Jumper

Chapter 5: Destroy

        

My mind stirs in odd ways. I believe I have had a dream, but there was nothing to see. I hear blood-curdling screams and cries; every so often a light dances around my eyelids. The noises are joined by grunts, the clinks of weapons, and there are sounds of slicing flesh.

I don’t quite pull together what is happening until it is too late.

My eyes open to see the reflection of flames on my ceiling. My body immediately starts to sweat and my heart is beating severely, trying to escape its cage, my chest. This can’t be happening. Please, no.

“Dad?” I wail.

I glance out my bedroom window to see my tribe burning down in flames. My people are running from their houses, shrieking at the tops of their lungs. Some are burning, the smell of burnt flesh filling my nose. The sounds coming from the tribe are unimaginable. I hear people yell and cry for their lives. Already, I see people dead on the ground, the flames licking the skin off their body, searching the ground for more to consume.

I run to my dad’s room. He isn’t there. “Dad!” I scream.

I can’t go outside unarmed. Two sabers are hung up on our wall; my dad’s prize possessions, his first weapon of choice. I fight best with them as well. They’re held in a double back sheath. I pull the sheath off the wall and throw it on my back. I stand next to my front door, preparing my body for what is about to happen.

I shove the door open and brace my arms in a fight position. Most of the Harin are fighting back at what attacked us; the Idalys and their dark creatures. I only get seconds to look at the fire that explodes throughout our tribe, causing chaos everywhere.

I can’t do much. We’re all going to die if we stay here. I start to run from my village, when I see her.

Raven.

The leader of the Idalys; a descendant of Sirath.Her eyes are pitch black, staring at me with coldness and a sick, joyful form of hatred, soaking in insanity. They have no feeling, no compassion, no pity. Her long ashy black hair wanders around her head, the curls tickling her pale face. Her lips are pure red, as if it’s the shed blood of the people she has killed.

My body fills with fright, as if I will die right here as her eyes pierce mine. I try to ignore the feeling, and run for the hills.

My lungs are on fire, and my brain can’t think as I watch the fire from afar. I can see all the Jumpers crying out, some running aimlessly as their bodies burn from the flames that engulf them, and I choke on my own tears.  My tribe will be gone in little time, and I can't do anything. Without turning around, I start to walk backwards. I feel my foot hit a rock, and I trip backwards. A scream leaves my body, and I hit my head to another rock. My eyes go black.

…

I wake up with anticipation. I need to see my dad. He has to be alive. He has to. He can't be dead.

It is early morning, I’d guess around four. There’s nothing in the air but silence. The attack is over.

Ashes cover most of my body, but at the moment, it doesn’t bother me. I get up from the ground, my head starts to ache and itch. I feel the back of my head- it’s sticky and it hurts to touch. I pull my hand away sharply and see my hand is covered with blood. At least I'm alive.

There’s little left of my tribe, and it hurts to look at it. Some houses are burned to the ground, while other houses stand half burnt. Bodies rest in multiple places on the ground; they were my people. Everyone I once knew is now gone. Every person I have a memory with is gone, from what I know. This is all my fault. If only I had warned the tribe of the red I saw, If only I had believed myself.