A scorched vale in the midst of mountains had fallen to fire years ago. A once-glorious metropolis lay shattered, ashen, and lost in the wake of the fire's destruction. A young woman, once a resident of the city, returned to her hometown's ruins, like a grown child returning to the graves of her parents. The taint of the ash still polluted the air; the winds still wafted the essence of fire across the valley as if a new fire burns every day.
She looked somberly upon her old home, the pile of rubble that lay lifeless in the heart of a once-brilliant valley. The young woman stood at the west edge of the city; the cold autumn dusk cast a fading orange glow upon the ruins of the metropolis. Her footsteps echoed off of every slab of concrete, every dilapidated wall. The reverberations spoke nothing but the most melancholy, hollow words. Every former residence displayed a blackened, charred exterior.
She approached the graveyard near the very core of the city. The light of sunset poured into the clearing amongst the last remnants of destruction. She knelt beside the two smallest gravestones in the far corner of the cemetery. From her cloak, she drew a single flower. With a mournful, pained glisten in her eye, she rested the blossom between the two stones.
"Rest your mourning heart, dearest Emi," spoke a voice from behind. The young woman turned hesitantly. Upon seeing the man's face, she leaped into a joyful embrace with him, as a child would do upon seeing the return of a missing parent.
With tears in her eyes, Emi said, "Brother, I'm so glad you're still alive..."
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