Outside the Encanto

Creation

"Wake up! Y/n, come on, today is that of Creation!" Mama excitedly shrieks, violently shaking you awake.

You had been in this Encanto for two weeks now. It's been a rough transition.

For one, your appetite has grown tremendously. You miss eating real food. Here, in the Encanto, there is no need for real food, because all energy is granted by merely touching the ground.

You miss the feeling of water. The fire seemed normal, but now you feel dry and can't stop it. Mama says it's normal.

The thing you miss most is the feeling of cold. Nothing is cold here. Even the air is filled with hot smoke and ash particles. Both sides of your pillow is always warm. Talk about torture.

"Creation can wait. I want to sleep." You groan, rolling over and taking the blankets with you.

"No, it cannot. Creation is to be celebrated by all. Hurry up." Mama takes the covers away from you.

"Ughhh." You whine, getting up. You hated waking up.

"You'd already witnessed Cessation. I promise, Creation is much happier than that." Mama promises, laying out a skirt for you.

Cessation was one of the strangest days of your life. Elderly Flame People who'd lived out their life threw a large funeral for themselves, where the village would praise their lives, their families, the energy they carried in them.

Once the funerals were over, they would say goodbye to their loved ones, and climb into caskets of hot magma. Once inside, the caskets would melt, until there were nothing left.

Mama says they are not dead. That Eternal Fire merely holds their souls until Creation, where babies rise from Eternal Fires ashes like a Phoenix. Those babies are that of those from Cessation, simply reborn into new, beautiful bodies to live once again.

Watching it happen was so odd. Everyone celebrated death, welcomed it. No fear, or hesitation, just death and rebirth. Funny, you'd never believed in reincarnation before, but now it just seems so real.

Especially as you see Eternal Fire. It glows so elegantly, like a sovereign queen gazing over her gushing kingdom.

You hated it here.

You truly did.

The Culture is what made it bearable. The simplicity of their religion is easily understood, with valid beliefs and acute morals, but the complex lives they live is what truly makes this Encanto so very beautiful. Every street, every archway every tiny detail was all created based off of the Flame Peoples spirituality and imagination.

Sorrow filled you ever since Cessation. You'd not been accustomed to welcoming death, much less willingly going.

Creation must be so worth it.

You force yourself out of your makeshift bed, and look into the mirror. You envision a purple dress upon your glowing gold skin to match your eyes, and it comes to life on you. Everything fit just perfectly, just the way you'd imagined it.

Your hair was the same thing. You let it loose, with a braid trailing down the middle and prosthetic flowers entwined in it. Simple, but cute. Not something you'd usually try to do. For an extra touch, you (A. Make your hair extra curly or B. Straighten it) so that the hair has no frizz. After all, it is a special day.

You could hear Mama rushing the boys outside, and knew she would be here any minute. You hastily make your way outside, where people are flocking to the center of the Encanto.

"Come on, we don't want to get stampeded by the crowd." Camilo whispers in your ear, running his hand down your arm and entwining your fingers in his.

He leads you down the same pathway as the rest of the people are going.