Sunrise cracked against the horizon, beams of light filtering through the haze of smoke.

The streets were empty, eerily so; not even the soldiers who had pushed townspeople back from the execution remained.

Some smoke still rose from the ashes below the burnt post.

After some time, the burnt corpse sagged down, and cracked. Bone, ash and coal cascaded out of it, thumping into the cooling debris below.

Blindly, its eyes irritated from the harsh grit of ash, a black kitten writhed in the ashes, mewing.

No one answered it. The town remained silent.

It stumbled to its paws, and unsteadily darted away, back leg twinging with pain from the fall.

No one saw it leave.

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