War of Fire

Back to Phoenix Drop

I had moved another bed into the house a few minutes earlier, and now I was leaning up against the wall, inside. Laurence was on his bed, in his room, sharpening his emerald sword. It reminded me of when I woke up after what happened. "I'm going to go down to the docks," I told Laurence. He said okay, and I went out the door. I walked through town, past the well, and down to the docks. I walked across the tattered, creaky boards, and sat on the end. I looked into the navy blue water; the water was calm down here. I saw green and silver fish making their way around underwater, sometimes disappearing under water lilies. I looked to my side to see the rocky coast, with fog covering the rocks if you looked further away. Above that was a mountain, green trees covering the rock. I, again, thought of Bright Port. I wonder if they're under the curse too. If Phoenix Drop and Meteli are, Bright Port is too, probably. I wondered if the whole Ru'an region was affected... That would be terrible! What about Tu'la, too?! It was possible, but this was just two villages, I wasn't in the position to judge what area(s) were cursed. I sat here quietly for a while, thinking about the possibilities, and then pulled my legs back onto the dock. I slowly got up, to head back to the house. I walked down the path, the gravel crunching on impact of my feet. I reached the town well to see Laurence standing there. He might be doing the same thing I was doing just a minute ago. "It's the whole region, isn't it?" Laurence asked. He looked up at me, and I could see in his eyes that he had just about given up. "We can't give up Laurence... Even if it's the whole world that's affected, we can still fix it. I have a feeling that there's a way to do that. There's always a solution," I said to hopefully cheer him up a small bit. He looked into the well again. "We're going to have to fight, you know." he pointed out. "The Nether? Shadow Knights? Yeah, I knew it even before the curse happened." I said. But the shadow Knights were powerful. How would just me and Laurence alone face them? "Maybe there are other survivors like us. Who knows why we of all people were the survivors." he continued on. "Should we look?" I asked him. "For more... alive... people? Sure. It's definitely worth trying." he replied. For a few seconds we stood there thinking if it really was possible for there to be more people out there. Finally, I said: "Laurence, we should head out then. But should we go to Phoenix Drop though? We can go and look for more people." "We don't have that many supplies with us right now though, or personal things that we want to take with us. We should go back and get those first. I might need a minute to get a few things from my old house first, though." Laurence suggested. I agreed to this, so I went back down to the docks to wait for him. Meanwhile, he went back to his house to get his things that he wants to take with him. It was odd, in a way, because he didn't live there anymore. Maybe he just wanted a picture frame. It's not like he had much room in his guard dorm, though. I decided to board the ship and wait there for him. He wouldn't be long, so why not? When I stepped onto the boat, it started rocking, and it also creaked a bit. I spread out my arms to balance, and sat down slowly. Water lapped up against the boat's sides, splashing. I looked into the water to see small waves going out from the sides of the boat. I sat there for a few minutes, and I heard Laurence coming down to the docks. He walked on the dock, and I saw that he now had a backpack on with some things in it. He took it off and put it in the boat. He sat down next to me, and asked if I was ready. "Yeah," I said, and the boat started moving. In the swamp, the water was only a few meters deep, and there were some trees sticking up out of the water. Vines hung on some branches, a few of them just touching the water. Soon we could clearly make out the dock in Phoenix Drop, and a few minutes later we were there. We tied the boat to the dock, and walked onto the beach. "I'm going to go down to the guard dorms. Are you going to your house?" Laurence asked me. "Yeah, I'll probably grab a backpack for myself when I get there too." I replied. We went up the stairs and parted ways. I walked up the rest of the stairs to my house as Laurence walked down the road to the stone guard tower. I opened the door to my house, and walked in. The smell of the pancakes was gone, and it now smelled of lavender, how my house usually is. I went down to my basement to get a bag of sorts, and then went up to my bedroom. I took the picture in a frame of everyone in the village, guards and villagers. There wasn't much else here, in my room. Next I went into Levin and Malachai's room. I tried hard not to tear up when I saw them. I walked up to their nightstand and picked up their jewelry box. I moved my fingers over to the golden key and turned it, to play the music. I remember when I was in that jail cell with Matilda, and she gave me this jewelry box. She had sent Levin away to protect him from the Shadow Knights. Look how that turned out... The tune ended, and I put the box in my bag. I took one last look at the room, and left out their bedroom door. I went down the stairs and exited the house. I backed up and looked up at it. I will definitely miss the now 'old' days. I walked forward and leaned against the outside wall of my house. I eventually sank down, looking out at the village. The sun was setting in the west, the orange and pink sky will not stay for that long. After a few minutes, I stood back up and went down the stairs leading to the main road. I walked down the gravel path, and then approached the guard tower. Just in time, I see Laurence gently shutting the door. He walked out onto the path, and came to me. "You got everything?" I asked him. "Yeah, you?" he answered. I nodded. "We should probably sleep here... Should we just crash in the guard tower?" I asked. "Sure," Laurence said.
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I woke up in the morning. For once, I woke up before Laurence. I turn my head to him, still laying down. He was sleeping, very well, I guessed. I sat up, hopefully I didn't wake him. I went out of the guard tower to gather some berries from the garden nearby. I picked a few, some for me and some for Laurence. I entered the guard tower again, and went back upstairs. I sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. I popped a raspberry into my mouth, then another. A few minutes later Laurence woke. "Hey," he said, still groggy from his sleep. "Hey yourself," I replied. Laurence let out a small laugh. I smiled, for the first time  in what felt like forever. We got ready to leave, and packed some food. We eventually finished that, and headed out. We walked through the wheat field, and past a few houses. We came up to Lucinda's house, and we gasped when we saw the front door open. We immediately drew our swords and ducked down. Someone came out and sat down on the front steps. I couldn't make out who it was through the wheat, but who could it be? I thought me and Laurence were the only ones in the area!