Arthur and the Invisibles 4: Defender of the Seven Kingdoms

Chapter 4: What Remains

Arthur awoke to the burning sensation of dust in his eyes, and a sharp feeling of pain on his head, like someone had shoved a thick knife into his brain. Quickly trying to rub the dust from his eyes, he managed to open them, only to see that he was surrounded by debris. All around him were pieces of smashed building, rubble, dirt, rocks, anything that shouldn't be there. He reached up to touch the location of the stabbing pain on his head, winced as his hand made contact with the wound, and retracted his hand, noticing a small amount of blood covering the centre of his hands. 

Wiping the blood on a large, smooth piece of rubble (he didn't want to ruin his suit, which miraculously, was untouched apart from being a little dirty and having a few tears in some of the leaves), he removed a few small pieces of rock from his legs, and pulled himself to his feet. He managed to take one shaky step, then another, and another until he reached a long piece of rock blocking his way. Taking a deep breath, he put his arms against it, and pushed to the side with all the strength his somewhat damaged body could muster. There was a short grinding noise, before the rock slid sideways, leaving the path open. He pulled himself out of the crevice of debris, and found himself on the main path that lead to the centre chamber in the middle of the village. But he hadn't taken one step before his eyes drifted down the path, to the centre chamber. And he stopped. He stopped walking. He stopped moving. And for a single second, he seemed to stop breathing. Because it was taking every single ounce of energy within his body for his mind to comprehend what he was seeing at the end of the path. Because he was seeing nothing. Because there was no chamber.

He resumed breathing after a few seconds, but the rest of his body remained motionless. Because although the shock of the initial sight was starting to wear off, trying to comprehend what he saw was a whole other matter. At the very end of the long path that led to the centre of the village, where the centre chamber should have been, with all the tables and chairs, and most of the Minimoys throughout the entire village, there was only an enormous, brown, earthy crater. Like the whole thing had just been lifted out of the ground. And then the realisation began to burn through Arthur's body, like every drop of his blood had turned to acid. He gazed upwards, and saw that the ceiling above where the chamber had been was now replaced with a huge hole, and through it he could see only darkness. He was confused at first, but then realised that the darkness was merely the night sky, which meant he hadn't been unconscious for long. But that caused no relief inside of him. The burning fear of the realisation felt like it was going to burn right through his stomach. Because he knew exactly what had happened. The Professor.

Arthur stood there for a moment, absorbed in the horror of his situation, before a new thought came to his mind, one he was morbidly surprised hadn't entered his mind earlier.

Where was Selenia?

He whipped back round and raced back up the path towards her house, yelling her name in every direction. He got no response. When he finally made it back to her house, he was relieved to see that no debris had fallen directly onto the house. That was fortunate. Maybe she went to hide inside  he thought desperately as he sprinted towards the front door. He tore it open, revealing the interior which he hadn't seen yet this year. But this wasn't the time for admiring things. He did a quick scan of the room, searched under the bed, every nook and cranny. She wasn't there.

He slumped down onto her bed, trying to hold back tears. This was all his fault. It always was. Someone had shown up who knew about Arthur's secret, about the one thing that made Arthur's life worth living. And he had left it to his family to take care of. He had let his emotion cloud his judgement. And because of that, the Minimoy village lay in ruins, and Selenia might be dead. No  he thought. She's got to be here somewhere. He rose from her bed and made for the door. Maybe she fell with me, maybe she- But his train of thought was interrupted as the outside was revealed to him as he opened the door. Because walking slowly towards him, with tears in her dress, and a large scratch along her cheek, but walking, moving, breathing, was Selenia. And Arthur was certain that over all the years, from the moment he first saw her, that he had never been happier to see her alive. He began sprinting down the pathway, and her footsteps told him she was doing the same. And as they met in the middle, Selenia wrapped her arms around him, and began to sob into his shoulder. Arthur held her tightly, holding back the urge to do the same. She moved her head backwards from his shoulder, so that they were looking at each other.