War of Fire

Gone

The flash had ended. I kept my eyes shut for around ten seconds later, because I was extremely scared of what I would see.
One.
The flash ended.
Two.
What could have happened?
Three.
Do I even want to find out?
Four.
Thump. Thump. Thump. This went on.
Five.
I'm sick to my stomach...
Six.
I wish I didn't have to open my eyes.
Seven.
It's dead quiet.
Eight.
I feel alone. I probably was.
Nine.
Footsteps. One person.
Ten.
I opened my eyes. This was the end of life as I knew it. I looked in front of me, and I couldn't believe my eyes. All there was in the cave now was me, except for my villagers, on the floor. They... They were all dead. I couldn't breathe for a long time after seeing that. It was impossible to take in. Soon, I finally couldn't take looking at it anymore. Darkness surrounded me, and I lost all senses. I fainted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I woke up to the scraping of stone against metal. As if someone was sharpening a sword; that is probably what it was. I struggled to open my eyes, but I couldn't. I jerked my head around, trying to wake myself up. What happened? Why did I pass out? I paused for a moment. Oh. That couldn't be real. I tried to sit up. The sound of footsteps appeared and started towards me. Who was that?! Now I was able to open my eyes barely, a squint.  I did so, and I see some familiar light brown hair and blue eyes. It was... Wait...? Laurence?! W-Why... How was he not... I quickly sat up now, tripping over some other villagers in the way, crawling to a nearby wall. I threw my back against it, staring at Laurence. He did not move. He just stood there. "L-Laurence? H-How are you...?" Silence. Just the sound of two people breathing. I look around me. It was not my imagination. I sat there for what seemed like forever, me staring at Laurence, Laurence staring at me. "Are you not upset with this?!" I screamed at him, after that, finding myself sitting on the floor, head in my knees, crying. He slowly walked over to me, and sat down not far to my left. He said nothing, but then I saw why: his cheeks were shining, wet. He had cried. I haven't seen him cry before... But how can you not cry when you lose everyone you know, and ever knew before that. "We can't stay here forever, even though we have to grief for them..." Laurence finally spoke. I did not reply, I just looked up at him, still crying. He stood up, and reached his hand out towards me, offering to life me up. I took it, and got up. We looked at the portal, then everyone lying there, and turned to leave. The event hadn't sunken in quite yet, but I had surprisingly stopped crying. We decided to go across the village over to my house, to talk about what happened and what we plan to do.  When we got there, we sat down at the dining room table, but as soon as I did, I had a terrible fact dawn on me: Levin and Malachai. They... Are they also... No, no, no, no!!!!! They can't be! I jump out of my seat, the chair tipping over behind me. I sprint up the stairs, up up up, and through the hallway. I almost bang my whole body on the door before I opened it, not stopping. I looked on their beds. They had never woken up to eat Zoey's pancakes this morning. They were gone. I hear heavy footsteps flying up the stairs, and then through the hallway. "Aphmau?!" Laurence called. He came up behind me and looked where I was looking. "Oh, Aphmau.........." There was a long silence, where at some point, I went and leaned against the wall in between the boy's beds. I slowly sank down to the floor, crying. Laurence was all I had now, wasn't it? It's nothing against him, but if I lose him, I don't know what I'll do with myself... Eventually, Laurence moved to the wall directly across from me and sat down. He didn't look sad at all; he looked angry, infuriated even. "Laurence? A-Are you okay?" I asked him. He got up. "You know what? No. I'm not okay. The people, those things in the Nether? They've taken a step too far. Messing with our lives. They're going to pay, and it will not be pretty. We need a plan, but it's going to take a while..." He started to pace all around the room. "I completely agree, but we should go to another village, even though it pains me to say it." He nods. Even though I had suggested it, knowing deep down that that is what we had to do, I didn't want to, not one bit. I would spend the rest of my life here, with my dead sons. I can't leave them. I just can't. They don't deserve to be alone... We have to fix this. "Meteli." Laurence said. "What?" I looked at him, confused. "Meteli," he repeated,"It's my old village, plus, it's close. We can go there. Cadenza is also probably over there too, unless she hadn't left-" he cut himself off, knowing he would have a complete meltdown of he finished what he was going to say. I gasped. She had never said goodbye to me, which means that she was still- oh my Irene...