The Chronicles of Kyle

Chapter 10

A/N: might as well publish all the unedited chapters that I wrote a few months ago. Enjoy! :)

Kyle's eyelids slowly blinked open. His head throbbed, and his entire body ached. He felt sticky from sweat, and the overwhelming scent of burning filled the air. Blurry colors filled Kyle's vision. Orange, red, gray, black. His sore muscles groaned as Kyle pushed himself up to a sitting position. As his surroundings came into focus, something wasn't right. Kyle's heart leapt into his throat and he jerked his head back slamming it painfully into a rock. Wincing as the pounding pain in his skull doubled in intensity, Kyle tried to make out what it was that had scared him. He felt a tickling sensation on the tip of his nose as the violet blob of color shifted slightly in the center of his vision. With his heart still beating violently, Kyle strained his eyes to figure out what this thing was. He slowly lifted his hand towards his nose to touch it, but with less than an inch between the hand and the purple object, it darted away through the air. Kyle snapped his head in the direction of the mysterious nose decoration, but it was gone. He touched the tip of his nose and drew his hand away. His finger was covered in an odd shimmery substance. He rubbed his fingers together, and the silver particles drifted down to his knees. It almost looked like what Kyle would imagine fairy dust to be like.

The fascinating new substance captivated Kyle's foggy mind for several seconds. He stared at it in awe until a horrible memory broke him out of his daze. Amaya. The titan! The events flooded back into Kyle's brain. Tears welled up in his eyes as he was overwhelmed with emotions. Where was she? Did she survive? Kyle frantically looked around to see if he recognized his surroundings. He was on a small, rocky ledge overhanging a river of lava. Upon peering over the edge and deciding that the magma was uncomfortably close, Kyle quickly scooted into the cave behind him. It was only a few feet in circumference, but it was better than being on the precipice of burning to death. Directly in front of him was a sheer cliffside that seemed to grow taller for eternity. Kyle wracked his brain. The last thing he could remember was being hit off the edge of the cliff by the giant magma titan. He must've fallen into the ravine and landed on this ledge. Kyle shook his head in disbelief. How was he alive? If he'd fallen just a few more feet in any direction, he'd be toast. Kyle hoped this was his last near death experience for a while.

Kyle took a deep breath to calm down and winced as a sharp pain shot through his chest. He felt around his torso and groaned in pain as he discovered a particularly tender spot on his back. He concluded that it might be a broken rib. Maybe multiple. He quickly felt around his body and found only minor cuts and bruises. Trying to stay positive, Kyle reminded himself that he was lucky to get out of that fall alive. A broken rib was nothing compared to getting stabbed in the stomach by a homicidal cat. Kyle smiled at his own joke and rested his head against the cave wall. Suddenly, a dash of purple caught his eye. He looked towards the entrance of the cave and slowly inched his way forward. Perched on a rock was a gorgeous violet butterfly. Kyle's eyes widened. He'd never seen a creature so beautiful before. It almost looked mythical. Its delicate wings slowly bobbed up and down as if to show off its silver-speckled pattern. Instead of a black body, this creature was royal purple. Its antenna seemed to be too long for its little body, and they curled upwards almost like a ram's horn. Below its delicate legs was the same metallic silver dust that Kyle had found on his nose.

"What are you?" Kyle whispered to himself.

The butterfly turned its head towards Kyle as if it had heard him. Its glistening black eyes stared at him for a few seconds before it quickly flew out of the cave. Kyle stood up to follow the creature and gasped as he was painfully reminded of his injury. With a hand cradling his chest, Kyle carefully walked out onto the ledge and looked to the right where the butterfly had flown. His eyes scanned the area, but he didn't see anything except lava and rocks. His eyes darted to the wall of the ravine that he was on as the butterfly flew around in tight circles before landing on a rock about 10 feet away from Kyle and staring at him expectantly. It was almost like it wanted him to follow its lead. Looking at the space between him and the insect, Kyle realized there was no path.