War of Fire

Meteli

"We're going to need boats to travel through the swamp, you know," Laurence said. I nodded. I stood above the staircase leading down to my broken village. I looked over it, trying still to take it in. I did not look anywhere else. I hear soft footsteps coming up behind me, and I knew that it could only be Laurence. He then stood right next to me, his hands in his pockets. "Usually everyone's walking around in the plaza this time of day...." I say, picturing everyone, happy, and alive. A tear runs down my cheek. I turned around to face my house, and I look to the small park in our yard. "Levin and Malachai are usually playing in there with Zoey around now. She would go in, and get them their lunches, and lemonade... I would rather be dead with everyone else than having to live through this pain..." I continued. "We should get going." I say, heading inside, and down into the basement to get boat materials. I grab five planks of wood, and head over to my crafting table. I take a hammer, and some nails. The boat won't be much, but enough to hold Laurence and I the way there. "I got the boat ready," I called up to him. There was no reply. I headed outside, to see him down at the docks, staring out at the ocean. He didn't show it, but he was hurting as much as me right now, I bet. I walked lightly down the stairs leading to the docks, as if I was afraid to be caught sneaking out, and it was the middle of the night. Once I reached the bottom of the staircase, and I reached the ground. The grass still had morning dew on it, and it was soft on my feet. The grass faded into the sandy beach, and then the planks of the dock. I walked down, and stopped right behind Laurence, to his side a bit. We were on the edge of the dock, and looking out on the sea. "I have the boat," I whispered, trying not to interrupt his contemplation. I saw him snap back into reality, out of his... day dreaming. "Good. We should head out now to make it there before night comes around. I don't really want to have to camp out," he said finally. We exited the beach area, and then climbed up the hill west of Phoenix Drop. We entered the forest, and the tree density got larger and larger. We had to stay close, or we would lose each other. And I knew that neither of us wanted that one but righty now. I have always loved the forest, and I never knew why; it kept me calm, which is really what I needed around now. I love how it's all shady, and then you come to an area with yellow and orange streaks of sunlight peaking through the green roof of the forest. It was nice... The trees started looking less thick, and I felt the sea's breeze yet again as we got closer to the lake. Soon enough we came out of the green forest, and got ready to get on our boat. We set it up, and got in. I looked, and I can barely see the other side where Meteli was. All I could see were tame, dark blue waves, with lily pads scattered across the lake. "Ready?" Laurence asked me. "Ready." I replied. "Then let's go," he said, and we started moving across the lake in our small wooden boat. I looked out at the sea behind us, and up at my house on top of the hill in Phoenix Drop. It felt odd leaving Levin and Malachai at home by themselves, but it didn't matter any more, did it? "Here we are," Laurence announced. That wasn't really far at all! We were at the docks, and Laurence the anchor down into the lake. I watched it fall down until I couldn't see it anymore. Meteli didn't really have much of a beach, sandy, at that. They had a steep docking area, and a rocky coast. Similar to Brightport, actually. They weren't far apart. We got out of the boat, and walked down the dock. Odd, there weren't any guards down here to greet us. We walked up to the main entrance, and entered the town. The streets were empty, lifeless- wait! No! Did... Did it happen to this town too?! No, it couldn't have. I raced down the street, up to the Lord's hose. I didn't bother to knock on the door. I started to feel the same emptiness and lifelessness as I did in Phoenix Drop when I saw that the Lord was still in his bed, and his guards laying on the ground, looking like twisted up like pretzels. I started to back out the door in half-shock, and I ended up bumping into Laurence, who was just approaching the doorway. "Aphmau? What's wrong?" he asked me. I fell down the stairs that led up to the doorway, and landing on my back, my head on Laurence's feet. I quickly got up, and stumbled away. I ran down the street, and looked back at Laurence for a moment. I see his face. It was worse than Phoenix Drop, when he saw what had happened. This was his home town. He was born here. I could only imagine what he felt right now... Shocked, overwhelmed, devastated, angry... He was a protector of this village, and he was back, and now he had nothing to protect anymore. I turned back around to keep running, and I eventually ran so far that I reached the center of town, where the well was. I stopped there, giving up on running. Where did I think I was even going anyway? I looked into the well. I saw my reflection in it, and I took out a coin. I wish that everyone wasn't... dead anymore. That would be nice, heh. I then wondered why Laurence is so collected with all of this, compared to me. I wasn't able to see his reaction to what happened in Phoenix Drop, but now? I wasn't with him now, so I can't really see his reaction once it sunk in that his home town is basically gone. I, of course was sad. It was just then, where it actually, finally, sunk in. My old life was gone. I will never have it again, or any of the people I care about again, except for Laurence, if I don't fix this, or reverse the curse, which I know will be hard. That's not like I'm going to give up, though. All of a sudden I was sobbing, my tears adding small amounts of water to the well. I set my elbows on the rough stone of the well, and set my head in my hands. I cried for minutes until I hear Laurence coming up behind me. His steps were slow and heavy, very unlike him. "It makes you feel powerless, everything you literally ever knew being stripped away from you, ya know?" Laurence said in a low voice. I did not move, I just listened. I could tell in his voice, he was crying. "My sister, the two towns I've ever lived in, everyone I've ever known........" he continued, pausing in between words to breathe in. "You're strong, Laurence..." I said in between sobs. "You... Look at me! I'm a mess! I can't keep myself calm like you! I don't know how you do it..." I cried. I pulled myself off the well, and turned towards Laurence. My whole face was red, and covered in tears. "It's going to be hard.... It is hard, you know? Not to give up?" He knew well what I meant when I said not to give up. There was a long silence. "What do we do now?" I asked, in a low voice. Laurence did not reply for a minute. "Would you mind if we stayed the night here? Then we can go back to Phoenix Drop..." he answered finally. "Yeah... That's fine. I'll carry in another bed to sleep in." We headed towards what used to be Laurence's old house. He opened up the door to his room, and I left him be. I knew that it would be hard to walk down memory lane right after he lost everything. I made it out the front door, until I finally sat down on the staircase leading up to the doorway. I needed a moment to gather myself. Just five minutes, then I'd get the bed.