The silence of the night was broken with resounding boom and a flash of light. My thoughts which I can now only describe as egotistical were that 'this must be my eighth birthday celebration!' I jumped out of my bed and only then heard the screams. They were not shouts of joy or celebration but clearly shrill sounds of someone begging for a savior. The sounds multiplied and soon the clang of metal on metal was heard throughout the village and a chill of fear immediately shot down my spine.
The following scenes are clearly ingrained in my memory. No matter the time that passes the nightmares of this night will never go away, the horrors of what happened here will play scene by scene almost every time I shut my eyes. There is no peace from this memory, no escape from this hell.
As I stepped out of my home the first thing that hit me was the scent, blood, as a member of the Sangalia this is a scent we are at home with, a scent we crave however I was now experiencing a combination of scents I had never before experienced, the heavy scent of my people's blood blowing as a river throughout the village.. I could see clearly a fire blossoming from the cabins posted near the entrance of the village where the battle was commencing. I knew my parents would be in the midst of the fight defending possibly the last bastion of our people.
I made my way towards the gate, I do not know why my choice was not to flee, any smart child would have immediately ran away knowing that nothing good would come of my advancement forward. As I proceeded onward the sounds of battle became louder and the heat from the burning homes washed over me in waves.
The scene greeted me upon reaching my destination was gruesome. The ground was soaked in blood, the cabins not yet set on fire were splatted as if the previous occupants had decided to paint the cabin using themselves as the material. It quickly became clear that the attackers were without mercy as no death appears to be clean or swift. Hands and many other body parts were cut and scattered everywhere. On the ground the dead and dying bodies of Sangair people were moaning for help. I could offer them none in my youth. Horrified I could do nothing but move forward. Where is my mother? Where is my father? These thoughts repeated over and over again as anxieties welled up inside me, my eight year old mind ready to snap at the horrors everywhere around me.
“J....ade...” a weak voice pleaded to me snapping me back to the reality and out of my spiraling mind. I looked down and experienced my first personal losses of the night. Garette weeping and covered in blood was clinging to the lifeless body of a tattered Sylva. Both just nearly nine years old their lives were over and nothing could be done. Garette still even had a sword sticking through his chest, likely to pull it out would only speed his death... no amount of blood can cure a hole in the heart even for the Sangalia.
“NO!” I screamed.
“Garette, Sylva, no! Why?? Who is doing this? Why us?!” The pleads continued to escape my lips one after another as the tears finally began to fall..
“We saw.... faye and human.... other smells unknown. Jade.. You must... flee... We will await you in the sky...” with these words Garette, still clinging to Sylva stopped breathing. It was the first death I had ever seen in the village, my heart crumbled into pieces at the sight.
As I fell to my knees the tears flowing from my eyes and I wailed not caring who could hear me a scent caught my attention and I froze. Behind me was an odd, bitter odor like the darkest of chocolates. Soon the scent was close, directly upon me and I could only think I don't want to die. As the child I was the only word to escape my lips as I turned to face my final moments.
“Mommy...”
Immediately there was a swift moment and the scent was pushed away and I was enveloped in a familiar warmth. The warmth of my mother's arms.
“Jade! Thank Darkal we thought you were dead oh thank God. Are you injured? What is this blood.” My mother quickly checked me over as she frantically questioned me not giving me even enough time to answer.
“Mom... Garette Sylva, they are....” I couldn't finish the words as my tears began to fall. My mother then looked beside us to see the corpse of my two best friends, my siblings.
“I'm so sorry Jade honey, but we need to go. Now.”
My mother's anxious words startled me. I still had not calmed down and had no awareness of my situation at the moment. It was then I remembered the bitter scent and wondered where it had gone. I looked over to see my father locked in combat with a fierce creature I had never seen before. Near seven feet tall with horns sticking out of its head. The body was entire covered in blood as if it had taken bath in the life force of the Sangalia. A spiked tail was show swinging behind the creature occasionally attempting to swipe at my father who would parry and dodge the blows. This was a demon, and a very high level one who could fight on par with my father. Fortunately blood magic has no effect on the Sangalia as our entire existence is based on using blood to survive and grow stronger. However this did not mean the demon was lacking in combat, quite the opposite it appeared to be steadily driving my father back.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Turning back my father looked at my mother and I and did nothing but nod, the expression he held was that of the deepest despair. Looking back on this now it was a mixture of an apologize, to me, saying that he was sorry that he would not be able to see me grow and an acceptance of his fate, he would go down with the village. At the time I did not understand the expression but as my mother grabbed me and began to run swiftly away I looked back once more and saw the blade of the demon slicing up and cutting through my father's chest. My screams became hoarse and I lost consciousness as my father dropped to the ground, I could still see his lifeless eyes facing my direction.
I was only out for a moment, the rough ground and my mother's maneuvering around the corpses scattered everywhere quickly shook me awake and as I came to I noticed my mother's panicked expression. We weren't escape, we were fleeing for our lives. As I looked behind us I saw two beast-men sprinting in our direction. One had a ferocious look on his face with a smile that said he was enjoying chasing after prey, he had the ears of a wolf and sharp claws. The other was following on the rooftops jumping from cabin to cabin with his long beard, or would it be mane flowing in the wind, clearly this was a cat-type beast-man, likely of the lion family. We were close to the rear exit of the village, the entrance to the woods at the base of the mountain. We knew the area around the village better than anyone else possibly could, our last hope was to get into the mountains and find a cave to hide within. Every second made this hope look more and more impossible as the beast-men were slowly gaining on us. Were it my mother alone she could easily have escaped but she was carrying me, and an eight year old child was not a light burden to carry while fleeing from these creatures.
As we reached the gate my mother tripped. There was the body of Garette's mother lying at the gate with a gash that cut her head almost in two. One of her legs were gone and the left arm from the elbow down was missing. Whoever had killed her had taken pleasure in the death of this woman, for the first time since the attack had begun I began to feel anger welling within all of the fear. This was an utterly cruel act done by monsters. I came to my senses, realizing I had once again became lost in the carnage surrounding me and forget entirely the depth of how bad my current situation was. As I regained senses I could hear my mother screaming to me.
“RUN JADE NOW! TO THE FOREST! GO!!”
I realized then that she had not yet got up from her fall, and when she tripped she had thrown me a good distance away and outside the village. As I looked back to her I saw the two beast-men preparing to jump and grab her with looks of glee on their faces. My mother noticed too and made an immediate decision, she would not be prey to their cruel tricks, she took a dagger from her waist and plunged it into her heart, ending her own life. My feet took me where my head and my heart could not, I ran. Sprinting into the forest that I knew so well I fled from the now angry and roaring beast-men who appears to be calling for a search, they would not allow a single Sangair person to escape this slaughter. As I reached the mountain and began to climb I lost their voices, perhaps they could not navigate the forest or make out my scent amongst all the new creatures of the woods they had no experience smelling. I climbed and climbed for hours until I reached a cave near half-way up the mountain and made my way inside.
The cave was dark, and had an oppressive air about it which I had never before experienced. I was scared but I knew nothing could be worse than returning outside into the arms of those executioners. The cave was like a labyrinth throughout the mountain with multiple passageways and no light at all. Luckily the eyes of the Sangalia were made for darkness and I could see without any issues however I had never before seen this cave and had no clue where the path I took would lead but I continued forward, tears streaming down my face and made myself a vow... the vow my weak and meager eight year old self made here was the basis for the rest of my existence. The moment that anger overrode all fear and my hatred blossomed. The vow, I will come back, I will kill them all. They will rue the day they believed they could exterminate my kind. The Sangalia will return.