#001| The Bright Moon

That night was a stormy night. It was filled with the cold breeze of the air moving in from every direction, the cold rain pouring from the sky above with the clouds overtaking the entirety of the small town that was below it.

"Hey, I'm going to go to the mountain top and just watching the weather for a while. Is that okay?" Jax said to his father which was in the middle of cooking dinner for that night. His father responded, "That's alright... just make sure to be safe and be back within an hour."

Jax had a smile on his face and ran out of the door closing it behind him, he had began running up the small mountain which he had done every day. Jax reached the top of the mountain within a short period of time and sat down to watch the cold rain drip through the clouds above hitting him, the ground, the trees, and the leaves around him. Feeling the cold breeze formed of this stormy and cold night he sat and just watched the world before him just looking at everything and taking it all in.

"This place, it's so lovely...yet it feels lonely here, without a lot of people, or anything special to do doesn't it?" Jax said to himself while watching over the small town getting drenched in rain water. Suddenly Jax heard footsteps to his left and looked over and saw his childhood friend Max. "Oh, Max? What are you doing here? I didn't think your parents would let you out with how ... well you know how they are.."

Max sat down beside his friend Jax and replied, "Yeah man... It is kinda weird they let me out of the house in this weather but maybe it's a sign of change?" Max and Jax looked at each other and started to laugh loudly while the rain started to pour down faster while getting harder.

"Oh yeah by the way Max, have you ever been taught magic yet?" Jax said while having a curiously interesting grin on his face. "Well not yet.. they said they'll teach me the basics in a few months after I graduate from the school." Max said looking down in an assumption of Jax already learned or is in the middle of learning the basics.

"Well I haven't learned any either honestly... I'm just now starting to learn the basic spell incantations to actually activate them. So I'm not even near being able to use one." They looked over the peak of the mountain and started to laugh again while taking in the nature they see everyday however in rain this time.

Suddenly they hear a loud sound coming from the sky above and they both looked at each other then at the sky to see a giant purple light coming down onto the village in front of them that looked like lighting. "Woah, look at that color of lighting. Isn't that a beautiful color Jax?" Max said to him while looking up at the sky. Jax slowly replied after looking at the light above. "You're right... that is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen from the sky."

Then as quickly as it came they heard the sound of thundering and the light suddenly slammed into the ground at speed of which they couldn't even react in time. "W-woah that was a loud and fast hit huh?" Jax said to Max while reopening his eyes to look at the village.

Max opened his eyes after a few moments of silence from Jax to see the entire town in flames and they heard the screams and cries from everyone within the town.

"M-M-Max...This isn't...real right?" Jax said barely able to speak due to the sight in front of him.

"T-there's no way this is real Jax.. this must just be s-some kind of like" Jax took s moment to figure out the rest of his words and said "This has to be a test of some kind of maybe a lesson not to leave the house after dark?... yeah that's it."

Max and Jax began running down the mountain path they took up falling and slipping down the steep, muddy, cold, and rocky terrain. They reached the town and tried to go into the flames thinking it was fake and both of their bodies began to lit on fire from the burning hot flames that were in front of them both.

"...T-this is real." They both said at the same time knowing that they were both powerless in this situation and just cried out to their parents, friends, and neighbors hoping at least they had enough time to cast a few protective spells on themselves or some others and they'll walk out.

Minutes passed, which became hours, and those hours became even more hours. 8 hours has passed and they both knew deep down that nobody will be coming out even though they both never gave up hope for a few more hours. As the hours passed by their faith of someone making it out slimmed into nothing.

"S-so... w-what do we do now Jax?" Max said while trying not to cry keeping all of his emotions inside. Jax after a few minutes of just sitting still on his knees in complete pain replied. "W-well... I'm not sure this time around Max.. I'm really not sure what to do anymore. Our parents... our friends.. everyone we knew t-they're gone."

They both stood there on their knees looking at the flames slowly burning out from the rain drops in the sky mixing their tears with the rain as an extremely brighter then normal moon begins to shine through the clouds.