Bloodlines of Archaea I. Afira

Arriving at the village was like walking on a battlefield days after the battle had ended, a time when the blood was still wet and the shrieks could still be heard, ringing in your ears. A feeling of blame enveloped me completely, like a deep cold seeping into my skin and spreading all across my body, using my veins. Bodies of those I have known my whole life dotting the once beautiful sandy beach. Houses in ruins and children shrieking for their mothers. Time seemed to slow, I wondered why the gods would force me to live through such cruelty, even though the only thing I wanted was for this moment to end. I looked around for the nearest intact house to bring Danny and Pasi, where they would receive medical attention. I knew this was just the entrance to the village and that the war was still happening at the center, but this seemed too awful to be just the edge, and I hoped to the gods that this was it, despite knowing the truth.

Eventually finding Zanshi, who was dressed in the island’s best armor which had been splattered with blood both of her own and blood not, I called out to her.

“Where have you two been?” she asked loudly, her voice filled with both anger and relief. She fiddled with her matted hair for a moment before straightening up and hardening her face, as if remembering to be angry with us.

I gestured to Danny, who waved from the top of my shoulder. “We’ve been… busy,” I said. “We need to find somewhere to help them,” I said.

She nodded, moving her arm in a way to command us to follow. We did as we were told, walking briskly behind her, trying our best not to harm Danny or Pasi. “It’s bad out there,” she said as we moved deeper into the village, passing by more destruction. Zanshi directed what she said next to me, “and do you know how hard it is to fight shadows without any light? You’re powers can just like turn them to ash and problem solved, but for us, I swear, I dropped an entire mountain on this one thing and it didn’t do nothin’!” she yelled, clearly frustrated. “Basically, most of us are doing our best to fight with torches and swords, but it is extremely difficult, without you,” she said bitterly, seeming to wish she could be of more use.

We came up to Maktu’s hut, which was one of the only places still standing, surrounded by torches, it was also made mostly of brick and clay. I laughed, remembering a time when he and Grandma Lilly had spent hours meticulously placing the bricks so that they would hold during an explosion. They had been right, it had held and was now a center of both healing and weapons. Akuma and I set both Danny and Pasi down on a hospital bed, before we were stopped by Maktu and handed us two piles of clothing, both with a pair of boots on top. Akuma looked up into Maktu’s eyes after studying his for a moment, before thanking him and rushing off to put it on, his eyes made shiny by the mixture of the tear he had stopped from falling and the brightness of the torchlight, meant to chase the shadows away. I was unsure of why Akuma had made a fuss about his armor, until I looked more carefully at mine. I gasped, when I realized who it had belonged to. Thanking Maktu with a silent hug, I rushed off to dress myself in my mother’s armor. Maktu yelled, “and remember, that cloak would go nicely with the color of the leather.” I agreed, but knew he meant much more than just to give me fashion advice. He smiled and muttered something to himself as he turned and began treating the citizens of Skyfire.