Dreaming Of The Past

Zalex remembered that day like it was yesterday.

It had come too sudden.

One second he was playing hide and seek with his friends in the fields, the next a woman's desperate shriek could be heard.

It was a large stretch of green grass and flowers at the southern edge of the village.

One could easily see both the southern and northern sides of the village due to it's small size.

Just by the western edge of the town, he could see a large number of cloak men on horses.

He couldn't remember how many they were but knew that they were at least nearing the hundreds.

The horseman at the front, supposedly their leader, was already off his horse he held a young woman by the throat with one hand.

His other hand firmly gripped his sword which was already plunged deep into the woman stomach.

She wriggled in the air trying to fight the pain and escape from him but his grip was extremely strong.

As the lead horseman began pulling out the sword from her stomach, a farmer ran towards him from the side holding a pitchfork.

Zalex recognized the man.

He was the young woman's husband and his father's very good friend.

The man swung his pitchfork at the lead horseman trying to rescue his wife but only succeeded in getting a strong kick in the side by one of the other horsemen.

Dropping his pitchfork and groaning in pain, the farmer could not defend himself from the constant stomps of the other horsemen.

 The lead horsemen, after pulling out his sword said a few words to the women who only cried in response.

He dropped her on the floor and shouted something back to his men.

Back then Zalex couldn't figure out what he said but now he had a good guess.

'Round up everyone you see and kill those who resist'

And without a second of delay the other horsemen charged into the village, not even sparing a glance to the couple on the floor as they crushed them beneath their feet.

The lead horsemen swiftly and smoothly climbed on the horse and looked to towards the field.

Zalex was standing in plain sight at the time since his friends were busy hiding somewhere else.

The distance between them was long as he could barely see the man.

He always had better vision than even most children older than him.

But somehow he could tell the man was looking at him and was very sure he had a smile stretch across his face before he charged in like his men.

Zalex stood there stunned, he didn't understand anything he just saw.

He was almost three years old and could not even comprehend the concept of death but still felt like what he saw was not good.

He decided that he would just run home and hope his parents would solve it.

He ran as fast as his little legs could take him.

Even though he look much bigger and taller than his age mates it did not seem to be of much help in running.

It took him a whole three minutes to get back home.

When he entered the house it was completely silent.

He did not see any one around and everything looked normal.

Nothing was out of place.

No chairs tossed about, no rugs moved out of place not even a single thing was broken.

It was like they just disappeared.

He was very scared now.

"Dad! Mom! Nick! Kate! Anyone please answer me!"

He ran through every room in the house crying out to his family but no one was there to respond.

Now he was desperate.

He needed his family. He didn't understand what he saw and he needed his father's reassuring words or even his mother's soothing voice.

He would even be happy with the presence of his elder siblings.

All he could do was sit on the ground and cry.

He could his eyes, hoping for it to all be just a nightmare.

Barely a minute later something was tapping him on the shoulder.

He raised his head to look at what it was, still holding hope that it was a member of his family.

But that hope quickly disappeared.

Standing in front of him was a tall man with black hair.

His muscular build was barely hidden under his dark cloak.

He had full but neatly trimmed beard and an eyepatch on his left eye.

His great height and menacing gaze gave him a very intimidating presence.

As he looked down on the young Zalex with his bright green eye, a smile slowly formed on his face.

Zalex recognized the man and it seems the man recognized him as well.

Even though they were very far away from each other he could easily tell that this was the man he saw not long ago.

The lead horseman stood still as he looked around the house.

He could easily tell that there was no one there except for the child.

He crouched down and said to the boy in a calm voice, our as calm as he could make it due to how deep his voice was.

"Where are you parents buddy?"

Zalex just stared at the man, with tears in his eyes.

The horseman could guess that the boy was very scared.

Either way he thought he would try nonetheless.

He took a picture out of his pocket and showed it to the boy.

It depicted a silver chained necklace with a green gem in the shape of a cross.

"Do you happen to know if anyone has this toy?"

He chose to call it a toy since it may actually help him get an answer from the boy.

"M-M-My mom wears it. S-S-She said it was a gift from dad."

The horseman's smile instantly turned into a frown.

He quickly stood up straight while keeping his gaze on the sobbing child.

"If what you just told me is true kid then that complicates things."

The man began pacing back and forth in deep thought.

"If your parents were the ones in possession of the artifact then that means we just wasted our time here."

"They were probably aware of our impending arrival and ran. Even willing to abandon their kid here."

"They got an even began head start thanks to us wasting our time on these fucking villagers."

The boy stopped sobbing as he looked at the horseman with confusion.

The horseman when noticing this simply sighed.

"I'm sorry to tell you this kid, but your parents abandoned you."

Zalex still looked confused as he looked at the man.

"I mean to say they took their stuff and left you behind to save their own asses."

After he noticed that the boy showed no signs of understanding him he just gave up.

He walked to the door with the intention to leave.

Before leaving though, he looked Zalex one more time.

"I would have spared you kid but my orders are to get rid of all the members of your parents bloodline and even acquaintances.

I'm not really a bad guy but even I've got to make a living.

If you want to blame someone, blame the world for being cruel."

With those words he slammed the door behind him.

Standing outside the shack he pulled his sword out of it's sheath and pointed it at the floor.

A brown light covered it's blade as a slab of stone rose from the ground right in front of the door.

Then with a flick of the wrist the blade began to glow red hot as he pointed it towards the shack.

Bright orange flames spewed out of the tip of the sword engulfing the shack in flames.

As the sun went down the flames dancing furious all over the house lighting up the darkening sky.

The lead horsemen simply turned away from the burning house and walk away.