The Second Sign

I layed down on the ground, looking up at the sky (Alfons left and waved to me on the way back to his house). I began to think about everything. Right now, Winry and Grandma were searching frantically for Alphonse and I. Kirrah would feel like I ditched her and she'd cry at night, missing me. Havoc would alert Colonel Mustang of our dissapearance. Colonel Mustang would surely keep it to himself that he knew where Al and I went. What would happen next? I didn't know, and I was too tired to think anymore. I started to drift off to sleep when I heard footsteps coming up the road. I opened my eyes long enough to look to see which direction it was coming from--from town or from the other way. They were coming from town, so I sat up so they could pass by.

 

This place isn't the best place to lay down. Perhaps I should move.

 

I stood up and let the woman pass by. She gave me a friendly wave as she passed. After I returned her wave, I walked up the road behind her to find someplace else to rest. I walked for maybe about 15 minutes before I came to a grassy piece of land.

It wasn't that big--just big enough for me to lay down and get some rest. I knew it would be ideal, since I was out of the road. As I layed down on the grass, my mind immedietly flashed back to my lawn back in Resembool. When I was still living with my parents, the four of us (Winry, Ed, Al, and I) would all sit on my lawn and play games or tell stories. So when I found myself laying on the lawn alone, I wanted desperetly to run back to Ed's house and drag him to the grass with me. So I could still have a piece of Resembool with me.

 

All I could do was lay down on the grass and wish. I wished that something good would happen. I wished that suddenly alchemy would be allowed, and I could bring Ed home. I wished Ed would love me. I wished...more than ever...I could kiss him. Just once. Even if it never happens again, I just wanted one. Was that too much to ask for? I was sure it was, since it was obvious that Ed liked Winry. She's lucky, I thought, to have someone so cool. The stars blinked on and off like lights, and I wondered if they were speaking to each other. Morse code? I didn't know, and I still don't, but I knew somehow, the stars were saying something. I closed my eyes, suddenly very comfortable, and I went to sleep.

 

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"Shamballa."

 

The voice was speaking again, and it wasn't one I was familiar with.

 

"Shamballa. Go to Shamballa."

 

Standing in a mist, once again Noah, I kept looking around, hoping to see my mystery speaker.

 

"Shamballa? Where is this place?" I asked, hoping to get answers.

 

"Shamballa. Go to Shamballa and save the people."

 

"The people? What's wrong with the people?" I begged, praying for an answer.

 

Silence overtook the area, and soon, the mist parted and all I could see was debris and smoke. Fire smoldered the town. People running and screaming out the names of loved ones. Horror ran through my body, and I dropped to my knees. "What a horrible fate...please tell me what to do. I don't want this to happen.." I pleaded, looking all around. But no one answered me. All I did was watch what happened to Shamballa. The people ran and screamed, and buildings fell onto the ground, killing people in it's quake.

 

"Stop..." I said under my breath.

 

Finally, I got an up close shot of a group of people running. As they ran towards me, a large contraption from the sky (I believe they were called planes) fell onto them. They cried and screamed as they were crushed. Their blood seeped under the plane, and soon fire ate the plane and all of it's vicitms alive as mist covered the horrible scene once more. I was shaking, and tears were running down my face. What a horrible place...what a horrible tragedy...what a horrible everything. I couldn't let this happen.

 

For an ultimate paradise, it sure seemed like it had it's fair share of problems.

 

"Go to Shamballa and save the people."

 

"Tell me where this Shamballa is, and I'll help them! I'll help them!"

 

Silence.

 

Finally, it spoke one more time, a sillouette barely visable behind the mist.

 

"Shamballa....it's there. Behind the mirror lies Shamballa."