There was once a quiet mountain town named Cardbill, a place known for two things:
love and justice.
Its people disagreed with their government, angry over corrupt elections and dirty tricks used to climb into power,.but even in protest, they never forgot kindness. They argued with the rulers, not with each other. Cardbill was that kind of place.
What began as a local protest soon started to spread across the country.
Other towns, cities, and villages began rising up too, inspired by Cardbill's unity.
News channels spoke about marches happening everywhere. People were demanding truth.
The government grew uneasy… quietly preparing for something.
In this town lived a small family of three.
A boy named Volow Arokin, his mother Melon, and his stepfather Thod Ash. Volow never met his real father; his mother told him he had passed away the same year he was born. Still, their little family was happy.
But Volow… always felt a quiet loneliness. He had friends to laugh with outside, yet when he returned home, something inside him felt empty.
He once asked his mother for a cat.
She refused immediately, she didn't want pets in the house.
So Volow let the idea go.
Five months later, winter arrived. Snow dusted the rooftops of Cardbill like soft white memories. Volow came home one evening, cheeks red from the cold, when he noticed something small curled up near the doorstep.
A cat.
Injured. Shivering.
He picked it up without hesitation.
"Mother… please help him," Volow begged.
Melon didn't like animals. But Melon was also from Cardbill, a town where compassion ran thicker than blood. She sighed, took the tiny creature inside, and treated its wounds.
They called him Suki.
Days passed. Then weeks. Then months.
And suddenly, Suki was no longer temporary, he was family.
The once reluctant Melon would now panic if Suki wasn't in her sight. Thod would sneak him treats under the table. Suki would climb onto Volow's shoulders every time he returned home, meowing proudly like he owned the boy.
He was small, energetic, innocent
and he filled the emptiness in Volow's heart.
Two days before Thod's birthday, Volow decided to get him a gift. Thod had never treated him like a stepson, he had given more than a real father ever could. When Volow was three, he'd suffered a mysterious illness. To save him, Thod lost his right arm… and even the thumb of his left foot.
Thod was a real man.
So Volow wanted a meaningful gift.
He traveled to a neighboring town, a small trip across the mountain roads, to buy a watermelon and the ash of a special flower. He didn't know the proper names, but he wanted to show Thod that Melon and Ash were perfect together.
The afternoon sun was fading when he prepared to return home.
But just as he stepped out of the town gates,
Something hit him. Hard.
So hard that the world vanished.
Black.
When he opened his eyes, the sky was dark.
People were running, screaming, scattering like frightened birds. Sirens, shouting, rumbling, it all merged into a terrifying noise.
Volow reached for his microball—a tiny device that worked like a communicator and radio. It was gone. Lost.
He turned toward Cardbill…
And froze.
The sky above his home…
was red.
A deep, horrible red, like the heavens were bleeding.
Fear exploded inside him.
He ran. Ran harder than he ever had.
When he arrived, he stumbled to a stop.
Cardbill…
was gone.
Not destroyed.
Not damaged.
Gone.
Nothing remained except gray ash that swirled with each breath of wind. The houses, the buildings, the streets...everything had turned into dust and blood.
Volow collapsed, tears already burning his face.
"No… no… no…"
He ran toward where his home used to be.
Ashes.
Broken wood.
Blood stains.
Nothing else.
He screamed, the kind of scream that tears the throat and soul. His knees hit the ground.
And then,
A faint sound.
A soft, weak meow.
"Suki…?"
Volow turned and saw him,
Suki, covered in blood, trembling, barely able to keep his eyes open.
Volow grabbed him gently, holding him close as if afraid the small cat would vanish too.
"Where is mother, Suki…? Where is father…?" Volow sobbed, his voice shattered. "You're just a small, innocent creature… why did you have to go through this again? I found you injured once… and now you're hurt even worse…"
Suki pressed his tiny head against Volow's hand, trying to comfort him despite his own pain.
Volow cried harder.
Everyone he loved,
his mother, his father, his friends, his teachers...
All gone.
He was the only survivor of Cardbill.
And the ashes of the town trembled in the wind.