[Bonus Chapter] The Ashen Whisper (I)

Part 1: Rubble and Ruin

"Rumble… Brf…"

"Bella…"

"It's okay, you will be okay; it will be over soon," she whispered into the smaller girl's ear.

Barely kept dark hair, long and parted down the middle. Deep brown eyes winced, bracing through the rolling grumble of the earth. The girl, around eight years old, had her arms wrapped around a smaller girl.

Both were tucked in the corner of a building, sat down as the dust from the stone puffed out from the ceilings and the walls. The quake mellowed… then mellowed some more… till it was nothing at all.

The older girl sighed. "Come along Rena, it's over," she told, her voice soft and melodic, with a hint of curtness.

The little girl had her eyes tightly shut and her hands did not leave her ears; she still shivered as if the rumbling never stopped. The older girl gently took the little girl's wrists and pulled them away from her ears.