Tyreceus awoke a few minutes later with blood on his face, and hair.
He had a horrible headache, and his vision was blurry. A loud beep went off on his phone, and sirens echoed in the air. He sat up and turned to look at his wife. He was still gripping her hand, but that was all that was left of her.
He screamed and let go, and it dropped to the ground.
"Amara," he screamed. "Where are you!?"
Her disembodied hand did not reply.
Tyreceus' house was destroyed. The front was mainly rubble, the roof was gone, and there was no way inside as the giant chunks of debris had blocked it. Tyreceus got out his phone to call for help, and the words Seek Shelter, Invasion Imminent was on the screen, a redundant notification that was no help at all.
He tried calling, but the phone lines were full. He was not the only one in need of rescue, and he knew that no one might not ever come. After trying to get through to someone several times, he gave up and tried to help them himself.
He rolled up his sleeves and wiped the dirt and blood off his face. He struggled to move the large pieces of debris. Tyreceus was not a very muscular man. A desk job does not give much opportunity for that.
He called out for his family, but no one answered. At one point he just sat down and cried. He didn't want to give up, so after a few minutes of crying, he kept going. For hours he called out their name, but no one answered. Of the few neighbors he had that was still living they did not stop to help.
They were too afraid of another bomb, and ran quickly, taking whatever they could salvage from the rubble of their own homes. Tyreceus did not blame them. He wanted in that very moment to run away as far as he could and never look back.
He was not a brave man, he was in fact what most people would consider a coward. He did not argue often and was very soft-spoken. He didn't want to continue doing nothing for the rest of his life.
Every time something happened, he just accepted it.
He accepted that his mother lied to him, that his entire life was a lie and simply ran away. He accepted that his father was wrongfully executed, and he could do nothing about it. He accepted a child that wasn't his.
He did not fight the local government's decision to deny him and Ace citizenship, even after he became a government employee as a teacher. For the first time in his life, he was ready to take back what was his, as Unas had so frequently suggested, but it was too late.
He continued, late into the night, the sounds of artillery in the distance, and explosions. He tuned them out, shivering in the cold as he pulled rubble away from the entrance of his house. His hands were raw and bleeding, cut from the sharp objects and glass that would tear his skin as he continued.
Tyreceus screamed until he could not anymore, calling for his family. Around 2 AM he finally found his wife. She was dead, her right hand missing, her eyes wide open and glazed over. Her legs were crushed and she had bled out slowly underneath the rocks.
Tyreceus was too exhausted to cry. He had been up all through the night in vain, and before him, another piece of his life was taken from him. Another woman he loved would no longer be with him, again for something outside of his control.
He carefully picked up the body of his wife, and laid her down, far away from the rubble. He took off her wedding and engagement ring and put them in his pocket. He slept next to her, having accepted that the rest of his family was possibly dead.
The second day he awoke to the smell of a rotting corpse under the hot sun and more sounds of fighter jets roaring through the air. The horrid smell exuding from the body of his dead wife made him finally realize that the same would happen to his children if he did not continue.
He persevered, dehydrated and tired, pushing away more rubble. At one point he could not push anymore. All the rubble was simply too large to move. He sat at the bottom of the pile and sobbed. He screamed and refused to admit that his children were most likely dead.
Tyreceus could not hear anything underneath the rubble and started to give up. By the time night had fallen, he had accepted that he was truly alone again. Tyreceus didn't want to leave. He sat there, with a blank look on his face, waiting for help to arrive, hoping that he could at least have bodies for a funeral.
The sounds of artillery went on all through the day, but during the night it was quieter, and he could finally relax and sleep.
On the third day, he was awoken by a large woman.
She was not large in the sense that she was overweight. She was tall and her presence domineering.
Her hair was long and brown, as were her eyes and skin. She had an intense look in her eyes, always on alert, and she wore boots, tight jeans with a simple red shirt. She had a large backpack, with many pockets and supplies, and a red helmet was in her hand.
"Are you okay," she whispered.
Tyreceus shook his head no. The woman saw the look of despair on his face. She took off her heavy backpack, and Tyreceus was surprised when it let out a loud doom, as it hit the ground. She got out a bottle of water and some crackers, and he greedily took it, his last meal being two days ago.
"Thank you," Tyreceus said.
"You're welcome."
She sat down on the ground next to him and held him close. Tyreceus was surprised by the sudden human touch, and he sobbed.
"They're stuck under there," he cried. "My children."
The woman suddenly stood up and had a desperate look on her face.
"I will get them out," she promised.
"You can't," he sobbed.
"Yes I can," the woman insisted. "I have two abilities."
Tyreceus stopped sobbing, and watched as with ease, the Amazonian lifted the rubble away from the entrance of his house.
"I am so lucky that you found us," Tyreceus said.
"It is not a coincidence," she stated. "One of my abilities was luck. They sent me out knowing I could find as many people as possible because I would be lucky enough to find them."
Tyreceus hoped that her luck would rub off on him and his children would live.
It did not.
The tall woman was happy that she had recently won a battle, so some of the power she had obtained from her enemy was still coursing through her. She could easily move the boulders out of the way to find the children trapped underneath.
She found them both in a small little enclave inside the rubble. Aegean had his head crushed in by a bolder, and the woman was simply relieved that his death had been quick.
Acheus laid there, still and quiet.
For the past three days, he had been stuck inside the little space with the dead body of his brother. He had to sit there, in the dark, smelling the rotting corpse, hearing the bugs scramble on it, and he cried, knowing that he would be next.
He had a phone to see in the dark. A little phone with no SIM card, simply with games to play. He didn't turn it on, not wanting to see the body of his dead brother again. He only lived as long as he did because of the small gap on top that let air filter through.
Tyreceus has unknowingly shifted the rocks, and the small hole that helped him breathe had closed.
The woman went into the hole and checked to see if Ace was still breathing. He had stopped breathing for only a few seconds, but it was enough to hurt him. She tried to resuscitate him with CPR, and Tyreceus again despaired that he could do nothing.
Ace awoke and gasped sharply. He groaned on the ground, and the sudden light hurt his eyes. Tyreceus approached him warily, uncertain that some other maleficent entity would take his son.
"Are you okay," he whispered. Ace shook his head no, and he cried. His father held him as if he were a baby again as if he were still fidgeting and grunting, needing to be reassured that everything would still be fine.
"Thank you," Tyreceus whispered.
"I am just happy that I could finally help someone," she mumbled. "I have walked for so long, and no one seems to be here."
"They left," he replied. "It was the smart thing to do."
For the next half hour, the woman checked Ace and made sure he was okay. He and his father were simply hungry and dehydrated, and she gave them as much as she could.
They spoke and exchanged names, and Ace started to relax around her. Her name was Mary Sue, and she came on a rescue mission with people from the 7th realm when they learned that the Regal Empire was again attacking another peaceful nation.
"You're so strong," he mumbled. "How?"
It was of course her two abilities, but she tried to say something encouraging since he was just a child.
"I like to think that helping others makes me stronger," she said. Ace nodded and truly believed this would be the case, that helping others was the only way someone could ever be strong.
Mary Sue's words so deeply set the course of his life, and she would never know.
"Let me help you find someplace safer," she offered. Mary Sue went through her large utility bag and got out two pieces of paper. They had itinerary information on them, and instructions to go along.
"We're giving this so people can escape," she told Tyreceus. "Everyone in the Galactic Union is afraid that the Empire is going to destroy this planet if it doesn't give up. Methuselah doesn't seem to want to do that any time soon."
Tyreceus quickly took them and stuffed them in his pocket.
"I am sorry that the Union cannot take all of you," she mumbled. "They thought that those we could not take, we could at least find another way to help them leave."
"The Union is truly kind then," Tyreceus replied.
They were not. Anyone who was an enemy of the Empire was their friend.
"Don't stay here," said Mary Sue. "I have to find more people, and I can't protect you."
"My friend is stuck in there," Ace shouted. "Stuck in the house!"
Mary Sue glared at Tyreceus and screamed at him. "What is wrong with you," she shouted. "I could have saved another child, and all you thought of was your own?"
"You misunderstand," he rasped. "He is not a normal child."
"He lives in my blanket," Ace declared.
Mary Sue eyed the both of them and scoffed. "Your child is too old to be playing these games," she mumbled. "Maybe the trauma might be hurting his brain."
"You're just like mom," he screamed. "She never believed me!" Tyreceus flinched at the mention of his wife, and suddenly Ace realized she wasn't there. Mary Sue had long moved her body aside, and Ace looked around in the rubble.
"Where's mom," he asked. Tyreceus said nothing and Ace understood.
"I'm sorry," Mary Sue said. Ace nodded, knowing that there was nothing he could do. He tried not to cry and simply made loud grunting noises as he held on to his father.
His old habit as a baby had held over and he buried his face into his father's chest as he held him close.
Tyreceus suddenly remembered that the sword and watch were stuck in the house as well.
"Don't leave," Tyreceus pleaded. "You need to help us get the blanket! It's special!"
"I can't stay here just for this," she said. "I have to-"
"A boy is living inside it," Tyreceus insisted. "I have a watch, and a sword as well, all the same!"
He was desperate to make sure that nothing happened to them, and with the sword, he knew he could defend his son. Mary Sue approached him and towered over him.
"This sword. Does it use fire?"
Tyreceus now knew he had made a grave mistake. This woman who could tear him in half now knew the location of two very dangerous objects.
"Yes," he mumbled. "It's very special."
"How did you acquire the Sword of Vengeance," she asked. "Who are you?"