CHAPTER 16 ‒ Why?

The air was heavy as the angels glided across the sky in perfect formations. Their majestic bodies left white trails behind them. None of us dared to move. Each of us stared up at the sky, trying to comprehend what we were seeing. These beings ‒ so distant, yet so tangible ‒ were our enemies?

It seemed they hadn't noticed us and were instead focused on admiring the destruction they had wrought. The calmness with which they flew over the scene was macabre ‒ like artists gazing upon their work, searching for even the smallest flaw.

A soldier stepped forward and began to speak. "We’re moving into the city immediately! With this much destruction... there must be many wounded. That is our top priority for now! Some of the soldiers will follow you, while others will stay at the gate to tend to the injured. If you find any, bring them there at once. If the angels notice us, we will stand against them ‒ or rather, you will."

Her gaze swept over each and every one of us.

In that moment, there was nothing else we could do. Flee? Escape? No. Faced with such a sight, I couldn’t just run away and hope everything would turn out fine. How could I flee from something that darkened even the sky itself?

I had to act. Not because it was expected of me, but because I knew I had to. Whether it played into the king’s hands or not didn’t matter. This was bigger than that. If I didn’t help now… then who was I at all?

At the soldier’s command, we marched toward the city at a swift pace. As we reached the gate, we passed through rubble and ash. Massive stones, once part of the wall, lay before us, forcing us to weave our way around them.

The moment we passed through the gate, a wave of heat and smoke engulfed me. I immediately started coughing, trying to clear the smoke from my lungs. Fire and thick haze filled my vision, and amidst it all, scattered screams and cries echoed through the air.

Without hesitation, we split into smaller groups. The soldiers tried to keep up with us, but they seemed uncertain. Teamwork had never been part of our training. They didn’t know how to react ‒torn between watching over us and saving the people at the same time.

But this time, our goals were the same: saving lives.

I took off running. Behind me, Kyodai and Akai. WE... were a team. The time we had been through had bound us together. That was true for the others as well. We had to support each other to survive. We knew exactly how to act.

A soldier was running behind us.

Akai was impressive. Her veins pulsed with an inner energy as she lifted every stone that buried the townspeople with a brutal jerk. Effortlessly, she hurled the chunks aside as if they were nothing more than pebbles ‒the ground trembled with every throw.

When we found someone, Kyodai was immediately there. He would grab the townspeople ‒ usually one or two ‒ and carry them to the gate with raw, unstoppable strength. No obstacle seemed to slow him down. As soon as something got in his way, his body would envelop in black, shimmering armor, and he would break through with a jerk, as if he were a force of nature, against which even the greatest walls stood no chance. Nothing could stop him.

I focused. My gaze swept over the rubble, searching for the smallest movement, any sign of life. I immediately reported what I found ‒ to Akai, Kyodai, or the soldier. My senses were incredibly sharp, sharper than ever before. Where others saw only chaos, I recognized the tiny details: the twitching beneath a rock, the shallow gasps in the smoke.

Was it adrenaline? Or was it the situation itself driving me? It was as if I suddenly had countless pairs of eyes and ears, all simultaneously fulfilling the mission. But this perception was draining. Every now and then, my vision blurred, my body grew tired, yet I kept searching.

Little by little, more and more townspeople gathered at the city gate. The soldiers who had stayed behind tended to the wounded. But only a few had any success in saving them. The burns and crush injuries were too much for most to survive.

Hours passed, and we evacuated more and more people... A fraction of those who had once lived here.

Something drove me to keep going. I immediately ran deeper into the city, but found no one. Had we found them all? I heard nothing anymore, saw nothing. The city was silent. Only the flickering of the fire and the sound of burning wood filled the air.

I looked back. No one was there. I had left Akai and Kyodai behind. I hadn’t paid attention to my speed, yet Akai should have caught up with me... So why hasn't she?

As I turned to go back and help the others, a strange sound suddenly pierced through the chaos of the city. A faint crunching, as if something ‒ or someone ‒was struggling beneath the rubble. And then I saw it ‒ a hand. A tiny hand, protruding from the debris, bloodstained and burned. A child. My heart skipped a beat before I ran.

I ran. Every moment counted, yet time seemed to work against me. I dug with both hands, throwing the stones aside, one after another. But the weight of the debris was relentless, my arms began to burn, growing numb.

Why isn't Akai here? Where is Kyodai? The questions echoed in my mind, but all that remained was the silence of the square.

I was alone.

I pushed the thoughts aside.

"I’m almost there! It’s going to be fine!" I wasn’t speaking to the child, but to myself.

It’s going to be okay...
I can do this...
I’ll save you!

When the last stone was removed, I found the body of a little girl in front of me. She was horribly disfigured. I suppressed my revulsion. Who could do such a thing to children? Why?

Hhh ‒ a short breath. Hh ‒ a pause.

She was breathing! Tears filled my eyes, but I held them back and immediately began to lift her from the ground.

White. Yellow. Red. Black.

It happened so quickly that I couldn’t react.

White ‒ A blinding light exploded in front of me, so intense it blinded me. It nearly burned my eyes. My hands jerked with pain, but there was nothing I could do. I couldn't move.

Yellow ‒ The light began to flicker, intense and sharp, forming a pillar of flame before me.

Red ‒ Heat spread before me, burning my hands. I felt the silver bracelet on my arm, as it seared into my flesh.

Black ‒ And then ‒ silence. The light disappeared, and what had once been a life before me was now nothing but a black heap of ash. The square, once filled with hope, was now the place of my failure. The girl ‒ was gone.

Where had she gone? She had been right here just a moment ago. "What... happened?" My voice broke. The words came out in a choking whisper.

"Why...?" The tears returned. I couldn't hold them back anymore. One second. If I had been just one second earlier, I could have saved her... "I could have saved you..."

"Even that one second would have done you no good." A voice echoed in my mind. It wasn’t like before. It was different. Stronger. More dominant. It resonated through my head. It hurt. The pain was unbearable. Like a tormenting heat burning through my skull, ripping apart my thoughts. I wanted to scream, but no sound came. I fought to stay conscious.

The light of the fire before me faded in the face of what was approaching. My eyes followed the source of the new light.

Before me, directly above the church, in front of the magnificent, untouched window that had miraculously survived the fury of the fire, the angel appeared.

Bright, glaring, and yet beautiful. Majestic, yet grotesque. A terrifying image from a nightmare, a light that was more than just a sign from the heavens. It was... wondrous. And terrifying.

A circular, spiral-shaped halo hovered above its head, and from its back, broad white wings extended, gently moving. They shimmered with an unnatural light that almost hurt to look at. Its body didn’t seem to be entirely made of matter ‒ it appeared more like a wavering, in-between being. Its face was both human and not. It was at once human and utterly alien.

I didn’t react to its words, still trapped in the shock of what had just happened... In the shock of my own failure.