The craggy earth crumbled and caved beneath their feet as they ran. Giant bellows of smoke and ash darkened the skies. The pale blue peaks of The Hearth were now hellish calderas raining fire and fury on the creatures below.
"Darrius, I can see people running from that village! We have to help them!", Lana yelled while staring north through her binoculars.
"Lead the way, babe.", Darrius replied as calmly as ever. It seemed to Lana that nothing phased him but today would be different. Lana and Darrius ran hand in hand toward the imminent danger without any fear. Their job was to rescue as many villagers as possible and with their abilities they had little to fear. Zoba and The Elders had issued numerous warnings about the volcano in the past but most villagers had either forgotten or didn't take the warnings seriously.
"Over there!", Lana yelled pointing at a few smoldering logs. Darrius could see something moving within the burned rubble.
"I see it." Darrius replied unclasping his hand from his lover's. He sprinted to the logs. As he got closer he realized that these weren't logs, they were the charred remains of two villagers and beneath them lay the burned body of a child.
"Stay back, Lana! You don't want to see this!", Darrius yelled back to her. "This is worse than The Academy!", he continued with the slightest shrill of raw emotion in his voice. Lana instantly stopped running toward him and covered her eyes with her hands. She had always been a bit squeamish but the dragon attack on The Academy scarred her mind forever after.
"I don't want to see it!", Lana squealed turning her back to him as tears ran down her cheeks. Darrius leaned over the bodies to examine the boy more closely. He was barely breathing and burned to the bone in some places but he was alive. Darrius moved the body of the adult male and the boy's bright blue eyes popped open.
"Daddy?", the boy whimpered before closing his eyes again.
"Oh my god! Is he alive?", Lana wailed loudly. Her crying eyes still cupped by her hands.
"Yes, he's still alive but he's in bad shape. I need to get him to a Stem Tank immediately.", Darrius said with a distinct sadness in his voice.
"Go!", Lana shouted at him while turning around and uncovering her eyes. Darrius gently grabbed the injured child and wrapped a blanket around him. Darrius then fled, only stopping to kiss Lana, to the nearby Xylonic Tunnels with the burned boy cradled in his arms.
© EdulK.