Fire Will Rain Down

The Legend of the Darkest Night:

There will come a day

Where world will be faced with a fright

By a baby born

On the darkest night

Fire will rain down

The baby will hold the crown

Prophesized by the Head Witch of the North, this Legend has dictated my fate before I was even born.

The day of the darkest night I was taken by a metal giant, as so many others were. I only remember hearing the king say, “Take him away! The vile creature will not take my crown.” Meer children were murdered, simply for being born. I had been lucky enough to be saved by the Head Witches. The Witch of the North took me under her wing, saving me from death and teaching me how to save myself. The Witch of the North specialized in ice magic, but she taught me water magic too so I wouldn’t be confined to the cold, as she was.

Today was the day the Witches decided I would be ready to let fire rain down.

The Witch of the East had mastered water magic. It was more of a thing than a person. It was a cloud of mist. The light reflected off the mist, so you could see a little rainbow when the Witch moved. Somehow when it spoke, you knew it was the Witch of the East. “My dear child, I believe you are ready.”

The Witch of the North was a giant. She was at least seven feet tall, but I always knew she was a big softy. Her complexion was a slight bluish color, even with her large blue winter coat. When she talked, she, more often than not, whispered to conservative her voice. “Do you have any questions, child, before we send you off?”

I hesitated for a moment, pondering my options. I finally decided on this: “Why did you save me? I was destined to destroy the world. Wouldn’t you want to kill me like the others?”

The Witch of the West was a human shaped pile of sand. She mastered fire magic. Sometimes when she got angry, flames flowed from her head, and she deformed into just a pile of sand. When she spoke, she sounded like an old timey radio man. “You see, we saved you because we wanted the world to burn.”

Finally, I got an explanation!

The Witch of the South was a human, but her skin was covered with various plants. She mastered plant magic. The plants grew a bit as she spoke. “My family, friends and strangers all stunned me after a little gremlin, who worked for the king, cursed me to look like this.” She motioned to her skin, or where it would have been. “Since then I devoted myself to learning about how to use it against them, but you, you could actually do some damage.”

The Witch of the East’s voice boomed throughout the room as she spoke, "You think that’s bad?!? Hahahaha! The people in my village tried to drown me. Seventeen times. My own mother watched happily as I was dying. No one helped. So, I transformed myself into a form they couldn’t drown, and I drowned them.”

The Witch of the West’s grainy voice interrupted East’s rant, “These humans are destroying our land. My best friend couldn’t breathe through the smoke, and he died. I learned how to control the smoke through fire magic to get revenge.”

The Witch of the North, with frozen tears on her cheeks, said, “My family, my friends, my tribe were hunted for our coats. I was the only one to survive. We all died just for some STUPID COATS!!!“ The Witches came to comfort her, but she would not accept it. “You can bring justice to us. Come with me.”

North summoned a cloud to float on, and the Witches and I hopped on. Seeing the beautiful landscape below us was truly stunning. The birds, with their vibrant green, blue, yellow, and red patterns made me feel at ease. The wind blowing in my face brought a sense of calm as it cooled me down. The lush green rainforest was full of life, and just hearing them made me realize how many innocent creatures I was about to destroy. Did I really want to see it destroyed? No, I mustn’t think such things. I love the Witches, and I would do anything for them, even destroying the world.

“We’re here,” said North.

The cloud disintegrated as it slowly lowered us to the ground. We landed in a small clearing, surrounded by trees. A small shack was in the middle. I looked around at the Witches.

“Go ahead. You don’t need us anymore,” North said.

I hugged her tight. “But I want you.”

North squeezed me back, and then she gave me a little push towards the shack.

I took a deep breath, loosened my death grip on North, and slowly walked into the broken down tiny hut.

Inside was gold. Pure gold everywhere, on the roof, the walls, and on the mysterious figure in front of me.

“Welcome,” its voice boomed and reverberated off the walls.

“Is this how I destroy the world, with you?”

“No! Don’t be silly. I’m your tour guide throughout the gold palace. This is the entryway, there’s really nothing to it. What you’re interested in is the basement.” The gold figure melted the gold on the floor into a staircase to the bottom floor.

Unlike the staircase, the basement was a dark, dirty, empty room, except for two buttons on two skinny pedestals. One button was a deep navy blue that reminded me of the sea near North’s hut. The other button was a burnt orange that reminded me of fire, and the fire that each of the Witches told me about right before entering this gold palace.

“The orange button has the power to engulf this world in flames. There will be nothing left but me, this palace, and you.”

“What about the Witches?”

“They will be burnt to a crisp.”

“And the blue button?”

“Will flood the world with a highly poisonous toxin, destroying everything except me, the palace, and you.”

“So, it’s just a matter of how the world dies?”

“Correct.”

The Witches wanted this, but I didn’t want them to die. I still need them, and they need me. I need another option. I need to run. Run up the stairs, through the quicksand like gold on the floor. I need to see the Witches.

The Witches were exactly where I left them, as if no time had passed.

“Who are you?” North turned around to stare at me.

“What do you mean? You raised me. How could you not remember me?”

The gold figure emerged from the palace. He seemingly paused time when he exited.

“Since you choose not to destroy the world, the Legend of the Darkest Night destroyed itself. And because the Witches met you and raised you because of the Legend, your relationship with them destroyed itself along with the Legend.”

“No.”

A purple button appeared in front of me. I pressed it, and it started to count down.

5…4…3…2..1

BOOM