Chapter 53 - Ashes

Ashes

Lia huffed in exhaustion as she threw the contents of her buckets. One soldier took the bucket from her and continued what she was doing. The fire was almost gone. In place of it, ashes and soot remain from what used to be their house.

At one point, the crowd left. Where they went, Lia did not care. As long as they were gone that was good. It was even greater that they took that good-for-nothing mayor with them. He was only good at talking about justice when he could not even exercise it. The people who remained in the woods were all of Eldric’s men and Lia.

She stood frozen in front of the house as a sob escaped from her throat. It was just there when she left this afternoon. The house was whole, her mother alive. Everything was what she had known in the past month. This was the house, the home, she had known ever since she was thrust into this unknown world. This was her solace, her peace, her happiness. Her everything.

But now, everything was gone. She had no home, no mother, no one. She was all alone in this foreign world.

Maybe this was a dream. A horrible horrible dream. All the stress had gone to her head and now she was seeing terrible things in her sleep. Maybe she would wake up and tell this story to Tamara and they would laugh together by the absurdity of it all.

But Tamara was…

“Nonono.” She grabbed her hair and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Lia,” strong arms circled her waist, “don’t go in there yet. It’s dangerous.”

She did not know when she started walking towards the house. She stared at her outstretched hand as if she was going to push open the door. Then she stared at the soot-covered door. It looked foreign yet oh-so-familiar.

One of the windows gave way and fell from the hinges probably because it was eaten by the fire. It turned into dust the moment it hit the ground. Eldric steered her away from the house yet her eyes never left its dust.

Burned.

The lost finally hit her. The fire suddenly felt real. The truth dawned on her and it was so much to bear. So much that her knees buckled. It took her every last bit of strength to remain standing.

“It’s gone. Everything’s gone.” Lia said in between sobs. “My mother… she’s gone too.”

The arms around her tighten. Eldric turned her body towards him and wiped her tears with his hands.

She looked up at him, wanting to blame him, but her words stuck on her throat when she saw his expression. His handsome face was twisted with grief. She did not need a mirror to know that she had the same face as him.

A new batch of tears welled up in her eyes. No matter how many tears she cried, it could not seem to ease the pain in her chest.

“I’m still here.” She heard Eldric say along with many comforting words he whispered in her ears. She could not hear them clearly nor could see straight. All she ever wanted to do was to curl up and hug herself.

Lia’s cries echoed in the quiet woods.