First Sight- Magma

At the age of five I was always interesting in any new information I could find. I was already looking for exciting things. As I watched the news with my parents we were all in a state of shock. Everyone in the world had heard about the eggs. The videos one could watch on others trying to destroy them had become the norm. I wiggled in my seat on the couch excited to see what would happen on the television.

      Breaking World News July 25th, 1999, 8:23 p.m.

      By: Hannah Simone

      For years people around the world have been collecting these ginormous eggs. With fewer than five thousand being reported as owned they have been a hot commodity due to their unknown nature. They are all different shapes and sizes or the vibrant colors of a crystal white, shiny black coal, vibrant green, gold and a radiant blue. We have all seen the viral videos of people using the weapons of the world to try and destroy them to see what's inside. No one has ever been successful.

      Today However the entire world is in shock because with no reaction expected of the eggs they all started to glow. That correct you did here me right they are all glowing in their luminescent colors and have become warm to the touch. Many have gathered around to watch and wait to see what will happen. I stand here in (...), Greece in the (common Greek last name) home. Many in this village have heard their tragic story. A couple who has fought to conceive a child their whole lives. When they finally gave up on having a child of their own they opened this orphanage to accept all the children that others didn't want. Here to speak with us now is Mrs. Thalia "What do you hope is inside the egg? I asked. "It doesn't matter to me what is inside the egg. No matter what we find when it hatches, it will have a home here" she answers.

      There you have it folks. Oh, look the light is getting brighter. Let's have a closer look.

      As we all watched the screen we were on the edges of our seat. The egg we were watching to shine a really bright gold color. In just moments, the light took over the entire screen. It blinded us with its rays. We turned away shielding our eyes from the burn. When it lowered and we turned back to the screen it only showed white.

      "What happened Dad? Did we miss it?" I asked.

      "No son, I do not think so. Oh, look the colors are coming back.

      As the view came back the people on the television were all at a stunned silence. The egg now had a whole in the side of it. A man stepped forward and began to break more pieces of the shell away. When he looked inside he gasped aloud "O thee mou." He stepped back in disbelief at what he had seen and then a cry pierced the air. At the cry, a woman rushed forward and reached inside the egg. With a beaming smile on her face, she pulled a baby covered in goop from the egg. "It's a girl, we have a little girl" she shouted aloud. People around her stood in shock as others cheered. The woman wiped some of the goop off the baby and wrapped her up in a cloth that was handed to her. As the camera peered closer to the babies face we were shown the new life that had been born.

      "That's a pretty baby" I said aloud to my parents.

      As the baby blinked hazel eyes at the screen and began to suck its finger. I sat there completely enthralled. You could tell her hair still had a little goop in it because it was entirely to shiny. However, the astonishing thing was the colors. It was one of the deepest blacks I had ever seen and these unnatural red streaks. The color almost reminded you of burning coals.

      What you see here is a true miracle. A baby girl has come out of the egg. Just in I am getting reports from other places around the world that babies are hatching from all the eggs. We have a baby boom ladies and gentlemen.

      That's all for now please tune in tomorrow for an update on this story.

      Laying in my bed that night I remember just wishing that it would have been nice if we had gotten one of those eggs. I have always wanted a baby brother or sister.

      ~23 years later~

      "Come on now rookie. You completed your training, and you turn to fly the 'copter. We have us a blaze to put out so stow your fear and get to it" I yelled.

      The new rookie Antonio finally followed suit. We finished loading the gear into the helicopter and then we all bundled in. When we made it to flying altitude we could see the blaze in the distance right off the seventy-nine highways. The weather was already unseasonably warm, and we could feel the heat of the blaze downwind.

      As captain of the jumpers for the Cuyamaca Rancho State Park area I was used to the blazes during the summer. Judging from the few miles out we had to fly it appeared that someone may not have put their campfire out completely due to the size of the blaze and the time. Now that we had neared the blaze where we would be jumping by parachute me, and my men started putting on our PPE. Hefting the sack has always caused a bunch of grunting to be heard on the journey. It is impossible for someone to get used to carrying one hundred pounds of weight all the time.

      With me being the captain, I was always the one to jump first. One couldn't expect for others to want to go and fight the dangers of a fire if their leader wasn't willing to do it. I balance my boots on the edge of the helicopter and readied myself to jump.

      "3,000-foot elevation reached sir" Antonio yells over the helicopter blades.

      Knowing we are at the right elevation I jump with a smile. This always been my favorite part. The freefall through the air with the wind blasting in my face. Seeing the trees and earth approaching at a rapid rate is always such an adrenaline rush. My pleasure of the freefall is interrupted when I look up and see that the helicopter has gotten closer to me instead of further away. For some reason it appears that the rookie has continued his decent. I Jerk my hand toward my parachute string readying to pull it when the fire below gives a loud bang. I see and object raise from fire that is round and set ablaze.

      I panic when I see it hurtling toward the helicopter at a fast pace.

      "Noooooo....." I scream.

      I watch as one of my men tries to make a narrow escape from the helicopter before impact. I pull the string on my parachute hoping that I did it at the right elevation even though my eyes weren't on my equipment. My decent is barely slowed and crash into the tops of the trees just a few feet from the blaze. I hear a CRACK on impact and know that I have broken something. My parachute gets caught on something and I am jerked to a stop swinging face first into a tree. I try to shake off the impact as my vision blurs and my head starts to throb.

      I try to focus on the parts of the sky that I can see. In my double vision there is no mistake to me seeing a trail of smoke leading from the sky to the trees. As my vision goes black I hope with all my heart that my team is okay.

      ~~~~~

      I awake to extreme pain and crackling in the air. It's hot. It's so hot that as I blink my eyes there is too much sweat to clear them. They burn as I start to panic. As I jerk around trying to get away from the pain I can make out the colors of fire in my blurred vision. The air if filled with smoke. I take a deep breath and hold it trying to conserve my oxygen. I try to push out from the tree I am caught on with my right leg. As soon as I apply weight to try to life myself up I scream bloody murder. The pain from my leg lets me know that it is definitely broken. Looking down I see the flames rising higher. The tree I'm on is crackling and I know that it could give at any moment.

      I take a deep breath to settle myself and try to fight through my pain and fear. I can't die here today. I reach behind me to my pack and search for my knife. If I could see this would be so much easier. As I search I feel the heat in my boots. I start to search faster knowing that I won't last much longer. I gulp another full breath as I reach the knife. I pull it from my sack and raise my hands to find the strings of my parachute. There should be six of them. I will worry about the consequences of cutting myself free after.

      I grit my teeth against the heat on my feet. Without looking I know that my boots have nearly melted all the way. I saw against the third string in my hand faster. It's getting harder to breath and when I take breaths I know that I'm not getting enough oxygen. My arms ache and my burning flesh is growing unbearable. I feel a swift breeze cut through the air. As I cut the fifth string my body jerks further down the tree and scream. I can feel the fire on my legs now that I hang by the last thread.

      Something comes crashing through the trees near me. I feel the tree I am barely connected to jerk at the impact. Some of the smoke from the air dissipates and with it I take a much-needed breath. As I blink and my vision clears slightly I see the flames leave from my body. I can still feel my burnt flesh and as I try to flex I feel the pain. I sag against a branch happy that the flames seem to be disappearing. I feel a moment of disbelief because flames should move like these are. As I watch through the haziness I see all the flames around me pulled to the ground of the forest. They slowly flow away from me like a burning river leaving a charred path.

      While watching I get start to get black spots in my vision and I know that I will pass out soon. I sit back on the branch and lean my back against the tree. As the world begins to grow black one more I see the flames in the distance completely disappear. In the spot that they disappear is a giant red beast. I feel a moment of fear and as I connect eyes with it, it's the last thing I see.