(no subject)

[jackofallgeeks]

The Black Winds Howl

The land groaned with remembered agony. Blue lightning split the sky, which was churning with sickly, green-grey clouds. The air smelled of smoke and blood, and the fields still smoldered. The ground was split and broken, the vegitation burned off and the soil underneath fused into large slabs. Green and blue lights danced in the skies, an eerie display, but neither sun nor moon could be found.

The farm house lay in ruins. Beams and boards split, it lay in a massive heap, surrounded by destruction as far as the horizon. The terrain was featureless in it's desolation, everything reduced to smoking masses. Here and there, a tree remained standing after the carnage, twisted and torn in its own right, blackened and lifeless.

He had managed to crawl out of the collapsed building. Pain shot through his right arm as he dragged himself across the ground with his left, tears streaming down his face. The tears down his face, and the warm, smoking air blowing around him caused his scrapes and cuts to sing in sharp notes of pain. He sat up against a wooden board that had been stuck into the black earth. His shirt was torn to rags, and his pants were in little better condition. He wiped tears off his face with the back of his dirt-covered hand. His right arm was unresponsive - pain shot through it when he looked at the large gash down the side. There was pain again as he staggered up to his feet.

Only one of his sandals was still intact as he took his first dizzying steps. Somewhere the leather straps had broken on his left one, and he walked shakily on, grasping his right arm as he went. He passed a broken, blackened tree. Only a few hours ago that dead wood had been vibrantly green and brown. It would've been one of the fruit trees, he thought. His eyes watering from the smokey air, he took another few shakey steps, towards the distant forest on the horizon.

His feet slowly became more sure of themselves, but he was exausted, and the broken ground soon tripped him up. He stubbed his toe and stumbled, falling and landing hard on his left side. Pain shot through his arm again when he hit, and he cried out. He heard a small noise then that caused him to turn his head. Under a section of the roof that had formed a little hollow with the ground was a small, white kitten - one of the farm cats which must have escaped the worst of the disaster under there.

He tried to call to her, but only managed a hoarse whisper. Her blue eyes filled with fear, she limped out, her paw apparently injured, and came out to him. He sat back, getting onto his scraped up knees, and picker her up in his good arm. Struggling, he made it back up to his feet. His toe was bleeding, and though the lights in they sky still danced, the dusky shadows grew. A noise from out in the smoldering feilds reminded him of the dark things still out there. He staggered onwards towards the forest.