Borealis Eleven - Look at Me

     Fatigue soon overcame Ember, leaving her helpless to the tugs of sleep.
     Yellow closed her eyes, and yellow opened her dreams. Swirls flew everywhere. Swirls flew everywhere, and she fell, curving and banking against artificial lines of purple and beige. Tunnels ripped open from the nothing-- and she slid away from the somethings she feared. Light blinded and darkness caressed. Colors shouted their anger while Ember lit out her fire. All was burned, yet all did not. And pillars were not friends to no one but themselves. Even so, tears ran down the cheek of the girl who emitted fantasy. No safes could fail, and no danger could when...
     Ember suddenly woke up with a headache. The yellow smog that had surrounded her before appeared to have gone away, replaced by black. She could tell it was still there, however, as it was still hard to breath, and her eyes were stinging more than they had been before she had fallen asleep. From what she could tell, the city's lights had switched off, which probably meant that sunrise was not far off, she figured. Feeling around the darkness, Ember found Aurora, fast asleep as ever.
     "That doesn't do me any good," Ember said to herself. She massaged her forehead some, hoping it would help her headache. "At least I could see a little when the lights were on."
     Ember was starting to regret ever leaving the safety of her secret room. All of this could have been avoided if she had just stayed put. She was a foreigner in this world, and she had no idea how she was ever going to escape it at this rate. And, really, her plan had been simple: Go outside. Find the girl. Find out where the girl had found the champagne. Take the girl inside and see what she could do there. It was simple. How had it gotten so complex, she wondered.
     Ember rested her head in her hands. "I should have thought this through more," she said. "I can't even see my arms."
     Nothing responded to the girl's complaints except silence. There was something wrong with that, Ember realized. As far as she could remember, the city had been filled with constant noise ever since she had first set foot outside. Now, it was so quiet that she felt like she was back inside the city's walls.
     Silence. Then a click.
     Ember looked up. In the distance, she could see two green lights. There was another click, and the lights disappeared. Before she could stand up, the green lights came back on, this time without a click. They were closer. They looked like eyes. Then, off they went again. Aurora stirred in her sleep. Ember jumped and turned toward the unexpected sound beside her.
     Silence.
     A footstep.
     Ember snapped her head in the direction of the newest sound. Again, she saw green eyes, perfect circles. This time only a few feet away from her.