Legacies || Hermitcraft

Chapter V - The Aftermath

Word Count ~ 1.7k

Timeline: April 2012 - October 2012

TW: Blood, injury, talking about death/dead bodies, semi-suicidal thoughts

Ezra wasn't sure what hurt more. The explosion that had rendered him unconscious, or knowing that by the time he woke up again, everyone around him was gone.

The only thing left of his home was ash and bodies. They were strewn carelessly across the ground, treated more like unwanted playthings than once-living people. Ezra could barely bring himself to look at the destruction, the pain of knowing that everyone was gone being too much for him to bear.

What felt like only moments ago, Xisuma was by his side, the two of them content and without worry. Ezra wished he'd held onto his brother for longer, wished he'd cherished every second they'd spent together, and wished he could have frozen time in that perfect moment, where everyone was safe and he never had to worry for them.

Through half open eyes he stared at the sky, seeing only the lingering smoke in place of the stars that had once been there. For what felt like hours he lay there, watching the sky in the hopes that he'd wake up from a nightmare and still have his brother by his side. But as tears ran down his cheeks, bringing with them the blood that covered his face, Ezra lost any hope of returning to the life he'd had only hours ago. 

He sat up, the pain of his injuries numb in comparison to the pain of his heartbreak. He almost didn't want to move, tempted to let himself bleed out and suffer the same fate as everyone around him. After all, he'd been the one to lead Xisuma headfirst into the fire and destruction, why should he be the one left alive? 

Maybe it was intentional. Be it karma or irony, perhaps Ezra had been left alive just to suffer like this. To be separated from the person he loved the most, and forever subjected to the pain of knowing that they wouldn't be separated if it weren't for him. Death would only be an escape from this pain, and Ezra didn't even deserve death.

He found himself standing, walking, looking for somewhere to go. Each movement seemed merely subconscious, as if his body moved on its own while his mind lingered on the agonising reality of him now being alone. He didn't make it far, eventually forced to stop again when the pain of his injuries eventually overtook the pain in his heart.

Typically he'd be horrified by the sight of his wounds. Burns covered his arms and legs from the explosion, blood soaked his clothing, and the blurred vision and the blood coming from his left eye suggested it was damaged beyond repair. Yet all he could think, as he bled and cried and screamed into the endless void, was that he was just lucky to be alive.

Using cloth from the burnt overhang of a collapsed stall, he covered the wounds as best as he could, before looking around and trying to decide what to do. Ender pearls littered the ground around him, and he picked one up, his gaze eventually falling on the islands in the distance. He had nothing left in the End, no family, no home, and nowhere safe to go. Maybe leaving it behind would be better than staying and mourning those who would never come back.

The Overworld would be a new start. A place where he could build a life from the ashes of the one he'd just lost, and maybe in a few years time, he'd be able to move on from that old life. The idea of moving on seemed impossible, especially only hours after he'd lost everything, but in a few years time, maybe the guilt and grief wouldn't hurt as much.

Ezra gasped as he was thrown onto cold, hard stone, before immediately choking on the unfamiliar air. He'd feared the Overworld's atmosphere might be harmful to him, and although it was already giving him a headache, he was lucky that it wasn't toxic like the Void.