Muinaru

The Sun rose in a veil of red and bled its light over a large city of low buildings, which reached no more than four storeys high. They were all made from rich red brick and were lined up along a road made up on heavy cobble stones, which formed the road for horse-drawn carts to travel across as well as the few combustion engines vehicles.

The city sat in the middle of long green fields that were bordered by artificial rivers, which drove through the land in straight lines, joining perpendicularly to one another. The water of the rivers were remarkably clear, and children of the farming families could be seen taking a dip in the shallow, smaller rivers, near to their small cottages.

The air of the city and the vast expanse of fields were filled with the sweet songs of the birds, but approaching on the horizon was the polluting noise of mechanical rumbling of chopping engines, murmuring from behind the layers of thinning clouds.

Finally, breaking through the clouds that shimmered under the sunlight, a formation of aircrafts approached the city. The aircrafts were grey and their edges were sharp and functional. As they cut through the clouds the mechanical rumble became clearer, and the ominous grumble of chopping propellers driven by powerful engines, echoed loudly over the land.

There were two types of aircrafts that could be seen approaching the city; one was small, and there were at least a few dozens of them flying equally spaced and round four much larger aircrafts. These four aircrafts were huge beasts; they had four propellers on each of their gigantic wings. The hull of the ship was peppered with glass domes, which were all equipped with an aggressive looking gun that poked out of the middle of the glass dome.

Suddenly, the city broke with a loud, whiny alarm-call. Immediately the few citizens that walked the streets began running frantically in all different directions. Within a moment after the sound of the alarm, a burst of red planes shot over the city and drifted to one side of the approaching aircrafts, seeking to flank their invaders approach.

The sound of the roaring aircrafts and the alarm drew crowds of people to their windows and balconies. They watched up at the sky filled with metal machinery with a grave expression.

As the red planes ventured closer to the larger airships, the smaller aircrafts surround them, broke away and dove towards the red planes. Soon, a spray of fiery hot bullets scattered out from in front of the aircrafts. The bullets peppered many of the red planes, breaking them up into shards of twisted metal, which spun towards the ground in a torrent of fire and black smoke.

The red planes released a barrage of bullets back, but the swarm of protecting fighters was too numerous and superior in speed and agility in comparison to the red planes. Within minutes all the red planes were left drifting towards the ground in flames, landing with an echoing crackle of metal.

But, the city wasn’t finished yet; dozens of defensive vehicles had lined up along the edge of the city armed with rapid-firing guns. They began firing hundreds of rounds, releasing a wall of bullets at the aircrafts. At first the defence appeared effective, taking out many of the smaller invading aircrafts, but once close enough, every critically hit aircraft chose to dive down and collide into the defensive line of vehicles, destroying them in a cataclysmic explosion. The flames of the explosion discharged the stockpile of bullets, held within the vehicles, which sprayed out into the surrounding city, shattering glass and eroding the brick work.

As hard as the gun crew of the vehicles worked they did not manage to bring down one of the larger aircrafts, which were now beginning to position themselves over the city. The sight of the larger aircrafts invoked panic and caused massive crowds of citizens to flee out onto the road; and running towards every available exit out of the city. But quickly the great hordes of people became bottled necked at the bridges of the exits; they pushed through shoulder to shoulder, squishing into every available space as they shuffled over the bridges.

A hatch opened slowly on the bottom of the large aircrafts, once opened a large metal missile dropped down from each aircraft. The missiles sailed down with a haunting whistle, then, just before hitting the top of the buildings, the missiles detonated with a blinding flash. The sky was light up with a white light that slowly cooled into an orange shimmer. As the light faded, the sight of four large clouds, in the shape of mushrooms, was left rising into the sky and slowly dispersing into the air. On the ground a wave of debris rippled out of the city, storming over the green fields, like a wave of water, tearing through the crops and engulfing the small cottages.

The city was gone and the place was silent as the aircrafts left back over the horizon.

As the sun fell behind the mountains, a strange looking woman rode over the horizon on a horse-driven cart. She was wrapped up in a thick coat with a hood, which was fastened around her pale face that radiated with a hint of blue. On the back of her cart was a stack of garments and decorative accoutrements, packaged neatly and presented for sale.

The woman’s face was grave as she stopped at the top of the hill, where she remained in awe, gazing upon the expanse of rubble and scorched earth. She stepped off her cart and walked forward, holding her coat tightly to her body to stop the stiff breeze ripping it from her shoulders. After a few steps from her cart, she stopped and gazed across the landscape, finding only a few dilapidated cottages standing in the fields. Most of the roofs of the cottages had collapsed and their windows were shattered.

Suddenly, part of the brick work of a building nearby collapsed, creating a loud ruckus. As the echo of the tumbling bricks passed, a faint call could be heard on the air. At first it was just a squeal but it quickly evolved into a whimpering yelp for help from a weak voice.

The woman immediately jumped back onto her cart and snapped on the reins, driving her horse forward towards the building. As she arrived up to the front of the building, she could see the devastating damage cause to the brick work; one of the walls was bulging out, ready to collapse at a moment’s notice.

The woman stepped off her horse and peeked into the building through the door way, finding a place filled with broken wooden beams, cracked bricks and shattered glass. She called, ‘Hello? Anyone in here?’

There was a small yelp of a reply back, which sounded like, ‘Yes, yes.’ The call came from a corner in the room.

Carefully the woman tip-toed into the building, slowly moving through the piles of charred and splintered wood. She paused in the dark corner of the building then called once again and listened. A faint whimper drifted out from the fireplace in the corner, which had unfortunately been blocked with a large panel of wood that had tumbled from the ceiling.

The woman gripped the panel of wood and very carefully pried it away from the fireplace. She peered in through into the gap and found cradled within the fireplace a small child, who was sat with her knees curled up to her chest and her face covered with a large tricorn hat.

The woman whispered down at the child, ‘Hello?’

The child looked up with a small frightened expression. It was a small girl whose eyes were glistening with tears; of which a few drops had run down her cheeks, creating a clean streak through the dirt that covered her face.

‘I’m Corphe,’ the woman explained but the girl said nothing. Corphe continued, ‘I’m going to get you out, alright? But I have to let the panel go again; I’ll be back though; don’t worry, I’m not leaving.’

Corphe gently laid the panel of wood back against the fireplace and began searching for a sturdy plank of wood. Once she found a suitable plank, she wedged it in between the fireplace and the panel of wood, and pulled with all her strength, levering the panel of wood away from the fireplace, creating a gap wide enough for the girl to scurry through.

Quickly, Corphe yelled, ‘Go, get out!’

The girl didn’t hesitate and quickly scampered out of the fireplace on her hands and knees. As soon as the girl had left the fireplace, Corphe released the plank of wood, allowing it to smash into the mantel, which created an unnerving thud and the entire structure around began to groan.

Corphe quickly grabbed the girl; clutching her to her chest, before running to the door. As she rushed over the debris, planks began to fall by her side, and dust clouded around her feet. Soon the brick walls began to crumble and collapse into the structure. But just before the building sank into itself, Corphe manage to jump through the doorway still clutching the girl in her arms, landing in the soft grass just by the doorway.

Corphe huffed and picked up the girl once more and took her to her cart, sitting her on the bench. As Corphe began rubbing away the dirt covering the little girl’s cheeks, she noticed her brown eyes flickered with flecks of green. Corphe smiled and said, ‘What remarkable eyes you have.’ The girl, however, said nothing but just smiled at the comment.

Corphe asked, ‘Are you cold?’ again the girl didn’t answer but Corphe proceeded to cover her anyway, taking a coat from the back of the cart. She pulled out a decorative military coat, which had two long tales at the back and was trimmed with a golden flora pattern. ‘Here’ Corphe began, ‘This should keep you warm.’ Corphe wrapped the coat around the small girl’s shoulders. The coat was very large on the girl and swallowed her whole body. Corphe smiled and explained, ‘It’s a little big, but I don’t have anything your size, sorry to say.’

Corphe stepped up onto the cart and pulled out a decanter from underneath the bench. She unscrewed the lid and handed it to the girl; Corphe explained as the girl took it from her hands, ‘It’s just water.’

As the girl sipped gently at the water Corphe asked her, ‘Do you have a name?’ But still the girl remained quiet. Corphe sighed, ‘Maybe I should get you out of here, first.’ She commanded her horse forward and the pair rode off over horizon in the light of a red sunset.