Fire Further Down
In front of me the mist
swirled in circular wisps before it appeared to evaporate into the thin air
that had cooled considerably. I shivered as I remembered the surreal encounter
with a bear somewhere between the heat of a sun-filled day and a grey coolness
of the moonlit night. Although in reality it was only a moment ago, it already
seemed nothing more than a fantastic dream. My doubts became more inter-twined
with this moving, chill atmosphere and as confusion returned I had slowed my
pace.
Mist
appeared to transform into smoke. The acrid, pungent odour burned my eyes and I
closed them involuntarily and my breathing became laboured. Fear returned as
the companion of confusion took an iron grip around my throat. I tripped on a
rogue tuft of grass and fell to the ground where the crater's rim met my hand.
I clung to it. It was hot. Had I been walking any faster I would've fallen
headlong into the fire. Through the mixture of smoke and steam the heat from
the molten rock hit me and the force of its impact all over my face at the same
moment was overwhelming and I felt as though I must surely black out.
With
my thoughts spinning around in rapid circles, the sensation of a soft, gentle
caress over my back had the twin effect of shock and comfort. An image of a
bear flashed into my mind. I was terror struck. The hot volcano rim of pure
obsidian was razor sharp and had cut my hand like a knife through butter or a
bear's claw through my flesh. My eyes flashed open at the thought of death. The
sudden appearance of the caldera mixed with this image threatened my sanity,
blistering lava bubbles bursting everywhere over the surface. In the middle of
the boiling red lake, an eruption of lava exploded upwards in a fountain of
molten rock as a fiery object climbed silently through the disturbed air like a
serpent. The General Sherman. Up it rose. Up and up, continuing it seemed
forever. Suddenly it stopped and this magnificent tree towered over everything,
a shower of golden flames inside the bright-red drape of spewing rock splashing
down and drenching the inferno within the lava.
I
tried to comprehend the sight in front of me through the swirling steam and
dancing flames. I lay prone on the hard rocky surface gripping the hot, razored
edge of the rim, blood gently flowing and slowly dripping into the molten rock
below, then instantly vaporising. The ground beneath me was not hot, just warm.
More confusion hit me as I tried to understand this impossible combination of
experiences. I could take no more of this madness and stood up, teetering on
the edge of sanity. I stepped forward and plunged towards the molten rock
below. Suddenly and without any conscious thought, I reshaped and straightened
out my curled form into a perfect dive. The best I’d ever performed and ironically
my last. In that final moment of life, a calmness came over me as I foresaw my
own imminent death and realised that it's not life that flashes before you, but
the appreciation of absolute vulnerability as it wraps itself around you like
death's blanket. I plummeted downwards. Resolute. Not caring and completely
unafraid as though I was diving into the comfort of the time before my birth.
Automatically
I grabbed a breath before hitting the warm water and, slipping into the lake, I
went deep, to meet with the sight of tiny bubbles fizzing upwards towards the
shards of sunlight filtering down from above. I slowly moved towards the
surface, my speed matching the movement of the gas bubbles. It felt as though I
was being pulled and pushed at the same time. Finally, I surfaced then looked
around. The General Sherman was gone. The molten rock was gone. I swum the
short way to a tiny beach covered with black sand and dragged myself out of the
water. I turned to look at the scene behind me afraid of what I might see, but
it was just trees standing upright like soldiers against a backdrop of
grass-covered rocks. A gentle breeze was blowing across my face and raising my
hands I felt a cooling relief pass over them. In the distance I thought I saw a
solitary predatory bear. It reared upwards as it turned to look in my
direction. It roared once and dropped onto all fours. The bear looked away and
as its front paws touched the ground it lumbered off up into the woodland and
was gone.
Louis Brothnias 2008
(August)