"Vaali!"

"Run!"

I didn't move. Not then. I kept watching Kishni, my mind blank. I watched as something zipped into my field of vision, something reddish, and struck her in the torso leaving only a mist of red. I watched as her body flew back five feet and lay unmoving in the dust.

I watched as my stupid, loyal Lolo snarled, bunched up her muscles and prepared to launch herself at all foes. I watched as another red shadow zipped across my line of sight and struck Lolo in the head which expl­oded in a shower of gore.

Then I moved.

"Nooo!" I screamed. My mind broke. I jumped up, the magical manacles on my feet and hands simply snapped. I made to go over to the remains of my only two friends. A gold- coloured gnome carrying a stick appeared in front of me., buzzing around like a fly. I became irritated. I swept my arm at him, the stick in his hands snapped and the impact of my arm broke something else as well before flinging the insignificant creature out of my sight.

I wanted to rush over to the body of my friends but my legs were just not moving fast enough. I felt things hitting my back. I ignored them.

Three more gnomes appeared before me holding reddish sticks. They had the audacity to block my way. I bec­ame frustrated. Clenching my teeth and growling, I aimed a kick at the gnome nearest to me.

My foot went toes-first into the centre of his chest. The impact was monumental. Blood exploded out the gnome's mouth and nose as the part of his chest around my foot just collapsed. His body folded around my foot as momentum launched it high into the air. It landed like a rag doll.

'Brave insects,’ I mused as the two remaining gnomes didn't back off upon seeing their companion's death but instead charged forward.

The gnome to my right evaded my swinging arm and jammed his pointy stick into my torso. I felt the impact and looked at his scared face. I reached over the shaft of the embedded stick and grabbed his head in my two hands. Then I popped that small melon with little effort. My hands were red and covered with slimy gristle. I pulled his still embedded spear out of the right-side of my torso with little effort.

In the meantime the second gnome had also struck me with his stick. I grabbed it and yanked it out. For some reason the gnome didn't let go of his stick. I pulled him closer to me with my left hand and punched his head with my right. His face caved in around my fist and his head was ripped from his neck by the force of my moving fist. It landed a few feet away before rolling to a stop.

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I felt more impacts on my back as I neared Lolo. Her fat, furry body was still twitching slightly. Everything above her neck looked like bloody vomit. I felt my bile rise and my mind break further. I whimpered as I look­ed away.

Kishni lay on her back a few feet away. A long shaft of an arrow rose vertically out of her chest. Her withered greyish-brown face now seemed white. Her eyes were closed. She looked like she was in a deep sleep, her mouth slightly ajar with a trickle of blood coming out of the corner. Just an old woman warning her ward to run.

I didn't feel grief. I felt nothing. I was blank. I wanted to harm the puffed-up little gnomes. And I would. But I felt numb.

I turned towards the village centre finally. The devastated remains of the gnomes I had dispatched were interspersed with the bodies of some of the vill­agers. There were men, women and a few children laying around with gruesome wounds. I saw Dhanjay’s fat prone form, a final look of terror etched on his face. The gnomes had decided to be indiscriminate in their violence.

I couldn't see any more gnome soldiers and the streets had emptied. The remaining villagers had probably fled by now or were holing up in their huts they way they had done when the Bandits had appeared. All I could see was the Pridish velocicar sitting in the middle of the thoroughfare. It's hatch was closed now but the vehicle's walls seemed to be glowing with a deeper red.

As I approached the vehicle, I noticed that a series of circular holes around the circumference of the vehicle had appeared. I was only six feet away from the vehicle when I heard a loud 'Boom!' and a fireball was launched from the hole directly in front of me. The fireball hit me square in the stomach before I had time to react.

I finally felt pain as I was flattened and thrown backwards. I knew something was burning, some flesh. And I knew it was my flesh. I just lay there for some time. I saw the blue sky again. I was tempted to just close my eyes and let whatever happened, happen. To just drift off.

'Vaali...run.’

I heard a whisper. I clenched my eyes shut as I felt the stirrings of a vast grief. It was there alright, somewhere. My mind was just protecting me from it while my life was in danger.

I knew I couldn't give up. My two friends, my only companions lay murdered - because of me. I had to live so that at least there deaths were worth something.

I raised my head and glanced down at where the fireball had hit me. My stomach was charred black and a big chunk of it was simply missing.

‘Must hurt like hell,' I thought to myself. For some reason the pain was being compartmentalised. Small mercies. I knew I would heal from this wound. But maybe not if I got hit by a barrage of those fireb­alls.

The velocicar was still there, sitting stolidly. Nobody had emerged from it. I didn't know why it wasn't finishing me off. Maybe I was below its line of sight. I didn't know what to do.

'Vaali...run," came the whisper again. I sighed inwardly. Everything had collapsed. Everything was a mess. But the old woman had been right. I had to run.

I steeled myself and then in a quick motion pushed off the ground, swivelled and turned to run away from the Pridish death machine. I almost stumbled. My rising movement had by no means been fluid. My feet slipped on the dusty street.

I heard booms behind me and then parts of houses and street exploded around me. I had to shield my face from shrapnel as I bounded to the village walls. My running seemed to be rattling the walls of the flimsy village houses.

As the barrage continued and I neared the walls I tried to leap over the walls. I barely jumped a few feet and instead of vaulting I half-collapsed into the wooden palisade which simply gave way in front of me. The barrage continued.