We could not comprehend it when the Sunfire came. It was a normal day. Mundane. I had taken our sheep out to pasture in the fields north of the town when flames burst red in the sky above the foothills that hugged our town to the south. With the flames there came a great roaring wind, a blast that toppled trees and lifted my body off the ground, tossing me aside like a rag doll. Then, just as quickly, it was gone, and I stood and ran back to the village as swiftly as my feet could carry me. As I neared the edge of town I could not hear, but began to see the others running through the streets, mouths open in silent screams, bodies naked. Their clothes had been burned off, their skin melted away from muscle and bone like wax on a candle. They ran without purpose and without destination. There was nowhere to go. They could run or they could lay down and die.

I looked down at myself, at my hands and body and feet. I felt at my face and hair with my fingers. My skin was still there, but there was blood on my arms. My clothing hung in tatters, and my breast was exposed. I thought it very strange that my breast was exposed, that so many others were naked, and it didn’t seem to matter. This should be wrong, I thought. My ears began to ring, and then I could hear again. I silently wished that I couldn’t.

I had never known that such sounds could come from human mouths. Agony hung ripe and heavy in the air. It was a round and unbearable thing, and it filled my ears as I stumbled disoriented toward my home. The streets were littered with the ruins of toppled walls, and as I moved southward, the destruction grew worse. Entire buildings were reduced to rubble. Then I saw the spot where our little house had stood, a steady structure of brick and wood now toppled with father and mother and the baby inside. I shook so hard I could not even weep. Instead I stood there, staring wide-eyed at the pile of masonry where just that morning I had dwelled. But I did not think of that. All I could think was that I had forgotten the sheep, that I had run for town and left them behind without even trying to look for them.

I don’t know how long I stood there.

Very many people had died instantly that day. Now, I know that they were lucky. For so many others, it was to be a much longer process.