The explosion wasn't very powerful but it was enough to send everyone into panic. The shockwave had knocked everyone off balance.
"The hell was that!!!" Exclaimed Gayle,
"Was that some kind of attack?" Macy asked,
"We wouldn't know for sure,we must mobilize our forces and-" Once again Garle was cut off, this time by the flash of bright red light,red flames streaking at full speed towards the direction of the explosion.
As soon as Rashen saw the fire from the distance he wasted no time,he knew what he needed to do. The wind in his ears,he flew faster and faster with each passing second because he knew that if he didn't, people might die.
People ran and crawled out of the burning building,covered in soot and burns. Some people could barely walk,some couldn't move,it was total chaos. One woman laid on the floor crying her eyes out
"MY BABY!!! SOMEONE HELP ME SAVE MY BABY" She screamed but people just ran by her trying to save themselves instead. She couldn't move,she could only watched as the unstable apartment building burnt down with the thought that her baby might be dead,then she saw the red light burst through the side of the building.
Red light flashed through every opening in the building,there was commotion coming from inside,cries and screams and then more survivors came bursting through the door both the young and the old. But among these people the lady couldn't see anyone holding her baby anywhere,
"What happened in there?" Someone asked,
"We're not too sure ourselves,we were trapped under debris and someone or something got us out,we couldn't see it's face" One of the survivors replied. They saw more flashes coming from inside the building.
"Looks like whatever it was is still in the building".
The lady in her mind prayed and hoped that whatever was responsible for saving those people would save her baby too.
Macy and Gayle arrived at the scene, immediately after Rashen flew off they followed. Macy walked up to the crying lady on the ground and picked her up, someone from the crowd came over to help, taking her further from the burning building.
"Please save my baby" she said to Macy,teary eyed and all.
"It's not looking too good for you the building" Gayle commented as he watched the building,it began to collapse. Immediately Gayle forced his two hands into the earth with a strained look on his face. He connected to the earth itself summoning all his power to hold the building up.
"How long can you hold it?" Macy asked
"S'long as I need to" he replied with a strained voice.
With that Macy began. Her movements were subtle, almost like dance movements,but it wasn't. She was gathering the air around, changing it's direction,she had full control. It was only a matter of time,she chose to believe so.
There was great bright flash,all of a sudden the flames got bigger,the lady screamed for her baby and immediately Macy directed all the wind she gathered at the building, snuffing the flames out entirely. Gayle let go of the earth and the building collapsed as soon as he did. The lady wailed and sobbed uncontrollably at the presumed death of her baby,she only stopped when she heard the cheers,she looked up.
Rashen was up in the air, holding the small life wrapped in a pick blanket gently. Every eyes that were on him cheered. It was a great feeling because unlike back at the graduation ceremony, this looked genuine. He landed on the floor and walked up to the lady,the crowd made way for him. He gently handed the lady back her cat,she cried,this time tears of joy,her baby(which happened to be a cat) was now safe in her arms.
"Thank you" she said holding her cat ever so gently,voice filled with gratitude and eyes filled with tears.
Rashen looked behind him to see his fellow cadets. They walked up to him, and Macy smacked him as hard as she could,
"That was for flying off without us",she smiled at him, "Good work",
Gayle patted him on the back,
"Didn't know ya had such grit in ya Rashikins"
Rashen was covered in soot and ash,but he was happy.
By the time Head Watcher Garle,Miss Marun and the Grittshore Watch arrived the excitement had already died down a little. The Grittshore Watch began administering first aid to the wounded,some members scoured the collapsed building searching for what might have caused the explosion in the first place.
After hearing the events that happened from Macy, Garle went on to address the people.
"I am happy to announce that there have been no casualties this evening and that everyone has been accounted for." The crowd began to murmur loudly and one of them spoke up,
"What about our home? Who's going to do something about it?"
"The Grittshore Watch together with the Imperial Soldiers are prepared to provide temporary shelter while your home is being rebuilt"
"Oh yeah?!! What about our clothes,money and other valuables they were destroyed? What are you gonna do about that?"
"We are willing to make some sacrifices" Said Garle in a calm voice, "I know it will be difficult but we will try as best as possible to return things to normalcy. It will be difficult but with your cooperation it can and will be done"
That was enough to soothe their tempers for a while as no one else spoke up. A member of the Grittshore Watch spoke into Garle's ear,he left the crowd who were now muttering amongst themselves, and met up with Marun and the cadets. Together with them was a man in burnt clothes covered in soot and ash with a tired expression on his face. He sat down crouched on the ground.
"I started the fire" He confessed again,this time for Garle to hear too, "I don't know how it happened....My daughter, she's sick and currently on some medication,some very expensive medication. I have to work multiple jobs just to pay her bills and..." He paused and then continued, "It's been a particularly long and stressful month but I at least had the pay to look forward too. I came back from work just to see that everything I had in my bag was gone. I was angry,I lost myself and before you know it my chair was on fire. I ran to get some water but before I could there was-"
"An explosion" Rashen finished the story for him.
"Have you ever used your taming ability prior to today?" Garle asked,
"Yes,once when I was a child,but never again."
"From the looks of things it doesn't seem like he'd be capable of causing that explosion" said Macy
"Yeah he's pretty weak looking" Said Gayle who received a smack on the head from Macy.
"Obviously there's something else at play here" Macy said,
"There better not be. It'd be such a pain in the ass to report this as anything other than a taming accident" Said Miss Marun.
Rashen knelt down to meet the man and placed his hands on his shoulder.
"Everything's going to be alright" he said
"How can it? My daughter-"
"Will be taken care of by us in the mean time" Garle added with a reassuring smile.
"Thank you" he said as he began to cry, "Thank you so much".
As Rashen,Macy and Gayle left to join the Watch, Garle said to Marun,
"Those kids of yours are something else",
She looked at them as they chatted animatedly,Gayle had just said something that prompted Macy to smack him on the head again while Rashen laughed,
"Yeah" She said, "I guess you're right".