Lament of the Piriah

“Come and catch me big brother!” giggled a little girl the age of 5 with long, curly brown hair. She dashed out of the small home with a young boy of 10 years following her. He had golden brown hair and deep brown eyes.
“I’m gonna get you Emma!” called the boy playfully as he chased after his sister. Before Emma could get to the huge oak in the middle of the yard he had caught up and playfully tackled her to the ground. Emma squealed as her big brother tickled her underarms.
“Ahahah! That tickles Jack!” she cried.
“That’s the point silly!” Jack replied with a chuckle.
After about five minutes Jack halted in tickling his sister so she could breathe. They both laid on their backs to gaze at the sky. The large, fluffy cumulous clouds floated by creating periods of shade when they covered the sun.
“That cloud looks like ice cream.” Emma pointed to the cloud she believed looked like the tasty treat. Jack followed and smiled.
“Yea, I bet it’s vanilla flavored.”
“Vanilla is so boring. If I were ice cream I’d be strawberry with chocolate sprinkles.” Emma licked her lips as if she could taste the sweet, frozen treat.
“You’re only saying that because it’s your favorite.” Jack laughed.
“Nu uh!” Emma pouted.
Jack grinned and turned his head to the side so he could see her face. “Ok, fine. Then what kind of ice cream am I, Emma?”
Emma thought hard and long as she looked into her brother’s face, carefully mulling over the options in her head. “You’d be devil’s food cake, Jack.”
“Why do you say that?” It was such a strange and rare ice cream that the two only had it once at their grandparents’ house during the summer festival.
“You’re not like the other boys here.” His sister answered vaguely.
“I’m your brother. Of course I’m not like the other boys in the village .”
“No, you-,” Emma’s explanation was cut off by a sharp cry in the woods. It sounded like something was in immense pain.
Jack bolted up into sitting position. “What the krag was that?”
Emma sat up next to him and peered into the darkness of the woods behind their home. When Jack stood she whimpered and grabbed onto the leg of his overalls. “No big brother! What if it’s a monster?”
“Nah, it sounded hurt, not angry.” He gently pulled Emma up to stand beside him. “You stay here, Emma. I’ll go check it out.”
“No! Don’t go alone! What if there’s a monster!” She cried.
“Hmmm…alright, but stay close and if I tell you to run, you better. I’m the eldest.”
Emma smiled and nodded happily. She loved to follow her big brother and felt completely safe in his care. If there was a monster, Jack would take care of it in the blink of an eye. The little girl trailed behind her brother into the cover of trees.
They followed the main path to make sure they could find their way back. The cries of pain came closer and closer. It was soon coming from the right side off the path. Jack frowned at the thought of going off the path. Their mother had warned it could be dangerous and putting Emma in danger was something he definitely did not want to do.
The agonizing cries eventually broke him down and he stepped off the path with his sister in tow. She whimpered in fear as now the cries were desperate and so close they could feel the vibration in the air. Through a few more bushes the children found what had been crying out: a mountain lion with a snap trap clamped onto its hind leg.
Not many mountain lions lived around since this was the Lowlands, but the town they lived in was only at the edge. That’s why there were trees and forests still. Jack knelt next to the wild animal. Its eyes were huge with panic as its tail lashed angrily. Jack tilted his head in wonder.
Emma looked just as dazed by the creature, but understood its power. “Jack, mommy said not to mess with big wild animals. They’re dangerous.”
“I know, but he looks so scared. I have to free him.” Jack pulled out his pocket knife and approached the mountain lion. He securely held onto the mountain lion’s paw and began to pry open the trap.
The creature suddenly wheeled around and bit into his shoulder. “JACK!” cried Emma!
“Don’t come closer! I…I almost got it!” panted Jack. Through tearing eyes and blurring vision tinged in red he freed the mountain lion’s leg. The animal leapt up and bolted.
“Jack...,” cried Emma as she leaned next to her older brother. She kissed his cheek. “Please be ok…”
“I’ll….I’ll need a doctor Emma but I’ll be fine…,” panted Jack. He wobbily stood. “Help keep me steady till we get home ok…”
As they headed home Emma faced her older brother. “Jack, why did you free the lion even though you knew it was going to hurt you?”
“Because it deserved to be free like you and me, Emma. I wasn’t gonna leave it for mean old hunters to kill.” The thought disgusted Jack. A sudden thought came to his head. “Hey Emma, what were you going to say earlier about me being different than other boys in the village?”
Emma smiled up at her brother. “It’s because you appreciate life more than other boys.”


“Jaaaaack,” whimpered a ten year old girl as she shook her older brother in his bed.
“Nnnngh….yes Emma? It’s three in the morning.” Jack groaned softly as he rolled over.
“Mommy and daddy are fighting again…can I sleep with you?” Emma whimpered and stared at him with big, sad blue eyes.
Jack smiled and lifted the blankets. Emma gave a grateful squeak and cuddled up next to him. Jack gently rubbed her back and allowed his sister to rest her head in the crook of his neck.
“Thank you big brother…I feel so safe with you…”
“I’m glad,” Jack kissed her forehead. “I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
That morning, Jack found his and Emma’s father hanging from the ceiling and their mother dead in a pool of blood. All he could remember for the rest of the day was holding his sister as she screamed in horror, flashing lights, and his grandmother coming to get them.

“So…um….,” began Jack’s friend, Aaron timidly.
Jack raised an eyebrow in question. “Yes, what is it.”
“Did you really beat the krag out that upper classman for trying to touch your sister?”
The seventeen year old Jack smirked. “I don’t tolerate sleeze balls touchin’ my little sister. Why do you ask?”
“Well…um…I kinda…I kinda think your sister is really cute.” Aaron chuckled nervously. “And she sorta…asked me out.”
Jack stood. “Really now?”
Aaron’s blood froze. Was Jack going to tear his privates off or worse? Aaron nervously brushed his blonde bangs out of his face. His blue eyes flashed with fear.
“I give you my blessin’.” Said Jack, holding out his hand to Aaron.
Aaron looked dumbly back at him causing Jack to laugh.
“Aaron, you are my best friend. You’re kind and polite. You are the farthest thing from a sleeze ball. You’d give your life for me or Emma. I got real respect for that.” Jack smiled warmly at him.
Aaron grinned and shook Jack’s hand. “Thank you so much Jack. That means a lot.”

It’d been almost three years since he’d been home, but Jack had to be home for this. The man nervously scratched the still healing incisions in his head where the S.T.O.R.M doctors had sliced into his skull and implanted a device that allowed him to talk to Monsuno. It hurt and he got splitting headaches, but the pain tripled his pay which was good for occasions like this. The soldier knocked at the door where it was answered by his best friend and brother in law, Aaron.
“Oh Jack! It’s you! Emma has been so anxious to see you! Thank you so much for coming.” Aaron immediately led Jack inside.
“No, I am honored to be here, Aaron. It cost me an arm and leg to come home for a few months.” Jack smiled softly.
Aaron noticed the scabbed gashes on Jack’s head. “Holy krag man! What are they doing to you?”
“Well-,” Jack was cut off by the sound of feet and the feel of someone cuddling close. Jack looked down to see Emma, her head pressed to his collar bone. Jack smiled when he felt her nine month pregnant belly against his. “I’m so glad to be home.” He whispered.
“I’m glad you are home, big brother.” Emma smiled and pulled back. “Your niece is eager to see all of us.”
Jack began to feel nauseous and overly warm, but he pushed the bile back and smiled. Why was he suddenly so ill? Was the pain medicine wearing off already? “Aww, that so? I can’t wait to see her either. May I?”
Emma grinned. “Of course! You’re my big brother after all.”
Jack laid his hands on his little sister’s swollen belly. Soft kicks and movement bumped against his hands. “She’s a gentle one just like her mommy.”
Emma giggled and rested her hands over his. “I can’t wait to hold her in my arms.”
“I bet. You two have waited nine months for her already.” Jack chuckled.
Suddenly, Jack felt himself falling. Before he knew it his head hit the floor and his sister’s screams hit his ears.
“Jack! Please be ok big brother!”
Jack awoke in a bed with his sister sitting in a padded chair beside him. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
“Shhhh, you fainted Jack. Take it easy.” Emma adjusted the cold cloth on his forehead. “You were running such a bad fever too and those unhealed wounds are slightly infected.”
“Where’s…where’s Aaron?” muttered Jack.
“He went to go get medicine. He’ll be back. Let’s worry about you right now, ok?” Emma stroked his face. “I love you Jack and I wish you’d come home. Aaron has a great job now and you don’t need to be working your fingers to the bone for all of us.”
“But what about me? I haven’t gone to college,” Jack moaned softly from the pain in his head.
“You did that for me so you can go to classes in town and stay here with us. We have a spare room and I’m sure your new niece would love her uncle around.”
Jack smiled up at Emma. “Alright, in three years my contract runs out with S.T.O.R.M. I’ll come home then.”
“Do you promise?” asked Emma.
Jack held her hand and squeezed it. “Cross my heart and hope to die, little sis.”

Jack turned to Emma’s hospital room door when he heard it creak open. Aaron poked out with a huge grin on his face and tears in his eyes.
“Come meet your niece, Jack. She’s waiting.”
Jack quickly swept into the room. Emma sat propped up in the hospital bed. Her face was wet with sweat and flushed from the hard labor. It had lasted nine hours. Jack thought she was dying at one point.
A small form wrapped in pink was crying softly while being held in her mother’s arms. Emma looked up from her little bundle of joy. “Big brother, come hold Rose.”
Jack was nervous, but he held Rose gently like the way Emma showed him to. The newborn mewled in confusion while squinting at him through adjusting eyes. Jack could feel tears forming.
“Hey lil Rose. I’m your Uncle Jack.” He cooed to the baby in his arms.
Rose squeaked and wrapped a hand around his index finger. Emma giggled. “It seems she loves you already, Jack.”
Jack kissed Rose’s forehead. “I love her too.”

“NO! Dear God no!” Jack drove the cloud hopper in a panic. What Charlemagne had told him couldn’t have been true! He knew the two warring providences around his home village had been going at it since he was a kid, but they wouldn’t go this far. They wouldn’t have used sulfur bomb warfare.
When Jack reached the edge of the village he quickly landed. From then on he traveled by foot to the place of his birth, the place where his remaining family lived. When he reached his destination he couldn’t believe what he saw. The village had sunk into a sort of crater. Buildings were destroyed with some still smoldering from the fires of the bombs. Not a single villager was seen.
Jack slid down a slope into the city, his whole body trembling. Ash clung to his boots like mud. He almost vomited when he spotted the smoldering skeletons of his past friends and acquaintances.
Before he knew it, Jack was calling the one person he wanted to make sure was alive. “Emma! Emma where are you! Please be ok! Please don’t be gone!”
Jack finally reached the home he had only visited three years ago. “Emma?” he crept to the back.
The horror before him caused his eyes to widen. The skeleton of his older sister lay on the ground above a blasted open cellar. She must have not have made it to safety. Half her skin was still melted to her skeleton with her clothes in dirty shreds. Aaron lied not too far off from his wife.
Jack dropped to his knees. “No Emma…dear God Emma, not you. Anyone but you!” Jack scooped up his deceased sister and hugged her close. He could feel her falling apart further, but didn’t care. “I love you Emma! I should have come home sooner! We could have all died together! You, Aaron, me, and little…little Rose.” A revelation hit Jack that he couldn’t see the body of the three year old child anywhere. Her small body must have disintegrated in the blast.
Jack sobbed as he buried the bodies of his little sister and best friend. His sobs intensified when he realized there was nothing to bury of his niece. After sitting in the ashes and wallowing in his grief, he eventually returned to the cloud hopper and flew back to S.T.O.R.M’s headquarters.

A small crowd had gathered in the main lobby in a matter of seconds. This drew Jack’s attention. The man stood from his reading chair and eventually pushed his way to the front of the crowd in spite of some grumpy men complaining at his shoving. Everyone seemed to be focusing on a recently returned Jon and Trey. They had just returned from scavenging his home village. He was sure they would have found just as much as he had the day he snuck off there.
A small form in Jon’s arms squirmed. The scarred man had something bundled up in a blanket. A portion of the blanket fell off the figure’s head and Jack couldn’t believe his eyes. It was Rose…she was three and injured, but still there. She was still alive. Jack wanted to run up to Jon and snatch her from him, but he was too dazed to think.
“I found this child weak and injured today. I know a few of you were from the destroyed Blossom Village so I am asking if this child has any relation to you. If not I will be taking her into my custody because she has seemed to become fond of me in such a short time.”
Rose only looked around dazed and terrified. She seemed to know none of these men, not even Jack. Jack felt like speaking up, but factors began playing into his head. The voices of the Monsuno called to him. They told him to do horrible things and hurt others. Was that the guardian a child needed, or the guardianship of young strong man like Jon Ace? Jack stayed silent as no other man spoke up. Jon sighed and re-covered Rose’s head before carrying her to the medical wing, Trey at his heels.
Jack went to his room, tears forming in his eyes. They were not for sadness though. They were for joy. Rose was alive. His family was alive.

“Jack, are you alright?” asked a deep, accented voice.
The one eyed man leapt a little and turned to face Pozo. The red skinned man tilted his head in confusion. “Are you ok, Jack? You’ve been standing here looking at this ruined village for hours.”
Bekka sat on the ground and was patiently drawing Mandalian script in the sand. It was probably from an old book in the Library of Tebab. So far she had three meters of text drawn.
Jack wiped the tears from his eye. He picked his top hat off the ground and replaced it on his head. “Yes Brother Pozo. I’m just paying respects to some family.”
Without another word, Jack headed into the desert with his loyal followers trailing behind.