(Kyla’s POV)

There was death, death, and more death. Even after making a path out of the mall, I knew all of them wouldn’t make it. Most were injured in some way, a broken foot, a severed arm, I had to carry a man who was missing both legs. The father I’d saved had the most minor injuries, a scrape on his brow and another on the back of his leg, but he refused to leave his son.

The survivors helped each other, but I couldn’t just burn away every pile of rubble to clear their path; I might wind up killing others who were trapped. I also knew that I couldn’t save everyone, especially not on my own. I needed enforcers.

Turning to the struggling group, I said, “Keep making your way East. Go as far as you can and help anyone you can get to easily, but don’t go inside any buildings. I have to leave so I can bring more help, but I’ll be back.”

As I spoke I watched the hope fade from their eyes. They didn’t believe me, I understood why. Usually enforcers would’ve been here by now. Even if they weren't, Heroes had a much more secure communication network and it didn’t depend on the broadcast towers, but I didn’t have access to that yet. I wasn’t a real hero yet. I wasn’t even supposed to be here.

Some of the people began sitting down with tears in their eyes, likely deciding they wouldn’t make it. They needed some kind of hope, a reason to believe I’d return, so I made something up. “I have a brother. He’s lost and I think he’s somewhere in this city. I swear I’ll be back, I won’t abandon you and I won’t abandon my brother either. Look…” I said as I pulled out my comm and found a picture of me and Fey. “…if you see him, please help him okay?”

It seemed to work. Some were still skeptical, but that faded when someone in the crowd lent their voice to my imagined cause. “What are you all looking so down for? She’s already done more than enough for us. Each of us owes Starla our lives!” He looked at me and smiled. “We’ll find your brother, don’t you worry. He’ll be with us when you return.”

He was so sincere that it brought tears to my eyes. For a moment, I almost believed Fey really was in Baldier.

Wiping away the moisture from my eyes, I smiled back and said, “thank you.”

***

The man with no legs had passed out long before we reached the nearest city—Rennat. I brought him to the first hospital I came across, hoping they could save him.

“I’m sorry ma’am, all our beds are full. Try taking him downtown.”

“I’m not from here. Can you describe the building I’m looking for?”

“Aren’t you a hero? How do y’all usually find the hospitals?”

“Please ma’am, he needs help… he could die!”

The woman finally gave me directions to a tall brown building with seventy five stories. They had room from the man but by then he was pale. While I filled in what information I knew about him, mostly just the city he was from and information from his SAFE ID card, I found myself praying it wouldn’t be needed. Hopefully he would pull through and be able to tell the doctors who he was and what family he had.

As soon as that was done, I called Irina, but she didn’t answer, so I called the SAFE dispatch line.

“Hello. Thanks for calling SAFE, how may I help you?”

“Seriously? That’s the greeting? Aren’t people usually in crisis when they call?” I asked.

“Who is this? Do you have an emergency or not?”

“Sorry, this is Kyla—I mean Starla Ray. Can you send as many enforcers as possible to Baldier? The broadcast tower has been destroyed, but there are lots of people there that need help.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Sordiev, Destalia, Manas’va, Eurity—the calls are coming from all over. I’ll do what I can, but I can’t promise you anything.”

Crestfallen, I replied, “I understand. I know everyone needs help, but even if it’s just one enforcer, please send what you can.”

“Sure.”

With a click the call ended.

I raced back to Baldier and found the group I rescued had shrunk in number. I heard the group before I found them.

A woman yelled, “… can’t climb over that! It’s unstable, some of us are injured—”

Cutting her off, a man shouted louder, “If we don’t try, we’ll all die here. I’m sorry… but I’m no hero. Starla saved us once, but she’s gone now. It’s up to us to save ourselves and I won’t just give up here.”

There had been around fifty before, but now there were only fifteen and they seemed more broken than before. A woman and man stood at the center of the group, the woman supporting an elderly man with a broken foot. Three people gathered behind the woman and old man, six behind the angry young man. The other three idly stared at the pavement, their eyes empty and lost as if they weren’t truly seeing anything.

“I’m back” I announced as I landed among them. “Where are the rest?”

The shouting man scoffed and looked at the ground. Some others looked at me with hopeful expressions, but most bore anxiety on their faces.

Looking back at me, the angry man barked, “Where’s the help you promised? Or have you come back just to watch us die?”

“Baldier isn’t the only city in a dire state. From what I learned, the SAFE zone is currently under attack from all sides.” Seeing how their expressions changed, I added, “I may be the only one here, but I won’t abandon you. I’ll do what I can to help all of you get to safety.”

The man shook his head and rolled his eyes. Others seemed to share his skepticism, but that didn’t matter. Heat, and smell like char drew my attention to a rapidly approaching wall of flame.

“We need to move.” I said.

The way forward was blocked by an enormous pile of rubble—likely the reason they’d stopped in the first place. I was hesitant because I didn’t want to be responsible for any deaths, but there wasn't time for another solution and the pile was going to be burned soon either way; so I swept up the nearest person who needed help to walk and sent a strong wind to blow the debris out of the road. Hopefully if anyone was trapped inside the gust freed them.

“I had to.” I whispered to myself. If I’d taken much longer the people I’d already saved would meet there end flames.

Our small group rushed through, but we weren’t out of danger yet. Ahead of us, a towering building swayed in the wind. With just a little more force it would collapse and likely land on top of us. I wanted to ignore it and just keep pushing forward, but the sound of metal popping as the building broke free of its foundation left me with no choice.

“Annihilate,” I cast, giving a name to the magic I’d used on the mountain.

An orb of fire shot from my hand, zoomed toward the building, then with a mighty explosion, both were gone. Some burning debris rained down, but I was easily able to disperse it with wind. A few minutes later, we reached another blocked path. My heart caught in my chest at the sight of a dragon in the road. His brilliant white scales shining like diamonds as they reflected the light of the amethyst fires around him. Every bone in my body ached at the sight. My legs buckled with the weight of my anxiety and a crippling fear squeezed shut my throat.

He didn’t need to look at me or even speak for me to recognize him. I’d never seen this dragon before, but instinctively I knew exactly who it was.

He took one earth shaking step towards us, then another and another before his jaw fell open and a torrent of white fire covered the group behind me like a blanket. There wasn’t a single scream or cry for help, they were gone too quickly for that.

I could only gasp as he came closer and somehow compelled the trembling woman out of my arms and into his open mouth. With a crunch, he devoured her as easily as I would a cracker.

Then his voice roared, “are there others?”

In truth, I didn’t know, though I looked back at the approaching flames. The others would have been consumed if they were still further back.

Turning back to Pyro, I shook my head. “There’s none.”

“Then come!” He demanded.

I climbed onto his back and thought of each person I’d lead on with false hope. Their faces flashing in my mind, one by one. I wondered if they had families. If they were mothers or fathers, or maybe grandparents. What if I had left them alone, surely at least some of them would’ve survived, instead I’d gotten them all killed.

My heart thumped with each face until one jumped out at me. It was the man who promised to find my brother. Only then did I realize he was among the missing, which was odd considering he was one of the few with no injuries. Then I considered that he may have done something foolish or reckless in hope of finding Fey. In either case, I hoped he met a better end than the fifteen