Finally, the dust outside began to clear. 

The captain banished his vis with an exhausted groan, almost buckling, then keeping upright, however taxed. But without either the sound of accelerating winds or the everpresent hum of his red-brown flames, the quiet that returned to the world sounded to Theo somehow wrong.

The hamlet had been erased from existence. All that remained were a few stone foundations, and the etching of the road, washed away by the abrading wind. Almost every tree in sight had been uprooted and knocked over. Though he was blind, Theo kept Caesos toward her chest, and facing away from the devastation of the landscape around them.

Fits of coughing overcame many in the company including Tanhkmet. Theo involuntarily took a deep breath, and dust filled her lungs much the same. After hacking out most of her phlegm, she covered her mouth with her Patrol Corps dust mask.

Masks were not of standard issue for the imperial guard, though, and most were still beset by wheezing and barking coughs as they climbed out of the dugout. With so much of her faculties numb, Theo found herself following their lead.

Tanhkmet's shield resided on his arm, its outward face caked with dirt. He wandered toward the hamlet, toward the totality of its destruction, then after a few steps back turned to the scattered assembly of soldiers behind him.

"Mother of mothers… sir... " said Junius. But as he climbed out of the dugout, he seemed to realize that Tanhkmet was just as disoriented and confused as he.

The captain looked over them all, seeing they expected some sort of instruction.

"Go… go find the wounded," he said. "See if anything can be done. Leave the child with me, lieutenant."

Theo was grateful for some kind of structure and direction of which to grab hold, and cling.

Every soldier of the company remained dazed with shock, but nevertheless fanned out in a listless search through the remnants of the town. Vaguely aware they were short about six comrades. 

After not much looking, they found two. Both dead. Each bone in their bodies shattered, and their skin peeled raw with burns. Junius quickly ordered them away, and to leave the bodies where they'd been found, and not to stare.

Returning with the other soldiers to what had once been the village square, Theo saw Tanhkmet holding Caesos to his chest, both the man and the boy solemn. Both looked lost in thought, or, perhaps, like they were not thinking at all; she couldn't tell.

Junius just shook his head, and Tanhkmet nodded, before he turned back to the lingering pillar of smoke that dominated the sky. Its uppermost portion billowed wider in the thin air of the higher altitudes, causing the cloud to resemble the shape of a mushroom.

"We need to get our bearings. We need to get to the top of something high and survey the area," said Tanhkmet. "Get our bearings…" he repeated, trailing off and looking away. 

The mushroom pillar still held aloft above them, dark and towering, the sun itself dimmed by smoke spreading throughout the whole of the atmosphere.