Chapter 3 Cold sweat, Aftermath 2

*August PoV*

Cold... that's the feeling I felt while staring at the abyss, it's a terrifying feeling, falling in the endless void, awaiting the sweet release of death to take you.

I'm currently walking at the village, smiles and laughter fills the air, as people go on their day to day life, my father plowing the fields with the help of my brother, my mother watching as she carries my infant sister who's fast asleep, and then there's me, playing under the shade of a tree. All was fine.

Then in the blink of an eye, everything went red, blood, fire, and death assaulted my senses, then the face of an Orc, the face of my family's murderer, is all that I can see.

"AHHHHH!!!" I scream, my eyes snapping awake, cold sweat dripping out my body, it was all a dream. please let it all be a dream.

I look around, hoping to see where I'm currently at, hoping that everything that I saw and feel was only a dream, yet as I did all O see is an unfamiliar place, no sign of my family whatsoever, and an unfamiliar face looking at me.

I sit up, or at least try to but the person who's watching me stopped me from doing so. "don't do anything kid, try to stay still." she said as she examined me.

"who are you? where am I? where's papa?" I asked as I looked at her.

"slow down kid, you're hurt pretty bad."

I look at her as I try to remember the event that took place, my mind groggy and slow, yet slowly it became clear.

"hey miss, I'm dreaming right? it was all a dream right?" I ask desperately, tears building up in my eyes.

She looks down, as her hand moves to hold mine, she gripes it tight and firm. "Kid.... I'm sorry."

"no no no no NOOOOO!!!!" I scream, my emotions burst out, laughing and crying, tears started falling with no signs of stopping. "you're lying, Hahahaha that's right, it's a joke, my papa is such a prankster. it's a joke right."

"..."

"Miss please..."

"Kid, your village was raided by monsters, you're one of the few survivors. We found you below a man, a former adventurer companion of mine, his name is Siegfried Kaiser..."

at the mention of my father's name, everything went numb, I didn't hear anything she was saying anymore, everything went blank, all I could see was the event that transpired.

My brother, decapitated, his flesh ravaged by the monsters, my infant sister, who was only a few months old, her head crushed like a grape, then she was torn limb from limb by the goblins, and kabolds, my mother, stab multiple times infront of my eyes, gored and mutilated, and my father, who I looked up too, trying his hardest to fight off the evil that invaded our home, he who died, protecting me, who died infront of me as he took the axe that was ment for me. Everything returned to me, bursting like a dam.

"uahgggggg" I vomited, no food was in my system, yet as I remembered the things that happened my body responded as such. it tasted bitter, fluid, with a speck of blood.

"Kid hold on, here have some water." she said as she took the cup from the table and filled it with water from her canteen. "drink it kid."

I took it, my hand shaking, no strength at all, I almost dropped it, but she caught my hand and helped me drink the water that tasted so sweet, maybe because of the thirst.

"you fine now kid?" she asked, looking at me worryingly. "may I know your name, maybe the other survivors know you, maybe your folks survived we ca-."

"They're dead." I cut her off, there was no point in asking the other survivors, after all, for all my life all I've known are my family, my parents and siblings.

"Still you may not know, they might be someone who survived. Knowing your name might hel-"

"August... my name is August Kaiser." I said my name, I turned my head and looked her straight at her eye. "And I've watched my family die in front of my eyes."

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*unknown pov*

"August..." he cut me off, still I can understand him, his been through a lot, such a young child yet such a tragedy he experienced at his very young age. "my name is August Kaiser." he continued, as he turned and looked at me. his eyes devoid of any emotions. "And I've watched my family die in front of my eyes."

I can feel the poison in his voice, emotions of weakness and agony, another orphan because of Evilus. Fuck... the words of Finn entered my mind, if only we've arrived much sooner, we could have saved them.

"August... I'm sorry" was all that I could say, I don't know what to do. Kaiser, he's the son of my former comrade, yet I can't think of a damn thing to make it all better.

He was still looking at me, eyes like that of a dead fish, bloodshot from the crying he did, as tears continues to fall.

"Kaiser, you're the son of Siegfried Kaiser right?" I ask trying to find a topic to continue the conversation, I still have to ask him a few more question.

he nodded his head, yet no voice came out.

"My name is Shakti Varma, I'm an old companion of your father...."

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It was rough, as I leave the make shift hospital tent. I finished questioning him, August Kaiser, the son of the Vanguard Siegfried Kaiser, 6 years of age, young... too young to experienced all of that, I can't understand what he must be feeling right now.

As I made my way on the main tent, I can't take the event that he witnessed off my mind, he saw everything, he saw the death of his family, them being killed and ravaged my the horde.

Since the events that happened 4 years ago, with the fall of Zeus and Hera's familias and the disappearance of the two gods, evilus a group of evil gods took the opportunity and allied together to destroy Orario. thus an alliance was created to stop them.

They must be stop, no matter what, they WILL be stop, this time known as the dark ages will end.

I arrived at the main tent, feeling exhausted, Talking with the kid drained me more than I thought it would, as I entered I saw some members of my familia as well as others.

Finn is at the front reading the reports, he looks at me and nodded, I nod back.

"so how is he? what did you find out from talking to him?" he asked, his eyes returning to the papers he was reading.

"he's awake... hurt, but nonetheless awake. our hunch was right, he's the son of the Vanguard."

At the mention of Siegfried name, most of Ganesha familia expressed their sadness, Sieg was a friend for us all, and his death hit us because of it.

"his name is August Kaiser, age six." at the mention of his age every adventurer showed a face of displeasure.

"Fuck."

"Six?"

"That's too young."

Everyone agrees, August was too young to experience any of the things he experienced earlier that day.

Finn hearing that closed his fist, the paper crinkling at his hands as palatable anger can be seen from his expression.

"Everything he said corresponded with the other survivors, that everything happened so fast, one minute everything was normal, the next minute all hell broke loose. No sign or warning. and with Siegfried here in the village I'm sure that he could have spotted warnings from a potential monster attack and prepared the necessary steps for evacuation."

"maybe The Vanguard became rusty, he did retired 12 years ago, so him missing the sign for a monster attack is still a possibility." an adventurer from Freya familia

"Impossible." Mia Grand answered, another member of Freya familia and its captain stood up. She's a dwarf with an incredibly large build, she's also one of the strongest person in Orario, a level 6 adventurer. "the sense of an adventurer will always stay with him, no matter how long he was inactive, his instincts after countless dungeon runs won't go away, especially the Vanguard's."

"I agree." Finn also shares the sentiment as well as most of the members of Ganesha familia, me included.

"I've seen the Vanguard in action, it may have been a long time but he was level 3 when I was level 4." Mia Grand continues. "He senses danger and rushes towards it faster than anyone including me. hence he was granted the alias of the Vanguard."

"But we have to take into account the 12 years he was retired, 12 years is a long time Captain." the adventurer from freya answered back.

"Not for us." I answer. "the Ganesha familia specialised in hunting down monsters, our senses were trained by Lord Ganesha himself. we can sense monsters and capture them better than any other familia because of it. that type of training doesn't just vanish."

"be that as it may, what other explanation do we have? he didn't sense the attack coming."

"what if he can't." Finn says as he took a deep breath. "what if Evilus found a way to make the sign disappear."

Riveria who was silent all this time stood up, her eyes wide open, she was looking at everyone in the tent, her mouth slowly opened, then she spoke.

"What if they've summoned them..."

everyone inside stopped, the silence was eery, everyone looked at the mage who is currently the strongest in Orario. "what if they tamed the monster, and summoned them, as every survivor said, they just appeared, no warning, no signs."

"Is that even possible?" an adventurer from Loki familia asked what everyone is thinking of right now.

deep down I wished it wasn't, that it was impossible, after all, with that weapon in their hand they have the potential to wipe out Orario whenever they want.

contemplating Riveria calculated the possibility in her head, she was biting her thumbs as cold sweat poured down her forehead.

"with Apate and her mages in Evilus... it's a possibility."

"Fuck..." Mia Grand spouts as she puts her hand in her face.

And I couldn't agree more, as I contemplated the information I received, I feel dejected, our time table to stop Evilus just moved up. And all I could say is...

"Fuck."

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***

hey good day, how y'all liking the story so far, sorry about not realising yesterday, as per family tradition sunday in our household will always be family day. so don't expect a new chapter to come out if it's sunday.

feel free to leave your comments and criticism so that I may improve the story and be a better writer for you guys to enjoy.

love you all.