Dust swelled up, spiraling and flying between the trees as squirrels moved from one tree to another, jumping on their branches and entering the holes in the trees.
A building stood half burnt, half collapsed, yet people opened the doors, pulling the iron rods and throwing them behind them. Families gathered as a man in a blue cap dashed into one of the buildings, screaming.
"No, no!"
"My child is still in there!"
The moment he entered and shut the door behind him, the building collapsed, falling to the ground and sending heavy dust into the air. Everyone standing outside began running, moving in the direction they could find.
But one old woman stood still, her wooden staff piercing the ground as tears welled up in her eyes, and when she closed her eyes, she spotted one of the iron ceilings of the building flying toward her head.
'You have taken all my children, take me also,' she thought, sobbing as she imagined the faces of her children, but she was pulled just a second before the slate slammed where she stood.
One by one, everyone returned to the collapsed building and began removing the heavy wood and iron rods while shouting for help.
After an hour of removing the debris, they finally saw the fractured bodies of a seven-foot man and a three-foot boy lying by each other, dead.
They carefully raised the bodies, added them to the cart already full of dead bodies, and continued their journey to Gilgal Village.
Groups of people in black dresses stood there as the cart arrived, helped the men with the cart carry the bodies, and placed them in the eight-foot, white, handmade caskets arranged an inch away from the holes dug in the ground.
A cozy wind blew, brushing the caskets and slightly raising the uncovered hair of the women among the men.
Every face turned pale, but one small girl remained there with a strange smile, looking at the casket with the name Hakim. After the men dressed in military uniforms crashed their swords together, raised them above, shouted, and pushed the caskets into the dug holes, the little girl turned to the slim lady with brown hair.
And as they shoveled dirt on the caskets, the girl began pulling her mother's cloth and shouting.
"Mommy, why are they burying Papa?"
"Eunice…"
"If they do that, Papa won't be able to do his work. I won't be able to see the wall of the city and get the ice cream."
"Euni…"
"Papa said he had a lot of work to do."
The girl's mother placed her white handkerchief to her cheeks, wiped the tears slightly, and raised the girl onto her shoulders.
Everyone standing by covered their faces while the dirt diggers turned and dabbed at their tears. Yet the girl didn't stop; she stretched her hand and shouted.
"No! Don't bury him! Papa!"
Though other bodies were being buried, the diamond miner's own became the one to touch the hearts of the villagers, and he was also the second strong person to die, after Kai's father's demise.
Wind swelled leaves from the trees and navigated them to the covered caskets, then moved on, letting them follow the villagers as they walked back to their huts.
Shadows danced on the canopy of the trees, jolting birds high as they hummed strangely in the sky.
…
"SOLDIERS OF BION CITY," Gray said, shouting and slamming his hand on the top surface of the pulpit at the podium as he tilted his head, watching each and every one standing among the fifty men, grouped in ten.
"This year is ending, but the enemies and the monsters have not been dealt with completely. Stay vigilant in every place you go: your actions, your words, and your connections. Make a good and strong connection with the civilians, both of this city and outsiders."
"Though some of us have left and joined the ancestors, as long as we still have life and are strong enough to fight, we must put in all our effort and make sure everyone is safe."
"No one is coming to help us fight our wars, so keep on training till you reach your peak, the level which will set you apart from the soldiers at the headquarters."
"SOLDIERS!"
He shouted, leaving the podium and giving the forum to Wang, who kept his head down until he raised the microphone.
He blinked, tilted his gaze, scanned every face standing in the queue, and inhaled deeply.
"Soldiers of Bion City, the sword sect soldiers, I have only one word for you. F.U.Y.D.," he said, pausing and turning his head and grinning after staring at Max for a while.
"F, Fight. O, Until. Y, You. D, Die."
He slammed the microphone on the pulpit and walked off the podium, pulling Gray along as they walked out of the door and stopped when they reached the courtyard meant for physical training, where the boxing ring is.
"Who is that soldier always behaving strangely?" Wang said, frowning and clenching his fist.
"Which of the soldiers are you referring to? Is it the same boy, Kai?" Gray said with a confused expression.
"NO! The Senior Corporal, the one with the code name MAX. He doesn't seem like a real soldier to me," Wang said, moving backward and slamming his fist on the wall and leaving spiderweb lines on it.
"Relax, I see where you're coming from. Max is one of the soldiers we recruited five years ago and helped bring peace between the bandits that rose throughout those years. But recently, his movements and actions makes me suspect him of doing something unethical."
"Let's put someone on his tail, so we get the full evidence and report him to the headquarters."
"Mmm… but his name is not in the list at the headquarters," Gray said, placing his palm on his face and gasping sharply.
"What do you mean by that?" Wang said, turning his head and staring at Gray with a death stare.
"Both the headquarters and everyone in the city knew he was dead, but he returned a few months before Kai and his group were recruited."