Ablaze - Part One

Once there was an elder who possessed a fortune vast. He was the proprietor of lands he had amassed, dwellings and retainers and a mansion huge and wide but with just a single doorway to depart outside. Though this house was broad and spacious, it was in decay. Yet it teemed with countless people, plus a large array of living creatures big and small, all about the place. While in the halls the pillars were rotten at the base. The plaster and foundations were cracking all around. Its rooftops and verandas were falling to the ground. With crumbling walls, beams and rafters crookedly askew, that building was quite dangerous, as the elder knew. The fencing round the house was broken-down and twisted. Emanations human-faced eerily existed, evermore antagonistic, with humongous greed, trampling on one another in their reckless speed. There was filthy matter scattered all about the site. Various beasts were snarling and lusting for a fight, quarreling, snatching food out of the mouths of others, showing total disregard for their sons or brothers. Poisonous bugs and snakes made it more repellent seem. That mansion had degenerated, to the extreme. Thus demons had settled in to dwell, that devoured the vitality of men, hence to be empowered… The aged man was in decline, nearing his demise. He was prudent, very seldom taken by surprise. Suddenly, fire broke out and set the house in flames. His sons and daughters were within, playing at their games. That father always felt concern for his children dear. Seeing this inferno, he was overcome with fear. Tongues of flame flared up in all directions round about. With only just one access, how would they make it out? [Continued in Part Two] ~ Harley White