The demons were gone. While waiting for them to disappear completely, I looked around the village.
Almost everything had been burned down — even my house and Lina's.
Only a few buildings were still standing, blackened and half-collapsed.
"Dad!"
Lina had already reached her father. He was lying face down, blood pooled under his head.
I hurried over to my father. He was kneeling, upper body collapsed forward. The ground beneath him was dark and wet with blood.
Then the stench hit me — sharp, rotting, and thick. The smell of death.
"Ugh… it stinks," Lina said, covering her nose.
I ignored the smell and lifted my father's body, turning him over onto his back.
Lina saw what I was doing and did the same for her father.
His clothes were clean — no blood on them — but there was dried blood around his mouth. Did he cough it up?
I pulled open his shirt and froze. His chest was bruised, and his ribs were broken.
(A strong impact… maybe the bones punctured his organs.)
I glanced at Lina's father. Same thing — bruised chest, blood at the mouth. Same kind of death.
"Lina, take off Uncle Gray's shirt," I said.
"Eh? ...Oh, okay."
She looked confused at first, but when she saw my father's chest, she understood.
She gently removed her father's shirt, eyes trembling.
Same injuries. Same cause.
We'll think about that later. For now, we need to bury our parents.
(Mom… where are you?)
I looked around but couldn't see her anywhere.
"Lina, have you seen my mom or Aunt Yalisa?"
"No… I haven't."
"I'll look around the area."
"I'll help you."
"It's faster if we split up. You stay nearby — it's safer here."
"Okay. Be careful."
I nodded and headed toward my house. Lina went the other way.
When I reached it, only the burned outline remained.
(Guess she didn't make it out either.)
I stepped through the ashes — no trace of her.
I checked Lina's house too. Same thing.
They must have fallen somewhere outside.
I went back to my father, trying to think where Mom could've gone.
Then I heard it — someone shouting.
"Karen!"
It was Lina's voice. Of course. No one else was left alive to call me.
She came running, panting hard.
"I found my mom and Aunt Atris!"
My heart jumped. "Where!?"
"Over there!" She pointed east.
"Let's go."
She was out of breath, so we walked fast instead of running.
We passed the chief's house, then another fifty meters — and there they were.
Mom lay on the ground, a huge wound cutting from her shoulder down her side.
Lina's mother had a hole through her chest and arm, blood soaked deep into the dirt.
(Mom was cut down with a sword... she must've bled out. Her sister — stabbed straight through. Weapon or magic. Either way, they're gone.)
I thought about how to move Mom and Aunt. With just me and Lina, we didn't have enough strength to carry them a long distance. I looked around, then turned to Lina and said.
"Lina, go find some wooden poles — the round kind."
"Round poles? Why?"
"So we can carry them back to where Dad is."
"Um... okay?"
Lina, still full of confusion, went off to gather wooden sticks, while I started looking for a large plank—something big enough to carry both Mom and Aunt Yalisa. I could've made a platform out of a Wall, but it would be too heavy to move. So, a wooden board would have to do.
I walked into one of the houses that hadn't been burned down. There was no one inside, and I didn't see any suitable planks. So I went to check the other houses. Eventually, I found a sturdy table—the legs were round, perfect for rolling. I examined its structure: there was a gap between the tabletop and the legs. It looked detachable.
I flipped the table upside down, its legs pointing toward the ceiling. Grabbing one of the legs tightly, I stepped on the tabletop and pulled hard. It was too tight to move, so I started shaking it back and forth while pulling. Slowly, I felt it loosen, and with one final heave, it came off. I did the same for the other three legs.
Once I was done, the table had become one flat wooden board and four wooden rods. I lifted the shorter end of the board and tried dragging it toward the door, but the doorway was too small. I tried standing the board upright, but it was far too heavy for me to hold.
Still, I didn't let that problem bother me for long. I can just use magic to make the door bigger.
Raising my hand, I unleashed about half my strength.
"Stone Bullet! Stone Bullet! Stone Bullet! Stone Bullet!"
Four sharp blasts echoed—bang, bang, bang, bang! The wall crumbled under my spell, leaving a hole big enough for me to drag the wooden board through.
By the time I pulled it over to where Mom was lying, Lina had just come back.
"Karen, look! Is this enough?"
Scattered on the ground were more than a dozen round sticks—plenty for what we needed.
"Yeah, that's perfect. Good job!"
"Hehe."
Lina smiled, her lips curling up slightly. She really did look better when she smiled.
I picked up one of the sticks, glanced toward the opposite direction from where Dad's body was, and laid the stick flat on the ground. Then I placed one end of the wooden board on top of it. After that, I stepped back, laying down a few more sticks one by one with small gaps between them. I moved to the other side of the board and gave it a push so that the plank rolled smoothly over the sticks.
"Done."
"Karen, so… this way we can move my mom and Aunt Atris back to where your dad is?"
"Yeah. First, we'll put them on the board. Lina, I'll take the shoulders—you take the legs."
"Mm."
We went to my mom first. I slid my arms gently under her armpits, while Lina grasped her by the ankles.
"I'll count to three, and we lift together."
"Mm."
"One, two, three!"
"Heave—ho!"
Together we lifted Mom's body and laid her carefully on the wooden plank. We did the same for Lina's mother.
"Karen… can we… rest a little? I… I'm about to collapse…"
Lina was panting hard, her shoulders heaving. Honestly, hearing her say that made me realize how exhausted I was too.
"Yeah, sure. If we don't rest, our bodies won't hold up anyway."
We sat down on the ground, catching our breath. After a few minutes, when our strength had returned a little, we got moving again.
"Karen, what should we do next?"
"We'll lay down the sticks as we go, push the board forward, then take the sticks from the back and move them to the front."
I demonstrated as I explained, pushing the plank forward.
"I see. Got it."
We placed a lot of sticks in front of the board so we could move several meters at a time. Repeating that process again and again—probably dozens of times—we finally reached where Dad was.
"Finally… it's so hot."
"My sweat won't stop…"
I tilted my head back, shielding my eyes from the glaring sunlight with the back of my hand. Through the gaps between my fingers, I could see the sun directly overhead.
(So it's noon already…)
The heat beat down on us mercilessly. If we didn't get water soon, we'd probably pass out from dehydration. I scanned the area and spotted the nearest standing house.
"Lina, let's rest over there."
"Mm!"
I pointed toward it, and she quickly nodded. We jogged together toward the house. Outside the door lay a corpse—someone sliced clean in half. By now, I was used to seeing bodies. They didn't shake me anymore. But Lina… I worried about her.
When I glanced at her face, though, she showed no fear at all—only quiet acceptance. Maybe after seeing so many familiar people dead earlier, she had already come to terms with it.
Inside the house, I went straight to the kitchen and found two cups, then brought them over to Lina, who was sitting on a chair catching her breath.
"Lina, water."
"Mm."
She saw the cups and understood immediately. I set them down on the table, and she held her hand over them.
"Water Ball."
A ball of water formed in midair and burst, spilling clean water into both cups until they were full.
I grabbed one and brought it to my lips, letting the cool liquid flow down my throat. After all that sweating, even plain water tasted sweet. I drank it all in one go and couldn't help sighing in relief.
"Ahh~ this is the best water I've ever had."
"I know. I've never tasted water this good before."
Lina smiled blissfully. Seeing her like that made me chuckle—I probably looked just as silly. On a day this hot, cold water really was the greatest gift.
"Lina, one more cup."
We ended up drinking several rounds, to the point our stomachs felt bloated. After a while, I decided we should rest a bit and talk about what to do next.
"Lina, after this, let's move our parents back home. We'll bury them properly."
"Mm… and what about the rest of the villagers?"
"We'll dig graves near where they fell. It's not perfect, but… we don't have time to carry everyone home. If we wait too long, the bodies will rot even more. We have to finish it today."
"Okay."
"Alright. Let's go."