Chapter II: Fire and Sword

Smoke and heat ravaged the air, tearing at Sera's throat with each breath she took. No breathing technique protected from smoke and ash.

Just an hour ago she was pulling water from the town's well. Now she was in her sister's bedroom, having pulled curtains over their windows once smoke and screams filled the air. Fire had since found their home and it wouldn't be long until they'd be consumed in a fiery maelstrom. She eyed the cluttered space before her. An utter disarray, with clothes scattered across the floor and dressers knocked completely over. Her gaze stopped at the far corner. There Casifra lay unmoving, cradling her knees against her chest.

“Casifra! We have to go!” She shouted.

She rushed over and yanked on her sister's arm, but it fell back limply. Casifra was unresponsive. Confused, she tugged harder, but no matter what she did, her sister didn't move, and her muted silence only sought to fuel Sera’s rage.

“We have to go! Now!”

Fumes of burnt wood and straw trickled through her lungs as she strained her voice to communicate. Sera shouted about the dangers of staying, the fire and the surrounding pillagers, but her sister never once budged.

"We have to find mother and father!"

She didn’t understand why she wasn't getting through to her. Was it her tone? Was she just not loud enough? Was her sibling simply in shock? She moved closer to try and pry her away, but Casifra remained rooted to the spot.

As another minute passed one of the roof’s support beams crashed behind her. Sera winced and glanced back to see a crushed drawer. She took pause to think. Her sister was essentially deadweight, their house was burning to the ground, and the raiders were going to arrive soon. She was at an impasse.

Even if she could gather the girl in her arms, she couldn’t possibly carry her out, could she? Sera lamented silently at her little sister's age. Such a task may have been possible some years back when Casifra was smaller, but that wasn't the case now. She was grown and taller than both her and mother after some miraculous growth spurts. She could escape if she wanted to, easily, but she didn't. Nothing was stopping her. Instead, the young girl looked ready to die and there seemed little Sera could do. The elder sister gritted her teeth and looked at her options.

Their home would, at best, continue to burn and her only sister was unwilling to part with it. Stay or leave, it was one or the other and her instincts were screaming at her to take the latter. She swallowed a lump in her throat as she weighed her choices in.

"Cas, please." She coughed. "We need to leave."

No reaction. Her words fell on deaf ears. Sera bit her lip nervously. The only way to tell if Casifra was alive were the subtle motions of her breathing.

She wanted to leave, she wanted to live, but the strong tug of familial bonds compelled her to stay. Leaving her sister was an unthinkable act. Unforgiveable even. Her sister was quite possibly the last family member she had left. Their parents hadn't returned yet and their other relatives could be dead or dying. She couldn't possibly forget the memories they had together either, whether good, dumb, or bad. Waves of emotions swept over Sera as she reflected on it all, spreading turmoil throughout her heart, body and mind. She heaved a heavy sigh, as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders. A decision had to be made.

'Stay here,' she recalled her mother saying. 'Protect Casifra.'

I… I can't leave her, she thought. What would happen to her? At best she'd die and at worst… I can’t imagine. She didn't want anything to happen to her. Neither case was an option. Casifra couldn't die. Casifra couldn't suffer. She wouldn’t allow it.

"Please" —she leaned down to caress her sister's shoulder— "I'll get you the sweetest apples coins can buy."

Seconds passed and there was no response.

"So please, Casifra... Get up! Gods please!" Sera dug her fingers in and shook her about like mad. "I'm trying to help you!" The girl was limp as a doll. Sera only stopped once her arm went weak, but her desperation never subsided, ever as furious as the inferno blazing around her.

"By the eight what is wrong with you!?" She reached forth to grab her sister by the hair and pulled her head back to reveal her face.

Sera shuddered, unsettled at the sight. Casifra's once bright and lively olive-green eyes were now blank and lifeless. She could scarcely tell whether she was alive or dead. She released her grip, instantly regretful of her actions. Had she gone too far? Was she at fault for this? Her heart twinged to see her sister like this. The girl had always been so full of cheer, joy and life. Now she saw none of that and couldn't comprehend how she came to be like this.

She pressed her hands against her face. She was frustrated, confused, mad, and mournful. It vexed her to no end, but she knew what she had to do. There was no other option. Her sister couldn’t be abandoned to die. Sera needed to do something.

I'll do my damndest to save her, she thought. She would continue to struggle; however futile it was and regardless of the impossibility of escape. It was better to die than to live on knowing she had left her sister to burn. She lowered her arms.

Should I carry her then?

"Help!" a man screeched outside. "Help m-" his voice was cut by his disturbing death throes. She winced as his piercing cries continued and covered her ears to drown them out. It was only because the sounds were nearing that she recognized his voice, Percy's that is. He stood out much amongst the myriad of others that she mostly ignored.

He was one of their neighbors…

She had long since been trying to zone out the screams outside. It was all she was hearing since the raid began. Their invaders were butchering everyone. Every person that she ever knew was dying and she couldn't do a thing about it. Cursing the raiders helped ease her burdens somewhat, but the stresses had been piling up, amassing a mental strain on her that might break forth like a dam threatening to burst.

She shook herself out of it once his screams quelled and continued to ponder on escape routes. Unfortunately, it was too late. Something started to bang on the door. The young woman grabbed her knife off a desk and whipped around just in time to see a trio of men burst into the room, torches and swords in hand. Blood dripped from the ends of their blades and red stained the crude white of their uniforms. It was a strange sight to see the Church's color on their wear. A mockery. Sacrilege even.

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There goes my plans, she thought.

"A girl?" one thug cooed before laughing at the sight of her weaponry. The gaps in his front teeth were entirely visible. "What do ya think ye gonna do with that carrot peeler? Put the knife down. We promise to let ya live."

Empty fucking promises, she wanted to say.

Sera faced her villains, putting up as much of an intimidating front as she could muster while also trying to provide any possible cover for her sister. The two were cornered so there wasn’t much else she could do.

Time seemed to stop as no one budged. Just flames licking the corners of the room. But this moment of peace was brought to an end when the three raiders moved. The instant they did, she frantically swung her knife around toward them. Her choice of weaponry was small, still red with the juices of a tomato she had cut minutes before the raid, but it stopped the thugs in their tracks regardless.

"Come near me and I fucking promise," she said, her grip tightening. "At least one of you is dying." Her performance was only a small accomplishment, but to her it felt like a leap to the clouds, bravado lifting her confidence beyond whatever fear remained.

The main thug sneered. "What? Kill us? With that?" He cackled before saying darkly, "We'll cut your little hands off."

She appeared unfazed, but under that brave front a shiver shot down her spine. These men were absolute vagrants, possessed by the evilness of Kraai in every aspect and sinners as clear as day. Death was preferable over whatever they had in store. But two choices, whether wanted or not, suddenly appeared before her. Would she rather die, possibly by killing both herself and her sister in the process to maintain their dignity? Or lay down her pride and yield? She pondered this as she watched the three spread out to three corners of the room.

"Well I'll be! There's a second one behind her!" said the left one. He pointed at her sister. All three of them grew visibly excited.

Sera's grim expression stiffened.

"So you were hiding something after all," said the other. "I knew something was up."

Her nails dug into her palm. She seethed. She didn't know which one was talking anymore. They were all the same. The luminescence of the surrounding fire disguised her red-hot anger. She didn't care anymore. She wanted to inflict pain. She wanted to punish. Monsters consumed by sin deserved no less.

"Put down the knife and we'll spare both your lives."

The young woman made her decision. All her muscles flexed as she prepared to take action, but the moment before she did, her eyes locked onto a silent figure standing in the doorway.

She stopped, watching on warily as this stranger swiftly closed in on the nearest thug and brought about a shocking, but welcome moment: a sword thrusting through the cutthroat's stomach. It impaled the filth all the way to the hilt, causing him to scream in agony. The other two flinched in panic and turned to raise their weapons at the intruder. Their injured comrade whimpered as he looked down at the blade protruding from his belly and coughed out blood through the gaps in his teeth. The assailant kicked him away and he crumpled on the floor.

Sera's heart soared at the sight of her rescuer. His armor and garb were white and flawless, unblemished by even blood, and his face looked as if sculpted by the Gods. This newcomer was clearly a knight of the church, and the stark contrast between him and the riff-raff was night and day. Her attitude took a whole turn and a sense of relief flooded into her. She lowered her knife. The knight glanced at her with his otherworldly icy blue eyes before turning to the other two. They fearfully lowered their weapons.

"Kraai has possessed your hearts with lust. I should have you two also executed."

Serves you right, she thought. She smiled smugly.

Then his focus turned to her and she received a particularly ominous premonition. His eyes alone could cut a person in half and they never left hers, even as he stepped over the dying brigand and halted a five feet before her. He towered above her and seemed almost to be floating. Sera analyzed him in an attempt to guess what his intentions were, but his cold countenance never once changed. Her eyes then flicked back and forth between him and the thugs. They weren’t moving. It was odd to see that the two thugs were, for all intents and purposes, frozen.

Was it magic?

"But since you have found the Source, you can keep your lives—consider it your reward."

Her eyes widened. She tried to process his words. The Source? She didn't know what that meant. Was he speaking of her? Morever, he was sparing these two men? The sinners taking part in the slaughter of her people and even rewarding them to add to insult? She looked at them, then the knight, and her heart sunk as she at last noticed something she neglected. White. All of them. The Church's colors. She finally put two and two together and understood that they were all in on it. The Toltirans were razing their town. And he isn't here to save us, she realized. He's here with them.

But it was too late—he was already in motion. The young woman had little time to react as a sword ran through her stomach. She winced hard as a burning, hot pain slid into her gut and out her back. She looked down at the blade penetrating her stomach, gasping. It was unreal, a sensation that she had never felt before, something she could never have imagined. She lifted her eyes to meet his in disbelief. He neither smiled nor frowned and kept his frozen expression to the end.

He just didn't care. He didn't care that her people were dying, that he was participating in unwarranted murder. Cold, inhumane, and arrogant. She hated that face. It was that type of face, that expression and that countenance that she would detest and loath with all her heart for the rest of time. Her brows furrowed deeply, and in this sudden moment of intense rage, some strange power welled up within her. Sera finally had enough of it. This was the final straw.

I'll kill them all, she thought.

“I’ll kill you all!” she screeched. She gripped the blade. Her fingers bleeding at they bit into her skin. His expression shifted, perhaps surprised when he couldn't tug the blade away.

Whatever it was though, she didn't care. Sera felt regret, betrayal, and anger, but most of all she felt like enveloping the whole world in a glorious inferno.

It all ceased when he wrenched the sword out from her body. She jolted forward as the foreign object left her body. Her fingers dismembered and fell to the floor. She could hardly believe it happened. Blood came pouring forth. Her strength abandoned her. The power and hope she had just a moment before drained away as if it was never there and she collapsed. Breathing became painful. Every little motion she made was painful. And she watched on, unable to speak or move as the holy man picked up Casifra and departed with her in his arms.

Sera was left to bleed and die. Her lost gaze met with the dead man across from her, fear and terror etched across his frozen face. He had been afraid to die. She on the other hand was merely shocked. She never would have guessed this outcome.

The church of all things. To think they'd do this, she thought. But we aren't even on the frontier. Why us? Out of all the other villages, why us?

A single tear escaped and rolled down her cheek.

Why were we targeted? Why were we forsaken? Why? Why? Why? Before she could ponder on the answers, the house finally collapsed and a wooden beam knocked her unconscious.

... So unfair...