“So what are you going to do, Luna?” Em asked me.

I let out a sigh as I gave up gathering the herbs in the little cave. Instead I went to a near wall and sat against it, unsure what I was going to do. The solution was completely simple if I wanted to stay with my mother. All I had to do was accept Trent’s proposal. But I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to accept his proposal. Trent was just the shifter that all of the girls admired but knew that they could never have. Now that he’s shown interest in someone, it was hard to believe. Also, I hardly know anything about the guy.

Pulling my knees up against my chest, wrapped my legs around my legs. Letting out another sigh, I stared at nothing. Em came and sat next to me and rubbed my arm in comfort. She didn’t say anything else as she waited for me to think things through.

“Em, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I confessed, “Both choices don’t seem appealing to me. I hardly know Trent enough to marry him, but I know that is just how our region works with the selection process. But I also don’t know my father well enough to accept that I have to leave with him when he does.”

“But you have to choose one, Luna,” Em reminded me. I didn’t need the reminder. What I needed was someone to help me think through the pros and cons of the two choices. I needed someone to tell me what it was I needed to do. For some reason, I felt like I wasn’t ready to make any life decisions.

At the moment, the only thing appealing to me was slamming my head against the cave wall. Maybe it would take enough sense out of me to make a decision without thinking. But sadly I couldn’t do such a thing. Also I knew that I had to tell my mother about the proposal. Due to laws, the parents had to accept the marriage. There were so many laws that were set to protect women in this world that it was kind of sickening.

Looking at Em, I said to her, “Let’s just go home. Maybe we can talk to my mother about this situation.”

Em nodded in agreement. She then helped me up from the ground before grabbing what herbs I had gathered. She didn’t specialize in medical herbs like me. Instead her training was in cooking and tailoring. It was something I envied about her. Em could make a meal out of pretty much anything and make the most beautiful clothes. Even though my skills could possibly save lives, it wasn’t something I wanted to do.

As we started the walk back to the house, I couldn’t help but take in the damage that took place in the forest fire. Before I was blind to it due to the shock of meeting my father for the first time. Also, having Trent take up my thoughts helped put the blinders up. Now that my head was a little clearer, I could see the full scale of what we needed to rebuild.

The forest now looked like a scorched up clearing. Blackened trees layed over the ground with embers still threatening to start the fire all over. With every step we took ash would fly in the air. Homes were just burnt shells or piles of ash. People were shifting through debris, trying to find anything they could save. Even the city hall wasn’t spared as it looked ready to collapse with the light breeze blowing against it.

“This is awful,” I said out loud to no one in particular. It just broke my heart.

“The caves have those that just barely made it out of the fires. Some might not make it because they were hurt so bad,” Em informed me. Breaking my heart more.

Just taking in the sight of something that I had to live with all of my life told me that this was no place to raise a family. But nowhere was with how harsh the environment became once the world decided to fight back. The Desert Regions had sand storms that could bury cities in a matter of seconds. The Ocean Regions has massive hurricanes and tsunamis. The Blizzard Regions had massive snow storms and freezing temperatures. The Mountain Regions had avalanches everyday due to the high winds they experienced along with freezing temperatures. The only region that I feel like would be the safest, would be the Sky Region. But that was a place that was so hard to get to since it was always moving around in the skys.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Without thinking, I asked, “How do you think the Sky Region stays floating in the sky?”

“By a magical great wizard who has all of the powers of the sky,” Em said sarcastically. Making smack her playfully. When it came to something that she didn’t know, Em would make a joke out of it. In all honesty, it was something that we never questioned. I have no idea why I even thought about it now when I never did before.

The only explanation I had was that it was some type of technology that wasn’t lost in the major disaster. But it seemed like the more important things we needed to know were the things that got lost in the end. Now different regions were working on getting that back and the one region I had a feeling had the majority of the old technology would be the Sky Region. Sadly, it was a place that no one could touch unless you were a bird shifter.

Getting lost in my thoughts once again, I let Em lead me home. I wasn’t sure if there was even a home left. From how damaged the city was, my hopes weren’t high. We could be one of the many who had their home turned to ash. Just a blackened pile of debris. I guess the only way to find out if we were one of the lucky ones was to actually see if our home was still standing.

I couldn’t focus on my surroundings the closer we got. It probably was away from me to metally prepare myself for the worst. I guess I was thinking that if I expected the worst, I wouldn’t be so heartbroken to see my home destroyed. Also, if it wasn’t as destroyed, I’d feel grateful and lucky to still have a place to live. But it would also be good motivation to help those that needed to rebuild due to the fires.

“Luna,” a small boy called out to me, making me turn to see who it was. The familiar face of Luke’s little brother Link came running towards me. His soot covered cheeks had streaks on his face from the tears streaming down his face, “I was so scared.”

Instinctively, I went to his level and wrapped my arms around him in a comforting embrace. My eyes scanned the area as I wondered where his mother could be. It wasn’t like her to let her little cub run around scared.

Putting him at arm's length, I looked Link in the eye, “Link, where is your mother?”

He was still crying as he hiccuped his answer, “She went to look for Leon during the fire and hasn’t come back.”

My heart sank. To think that the fire could have taken Link’s and Luke’s mother from this almost made me want to cry. But I had to be strong in case it turned out to be true. Luke’s family already lost his father in a fire a few months back. It would destroy them if they lost their mother as well. Also it made me worried about Leon if he didn’t show up at the safety of the caves as well. I had to find Luke.

Pawning off Link to Em, I left her to go find my best friend. Part of me hoped that he had found his mother safe and sound. But the other part was fearing the worst. The image of Luke finding his mother not alive floored me. It was something he didn’t deserve. Especially after my harsh words to him earlier.

“Luke!” I called out as I scanned the area. No idea where I was to look first. But I didn’t have to look long when he suddenly popped out of nowhere next to me. His eyes were red and puffy, “What happened?”

“It’s Leon,” was all he said before he grabbed on to me. I held him in a comforting embrace as he began to cry.

I’ve seen Luke get teary eyes before, but I’ve never really seen him cry. Also, I know that Luke always looked up to his older brother. I guess this also explains why Link’s mother never came to get him. She probably didn’t want him to see the fate of his oldest brother. My heart just broke for this family because they had already lost so much with Luke’s father. Now they had just lost his older brother to the fires. Who knew who was next? It could even be my mother and that thought just made me want to cry more.