Chapter 2

Waking from your worse nightmare is better than realizing you are wide awake and there is nothing you can do aside from watching what you treat as your treasure disappear bright as the daylight in front of you.

"Little blackie, hide, your life depends on you now," a wounded Rio doing his best to utter the words clearly while trying to stay awake.

"No… stay with me Rio, you're a Protector, right? You're supposed to protect me, c'mon, let's leave this place," I am now sobbing my heart out feeling empty yet overwhelmed by everything.

"This is the highest tree of the Fields, no one's gonna find out you're here. Stay where you are... remember, never come out," he stopped talking as blood came out of his mouth. "they are coming for every guardian, so never-ever come out."

"How about my Oldess? Tria Valley, c'mon Rio, they need to be warned."

"Be good blackie, you're stubborn right? Now's your time to prove you're that black sheep. Hide and never come unless the sea is calm," he let out a pained smile and flew his way to the scarlet border of Field and Valley.

What can I do? What should I do? I am hearing cries and loud explosions everywhere. What's happening, the last thing I remembered is Rio rushing towards me as he saw me come out from where I am hiding after I sneaked out. He was covered with blood and open wounds, his red wings turned bright red from the blood, and his white Protector's uniform cannot be differentiated from his wings. He lost his sandals, and his once neatly combed hair was now dyed red and all out of place.

He flew me forcefully towards the highest tree in the Field saying the most dangerous place is the safest. Everything went like flash, and I cannot comprehend nor take a single thing happening. Mortals hunting guardians, explosives, and specialized ropes to catch a guardian's wings. What in the wild is happening?

I looked below me only to see those heartless mortals removing Rio's wings and stabbing him with their blood-wrapped swords. My mind went blank from the sight of Rio screaming from the pain and slowly drifting to eternity with no more suffering.

Did days pass by? Was it weeks? I wonder how long I have been. I only know they burned every guardian's body, and I watched as the fire engulf the once almighty guardians who guarded those ungrateful wenches.

I slowly landed in the empty field wrecked from the remains of the guardians. It's a total battlefield and graveyard as the scarlet blood covered every grass alive in the field. I walked my way through every place I saw them mercilessly slaughter the Protectors and looked for every remaining reminder that they once fly their hearts without any pains and worries.

As I reached the place where saw them kill the once full-of-life Rio, my mind again went blank.

It was already dark when I saw myself still in the place where they killed Rio. I wondered what happened when I saw the boar's tooth that was in Rio's neckwear all the time. I wanted to cry but no tears were coming out of my eyes.

I'm so tired that I want to end everything.

"Be good blackie, you're stubborn right? Now's your time to prove you're that black sheep. Hide and never come unless the sea is calm."

"I cannot do a single thing, what should I do!!!" I cried and heard my voice echoing in the bloody field facing the Tria Valley.

Right! The valley and the other guardians.

Despite the weakening of my body, I forced my way to the valley. Bringing with me the left traces of the protectors they slay and Rio's souvenir from his first hunting.

I don't want to think about anything, I want to convince myself that they did nothing to our peaceful valley, but that disappear when I saw smoke the moment, I entered our valley.

I wanted to cry and kill everyone.

"They are the worst of the worst," I muttered under my breath lifelessly as I reached our valley.

I stopped at my favorite shop; Old Demtri's Armour shop now are dull pieces of smoking wood about to fall anytime soon. It was once busting in business as Old Demtri is one of the best welders in the valley. His favorite wooden cabinet full of high-quality weapons is good and the weapons are nowhere to be found.

The situation here is worse than at the border. I probably became immune to the foul smell of dried blood and rotten body parts. I flew my way up looking lifelessly at the now gray and smoking valley. I wanted to picture how it once was, but I just can't.

It was not just the houses and shops below they destroyed. It was chaos. The houses by the cliff are the same with that as the ones below.

I went to our house only to see nothing but the ashes and other remaining wood that are good for nothing. '

"What am I waiting for? What am I expecting?" I asked myself.

No traces of my Oldess, not even my favorite Jasm welcome me home.

Again, what am I expecting? I saw them kill the skilled protectors deprived of their wings and ended their lives in the cruelest way possible.

I sat in the remains of our once-called home and stared into the nothingness.

"Should I look for my Oldess? Should I just end my life?" I am talking to myself like I am at the end of my wit.

Everything with everyone's probably turned into ash now. Deprived of everything I had, I should have just fought as they did, then this emptiness isn't what I'm feeling at the moment.

"Rouge wake up! You're already late yesterday it's not good to keep attitude as a guardian," that's probably my Oldess from the kitchen.

"they're teaching us nonsense," then I again closed my eyes. "BLOCK-HEADED BLACK WINGED ROUGE!!"

"C'mon Oldess!! I was chased yesterday," I get up and sat on my wooden bed with wings carvings made by my best Old man. "Correction--you weren't chased out, you stormed out of the lecture room," I heard her from the outside.

"That ain't true!" and I once again lay down.

"I will cut that black wings of yours for you to learn your lesson," now she's in my room.

I stared at her, she was not my Oldess, she didn't have her flamboyant scarlet wings, and she was bleeding from head to toe.

"No! Oldess what's happening? Why is there blood? Where are your wings? Fina!!" I seemed to scream at the top of my lungs, but u can't hear my voice.

What's happening?!

"Rouge, my dear blackie, you should not ditch your lectures," she's fading away, she's becoming a transparent creature in front of my naked eyes.

"NO!!! No, Oldess, what's happening? NOOOOO!!!!!"

"Rouge are you okay? Rouge! Can you hear me? ROUGE!"

Where am I? I was just at home-- home, our house turned ashes, so that was just a dream. That hurts a lot upon realization.

"Are you in pain? Where were you? Thank goodness you're safe! How did you escape?" it's Oldess Sanya.

I touched her face; I extended my arms reaching out her wings. I can touch them.

"You're not dead right? I'm not dreaming again, right?" I asked her full of wonder.

She did not say a thing, instead, she hugged me and cried her heart out.

I am not dreaming, right? There are still some guardians, I am not alone.

"There are only twenty-five of us including you who survived that horrible massacre," Mio is holding a wooden bowl with something like soup in it. "One of the protectors told us to hide at the heart of the valley, and after that, I can't describe what happened," he's having a bitter smile while talking and giving the bowl to Oldess.

I am not alone. They are real. They still have their wings.