The wall did not crack.
It gave way.
Nicholas hit the ground hard, his body thrown backward by the force of the impact. The world rang in his ears—high, sharp, endless. Dust filled his mouth, his nose, his lungs.
For a moment, there was nothing.
No fire.
No screams.
Just silence pressing in from every side.
Then it returned.
Sound crashed back all at once.
Screaming.
Burning.
Something collapsing.
"Nicholas!"
His eyes snapped open.
The sky above him was no longer blue. It was fractured, split by streaks of falling fire that carved through the air like descending blades. Smoke twisted upward, thick and choking, turning the world into something dim and unreal.
He pushed himself up, coughing violently.
The heat was worse now.
Closer.
"Nic...!"
His father's voice.
To the left.
Nicholas turned sharply, his vision blurring for a second before stabilizing.
The place where the child had been—
Gone.
The beam had shattered.
The ground was scorched black.
Nothing moved there anymore.
His breath caught.
"No…"
He staggered forward instinctively.
"Don't!" his father shouted, grabbing him before he could take another step.
Nicholas struggled. "He was right there...!"
"He's gone!"
The words struck harder than the blast had.
Nicholas froze.
His father's grip tightened, forcing him to face him.
"You can't stay here," he said, his voice urgent but controlled. "You have to move."
Nicholas shook his head, his chest rising too fast. "We have to help them..."
"We can't help everyone!"
The truth hit like another impact.
Around them, the village was breaking.
Walls collapsed under sudden bursts of flame, clay, and wood giving way as if they had lost the right to stand. Roofs caved in. Structures that had held for years fell in seconds.
A house to their right folded inward with a sharp, cracking sound.
A man barely escaped as it collapsed behind him, dragging someone else out by the arm.
"Go!" he shouted to them. "Get out of here!"
"Where?" Nicholas demanded, his voice cracking. "Where do we go?!"
No one answered.
Because there was nowhere untouched.
The fire fell again.
Not above them this time, but behind them.
Cutting off the path they had come from.
Nicholas turned, panic rising fast now. "It's surrounding us."
His father followed his gaze, his expression hardening.
"No," he said quietly.
Nicholas looked at him. "What?"
"It's closing."
The distinction mattered.
And Nicholas didn't know why, but it terrified him more.
A woman ran past them, clutching a child to her chest.
"They're aiming for the center!" she cried. "They're driving us in!"
Nicholas's breath hitched.
"The center…"
That was...
"Home," he whispered.
His father didn't hesitate.
"Move," he said, pulling Nicholas with him. "Now."
They ran.
The ground shook beneath their feet as another structure gave way behind them. Heat chased at their backs, relentless and rising.
Nicholas stumbled once, then again, but his father's grip kept him upright, dragging him forward through smoke and chaos.
"Stay with me!" his father shouted.
"I am!"
A wall ahead cracked suddenly.
Nicholas's eyes widened. "Wait...!"
Too late.
The structure split down the middle with a sharp, violent sound before collapsing outward.
His father reacted instantly.
He shoved Nicholas forward.
"Run!"
Nicholas fell hard, rolling across the dirt as debris crashed behind him. The force of it knocked the air from his lungs.
He gasped, struggling to breathe.
Behind him...
Silence.
"Nicholas…"
His head snapped back.
His father stood partially obscured by dust and smoke, one arm braced against the fallen remains of the wall.
Pinned.
Nicholas's heart stopped.
"No…"
His father looked at him, not with panic.
He was not surprised, but steady in his gaze.
"Listen to me," he said.
Nicholas scrambled to his feet, running back toward him. "I can move it...I can...!"
"Stop."
The word froze him mid-step.
"You don't have time."
"I'm not leaving you!"
"You don't get to choose that."
Nicholas's vision blurred. "I can help you...just wait...!"
"There is no waiting."
The fire shifted again.
Closer.
His father saw it too.
He exhaled slowly, then looked back at Nicholas.
"Go to your mother."
Nicholas shook his head violently. "No!"
"That's not a request."
"I'm not leaving you here!"
His father's voice hardened.
"You are."
Nicholas's chest tightened painfully. "I won't..."
"You will," his father said, stepping forward as much as the debris allowed, his voice cutting through everything else. "Because if you stay, this ends here. For both of us."
Fire closed in as Nicholas hesitated, unable to leave his father. Urged to run and not look back, he broke at last when flames tore between them. He fled, not by choice but instinct, as Otukpo collapsed behind him, its falling walls taking with them every sense of safety he had ever known.