CW Fire, Being in a fire, Burns, Death
That night we set the hut alight. Ether is wearing thin clothes, and has a damp cloth across her nose and mouth, tied behind her head. She's shivering in the cold night, wrapping her arms around herself. I feel underprepared, simply wearing a normal, thick set of clothes, but don't understand why she dressed like this. She had stated multiple times the cold of the night, so it seems like she should have worn thicker clothes to protect from the chill. She looks at me with a critical eye, seeming hesitant to say something, then turns to the hut and checks if I have my flint and steel. I bristle in annoyance, since this is, charitably, maybe the fifth time she has checked since packing up in the library, but decide not to say anything. She waves me forwards towards the hut.
Out of the corner of my eye I see her looking around, checking for onlookers. She had assured me nobody would be looking out or moving about this late at night. Aside from us, nobody would be out this late. No business happens, children are indoors, and it's too cold for anybody with sense to be outside. The crickets should even drown out any sound. Unfortunately, we may be part of the group with no sense.
I set the fire, then step back. The hut catches fire quickly, the crackle soon reaching my ears and still growing louder. I look around quickly, panicking, but Ether taps my shoulder and redirects my vision to the hut. I bite my lip, forcing my nervousness at being found out down, and stare at the hut. After all, there are other things to be more worried about.
My vision pans over the burning hut, trying to look for something that betrays where the shard is, or potentially what is happening with the hut itself. The fire spreads, first sideways then slowly up. I at first stare into the fire, wondering if some illusion would appear, as in some tales with fortune tellers, or if something would build itself from the fire, like in the song. I give up on that and decide to peer along the edges, searching for something showing up in the flickering light, or for some oddity. Everything seems normal. The sound of the fire, the light, everything. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but for whatever reason I'm not sure what I'm seeing either.
I know that there has to be something special with the hut, after all the burn mark from last time was gone, but everything simply seemed normal.
I turn to ask Ether her opinion, but her eyes are squinted nearly shut, peering forwards intently at one place. She seems to be staring directly at the door. I see a few larger sparks start to float out from the hut and drift lazily towards the rest of the buildings, my heart beginning to jump and pound.
I rest my hand on her shoulder, and she glances over at me. I point up at the sparks, but feel her move beneath my hand, moving out from under it.
She runs into the hut, and suddenly it makes sense why she wasn't dressed for the weather, and why she had a damp cloth. The flames seem to mold around her, and she flinches away, but after a few seconds she is inside of the hut. I hesitate, expecting her to come running back out. I wait for a few seconds, then realize that the hut has been burning for long enough it should have collapsed. The wood of the walls should have been eaten through. They are black and charred, but even the roof is still intact.
It's been too long, I start shifting back and forth on my feet, looking around wildly, panicking. I glance back and forth between the doorway and the dark city, the light from the raging fire barely reaching it, squeezing my hands, clenching my jaw, and I run forwards.
I run into the hut, following Ether and break through the flames. I expect the interior of the hut, now lit up from the fire, and Ether somewhere collapsed, or possibly still standing and searching for something. Instead, I break through into a long stone hallway.
Orange and red flames lick across the walls, dancing in and out of existence, creeping out of the seems where the stone bricks meet and spreading across the ceiling. The smoke stings my eyes and I duck down, squeezing my eyes shut to get out the tears. I immediately start to cough and quickly shed my coat, the hallway feeling like an oven, and slightly open my eyes, now wishing I had dressed like Ether. She probably had expected something like this. But what is this?
I run down the hallway, crouching low and avoiding the flames. The halls branch and split, and I stay to the right as much as I can, fearing not being able to make my way back. I peer down the other branches where I see some bedrooms, usually sparse, some larger hallways, and staircases, mainly tight spiral stairways. I'm not sure where I am, so I also avoid climbing any stairs. Despite the heat and smoke, both trapped by the stone walls and ceilings, the flames themselves are small, so they're easily avoidable and don't block off any passageways yet.
I reach the end of the small hallways and they open up into a large hall, the arched roof stretching up, some sort of art on the ceiling obscured by smoke and danced across by the flames, columns with statues between them line the walls, gold trim melting and resisting the fire's spread rest scrawled across it. Tapestries hang behind and above the statues, and hang from the rafters, flames spreading towards them. They're made in styles I don't recognize, the figures sharp and pronounced, nearly geometric.
I run down the hallway and notice the fire spreading, getting hotter. It seems to be more or less uniform across the castle, although due to its size this hall is slightly cooler than the halls I was in before. I run down a few more hallways until I turn into a room with a couch and some sort of dresser, mirrors in the corners and some sort of burning hanging tapestry.
I startle and stop, staring at a figure on the couch. Somebody's lounging there, laying sidelong on it and staring at the rest of the room. I can't tell if their eyes are open or closed, but on their head seems to be a crown. I peer closer and notice something about the texture of their skin. It seems rough, and has lines spread through it, brown and dark. It's wood.
I stare at the Wooden King for a few moments longer then start to make a move towards it, but stop as a burning rafter crashes down in front of me. The King props themself up and looks around. I stand in indecision for a few moments and notice that the fire has closed in more.
I run back through the halls, avoiding the flames and try to memorize the layout. If there's a way for me to get back to this place quicker next time, and I'm nearly certain there will be a next time, then that could help. The Wooden King should be the shard.
I try to peer around, gather as much info as I can, but the smoke is too thick and I can't make out details of any sort. My eyes scan across the surfaces too quickly as well, panic and discomfort pushing out any other sort of memory. I start to panic and wonder if I missed the hallways that I had entered before. I panic more, losing track of where I am, the heat singing my skin, and where the smaller hallways were, smoke clogging my view and lungs, coughing more and more, my eyes tearing up and making the already smoky view blurred.
At some point I stop and struggle to breathe, hands on my knees and splayed wide, simply trying to keep myself upright, heaving my lung, sucking in and shoving out air, breathing wracked by coughs.
"Vic!" I hear Ether shout, her voice muffled by the cloth, and overshadowed by the roar of the fire, and she grabs my shoulder, then follows it down to my wrist. "Follow me."
I look up and can barely see her but she starts tugging and I force my legs to follow, some mixture of hope and fear pushing me forwards, following her pull.
She pulls me down the hallway and gives a warning that it's going to get hotter. I just nod my head and try to cover my mouth with my shirt, my hands fumbling and shaky. She pulls me down those hallways too. My eyes are mostly closed, everything I can see through the small slit blurred and obscured, the only thing I can make out are jumping flames. They're large, the light from them crowding my view and the heat pressing against my skin, searing it. My vision starts blotting out, and my head feels clogged, my limbs heavier and heavier, screaming to stop.
We break through the flames out of the hut and I collapse to the ground, coughing wracking my body.
"Come on get up!" Ether screams, her voice hoarse and I feel her patting all over my body, repeatedly, quick and hard.
My coughing subsides enough and my eyes clear enough for me to look around at the surrounding city.
The city is burning, fire dancing across the ceilings and tearing down the walls, and pooling on the piles of rubble between the houses. Wind whips through the city, tossing Ether's hair about, flinging the flames and sparks far and wide. Far above it, through the smoke, I can see thick storm clouds that the moon can't pierce through. The streets are bathed in the light from the fire, throwing numerous stark shadows.
I reach an arm up and she grunts, annoyed and grabs it, pulling me up in a swift motion.
"You okay?" Ether asks, her voice barely audible over the fires. She grabs my jaw and turns my head, quick and rough. She forces me to look at her and stares into my eyes. Coughs build up pressure in my chest, forcing their way up, nearly painful. It's not the only source of pain. My skin feels like it peeling off, pain lancing through my skin, and my lungs feel like they're burning, the smoke inside them clogging them, and my head pounds, clouded and thick, like my mind is barely working.
"Yes," I say, my voice raspy and barely audible. I'm not sure if she can even see it, but she seems slightly relieved. She squints and pulls away, brow creased and says something under her breath.
"Can't tell anything. We need to get out of the city, let's go," she says and starts running away, pulling me again. I follow her, focusing on her. My limbs are still heavy, difficult to move, and my gate unsteady, and my head still pounds, but the fire doesn't press as close.
The city is somewhat cooler than inside the hut, despite the wind blasting warm air down the streets. The heat isn't trapped, unlike inside the hut which had held the heat to create an oven. The flames are further away too, only on either side of the street, although there are some parts of walls that collapsed and fell into the street. The air isn't thick with smoke, since it rises into the sky, likely creating a pillar that, were it day, could be seen for miles, if not more. We stay in the center, far from the flames and heat, running by a few people who are screaming and running through the city, calling out names.
We caused this.
I look around and swallow, even through the fog, through the pain, recognizing that this was all our fault. I must have slowed down, because Ether turns around, stopping.
"Can you run?" she asks, her eyes scanning over me again. I feel her eyes prickling up my skin, a small tingling sensation that is somehow not overwhelmed by everything else. "We need to get out of here, is that understood?"
I nod and she peers closer.
"Alright. We're nearly to the riverbed. Once inside the air should be cleaner, and you might start feeling better. We'll follow it out of the city." She starts running again and I follow after her, stumbling slightly.
I don't notice when she starts going down. My head is still clouded, and I'm still in pain, so I don't register the slope either. So, when my foot lands a few inches below where I thought it would land, my body can't adjust properly. I fall sideways, feeling Ether's grip on my wrist loosening and letting go, and hit the ground, my movement propelling a roll down the slope.
It's not very steep, which is perhaps the only saving grace I have, since the bottom has only a small layer of sand over small rocks which dig into my back.
I cry out and Ether leans over me, helping me up immediately.
"Hang on, hang on," she says and puts one of my arms over her shoulder. The touch makes my skin feel like it's burning again, but I grit my teeth. It would be worse to just stay here. "We can take it slow now. Get your breath." I take her advice and take a deep breath. Coughs wrack my body and I nearly slip off her but she grabs me around my waist and starts walking.
I keep up fairly well, considering the situation, and soon we're outside of the city.
"Okay, let's get to the side," Ether says softly and coughs slightly. I look around and see people from the city. It's difficult, since all the light is simply whatever firelight manages to leap over the walls, so I can only make out basic shapes. Most of them seem to be still. Some stare up at the walls, and some are lying down, either curled into balls or spread out. A few people have blankets of some sort, and most of them are in pajamas or quickly thrown on clothes. There are a few groups which huddle close together for warmth. Some people are calling out to each other, their voices frantic and raised, searching for whoever they were separated from. Some of them are crying, and some pairs or groups are simply talking, making sure everyone's okay.
Bile rises in my mouth, my breath quickening and my heart pounding, both adding to and cutting through my pain. It hits me again, we caused this. However accidentally, there are likely people who died in that fire.
I cough hard, my lungs feeling like they're trying to rip themselves out. Ether pauses for a few seconds, letting it subside and then starts leading me to the side. She kneels down and gently lays me on the ground and I hiss, pulling away from the stones, my skin protesting against the pressure.
"Okay, sit up," she says and helps me gently to a sitting up position. I hear some fabric rustling and some sloshing, and she hands me a bundle of wet cloth, pressing it into my hand. "Press it against where it hurts. I'll be back soon, going to find more water."
I nod, which I assume she sees since I hear her stand up and walk away, her shoes padding against the ground.
I follow her instructions, pressing the cloth to wherever I feel burned, my skin flaring up momentarily before cooling down under the water. Some of the water squeezes out and creates small trails along my skin of relief, sweet relief, that disappear quickly. My skin feels burned nearly everywhere, where my clothes touch it especially and constantly painful. I hope that most of these are simply the heat and smoke causing my skin to be sensitive, but I can't be sure. I can't see it, and pressing my fingers to it simply causes more pain, so I just press and hope. Eventually I unfold the cloth, spreading it to as large as it can go and start pressing it against my whole body, sliding it under my shirt and pressing it down, tensing but also feeling relief under the pain.
I sit there, pressing the cloth against me, coughing repeatedly until it feels like my lungs are raw and my throat ready to break, hearing the fire continue to roar, listening to the screams, shouts and cries of the people littering the landscape and slowly start to weep. The cold and wind from the night air stings my skin, burrowing into the burns.
My head clears slowly of the smoke and headache, a gradual process which likely takes hours, and isn't anywhere near fully complete. My head only clears to the point that I finally feel how tired I am and can't stop myself from falling asleep. I do my best to lower myself gently to the ground, jerking away and stifling a cry every time I hit a burn, my body shivering from the cold. My eyes close as soon as my head hits the ground. I don't register going to sleep, I simply know I do. After all, I must have.
Outside the Walls, I sleep the night.
Authors' Note:
We spent the past while plotting the story, which is why no new parts have come out. We're almost done, currently working on the finale. Once the plotting is done, parts will hopefully be quicker and higher quality. This should take up to two weeks more. Sorry if anybody was/is/will be waiting!
Additionally, we recently started a couple other personal projects and have gotten a lot busier. So while the process of making the parts will be quicker, we will have less time to do so, so time in between publications should be... quicker than this last one, but still about a week or two between publications.