A too painful start.

The scent of blood permeated the air. Orange hues of the afternoon sun filtered through the treetops above this once idyllic forest. Spiraled on the ground amount the tall grass and weeds was a young boy appearing to be around the age of nine or ten.

"Uhh, guh" Pained gasping breaths escaped the paling lips of the slim brown-haired boy. His childish face twisted with pain and shock, as his teary clear blue eyes stared down at his chest.

A single arrowhead protruding from his once-white cotton shirt now stained a deep red from his blood.

Unable to hold his head up any longer, his eyes left the bloody arrow the treetops above him taking its place in his sight. As his breathing narrowed further his mind drifted to his mother.

His mother had pushed him from behind while shouting "Run Luka!" were the last words he heard her say as the village burned around them. The screams from the villagers and the joyous laughter of the bandits began filling the afternoon air. They had been chased from their home and even now were being pursued.

Luka turned for only a second to look at his mother, tears flowing from his eyes, before putting all the strength he could muster in his legs. His mother knew they both wouldn't be able to evade the bandits. Realizing this, she decided to make herself a decoy and allow her boy even the smallest chance to getaway.

His mother quietly watched his retreating back with a sad smile softly spread across her elegant, but all to exhausted face. In her heart, she wished for her only son's safe passage. With that unspoken hope in her heart, she turned to face their pursuers.

His mother's scream of pain resounded in Luka's ears as he retreated. His heart sinking into despair with each step.

He had to get away whether it was away from his pursuers or the pained screams of his mother, only he knew. With his mother's sacrifice weighing heavily upon young Luka's mind as he reached the forest's edge, he turned back to look at his once peaceful village. Plumes of gray smoke rose to the evening sky before him, sounds of the chaos wrought by the unknown marauders echoed in the young boy's ears. The scene before him is forever etched in the depths of his soul. The sense of powerlessness, and having lost all that he had known in his short time alive washed over him. His whole body trembling, as he was assaulted with the sense of despair. Tears no longer fell from his eyes having cried enough to fill a small pond.

Suddenly, two human-shaped silhouettes came into his vision from the direction of his village. Adrenaline surged as panic set in, bringing him back from his stupor. Without waiting to see who was pursuing, he twisted his body around and dashed into the forest. His legs screaming at him as he dashed through the rough forest terrain but even so, he knew if he stopped his life would be finished.

Just as he was about to get behind a tree a wounded cry filled the forest air. A sharp pain coursed through his chest. His legs buckling as his strength drained away from the excruciating pain, before collapsing backward. The snapping sound of wood breaking as his back landed roughly upon the forest floor.

"So-sorry mom" Luke weakly muttered, wincing as he spoke between labored coughs, his mind returned to the present.

While Luka was recalling his mother's final words and his ill-fated flight, unnoticed by him, two men had moved up around him. "haha what a great shot as always Bert!" laughed a snide voice from above Luka.

"Shut your trap, Nate! I don't much care for killing children." Snapped back another man, presumably Bert, in an irritated tone. The man named Bert looked down sadly at the pitiable form of Luka before continuing "Orders are orders. Sorry lad may you find peace in the next life."

From below these two, Luka tried opening his eyes but between his tears and the slow loss of his vision he couldn't quite make out the two standing above himself. "wh.." he tried to speak but no longer had the strength, his words failing to reach either man. The world around him began to darken as his vision began to dim.

Bert averted his eyes away from Luca he's sight shifting to the burning village in the distance. Remorse replacing the stoic expression upon his face as he gazed upon the carnage they had wrought. 'I hope whatever his Majesty and the high priestess wanted from all this was worth it. I can't say I had dreamed of butchering one of our villages when I wanted to become a knight.'

Shaking his head as if to free himself from the dark thought boiling up in his mind, "Come on, we best report back to the captain" Bert proclaimed as he started back towards the village.

"Yea, yea best we better, I wouldn't want to get on the captain's bad side after what he did the last time someone pissed him off" replied Nate as he looked down at Luka's pale, pretty-boy face. 'tch such a waste' He sickeningly thought before following after Bert.

Now left alone, his life slowly ebbing away Luca's mind raced with questions. 'Why would anyone do this? What reason did he and his mother have to die?' His world had this far been untainted with the horrors of humanity but in a single evening, his soul had been baptized with his first taste of how malicious and cruel life can be.

With these questions and the trauma of everything he ever knew meeting its end Luka's heart finally stopped. Darkness quickly filled his troubled mind as the last dregs of his life came to an abrupt end. With this, his pain was over he need not fear being tormented again. He at least could be with his mother once more.

At least that's what should have happened. However, with Luka's last breath, a clear blue light began to envelop him starting from his head. His body began dissipating within the light, till all that was left was the broken arrow laying among blood-soaked grass.