Enigmas

With those words, her grandmother tensed up, her eyes turning golden just like Hilia's when she did the ceremony. This time, however, was completely different as her grandmother's body started turning transparent and golden particles began floating up into the sky from where her grandmother stood.

Hilia grabbed onto her grandmother, but she was too late.

Her grandmother was gone.

The golden particles slipped through her fingers and she watched in tears as her grandmother's life force disappeared within a few seconds, not even a second to delay. Tears were rolling down her face as Hilia gazed up into the sky, a wretched look on her face.

The sky lighted up brightly, a beautiful woman appearing in the sky, resembling a giant. The mysterious woman was dressed in a shimmering white dress and her golden hair glittered blindingly, cascading down to her waist. Glancing down, she pulled the staff towards her and it transformed into a large heavenly spear. She moved, preparing to launch the spear into the ground.

"Begone!"

She said in a piercing, spectral voice, adeptly throwing the spear into the middle of the village. A translucent wave of golden particles came out from the spear, causing the attackers of the village to be blown away from the village with an invisible force, along with the fire. The attackers didn't have a chance to recover from the sudden attack, howling in pain as they watched themselves disintegrate, disappearing with the wind.

A few seconds later, the woman disappeared from the sky, leaving no traces of her presence behind, the spear eventually transmuting back into the plain wooden staff, dropping onto the gravel, in the middle of the village. Meanwhile, a distraught Hilia fell to the ground, her knees digging painfully into the gravel, but she couldn't feel a thing as she gazed forlornly at the spot where her grandmother was moments ago, the staff laying on the ground.

Her tears didn't stop, still continuously flowing out of her eyes.

At the same time, the villagers glanced around in amazement, awe evident in their eyes at the uncanny force that drove their attackers out of the village and eliminated them, as well as extinguishing the terrifying flames that were swallowing their village.

Yoan panted, blood splattered everywhere on him, accompanied by a few cuts and bruises. He jogged towards Hilia, who was still kneeling on the ground, not moving from her spot.

"…Hilia…?" Yoan approached her, realising a disconcerting aura surrounding her as he stepped beside her. His eyes widened in shock when he noticed tears sliding down her face, and he surged forward.

"Hilia! What's wrong with you? Are you hurt?"

Hilia numbly shook her head, glancing up at Yoan.

"Where's grandmother?" Yoan asked, not knowing the reason behind her odd behavior.

"…gone…" Hilia mumbled out, Yoan managing to hear soft voice, which sounded so broken and lost.

Yoan's face immediately became solemn as he pulled Hilia up to her feet and she did not put up any resistance. He noticed the grazed skin on her knees, but he knew that she didn't need to heal herself now, she needed to grief over another loss of her family member.

Her last surviving family member in the whole wide world.

"She's gone, Yoan."

"I know."

"Gone…"

"I know."

"Gone, forever…"

"I know, Hilia."

Yoan stepped forward, embracing her in a comforting manner, resting her head against his chest.

"Forever." Hilia whispered out, her voice and pupils returning back to normal as she wrapped her arms around Yoan, wailing loudly into his chest. Yoan held a trembling Hilia in his arms and he hugged her tightly, dismal evident on his face.

"Wh...y…" She choked out, her voice hoarse and Yoan remained still, allowing her to cry on his chest. He held back his tears, remaining silent, only allowing one stray tear to escape out from his eye.