Esterian’s eyes opened slowly. The bright light made him shut them almost immediately. He slowly sat up, running a hand gingerly over his side. He poked and prodded his ribs, wincing as some of them hurt badly. He slowly opened his eyes again, adjusting to the bright light. His mind was still asleep. He had no idea where he was or how he had gotten there. He felt something in his pocket. He put his hand in and pulled out a silver bracelet. A brilliant green stone was set in it. He stared at it dumbly, trying to understand what it was and why it was there. Then it came to him.

Flashes of what had happened. A golden giant towers over him, white wings flaring, wielding a blade made from light. Behind him Esterian can dimly see the lifeless body of his mother. Another flash. This time he’s outside, helping his mother hang up the clothes to dry. He watches as he pulls out the shirt he wore to town on that fateful day. He sees himself throw it back in to the pile and hurry back indoors. Flash. He’s in town, the gaunt faced man with a bandaged hand shoots him with the gun. As always, Esterian feels the bullets pass through him, imagines the pain he should have felt, but instead of collapsing lifeless he stands strong, the bullets falling to the ground. Suddenly the image starts to spin, pulling into itself. He felt a massive push as he snapped back to reality.

Esterian looked around himself. He was sitting on the side of a pile of rubble. Big grey rocks, some of them with metal protruding from the ends. All around him look devastated buildings. Broken glass lay on the floor, covered in a thick layer of dust. In a few places the dust seemed disturbed. Esterian could make out what seemed to be footprints. They seemed old, even they were starting to become buried under a new layer of dust. The buildings looked like something had torn through them. Most of them were missing a wall or two. Esterian could see into them. The interiors looked burnt, blackened walls and floors nauseated him. The sky was clear above him, almost cloudless. He got to his feet and slowly trekked his way to the top of the rubble pile. He lost his footing a few times, almost sliding down once, but eventually he made it there.

All around him were devastated buildings. The roads that ran between them were torn up, large cracks running through them. In a few places the Earth seemed to have buckled under some enormous pressure. Pieces of road rose up and above the surroundings. They stood like tables, purposeless. He could see husks of metal, torn and twisted. Most of them had rusted through completely. A small gap between the buildings displayed what seemed to be the remnants of a park. The grass was overgrown, but there were patches where it had been charred. He could make out the collapsed forms of swings. He saw with some surprise that one of the swings had landed on top of a nearby building. With a jolt he realized he was looking at what remained of a city. A city that had been utterly and totally destroyed.

Esterian tried to identify some familiar sight, something that would tell him where he was. But in his heart he knew it was useless. He tried talking to the blade. It was silent as usual. He cursed under his breath. He turned away, looking for a safe path down the rubble pile. He took one step. Just as he took his next, he heard a sound and felt something slam into the ground. A sleek black arrow, it had missed his foot by mere centimeters. Esterian looked up in alarm, trying to find where it had come from. At the base of the pile, shrouded in black stood a menacing figure. It held a bow, arrow ready to fire and even from this far away Esterian could see that this time the arrow would not miss. The figure’s face was hidden under a shawl. With a pang he remembered that his mother used to wear her shawl in the same way. Esterian put both hands up and slowly started down the pile. The figure kept the arrow right on him, adjusting its aim as Esterian climbed down.

The figure retreated as Esterian made it to the bottom of the pile. Esterian still held his hand over his head. He stepped onto the ground, and heard a crack as a piece of glass shattered beneath his foot. The figure looked down at his feet, losing concentration for a second. That was enough for Esterian. He felt the blade infuse his feet. Instantly he was behind the figure. He knocked the bow out of the figure’s hands, noting that they were surprisingly small. Still moving unnaturally fast, he placed a hand around the figure’s neck.

The figure threw its hands up in surrender. Esterian felt the figure breathing heavily. A faint floral smell toyed with him. He said,

“Who are you? Where am I? Why were you trying to kill me?”

The figure was silent for a moment before it said,

“Release me and I’ll answer your questions.” Its voice was soft and light. Esterian realized the figure was a girl. He felt his cheeks turn red. He loosened his grip on her neck and pushed her away. The figure calmly walked over to her bow. She picked it up from where Esterian had knocked it away. She inspected it for damage. Nodded to herself, apparently satisfied that it was still wieldable. She patted some dust away from it and placed it in the quiver on her back. She slowly began to unwrap the shawl from around her face.

Esterian’s breath caught as he stared at the girl. As the shawl loosened, strands of brown hair tumbled loose. They cascaded over a face so fair it seemed to shine with an inner light. Her eyes were shockingly green beneath her thin dark eyebrows. Her nose was straight, too short to be called aquiline but too long and too perfect to be termed a button. Her mouth was framed by lips that were chaffed from being nibbled on constantly. Her ears were pinned back and from them hung small loops of silver. Her neck was slender, arising from a body that Esterian could not look at because he was too entranced by her face. There was a sparkle in her face. A something about it that made Esterian’s heart race. He felt a tightness about his chest. Suddenly he realized that he wasn’t breathing. He let out an explosive breath and went back to staring into that perfect face.

“Are you going to stare at me all day?” Her voice seemed amused. As she spoke, a faint smile formed on her face. A dimple formed in her left cheek. Her eyes glittered.

Esterian hurriedly looked down. His shoes, still newly made, were scuffed and dirty. He settled for addressing her navel.

“Ah. Yes. What’s your name? Where are we?”

The girl shuffled on her feet. She looked uneasy. Esterian looked up. The smile had died from her perfect face.

“My name is Adriana. We’re about fifty kilometers away from the nearest nexus city. It’s called London. I suggest you get there quickly. Follow the broken road north. You can’t miss it.”

She turned away, wrapping the shawl back around her face.

Esterian had never heard of London. He had heard of a Nexus City somewhere. He tried to place where exactly. It was in town. Someone in the inn had been talking about how the Nexus City had fallen or collapsed or something. He couldn’t remember. He heard a sound. Adriana was turning away. She started walking forwards, her long cloak billowing slightly in the wind.

“Please, wait. I don’t know where I am. Or what London is. Can you help me, please?” He reached forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. As soon as he did, Adriana snapped around. She brought her knee up into his chest. Esterian cried out as his injured ribs were jarred from the impact. He felt the air rush out of him.

“Don’t touch me. Next time, I use my bow.” Adriana’s pace quickened as she walked away. Esterian looked up from where he lay. He watched as she vanished behind a pile of rubble and was lost to sight. He winced as pain jolted his chest again, before collapsing on the ground.

Adriana hurried forward. She still felt the boy’s hand on her shoulder. Still felt its oppressive weight. She shuddered. She would never let anyone touch her. She made her way past another pile of rubble as she headed homewards. It would be dark soon. She still hadn’t caught anything for dinner. Unless she found something fast, she and her father were looking at yet another hungry night.

She climbed up and over a fallen slab of concrete. Her father had told her as much about the reckoning as he knew. But no matter how many times she saw it, it still made her sad. The ruins of a once great civilization. It had taken them six thousand years to develop. They had obliterated themselves in six months. They hadn’t done it alone though. The ‘Gods’ had played a part. As usual whenever she thought of the ‘Gods’, she felt a little quiver in her stomach, the remnants of a fear, a terror that had been suppressed a long time ago, but one that was still an integral part of her being.

She spotted movement just at the edge of her vision. She turned to see the hind legs of some animal run into the gap between two buildings. Her father had warned her not to stray from the main roads, but she was hungry, and the boy had made her mad. She didn’t know why, but his brown face kept drifting through her mind. She saw his dark eyes and black eyes. A faded scar above his left eye, probably from a childhood accident. She wandered forward into the alley, lost in reconstructing the boy’s face in her mind, which was why she was unaware of the figures behind the windows of the buildings lining the alley.

From the windows, arose hoarse screams. Adriana looked up in alarm as figures in brown popped up at almost every single window. They were dark, with matted beards that covered their faces. They were screaming at each other in a language she couldn’t understand. Adriana immediately drew her bow and set an arrow to it. She shifted her aim from one brown figure to another, unaware of the man creeping up silently. She felt an oppressive odor behind her, the smell of decay and rotting vegetation. She turned to see one of the figures looming over her, club raised, ready to strike. With a shout she fell backwards, loosing the arrow into the man’s chest. The man clutched at the arrow embedded just beneath his heart. He stared as the blood blossomed on his chest, before, with a bemused expression, he fell to the ground, still silent, still staring at the arrow in his chest in wonder.

As soon as the first man fell, the cries died down. A new beat started, this time by the brown figures clapping their feet on the ground. A menacing beat that scared Adriana. She drew another arrow, but whoever she aimed at just dropped out of sight beneath the window, reappearing only when she aimed at another. She could hear steps from within the buildings as the figures began climbing down the stairs. The way was blocked in front of her. She could make out some figures walking down the alley towards her. She turned around. Another set of figures blocked off the way backwards as well. She was trapped.

The figures spilt into the alley, lining up against the walls. She was boxed in. There were so many of them. Grimly, she calculated how many shots she could get off before they would take her. The answer was not good. She would not go down without a fight. She closed her eyes, imagining her father. He would struggle without her. The face of the boy crept in. She shook her head angrily trying to clear that face away, but again and again it appeared, smiling at her. She wished she had had the chance to know him better. When she opened her eyes, the brown figures started their shouting again. Adriana took aim at the man right in front of her. She let her arrow fly.