Chapter 9

I was outside lying flat on my back, sun shining down on my face. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Momo had told me earlier, about how King Akiyo was a vengeful, sadistic man who became King as a result of murdering innocent magic users, including my parents. But this begged the question: how does she know about all of this? My family? Why does King Akiyo want me and my sister? How could she know all of this? But I decided not to pester her about it and just try to figure it out myself. My sister was now his prisoner, and I had to find a way to save her as quickly as possible. It’s not her problem, it’s mine.

As I got back up into a sitting position, I heard the door behind me squeak open. It was that lady, Shelby.

She had a wooden pot in her arms, and it smelled good, like fresh, warm stew.

“I’ve made dinner if you’d like to come in.” She grinned.

I glanced over at her, and the sight of her, a mother with a child of her own, reminded me of the fact that I used to be a young boy myself with a mother. It made my heart hurt a bit, but I ignored it and got up to follow her inside.

Momo and Chow were eating from small wooden bowls. Chow had a green apple in one hand and a glass of water in the other. Momo was eating the same stew that Shelby had made, and she seemed to be rather enjoying it. As I got ready to head towards the bathroom, I felt something suddenly rub against my ankles. I glanced down and felt myself smile. It was Mickelford. He had just learned how to crawl not too long ago, and since then, he’s been crawling around all over the place like a small, chubby dog. He cooed at me as he tried to grapple for my pant leg. I just bent down and grabbed him. As I swung him around in my arms, causing him to laugh, my smile slowly fell off my face as the sound of a whistle shot through the air. Upon hearing this, I watched as Momo grabbed Chow mid-chew and shoved her under the table. I quickly hurried and brought Mickelford with me as I ducked behind the couch. Shelby came running in and began shouting that we were being assaulted. I felt scared, confused. Who would attack us? Then, before I could ask, something suddenly shot through the window, and the roof crumbled down right onto Shelby.

As I watched it happen, I wanted to help her as she fell and was covered in debris. The baby began to sob uncontrollably as I held him tightly to my chest. Momo screamed for her friend, and Chow tried to fight against her mother to see whether or not the woman was alright. Then, there was another whistle, and I glanced up over the couch and let out a gasp as it shot what remained of the roof once again, and as it tumbled towards where Momo and Chow were hiding, the debris suddenly turned into small pebbles rather than full-on brick and mortar. I shot a look over to what caused it, and Shelby, barely standing, had her left arm straight out, pointing at the destroyed roof. She had blood gushing from her forehead, and her right arm had been severed, her left leg twisted horribly. I wasn’t sure how she was able to move or how she was even still alive, but clearly, this woman was fairly tough.

As Shelby began to faint from blood loss, Momo released Chow and ran over to catch her friend. As Momo shouted something at her, the sounds of people screaming and crying blocked her voice out.

I gently put Mickelford down under the couch so that nobody could touch him and raced out the door. But upon doing so, I found that the village, Ark village, was now filled with people who had been crushed to death, including now orphaned children and livestock that had also been crushed. Some homes were on fire, and others practically vanished. I felt myself begin to shake, but tried to hold myself together.

Chow then ran out of the house to stand by me, and I could tell that she was just as horrified as I was. She tried to speak, but the sound of a man and a child shouting distracted her. We both glanced to our far right, and right in the middle of a large stack of rubble was a middle-aged man and a small, young girl. The girl was pulling on the man's arm, and they were both shouting something at each other. With a quick nod, we both ran over to try and help.

“Chow, don’t you know any magic?” I asked her as I reached down to grab the injured man.

“I DO know a little bit, but…I’m afraid to use it. I don’t have anything that can help in a situation like this.” She shouted.

“How come? What magic do you know?” I asked as desperation began to kick in. I wanted to save this man; this girl was his daughter, and if I left the man here, he’d die for sure.

“Elemental magic. But it’s special. Mot-Momo said to only use it when in a desperate situation.”

“Isn’t this desperate enough?” I asked, still not understanding her.

“PAPA, PAPA!” The girl sobbed as Chow cradled her gently.

“SIR, CAN YOU MOVE?” I shouted.

He shook his head. I glanced over at him and felt my stomach drop. His legs had been smashed, almost severed, but not quite.

I bit back a scream at the grotesque and terrible sight.

“SIR, DO YOU KNOW ANY-” But before I could finish, another whistle shot through the air, and a small rocket headed straight for us.

“NEIJIRO!” Chow shrieked as she grabbed my arm and forced me to the ground. But to do so, she had accidentally loosened her grip on the girl, and seeing that her father was in even more danger, she ran out towards him.

“STOP!” Chow screamed, but it was too late. As the girl reached for her father, the spot that they were at exploded, sending both me and Chow flying through the air and landing hard onto the ground. Feeling dazed and my ribs began to burn, and I looked over and saw that Chow was gone. Sitting up, I watched behind me as Chow ran over to the burning pile of rubble and sobbed uncontrollably. I could barely hear her, but what I could make out were the words, “Not again,” “Father,” and “Little girl.” She sounded grief-stricken. I wanted to comfort her and help her. While I didn’t know those two, I knew that whoever had done this had aimed for them on purpose.

Despite the sharp pain in my side, I tried to look around for the source of the attacks.

“WHO DID THIS?” I tried to shout.

“WHO-”

Then, a shadow approached me. With my head still turned to shout, I could hear a loud jangling sound and slowly turned my head back around, and looking up, I saw a fairly short man with a long, thick grey beard, dark red hair, and what appeared to be a rocket launcher in his arms.

“The big man told me that it was my turn to go rabbit hunting today. Don’t know why he wanted me to go solo, but I did a good job, huh?” He guffawed.

I tried to grab his ankle to pull him down to the ground, but I didn’t have any strength. He turned his head to me and gave me a cold, hard look.

“Are you that one kid?” He asked.

He muttered under his breath and began to scratch at the back of his head.

“Meijiro? Tan-no, Neijiro! THAT’S it!” He said with a wide smile.

“King Akiyo wanted to see you. Seems like you were needed quite a long while ago. Don’t know what happened then, but I guess you’re still needed…or something…?” He paused and pressed a finger to his chin.

“Maybe I need to lay off the vodka for a bit. My memory’s been going bad.” He sighed.

With a shrug, he began to reach for me. I tried to jerk away and make a run for it, but my ribs felt like hell. I flinched as he grabbed a small handful of my hair and began to hoist me up, but before he could do anything else, something shot out of the air and was aimed straight for him.

“YOU!” The person screamed. I craned my neck to the side and glanced over and saw that it was Chow. She was seething with rage.

“IT’S YOU AGAIN!” Her entire face was hot red, and veins were almost popping. Her voice was filled with grief and even some bloodlust.

“It’s you? YOU? I thought…” He froze as another shot rang out towards him. He quickly dropped me, causing me to cry out in pain, and I landed straight on the ground. I squinted my eyes to see what it was, and upon realization, I saw that it was a long arrow with a small bird on the tip. But the bird…was it on fire? Or was the bird MADE of fire?

“GIVE ME MY FATHER BACK!” Chow shrieked.