Chapter 5: The Fall of Cali-Maktar
1015 Words
Part 2
As Zeryl traveled to the volcanic territory the only things that ran through his mind was how horrific the fire was many years ago when he was only eight years of age. That fire had taken place on the eve of his ninth birthday; on that day, his parents went to town to buy him a gift. He stayed with his hundred and five-year-old grandparents on the second to last minor hill called Damascus. As the young boy sat outside and played with his toys, he can see it plain as day the huge army battleships coming from the coast.
There were over five hundred vessels within sight though they were still extremely far away. Zeryl could see them and even the symbol that they bore on their flags and sails; not only this but judging from the way the ships looked. Even Zeryl with his elementary education could tell they were not regular sea dwelling vessels, but war bound battleships. While still far out Zeryl was able to make out the insignia upon the sail of one of them, as it was unmistakably the insignia of the water tribe.
Zeryl went to convey to his grandparents of what he saw but they paid him no mine and told him not to worry, as it could be just another dispute between the coastal city and the ocean dwellers again. Relieved yet still troubled by what he saw went back outside to play disregarding everything. However, it had not been a good couple of hours until you could see fog and billows of smoke in the distance towards the coastal city of Cali-Maktar. Alarmed by this Zeryl alerted his grandparents at once.
It did not take but a second and the grandparents were dressed and out the door at the sound of the news. They grabbed Zeryl, hopped in the buggy, and headed to the city. The trip down the side of the hill to the main road towards the city took twenty minutes; however, it was another fifteen minutes to the main city. When they finally reach the city, it was ablaze with fires as high as two stories. The flames that burn this city left the sky a crimson-orange glow displaying the intensity of the heat of the flames as they continue to increase.
The heat coming from each building that was on fire was not only tremendous, but also started to set areas around them on fire. As you looked around you could see people on fire running around scared and screaming. Some lay on the ground dead either by the flames or devastated by the army’s attack. There were clearly two different armies attacking the city at once. It was unmistakable as you can tell the difference between the two army’s; one was definitely the water tribe. Easily recognizable from their blue insignia on their clothes, blueish-green uniforms and the flags they carry. The other carried another kind of flag with an unknown insignia upon it. This army was clothed on green and brown uniforms.
Unlike the water tribe army, this army fought like war veterans. The leader of the secondary army and water tribe was the soon to be King, Poccia Q-Varnise. Upon reaching the city, the boy could see the devastation firsthand. Buildings in ruin and falling apart, people dead or injured almost everywhere, and armies marching through the city shooting anything that moved or looked to be resisting. Some soldiers were even setting random buildings on fire to smoke anyone hiding inside them. Everywhere he looked, he could see the flames as they continued to burn and spread; they got higher and hotter than before as it continued.
After reaching the burning city, Zeryl and his grandparents hid and dodged the king’s armies while approaching the toy store. They entered the city from the side and the store was about two-hundred meters away. When Zeryl and his grandparents reached the toy store in the city, it was already in ruins and burnt to a crisp with debris scattered everywhere. Seeing this they very carefully started searching the fallen building. Suddenly, Zeryls screamed out of fear of what he just saw. The grandparents came running to Zeryl, only to find that there in the center of the building laid the corpses of his parents partially burnt to a crisp on the outside, among many other bodies. Yet they clung to one another as to protect something noted the grandfather. The grandfather then walked up to the parent’s corpses and separated them to find a box unburned protected by both their bodies. The box had a label saying, “To our loving son! Love your parents.” Immediately after grabbing the box, the grandparents took Zeryl, the bodies and hurried out of the city.
Later that evening they gave his parents a proper burial upon the hill. However, it was already too late to save the city, that day would be forever burned within Zeryl’s mind, on July 3rd of the year 3248 the city of Cali-Maktar fell. King Q-Varnise completed his takeover of the city and renamed it Tresca. The new King wasted no time in demolishing the rest of the city and starting its rebuild. Also killing as many of the surviving military force that didn’t swear loyalty to him; afterward his rule became absolute by the military forces he commanded. He built there in the middle of the city his capital Costen and the palace of Q-Varnise. At the time, everything seemed to be okay for the water tribe as they rejoice in the taking over of the city. However, it was short lived. The King then turned on his new allies wiping those that didn’t adhere to his ideals, the only ones he spared militarily were those that were strong enough that he could use for his personal guard and of course those that protected the elemental relics. Thus, allowing him to gain temporarily two of the nine elemental mystic relics.
- Writer
