Ula was sweating as she re-entered the cabin. For only training again for a few days sucked, but she was glad she was starting a habit. Inside, it was quiet as she closed the door behind her, and walked towards the kitchen. She didn't hear a noise, as she went into the refrigerator for something to drink.
As she sat down with a bottle of water, the clothes she was wearing tightened to her. She barely fit into her old training outfits now, and that was embarrassing, she knew, as she drank the water in silence. That was until she heard a door creak open.
"Laken, I thought you were tired?" she called out, looking towards the noise's direction.
"Mama, I'm hungry." Laken moved out his room, and towards her.
"What do you want?" she said, as she downed the drink before getting up to see what he could eat. "Will a fruit do for now?"
"I like fruits!"
She smiled at him, as she opened the door to a buzzing sound. Weird, she noted, as she grabbed an apple laying inside. As she closed the door and began wiping it down, the noise continued.
"That's strange. I've never heard that noise before." she noted, as she handed Laken the apple. "But this will keep you full for a bit until I make us something good!"
"Thanks Ma!" Laken delightedly replied as he hugged her leg.
Suddenly, a deafening boom was heard, causing many objects inside to fall onto the floor, and a few of them broke, Ula in surprise. She rushed towards the window as the ground shook around her, to see several flying vehicles slowly moving above in the sky. Her eyes widened in fear, as she remembered the day clearly, only a few years ago.
She, Jamal, and the others were in Saputa City, moving away from Youden's army and so their military could save them all. Or so she believed at the time. The bombs, and the smoke, and the destruction, was all coming back to her.
"Ma, is that the baddies again!" Laken cried out, "The ones that took Pa?"
She looked back at him, as she quickly grabbed his hand, as they hurried towards her room without responding. She moved past the bed she and Jamal slept in, and moved to the corner of the room, where she began moving piles of old books and belongings of little use out the way.
"Hey, can you help move this stuff out the way with me?" she directed Laken, who dug deep into the remaining bits of his apple, before helping Ula push things out the way.
Once cleared, was a small handle, to which Ula pulled up, revealing a dark passage underneath the house. She hadn't been here since they first moved in here, and today it would be their best hope to survival, just in case one of their destructive creations landed near them if it wasn't close enough.
As she helped Laken carefully move down the steps, another explosion was heard, shaking the house more violently with plaster falling around them, as Ula almost slipped down the stairs.
"Ma!" Laken cried out, as she steadied herself.
"I'm fine. We're almost there." she calmly told him, as they continued moving down.
A few more steps and they were there. Ula stepped on the hard concrete, as she had taken her shoes off above. They probably wouldn't be good anymore anyway, but it didn't matter. The basement, however, was quite bare with a few boxes lying around to add a slight amount of detail. No windows, just nothing of value here.
"Come on." Ula told Laken, as they moved to the center of the room.
"Will Hoppy and the others be okay?"
"They should. They've been through worse."
"Worse than Pa?"
Ula looked at him. Jamal would have made sure they would be much safer than this. But he was gone, and it would be up to Ula to watch their boy.
"Maybe. But I need to do something, in case things do get worse. Stay still."
Lakon watched, as Ula closed her eyes, and lifted her hands up. She concentrated, as a sliver of darkness appeared around her hands, as it slowly began to spread, despite another explosion in the distance, causing it to falter slowly. She pushed through, as it slowly began to cover over them.
Lakon just watched in awe, as they were completely surrounded, and Ula put her hands down, take a quick breath, before grinning at him.
"You can do that?" Laken asked surprisingly.
"I can do more than that, but yeah. Now, we're going to sit tight for a bit. You still have your apple?"
He just shook his head, as Ula's stomach grumbled from hunger. They were going to be here for a while, she knew, as a few more explosions continued around them.