And The Rise Began

AIR, PART III - Emergence

The old man who lived just up the path raced down as fast as he could. The first thing he heard was the sound of an explosion. The next thing he heard was the sound of something heavy landing to the right of his cottage. It was this noise that jolted him from his slumber and threw him onto the wooden floor of his small bedroom, and before he knew it, he was bolting out of the cottage in nothing but an undershirt and boxers. 

He couldn't smell fire or anything even remotely similar, but he could see wood chips flying over the hills and right over his head, threatening to break his windows, or worse. The run down to see what was happening proved difficult for the farmer; he wasn't as fast and didn't have as much energy as he used to. All he ever did now was look after the animals on his farm. Going out for a run wasn't exactly part of his agenda anymore, but it was now. He didn't bother to see the object that had landed next to his cottage; all he was really focused on was the whirlwind at the bottom of the small slope separating him from his closest neighbors. As he reached a fork in the road, he stopped for just a brief moment before turning right.

What he saw when he reached the house at the end was nothing short of terrifying. The roof and most of the second floor of the house had been blown off, replaced with a large sphere of wind that had trapped a whole assortment of objects in its rage. But what really caught the man's eye was the figure in the middle of it all: a girl probably no older than fifteen with her eyes wide open, her hair flying in all directions. Her coat was gone, leaving only the clothes she wore underneath. Upon seeing this girl, the old man was struck with a realization. Isn't that Derdriu's daughter?, he thought to himself. The one who always comes up for eggs? What was she doing in there? 

Or more importantly, how did she get there?

There was no time to process a whole lot as the old man could see another man with faded brown hair race out of the house, not even bothering to slam the door shut. The old man recognized him immediately. Lugaid stumbled for a bit before getting back to his feet and turning around to see the destruction that was occurring right before his eyes. "Lin!" he shouted, breathing heavily as he debated whether or not he should go back inside and make an attempt to save the girl named Lin. The old man could tell from Lugaid's body language that he was trying to make a move to go back inside. 

"It's too dangerous!" the old man shouted back as he began hobbling over to his neighbor. "You might get killed!"

"I have to!" Lugaid replied. "For all I know, she might die before this is over!" 

"Perhaps the best thing to do is wait." the old man said. 

"Are you nuts?!"

The sphere was quickly growing in size, making any hope of waiting practically impossible. "Either way, there's only one way this ends." the old man continued.

Lugaid paused for a moment. "You're right." he muttered. "There's only one way." With that, he closed his eyes, and the old man would have no way of knowing what came next. The man that stood next to him not five seconds ago was now flying towards the wreckage. 

Flying.

That was something the old man definitely didn't see every day, either, and the moment he realized what was happening, he felt like fainting. There was a name for people like that, but he had given up any hope of ever seeing one that he had forgotten. All he could do was stand in awe as the wind surrounding the upper half of the house quickly dissipated thanks to Lugaid's manipulation, and as the two disappeared behind the walls, the wooden planks and objects caught in the whirlwind fell to the ground around the event's lone witness. Several minutes had passed before father and daughter walked through the doorway. The lower half of the house was still intact, thankfully, but what was lost in the incident would eventually have to be rebuilt. The old man still stood there, unmoving.

"What happened?" Lin asked before looking back to what was left of her house. "Where did the second floor go?" 

Lugaid didn't respond as he walked over to the old man with Lin under his arm. "You saw nothing." he finally said to the man once he came to a complete stop.

"What do you mean I saw nothing?" the old man asked. 

"You didn't see anything that happened just now." Lugaid replied. "I know what you're going to do now that you've seen me . . . now that you've seen her." 

"What's he talking about?" Lin asked again.

Lugaid shook his head. "Forget I said anything, Lin." 

"Y-You . . . " the old man's thoughts came to a halt before picking up again. "You think I'd try to have you arrested or something?"

"What do you think I meant?" Lugaid asked. "You saw both of us. It should be obvious." 

The old man tried to come up with a response as Lin and Lugaid walked back into the house. By the time he finally found something to say, it was too late. "Well, I won't." he shouted, hoping that the two could hear him. "Promise." He started back on the dirt road, hoping to make it back to his house before his wife gave him trouble for missing breakfast. 

"It was always my dream to see things like that, you know."

The old man's wife saw every bit of it. From the moment the roof of the house below blew off to the moment the ruckus finally died down, she didn't miss a beat in between. She had been so invested that she almost let her food burn. In that short span of time, her confusion turned to anger. It all came back to her: what those people had done so long ago, what happened to her family, and especially what she had to suffer through in the aftermath. And now, she was so eager to contact the police that she could hardly keep her hands still.

Her husband opened the door and made his way into the kitchen. "Did I miss anything?" he said.

She turned to him, eyes wider than the small plates on the counter. She knew exactly what to say. She had been plotting it since she knew that he had been gone. She knew he didn't want any more trouble for her than she had already dealt with. The best thing to do now was be unassuming. 

"No, dear." she replied, a malicious tone threatening to emerge from her raspy voice. "You didn't miss a thing."