The People Came
Their screams did not resemble the usual anger, but rather as if the earth itself had cracked open beneath their feet, exhaling generations of pain and bitterness. They emerged from the city fog, from the distant countryside, and the edges of the plains, with teary eyes and throats dry from screaming into a void that never heard them. They carried pictures of their children, scraps of cloth soaked in meaningless blood, and their faces were taut as if carved from rage.
They gathered before the academy gate a gate that was once a dream, a source of pride, but now looked like a stone mouth, sealed over a silent betrayal.
A man in the middle of the crowd cried out, his face full of scars, his voice wounded:
"Where were they when the traitors snuck in? Where were their eyes?!"
