Chapter 4: The Razing

(Sorry that I haven't written in so long! I am working on a script version of a *much* later chapter(s) and I also had homework :P

**SPOILER** Say goodbye to Lewil in this chapter *evil laugh* && sorry that it's so short)

The whirring sound of Wraith darts flashed by outside the window. In a small cottage near a large forest of tall trees, Xerin Flickerclaw opened his eyes. Outside, Lewil was ravaged. Darts swept over the villages, scooping up unwitting victims in their beams. Fires raged, families were torn apart, and animals ran free, trampling anything in their way.

~~~

Akire was shaken awake by her mother's bony hands. "Akire! Akire!" Ryda's thin voice called. "Wake up!" Akire's violet eyes shocked open. "What?" she asked.

Ryda's blue eyes were wide with fear, and Akire could see her confusion reflected in their depths.

"It is the Wraith," Ryda explained in a voice fraught with worry.

Akire sat up immediately. A Wraith was the worst thing that could happen to a village. The Wraith were vampiric creatures who drained their victims by placing one of their hands on the unlucky person's chest. Wraith had indentations on their hands, almost like mouths, that sucked the blood, as well as the life force out of a human, leaving an old, empty shell behind. There had not been a culling in Lewil since three generations before, but all her life, Akire had heard stories.

"When did they get here?" Akire asked. "Is everyone alright? Where's Dad? How--"

Ryda shushed her. "Be quiet," she said. "I've doused all the lights so they don't know we're here. Put on your boots and coat. I've packed supplies."

Akire obiediantly pulled her boots on, and hastily swung her coat over her shoulders. Ryda grabbed her hand and pulled her downstairs and out of the door. "Mother, are you crazy?!" Akire asked. "We'll be killed! Where's Father?" Ryda whipped around. "Akire, please," she said, her voice tense. "Just be quiet for now. You'll be alright."

Akire didn't question her, but as she was pulled along, she wondered, Will I ever see our house again? Will I ever again wake up to my mother's voice?

They ran long through the forest, while their world fell into pieces around them, to be replaced by a much darker universe. Fire lit the sky, and screams fueled the atmosphere. The dark pine trees were ominous in their dignity, and the stars shone bright and cold above, burning into the hearts of two women, an mother and a daughter, who ran through the forest as phantoms whirled overhead.

(epic description ending!!! XD & in the next chapter or so you will see the eventual place where Akire's daily life is set *cough* erthawuijtloihlqueramuoinreswtlpjiinmuts *cough* [that's a riddle!])