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)