My Wish at the End of the World

Outside the Walls

CW Fire, Being in a fire, Burns, Death

That night we set the hut alight.  Ether is wearing thin clothes, and has a damp cloth across her nose and mouth, tied behind her head.  She's shivering in the cold night, wrapping her arms around herself.  I feel underprepared, simply wearing a normal, thick set of clothes, but don't understand why she dressed like this.  She had stated multiple times the cold of the night, so it seems like she should have worn thicker clothes to protect from the chill.  She looks at me with a critical eye, seeming hesitant to say something, then turns to the hut and checks if I have my flint and steel.  I bristle in annoyance, since this is, charitably, maybe the fifth time she has checked since packing up in the library, but decide not to say anything.  She waves me forwards towards the hut.

Out of the corner of my eye I see her looking around, checking for onlookers.  She had assured me nobody would be looking out or moving about this late at night.  Aside from us, nobody would be out this late.  No business happens, children are indoors, and it's too cold for anybody with sense to be outside.  The crickets should even drown out any sound.  Unfortunately, we may be part of the group with no sense.

I set the fire, then step back.  The hut catches fire quickly, the crackle soon reaching my ears and still growing louder.  I look around quickly, panicking, but Ether taps my shoulder and redirects my vision to the hut.  I bite my lip, forcing my nervousness at being found out down, and stare at the hut.  After all, there are other things to be more worried about.

My vision pans over the burning hut, trying to look for something that betrays where the shard is, or potentially what is happening with the hut itself.  The fire spreads, first sideways then slowly up.  I at first stare into the fire, wondering if some illusion would appear, as in some tales with fortune tellers, or if something would build itself from the fire, like in the song.  I give up on that and decide to peer along the edges, searching for something showing up in the flickering light, or for some oddity.  Everything seems normal.  The sound of the fire, the light, everything.  I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but for whatever reason I'm not sure what I'm seeing either.

I know that there has to be something special with the hut, after all the burn mark from last time was gone, but everything simply seemed normal.

I turn to ask Ether her opinion, but her eyes are squinted nearly shut, peering forwards intently at one place.  She seems to be staring directly at the door.  I see a few larger sparks start to float out from the hut and drift lazily towards the rest of the buildings, my heart beginning to jump and pound.

I rest my hand on her shoulder, and she glances over at me.  I point up at the sparks, but feel her move beneath my hand, moving out from under it.

She runs into the hut, and suddenly it makes sense why she wasn't dressed for the weather, and why she had a damp cloth.  The flames seem to mold around her, and she flinches away, but after a few seconds she is inside of the hut.  I hesitate, expecting her to come running back out.  I wait for a few seconds, then realize that the hut has been burning for long enough it should have collapsed.  The wood of the walls should have been eaten through.  They are black and charred, but even the roof is still intact.

It's been too long, I start shifting back and forth on my feet, looking around wildly, panicking.  I glance back and forth between the doorway and the dark city, the light from the raging fire barely reaching it, squeezing my hands, clenching my jaw, and I run forwards.

I run into the hut, following Ether and break through the flames.  I expect the interior of the hut, now lit up from the fire, and Ether somewhere collapsed, or possibly still standing and searching for something.  Instead, I break through into a long stone hallway.