Tremors After the Battle

Lena

The smell of smoke still lingered in the air, and the silence that hung over the wreckage was almost unbearable. I walked slowly through the ruins of the fortress, trying to grasp the extent of the damage. The walls, once an impenetrable barrier, were now shattered— a cruel reminder of the recent battle.

My eyes scanned every detail: wounded soldiers being carried inside, the muffled sound of orders being given to start the repairs, and, above all, the feeling that we were on the brink of something even worse. The golem... that gigantic creature of stone and earth, which had risen from the ground itself and nearly destroyed us, still haunted my mind. I could barely process what had happened.

“Thorne,” Kael approached us, interrupting my thoughts. He looked as exhausted as the rest of us, but still managed to maintain his composure. “If that golem returns, we won’t last long. We need to find out what the hell that thing was.”

I looked at Thorne for a moment, his shoulders tense, his face closed off. He carried the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. We all felt the impact, but for Thorne, it seemed like an even heavier burden. As commander, he had always been the pillar of our defense, and seeing our fortress partially destroyed... it was a blow he wouldn’t admit out loud, but I could sense it.

“We need to understand what happened,” he said, his voice low and tired. I could see the frustration in his eyes, the weight of the lost lives pressing down on him.

Before I could respond, a strange pressure began to build inside me, something foreign, almost unsettling. I had been feeling it since the golem appeared, but now it was growing stronger.

“Lena?” Thorne’s voice pulled me back. He was looking directly at me, concern clear in his eyes. “Are you alright?”

I felt a lump in my throat. I didn’t know how to explain what was happening to me, or if I even should. I wasn’t one to have visions, or anything like that, but since the battle, something had changed. “I... I don’t know if I’m alright,” I answered hesitantly, trying to process the words forming in my mind. “Something’s happening to me. Ever since the golem appeared, I’ve been having... visions. Fragments, images. Like something is trying to show me something.”

Kael stepped closer, frowning. “Visions? What kind of visions?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted, rubbing my temple. “It’s like I’m connected to it... to the golem. I feel its presence. When it appeared, it was as if something inside me woke up. I saw... I saw images of ancient lands, of creatures as massive as it is. It’s hard to explain.”

Thorne didn’t say anything immediately. He just looked at me, as if trying to understand what I was feeling. And honestly, I didn’t know if I could figure this out on my own. What I did know was that the visions were growing stronger and... strangely familiar.

Before we could continue the conversation, a scout ran up to us, out of breath. “Commander Thorne! The rebel forces... they’re regrouping. They’re preparing for another attack.”

The air around us seemed to freeze. Thorne lifted his head, taking a deep breath before turning to us. “They’re coming back. We don’t have much time.”

I felt the ground beneath my feet tremble slightly, as if echoing my unease. Something was wrong. The golem hadn’t disappeared... it was waiting.

The feeling that something was wrong tightened in my chest, but there was no time for hesitation. With the rebels regrouping and the golem still lurking, our situation seemed more desperate by the moment. Thorne, always focused and strategic, called the remaining captains for an improvised meeting in the map room, where we could try to figure out what was coming next.

As we moved inside, I could feel Kael's gaze on me, his concern obvious. “Lena, these visions... do you think they could help us in any way?” he whispered, trying not to catch Thorne’s attention.

I shook my head, frustrated. “I don’t know. They’re vague, almost like dreams. The last one was an image of ancient stones... giant figures, like the golem, but I can’t make sense of it.” I paused, feeling the weight of my confusion. “If I could see more, maybe...”

“More?” He raised an eyebrow. “You want these visions to get stronger?”

I swallowed hard. It wasn’t that I wanted them stronger—it was more like a need, an urgency to understand what was happening to me, with the golem, with everything around us. There was something moving deep in the earth, something ancient, and I needed answers.

We entered the map room, where Thorne was already waiting. He stood before the table, his face serious, his eyes locked on the map showing the surroundings of the fortress. The weight of responsibility was still present in every move he made.

“We need a clear strategy to deal with the next attack,” Thorne began, his voice firm, though exhaustion was evident. “If the rebels come back stronger, we can’t rely on our walls alone—not after what happened. The golem is still out there. We don’t know if it will attack again, but we can’t ignore it.”

Kael, always practical, stepped closer to the table. “The golem is acting like it’s waiting. It didn’t attack immediately after rising, and even now, it’s just standing there. Maybe it’s connected to the rebels, or maybe it’s a force they can’t control.”

“Or maybe it’s tied to the earth in some way,” I muttered, more to myself, but they heard me.

“Lena?” Thorne turned to me, his expression curious. “What do you mean?”

I took a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts. “The visions I’m having... they seem to come from the earth. From the ground itself. I feel like the golem is more than just a weapon or a creature made of stone. It’s... part of the earth, part of something bigger. Maybe if I can focus, I can understand how it moves or even anticipate its next actions.”