Stormryder

Night Ablaze

The sky was dark and rain pelted the earth with thick, fat droplets that splashed violently on the water-soaked ground. Bursts of light could be seen in the atmosphere,  like lightning exploding instead of streaking downwards. Huge metal ships fell to the ground, crushing forests and fields; and all the while chaos and panic ensued in the village of Grimlyn Dale. Children cried as fire rained down from the heavens and the villagers all ran to take cover as flaming debris fell upon them. Nobody knew what was happening and many were dying. Houses caught ablaze, burning brightly in the dark, the heat searing the skin of the frightened villagers and the rain could do nothing to quell the hot tongues of fire.

"Shan!"  Screamed a boy of nearly eighteen winters. His snowy hair was blackened with soot and grime, the stuff covering his skin as well.
"Shan, where are you?"  Desperately he searched the fleeing crowds, icy blue eyes darting in every direction as structures crumbled, burnt black by the raging inferno. He noticed a pair of corpses, a heavy wall on top of them, bathed in blood. A hand went to his mouth in shock as he recognized them, heart thudding violently in his chest and eyes the size of saucers. He hoped against hope that Shan had not met the same fate . . .

Another explosion split the sky and a fireball - once one of those mighty sky ships, if indeed that is what they were - rocketed towards the hills where it landed with an earth-shuddering crash somewhere out of sight.
"I'm here!"  Came a familiar voice. The boy turned immediately to where it came from, flooding with relief. "Charlie, over here!"

The boy ran to where Shan lay, a smouldering log crushing her torso. Her hair was black as pitch and tears welled in her dark brown eyes. He heaved, putting all his strength into lifting the beam. Finally, she was able to crawl out from under it, wincing in pain. Charlie dropped the log and tended to his friend, helping her to her feet, though it hurt her to walk.
"Are you alright, Shan?" He asked her, breathing heavily and wrapping his arms about her and starting to walk away from the village square now nothing but broken cobblestones and scattered debris. Shan nodded, tears leaving marks on her dirt-stained cheeks. "We have to get out of here. We have to get away from whatever is happening up there."

The pair moved as fast as they could, which was not as fast as Charlie would have liked considering Shan's condition. "What is going on, Charlie?" Shan whimpered, clinging tightly to her friend. "I'm scared. . . We're all going to die!"
"Hey,"  Charlie snapped at her but not unkindly. "Don't talk like that. Now I do not know what the fuck this is all about, but I do know this: we'll make it through, alright?"
Shan nodded weakly, sobs racking her body as she layed her head on Charlie's shoulder. They followed the terrified villagers to the nearby mountains where, thankfully, the destruction had not reached. Charlie glanced back to see Grimlyn Dale blazing like a funeral pyre in the night, clouds of choking smoke just about visible before they were lost against the tar-like blackness of the sky.

Explosions and crashes tormented the night as the villagers huddled in the caverns and tunnels beneath the mountains, some calming their frightened children, some whimpering and tearing, others praying or sitting in stunned silence, their faces ashen beneath the soot.
"We'll make it through," Charlie whispered to Shan as they sat shivering with their backs against the cold, hard stone of the cavern wall, their clothes soaked with rain water and the smell of smoke. He squeezed her hand tightly, giving her the reassurance he knew she needed. Would that someone were there to hold his own hand. Torches gave just enough light to see by, made from the luminous stones that occurred in the mountainside. Inky darkness reached its tentacles around the light, gripping the farthest corners of the tunnels and caverns and even the ground; it was like walking around in oil. Shan rested her head once more on his shoulder and he wished that he was not so bony as to provide more comfort to her. Charlie leaned back and closed his eyes, placing his chin upon the top of Shan's head, waiting for this hellish night to just be over soon.