Roald Arcangel
Chapter One - The Day the Colors Died
AURI AND THE LOST COLORS
A Heartwarming Fable About Kindness and the Colors of Emotion
Sampler Chapter – Chapter One
By Roald R. Arcangel
Chapter One – The Day the Colors Died
There was once a world where laughter painted the sky. Every smile left a shimmer in the air,
and every act of kindness bloomed like watercolor on the wind. The rivers of Chromara flowed
in ribbons of light — cerulean, amber, rose — whispering songs of all the good that people did.
But one morning, the sky awoke gray.
The colors had fled. Flowers stood pale, birds sang in monotone, and even the sun dimmed to
the hue of cold pewter. No one remembered the last time a child’s giggle made the air sparkle.
The people of Chromara carried on quietly, pretending they did not notice the fading.
Only one girl did.
Auri sat by her window, sketching flowers in colors no one else could see. Her grandmother’s
voice, warm and tremulous, drifted from behind her. “Still painting the impossible, my dear?”
Auri smiled faintly. “Not impossible. Just… hiding.”
Her grandmother touched her shoulder, eyes soft with worry. “The world forgot kindness, Auri.
When hearts turned cold, the colors went with them. That’s what the old stories say.”
“But maybe the colors didn’t die,” Auri whispered. “Maybe they’re waiting.”
Outside, a butterfly fluttered past her window — dull gray, like ash. Yet when it brushed the
glass, for the briefest heartbeat, its wings flashed blue.
Auri gasped. It was gone in an instant, but she had seen it — a spark of hue in a world of gray.
And something deep inside her whispered: Remember this.
That night, as she lay in bed, she dreamed of a sky spilling over with color, and of a voice —
gentle as a sigh — saying, “Find the kindness, Auri. Find the light.”
When she awoke, the morning was pale again. But she carried the echo of that dream like a secret flame.