Chaos of War

This was not how she had imagined her day would go. Here, in her favorite place of peace and serenity when the days got stressful and hard. Tall trees offered shade from the blistering sun, and the cool wind cooling the skin and calming the soul.

No, today it would be none of those things.

This day, her sanctuary showed a revelation she knew was possible. A reality no one ever believed would come to pass. Perhaps it was unrealistic for a town of such peace to assume they were safe from chaos. Today's reality proves, no one can escape the oncoming war.

War had come and chaos took over.

Evrah stood, shaking, from head to toe, in a white-hot rage at the scene before her. Here, in the view of the eagle eye's nest atop Karlear Mountain. She was trapped with no way to stop the destruction in front of her.

Forrest Keep, a once busy town so full of peace, but no longer.

A place of vibrant villagers turned to nothing but scattering ants, running and screaming for their lives. Death upon wings had descended from the stars setting everything ablaze. It was horrific to behold. Nothing was untouched by fire. Grand buildings, that once stood as inspiration and hope, are now reduced to burning rubble crumbling to ash, crashing onto the ground burying everything in its path.

Shops and houses exploded, propelling people like shrapnel into their neighbors and out among the bloody cobblestones. Bending trees, slamming the ground as an unnatural wind, commanded their will, spreading more flame and fanning the smoke.

Evrah's throat burned from her unheard screams of terror as she pleaded and begged for the horror to stop, for her friends to find safety, and for her need to help. She paced like a caged animal, looking for a way around the burning tundra of chaos that blocked her way into the village.

Her fists bled from beating the ground as she was forced to watch the devastation of her people. Screaming children lost, scared, and crying for the comfort and safety of their parent's protective arms. Parents and elderly clinging to their dead or searching in vain for lost loved ones.

Wives, bent over still bodies of husbands and children, cursing the winged death above them. Husbands carrying lifeless bodies of wives, children, and elderly, in search of refuge. Some fell to the ground, while others staggered in confusion and fear, unsure of what to do. Many, lost in the madness of chaos, like headless chickens, ran about, searching for safety that wouldn't be found.

The decimation of wings was only the beginning.

Round two came in the form of the Army of Darkness, covered in armor and brandishing crude weapons. A walking demolition for as far as the eye could see. The soldiers were a more formidable force than that of the flaming danger above them, feeding and devouring the fear of the innocent.

Her whole life and everyone she knew, drowning in pandemonium.

Her world, as she knew it, nothing but ash and flame, was ending and there was nothing she could do to stop it but she was still going to try. Her fingers were shredded skin and nails from trying to scale the side of the mountain, as she made her down to her people. Her clothes were torn, exposing flesh to the heat of the war.

She spotted a small narrow cliff that looked as if it led to the lake below and she quickly slid, half climbed from her perch to the ledge underneath. Her backside and boots, sliding against the harsh sharp rocks, she felt digging into her flesh, weren't enough to stop her. She had spotted a way out and she was taking it, even if it meant certain death.

Her boots finally landed on solid ground, and she moved carefully sideways, making her way along the narrowness of the path. It was slow going and treacherous, but it was progress. As long as she kept going, she would be all right. Movement in the direction of aid and away from the capture of helplessness. It was also a distraction from the vividly agonizing images she knew she would revisit in her nightmares.

If only time would stop.