**This is the beginning of something and I wrote it for a class last semester. It needs work and lots of it...but any feedback you can give me will be greatly appreciated. I also wrote this story in one sitting and have only read it myself twice. Well, just let me know what you think and if you think I shoul continue with it...Arigato ^.^**

Autumn Burning
*In Progress*
Part 1

It was his favorite time of year – that time of year when the lingering heat of the summer gets caught in the fresh green leaves causing them to erupt into flames. Brilliant golds and reds set the trees ablaze with light, illuminated even more when the sun sets and the sky transforms from that calm pastel blue into a fiery vermilion. It’s like walking through the fields of hell – if there are fields in hell – all fire and light. Everything looks so much brighter and sharper – the crisp bite of the new cold always adds an extra edge to autumn. It never lasts long though, this shining time of year. The new cold soon becomes the bitter winter frost, and the luminous flames choke under the icy wind after burning the leaves from the trees, leaving them bare and dead to the world.
The trees surrounding this particular field were always the brightest. He came here to avoid work, and his mother. He sat and read mostly, leaning against a tree, sitting on the softest spot of grass, which was tucked away in a small grotto created by a few dozen bushes and some trees with low-hanging branches. He never got much reading done though, at least not in the fall. As soon as the sun began to set the field changed. The trees seemed to glow, and he would sit and stare until the sun was well beyond the horizon.
Mesmerized as he was by the transformation of the field, the setting sun, the light streaming through the crimson leaves, he didn’t hear the crunch, crunch, crunch, of footsteps through the already fallen leaves or the rustling in the bushes, until it was too late.
A blur of pale pink and white flew out of the bushes on his left and tackled him, sending both him and his book flying into a pile of dry leaves. “Gotcha!” The blur locked itself onto his waist and arm and refused to let go.
“Rini!” he exclaimed, looked down at his thirteen year old sister as she stared up at him, full of bouncing blond curls and giggles. “What are you doing here? You aren’t supposed to come this far away from the house or the village!”
She laughed, sunlight reflecting off crystal blue eyes. “Mother didn’t know where you were and she told me to come get you for dinner. And you’re not allowed to be this far away from the village either. You know it’s dangerous.” She wrinkled her nose at him.
“It’s more dangerous for a pretty little girl like you then it is for a man like me and you know it. There’s been trouble around here lately. Be more careful.” He tweaked her nose, and she giggled again, hugging him tighter. “I know there’s some intelligence under all those curls.”
“More than you’ll ever have and you should take your own advice.” Rini released his waist from her hold, enough for him to sit up, but she still clung to his arm and snuggled closely to him. “Why do you come all the way out here to read anyway? It’s such a long walk. You could read just as well at home.”
“You know that’s a lie. Mother refuses to leave me alone long enough to read one page. She’s always telling me to do some chore or another, even after I’ve been out all day working. I wish she would remember that I’m a grown man and she shouldn’t be treating me like a child anymore and…Ouch!” He turned to look at his sister, who glared up at him after having smacked him upside the head. “Why did you do that?”
“Because you’re a fool. Since when is sixteen years enough to count as a grown man. And you know how much Mother has relied on you since Father died. Grow up. Stop acting like a child.”
“But you just said I am a child.”
She glared at him. “You are. But you want to be an adult. So grow up.”
He sat in stunned silence. “When did you get so wise, little girl?” He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her close. “You know how much work I do. All I ask is for a little time to myself and she never gives it to me.” He paused, thinking. “Maybe I’m trying to spend as much time here as I can before I leave.”
Rini tried to stand up, but he held her down. She fought and kicked in his arms, then tried to turn and face him. “Leave?!?! Where are going? Why are you going? You can’t leave!!! Let me go!! ASHER!!!!”
“Rini! Hold still! Ow!” A stray arm flew at Asher, smacking him across the face. “Rini! Calm down!” She stopped and sat still, but he knew she was sulking. He hugged her again and put his chin on her shoulder, leaning his head against hers. “Rini, there’s nothing here for me. The only thing that keeps me here is you. There’s a so much out there beyond home. So much that I want to see. I’ve been saving some of the money that I’ve earned and soon, I’m going to leave.” He noticed Rini was uncharacteristically silent. He sat back and turned her around to face him. She scowled at him with angry eyes, but there were tears streaming down her face. “I’ll come back. Rini, I’m not leaving forever. I’ll be back every chance I get. And when you’re a little older, I’ll take you with me. We’ll travel around the world together.” He pulled her to his chest. “Don’t cry.”
“Do you have to leave me, Asher? Will you promise to come back?”
“Always. I will always come back. And I will miss you every day I’m not here. And I will always protect you. Just like I have ever since you were born. That’s what big brothers do.” Asher pulled her away him. He reached up and wiped the tears from her face. “Now you need to go back home before Mother starts to worry.” He stood up, bringing Rini with him. “Go on.” She looked up at him pleadingly. “I’ll be a right behind you. I just need to find me book. Go! Mother’s going to worry.”
Asher watched his sister disappear into the forest before he turned to the piles of leaves around him. “Where the hell is my book?” He knelt down and began digging through the dried leaves in search of his lost belonging. Why does she have to love me so much? Soon I’m going to be abandoning Rini, leaving her all alone with that witch. It’d be so easier to leave if I hated both of them. Well, feelings get you hurt, I guess. He found his book underneath a few bushes. She must’ve hit me harder then I thought.
He sat back down, leaning against his favorite tree. The sun had not completely set, so he still had time to admire the autumn trees before he returned. A chill wind began to blow through the branches, slowly sending a shiver to creep up Asher’s spine. The warm day was turning into a cold evening, and he had an uneasy feeling. The sunlight had set the trees ablaze, but that fire was starting to die out. It was time to go. Standing up, Asher tucked his book away into his pocket and turned to walk back toward home, dinner, and more work.
A shrill cry ripped through the trees, a frightened cry, that had Rini’s voice.
“RINI!” He wasted no time, just began to run haphazardly through the forest, low branches and bushes grabbing at his arms, face, and clothes, holding him back. He brushed them aside, fear driving him forward. Another scream. The only thought in his head was her, what he would do if anything happened to her, what he would do to anyone who hurt her. A blinding rage filled him and he forced himself forward, forced his legs to move faster. He broke through a strand of trees, leaping over bushes into a small clearing, and stopped with such abruptness that he almost fall forward, tumbling over his own feet.
Five men, five brigands stood in the clearing. They wore a ragged mix of clothes and all carried weapons, swords and daggers, but didn’t have them drawn. Asher noticed Rini, on her knees, arms covering her head, and visibly shaking with fear, a fear that Asher now himself felt.
“Looks like we’ve got another one.” One of them walked toward Asher stopping directly in front of him. “Must be our lucky day.” At the sound of the man’s voice Rini finally raised her head to see Asher was there as well and she called out to him for help, screamed his name. She leapt to her feet, trying to reach him, but two of them men standing near grabbed her by the arms. They lifted her off the ground despite her legs flailing out, kicking them.
“No!” Asher rushed forward only to be stopped by strong hands wrenching his arms behind him, holding him back, mirroring the way Rini struggled and fought across from him.
The remaining man, the one who had spoken, now laughed and walked towards Rini. She stopped moving, went limp in the men’s arms, and a small cry escaped from between her lips as this man, obviously the one in charge, stood before her. Keeping his eyes always on Asher, the leader reached a hand up and stroked the face of Rini, whose eyes widened with fear as she made another small, helpless sound. A small sound of rage escaped Asher’s throat as he surged toward the leader and his sister, but he was still held back by the brigands. The rage continued inside him, even though he was powerless against the men. It made his head ache and his skin burn. It twisted inside his stomach, tying it in knots, and made his heart beat faster, pounding against his chance like it would break through his ribs and soar over the clearing to beat the man that had touched his sister. He kicked and screamed with that rage, letting it take control.
Pain. He tried to double over, forgetting he was still held. Asher had been so overcome with his own anger that he hadn’t even seen the man move. The brigand removed his fist from Asher’s stomach only to slam the other one back in it’s place. Then the world spun as the first fist made contact with the side of Asher’s face with that familiar sound of flesh hitting flesh. That punch was so hard that he would’ve fallen to the ground with the force of its impact had he not been firmly held in place. Instead, he hung limply between the two thugs, knees given out.
The word spun and his vision clouded. He heard men’s voices, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He tried in vain to lift his head as he heard his sister scream his name again, but he couldn’t move couldn’t think. There was only pain and a blinding rage, a fury that still held him captive. Asher felt himself being dragged backward. His head throbbed and his skin burned. Sweat was pouring down his face, as his captures half-carried his unresisting body toward the nearest tree. He swallowed a scream of mixed rage and pain, fear and panic, as his arms wear again wrenched behind him, this time with what felt like enough force to rip them from his body. Asher felt the cool sting of metal against the scorching flesh of his wrists; he felt rough bark pushing against his arms and knew they had him chained to one of the trees in the clearing. He forced himself to focus on his surroundings, stand up straight, but his aching head and body wouldn’t let him. His skin continued to burn and the sweat was slowly soaking his clothes.
He felt them hitting him again, hitting and kicking him. He still couldn’t see, he could only hear, and what he heard fed the demon inside him that was his anger. He could hear nothing but the sounds of fists and knees hitting his unprotected body and his sister’s terrified, pain-filled screams. He couldn’t even feel the pain anymore; it was being taken by the anger, the beast inside of him, the all-consuming rage. He knew it could not be held back much longer. He could still her Rini’s cries, “Noooo! Please stop! ASHER!!!!”
A thunderous clap roared over the clearing and flames erupted from the leaves and the tree where Asher stood bound and bleeding. The brigands closest to it jumped back from him and the burning tree. The confusion and terror that they had caused turned back on them. Asher opened his eyes and saw the fear in their eyes through a red mist that covered his own. He reached inside and let out a wordless scream of pure rage, and born of that rage, was something that seemed a nightmare to those watching. The clearing, already lit by the glow of the burning autumn leaves, now burned brighter by the light of a dragon made entirely of flames.
The Fire Dragon lashed out its tail catching the nearest man around the throat. He tried to scream, but his voice was cut off as his throat began to burn. He was consumed in flames and released to flail helplessly about on the ground until his body was nothing but a shell of burned flesh. But the demon’s attention had turned from that first man before he even hit the ground. It opened its mouth and unleashed a maelstrom of fire that consumed the next two brigands, leaving them like the first, blackened and dead. The fourth man had finally shaken himself form the terror that had held him so helplessly frozen. He started to run bought was caught in the searing grip of the Fire Dragon’s tail which wrapped itself around his body, squeezing and burning until nothing was left but a pile of charred ash.
Asher watched the whole scene with an expression of the purest delight. His eyes, still tainted red by the rage, were filled with a frightening mix of pleasure and madness. He watched in silent satisfaction until the last was burnt to ash and then he laughed. He laughed with a bloodlust that sent an icy chill to the bones of the remaining man. He knew what was coming.
Simultaneously, Asher and the Fire Dragon turned their attentions toward the final man for the final revenge, both screaming for blood. The Fire Dragon rushed toward him, but the man dodged and grabbed the broken and bleeding Rini, who had been left forgotten on the ground. He held her in front of him like a shield knowing that she was his only means of escape and survival. He stood his ground as the dragon circled round him, a predator toying with its prey. The Fire Dragon whipped out his tail, twisting it around the man’s leg and lifting him from the ground, holding him high above the clearing. Tongues of fire from the dragon’s tail licked at the flesh of the man’s legs and arms. He screamed in agony as the fire began to slowly consume his limbs. And Asher watched on with open glee unable to break free from the bloodlust and rage that held him…
…until he heard Rini. Her screams cut through his revelry and sent him rocking back against the tree to which he was bound. He looked up, the red fading from his vision. She was still held in the brigand’s arms, or what was left of the brigand. She was now held hostage by a circle of burning arms.
“NO!!!!!!” Asher cried up at that hideous creature born out of his rage. “STOP! RINI! Don’t hurt her!” She continued to scream, but he couldn’t tell if it was from pain or from fear. Fire was raining down all around him as the leaves burned from the tree and fell to the ground. They danced and played along his skin and hair but he remained unharmed, untouched by the flames. Tears stung his eyes, which already ached from the smoke that permeated through the clearing. He closed his eyes and let the tears pour down his face. As he did so, an intense grief was formed suddenly in that place where his rage had been.
Asher tried to stop it, but he couldn’t. He held back as long as he could but another of his screams was sent through the clearing as another creature was born of his fire and his sadness. He was lost. How did this happen? I don’t understand…What am I doing? What’s going on?
Strange shrieks and cries caused him to open his eyes and stare at a bird of fire, a Phoenix, that hung in the air between the dragon and his sister, who now lay on the ground in the center of the clearing. She appeared to be unharmed by the fire, but she didn’t move when he called out to her.
The Fire Dragon and the Phoenix began to circle one another, until the dragon lashed out with his tail at the bird wings. They began a strange air-born battle of fiery limbs and wings, beaks and tails. Where they met and clashed, fire rained down onto the already smoldering clearing, slowly covering it with flames.
Asher screamed at the creatures to stop, but to no avail. He watched as the body of his sister was covered with flames and burned to a black husk. The smell of burning flesh finally reached his nose along with the flames causing him to choke and gag. He began to notice the fire above him was slowly burning down the trunk of the tree to which he was still chained. He stopped struggling and stared at the scene before him; two creatures born of fire, rage, and grief battling for a meaningless cause, burning bodies turning to ash, flames being fed by an autumn forest.
The flames crept down the tree and swept around Asher’s hair. He didn’t flinch. Let it come. Let me burn. The flames from the battle had reached the base of his tree as well and began caressing his legs and arms. He felt the heated metal that bound him burning the flesh of his wrist, and still he didn’t move. Come…let me burn…

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Moonrise. An icy wind blew through the autumn colored trees. It moved through the dead and blackened trees surrounding an ash filled clearing. Rising from the ash, a lone figure stood. He looked around through ice-blue eyes, up at the full moon hanging high in a star-filled sky. His face frozen in place, an emotionless mask, a cold and heartless stare. His wrists were scarred and red. Circling one, a red a dragon, and the other, a fiery bird of prey. He stood tall in the center of this once beautiful place, glanced around once more, and walked north into the cold wind. If I don’t feel, then nothing can harm me…

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~~~End part 1...please read and review ^.^~~~