Imti scratched at the ground, trying to distract from the gaping hole in his heart. He gasped and sobbed, singing his lungs and eyes but nothing hurt more than the lack of power. He was the same scared, weak little boy he had always been and for the first time in his life, he couldn't save everyone.
"I can't- I don't-" The worlds were unable to breach his clogged throat.
The heat radiating from around him threatened to crush the boy and so Imti stumbled to his feet in a somnambulant fashion, trudging towards a break in the wall of flames. His mind was such a whirlpool of emotions that Imti was barely breathing. He felt numb and yet every nerve ending on his body screamed in pain. To be abject, the boy didn't know what to feel.
On the other side, Imti finally inhaled, hoping to clear out the soot in his system, but the sight that greeted him was more horrifying than the one he had just left behind.
More bodies littered the street, their lifeless eyes staring at something invisible. Every house visible, all the stores he used to run past - all of them were burning up, the flames licking the sky above. And somehow, some way, the screaming was louder than the roar and crackle of the scorched town.
Imti shuffled forward, his jaw agape. As the boy stared at the carnage before him, a thought formed in his head that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
"This is my fault."
He gasped again as the tears tried their best to well up in his burning eyes. Rough footsteps suddenly broke the monotony of the screams harmonizing in the child's ears, causing Imti to jolt around to a horrifying sight.
There was a carcass standing there, or at least somebody that looked like one. Their white clothes were burnt and tattered, barely covering their emaciated, blackened body. The thin layer of flesh and muscle covering their bones looked like old leather, a quality that reflected most horrifically on their face, which had decayed to the point where it resembled the skull inside more than the living being who had once sported it. There was a hole in place of their nose, one side of their jaw was exposing all its teeth, and their eyes weakly reflected the orange embers flying all around them.
Imti thought he was numb enough, but the sight of this person made him finally seize up in fear. The corpse brought something forward; it was holding an unconscious Ren by the head. Keeping its eyes locked on Imti, it let Ren crash into the ground. As Imti stared at the creature, it spoke.
"Insolent brat," It was the Leader's voice. "You ruined everything."
The sound of those words filled Imti with newfound rage. He cried out and rushed at the person who had taken everything from him. The Leader swiftly slapped the boy aside as soon as he was in rage. Imti fell to the floor with a thump, and as he struggled to breathe, the Leader stepped on his chest.
"I'll make an example out of you, yet. You think this changes anything? This time tomorrow you'll be in the grave with the rest of your miserable family and I'll be back to my throne." They increased the pressure on the little boy's chest. Imti's eyes bulged. He could feel his ribs threaten to snap. "People like you anger me. You think you can change the world, but ever since the Erasure, the world has proven it will turn its back on its saviours. People don't want to be saved, idiot child, they want to believe in the things their Leader tells them. That was your mistake. Why fight to uplift those who would rather be stepped on?"
YOU ARE READING
FALTER
Mistério / Suspense"Do you remember what we used to say?" "Never falter." "Yeah. Forever after." When a familiar cult emerges from the shadows of Youth City, underground rockstar Imti has to choose between hiding his demons behind a mask or finally facing everyone bur...
