Lyren had a final dance with Daisy and by the end after nightfall, she gave him a complicated look. She could tell he was there but he was not there anymore.
She was among the last ones to leave later after the dance. They did not have a heartfelt talk but a logical one. Still, she had a bad feeling but she could not overstep.
There was no goodbye or anything and it was just that one final look as she left with her proud mother who had beaten everyone. She was the star of the day.
Lyren watched as everyone left and soon, it was only him and the old lady who were left. They were standing together in silence with no one sure what to say after what had just happened.
They had not even mourned or done a memorial of his mother which had brought them here!
"It must be disappointing right? Both your mother and the villagers." She asked in a low and slow-paced voice.
The stars seemed to compete with each other which was going to release the most brightness in the skies since the moon was not around but that did not undermine their beauty.
It must be hard…"
"Grandma, let me take you home."
Lyren did not like where this talk was going and he knew she knew better than him that the talk was not going to yield fruits yet she brought it.
He was not the kind of people to repay kindness with coldness. He could tell she too was lonely.
After all, everyone had enjoyed the event she had prepared yet no one had remembered about her existence and they had left her here not caring how she would get home.
"You are one thoughtful child. Come on. The night will only get darker. Let us go," she said and she started walking ahead of him and her steps were slow and deliberate.
Lyren was not in a hurry a to send her away so he followed her pace and he placed his right hand on her shoulder and the other hand on the other hand held her right hand.
The journey was a short one but also slow. He helped her into her house and he had entered first to light up the lantern for her. He made sure that she was settled before he said goodbye and goodnight to her.
"Don't go thinking that it was your fault. She never blamed you. She never stopped saying that you are a good kid."
The old voice drifted to his ears as he shut the doors. He was a good person? He doubted for how long that was going to last.
***
Lyren did not go home immediately and he walked through the village from one end to the other. He did not cause any commotion and it was a peaceful night.
The children were full and tired and they had gone to bed directly. The mothers would have wanted to gossip much more but they were in their homes on their beds tired from the long day.
The men were drunk and fast asleep. Only a lantern was lit in each house and the night crickets did not seem to want to jinx this atmosphere by being noisy.
It was one of those moonless nights where only silence prevailed. There were fire flies here and there competing with the stars for brightness.
Lyren did not miss any of these details and there was only one word to describe it.
Perfect.
He walked back to the house and the single lantern at the door was the only light coming from the house after he opened the gates.
There was no creaking of the hinges this time. He looked at the house for a long time as this place used to host everything that mattered to him.
Now, it had nothing in it and the only thing that mattered was the sword he had left on the table. He walked inside and went directly to pick it.
He did not bother to look around at all as he walked out. He took the lantern at the entrance and threw it inside the house as its oil started spreading on the wooden floor.
He stood at the entrance as he watched the flames start burning the wood. The flame wavered but it went off after a while.
It appeared that the flames were not hot enough.
Well, that was not going to stop him though. He had flames inside him that he had yet to use. Their first actual purpose was going to burn down this place that was a shell of what used to be.
Lyren did not put his thoughts into action until into was very dead in the night. He conjured fire on his right hand which coalesced into a ball floating on his palm.
He then threw it into the house exactly where the lantern had fallen. When his flames touched the wood, the wood could not resist as it fell victim to the fire.
The fire spread out neatly through the wooden floor and then to the other rooms.
The living room started burning and the table which had been repaired caught fire too quickly. There was no smoke yet and the fire was still internal.
Lyren watched as everything he once knew started burning. He watched as the walls finally caught fire and he still stood at the entrance which was already burning.
Well, he was not afraid of the fire and it only seemed to get warmer and warmer but it never closed the bridge of being unbearable.
He then walked to the center where he watched as everything burned. The roof collapsed but he did not evade the pole that threatened to crush him. He instead burned them before they could reach him.
He then walked outside where he watched the house finally crumble and it continued to burn. Whenever the fire went off and only left smoldering wood, he would throw fireballs into them and the fire would burn everything.
He witnessed as the final embers were turned to ash leaving an empty space where it used to be a house.
The house had burned silently and not even the neighbors were alerted. Lyren tightened his grip on the sword as he turned away and left.
This was the end of his life here in this village.
***
"Hurry up Brenda or do you want to lose to that Daisy? She stole all the spotlight yesterday but if you manage to become close with him, you will have won. You will get to spend the whole day with him. Hurry up!"
The sun was barely up yet a good mother had woken before dawn and prepared her daughter to go and try to please him. This was what was going to be the norm from now on. Well, could have been.
"Don't forget to try getting intimate with him. I can't believe that Daisy even danced with him. But do not worry. You shall have the spotlight soon when you claim him for yourself."
Brenda listened and she seemed to wear a sort of smile that made her 'cute'. A trained smile.
They reached the gate soon and they knocked several times. There was smell of ash but they assumed it was because of all the cooking they had done the previous day.
When there was no response, the two looked around before hesitantly opening the gates.
Their first reaction was that of denial as they checked again and again because that could not be real. What was with that empty space?
Where was the house they had painstakingly renovated? The ashes and the burned grass were the only things that stood out. Dark gray ashes. The two could not take it and it was their screams that woke up the entire village.
It did not take long before there was already a crowd forming. They gave weird glances at the mother-daughter pair but they did not get the chance to act before they were assaulted by the sight of the burnt up house.
By the time the whole village had assembled, only curses flew in the air.
Men raged and women wept. It was obvious the boy had done this but for him to do so after they had taken their sweet time to return the furniture and renovate the house…
That was beyond outrageous. The women recalled the utensils they had brough back and also their plans for their daughters and they felt like they had been played.
But of all, the men were the angriest and only one question prevailed. Where was the kid? They would beat him up until he begged for his life.
They looked for him the whole day and it was then it dawned to them that this family had finally cut ties with them.
There was never going to be anything for the boy to come back for. To make matters worse, they thought that they were on good terms the previous day.
The kid had been holding a grudge instead!
Daisy clenched her small fist as she sighed. She had expected him to do something like leaving but his leaving was not impactful as what he left behind.
No one was going to forget how their hard work had been turned to ash. She smiled as she discovered something about Lyren.
He was petty.