Chapter 1.1: Gone, gone, gone

Shadows, not humans, but living ghosts that look like the shadow of a person or a thing, or even a zombie. They eat human life force alive to gain more power and their only weakness is elemental attacks. But it takes a purer, sharper, more powerful element to defeat a shadow. Unlike other senseless creatures, shadows have the mindset of normal humans, so they have their own senses, thinking, and reasoning. But one thing is for sure, the shadow's goal is to rank high, have fame and fortune, and so on. And in order to gain these feats, they need to become stronger by feeding on life force, especially on humans.

"Dad! Mom! Henry!" Hatz shouted and rushed straight into the shadow-infested village that was in the process of being attacked. Even though the village had burned to the ground, Hatz did not care about whether he was injured or not and only thought about rushing in to save his parents, at that moment he only wanted to find his parents. He hoped to see their faces.

Hatz's mind was overwhelmed with all sorts of overwhelming emotions and questions, thinking, Today was supposed to be a holiday for everyone to enjoy together..... The tears began to flow unconsciously and could not be held back any longer, as Hatz desperately searched for his family. How did they even know we lived here? No one was supposed to know this place other than the Lumiero clan.

George thought But the single fact that we overlooked and didn't know is that Feast Day is for .... George stopped and realized something that made him come up with a conclusion.

Seeing the whole place in chaos as people were murdered one by one. Blood was spilled all over the snow, human bodies were being sucked by shadows to bones and the storm blew even harder which made it harder for people to fight.

Hatz and George suddenly thought about the real purpose of the "Feast Day". In unison, "Shadows!"

The "Feast Day" was for the Shadows and not the Lumiero Clan.

"Tch!" As the fire roared even wilder, there were already so many people who died in the battle but Hatz kept going.

Finally, Hatz came across their house which was already in shambles, nevertheless, he put away the burnt and fallen planks and straws to find if there was anyone under the building.

!

He saw a hand, gripping a ragged cloth, then he quickly dragged the wooden plank that was on top of it and then yelled, "HEY! ARE YOU OKAY!? GET A GRIP TOGETHER!"

As the wooden plank uncovered a kid's face, he saw a person that almost got him to burst into tears. "HENRY!!!" he was unconscious but he still had a pulse, there weren't many injuries or scratches. Hatz quickly carried him to his back and then quickly ran into a safe place with no shadows and fire.

Hatz thought, Good thing Henry is okay, I better find Dad and Mom.

As they arrived at a safe place, he placed Henry on a tree trunk to let him sleep, then the ragged cloth caught his eye again which was held tightly by Henry's hand.

He thought, maybe it is his friend that…. he guessed that it was Henry's friend in their village who had died, she and Henry were very good friends. He shook his head side by side to change his thoughts,

"I have to find dad and mom first,"

Before the start of the War... From Henry's POV

"Mom! Where should I put the stove? It's boiling a looot!" Just when I thought I was enjoying my time with mom with her cooking chores...

"Oh...Honey, just....leave it. It's still not done yet."

Eh? Why? The soup will catch on fire if it's left like this and I can't carry it on my own...

So, I grabbed mom's ragged apron and asked again, "But mom, the soup will be burnt by then, and we won't have lunch!"

Mom aggressively yanks my hair, letting me face up and look at her. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW? AND STOP GRABBING ME, KID! LEAVE ME ALONE"

My mom kept shaking me off and it was just then she bumps into the soup, a big fire was roaring inside our home.

"AHH! MOM!"

"Tch! And it had to spill now of all times." Mom draws a lighter out of her pocket and then throws it in the fire to set it wilder. "NO! MOM!!!"

Did mom throw gasoline into the soup earlier? Was that why I saw mom pour green liquid into those? Wait, was she planning to--

As mom was able to break free from me, her apron that I held was torn by me, and slowly, she left, he finally looked back and stared at me, and her final words were, "Just drop dead with your brother and dad," Her eyes were so fierce and the words she spoke every second broke my heart.

"You, were never meant to be born, more so your brother."

She was actually planning to burn me and my brother when we drink the soup.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________End of Chapter 1.1: Gone, gone, gone