Apollyon

  The moment I reached the village, I felt a stabbing pain in my tummy. It was so hard and scary to get out of the volcano when the rocks fell. I thought I’d never see Papa again, but this…

  Why did this happen? How did this happen? Who did this?

  So many questions, but no answers.

  If the volcano was scary, I didn’t know what this was…

  Everything around me felt so full but so empty... It felt wrong. It was wrong.

  The houses weren’t houses anymore—they were broken piles, or on fire. It smelled awful, thick and sour, not burnt meat, but something far worse. Fire popped and hissed, but the rest was too quiet.

  No voices. No crying. No one calling for help.

  Bodies were everywhere. Some were crushed under what used to be buildings. Some... some were just there, twisted, burned.

  I didn't want to look but there was nowhere else to look.

  My legs shook as I walked, but I had to keep going.

  Then—movement.

  A man. A man running.

  My breath hitched. He had two kids in his arms, holding them tight. He was coming this way. My chest felt like it would burst.

  Someone was alive. Someone!

  That meant—Papa! Theodore! Maybe—maybe—

  But then, a white light flashed from behind a broken house. Before I could understand what it was, fire followed—white fire.

  The man tried—he tried to throw the kids away, to save them—but the fire was too fast. Too strong. When it was gone... they were gone too.

  I gasped, but no sound came out. My throat closed, and for a moment, I forgot how to breathe.

  The white glow flickered again. Bigger this time. Closer.

  I turned and ran.

  Papa. I had to find Papa. Papa would know what to do.

  I took every turn I could find between the broken buildings, trying to lose the shine before reaching Mr. Orion’s house. Each time I looked back, the white light was still there, but it was getting weaker. After a few more turns, the light disappeared, and I stopped to catch my breath and figure out where I was.

  Nearby was a sign I knew, but it was half-burned and barely hanging on. Beside it, there was nothing left of the blacksmith shop.

  “Mr. Roric…” I whispered, my voice low.

  Turning away, my hair fell over my eyes. My legs moved on their own, and I was running again. I ran to hide, to make this all go away. Mr. Roric had the coolest swords, and he was so kind to us, but now he… he…

  Papa. I had to find Papa. Papa would know what to do.

  Knowing where I was, I knew the way to Mr. Orion’s house. Carefully checking for the white shine, I reached it without any problems. For a moment, it felt like I dropped a heavy rock I was carrying, but then it got heavier when I saw no one was inside the house.

  Panic started rising again, but when I saw the house wasn’t on fire and everything looking fine inside, I realized they had left. Then the thought hit.

  “Home! They should be home!”

  I held my shaking hands close to my tummy and tried calming down.

  What if they weren’t home? What if they were gone, like Mr. Roric?

  “I don’t know! I don’t know!”

  I started feeling dizzy. All this smoke had gotten into my head, and it was hard to breathe—harder than the volcano.

  “Everything is going to be okay. I’ll find Papa and everything is going to be okay.” Holding my pendant while repeating myself over and over, I tried to relax.

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  On my way home, a sharp cry cut through the air.

  I turned.

  White fire had already swallowed the woman, her scream fading too fast. Beyond the corner of a building, something glowed—blinding, terrible. And behind it, a white wing.

  Immediately, my eyes fell on the rock tied to my shirt. Wasn’t it wrapped in a similar white wing when I had found it?

  I was scared to touch it again, but I did.

  To my surprise, it wasn’t hot or painful, and no new white marks appeared on my arms. It was the opposite—calming and comforting, as if it was pushing me away before, and wanting me closer now. Feeling a little calmer, I took the safe way back home, now that I knew where the creature that created the light was.

  My breath came quicker the closer I got. I pushed myself to run faster, but it felt like I was barely moving, the world dragging me back.

  Then I saw it and froze in place, unable to move, my legs feeling like jelly. Half of it was missing, fire etching on its ends, while the other half was crumbling, ready to fall at any moment.

  “N-no…”

  Entering from the open side, I tightened my hands on the rock and my pendant. The first floor, the part that was still here, was empty.

  Boom!

  A part of the second floor broke down, jolting me in shock. Slowly, I looked up and gasped, my heart skipping a thump. On the second floor, a robe was hanging. That wasn’t any robe. It was Papa’s!

  “Papa!” I screamed, calling for him.

  I rushed for the stairs, each one creaking and squeaking. The staircase was on the brink of breaking down, but I didn’t slow down one bit.

  Papa! I found Papa!

  It was so lonely in the forest and then in the volcano it was all dark and scary and then here even worse, but most of all, I was sorry. So very sorry for running away. The only reason I wasn’t crying was because I knew with Papa everything would be okay! And here he was, waiting for me!

  “Papa! Papa!”

  The second floor was filled with fallen walls, burning wood and debris blocking the way, but I quickly jumped, ducked, and ran around all of them, calling for Papa as I reached closer.

  “Papa! Papa! Pa—” My voice cut off.

  My breath hitched, sharp and painful. Papa was there. He had Theodore in his arms, holding him tight. That was good, right? They were together. They were safe. But—

  Something was wrong.

  I didn’t understand at first. My mind refused to. But as I stared, my tummy twisted. The spikes. The red on Papa’s lips. The way Theodore’s tiny fingers were curled, still, unmoving.

  No. No, no.

  I swallowed thickly, stepping forward, reaching out. My feet gave way, and I shook him lightly.

  "Papa?"

  I shook harder.

  "Papa? Papa?"

  Nothing.

  My fingers curled. My pendant and my rock slipped from my grip.

  The world spun. My chest ached, like something was tearing me apart from the inside. My throat closed, but I still screamed. Screamed so loud my voice cracked. My whole body shook, my hands burning, my tears falling so fast they sizzled against my skin.

  The world around me was burning, but all I could feel was the empty coldness inside me. Before, I only felt alone because Papa had yelled at me. Now I was alone. No one was there to help me. No one was there to tell me everything will be okay.

  ‘No one! No one!’

  I was all alone. I screamed and cried, cried and screamed until my voice couldn’t be heard anymore.

  At some point a powerful wind blew, strong enough to snuff out the fire. Not that it mattered anymore. Papa and Theodore weren’t there anymore. Black, empty shapes were left.

  I shiver to the cold winds now that the fire was out, and I tried hugging myself for warmth. In response, as if the wind was alive, it got colder, but then suddenly, it changed, rising up quickly to its previous heat and then some. The darkness of my closed eyelids filled with white.

  The weird weather made me pause, and after wiping the blurring tears, I gasped, or at least that’s what it felt like because my mouth dropped, but I didn’t hear any sound.

  At the destroyed half side of the building, the mythical bird—the phoenix—Papa spoke of in his story, was hovering just a few meters away from me. It was even prettier than what Papa described it, but I couldn't put it into words even if I wanted to. Its giant white wings created heat waves, and each flap caused the floor to tremble.

  My head spun from the phoenix, Papa with Theodore and the village as I breathed more and more smoke. Connecting the dots, with shaky breaths, I felt so much anger, so much rage that the creature of pure white looked like the darkest black.

  “You… it was you…” I whispered, still struggling to form words. “You… you… you! I repeated, pulling my hair, unable to put my thoughts into a sentence. I stopped trying, and instead, I roared my rage at it.

  The phoenix kept flapping its wings, silently. My heart thumped and thumped and thumped. Finally, the phoenix opened its mouth and white fire rose from its neck. Yelling out my emotions cleared my mind, enough for me to be afraid.

  I grabbed my pendant and the rock again. Holding them tight to my tummy, I screamed, ready for what was to come.

  The fire came out of its mouth, and in a matter of another thump, it had grown bigger than the entire remaining building.

  Fear got the better of me, and my hands rose to protect my face as if that would do anything, but to my surprise, I didn’t vanish just like everything else had done to this white fire. It burned, and an ugly smell reached my nose, but it wasn’t hurting.

  Before, it was my pendant that had saved me, but now it was the rock that glowed with a faint white light of its own, the calm and comforting feeling returning. The floor trembled and suddenly broke, taking me down together with it. My whole body hurt and my clothes were burned, but other than that, I was fine.

  Kraa-aww! Kraa-aww! Kraa-aww!

  The phoenix cried out, and its wings flapped faster, its heat waves getting stronger. It landed in front of me and held all four of its wings high as if it were preparing to do something. Then it cried again, and it moved them, spreading them circularly around me.

  Before I could even react, a white fire erupted, swallowing me inside. The next moment, I truly felt how painful those flames were. I couldn’t even scream. The flames ate away at me like hungry beasts. Each breath felt like I was breathing living fire, burning my throat down with every gasp for air. It was so unbearable, I wished I had died right then and there. From top to bottom, my body begged for it to end, but the torturous pain only intensified.

  My vision blurred, and a part of me had already drifted unconscious, my mind tearing apart. Just as my eyes were rolling back, a dark aura came from my pendant, resisting the unbearable flames. My eyes couldn’t focus, but the pain dropped, and a smile of relief found my lips. Whatever my pendant had done was too late, but I was happy it had at least stayed with me until the end.