Defender... Or Not

Maia stood still. Unable to move. Her village was gone, destroyed to the ground. She knelt, arms trembling as she picked up the discarded bear. Covered in soot and dust, it was the last remnant that remained. Nothing was left. No homes, no roads, no people. Nothing.

She pressed the bear to her chest, her breath catching in her throat. It smelled like smoke and lavender. Tears pricked in her eyes, and her heart twisted in her chest. Her sister had a bear just like this one.

Her vision blurred.

She heard a sound. A bell? A scream?

Then her eyes focused. The bear was gone. The soot had vanished, and the ruined buildings returned to their original state. She was standing in the village square, surrounded by others. Whole and alive. They rushed past her, faces filled with fear.

Smoke rose in the distance. Fire was blazing just outside of town. They were here.

Bandits.

They were coming.

"Maia!"

She turned, eyes wide as her best friend, Silas, thrust a sword into her hands. "They're trying to break through the gates!" he shouted.

She didn't hesitate. Not this time.

She ran.

The village was alive. It was alive again - her friends and family surrounded her. The people she'd known her whole life were breathing and whole. She needed to protect it. She needed to protect everyone.

Arrows flung from the sky. Screams echoed around her, and fires erupted throughout the town. Maia stopped running as she heard a child crying.

She looked around, noticing a little girl crying amongst the rubble. She knelt beside her, gently touching the girl's cheek. "Where's your family?" she asked.

"I don't know," wailed the little girl.

Maia pulled her to her feet. "Run to the town square," she said. "Someone will help you find your family."

The little girl screamed as a blade came towards them. Maia blocked it, the blade slicing through her arm. Pain. Blood. She felt it all.

The little girl ran. Maia gripped her sword tightly.

She fought. She defended her home. She stood side by side with those she loved and fought to the end.

She helped drive them back. They defeated the bandits, cheering as the last of them fled the town. The village was safe, the people were alive.

She had done it. She had saved them. She'd fought hard and helped to protect those she cared about. She fell to her knees, sobbing. They were alive.

And then...

The wind shifted.

The buildings began to fade, turning grey and then into dust and rubble. The people cheering alongside her shimmered and slowly disappeared, leaving only bones in their place.

One by one, everything vanished.

She blinked.

The bear was in her arms, still and soft, covered in soot. And she was kneeling in the ashes and remains of her village.

Maia just sat in the silence, waiting for the world to shift again. Waiting for the chance to save her village again. But it never came.

She looked down at the bear. The same bear that her sister carried everywhere. The same bear that survived the fight, the fight she'd certainly won.

Had any of it happened?

She remembered the fighting. She remembered the victory and saving her village. Why was she the only one left? Why were the buildings destroyed, and bones scattered around her?

Her thoughts cracked.

She’d been the one who ran, hadn’t she? There was no scared little girl. Only her.

She remembered the bandits coming. People scared and yelling. She remembered running into the woods, terrified, alongside her mother and sister. People stumbling, people crying. Her brother had asked her to stay. Begged her to fight alongside them to try to stop the bandits.

But when the sword had been pressed into her hand… only fear consumed her. And she ran.

A single tear dripped down her cheek. She couldn’t save them. She’d lost everyone, and she was too scared to even try to help.

She looked at the bear again. The only thing remaining from the village. She held it tight, refusing to let it go. She couldn’t. She couldn’t let go. If she had only changed her choice that day. If she had run towards the battle, instead of away, maybe they would all still be standing here.

The ruins stretched out before her, still and silent. But in her mind, the battle still raged. She would fight, win, return to the ruins of her village... and then fight again. Until the day she could forgive herself.