As the gold plated boy was talking, Hiram whispered to his family and the villagers. Most of the older villagers had taken a beating from the attacks but now was the best time to quietly leave. Feet by feet they slowly began leaving until the golden boy gave his deafening command.

“Run!”

Hiram yelled before the army lunged for them. The elders, with their slower movement, turned around and stood to face the invaders. The children watched as their figures disappeared, distraught by their sacrifice, but also realizing the importance of it. With it they gained some distance, but a party of knights came to block off their entrance to the hills of the dragon roost.

“We must get through!”

“But how?”

“Go through the buildings. It’ll lessen their numbers with the smaller spaces. If we get to the hills, Kyrie should have gotten help to find us.”

A surge of humans came to engage their backside, causing a melee to ensue. It cut off Leah from the others and she ran off on her own. Alone, she bashed her way into a quiet warehouse. Quickly closing the door behind her and barricading it, she rushed to look for a way out. She spotted a stairway up and assumed that there is a window upstairs from how she knew how houses were built in. Before she could climb the stairs however, the humans came crashing at her door.

Half a dozen ragged looking human men easily broke down the relatively weak door. Inside they stalked the warehouse, searching for Leah. Leah, instead of heading up the stairs, moved to hide. Perhaps she could shake them off her trail and quietly head to the dragon roost. With the night upon them, the warehouse was hardly lit and her small frame made it easy for her to hide.

Crouching behind a shelf, she kept a keen eye on the invaders, watching their skeletal bodies creep closer and closer to her position. She could hear the sounds of fighting happening outside the warehouse and she wanted to join whoever was there, but she couldn’t move right now. She was outnumbered 5 to 1 here.

The closer the invaders drew, the louder she could hear her heartbeats. Each heartbeat was as loud as a drumbeat, so loud that she thought they could hear it. One human walked right in front of her and stopped.

“Where is she!?”

“She’s somewhere in her.”

“Keep looking. It’s been so long since we’ve seen a woman.”

“Careful, the prince won’t tolerate already broken goods.”

“Nah, the prince will kill us anyways. At least we’ll have a little fun.”

They laugh, but they are still searching. With each passing minute, Leah’s resolve waved. They weren’t leaving. Now they were searching the lower parts of the shelves. She had to move. Slowly, after the human in front of her left, she crouched her way out. She couldn’t get upstairs without them seeing her. She couldn’t hear fighting outside anymore, but maybe outside was more clear than the insides here. She could also try to kill these 5 as well, but it was unlikely that she could take them all on.

She resolved herself to go back outside and run a different way. In front of her was a single human looking away from her. He was relatively shorter than the others, short enough she could get his throat. If she was going to do this, she’s going to need him to be quiet. Sneaking up to him, she grabs his mouth from behind and then stabs him with her shirt sword. He squirms and is able to move her hand away from his mouth and screams.

Panicking, she swiftly pulls out her blade and runs. She could hear the other humans yell and holler at her, closing the distance with her. She’s in luck though as the door was straight ahead until a figure slowly walks in front and blocks it. Another human was placed outside to watch her escape. Resolved to push past him, she goes to stab, but is grabbed from behind by a different human. She kicks and struggles, but the human has an unnatural desperate strength. She is pulled down and surrounded by the invaders.

“Time to dig in.”

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One of them exclaims. They laugh together.

“Too bad for the poor sod who died.”

“We’ll eat enough for him.”

They say all of this while pinning her down. They begin stripping her. Her armor, shirt, pants, everything being stripped.

“No! Stop!”

She struggles harder and harder. Her short sword was kicked away and they pinned her limbs down. She tries to cast voice magic, anything offensive would do, but they see her and punch her. Once to her face and the other to her stomach.

“Don’t damage her.”

“She’s going to cast magic you idiot.”

One of the invaders pulls down his pants. She struggles once more to voice cast but they punch her once more in the head. Her consciousness begins fading, stars appearing all around. She begins crying. Her fear overwhelmed her. She was powerless to stop them. Hopelessness was all but assured.

As he tries to get on top of her, she could think of her loved ones. Her father, mother, Hiram, Danjela, her siblings, and… Aldrich. No one could save her. She grew frustrated. She was powerless. All of the training, magic and physical training, not enough to save her here. From there she feels a burning rage erupt from within. It built up slowly, but with each passing second, it exponentially grew.

As it grew, the less real the world around her became. The men bickering to use her became very faint in her mind. The pain on her face and her stomach subsided. It was very strange. One of the men looked back at her and pointed. He said something, but she didn’t hear it. For some reason, nothing felt very intense anymore. She casually lifted her previously pinned arm and the human on it was sent flying.

To the invaders it came as a shock and they tried pinning her down again, but she easily threw them off her one by one. Their bodies after throwing became mangled messes, some even bursting through the warehouse’s walls. She didn’t understand what was happening. She walked over a human who tried to flee from her. How strange. They were faster than her just earlier. He swings his ace at her, but it shatters on impact. With a grab on his leg, she pulled him and then tossed him. Clearing the warehouse of the invaders, she walked to the exit. With each step, she felt as if the world was in slow motion. She could see everything with extreme clarity, but her emotions, though very intense just a moment ago, become almost serene with nothing of before to be found.

Along the way was a mirror. Something caught her eye in the reflection. Her pink hair had turned bright red, her iris turned from black eyes turned pink, and glowing lines rippled throughout her body. The way they looked reminded her of dragons. As soon as she stepped out however, she instantly plummeted. She landed on the floor with a very painful smack on her face. She was still conscious, but she couldn’t move her body. Not a single piece even twitched. She could only lay there motionlessly. Her body stopped glowing and eyes turned back to normal. Her hair mostly turned back to pink, but the tips of her became a gradual red.

Crouching besides her was an elderly elf.

“So that was what I was feeling. How extraordinary. A draconic outburst from a human. You must be a dragon-kin. With that pink hair it means that you’re from the Sinclair line.”

Lifting her up, he walks around a corner. What Leah saw could only be described as a nightmare. Hiram and Danjela were chained up with many villagers that stuck with them being dead and few being beaten and captured. Both Hiram and Danjela were beaten up and knocked unconscious.

“What luck we must have for us to capture the escaped princess and children of the lord.”

The old man lets go of Leah, dropping her on the floor. The golden prince walks up to Leah before placing his plated boot on her face.

“These weaklings couldn’t even escape. I’m disgusted that I’m even related to them.”

“Allegedly you are.”

Looking to the old man, he scowls before asking,

“So why are they not dead? I thought the church asked for their deaths.”

“The church may have asked, but ultimately all they really need is to break the spirit of the rebels in Trinity. I stopped our soldiers from outright killing them and besides, you wanted to torture them correct? Enslaving and breaking them will do better than simply killing and then martyring them.”

The prince assumes a thinking posture and thinks.

“I suppose so. Then did you find the source of power earlier?”

“Indeed. It came from this Sinclair child.”

“Her? The weakling?”

“Weakling or not, she possesses great power to be able to use draconic outburst. With how diluted their kin-line is with their origin dragon it’s possible she might be the last one to do so without another dragon’s intervention. She will be an asset if we train her, especially in the upcoming war.”

“Fine. You can train her.”

With a creepy smile on his face, he gleefully drags Leah to the rest of her family.