Leaving the Oasis (Ember oc backstory)

[Loxfeaf]

8 hours ago, BirbMonstwo said:

Hmm I wondered what that distant scream I heard earlier was!

Oh wow

Thought it should've been obvious!

And they say I'm stupid!

[BirbMonster]

👀

 

Short chapter but like

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Scorch had been watching the town for so long she had lost track of time.

She’d watched Ember go off to talk to her family and that random Sneyser who had come with them. Then they disappeared into the castle and didn’t return.

But now Ember was finally coming back in her direction.

“Ember!” She whisper-shouted, eagerly coming out from behind the rocks to see her friend again. “What happened?”

“Threat letter,” she said between worried breaths, puffing our little rings of smoke that disappeared into the hot air. “This crazy Thrumble wants to kill my family and maybe invade the island for that, Tiberius wants to use you to fight them off,”

“WHAT?” Scorch roared as her eyes flared in bright flames. 

“He says you’re the only one here who’s strong enough,” Ember explained calmly.

“Well, what if I don’t want to?” she explained, aggressively flapping her wings. 

“I tried to tell him you might not want to, but he wouldn’t listen. Listen, my family-“

Ember was suddenly interrupted by Tiberius crashing through the woods behind her.

“Scorch,” he said calmly. “As Ember said, please help us. Use your Firesight, at least. When will they come, if they are?”

“I already told you, I can’t control it-“

Suddenly, everything flashed in the colours of her eyes. Then she saw something else. An island she’d seen in pictures in books. A glass paradise- Fire Oasis.

She knew suddenly- this will happen tomorrow, she thought.

 

 

A Rare Thrumble slid across the shiny ground in a motion that could only be described as slimy. Her fins were tattered and massive, her scales an unpleasant shade of olive yellow.

The Thrumble suddenly screamed and held up an awkward-looking Pango. 

“WHERE ARE THEY?” she yelled, violently shaking the Pango. 

“I don’t know, they-“

“TELL ME OR I WILL REDUCE YOU TO A BLOODSTAIN!”

“No, I really don’t-“

“LAST TIME, PANGO!”

“OK! They went to Fire Haven, all of them!”

She growled one last time and tossed him back onto the ground.

“I cannot let any of them escape!” she yelled as she left. “They wronged Caribbean and deserve to be punished! It is what he would’ve done! Vesuvius, his family, that Kayna he died while fighting, and of course THE FLIPPERING SNEYSER!”

 

 

She snapped back to reality, her vision blurred, but revealing Ember and Tiberius standing and watching her.

“What did you see, Scorch?” Tiberius asked, a commanding undertone to his voice.

She sighed, realising it would be better- safer for Ember and everyone else- if she told him.“She’s coming to Fire Oasis tomorrow,” Scorch explained fearfully. “And she will know where they went,”

 

“I see. Scorch, you need to stand by to fight. Just in case. We don’t know how far Pike is willing to go for her intentions. You may have to defend the Haven. I will make sure you don’t die,”

VERY helpful of you mentioning I could die, Tiberius, she thought.

“No,”

“Why not?” Tiberius grumbled, holding in his frustration. 

“I- don’t know why, leave me alone,” Smoke curled all around her as her anger bubbled.

“Scorch-”

Ember stepped in front of him silently. “She said no. Let her be, please,”

Without saying another word, Scorch ran off in the opposite direction.

[Loxfeaf]

I actually made a noise OUT LOUD this time

It was like my breathing was sort of in a shriek

[Loxfeaf]

34 minutes ago, Loxfeafcakeratfawnscarhamp said:

I actually made a noise OUT LOUD this time

It was like my breathing was sort of in a shriek

Or it sounded like I was choking 

[shortcake]

13 hours ago, Loxfeafcakeratfawnscarhamp said:

I actually made a noise OUT LOUD this time

It was like my breathing was sort of in a shriek

I do that a lot. I call it "inverted screaming"

I've gotten really good at i\t, and some people tell me I sound like a bird. I can impersonate a lot of animals/objects with it lol

[BirbMonster]

👀

That night, Ember couldn’t sleep. She’d lit a candle hours ago and tried to draw and write to get her mind off of things, but her mind was clouded with the drama of the day.

The rhythmic ticking of the clock on her wall made the hours seem to extend even more. She glanced up at it, wondering just how long she’d been sitting there.

1:53 AM. 

There wasn’t a single other sound, besides the occasional chirp of a Candle Bat in the distance.

It was eerie being up this… early? She hadn’t stayed up like this in years, and last time it was at a party she didn’t want to go to.

Sighing, she stood up and pushed her chair in. Maybe I should go for a walk, she thought. I just have to be quiet so I don’t wake anyone up. 

She leaned out of the window. Here, it was barely even darker at night, because the candles still lit a lot of the area in an atphosmeric yellow light. As she thought, there was nobody outside. Save for a familiar, black and purple figure pacing around, an intense, unusual contrast from the dark orange around.

Scorch walked with her wings over her head, slow from exhaustion.

Guess there is someone else awake. I’ll get up now. 

Each one of Ember’s footsteps, no matter how hard she tried to tiptoe, seemed to boom loudly all around the brick corridors.

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

Ember almost screamed and fell over as she turned around to see a familiar pair of yellow eyes staring at her creepily.

“Miles?”

“Why aren’t you awake?”

“None of your business,” she snapped back at the Floogull, as quitley as anger could be expressed.

“Yeah buuut-“

A massive hand slapped across Miles’ face. “Ow- Thorn-“

“Miles! You better stop asking everyone about everything,” Thorn whisper-shouted. “Not everyone wants you to know stuff,”

Thorn casually turned towards Ember.

“We’re solving a mystery,” She explained.

“Have you met Cornelius?” Miles asked.

“Who?”

“Forget it, Miles, I gotta stop telling everyone about the thingy! Well shoot and a boot we gotta scoot-“

She firmly grasped Miles by the arm and dragged him off down the corridor as he let out a faint yelp.

Shrugging off whatever the heckling Hornacle those two were doing, Ember continued down the hallway, hoping she would run into Scorch.

The truth was, she… she did love Scorch. Something about the beautiful Epic simply intrigued her. 

 

She followed the path into the eerie woods. As much as she wanted to follow Scorch, it was kinder and less creepy not to, and instead just wander around the forest and maybe hope she ran into her.

 

Suddenly, a swarm of Candle Bats swept through the forest, many of them barely skimming her head

“YEARGH-“

After the flock cleared out and Ember could see again, she noticed Scorch standing right in front of her, her eyes spookily flickering.

“Oh-“ Ember said, casually approaching. “Can’t sleep either?”

“Yeah,” Scorch yawned, a small ring of blue-tinted smoke drifting upwards from her head. “It’s been a crazy day. Thanks for standing up for me back there,”

“Technically, it’s not the same day anymore. It’s 2:00 am now, probably,”

“I’ve been out here for this long?”

What? Ember thought. There’s no way she’s been walking around outside this whole time, right?

“Do you even… live anywhere? Sorry if I sound rude, I just…”

“I still live with my parents. But I’m too scared to go home,” she sighed. “They really stress me out sometimes. Still over-excited about… what I am. I’m scared to go back to them. They’ll probably be on Tiberius’ side to all this. And not only that but I feel like he betrayed me. He was the only monster I trusted… before you came,”

“Don’t worry,” Ember said calmly, trying her best to comfort Scorch. “You can always trust me,”

Scorch leaned forwards, wrapping her arms and wings around Ember for a hug.

She blushed slightly as Scorch silently moved back.

“You know…” Ember suggested, trying her best not to stutter. “If you want, you could stay in my room,” don’t think about that, not like that, “You could… sleep on the couch. If you want,”

“I mean…” Scorch contemplated the suggestion, tapping one hoof on the ground. She suddenly yawned again, letting out another ring of smoke. “Alright… I’m tired. I’ll go with you,” 

Stay calm, Ember thought. “Ok. Come on, I’ll lead you there. Just be quiet because I met Miles and Thorn in the halls earlier and I don’t feel like running into them again,”

“Wait, what?” Scorch asked as she followed Ember down the eerie gold path. “What are they doing there?”

“Thorn said they're solving a mystery,” Ember claimed calmly. “Someone named Cornelius,”

“Well, I don’t know who that is. Besides, I hate Miles. Won’t help him. Ever,”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to mention it,”

“Alright,”

There was an awkward silence that felt like it stretched on for hours. But soon, Scorch broke it as well as she could.

“So, ummmm… what’s… what’s your favourite colour?”

“Don’t know. Maybe orange?”

They continued down the castle halls until they arrived at Ember’s room.

It was still dark inside, so Ember placed her hand on a candle marking the entrance, lighting her still rather bare room up in a faint orange glow.

“Wow, it’s.. nice…”

“I still pretty much just moved in,” Ember explained, pacing around the room. “So it’s still pretty bare,”

She handed Scorch a spare blanket from the bed. For a moment, their hands brushed against each other, and Ember knew very well she was blushing- but Scorch was probably too tired to notice or care.

“Goodnight, Scorch,” she whispered, watching her settle down.

“Goodnight, Ember,”

[Loxfeaf]

I just woke up so *SCREAMING*