A deadly silence filled the festival grounds. It was as if all sound had been erased, leaving only the sound of people's breathing. Birds were flying quickly in the opposite direction, and animals were running away, looking for a place to hide. Yet, no one noticed any of this; they were all distracted by the red color of the sky. Then, in a single moment...
A intense flash rose in the sky. A pure, white light filled the sky and covered everything for a short moment. Koran didn't even have time to think or react before the bright light temporarily blinded his eyes.
"I... I can't see."
Before he realized it, Koran felt a violent air of immense force hit him. Its power was as if a huge truck had hit him. Koran was pushed by the massive force of the air. He felt like he was flying through the air, and that's exactly what was happening to him. Luckily, he was pushed into the plaza's pool, but even that was incredibly painful.
Disoriented, he tried to surface, but he was swimming in the wrong direction—towards the bottom. It was as if the heavens didn't want Koran to die; the pool wasn't very deep. Koran turned around and swam in the opposite direction until he reached the surface.
Koran couldn't see, but he could certainly hear. The sound of glass breaking, the crashing of cars followed by the sound of metal bending, metallic screeching, and then the overturning of the metal playground equipment.
Then, finally, the sound came.
Booooom
The force of the sound made Koran temporarily lose his hearing as well.
The first thing Koran tried to do was breathe. After he got out of the pool, the air there was cut off, but the outside wasn't much better. Thick smoke soon filled the place, and breathing became nearly impossible.
"Where is Timo?"
Koran tried to scream Timo's name, but there was no reply. Or maybe there was a reply, but Koran couldn't hear it.
Now the situation felt hopeless. Koran couldn't see, couldn't hear, could barely breathe, and Timo was missing.
"What is happening?" This question kept repeating in Koran's mind as he wandered through an area that moments ago was a place of happiness and celebration, but was now just a massive graveyard.
"Can't I be happy for just one day?" This thought pierced Koran's mind, as just today he had experienced one of the best days of his life. But it seemed it wasn't meant for Koran to be happy. No one wanted him to be happy.
Koran's vision began to return little by little, but it was as if he hadn't regained it at all, because the thick smoke blocked most of the view in front and behind. However, it didn't block what was on the horizon.
"A mushroom?"
It was that huge explosion cloud. Koran went back to searching for Timo until he felt a hand touch him as he walked. Koran grabbed the hand, hoping to pull the man or woman it belonged to.
'It's very light...'
Koran tried to focus on what he had pulled, and in the hazy visibility, he saw that he was holding just a hand, without its owner. He threw it away quickly and started to run.
Sight is one of God's greatest gifts to humans. But at that moment, Koran wished he had been blind or had lost his eyesight during the explosion.
Hundreds of dead bodies were everywhere. The explosion had spared no one—not children, not women. Everyone was equal in its eyes. He didn't recognize any of the corpses. Despite the horror, a deep, hidden part of Koran felt relieved that none of them was Timo.
He passed by the bodies to get out of the square and escape. He was shocked to see the first familiar face: his math teacher. The blast wave had thrown him with immense force onto a wrought-iron fence. One of its sharp bars had pierced his chest and come out through his back. He was still standing, pinned in place, his eyes wide open with a frozen expression of shock, captured just before he realized he had died.
Koran wasn't a fan of this teacher, but not even your worst enemy would wish that upon you. A wave of nausea and vomit hit Koran. After that, he rushed towards the road to his home.
It was true the explosion was very big, but it was impossible for it to have reached this far and destroyed the houses in the Jona district—the district opposite Koran's. Some houses there were even still intact, while others were destroyed in a different way than how the explosion destroys things.
Koran heard the sound of gunfire and immediately hid behind a wall to see what was happening. He saw a soldier aiming at a man in the street. The soldier was wearing a dark green military uniform, buttoned up neatly, with metal badges shining dimly on his shoulders. A white shirt and a dark tie added to his stern look, and a leather belt was tightly fastened around his waist. On his arm was a red badge with an eye pierced by a sword, symbolizing vigilance and punishment.
As soon as Koran saw the badge, he knew this was a soldier from the Kingdom of Valdrin—the Fifth Kingdom. When Koran turned to run, he accidentally kicked a stone. It hit a metal trash can and made a sound. The man quickly turned to see what was happening, but Koran had already run away.
The Jona district was where Timo lived. Koran was rushing towards the house, just hoping it wouldn't be like the other houses and that he would find Timo there.
"After this turn, I'll find your house safe. After this turn, I'll find your house safe."
When he turned the corner, he was even more shocked than what he had expected. He didn't find the house safe, nor just destroyed. The house wasn't there at all. It was as if it had been completely moved, or as if it had never been there from the beginning.
Before Koran could think of anything, a soldier noticed him and shouted.
"Come here!"
Koran ran fast. Luckily, he knew the alleys better than the soldier did. He ducked into a back alley of the district with the soldier chasing him and closing the distance between them. He started climbing a fence that separated two alleys. Just before the soldier could grab him, he jumped down on the other side.
The gaps in that fence were small because the neighbors had put it up to stop older thieves, as their feet wouldn't fit for climbing. Because of this, the soldier couldn't follow Koran.
Koran ran towards his own district—the Suiyati district—and spoke as if talking to himself, his voice full of worry and fear.
"Mom, please be okay."