I awoke to warmth and purple. My back scrapped against rough wood as I stirred. Should I open my eyes? Was I ready to see the world? A feeling rose inside me. What's this? What is this strange feeling? It's urging me to stay where I was, to just dissolve back into the ashes I was made from.

Ashes? People aren't made of ashes.

Was I people? Images flashed through my mind of "people". Shapes of all kinds, but these ones with four limbs kept showing up. My brain told me these were "humans". Was I human?

Only one way to find out. But was I ready to take that risk? What if I wasn't people? What could I be then? Was I just ashes? I searched inside of myself, and deep down I could feel the surge of fire that produced me. It wasn't in me though. I was just a byproduct of its burning, my form congealing on the walls of this world like the dome of a volcano.

But there was me. The fact that I was thinking proved I was at least something more than the ashes that made my form.

So it was decided. I would open my eyes.

In front of me sat a large campfire. My eyes followed the lilac flames upwards, watching the sparks as they disappeared into the canopy above me, which something told me hid the starless night sky.

"How do I know that?" I muttered to myself. I stopped in surprise. Was that my voice? "Is that my voice?" I sounded out the syllables and rolled my tongue in my mouth. Oh. Right! I had a mouth! That was a step forward. I was happy about that.

Happy. I was happy! I was so joyful to be happy! I wanted to move, I wanted to see what else I was. For a moment all I did was stand and revel at the realization that I was me.

I was standing? I looked down and my happiness snuffed like someone had piled wet leaves on it. I was standing, yes, but I wasn't people. I wasn't human. I was standing on cloven hooves, with shaggy black legs. At first the word devil flashed through my mind, but I mentally pushed that away. Another, more acceptable term came to my mind: satyr. I was a satyr. I reached up with my... oh, I had hands. Well that's nice. I caressed the top of my head. Curly hair and twin curling horns sprouted there, breaking the uniformity of my skull. Yes, satyr would do, if I couldn't have human.

"Hello?" I jumped, startled from my self-examination. I looked around in the purple light, trying to find the source of the sound. "Down here." It was a strange, high chirp, almost like how a bird might sound if it could talk. I followed it and found the source: a small black salamander nestled directly in the fire.

"How do you feel? I thought you might need some more time, but I'm so happy to see you already standing! Can you walk? Can you run? Can you speak? Of course you can, I heard you a moment ago. That means it worked! I have someone at last! A friend, an audience, another person to talk to! Do you know how long it's been? I don't know, there's no way to keep track. I've never seen anyone else here, so I tried something new! I hope you like my stories, I really, really do." The words tumbled out of the little creature as it continued to speak. "Where to start? What stories do you like? I suppose you don't know, you were just born after all. Maybe I should start with --"

The trees cracked and popped in the distance, and the Salamander stopped speaking, cowering back into the ash. "It's so scary here! But I can't leave the fire, I've already tried. If I do, then I know I'll die. So I thought maybe I could make something new, something to keep my company." It stared at me hopefully, eyes moving over my body.

I stared back at it, crouching down next to the fire. Watching it writhe over the Salamander's body, it almost looked like the Salamander was the source rather than just residing inside it. "Could you leave if I made a bigger fire for you to travel to? Why is this fire purple anyway? Normal fire isn't purple. Is it burning something to cause that? Is it the fire that keeping you alive, or are you feeding on something it produc --" I stopped. I was doing it again. I was producing facts and information that I shouldn't have access to. I looked back at the Salamander. "Why does that happen? How do I know things like that?"

The Salamander looked at me happily, doing little pushups in its fire. "It's how I made you! Isn't it great? You know things even I don't know! That way you can create your own stories, and understand all of mine!"

I looked at my body again. "Why this form?"

"I heard stories of a trickster god ages ago from someone. I figured if you were going to be smart, you might appreciate a body similar to his. It clearly gave him some sort of advantage, so why not you? It's my gift to you!" It did a tiny shuffle with its legs as it said this. I was noticing the Salamander never stopped moving. Even as I watch it, its tail lashed to one side and it knocked over some of the wood the fire was consuming. The fire hissed and the Salamander once more shrunk down into the ash, peeking out again after a few seconds.

For the first time I looked beyond the fire, out at the darkness. I could see the silhouettes of trees, but nothing else. It was a solid wall of nothing. I shivered uncomfortably. "Where are we?"

The Salamander's jig halted and it looked at me carefully. "We're in the Campgrounds. But you should have known that already? Did I make a mistake? You should know everything about the Dark Forest." It paused. "Maybe that was the trade? You know things I don't, but now you don't know things I do? Oh, this is exciting! I've never made someone new before. It was always the various guardians, and even I don't know how they were made."

Guardians? "What's out there?" I pointed off into the distance. "Is it safe? Does the darkness ever stop?"

"You're not going to leave me here are you? Not after I made you! It's not safe! There are monsters, guardians that are far more dangerous than you are!" The Salamander's tone was almost a whine now. I looked back at it and realized it must be terrified.

"How long have you been here?" I asked it. It shuffled nervously from foot to foot, head staring at the glowing embers it stood over. At first I thought it wouldn't answer, but then I realized something more. "You don't know do you?" It shook its head morosely.

"What will you do if I leave? Can you stop me?"

"Please don't leave!" squeaked the Salamander. Its tiny eyes bulged at me in panic, and for a second I almost reached into the fire to comfort it.

"I won't! I'm sorry for even suggesting it! I just... I don't feel like I've got much choice in the matter." I let my furry rump fall back on the log I had woken up on. Now that I was looking around, there really wasn't much to see. The campsite in the center was one of many that were mixed together. Twelve other logpiles were gather around it, and the logs in them were arranged to start fires should the need arise.

"If I'm the first one here, who found all this wood? Who created this campground? What even is this place?"

The Salamander shook its head, saying "You're asking too many questions. It doesn't like that. You should listen to the stories I have. Maybe they will have the answers."

I opened my mouth to say something, but was drowned out by a sudden gale that roared through the forest. The Salamander all but disappeared as it dove down into its embers. I clawed my way behind the log and clamped my hands over my ears, desperately waiting for the winds to subside. Glancing out towards the source, I saw something that made my freshly minted heart skip a beat. The shadows of the forest were moving, straining inwards towards the Campgrounds, even as the Salamander's fire blazed brightly against the wind. It took several minutes (more paradoxical knowledge) but finally the Forest's outburst ceased. When I finally raised my head, I looked at the Salamander, who was similarly poking its head out of the ash. "Are you ready to listen now?"

Wordlessly I nodded, knowing the Forest's anger had been brought about by my questions. "Tell me a story, O Great Salamander." Sarcasm. When had that snuck in? I caught myself again. What was going on? Why was I acting that way? None of this made any sense at all! I wanted to rant, but all I could do was pull myself onto the log, and stare at the tiny amphibian who was both my creator and only source of information.

The Salamander noticed none of this, and instead puffed up from the compliment. "And so I will!"

The Salamander told me many stories that night. Its sing-song voice was pleasant to listen to as it told me about other places, but several times I tried to interject and steer the stories towards questions I had, and for the most part the Salamander answered them. I learned that I could ask questions until the wind started to pick up, and at that point I let the Salamander return to its story. Unfortunately, my initial suspicion was correct: it really didn't know much about the Forest, its guardians, or even why it was here. All it did know was that it had a burning desire to tell these stories, and very few people ever made it to the Campgrounds.

There was that word again. "People." I struggled to put a definition to it. I had a vague understanding of what the Salamander meant when it said "people", but it didn't always mean humans. Apparently, the ones who had stacked the wood weren't people or humans, and that led to many more questions. What did the Salamander mean when it said it hadn't ever seen anyone here? But when I asked that question, I got a blank stare in response. It simply didn't remember saying that, and pressing it on the topic was determined to be a bad idea as the wind began to pick up.

Was I a person? Or was I just a sentient creature of ash? My actions didn't seem to be my own choice. I could ask questions, but every now and then I'd notice my mouth saying things that I didn't ask. What was I?

I was pondering that question as I finally fell asleep. And when I awoke again, the Salamander and it Campgrounds was nowhere to be seen. I was alone for the first time since I had awoken, with only the Dark Forest's shadows for company.