War of Fire

Who's Left

Laurence and I inched towards the person sitting on the steps to Lucinda's house. We got near the end of the wheat field, so we went to the forest. We had our backs against trees, and we quickly sprinted from tree to tree. Soon we were as close as possible. I couldn't see the person, but I heard them ask: "Who's there?" Laurence looked over at me and signaled that we were going to go out and see who it was; also, keep your sword ready. I nodded, and both of us jumped out from the trees. Now all that separated us from the person was the magiks-made jump pads to get to the house. But who the person was what shocked me more than anything. I saw familiar long orange hair, a black shirt, and black leggings... They looked up at us, and looked shocked also. "LUCINDA?!" I yelled. "A-APHMAU? LAURENCE! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" Lucinda yelled back. Lucinda started to jump across the colorful platforms. Soon we reached her. She signaled us into her house to talk. "How did you guys survive?!" she asked us. We didn't know! "We uh... don't really know how we survived it," Laurence replied. "But I didn't see you guys anywhere over town! Where were you?!" she asked again. "We were in Meteli," I said. "Are they... okay?" Lucinda was concerned for them. Everyone was silent for a while. Lucinda looked down as the answer sunk in. "Oh..........." she said.  "Lucinda," I finally said, "When the flash ended... You were...." I couldn't say it, even if she was here now. It was kind of awkward telling alive people that they were dead. "Yeah, I actually remember it... That darkness just swallowed me up, and then... Just nothing... I woke up a few hours after that, and I just ran out. I couldn't even look at what was left in that cave." Lucinda explained to us."Do you think anyone else is going to wake up?" Laurence asked. "I'm not sure," Lucinda said. "I doubt it, because this is a permanent curse, unless you break it. Who knows why we woke up," she continued. "I'm going to guess that at some point, if we're going to break this curse, we're going to have to go to the Nether. It's where this all started, it's probably where it ends," Laurence suggested. "Agreed," I say. "Do all the portals lead to the same one in the Nether? All the portals in the towns?" I asked. "We can't even assume that there is one portal per. town. Maybe this is one extreme large scale curse. But what could they have used to do this?" Lucinda said. "I'm don't know... They probably gave up something," I contributed. "How do we even start fixing this, though?" I asked. "We need to go out and see if any other villages are effected. Who knows how many villages are, maybe the whole Overworld. Who knows. Maybe it's just our region. But we need to find the source, also. I highly doubt that the portal in our mine is the source, but maybe it's somewhere here in Ru'an." Lucinda said. "What if there isn't one source, but little bits everywhere to make one big curse? That's if all the villages have a portal." Laurence says. "That's possible. We didn't really look for a portal in Meteli." I said. Laurence nodded. "So should we go to Brightport and see if they're affected?" I asked the others. "Sure," they both said. So we left Lucinda's house, went back through the wheat fields, and down the path to the docks. We got our boat, which was just enough for three people, and sailed out into the blue ocean. As we got farther and farther out, the water started getting darker, which meant it was getting deeper. It wouldn't be great if one of us fell out. I looked out across the water, at the scattered rocks sticking out of the dark water. Soon there was a large one I've seen before, almost its own island. It was black, with no real sand on it. The rocks were starting to be less and less common. We must be close. As predicted, soon we reached the docks of Brightport. There weren't any guards down here to greet us, which was unusual. We tied out boat to the docks and walked up the stairs that led to the village. As we walked down the path, I'm sure we all felt the same feeling that I felt in Meteli. That was definitely not a good sign at all. "They're gone, too, aren't they?" Lucinda said, and she didn't sound surprised. She was dealing with this well, compared to Laurence and I. Laurence walked over to the nearest house, which was near the pen with the horses. He opened the door slowly, looked inside, and closed the door. I walked over to another house, this one almost under a cliff with a lake next to it. There were a few red and turquoise fish in it, and some lily pads. I turn to the house again and open the door. I walk a few steps in, and see a lady with long black hair, tied back into a ponytail. Her eyes were closed. I closed the door. I was getting used to this, unfortunately, everyone being.... gone. In no way was I over anyone that I was close to, and my village, though. "What now?" I asked. "Well... Do we go to Scaleswind?" Laurence suggested. "We could, but I think we all know what the answer will be..." I said. "We don't know for sure, though. It really can't hurt to look," Laurence said. "So we're going?" Lucinda clarified. "I guess so," I say. "Head out in the morning?" Laurence asked. "Yeah. I'm going to go over to my house to sleep," I said. "Alright. I'll see you two in the morning, then?" Lucinda asked us. We nodded. Lucinda waved to us. Laurence opened the door and left, and Lucinda started to go up the stairs to her bed. I started to walk out, but stopped in the doorway. I turned back around. "Lucinda?" I called her before she reached the next floor. She looked my way. "Yeah?" she said. "I'm glad your okay..."