Elements: Aftermath

Jake walked out of the smoldering ruins where a building used to stand. Bodies, all dead, lay scattered at his feet. The fires around him reflected in his eyes, reflecting the very rage that grew behind them. It wouldn’t be long now. Soon he would be able to rescue his daughter and lay bloody vengeance upon her captors. Soon, this whole sorry tale would be at an end.
  The sun started to set. Slowly, silently, the darkness crept up on Jake. He knew that he should press on to Slade’s fortress to rescue his daughter, but he was exhausted. He had gone a whole two days without any sleep. He reasoned with himself that, even if he did make it to the fortress, he would be in no condition to rescue anyone.
  In this tearful moment, Jake finally found a shred of peace to calm his mind, and he wondered what was going on elsewhere. In his rage he had completely forgotten about his friends. He hoped that they were doing better than he was. He wished that no-one had to be in the situation he was in. Yet he was in it, and he intended to find a way out. One way or another, whatever the cost.
  The peace didn’t last long though. Jake’s mind suddenly turned and started thinking about his daughter. Why did they have to take her?! He screamed in his head. She’s just a little girl, he reasoned. She has nothing to do with any of this. A tear ran down his cheek as he descended into a flurry of emotions. Hate, anger, sadness, rage, helplessness. They swirled around his mind like snow in a blizzard. No matter what happened in the coming days, he vowed to get revenge on those responsible for kidnapping his daughter. He swore that he would not rest until his daughter was safe and her captors were burnt to ash. With that vow, exhaustion overtook him, and he fell into a deep uneasy sleep.