8 years ago...

"Are you two not forgetting something?" Mom said with a smirk on her face.

Turning around we walked back while mom leaned forward expecting a little goodbye kiss from her son and daughter. I gave mom a quick kiss and so did Zephyria.

"Good, seems like you guys are all ready for a new school day." She said while picking up her bag and walking to the stairs. "Hun, I'm going to buy some food for tonight I will be right back."

"Ok. Be careful. " Dad answered.

When everyone was ready we went outside and started walking down the path splitting the grass fields in front of our house. It curved a little and eventually went into the forest that was functioning like some sort of border between our house and the rest of the world. After a few hundred meters you would come out the other end of the forest as you followed a small river that started somewhere further up the mountain with a beautiful waterfall.

"Mom, did you notice the animals being scared of something lately?" I asked as we were passing through the forest.

"Yes, I noticed it as well. But don't worry, just stay on the path through the forest and nothing will happen to you, ok?"

"Ok." I accepted her explanation, but I also had my own thoughts.

I feel like I have seen this before. Or it is just my imagination.

Eventually, we reached the small village of Laurelwood. It was built around a river that went through all of the valley and would reach the sea further to the north in the city of Sunfrost. The village wasn't big by any means but it had a local school that me and Zephyria went to.

"Well," Mom said as she turned around and kneeled before us. "I am going to the store and get us some food for tonight. Anything you guys would like?"

Mom was an extremely nice and gentle woman. Her smile would melt every bad emotion away and she was the most caring person I have ever met. Though she did have a royalty air hovering around her, I still can't find out why.

"I would love some strawberries. Is that ok?" I asked in my cutest voice.

"Hmmm. Are you trying to be cute again Zeph? Because it is still not working." She said as she started to chuckle again. I felt a bit annoyed by that and let Zephyria do the cute stuff from now on.

Mom looked at Zephyria and started to laugh even more.

"You are really trying hard to nail that cuteness with your sister, aren't you? But ok, I'll get you guys some strawberries."

With a pat on the head, she stood up and we went into the school.

A few hours have passed since school started. It was all pretty boring with the knowledge from my previous life. If you thought school was boring the first time, try having to go to school for a second time. Without having any choice in the matter and having 2 bodies for double the bore... Well, you get the picture.

While looking out the window towards the western mountains, I saw smoke rising from behind the forest.

Suddenly I realized where that was and without warning me and Zephyria ran to the window.

"Wait, No way! That is where I live! What is going on!" Scared of what was happening I almost shouted, which startled the teacher who immediately turned around. Before she could give me a warning she saw what we were looking at.

"Ok kids, you all stay here, I will be right back!"

Catching the surprise on her face and seeing her run out of the classroom, my and Zephyria followed suit.

I don't have time to wait around, I will go home right now.

"Miss Aradia, we are going home!" we announced to the teacher as we started running up the hill.

Aradia looked back and saw us starting to run up the hill.

"Stop! You don't know what is going on there! Stop it!" She almost begged us to come back, but she knew it was already too late.

As we came through the forest, what we saw could only be described as hell. Everything was colored black, orange, and red from the flames that were engulfing the whole area.

"Holy shit! What happened? We need to get to Mom and Dad!"

As we tried to make our way to our house we used our water magic to cool ourselves and make a way home. When we reached our home, to our surprise, the fire hadn't touched the house.

Did Mom and Dad have some sort of barrier around the house or something?

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Without giving myself the chance to ponder that thought, we rushed into the house.

...

...

The door closed behind us.

All sound disappeared.

All strength left our bodies.

All physical sensations, unnoticeable.

All emotions turned into sadness, desperation, disbelief, darkness, loneliness.

The living room where, just a few hours ago, we were having breakfast together.

The kitchen where, just this morning, I was baking cookies for tonight with mom.

It was now painted red with blood.

When I looked into the living room, I spotted Mom's body. It was hanging over the sofa as if she was killed and tossed aside. Looking at the kitchen, I could see Dad's cut-up leg just around a low wall separating the kitchen from the living room. Blood was everywhere. Just as the strawberries that mom said she would get us, now spread throughout the house.

Mortified, 2 children aged 10, sitting on the ground, almost as lifeless as the mutilated bodies of their parents. That must have been some sight for the people who finally reached the house after what felt like an eternity.

Outside people from the village rushed in and with more advanced water magic, managing to extinguish the fires around the house. Finally reaching the house, the moment they opened the door some turned back right away and were sick just from the sight and smell, others froze, equally mortified by what they saw.

Miss Aradia was the first to notice us. With a paralyzing amount of shock and fear, she managed to pick us up and pull us away from the house.

"Zeph!!! Zephyria!!! Are you two ok?" She asked, trying to hold back her own tears.

We gave no response though. I can vaguely remember what happened up till that point. After that, things went dark.

My first memory after that was from a week later. I woke up and Miss Aradia had taken us to her house. She apparently cared for us all that time and offered us to stay with her as long as we needed/wanted.

She confirmed that our parents were indeed no more and that they were buried next to the house. Though they didn't have a service for them yet, as they wanted to wait for us to wake up and give us a chance to say our goodbyes. She also told us that people from the village cleaned the house fully so if we wanted to visit it, we would not have to worry about it.

We were thankful for everything that everyone had done for us, but we decided to live in our own house again when we had recovered enough.

2 days later, we officially buried our parents.

The villagers were all there as well, in support of us, and were willing to help us in any way.

One guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I could come with him for a second.

He said his name was Finnian and that he lived in the village as well. He didn't know us or our parents that well but he had some information. Apparently, he was out in the forest hunting for some deer when he heard a noise from the direction our house was in.

"When I arrived at the edge of the forest I saw some massive... thing walk towards your house. It had a dark purple glow around him and it scared me to death. I could sense his power and couldn't move from fear. After a few minutes, I heard screams and he came back outside. He burned everything and suddenly disappeared."

Even talking about it, he looked like he was scared to death right now. But after hearing his story, I couldn't blame him, as I know full well the power that... thing has.

"Sorry, I couldn't help your parents." He said with a scared and sad voice.

"Please, don't worry about it, ok. I believe I've seen this thing before and I would be scared as well."

Fuck, Fuck, Fuck. This is the second time. FUCK! I was filled with hatred for this thing.

Trying to keep my composure I shook Finnian's hand and thanked him for telling me this.

As he left me on my own, I felt rage boiling up, I felt anger spreading through my body.

"Right here and now, I pledge that no matter what happens, I will get my revenge, I will get Aria back, I will kill whoever that thing is. NO MATTER WHAT!"

—

"My god," Kellan said as he dropped his head in disbelief. "I am so, so sorry that I wasn't there for you. If I had known..." His voice broke with the hints of him starting to cry.

Zephyria interrupted Kellan before he could continue.

"No uncle. Please don't think we blame you for not being there. You didn't know and around that time you were dealing with your wife's illness. How could we expect you to be in 2 places at once."

Kellan looked up at her.

"You look so much like your mother, you know that?" He said that with a sad smile on his face. Though his face gave a hint of a man who tried his best not to fall into the downward spiral. After a moment, he surprised us with a question.

"Can I ask you one thing about what you just told me?" He looked at us with a curious look now.

"Yeah, sure. What is it?" I said with an even more questioning tone.

"In your recollection of the events, you never once said the word 'sister', when you talked about Zephyria. It also sounded like you were commanding her to do things. Is there something going on?"

My eyes shot open.

Wait a minute. Shit, how am I going to explain this? Should I just tell him? Will he even believe me?

"Guys, come on! If there is something, please tell me. We are the only family we have left. If there is something I can help with I will do anything in my power to do so. So please, trust me ok."

In the end, we decided to tell him.

We talked for what was probably an hour or 2 about what happened and how we survived. Oddly enough, Kellan seemed to not distrust us in any way.

"That is some story you told me. And big respect for how you managed to survive all of this up till now." Kellan stood up and walked to a window.

"Look, I get the situation you are in. And just like you, I would want revenge and get Aria back. But as you are now, you won't make it to the next city. The valley might have been emptied out after its collapse, but the rest of the world is a dangerous place."

Kellan turned around and walked up behind us.

"After so long, having family here means the world to me. And I would rather not have you go seeking revenge."

I almost jumped up from my seat to counter whatever he was going to tell me in objection to my goal when he stopped me.

"Hold on! I know what you want to say. But don't bother. I lost people in my life and in no way can I take revenge for an illness. You, on the other hand, have the means to maybe achieve your goal with hard work and a lot of training"

He put his arms around us and pulled us together.

"I will train you personally, ok? I will teach you how to use magic, how to fight, and how to defend. Meanwhile, I will have my friend help you with multitasking. When in combat you don't want to stumble during the fight. Or the same will happen as 2 weeks ago."

Kellan winked.

"So what do you say?"

I looked at Zephyria and nodded.

"Yes, we take you up on your offer!"

"Great! That is good to hear. I will make the guest room in order and get you 3 beds. Cause it isn't only you 2 I will be training. And tell him there is no rejecting this."