The world is on fire.
I can't feel anything.
Blood is trickling down my side.
I—I can't see from my left eye.
The house. The house is gone. Everything — all the little hope we had left, all that we ever had — has been reduced to rubble.
Mom. Lira. Teno.
Dr-Dreven? Oh god. I see his body. He's covered in blood, a piece of wood sticking out of his skull. My big brother… there's no way he's dead. It can't be.
A-And Mira? Mi—ra...
And then I see her. Her little legs sticking out from the rubble, unmoving. My little sister's gone too. That small little girl who liked to make dolls out of trash—dead!
I feel the rage building up, and I sense something happening to my body, but I don't care. I just want to scream out to the world—
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
"Aaaah!"
I wake up in a cold sweat, quickly calming myself down.
It's been five years. There's nothing wrong. I'm not fifteen anymore. I'm not scared anymore. And—I'm not weak anymore.
I tighten my dust-caked brown scarf around my neck, the fabric brushing against my skin.
I can't lose this as well. It's the only thing I have left to remind me of Mira.
Lira's ash cape clings to me, the fabric billowing in the wind, protecting me even now.
I smile at the thought, my fingers moving to clasp the shining pearl hanging just below my collarbone. Mom's last gift to me before that day—and it's still as bright as ever.
She's still with me, isn't she?
The silver ring around my finger feels cool against my skin as I think back on how excited Teno was when he found it… how full of life.
"I need to keep moving forward, don't I?" I say, speaking to the wind, waiting for an answer but knowing I already have one.
I hear something, seemingly from around a mile southeast.
Probably a bunch of guards, patrolling the area, heading to extract karma from more of my people.
My hands move to grab my—or should I say, Dreven's—rusty spear, tightening my grip on it as it slides out from its sheath.
It's time to hunt.