(Continuation, in a way, of day 1: Miscommunication)

Her heart, once a dazzling flame, was now little more than a smoldering amber.

Odri was tired of everything. Of life, of caring. Of having everyone dear to her leave.

At that point, even happy occasions were marred by the presence of ghosts. Marriages and birthdays, promotions and graduations were little more than a reminder of the people no longer around to see it and a world that had changed too much.

That did not mean she wanted to die. She definitely did not want to die like that.

No one noticed the troops until it was too late. No one expected an attack, and no one expected the banner lovingly kept in the dining hall to be the harbinger of slaughter.

Odri should have known that everyone in the Stapleton family except for Lawrence were scum.

As much as she wanted to deny the family resemblance, the man smirking at her looked so much like Lawrence – when he was still alive, still young. That on itself was the worst insult, a man so vile living because Lawrence, her beautiful Lawrence, had given up his life.

“It’s nothing personal,” the man in front of her said. “We need this land and the resources. We have the means. It’s an eat or be eaten world, you know.”

“To me, it’s personal,” Odri bit out.

“Now, now. You can still live if you cooperate. I’m not so cruel as to kill a helpless old woman.”

Even so high up in the tower she could hear the screams of her people outside, on the lower floors. The dead rose as living corpses, adding to the massacre and creating even more panic. Against an horde of undead, her small guard could do little, and Odri herself was backed into a corner, unable to help anyone but herself.

There were plenty of people, old and young, for whom he’d already showed no mercy. But if there was one thing Odri refused to be, it was powerless.

She straightened her back and cast the most arrogant look she could muster on her attackers. If she was going to die, she would do so with dignity. If she had to die, she’d make sure everyone else burned.

For the first time since the Calamity, the familiar magic answered her call without any effort, mirroring her fury.

For one last night, her fire set the world ablaze.

—–

Okay, this one’s short but I still really liked how some bits of it turned out.