10 hours later
■Levi■
"Can we go home now?!" I pleaded.
My entire body ached as I attempted to wipe the sweat off my face. We'd been fishing for the last few days. Unfortunately, this meant that the constant workload was starting to hurt my limbs.
My father extended with a gratifying snap. "This is probably the last one. We'll go home after this."
"Okay, then." I gathered up the last bit of my strength and tossed the makeshift net into the sea, deciding to try my hardest and fired up by the fact that we were reaching the end of this arduous trip.
After a few hours, we were finally done. Dad stepped off the boat and dragged it in against the tides.
"Whoo..." I moaned. "That was way too much work for someone my age."
"You'll better get used to it," Dad said as he lifted the fish-packed nets out of the boat. "You're going to be coming along a lot more frequently now."
"Yeah..." I muttered.
"Oh, what's with the sad look there, Levi?"
Ren's father appeared already prepared to head back. The fishing nets were rolled up under his sleeves, and all the fish he caught were in a basket he carried on his back.
"He wasn't expecting the work to be so difficult." My father butted in with a short laugh. I was too physically exhausted to answer.
"Ahh, that's to be expected. It's a tough responsibility, isn't it?"
I just turned 15 recently when my father decided that I should join him and learn how to fish, as it was a difficult task that required experience from a young age. Being very close to the sea meant that fishing was how we fed our families. Other villagers had already put away their fishes, rewards for a time-consuming task, and nets. A few had even begun the long walk back home.
"So, Uncle," I lifted up our nets while my father swung the heavy fish basket unto his back. "Why didn't Ren come with you?"
"He snuck out with Eirlys again. Needless to say, they got themselves in trouble," Ren's father shook his head with a sigh. "Camri was so furious that she refused to either of them leave the house... although I wouldn't be surprised if they completely ignored her and went out today as well."
"So that's what happened," I said.
"That girl of yours really is something else." my father remarked.
"Believe me, I'm well aware. Especially her talent at convincing people. It's almost impossible to tell her no."
"Poor Ren must be getting dragged all over the town following her!"
"Yes, Although I do think he's becoming too overprotective of her. It's worrying enough that he doesn't try to speak to any of the other children. He's so reliant on Eirlys, he probably doesn't even remember their names. I can only imagine what he would do if she ever got in any danger." Ren's father sighed deeply for the second time.
I tuned out their conversation as they went on to a different subject, but the last statement stuck with me. Partly because I had seen Ren's indifference to others several times. Ren had always been distant. He made no effort to make other friends in the village, perfectly content with speaking to Eirlys and me. Although Ren and I became close friends mostly because our parents were on good terms. A memory of a few years back flashed through my head when a disease circling the town at that time caused several deaths. I vividly remember the funerals that were held for days afterward. Eirlys was clutching the hem of Camri's dress and crying. Ren did the same, but he didn't look remotely sad; he just stared ahead as if it didn't matter to him.
'Crap,' I cursed quietly. 'I nearly tripped over a stupid branch.' I turned around quickly to see if anyone saw that humiliating display, but everyone was far ahead of me.
I caught up to my father and Ren's father still in conversation, but I let them be, deciding to walk in silence for the time being. We hiked for about 2 hours, physically and mentally exhausted, when a heavy stench caught our nostrils, and Ren's father was the first to notice it.
"Can you smell that?" he asked in a deep, concerned tone. "It smells like... like something is burning."
"You must be smelling things." My father laughed it off.
We were still quite a distance away when the smell became strong enough for everyone to notice. Someone spotted several thunderclouds of smoke billowing from the direction of the town. I think that was the breaking point for us all.
As soon as we stepped into the town, my blood ran cold. Tears I didn't know I was shedding trickled down my face as I looked at the houses we had built and lived in all our lives burned uncontrollably.
"No... NOO!!!!" Several people with us ran into the town, probably heading to their own houses, praying for their safety.
The smoke was unbearable now. My father, surprisingly composed, grabbed my arm and lifted it to my face. I soon realized what he wanted me to do.
"Come with me," my father grabbed my other free hand gently. His hands were trembling, yet when our eyes met, I saw was nothing there except unadulterated fury with a trace of fear of what we would find.
My father led me down a path through the death scattered all across the road. Family friends who'd practically nurtured me were sprawled on the blackened terrain, with arrows through their chests, their bodies burning, leaving behind only bones and residue. I choked out a sob and tried to catch my breath, but the smell of death left me scratching at my throat. I would have collapsed right there were it not for my father's firm grip, keeping me from falling, both physically and emotionally.
The flames engulfing our home had already withdrawn, but it was no longer our home, just a smoldering mountain of rubble. I shrieked helplessly while my father searched for a shovel and began digging fervently and searching for my mother and our younger brother.
When we found her, we didn't recognize her. She was charred beyond memory, her body burnt and flattened, and there was a gaping void where her heart was supposed to be. We only recognized her from a small stone bracelet that I gave to her on her birthday.
Needless to say, we mourned her ceaselessly. I submitted up my earlier breakfast until my stomach threatened to escape my body. Then I mourned my mother again and again, with only the smell of blood and the dreaded hope that we hadn't found my little brother yet.
Gradually, our sadness turned to anger, then into a strong, overpowering bloodlust. I felt how my father felt. Whoever did this had left no survivors, didn't even spare any children or elderly. I walked through the scorching town, staring as families grieved the deaths of their loved ones, even frequently joining in to mourn the deaths of those I knew and didn't know.
Hours passed by in the blink of an eye. My father left with other adults to clean enough houses for us to have a place to sleep tomorrow.
It was a difficult task trying to fall asleep. I could still hear the grieving sobs of the little ones who'd only survived due to the quick thinking of their now-dead relatives and family. My brother -who I later found after digging out to the hidden and thankfully uncollapsed basement- was fast asleep against my chest. I thanked my mother internally for her quick thinking. My brother Leon was still very young, meaning there was a high chance that he wouldn't remember the events that occurred today at all. After all, I never recalled the embarrassing moments my parents told me I had when I was around his age.
I laughed to myself as I recalled the stories I'd been told about myself growing up;
The day I learned how to walk and tried to take the stairs down to the cellar only to fall over and hit my head on the way down. I cried for hours after apparently, and a big bump remained on my head for months after.
'I'm not gonna cry,' I told myself. 'I'll find out whoever did this,'
It was a proclamation.
For my mother, Aerona,
For all the people we'd lost today,
Friends,
Family,
Someone was responsible.
'And they're going to pay dearly for it.'
A disturbance caught my attention. It started off similar to the noise of pouring water, but now it was so intense I felt like I was at the bottom of the cliff Ren loved to visit. A booming noise resembling the turbulent ocean hitting against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff edge filled my ears. The ground began to burst and split apart, forcing numerous people to disperse and flee.
All hell broke loose for the second time today as people scattered in all directions. I ran away from a threat I couldn't see, my brother in my arms, still fast asleep. The only thought driving me forward was 'I needed to find my father.'. I didn't plan on losing anyone else.
The ground beneath me cracked as a large fountain of a dark, shimmering liquid sent me soaring into the air. I shut my eyes tightly as my sense of balance was taken from me, and the wind lashed at my face and clothes. It sounded like Leon was still asleep, but I could scarcely catch anything outside of the wind screeching in my ear. I compensated for clutching my brother tightly and believing that he was still sleeping.
I endured like this for several seconds, the constantly screeching and lashing from the wind testing the limits of my ears and body.
'DAD!' I remembered. This was the best chance to look for my father and find out what the hell just happened; I had to open my eyes.
I shouldn't have.
'It's a good thing we ran.'
That was my first thought when I caught sight of the cause of our current predicament.
'Because I don't know what the actual hell is happening.'
That was my second.
What prompted our escape was a tsunami more immense than anything I'd ever encountered up to that point. Its midnight bluish tint enhanced by the stars that shone inside reminded me of an endless void, like the evening sky.
The tsunami proceeded to grow at a quicker pace than I imagined was possible. Soon it reached the limits of the clouds and stretched past them. Although my thoughts were in disorder, one thing kept reverberating in my mind:
'Is it ever going to stop?'
Eventually, it did, and it felt like time had stood still with it. The wind stopped and so did the deafening noise. The moment was almost serene.
The tsunami had now attained an awe-inducing height, dividing the world in two like an indestructible barrier. I had no doubt that if it were that wave fell right now, it would wipe our home and everything else in its path away forever.
'How is anyone going to escape that? I can't even get back down to the ground without dying!' I raged.
I was apparently going to perish here. A monstrous tsunami was seconds from destroying my home when there was nothing I could do, but that didn't mean I wanted to die. Now was no time for hopelessness.
As if to taunt me, the tsunami commenced its roaring descent.
'Damn it!'
Right before I was consumed, my thoughts flew to Ren and Eirlys. I hoped that they were okay and that we would be able to meet in the next life.
I wrapped my arms around my brother as the tsunami hit us mid-air. It was even more terrifying than expected. The watery liquid was fast-paced and rough like it was angry about something. It filled up my eyes and nose, flowing into every orifice there was. Heart in my throat, I allowed myself to be washed away with Leon still in my arms, too afraid to open my eyes.
As I reached my breathing limit, the ear ripping noise quietened down, and I accidentally discovered I could somehow breathe. There was absolutely no way of me opening my eyes, however. Seeing the tsunami had already left me with an inferior complex from its sheer volume and power. I wasn't about to put myself through that heart-tugging feeling again.
The tsunami's rage had long passed, and now it had become so silent and peaceful I almost believed I was just dreaming. I became aware of how tired I was becoming. Against my own will, I fell asleep.