it has been a long time; * from past till now * and we have improved our English !

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Volcano Dance by Fangxiong

The hot air boiled her blood.

She was falling. The lava in the large magma chamber inside the volcano greeted her with open arms. The second she fell into the pool of deadly lava, she evaporated instantly. Her soul turned into streams of light with colours of the rainbow. The rays shot directly to the sky high above, and beyond.

With a gasp, Sparkly woke up. She knew it was not real. But it would be soon.

The earth was trembling. She sighed, staring her reflection in the mirror which was placed on the stone-made night table. She was a very beautiful girl, with big black eyes, rosy cheeks, red lips and a well-shaped body. The ground roared and shook again, more furiously this time. Small pieces of stones were starting to shear off the stone ceiling.

Suddenly, a stone hit the mirror and smashed it into pieces instantly. Sparkly buried her face in her arms and cried, for the shattered glass pieces, and for herself too.

She belongs to Volcano Tribe, a clan created by Volcano God thousand of years ago. The people of Volcano Tribe lived inside the volcano. The Volcano God cast strong spells at the edge of the caves to separate them from the pipes, which linked directly to the large magma chamber that contained the lava. Thus, they were protected from the deadly lava. However, when the volcano erupted each time, a girl of the Volcano Tribe must step out of the cave and dive into the pipe, sacrificing herself in order to prevent the spells from weakening. This time, Sparkly was the chosen one.

A warm hand gently rested on her shoulder. Sparkly looked up and saw Vesuvius, her beloved boyfriend.

“Are you afraid, love?” Vesuvius asked her. There was warmth in his voice, love in his eyes.

“I guess.” Sparkly said. Her voice was still trembling, from the intensity of the ground movements.

“Listen, my dear,” Vesuvius said softly, “I really enjoy the days with you. I treasure every minute and every second with you.”

“But I don’t want to leave you!” Sparkly cried in anguish.

“Me too. I want to die with you but…” Vesuvius said painfully.

“But you can’t,” Sparkly interrupted him, “It’ll break the rule.”

She kissed him with deep sorrow, “I’ll sacrifice myself for the clan. I am the one. You must promise me not to live in sorrow after tonight. Live your life for me, happily.” She turned her back to Vesuvius and towards her fate.

One hour later, it was time. The main cave was filled with the volcano people, standing silently. Vesuvius was one of them. They were all bare-footed, dressed in red robes, and their faces were streaked with red pigment from the rough earth. Their facial expressions were serious, and a bit sad. They held bright torches, moist eyes flickering in the dancing flames. The torch light lit up the whole cave and cast wavy shadows on to the walls.

Sparkly entered the cave. To everyone’s amazement, she was smiling. She was more beautiful than ever. Her eyes reflected the glow from the lights. It was as if a fire was burning within her. She was dressed in a bright and red dress. It was the colour of blood, the colour of fire, the colour of the setting sun. She was holding a red flower in her mouth. A few meters away, Vesuvius could see pride and courage in her eyes.

Sparkly started to move her arms and dance slowly in delight. At the same time, the crowd swayed the torches and began to chant. She was such a professional dancer that she had captivated every volcano people. Every motion of hers was graceful and beautiful. She looked like a wonderful swan when she stretched both of her arms and spin; she was as if a beautiful peacock when she held up her arms, hands sliding through the air; she could be likened as a magical phoenix as she jumped through the air, the waterfall-like black long hair swaying in the warm glowing light. Soon she picked up her speed. She danced so fast that she looked like a burning flame in the eyes of the audience. The chanting grew in intensity as they celebrated the life in Sparkly.

At last, she reached the other end of the cave, which was connected to the pipe. She did not stop dancing during the whole process.

She could feel the hot air rushing in from the pipe outside the cave and started sweating. She felt dizzy and tried to steady herself when the dance came to the end. The crowd stopped chanting exactly at the same time and fell into a solemn silence. Only the crackles of the flames could be heard. Sparkly’s eyes scanned through the crowd and formed with Vesuvius’ eyes. There was no fear in her eyes but calm.

The nightmare flashed into her mind again. Sparkly took a deep breath, opened her arms as if hugging the air, and exclaimed triumphantly.

“Even in the death, may we be together forever!”

Lively sparks spewed from the molten hot sea of red death.

frm past till now at-
9:58 am