\tA hand swept across the earth, taking in a great plain, little more than weeds and dirt. \u201cThis was our home, once. A city stood there. It was stripped bare as the fire came. Those of us who fled remember the smell of burning, the screams of pain of all those who didn’t leave.\u201d He pointed to the ground before him. Where he stood was lush grass. The next step was ash. \u201cIt swallowed the city, swallowed down my home, my family, my children. Then it stopped. There was no rain, no wind, no storm to drive the fire backwards. It just stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cBut why?\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cPhilosophers and sages will debate that for many centuries. Me, I don’t care. I can’t care, because the fire burned out my heart with it. It’s why I’m here, to see if saying goodbye can help me.\u201d He slumped to the ground, eyes fixed to the far distance. \u201cI never was good at saying goodbye, even just to go to market. Now I need to say a lifetime’s parting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tHis friend nodded, and set about making supper. Night fell, and he sat staring at the rising of the moon as his friend snored. Day broke, and he watched the red light of dawn recreate the terror of the fire.<\/p>\n
\tA week passed as he sat there, only occasionally eating food he was proffered. His was a long goodbye, and he would speak it properly.<\/p>\n
\tA pat on his shoulder. \u201cI must go home. My family will be worried.\u201d He nodded, clasping his friend’s hand briefly before returning to his task. The sound of departing feet did not cause him to look around.<\/p>\n
\tHe stood, thin and emaciated, his joints creaking. His friend was many days gone. He had at last finished saying goodbye. Now he would say hello.<\/p>\n
\tA slow, trembling step took him into the burned lands, and another, and another, till he was striding towards the city of his birth. His feet struck sparks from the earth, and soon they caught on his clothing, the dry weave catching alight. He burned as he marched onwards, welcoming the fire as an old friend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A hand swept across the earth, taking in a great plain, little more than weeds and dirt. \u201cThis was our home, once. A city stood there. It was stripped bare as the fire came. Those of us who fled remember the smell of burning, the screams of pain of all those who didn’t leave.\u201d He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[36,4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pRIK4-7w","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":213,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=213","url_meta":{"origin":466,"position":0},"title":"City of my Life","date":"August 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I walked through the city of my life, and I stopped in at the convenience store. A few moment's search found me the drugs that I wanted, and I was off again. I flew like a kite above the urban landscape, and looked down at the parks that contained my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flash Fiction"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=137","url_meta":{"origin":466,"position":1},"title":"Command is a Bitch","date":"May 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The next installment in the Jenny serial, where we meet the rescuer. Of course, things could be looking down. That thing at the cavern mouth was a Devastator. They were legend in the human army, a rumour that even the newest and dumbest recruits new. Devastators were never acknowledged by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Other Writing"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":493,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=493","url_meta":{"origin":466,"position":2},"title":"Our Land","date":"May 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Armies clashed that day on the field, as magic tore into mundane. Bow and arrow met flintlock, and fire from the mages was countered by the roar of cannons. Elves there were, and trolls too, and for once they fought on the same side of battle, the sylvan creatures using\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flash Fiction"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":423,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=423","url_meta":{"origin":466,"position":3},"title":"Cages of Light","date":"January 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This story takes place at the same time as the events in Tarranau,in the city of Bhreac Veryan. Canlynedig panted as he ran through the streets of Bhreac Veryan, his eyes glancing behind him. He could hear the shouts as the Brawdoliaeth chan Danio charged after him, knocking aside pedestrians\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=45","url_meta":{"origin":466,"position":4},"title":"Breaking an Empire, Part #7","date":"February 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A little bit lighter than the previous entries, this one clocks in at about 1500 words total. I'm quite fond of this story now, and of the characters in it. It's the first time I've written a story that focused on more than just one or two companions, and its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":113,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=113","url_meta":{"origin":466,"position":5},"title":"Legends of the Burning Sands","date":"April 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is one of the short excerpts from Unfolding a New Continent, the next book in The Four Part Land, that I'm currently working on and that Breaking an Empire is also a part of. I'll have a flash fiction piece tonight as well, as I get back into the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Four Part Land"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}