THE LAST EMBER

Kael, a 16-year-old orphan living in the city of Orin, the last city on the planet. He was a cunning and manipulative pickpocket who lived on scraps and changes. He was distrustful towards everyone except his best friend – Nyra, she had a mysterious personality to say the least. There was one unique trait about Kael, he had no magic power. Everyone in the world had magic power flowing within them which are replenished by consuming the energy of stars. The Age of silence, a millennium of silence before a new star would form and be destroyed. The last star before the age of silence had exploded 600 years ago but its energy couldn’t be traced and its energy was highly sought after. Kael had no idea how his life was about to change.

3 HOURS BEFORE

Kael was sneakily following a man as he was navigating through the market. A woman approached the man and started talking to him. Kael thought to himself, “Wow! It’s really easy to trick old, rich men. Anyway, time to move.” Kael gets out of his hiding spot and puts his cloak over his head. He advances just as he sees the man trying to grope the woman who was talking to him. Kael thought to himself, “You don’t have to interfere. You don’t have to interfere. She knows what she’s doing.” Kael speeds up and bumps into the man sneakily stealing his wallet. Kael apologises and quickly flees the crime scene. He sneaks inside an alley and waits. After some time, the woman approaches Kael and stands beside him leaning on the Alley wall. Kael speaks up, “So, did you give him the “Perv special”?” The woman smirks and responds, “Of course, I did. He was getting way too handsy.” Kael speaks, “I would have gotten involved but…” Kael trails off as the woman responds, “I know, I would have been more worried if you had gotten involved.” Kael and the woman smile. Kael speaks, “So, where to now? Nyra” Nyra responds, “What do you think, the usual place.” Kael and Nyra start moving.

10MINUTES LATER

“Whoo! Finally, we reached the Tavern. Why do we always pick places far away from here to rob people?” Kael asked. Nyra looks at Kael with a funny look and says, “Are you sure, you’re the master pickpocket, you claim to be?” Kael scoffs and enters the Tavern. Entering the Tavern, they find the place packed with people drinking and singing in jolly. Kael and Nyra take a seat and order drinks and food. They start talking while waiting for the food to arrive, Kael speaks, “So, what do you think is The Federation planning?” Nyra responds, “What do you mean?” Kael responds, “You didn’t hear? The Federation was discussing planning an expedition for the search of the source of Magic energy released by the star.” Nyra scoffs and speaks, “Of course, all they can do is launch “expeditions” They can never do any good.” Kael smiles at Nyra’s comment as he spots their food and drinks being carried towards them. They start to eat and drink while slowly laughing on old memories. A little while later, Kael and Nyra exit the Tavern as Kael rushes to throw up as Nyra remarks, “Shouldn’t have drank that much if you couldn’t handle it.” Kael speaks in a raspy voice, “Shut up! It was a matter of Ego; I couldn’t back down from a challenge.” Kale composes himself and asks, “Shall we head back?” Nyra responds in the affirmative and they start walking towards the town center. On the way, Nyra starts speaking, “Hey, you ever heard of the myth of the last Ember?” Kale gets a confused look and responds, “Can’t say I have.” Nyra smirks and replies, “Well, let me do the honor of narrating the tale.” Nyra clears her throat and starts speaking, “Alright, let’s start from the beginning. The Last Ember is considered an object of great power with its own will. It chooses its wielder, no one can force it. It is believed to be formed during the age of darkness, considered an ember of the largest star in the cosmos, it was highly sought after, but it is said that its last wielder was corrupted by its power, he started exploiting it and killing people for no reason, it removed itself from the wielder and disappeared into thin air. It was said to have first appeared at the hands of humans during the Dark War, it appeared to the Hero of the Humans and it was used to seal the God of Darkness. The Ember stayed within the family for centuries until the corrupt wielder lost it. It is believed that during the age of silence, the God of darkness would reawaken and reign terror over the cosmos, during the darkest times the Ember would reappear at the hands of the Worthy.” Nyra finishes the story as Kael lets out a laugh while struggling to speak, “T…That’s a real good S…Story, you have there!” Nyra gets an angry look on her face, noticing this Kael stops laughing and speaks, “Wait, you were serious?” Nyra huffs and starts to walk away; Kael follows her trying to cheer her up all the way to the town center as Nightfall struck.

THE NEXT DAY

Kael woke up in the middle of the night as he saw Nyra sleeping soundly beside him, he smiled and looked outside the window to see a meteor shower lighting up the night sky. As he was enjoying the city, a sound reverberated around the city as a Voice started speaking, “Attention all citizens! The meteor shower in the night sky may look beautiful but there is a large asteroid heading towards Orin, you are ordered to head towards the shelters on opposite side of town. Kael panicking quickly runs to wake up Nyra, he tries to shake her awake but she is in deep sleep, he screams, “WAKE UP! WE ARE GOING TO DIE!” Nyra still doesn’t wake up and Kael racks his brain for an idea to wake her up as a thought struck his mind. He moves his hand towards Nyra while whispering, “God, please save me from her. I am more scared of her than the Asteroid. Forgive me, Nyra.” Kael pinches Nyra forcefully on her arm. Nyra shoots awake and shoots Kael a death glare as she says, “Why you little… You are dead!” She pounces on him as she starts to pinch him relentlessly. Kael manages to overpower Nyra as he pins her to the floor while shouting, “You can pinch me all you want later! We need to leave NOW!” Nyra stops resisting and looks at Kael with a serious look on her face before speaking, “What happened? Why do you look like that?” Kael gets off her and speaks, “There is an asteroid headed towards Orin, we need to head to the bunkers.” Kael and Nyra head out the door as they make their way to the nearest bunker. Nyra remarks, “We are so advanced in technology, yet we can’t destroy an asteroid?” Kael shoots her with a glare as they continue running. A while later, they reach the bunker but find it packed, as they enter the guards stop them and say, “Only one!” Kael looks at Nyra and says, “You enter this one, I will go to the other bunker.” Nyra replies, “No way! It’s all the way across the town. You won’t make it in time.” Kael shoots Nyra a smile and says, “Trust me, would you?” Kael runs the opposite direction as Nyra is pushed inside the Bunker and the doors close. Kael speeds towards the Bunker, just as he crosses the Town center and spots the Bunker, the voice returns, “Attention all citizens! The gates of Bunkers are being closed.” Kael thinks to himself, “No! I have to reach the bunker.” Kael sees the Bunker doors closing and speeds up but unfortunately the doors close before he could reach it. Kael slows down and collapse to his knees as he looks at the night sky enveloped in a bright light with the asteroid now visible covered in fire. Kael counts his final moments and looks back at his memories with Nyra as he whispers, “I am sorry, Nyra. I could not keep my promise. I am leaving you alone.” Kael looks up to the sky and sees the asteroid now split into pieces and one heading towards him. Kael resigns to his fate as he lays on the ground. The Asteroid pieces start colliding with surface and one collides right beside Kael flinging him into the air as many small pieces hit him. He closes his eyes and whispers, “Goodbye, Nyra.”