. They will swiftly kidnap people from their homes and push them into a portal that travels them to another dimension. This dimension. Where you will fall from the sky and land in the middle of a dense forest. Surrounded by enchanted fires. Only a little bit of smoke from the enchanted fires is enough to knock you out and forget everything. It messes with your brain and if you are continuously exposed to the smoke, it can kill you.

   I didn't know what time it was, but I could tell that the people outside had fallen asleep. It was quiet now. All I could hear is the fire slowly crackling and the cicada's chirp echoing in the distance. The fire was nearly gone, similar to how the forest fire appeared when it had contracted down to just a spark of light. I quietly sat up and looked around in complete darkness with just the small fire seeping through the opening of the tent. Wouldn't there be other light from the moon..? I saw the moon earlier, didn't I? I wondered to myself. 

   I moved the blanket with the purple liquid off of me. My burns still stung a little but not as much as before, so I was able to cope. I peered out of the tent to find 5 people sleeping near what was left of the fire. I looked up and my eyes were not met with the moon, but a pitch-black sky. There were no stars and no moon. But I saw them earlier, they couldn't have just disappeared! 

   The night air was cold and as I looked back down to the firepit, it was gone. The flames were no more, and all that was left were a few glowing ashes ascending up to the sky. Since the fire was gone, the darkness enveloped me; It was almost suffocating. My heart sped up and my adrenaline kicked in. At once all the sounds of any life had ceased. It was dead silent. The only thing I could hear was my own heart pounding in my chest. Beating loudly, almost hypnotizing. I felt the cold sweat drip down my face, although the night was cold, I wasn't.

   My heartbeat grew stronger and soon it became all I could hear. My quick breaths were minuscule compared to the pounding coming from my chest. I felt like I was spinning faster and faster. I became disoriented in the darkness. I could smell the blood and burnt flesh overwhelming my nose again. Not seconds later, I passed out. Lying halfway out of the tent and halfway in.