“Eep-!”
Elis let out a yelp as she jumped through the classroom door. Her heart was pounding and she panted heavily, but the thunderous rumble of the collapsing floor didn’t follow her inside, and it was oddly quiet.
“H-Hello?”
She hadn’t been watching everyone else closely, so she wasn’t exactly too sure where they had all ended up. At first, she thought someone had entered behind her and closed the door, but as she waved her torch she quickly realised she was alone.
She panicked, desperately trying to think of the best plan of action. Surely if the ground below their feet had finished crumbling, maybe she could communicate across the chasm of the corridor to hear from the others?
“-!?”
It was only then that she realised the door was missing. It had been there moments before, but as her mind wandered briefly, it faded away without her notice. Once again she frantically ran her hand across the wall, hoping beyond all hope that she was simply imagining things, and any second now her palm would grasp the metal handle to her escape - but it was fruitless.
“Nononono!”
It was the worst-case scenario for her, as she had found herself alone and trapped without any sign of escape. Most of the others were strong enough to brute force their way out if needed, but her talents were far more useful when it came to supporting from behind, and even with her mightiest power blessing she didn’t like the idea of punching solid brick with her bare hands.
“What do I do..?”
Her mind whirred as she tried her best to take control of her options. She may have been flustered, but she was experienced enough to know that a rash decision now would only make matters worse, and sometimes staying put was the best course of action.
“Fuu…”
She exhaled, closing her eyes and calming her nerves.
“Elis, min dotter will you please sit down already?”
“-Wa!?”
Elis jumped, spinning around on her heels as she blinked in bewilderment. Before her lay a thick wooden dining table, roughly cut and scratched all over. In the warm candlelight, she could see three place mats all set with worn metal cutlery, though she couldn’t help her eyes from drifting to the empty spot beside her designated seat.
“Sit, sit!”
“-Eep! Sorry, mamma!”
She dashed over to her chair and quickly sat down, tucking her legs under the cramped table as she awaited their meal. The seat creaked loudly as she leaned into it, but the handmade stuffed pillow cushioned her against the raw wood.
“Pappa has been busy today. With winter coming he slaughtered one of the pigs, so it’s a special meal tonight!”
Köttbullar would always mark the beginning of winter as the harsh cold culled the crops, so they relied heavily on hearty meals from their livestock and other food reserves. It was Elis’s favourite meal, and she had been dreaming of her mother’s lingonberry sauce the whole year round, only this time she couldn’t quite bring herself to eat it gleefully.
As she waited quietly, a large, burly man stepped through from the kitchen, carrying trays of meatballs and creamed potatoes. The steam from the piping hot food lingered in the air as the delicious smell wafted around the room, and he laughed as he placed them down in the centre of the table.
“Elis, you better be hungry! Such a bountiful meal, Freyr has blessed us this year!”
Her father’s booming voice seemed to shake the walls in his vigour, and he clattered down into his chair with a grin, set to devour the meal he’d been slaving over. He laughed to himself as he raised a glass high, and the three of them began to eat. The food was delicious - it always was, but even though they all ate enough to burst, once the meal was over there was still food remaining on the serving trays.
“Pappa, you made too much.”
“I…I did, didn’t I?”
He tried to let out another hearty chuckle, but as it faded into silence, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the leftovers. Elis didn’t dare move before her parents did, but the two of them were both lost in thought.
“...Pappa, let’s save the rest.”
“...Yes, good idea mamma.”
He rose from his place and took the tray back into the kitchen with the food still warm. Elis bit her tongue as she choked on the words she wished to say, but her mother simply watched the empty spot beside her daughter quietly. It was a painful stillness, and when it all became too much to bear she closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
…
“Elis, min dotter will you please sit down already?”
“-Eh?”
Her eyes flicked open, as she saw her mother gesturing towards her eagerly.
“Sit, sit!”
“Sorry, mamma. Yes…”
She dragged herself past the vacant corner of the table to the safety of her usual spot and sat down. She should be happy - winter was almost here, so she felt sure it would be her favourite Köttbullar, but this year the room was far lonelier than she was used to.
“Mamma…”
“Yes? What is it?”
She thought about her next words carefully. They scorched her chest as they burned within her, and as she watched the expression on her mother’s face, she couldn’t bring herself to speak them into the world.
“It’s nothing, never mind.”
“Elis, you better be hungry! Such a bountiful meal, Freyr has blessed us this year!”
Her father bustled in, carrying trays of piping hot food with a wide grin. With his arrival, there was nobody else they were waiting for - at least none that would show up, so they began their feast in earnest until they couldn’t possibly eat anymore.
“Pappa, you made too much.”
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“I…I did, didn’t I?”
There, the food remained. There, they sat in the uneasy quiet. There, the girl closed her eyes without making a sound.
…
“Elis, min dotter will you please sit down already?”
She didn’t jump, and she didn’t gasp. As her baby blue eyes opened slowly, she looked around the cosy confines of her childhood home and took a deep breath. Her mind was finally calm once more, and though the worst was yet to come, she would be ready.
“Elis, sit, sit!”
Her mother insisted, tapping the table frantically. A slight worry began to creep across her features as she watched the girl who remained motionless before her, and as the seconds passed, her hand eventually stilled, and the two of them stared at each other.
“Elis, you better be hungry! Such a bountiful meal…”
The husky man’s voice trailed off as he watched the scene before him. Now that he was here, Elis could wait no longer, and she loosed the words that had taken her heart captive for so long.
“Mamma, Pappa, I want to leave this place.”
“...Elis, we talked about this.”
“You can’t leave.”
It was the same answer every time. Her father placed the food down gently, and his hands hung limply by his side as he faced his daughter. Her mother turned away, unable to look her in the eyes, but she didn’t blame her.
“There are people out there who are suffering. People I can help.”
“We don’t need them, and they don’t need us.”
“Dotter, we have lost enough. Please see reason.”
She shook her head gently as tears welled up in her eyes, but she fought them away with a bitter smile. Thoughts of her friends flooded her mind, and she remembered the person she had now become.
“I love you both. I know I haven’t visited - I promise, I will soon.”
“~~~!”
“~~~!”
Through her misty vision she could see that their faces had begun to fade, and the world around them dimmed. It was time to leave.
Turning around, she reached for the door handle, and walked out of the room.
******
“-!?”
Alarm bells rang in Wang Bao’s head as the door shut behind him. He tried to shine his torch into the corners of the classroom he had wound up fleeing to, but much to his dismay they weren’t connected with the others that held his friends.
His hand tightened around his prayer beads as he thought about smashing down the wall beside him. He hadn’t quite seen who, but during the frantic escape he at least knew someone had made it to the room next to his, and the thought that they may be in greater danger was a distressing one.
“Haa…”
He breathed out a sigh. Destroying the wall may well risk hurting them more than if he let it be, and he needed to regain his composure before he decided on a plan of action. Who knows, maybe Yuuji or Valeriya had somehow concocted a plan during their brief rush, or perhaps one of the other girls managed to find safety in the corridor and was preparing a rescue mission.
He relaxed his grip, but as he looked at his palm, something caught his eye.
“..?”
A fine black powder coated his fingertips and left black smudges along his hand where his prayer beads had touched. On closer inspection, the light-brown beads around his neck were fully covered in the stuff, and he looked in horror as he realised that his clothes were too.
*crackle*
Then came the sound, and next the heat.
His surroundings grew brighter and brighter, as the orange glow danced and flickered around him. Hot air swirled around his ankles, and it wasn’t long before in every direction he looked, there was fire.
Thick chunks of stone began to tumble from above, and large wooden structural beams snapped as the inferno chewed through them as it spread. Through the smoke and ash, he saw fragments of the dormitory he grew up being razed to the ground.
“Please, please someone save me!”
“Brother Bao, help me!”
“I’m stuck! I can’t move, I can’t move!”
Cries for help echoed around his head, as he caught glimpses of struggling survivors through the ever-growing rubble. They were his dear friends of old - the only ones he could call family, and they all screamed for his rescue as he stood frozen.
He rushed forward to the one he hoped was closest. Flaming debris blocked his path, but he refused to slow, and shoved the scorching stone and wood with his bare hands as he ignored the searing pain.
“Bao… I can’t…”
“Hold on!”
The quiet giant screamed out as more remains covered the young boy in front of him. Throwing caution to the wind, he gripped his prayer beads tight, and his two giant golden hands gripped the rubble pile, and he heaved with all his might.
But nothing happened.
It felt like he was trying to lift the world itself, as the swelling pile of ash and stone only grew heavier and heavier. He could no longer hear a sound from the boy within, but he tugged with every shred of his being, begging that he could scrabble loose from his constraints.
“Please… someone…”
“Can’t… breathe…”
The distressing cries for help around him had become pained whimpers as he fell to his knees. He simply wasn’t strong enough, wasn’t fast enough to save them, and in his failure, they would all be lost.
The glimmering golden hands faded into the furious blaze as his remaining strength left him, and he lamented.
“Bao…Bao…”
One more voice called his name. The girl he held most dear, and the one who had been by his side for as long as he could remember.
“Xinyi!”
In the distance, he saw her. She was covered up to her chest, and limply held her hand towards him as the fire kissed her face.
“Xinyi!!”
He tightened his grip around his prayer beads until his knuckles began to creak. Perhaps his strength wasn’t enough, and perhaps he couldn’t reach every single person who needed him in time.
But he wasn’t alone.
“Baozi, wooden rafter, 1 o’clock.”
A robotic-sounding voice came from over his shoulder, and he dashed ahead without turning back. His titanic hands returned, shimmering brighter than ever as they swung right to parry a falling log that he wouldn’t have previously seen himself.
Suddenly, the whole building shifted under the structural damage, and a giant chunk of the roof began to fall towards the trapped girl. He kept running straight towards her, his hands extended, as three beautiful golden arrows whipped over his head, and pinned the falling rock safely to the side.
Finally, he reached her, and pulled with all his strength once more to free her from her binding. He would not rest until it was done, and even as the fire billowed towards him, he shouted and pulled with all his focus.
The roaring flames arrived, but moments before they crashed into him, a wave of gold smashed against them and fought them away. The sound of jingling golden bracelets rang in his ears, but with one final tremendous effort, he shifted the wreckage, and the girl was freed.
He pulled her into his embrace, and the world around him slowed. In the distance, he no longer only heard cries for help, but a symphony of noise that was all too familiar now.
The sharp creaking of ice. The distant howl of a wolf. The rattling of a hundred bony hands.
He didn’t know if everyone would be saved, or if they could be saved. But as he stepped back away from the girl he loved, her face was already blurry, though he swore he could see her smiling.
“~~~!”
He grabbed her wispy hand and squeezed it gently. Turning to his side, the heat from the flames felt nonexistent, and the blistering burns that lined his features disappeared without a trace.
Amongst the dust and ash, a door stood untouched by the chaos, and through it, he stepped outside.