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CHAPTER NINETY-SEVEN: FRACTURED LOYALTY.
Last Updated:
2025-03-24 15:54:03
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AVERY'S POV:The village lay in ruins. Nauseating. Smoke twisted upward from blackened roofs like ghostly fingers clawing at the sky. I stumbled forward, my breath caught between a gasp and a sob. The village I had grown to love had been reduced to a scene of quiet devastation.Birds scattered in a frenzied panic above as I approached. Leaves rustled violently even though the wind had died. The animals were gone. Not a goat or a dog in sight. My heart thundered as I broke into the clearing.Everyone had been rounded up.Men, women, children—on their knees in a wide circle, hands bound behind their backs, guarded by men in black tactical gear with sophisticated guns and emotionless expressions. Even Grandma Akira was among them. Her frail frame trembled as she struggled to remain upright, her silver hair streaked with ash and dried sweat, lips moving in silent prayer.The fighters who should’ve protected us lay bloodied at the edge of the clearing. Some unconscious. Others groaning, t
