Broken Is the Man Who Leads

Chapter I

The world looks so small from so high up. The air, so thin and too stale. The world looks so small but feels too heavy on my shoulders.What does it take to be a hero?Is it patience? Bravery? Or is it a strong sense of justice?That day was one I will never forget. Or maybe I will... Maybe I'll hold onto it like a scarf in the wind.~Now Playing: "An Extraordinary Tale"I looked down at my phone, startled by the sudden change in music. Gone was the rough strong tone of the heavy metal music, replaced by the soft jumping, wandering of the new piece. The tune was mesmerizing, taunting me to skip ahead, laughing when I didn't. The train suddenly stopped and the driver's voice warned over the loudspeaker of the sudden stop. "There has been an accident up ahead and the train will be held for an hour," he droned. I bobbed along entranced by the song currently playing, unaware of the events happening around me. A brief touch at my waist had me whirling around facing a small, frail old woman.Her trembling voice jolting me into taking off my earbuds to hear her better. "I'm sorry ma'am, could you repeat that?" I asked her praying she wouldn't be one of those who scold people due to their use of technology. Her eyes bore into me, annoyed at my lack of attention to her words. "I asked if you knew what was going on," her small voice whispered. "No ma'am" I replied, looking around for any excuse to leave the conversation.My salvation came with the opening of the train doors. I bolted out and started scrolling on my phone looking for some sort of event that may have occurred within the hour. Just in case some other elderly decided to ask me. I opened the news app and clicked on the latest video and stared at the news reporter. "Breaking news, a recent gas leak has ignited a fire in the Smirine Tower of the business district. The Authorities have no foothold of the flame and have not been able to..." her voice suddenly stopped as my screen went black. " Damnit!" I cursed out loud. It's dead. At once I gasped as my stomach clenched and I fell to the floor in a fit of nausea. The air shifted and I was able to breathe easy once more. I shakily stood up and glanced around hoping for a public water fountain of sorts. My eyes widened as I took in my surroundings. I was no longer outside a waiting train. My eyes widened as I stared at the burning building around me. It looked beautiful against the darkening sky. Haunting the world like an image seen only in the minds of the dark. Against my will, my legs started moving, step by step, bringing me closer to the roaring inferno. My mind hazy and my eyes watery, I could not stop these legs of mine from breaking past the line of police failing to keep people from running into the building. After all, they easily let me pass. Not that anyone was trying to rush into a burning building.What makes a person a hero? Is it an infinite source of patience? Bravery? Or is it a strong sense of justice? It's not fucking running into a burning building. As soon as I entered the threshold, the smoke crawled into my nose and suffocated me. I ran around blindly yelling if anyone needed help. I climbed the stairs yelling for people. Even though I was going around asking if anyone needed help, I was genuinely surprised when someone replied to my maniac yelling. My legs, those traitors, rushed forward toward the voice as I kept on yelling at the person asking for help.I quickly found the man yelling for help. He was huddled with a few other people cornered by a beam that had fallen over. I took off looking for anything to get the people out from the corner. I found a sturdy piece of metal that should have been way too heavy for me to carry. I quickly used the metal plate to attempt to lift the beam enough for people to crawl under. It didn't work.I then decided to use my brain and quickly brought over a chair. I hefted the chair over the beam and heard it crash on the other side. The man didn't hesitate and as soon as the sound was over he started yelling "What the hell am I supposed to do with a fucking chair? Sit on it and wait for some glorified hero to lift the beam?" My eyes narrowed and I also quite quickly retorted, "No you moron you use it to step on it and step over the beam"The man was quiet for a second as another person quite loudly slapped him and they climbed over the beam. She was glorious. Like a raven flying through the night. Not exactly... She had an old patched black jacket, with a dark shirt that read "I like my men how I like my coffee... I don't like coffee" and leather pants. Her hair was held back by a braided updo her hair streaked with purple. She turned around and started helping people climb out. Once everyone was up I ran and started prompting people to slide down. One by one I caught a few people and together we were able to get mostly everyone down. Except for the one guy who fell and twisted his ankle. I sighed and knelt and we were able to get the young man onto my back. I slowly rose, my knees trembling and threatening to buckle under the weight. As soon as we reached the stairwell, I knew we were in deep shit. The fire was slowly but surely making its way up the stairs. " Damn we took to long " I yelled. Together we all headed up the stairs hoping to find the emergency stairs. Stair-ceptionOnce we arrived at the fourth floor, we finally found the emergency stairway... and the entrance was locked... Just like the past two floors. My eyes narrowed in poorly concealed anger as I asked someone to take the guy from me. As soon as I was free I picked up another chair and started hitting the door. "Stop!" yelled the guy from a while back. "You're going to hurt yourself," he continued. I turned and glared at him "Does it look like I give a fuck? No! The other stairs are on fire and we gotta get out or we are as good as dead!" I shouted.He suddenly jumped into action and everyone except the guy with the twisted ankle started hitting the door. Together we were able to break down the door. I ran back to the guy picked him up and started down the stairs, the people trailing behind me like ducklings. Thankfully the stairs were clear from any fire and we were able to make it down to where the police were. The scolding was inevitable. They were furious at my recklessness and so was I to be frank. What the hell legs! They were trying to get me killed. I nodded and turned to face the group of people who were getting attended to by medics on site. Brief pressure on my waist once more caused me to both jumps and turn to face the person behind me. It was her, the girl in all black. Her eyes narrowed and her nose pointed upwards. " I would like to thank you for helping us..." she trailed off. I simply smiled and her narrowed eyes widened and she glared at me. "No problem..." I raised an eyebrow. " Lydia!" she quickly responded. " Lydia Rider" I nodded and held a hand out. "Nice to meet you Lydia Rider" We shook hands and I smiled once more." I best be going" I stated, starting to trek away. " See you next time" she yelled out behind me. "Hopefully not in a burning building" I replied. She snorted and I walked away. As soon as I was far enough away, the queasy feeling returned. I gasped and fell to my knees. The air shifted and I was once more, at the train station."The train will now continue its path towards the capital" droned the driver. "All aboard!"