Empress (A Tickle Commission)

Darkened Skies

"What the hell is this monster doing?" Meiling asked through gnashed teeth. She raced through the trees and clearings to take the short way back home. Lee struggled to keep up behind her. The welling of her eyes cast a soreness that pulsed through her temples. She sobbed as she ran, her hands trembling and white. Both panted through the midday heat beating down upon them. Meiling looked back to check on Lee coming up behind her as she ran. Smoke from the village rose over the trees. It cloaked the sky in a dark, lingering shroud. Small flakes of cinder began to rain down upon the trees. Meiling stopped and watched long enough for Lee to catch up with her.

"Mei, I..." Lee said, panting and coughing as she reached out to take Meiling's hand.

"We have to get to the house," Meiling said. "We'll go from there if we have to, but we can't be out here." She began to tug Lee along behind her. Lee stumbled back into a swift run, keeping up with Meiling's restrained sprint. She raised a sleeve up to her mouth to block out the smoke and char. The trees around them glowed in the distance. Meiling fought back the tears, thinking of her family's land, but she hurried along to get her and Lee into safe shelter, however brief it may be.

The pair approached Meiling's house, sweat caking dirt and soot to their faces. Lee stood behind Meiling, her hands shivering as she clung onto her. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks, leaving behind streaks in the dust. Her throat clenched, her teeth chattering restlessly. Her mind raced as to how things could have gotten as bad as they had, tortured over the racking of how much of it was her fault. Meiling turned to Lee. She grabbed her by the shoulders and stared intensely into her eyes.

"I... I'm sorry, I don't know what's going on, but..." Meiling paused. She swallowed through the dry, rough grit in her mouth, wincing through the burn. "I... we have to get out of here."

"No, Meiling, wait–" Lee said, still panting. "There... something I have to tell you..." Her voice was cut short by the vibrating echoes of thundering hooves. The beats came swift and louder by the second. Birds scattered noisily from the surrounding trees. Meiling turned to the main path. Her eyes were wide, her face running grimly pale.

"It can wait," Meiling said. Her lips shook as she spoke, but she fought to maintain her composure. "Get inside. Maybe it's help, but on the off chance it's not, I need you to hide."

"Meiling, please just listen–"

"Go!" Meiling barked, her expression glaring tensely down into Lee's watery eyes. Lee struggled to steady herself as well. She nodded and sniffled, glancing back at the road before rushing inside to hide. "And if something happens, no matter what, you run. Get yourself somewhere safe." Lee paused to hear Meiling's words. She nodded and vanished through the door.

Meiling looked back to make sure Lee had had it inside. She saw the house standing before her. It seemed so peaceful in the chaos. Every glance brought back images of growing up with her mother and brother. The bird songs were all the same, the same chi that her mother taught her about flowed through the grounds of the home by her shrine. The same laughter that her and her family shared together returned with every whistling wind. The tears that Meiling had shed over her losses washed into the beds of flowers that graced the land with color and life. It was all the same, and yet it grew and changed with her to become the temple she and her mother always knew it could be. Meiling stared back at those walls. Those trees. Those beds. She looked down at the patches of dirt and grass beneath her feet, faulting to find peace that she may offer herself to that very land right then and there.

Meiling planted herself in place. She faced the path, feeling the forces of the hooves growing nearer and nearer. She witnessed the shadows through the trees until the figures became full and in frame, pulling out in front of her.