A fragile,trembling life clung desperately to survival.Tiny fingers, barely formed , clunched a torn piece of cloth as if it might shield her from the terror seeping into her soul. She didnt cry - she just stared , wide-eyed and silent, as if the shock had frozen time itself.
Elanore hills hadn't seen disaster in decades. Nestled within the highlands of the Western Kingdom, fortified by both natural cliffs and ancient ecological wards. It was considered one of the safest zones in realm.A place where nothing bad ever happened.But something had changed.
"It was loud....banging...everything--WHY? Why us ?" she whispered , again and again , like a shattered prayer echoing through the wreckage. As if fate hadn't already cruel enough. The scene was scorched into memory -part horror , part nightmare. No one expected the landslide .
Laura Evan Whillmore-wavy blonde hair usually pinned back with more function than flair,earth-brown eyes lit with thought - stood at the edge of the relief camp, breath caught somewhere between a scream and a sob . Of all the places....why here?
That morning, the earth didn't just crack- it swallowed the whole valley. What was once a cradle of green had become a graveyard of splintered trees, broken homes and crushed bodies. The sky had torn open , thunder splitting it .
She had trained for this. She had studied for this.
Trauma triage. Battlefield care. Healing magic. She had braced herself for war, not for ruin. But no amount of practice could prepare her for this much death.
A memory rose, uninvited. Five years ago. A child she once met- so full of light, who smiled even when her bones ached and her body wasted away. Laura had held that child's cold, lifeless body as it slipped beyond saving. She had sworned that day - never again would she be helpless. "For years I had trained, pushed , sacrified - doing everything I could to become the best . But now? " She stood still. And world moved without mercy.
" What do you do when you're up against an immovable force?" Her legs locked. Her lungs refused to expand. That old, familiar helplessness crept in- cold hands of death tightening around her throat. Tears spilled down her cheeks,hot and silent.
"Willmore" The voice cut through the fog of her thoughts- sharp, cold and commanding - snapping her back to the present. Daniel Joseph Rutherford - six feet five , chiseled arms layered with power - shoulders squared, jaw sharper, nec corded with muscle , each motion efficent, grounded and strong. He stopped in front of her -- to close. A tower of soaked black fabric and cold fury.
You're in charge of this team ? His voice cracked like thunder. His gaze locked onto her - sharp unblinking , heavy with ridicule. " Then act like it. Stand there weeping again and I'll have you thrown out before your next breath" Laura opened her mouth - half a breath, half a defence - but he was gone already gone, issuing orders like a commanding officer.
" Dont mind him" came a voice behid her - soft, hoarse, but threaded with quite authority. Professor Cyril Valen stepped through the haze, his boots muddied. His round glasses were speckled with rain and his dark hair had started to curl at the edges, damp from hours in the field. But his gaze - held the steadiness of someone who had learned to remain still in the center of the storms. He wasn't older than thirty, but his calm suggested decades of experience.
" He commands like battefield owes him something" Cyril murmurred, but not unkindly. Laura blinked away the sting her eyes. " He's not wrong "
"NO" Cyril said quietly. " He isn't."
"Still could've used a little basic human empathy" came a dry voice behind them. Elyra Christopher stepped into views with hood shoved back just enough to reveal a riot of brown curls. " Sir-Grumbles-a-Lot over there can bark orders all he wants" she added , jerking her chin toward the commanding tents. "But someone needs to remind him he's not the only one carrying weight today"
Cyril lifted an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth twitching with restrained amusement. He had long since given up trying to win arguments with Elyra. Or explain that she didn't always need to stay the first thing that came to her mind. Where Laura moved with measured elegance, Elyra moved like she was used to dodging blades and throwing punches.
"He's like that because he has to be" Cyril continued, tone low. " He's seen more endings that we have beginnings. Lost more than he'll ever admit. That sort of man doesn't soften- he sharpens."
" You respect him ?" Laura added.
" I do " Cyril said " Fiercely"
"Elyra rolled her eyes. "Let's not pretend barking like a hound is the same as leadership". She leaned slightly toward Laura. "But you-- were just being human"
Laura smiled, the tightness in her chest easing just a bit. No matter how brash Elyra was with everyone else, she never aimed that blade at Laura. Years ago, Laura had been the first to recognize Elyra's potential- not as a street medic or muscle for hire, but as healer with grit. A colleague. An equal.
"I'm not good at this sort stuff", Elyra muttered. "But if you're waiting for life to get kind..." She paused, then looked away. " It won't. It's not built that way"
Laura turned to her, the corner of her mouth lifting just slightly. "Let's go be useful before we all get a lecture from-"
"Yeah" she exhaled. Then she turned to Cyril. " I'll check the western quadrant rigth ?"
Cyril replied " Yes, you and Elyra join with three more and start. Let me assign the rest of the group"
"Hey Laura, let Daniel make the hard calls- we hold the line that brings people back" Cyril had always known what to say, but more than that , he knew when to say it. He wasn't the kind of mentor who shadowed her every step. He had always stood just enough behind - ready to catch her if she ever fell.
As he moved off, Elyra watched him go, narrowed eyes. "He's decent" she muttered. "Still talks like a dusty scroll, but he's decent" .
Side by side, they turned toward the triage tents - ready to face whatever waited beyond. And just before as they stepped forward, Laura's eyes drifted- unintentionally - toward where Daniel had disappeared, something moved there.
Not a clear figure, not a shadow. But something - just enough to raise hairs on the neck.