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Well, I couldn't have said it better myself.
-LD

Lilia felt the tears like hot cinders falling down her cheeks. She let them fall freely, she had not the heart to wipe tears away while looking at such a brutal scene.

The smell of blood was still fresh in the air when the three of them had descended into the town. Women and children burned alive in there houses, while the village men had tried to protect them with whatever weapons they could find. More often she saw the men clutching pitchforks, hammers and large shards on metal. Even in death they could find no
peace from what had happened to them.

Kate was following right behind Lilia, clearly disturbed and scared more than horrified at what happened. Nathan was stone faced, looking but not seeing. He walked favoring his right leg; his wound from a week ago had not fully healed.

Lilia didn't much care about her companions though. She slowly navigated the village, avoiding the rotting corpses of people she longed to see again. She had to stop twice to lose the small rations of food she had just previously eaten.

She slowly made her way to the large central building. What used to be a magnificent fortress, and a home to her, was now blackened by fire. She stopped before what was left of the big wooden door, now only a small piece of charred wood on a metal hinge.

Kate placed an understanding and comforting hand on Lilia's arm. Lilia quickly veered away for the touch, no one could understand what this place had meant to her. It was more than a home, it was a symbol of hope to her. As long as it stood, it should have been a comfort to her. But blackened as it was, it was merely a warning now; they were tracking her down.

Quietly, Kate hid her sorrow and pity for Lilia. Kate knew she could do nothing for Lilia, not until form of hope could appear to her.

"You know Lilia, at least we had been sent out. If we had stayed, we would be one of the many bodies here," right away she realized it was the wrong thing to say. Lilia slowly turned to face Kate, a scowl clearly defined on her tear stricken face. "I-I'm sorry. That was heartless." She stammered out under Lilia's forceful gaze.

"It was so much more than that," Lilia was looking a Kate still, the tears had not ceased yet. "this was my home, these were my family, and now I have nothing!" Lilia watched Kate flinch at the harsh words, and turned to Nathan who had yet to add anything.

Nathan had nothing to say at all. He watched from a short distance, standing in the middle of the street, if it could be called a street anymore. Kate was right though; if they had stayed, he would not be alive at this moment. It was little comfort though. To have a whole village demolished completely, with no sign of enemy bodies along with the fallen was highly disturbing. He wondered if the two girls had even thought of it. It was not natural to have such a high death toll, with no sign of who the killers were.

"We have to keep moving," was that all he could say at a time like this? "these bodies are fresh still. With the scent of death this strong I would say it happened early yesterday." He was right. Lilia took a deep breath to try and clear her head, it was a bad idea. She gagged once more on the strong scent, and was just barely able to hold the urge to be sick once again.

They had to leave, she knew. Slowly she cleared the tears from her face and eyes, and turned toward the lowering sun. Nothing was the same, and now the proof was starring her in the face.

Lilia started to walk back into the forest, quickly gaining a leap in her step at the thought of leaving the death behind. She could hear Kate quickly keeping pace. Nathan was still limping, she could hear the uneven steps beside Kate.

She turned her mind from her companions, and looked to the woods. She needed the counsel of Nicholas right now. At that thought, she collapsed into a spiral of grief. "Why did they have to take you from me?" Lilia said under her breath so the other two would not hear how raw that wound still was.

Kate and Nathan kept a distance when they saw Lilia flinch and moan. She would need to go off alone again, like she had been doing ever since Kalva had betrayed them. Nathan and Kate may not have known Nicholas or Marta as well as Lilia had, but having them taken away so suddenly left a scar on all of them.

Why was this happening?
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Sorry this is so long... sweatdrop
~Kiyo

Edit: Tah-dah! I have now spaced out the story for everyone. Enjoy! whee

Hehehe, sorry. sweatdrop I don't normally space my paragraphs unless it is an essay. Reading it over, it is harder to read... burning_eyes

Thanks for the compliment! Yours was very well done as well, is yours from a story?

Yes, they are from a story I am currently writing. Six main characters in this one, all of them mentioned in that little blurb, which is why I chose it. wink

I wish I had more of my novel finished. So far I have almost all of the story planned out, but it still needs tweaking. I'm also only on the second chapter, everything else is floating in my head. eek

How long is your novel series? It sounds really interesting! 3nodding

My novel so far is 27 chapters longs and about 80,000 words long. At the moment it's in its fine tuning process, I've managed to rewrite a few chapters for it while simultaneously writing chapters for the 2nd and 3rd books, lol. I'm like that Lays commercial, bet you can't write just one!

P.S. Thanks WhiteStream! Just a little something I had in my head at the time, it's a bit different from how my 1st book actually ends but it did the trick for this challenge ^_^.

That explains it. It's not too late to edit your post, Kiyo.

Very well done. Frighteningly well done.

*applauds shakily*

Vale,
-LD

"Stop it, you're paying me,"-Seabiscuit
-LD