The fateful day...

Present-day...

Alex was silent, his father's words were still seeping in. Many thoughts came into his mind. He had unknowingly dropped down his neck in contemplation.

"so that basically means I am adopted, and" he gulped down his saliva,

"I don't even know my origins"

He was at a loss of words he turned his head to look at his dad just to see a gentile but sad smile facing him, he looked at his mom her hands held together in front of her chest. Alex knew she was on the verge of crying.

He then realized he hadn't spoken anything from the start to end, he knew they were waiting for him to say something and the silence was killing them from inside. Alex felt so pathetic right now,

"I am so selfish just thinking about myself, while my mom and dad are waiting for my answer"

He remembered how his mother took care of him, how his father scolded him but felt bad about it even more than him. Those memories came rushing into his head.

Alex cleared his throat took a deep breath and spoke,

"hey mom and dad you should look at your faces right now, these precious expressions haha"

He then gave a smile and stood up speaking sarcastically like always,

"well things happened in the past but don't ever think that just because you tell me I am adopted I am going to leave you both and stop calling you Mom and Dad Humph"

Alex's mother burst in tears and hugged him she couldn't bring herself to speak anything, while his father smiled and wiped away the tear that formed near his eyes he then spoke,

"hey why am I the only one being left out"

Mathew then hugged them both tightly reminiscing about the past fond memories.

But just then something horrifying happened.

BOOM!

A Few Hours earlier...

"Captain the target's location has been confirmed…i...i…its inside a dungeon park apparently"

A cold voice replied back,

"Makes our job easy also call his Excellency Martin he will be the one calling shots"

The Maurya empire's assault team then followed Mathew and his family in civilian clothes to avoid suspicions as they waited for Martin's arrival.

An hour later Martin arrived at the scene. He had a tall, slender figure and narrow eyes also famously known as The Mauryan Viper.

His orders were to take down all upper echelon members of The Democratic Republic of Beljaris in the southern province.

He knew if he wanted to kill all of them then he should first take care of his priority target, 'General of 3rd division Rangers, Marshal Mathew Lamarka'.

Mathew had always been under heavy protection being a decorated officer so even if Martin killed him he knew this would induce a high Alert threatening the failure of his successive plans for assassinating other political leaders of Beljaris.

On top of that Matthew himself was a war veteran and a powerful warrior, so Martin had to handle this matter very carefully.

But today the moment he got report stating that Mathew was with his family, unguarded and that too in a dungeon park where there was no cell service whatsoever he knew lady luck had planted her kiss upon him. He rushed there immediately.

Dungeon Parks were nothing but portals to small planets or small landmasses that were safe for passage or had been completely cleared of beasts and restored for commercial use. The name dungeon was given just for namesake purpose of making one feel like going to an adventure world. Afterall not all citizens chose to become warriors or blessed with magic potential. A little amount of thrill was all that they needed.

One could use all communication devices inside the portal but to communicate outside was almost impossible. Unless a high powered device was used to do so.

Right now Martin was watching Mathew from his binocular lenses while a team of snipers not too far from Mathew was waiting for their orders.

"Aww what a heart touching family gathering, pch….pch …. such a shame you chose the wrong time to show up now even your family has to suffer .....not that I was going to spare it anyways hehe!"

A wicked smile then formed on his face as he gave the signal to attack by raising his chin while he continued to see the family melodrama through his binoculars anticipating its destruction.

BOOM!

The 1 cm wide bullet pierced through Mathew's shoulder blade. The impact shook his body he immediately covered Martha and Alex but his movements were slow.

BOOM!

Another Bullet drew blood but this time bullet scraped past Mathew. Mathew was angry yet fearful right now he was not afraid of death but he was more afraid for his family.

Alex was shocked to the core, he had clearly seen his father's shirt getting bloodied red. Mathew finally brought Alex and Martha under the nearby tree's cover he then took out his 'Dagger of Shimon' hidden in his suit.

He looked at Alex with grave seriousness he then spoke,

"Alex I will stall them, you carry your mother and run away and sneak out from this place"

Alex was terrified he couldn't at all fathom what was going on just a moment before they were so happy and now, he started shivering on the spot.

Martha grabbed his hands and smiled telling him,

"have you forgotten who your father is, don't worry about him he will survive and reunite with us"

yet Alex knew his mother was just trying to display a façade after all the enemy hadn't even shown its appearance and his father was already injured. But right now all he could do was take the most logical decision. He had to trust his Father and act decisively.

Alex nodded. his father gave him and Martha a gentle smile before speaking, "now go"

Alex then, with his mother started running under the cover of the huge bark of the tree, he turned around to see his father one last time, he wasn't sure what was going to happen he never felt so useless before, he was guilty of not opting for the warrior course and taking his life easy instead.

Mathew on the other hand seeing Alex run a suitable distance stood out from the cover to act as a decoy and to destroy the enemy bastards his anger was had reached an unprecedented level.