CHAPTER 6 – L'inflammadametre

Hiro caught her quickly, knowing instinctively where she would go, to find her sprawled face-first on the beach, having tripped over moments before in her miserable haste. Before he had even slowed beside her she was up and running again, outpacing even him, but she tripped once more, tears rendering her all but blind. He walked up to her as she lay in the sand sobbing, hoping that the mere sight of a friendly face would be enough to calm her. To even his surprise, he was right. Kira looked up at him, face still streaked with mud and blood and tears, but didn't run this time. Instead she took his offered hand and collapsed into his arms. Renewed whimpers and floods of tears quickly drenched his shirt, but his only care was her. When Kira had cried herself to a standstill he released his embrace of her and looked at her dishevelled features. A small smile crossed his lips as he saw that even now, she was achingly beautiful. It was hard to think of her as the childhood friend he had known. The sweet little girl with the cherub face now seemed far away. Kira had become a strikingly attractive young woman, and he felt a primal desire to protect her. He smiled into her gazing eyes and pressed her head close to his heart. His regular rhythm seemed to calm her somewhat as he spoke.
"Kira.. I.. I don't know what to say to you to make you feel any better, I can't imagine what that must have been like for you.. but.." He paused, searching for words. "The villagers wanted to say that they're sorry. I didn't let them come with me to say so because I didn't think you'd want to be near them, but.. will you come back with me so they can apologise to your face? I know it would mean a lot to them to try to put right what they did." Kira gave a small, weak nod and, with his arm around her shoulder, Hiro walked with Kira back towards the village.

The moment Kira arrived on the outskirts there was pandemonium. It seemed as if the entire province had turned out to beg forgiveness. There were floods of apologies from all sides and some of the women even offered Kira hastily prepared baskets of food. Hiro tried to stop the village folk from crowding her, with little success. Kira still said nothing, merely gave the occasional nod and continued, with Hiro acting as a bodyguard, to thread her way through the village. She barley dared to even look up as Kimiko rushed out of her house to join in the clamour of remorse, tears too close to the surface again to risk saying anything. She broke the fleeting eye-contact that was created, with a look of sadness and fright, unable to bear Kimiko's apologetic stare and continued to walk, slowly towards her hut. Upon reaching her humble dwellings Kira walked into what was her bedroom, leaving the front door open, and collapsed into a renewed flood of tears. Hiro endeavoured to cheer her up, commenting on her choice of interior, but in vain. Through her tears Hiro heard a quiet "Please… please leave me alone.." before complying, sadly, with her wishes and leaving.

Kira was awoken from her usual nightmare by the sense that something was wrong. Wiping her eyes and sitting up she looked out of her window at the sky. It was the colour of blood, and the clouds were swirling unnaturally. Heart's twin suns were aligned as one darkened sphere of ochre light and there were no birds to be seen or heard. What's wrong with the sky? thought Kira a combined sense of awe and dread filling her at the sight. Could it be that the villagers have angered the Divine Couple Hiro spoke of? But even then why would what happened to me be of importance to the heavens? Dressing quickly, Kira stepped out of her hut, only to see the entire horizon the same deathly shade. There was clearly something very wrong. All previous events forgotten, she rushed to the village.

When she arrived, the settlement was the image of chaos. Houses were boarded up, the livestock were no-where to be seen, and the villagers were rushing around in a hysteria of panic. Kira spotted Hiro ushering the women and children towards some nearby catacombs with several other men, and ran over to him. "Hiro.. the sky.. what's wrong?" He looked over to her, a brief smile flashing over his grave face. He left his position, which was filled by another man, to fall in step with her as she walked slowly through the almost deserted buildings. He muttered something under his breath. Seeing Kira's questioning gaze he spoke up. "L'inflammadametre. It's a Malogian word. Literally translated it means 'fire from the skies'. I've heard of this phenomenon many a time in fantasy and legend, but I never feared it would touch my life." Without warning Kira embraced him.
"I know what you're going to say so don't bother, I'm not leaving you for any safe-hole, you need all the help you can find!"
Hiro shook his head. "No Kira, you need to go to the caves along with the other villagers, I'll follow you soon, don't worry." Kira's grip on him tightened in fear for him. "Hiro, if you really are the old friend you say you are, then don't send me away, you're the only person I know and I don't want to lose you. Please Hiro, please let me stay." She gazed up at him pleadingly. Hiro sighed and smiled down at her kindly. "Kira.. don't you understand? Its because of our friendship that I want you to go with the others, now please, for your safety, go. I'll be alright." Kira still looked doubtful. "I promise, okay?" He reached out with one finger and wiped away the tears that pricked at the corners of her eyes. She sighed, both in resignation and at how even such a simple gesture by him could calm her. "O...k Hiro, I trust you. But please.. PLEASE by the Goddess be safe!" With that she turned and joined the stream of other women and children heading for the caverns.

The clouds were swirling ominously quickly, yet there was a deathly silence from the skies. The men were beginning to follow the women towards the shelter now, only the bravest staying to search for others. Before long tiny pinpricks of iridescent light could be seen in the sky. There was a panicked and instinctive movement further into the caverns as the lights began to get nearer, and larger. Before long the first of countless many fireballs struck the ground. It sailed high over the village in a deafening roar and continued. There was a palpable feeling of relief as the noise died away, returning almost instantaneously to fear as they awaited the sound of the impact. The explosion was more felt than heard in the cavern, as dust was dislodged from the ceiling. More lights began falling from the sky, some falling short, others carrying on overhead, striking some other part of the landscape. Inevitably, comets soon began to rain down upon the settlement in greater and greater regularity as the storm intensified. Many of the children were crying and people were shouting out in fear and prayer. One villager was beginning a somewhat apocalyptic sermon. "The sky isn't falling. Its being thrown at us! Repent your transgressions or be lost to the wrath of the divinity!" It was then, in horror, as the storm intensified further that Kira realised Hiro wasn't with her.

She looked around frantically, calling out over the thundering detonations outside.
"Hiro? HIRO?! Has anybody seen him? HIRO!!!" Many people ignored her, too caught up in their own despair at what sounded like a warzone. She jumped as one of the men lay a hand on her shoulder. "He was one of the last to leave, We kept telling him to run, but he wouldn't! He was trying to find Kimiko. He said he'd catch us up."
Kira nodded her worried thanks to the man, walking her way closer to the entrance and gazing at the destruction outside before slumping against the cavern wall, tears streaming silently from her eyes. The sky, and now the earth it seemed, was burning, being obliterated from existence by some malignant fire. Kira barely even dared pray that Hiro would survive. Even over the deafening crescendo of impacts outside, the piercing scream of a mortally wounded woman came from the village. It turned the blood of many of the villagers instantly cold. "Hiro… please… you promised me..."

Unable to restrain herself anymore, Kira ran out of the cave towards the village and the scream, dodging around craters and over smouldering rubble. A missile the size of a barrel fell nearby and the ground shook her to her knees. She was up and running before the rain of earth smote her, calling out ever more desperately.
"HIRO? HIRO? Oh please be okay… OHMIGOD!!!"
She ran over to where he was pinned under a fallen building and began scraping away timber and stones like a madwoman, with little regard for her or for that matter anybody else's safety, her face resembling war paint where the tears had washed the dirt clear. The maelstrom was beginning to abate now, and some of the braver men arrived to help her free Hiro from his prison. There were more cries of dismay when they saw who might have screamed. Next to a smoking corpse of what barely resembled anything human, was Kimiko, lying over the unmoving body of Hiro. There was a large splinter of wood through her back, evidently exiting through her torso by the quantity of blood. The fiery hail must have struck the building and sent deadly wooden shrapnel in all directions.
Two men were elected the solemn task of moving Kimiko to save Hiro, which they attempted to achieve in a respectfully gentle manner, before laying her on the ground beside her son.

Kira had watched all this with horror. She ran over to Hiro, ripping open his shirt and carefully removing a shard of wood that remained embedded in the wound. She gave a cry of dismay when she saw the injury; it was broad, and deep. Hiro was unconscious and had clearly lost a lot of blood. She dare not move him away from the hellish rain to the caverns in case of any further injury, but she dare not leave him there either. What do I do? I don't know how to cure something like this… And I can't just leave him here… Oh goddess help me! Another villager crouched down beside her, looked at the wound and muttered something unintelligible. Looking over she saw it was the village healer, a wizened old man, and a man of high accolade in the surrounding villages. He nodded at her sagely. "Don't worry you's'self about 'im girly, I know a potion or three.. He'll be right as rain again in't'morning." With that, the wise man stood up and walked off towards his yurt, one of the few remaining three-dimensional features in the village, presumably to concoct something for Hiro. Kira breathed a sigh of relief, even more so as the first of scattered rays of sunlight began to filter through the now rapidly dissipating clouds. The Goddess truly did watch over us! She whispered a quiet 'Thank you' before standing up and allowing several villagers to gently move Hiro onto an animal-skin stretcher, watching as they carried him to the healer's shack. "May she continue to watch over you too Hiro."