The boy's lips were sealed, and the silence stirred between them for some time. Yuviel once again glanced at the sky; their sun was no longer visible. A blush crept up on him.
"Well, it was beautiful, Tasha, thanks for taking me here." Yuviel noticed a moving star but decided not to comment on it.
She raised her head and nodded, hiding her eyes from Yuv's gaze. "Mhm, it was."
"We should head back, the festival will be about to start," Yuv said.
Tasha said, turning, "Ah, I don't wanna go, it's boring there, can't we stay here just for a bit longer, please, Yuv?"
Yuviel chuckled, "What about the presents? Aren't you getting a Kharroc? Go or your father will give it to your brother, *The next elder*." Yuviel exaggerated the last words.
She punched his shoulder."My dad won't do that, and anyway I don't care, I can get another one at next day of conception, the thirteenth one."
"Eh…But I want my presents, I am going bye, idiot." Yuviel started mockingly running and laughing.
Tasha followed him, accompanying him in his fun, "You…" She swallowed the words, her eyes staring at the sky, and her smile faded.
"Hey, Hey, I will take your Kharroc, if you won't come." He teased her,
But Tasha kept glued to the sky, then Yuviel saw a few other people who had come there doing the same.
Yuviel followed Tasha's eyes.
Something came piercing through the sky, ripping through the air. They were large in numbers. He wasn't able to make out their shapes until they closed in. It was something made of metal with gold and green color, with four legs each. As it closed the distance with the ground, a howling roar escaped. Each leg had a ball floating underneath, spinning, and glowing blue. As it reached closer and closer, it began to slow down. Some Couples around him started to panic and scatter. And some curious one closed in the distance.
"Yuv! .... Yuv! RUN!" Tasha yelled, snapping Yuviel out of his intrigue.
As he started to follow the crowd, he saw that all those strange objects were spreading, one headed towards Caspuyl while another started approaching them, and others started going in different directions.
"MOM! I have to warn her." Yuviel turned his head, the flying metal closed up, and a rod attached to the object flickered yellow.
And then another heartbeat,
He was in the air and landed meters away with a thud. Pain coursed through his body at impact, and he screamed, feeling the wetness of blood from his head. Those blasts kept coming, and smoke encircled him.
He bit his tongue in panic. The metallic taste of blood came into his mouth. He clawed his fingers on the ground, grasping the mud, and scrambling to his feet.
Amidst the blasts, he gasped for air, his breath ragged. A woman beside him was torn apart—blood and bits of brain sprayed his face and threw him off his feet again.
He screamed," Mom…Tasha... ". His own scream was lost among the countless others.
He stood up again, blinded by the blood. One blast uprooted The Silver Petal, causing upheaval in the emerald lake, water changed to tides and washed over the shore, sending Yuviel away.
When he opened his eyes, he found his arm was burning, pulsing with pain. After wiping blood from his eyes, He saw Tasha sitting next to a rock, cowering in fear near a pile of burned organs. That flying object was now targeting the people further from them, who were trying to run.
Yuv sat beside Tasha, gritting his teeth in pain, trying not to make a sound, fearing that they would come back. Pungent smell of the burnt carcass, and the dying screams of the people there, sent shivers down his body, hair stood up on his skin.
He failed to keep his voice in; his whole body was quivering, and cold sweat trickled down his neck.
At his miserable sight, Tasha hugged him, her fingers clenched on his tunic. Her situation was no better.
"Yuv… Yuv"
"We will die… die," she sobbed.
Yuviel glanced towards the village where smoke was rising. Even in this pain, he was having an odd feeling about Caspuyl.
Her eyes traced toward his hand.
"Y-Yuv…..your h-hand!" She gasped with a painful voice.
When the boy's eye fell upon his hand, his bone was sticking out, white, ripped through the flesh, soaked in blood.
For a second, the arm didn't feel his own. But soon the weight of realisation dropped on his mind.
"Agh.. ugh… ahhhhh….".
All of his senses were overridden with the truth of pain, and he started squirming against the stone. The pain took over all his remaining sanity.
Tears rolled down his cheeks. Tasha tried to comfort him, but the sight of his hand made her sick. She patted his head in a careful touch.
He pressed so hard on his teeth that they might have broken.
That flying object didn't get distracted from its track; it didn't turn to confirm. The lake was covered in flames, smoke, and the emerald waters had turned red, with pieces of people's bodies floating. The ancient Tree of Silver Petal, more ancient than the name itself, was now buried in the basin of the bloodstained lake.
Tasha threw up. Yuviel felt the urge, too, but the pain kept him grounded. Tasha's eyes were welled by tears, but Yuviel's wound still weighed on her mind.
"You are losing blood." She said in a quivering voice.
She unravelled the sash from her waist and wrapped it around the boy's wound. Whenever the bone got pressed, a gurgling sound escaped his throat. He felt the fragments of his bone pressing at different places, tearing his muscles.
Nothing,
Nothing in 12 years of his life could have prepared him for this pain.
"Stop… it hurts… mmph." With his other hand, he grabbed Tasha's hand to stop her, but gathering all his courage, he let go.
"Sorry"
The sash was tied, and Yuviel took a breath of relief. His face was dripping with sweat, and his chest heaved as he panted.
He glanced towards Caspuyl,
Will that thing kill everyone?,
He thought. The face of his mother flashed before his eyes.
"The smoke is starting to fly away, we might get caught, so we should go to the village". He said, exhaling after every word.
"Is your hand fine?" Tasha said.
He looked at his hand, blood rinsing through the wrapped sash, unsure himself." It hurts a lot. It's not….ah….alright"
"Then-"
"But! We can't go anywhere else, that's the only place. That's home."
She chewed on her lips and then nodded,
He swallowed. It was still there in the village. But he can't leave his mother.
The two kids started to navigate through the burned corpses, towards their village.