Firestorm Event

Midori's head was ringing. He felt paralyzed as he gazed up the advancing flames, burning up all of Vetru's - no, everyone's hard work. The flames danced from one blade of grass to the next, performing a destructive dance, filled with oranges and reds. The color burned into Midori's eyes, and as he blinked, he noticed the huge imposing figure from within the wall of fire. A darkened figure, looming from behind the wall of shoot and ash in the darkening sky and air. And thought Midori was just but a ghost, he felt a shiver race through his spine as he stared into the piercing blue eyes of whatever it was that lay in the wall of doom. Was....Was that another? One of them? Midori couldn't tear his eyes away, and the screams and the shouts and the wails of everything else seemed to silence. His head was ringing and those blue eyes seemed to be piercing him, burning into the retinas of his eyes. Then there was a streak of white, a flash of lightning so loud that it shook Midori for his stupor. He whipped his head around, eyes half narrowed as more ash blurred his version, the scent of charred flesh not entering into his senses. Vetru. They had to find Vetru. They could put a stop to this. They had to be able to do something. But as Midori scanned the burning grass around them, he could never catch sight of a blue crackling horn, or a white and grey furred body amoung the many others that were swirling in his vision.

Midori panicked. Where were they??! They had to be here! His chest heaved as his head swam. And he just couldn't take it anymore. He had a feeling that he'd gone through something similar like this before, a long time ago. Maybe in his past life. And it was all to painstakingly familiar. The pain in his chest, the dizziness in his head. He didn't know what to do. So he just decided to not do anything. What could he do anyways? He was just a tiny Esk in a big world. He didn't have any powers, or any useful skill. Midori let his thoughts run wild as he sank down on his shaky legs, until they just collapsed under him. He laid his head down in between his front legs, closing his eyes, trying to tune out everything. He hoped that when he opened his eyes, it'd all just be a bad dream. But when he did, the world was still painfully illuminated by the dancing fire, the sky dark, the smell carried by the wind foreboding. Midori's chest heaved again.

Suddenly, there was someone by his side. They were small and warm, something solid to hold onto in Midori's small, crumbling world. "Come on. We have to help the others get the animals to safety. We have to do something." The voice was soft and gentle, lacking all of its usual cheeriness. And it was wrong, somehow, but also very, very right. Midori turned his head and looked into the soft brown eyes of Violet. Her eyes were crinkled with worry, her elegant fur coated in a thin layer of ash, some of smudged across her face like war paint. "I'm not going to say everything going to be okay. I don't know that, and it would be a horrible promise to make." She chuckled at that, though her voice was strained. "But we need to help. We need to help in order to make this okay. Now, come on, stand up." Midori trembled. Violet was right. He was a fool for believing that the chaos would go away if he just ignored it. Like an ignorant child who thought they could hid away from their fears, never confronting them. But Midori was better then that. With some effort, he pushed himself up on shaky legs. He gave a sharp nod to Violet, who's eyes crinkled into a semblance of a smile. "Let's go."

He didn't know where everyone else in the group was. They had probably split up when the fire started, and Midori supposed that was good, in some ways. Everyone in the group had different talents, and some of them had better be off searching for Vetru anyway. Cue could shapeshift, and well, she'd be a great scout if she was huge, able to look around at different heights and angles for the missing Wanderer. It was ironic really. The one Esk who could stop all this madness was the one Esk who was missing. Midori would laugh if the situation wasn't dire. Violet had charged straight towards the fire, never fearing for her own safety as she worked to free the animals trapped within a fiery cage. And Midori did his best to assist her. At some point, Song, Elwynn, and Rosette found them, and the group worked together to free the animals. Due to Elwynn's small stature, she could crawl into narrow spaces, like tunnels or borrows in order to coax out the frightened animals inside. Violet was also good at this, due to her long body, and she would often scurry into burrows to check if they were occupied. She even sent out her familiar, Aven, to help aide her in her task. She and Elwynn made the perfect team, and they forgot their bickering, working as a perfect unit. The two managed to get many animals out this way, many of them being black-footed ferrets, or prairie dogs. Occasionally, they happened across a rare Mountain Plover who had yet to taken flight to safety. But, nothing ever went smoothly, Midori found out, when a burrow that Elywnn had crawled into had flashed with a bright light. The tiny Esk emerged from the top of the burrow with a dark look in her eyes, and Midori couldn't seem to place why. "It...It brought its wing in all the panic. It was going to die. I had to transform it..." She whispered, her voice low and grave. Midori blinked, and realization finally hit him hard in the chest. Violet and Rosette immediately rushed over to Elywnn, comforting her with soothing wrods. She shook them off. "It was the right thing do. Now the fire won't hurt them." Her gaze was like steel. "Come on, we have a job to do."

And so the small group left. Elywnn was right. But Midori just couldn't help the guilt in his chest. They had turned a life into a ghost of a being that they formerly were. It grated hard in his chest. But he could think about it later. He pushed the thought deep into the back of his mind.

..

Song was very helpful in this situation. Their body was like a fire blanket. They could gently float above the flames, and then use his fur to smother small patches of fire out. The flames couldn't hurt his body. Nothing could, really. It took a while, but it was very effective. When the group staggered across Pronghorn caged in a wall of flames, Song was the first to jump into action, movements hurried at the poor animals distressed cries. the other could only watch as Song smothered the ring of fire until there was an opening for the Pronghorn to escape. And it did so greatly, running off in a hurry, darting back and forth.

Rosette was also a helpful asset to their rescue team. Her eyes were sharp, and she noticed crucial details that the others tended to overlook. She was always the first to locate a burrow, or find an animal in distress, always seemingly knowing where everything was all at once. She was always the first to alert the others of any dire situations, and never stayed in one place for too long, seemingly having a sixth sense as to where the distress was in the middle of all the distress.

It was extremely impress, and Midori wished he could contribute to the rescue in some meaningful way like all his friends could. He couldn't seem to help at all. Nothing he did proved to be useful. he wasn't brave, like Violet, who charged right into the fire to get to the other side. he knew the fire couldn't hurt him, but it scared him anyways. Really, he was a burden. And Midori faltered everytime that thought crossed his head. Was he even helping? He was basically just tagging along where everyone else went. He wasn't even doing anything.

With that last thought, the green Esk stopped. He was useless. He watched as the group disappear into the burning tall grass, having found another creature in distress to save. Heroes, they all were. But not him.

And then he heard. It was faint, and since he was wallowing in his own self pity, he almost didn't hear it. A soft baying sound somewhere to his left. His first instinct was to look for his friends, hoping to alert them to this new situation. But with a quick scan, he couldn't see any of them. No one to help him. The soft cry got louder, and Midori couldn't stand still anymore. His legs moved without his knowing, and he raced to the sound. There! A coyote by the looks of it,looking lost and confused, its fur singed, but otherwise looking fine. Midori approached it with caution, and the creature barred its teeth when he finally emerged by its side. But when he saw that the Esk was significantly smaller then itself, and looking nothing like a predator or prey, the poor thing whimpered, senses probably overloaded from the smell of the smoke. Midori didn't know what to do. He had to guide it to safety, that was for sure, but none of his friends were here to help him. He was on his own. He let out a breath that he didn't know that he was holding and stepped closer to the coyote. It scooted back away from him, but Midori tried his best to appear friendly. "Hey! H-hey! It's okay! I-I...I j-just want t-to h-help you." He took another careful step towards the coyote, and let the chaos from around him fade. It was nothing but him and the coyote. He could do this. he could save it. When the coyote didn't react, Midori took this as another sign to move forward, his mood soaring when the coyote still made no move to run away from him. "T-that's it! I can help y-you!" Midori got even closer, and let out a happy sigh when the coyote nudged it's nose into his forehead, giggling as the coyote pressed closer to give him a lick. "Now, come o-on! We n-need to get y-you to safety." The coyote followed him as Midori set a brisk pace, turning his head around every so often to see if the creature was still keeping up. He whispered some encouraging words when the coyote got spooked or distracted by the noises and wails around it, and stopped occasionally so it could catch up.

After what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minuted Midori finally led the coyote to a place untouched by the fire, the Esk who had been here having already put out the fire that had spread here.  He sighed in relief, and he nudged the coyote's flank encouragingly when it refused to move. With another whimper, the coyote turned to give Midori a final lick and look before it scampered off, soon covered by the tall prairie grass. "T-take care!" Midori called after it, and then felt warmth flood though his chest. He wasn't useless. He has just saved a life.

"Midori!" Midori turned around when he heard a faint shouting from behind him, and his eyes widened when he realized that he had basically just abandoned his friends. For god cause in the end, but they were probably worried sick. He raced towards the shout, but before her had even made it half way, he was tackled by four bodies all at once, with Violet hugging his leg tightly. "We were worried sick! Don't go running off again like!" When everyone had finally released him, he nodded. "I'm s-sorry, I w-won't do that again! B-but I led a coyote to s-safety just now, s-so it was for g-good cause." Elwynn gave him an encouraging pat, and Song hummed in approval.

"Let's not just stand here. We could do a lot more to help." Rosette spoke, and everyone nodded.

With that, they put on a determined face, and headed back towards the chaos.

But this time, Midori was ready. He could no longer feel the fear, and instead, he felt the bubbling of courage stew inside his body as he leaped into the flames.