A visage of visceral décor plagued the senses and choked the soul, rendering all in the haze of blood. The wind howled as it lashed at the lands, ripping soil and blades of grass from their homes to send them into discord.
If only her trembling hands could reach up out of the darkness, perhaps then their smiling faces would grace her once more.
Struggling gasps tainted with tears echoed from beneath a mess of broken bodies and the wreckage of a horse-drawn cart, scarcely heard over the distant cracking of twigs and clashing of steel. The broken visage of smog-stained skies showed through the smallest slivers of space between battered, bloody limbs and pieces of split timber.
How long had she been there, lying in the darkness struggling to get out?
How long had the souls of the damned traversed this nightmare of a world?
The sticky sensation of liquid against her skin brought the tears closer to the surface, the pain and terror wracked her with desperation. Ash, dust and gravel scraped at her battered limbs with every struggling attempt she made to reach the surface.
Muted words formed upon her lips, given no sound among the harsh edge of her gasps.
'Anybody! Please! Help us!' She cried out. 'We're still here!'
But nobody ever came.
The soulless wastelands engulfed her pleas and trapped her heart, bringing the tears to finally spill over the raw skin of her face.
Was there no one who would save them?
Why wouldn't they? She did no wrong, the bodies of those keeping her buried her within this hell were at no fault of their own. So why would nobody save them?
The distant cries and clashing swords hung in the air like a cloud descending upon the world, plunging her heart further in despair. The faint hints of birds circling overhead only sought to worsen her dread.
"Am I going to die, here?"
The tears continued to spill as she slowly closed her eyes.
"I don't want to die like this..."
Time passed in immeasurable dregs, dotted with the sounds of tearing flesh and carnivorous birds relishing in their feast left out to gorge. The distant clashing of steel and agonized shouts soon faded completely in the presence of the scavengers of prey.
She had almost given up hope, when she heard the ravens shriek out their startled cries and scatter.
'Dear Lord in Heaven, to you I send the souls of those who have fallen.' A deep voice rung out in prayer across the wastelands, barely loud enough to bring her to slowly open her eyes. 'May you grant the heretical guidance and the devout the love for the sacrifices they have made in your stead.'
'Please ... I'm not dead.' She tried to call out, desperately as she heard the sounds of footsteps and the splashing of water echo across the scoured ground. 'Please don't leave me here! I'm still alive!'
'May the flames purify the souls and cleanse the earth of the decay and destruction from which we have created.'
Her breath hitched painfully as the words rung and repeated inside her head.
'W-wait!' She gasped out as the terror threatened to rip her very soul apart. 'No! PLEASE!'
'...Amen.'
And within an instance, the sudden whirl of flames roaring to life drowned out the world, heating the air and ripping the very oxygen out of the air. Agonized shrieks ripped its way from her lungs as the fires grew and engulfed her entire body within its hungry embrace.
Nothing could escape the tongues of fire that blanketed the world and boiled her blood within her very veins.
If ones death was preordained, then what cruelty did the selector hold for her to suffer such a fate?
--=[9th March 2018]=--
YOU ARE READING
Opal Wings
Fanfiction"The damage is infectious, and all that can be done is purge it all and start from scratch." If life is a series of choices, then perhaps that just means that life is a game? To Akazawa Saki, that's all life really is. She refutes the existence of G...
