1 Escape

Blood, smoke, and screams of despair. These sensations filled the air as a young boy watched his entire village burn before him.

'Escape, hold on, almost there,' were the words which played in his head. These words gave him the drive to move his broken-almost-useless body.

Desperation, will, anticipation. These emotions provided the boy with enough strength to reach his goal.

His goal? A covered-wagon, located behind a wooden house. Salvation? Maybe.

A man, old, fat, bald, commoner clothes, sweaty, panicked. Yes, the boy knows this man, he's seen him around the village.

Noticing the fragile looking boy, the man almost fell down in fright. The harness in his hand which he was about to fit onto his second horse fell to the ground.

Hurriedly wiping the sweat on a forehead away, the man ignored the boy and quickly picked up the harness, trying his best to fit it to the horse.

The boy, who was almost at his limit walked to the back of the wagon. Inside, he saw three people, one old lady, one middle age woman and a middle aged man.

Noticing the boy the old lady held her chest as she released a small yelp, this caused the man and woman to do the same.

'Threat? No,' they all thought.

"Everything, okay?" The old man nervously asked.

"Yes dear, just hurry or we're all dead!" the old lady said as she gestured for the boy to enter the wagon.

"Come, quick!" She said.

Using the remaining strength in his body, the boy pulled himself up and sat on the floor, waiting for his fate to be decided.

He had done his best, giving it all he had to reach the wagon. He tried to close his eyes to rest but couldn't.

The heart-wrenching screams and pitiful cries of the women, men, and children who were being massacred outside filled his ears, these sounds in turn filled him with anxiety, fear, and uncertainty.

The sound of the reins cutting through the air was then heard as the hooves of the two horses galloping resonated in the wagon.

"Get!" The old man yell as he whipped the reigns again. The horses neighed and then took off faster.

The horses released another powerful neigh as they ran around the fence that surrounded the house, reaching the street in moments. Luckily for the old man and everyone else, the house was located exactly on the outskirts of the village.

Just as the group entered the forest, a man ran out from the left side just a few meters in front.

"Wait! Stop!" He shouted while heaving heavily.

The man's clothes were torn all over, he had cuts and bruises everywhere, blood and sweat trickling from his open wounds and pours.

Seeing as the old man showed no reaction, the man ran out in front of the horses, the two then collided. The man was sent flying backwards into the forest as the horses continued onward.

"CRAZY BASTARD!" The old man bellowed.

Everyone's ears perked up as the heard the enraged shout of the old man outside. Just as he heard the shout, the young boy looked out the back, where he then saw the man who was just hit trying to get back up, he now had blood profusely flowing out of his eyes and mouth.

The man was too injured to get back up, all he could do was outstretch his left hand towards the wagon, but just as he did so another man with a sword appeared out of the forest behind him.

The man had a vicious smile on his face, he raised his sword and quickly brought it down on the dying man's neck cutting it clean off.

The man's head was sent flying as an insane amount of blood shot out of his cleanly severed neck.

The boy was at a loss for words when he saw this, he forced himself to look away, hoping the man wouldn't come after them.

The old man on the other hand kept going not looking back, but just as he thought he was scot-free another man came out from the right this time.

This man was different though, unlike the other man he was completely unharmed, from the looks of it he was one of the attackers.

The man raised his sword holding it like a javelin, his arm then bulged, he then drew his right arm back and threw the sword which blasted right through the side of the wagon.

Inside the wagon just as the boy looked away from the gruesome scene outside, the entire wagon shook, and everything went hazy.

The boy heard a man's scream, and just as he caught back his bearings, he felt like he was soaked in some sort of liquid.

'What?' Was all the boy could question as he looked around.

What he saw was anguish on the middle aged man's face as he held a body whose head was exploded in his arms.

Behind them was a hole on the wagons wooden wall, looking across from them, the boy saw the old lady whose head was pinned to the other side of the wagon by a sword.

The boy slowly raised his hands, and finally realized that the 'liquid' was actually the blood of the middle age woman and the old woman. The boy then slowly wiped the blood off his face.

He did all of this while his eyes were wide open in shock. The middle age man on the other hand had passed out from shock long ago. The boy didn't notice since he was distracted trying to figure out what was going on.

" Margret! What happened!?" The old man shouted from outside. After the wagon was hit he quickly stabilized it and continued on. Luckily for them the attacker didn't follow up after their first strike.

After receiving no answer he called out again," Clyde! Margret! Sienna! Answer me!"

No response, the old man knew that he couldn't stop to check, or they would all die so he steadied himself and kept moving while calling for them.

After calling out a couple more times, fear and anxiety took over the old man forcing him to stop the wagon. It had only been about 10 minutes since they were attacked but he couldn't wait any longer, he had to check see if his family was safe.

But before he could get off the wagon, the sound of galloping horses resounded ahead. This momentary distraction made the old man almost consider speeding back up again, but he didn't since the sound was from ahead which meant that he would have to turn the wagon around.

Turning around meant death, so stopping and waiting to see what was ahead was his only choice. One would say, that running off into the forest was also a choice, but the old man would not dare do so. If he left his family to die then he thought that he would be better off dead himself.

Looking ahead the old man saw about six silhouettes, he couldn't see there features because they were too far way. While waiting for them to get closer the old man stared ahead and hoped that they were not enemies.

A few seconds later the appearance of the new group was revealed. There were about 20 people riding horses, they were all donned in sliver armor that covered them from head to toe. The armor had various engravings craved into it, from trees to silhouettes.

The one engraving that stood out the most was the symbol of a crow with its wings wide open, it's head was on a side while it's beak was open pointing toward the sky. This engraving was located directly in the middle of the armor.

Seeing these people the old man knew that they were saved, these men were from Void Crow City, the closest city to their village, and since their village was apart of Void Crows territory, that meant these men where here to get rid of the bandits.

The man leading the group of warriors raised his hand signaling for his men to stop. The man had no helmet on so his features were on full display.

Long brown hair, a square jaw, bushy eyebrows, fierce eyes, and multiple scars scattered around his face. Jumping off his horse that man had an average build, but that didn't take away from the deadly look the armor gave off.

"Old timer, looking at the state of you-" the man stopped his sentence, he then tilted his head looking at the hole in the wagon.

"And the state of your wagon I assume you escaped from Teemed?"

Hearing the man, the old man stumbled off the driver seat of the wagon and frantically replied, "Yes, Yes, I escaped with my family and a random child, but just as we left I heard a loud bang, something had hit my wagon, I tried calling for my wife, son and daughter-in-law but I got no response,"

Before the man could response, the old man quickly ran around the wagon to the back. Just as the old man looked into the wagon his heart almost stopped, his eyes went wide and his skin turned pale.

The man who was leading the group of warriors appeared behind him, he also peered inside looking at the scene, yet his expression didn't waver.

Inside, a man was slumped over a headless body, while a old woman's head was pinned to the side of the wagon by a sword. The entire wagon was filled with blood and the only person conscious was a frail looking boy who was covered in blood, the boys arms were wrapped around his legs while is head was tucked between them.

"Margret!" The old man shouted as he stumbled into the wagon.

He pushed the boy aside and went to his now deceased wife who was pinned to the side of the wagon. Tears filled his eyes as his hands stayed still, he had no idea what to do.

Pull out the sword? Wouldn't that hurt his wife more? Was she still alive? How did this happen? Why did this happen?

Multiple questions ran through the old man's head, "Noo, god please, no" the old man wallowed as his knees gave away. He grabbed onto the helm of his wife's dress as his eyes produced endless tears.

After analyzing the situation the warrior outside had a good understanding of what happened.

Someone had threw the sword into the carriage with such force that it exploded the woman's head, the sword then made its way into the head of the old woman who was sitting across from the couple, pinning her to the side of the carriage.

The warrior then looked at the boy, "Boy, come out" the warrior said in a deep tone.

The man's voice instantly brought the boy out of his stupor.

"Out now" the warrior spoke again.

The boy pushed his weak body up and and slowed exited the wagon.

Looking at the boy, the warrior squinted his eyes, the boy had long black hair which stopped at the bottom of his back, a pair sharp eyebrows and sharp dark brown eyes, a small pointed nose, thin lips, and ghostly pale skin which was splattered with drying blood.

The boy looked to be around 10 or 11 years old with a height of about 140 cm. He had a black robe on with seemed to be slightly too big for him, the robe was leaning to the right which caused the opening of the robe to expose more of the boy's bony chest. The robe was covered in a thick bloody smell and bits and pieces of unknown body parts from with woman's skull were scatter on it.

The boy was extremely skinny, almost anorexic, his arms were as skinny as a stick, and the man could only guess what he looked like under the robe, but what was interesting was that his face looked completely normal. If he covered up his body no one would know how unhealthy his body looked.

The only telling thing at that point would be the sash tied around his waist.

Giving the boy another glance over, the warrior then looked toward the old man who was trying to wake his son up.

"Clyde, please wake up" the old man begged.

Getting in the wagon the warrior grabbed the old man's shoulder but the old man didn't react. He continued sobbing while shaking his son.

Seeing this the warrior spoke,"Old timer, listen, your wife and daughter-in-law are dead, nothing will bing them back. But, this isn't the end for your family, looking at your son it seems he's still alive, he likely just fainted from shock.

Grieve as much as you want, but only do so after getting what is left of your family to safety. That safety is Void Crow City, as the elder of the family you at least owe your son that much, what you do after reaching Void Crow is up to you,"

Listening to the warrior, the old man wiped his tears and shook his head,"Aye, I understand" he said as he wiped his tears away.

"Good"

The warrior then left the wagon and looked at the boy.

"What's your name boy?" He asked.

"I- I am Koshin, an Orphan from the Sun-Berry Orphanage in Teemed," the boy responded.

"Well, Koshin of the Sun-Berry Orphanage, try to survive as long as you can" the warrior said as he flicked a sliver coin towards the boy.

The boy unconsciously held out his hand and caught the coin, by this time the old man came out of the wagon and made his way back to the drivers seat.

The boy got back in the carriage and at the same time the warrior signaled for his men to open the way forward.

The wagon then moved ahead while the warriors went towards Teemed, uncertainty clenched their hearts just like the old man and the young boy.