The two brothers had spent all day fishing in the lake of the valley. They had successfully caught five fish, and were busy fileting them on the boat. “We’re gonna be eating good tonight!” Alex exclaimed as he could practically taste the roast fish already. Despite some bias, he truly believed his mom’s cooking to be the best in all of the Adriana Republic.

Her specialty was roasted local fish. It was accompanied by a citrusy sauce and wild zarins, a root vegetable that grew in the mountains near the village. Their family always made it at the beginning of the new moon. The two happily prepared the fish and rowed back to shore.

The walk to their village was a bit far, but they were used to walking the distance by now. Along the way they talked, joked, and played around. Such was the usual scenery of the peaceful valley.

Finally the village came into view. A clearing had been made in the forest, with the wood having been used to assemble their modest cottages. Each house had thatched roofs and practically sat straight on the ground. Each house had a chimney, with gray smoke pluming out 24/7. A small path of dirt as well as stones connected each building together, and in the center of the village is where public decisions were made.

Near most cottages was a small plot of tilled soil, each filled with various local vegetables. Overall, the villagers were modest but hard-working people. They all wished to escape the vastly expanding empires and instead settle down in their own small corner of the world. Because of this, they had a strong sense of community and easily handed out favors to one another.

While the two brothers strolled to their cottage multiple villagers gave greetings and bright smiles. “Oh my! Alex sure is growing up!” and “Lucas thanks for the help yesterday! Carrying those logs with my old back sure is a pain!” Of course the brothers gave back cordial replies.

Eventually, they arrived at the house, with the fish in tow. “Mom, we’re back!” Their mom was maintaining the fire and looked behind her. “Ahh, welcome back boys! You’re fathers out getting wood right now. Hang up the fish in the pantry while I get everything ready!”

Their usual routine went on unbothered. Once their father returned they all ate dinner, recounting the events of the day. At the end of the night, their parents tucked them into their bed while kissing their foreheads. Overall, it was a great day for Alex. He got to name his boat something cool, caught a lot of fish, and even had his favorite food. However, something had been nagging at him the entire day.

It was like an itch he couldn’t reach. He didn’t know what was bothering him, just that something was wrong. Giving up on trying for what that something was he slowly fell asleep.

…

Their routine carried on for a few weeks. For fun they would swim in the lake, or hang out with the other village kids. Lucas had even made progress with his crush. They would play heroes versus villains, tag, hide and seek, and just about any game in the book. Alex would always try to beat Lucas, but was always a little behind. Alex had always felt inferior to his elder brother, but he never let him get him down. “When I grow up, I’ll be stronger!” He often made this promise to himself.

Time continued to pass, with the brothers Every exploring the valley like one big sandbox. Every new thing was a wonder to them, and with every discovery they felt like adventurers. Alex was always ecstatic with their little expeditions. It was the dream of every young kid to become a knight or hero. Alex had grown up reading tales of these people, and was obsessed with them.

One day he declared to Lucas, “I’m gonna become the best knight Adriana has ever seen!” Lucas laughed and told all the other village kids, and they all poked fun at him. “Haha, there he is, Alex the great warrior!” Alex could only look away in embarrassment, and run back to his parents. Of course Lucas was reprimanded and had to stay in the house for two days, helping with chores.

His mother that day wiped away a few of Alex’s tears and touched his cheek. “I think it’s wonderful that you want to be a knight that protects people.” Her bright smile melted away any lingering embarrassment he had. In the following weeks he would wildly swing around a wooden sword, all in the name of justice.

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Even with the fervor of the young man, the village still continued on peacefully. After another day of chores, Alex and Lucas were once again tucked in for the night. Their parents gave them the usual kiss on the forehead. As Alex fell asleep that all too familiar itch came back. He did his best to ignore it by imagining the future. One where he would proudly come back to the village donning a bright silver armor and a sword. One where he could without a doubt claim to protect. With these thoughts he fell asleep.

…

Bells awoke Alex as he groggily got up from his bed. “Ugh Lucas?” He rubbed his eyes and noticed that Lucas was not in his bed. “What’s happening?” Alex realized that something was not quite right and focused his ears. Underneath the bells was the sound of crackling fire and screams. Alex quickly understood that something had gone wrong and dressed. On his way out he made sure not to forget his wooden sword and dagger. Alex grabbed on to the doorknob and froze for a bit. Alex feared what may lay beyond the door, was it monsters? Did someone catch their cottage on fire? Whatever it was, it would be dangerous. Alex finally fought off the fear and pulled the door open.

“Agh!” Scalding heat blasted him in the face, forcing him to close his eyes. Now outside he witnessed what had truly transpired. “W-why…” Numerous smoking corpses were stacked upon each other. He recognized them, or what was left of them to be the villagers. “Mom…dad?” Within the stack noticed his mother and father. He couldn’t recognize their faces, but instead their matching rings. He felt ill as he gazed upon the destruction. Numerous other corpses littered the once clean paths. Multiple cottages burned bright orange as they collapsed. The clangs continued to resound and Alex took notice of the source of the noise. A few of the young men of the village were desperately fighting armored men, to no avail. Every few seconds another would be struck down, until there were not even ten left. While staring in horror he heard a familiar voice. “Alex!” It was Lucas, his clothes were disheveled and ash was all over his face, but he looked fined.

“Lucas, Mom… Dad!” Lucas hugged Alex as tears flowed from his eyes. “I know Alex, I know. But we have to leave… our only hope is to run!” Alex tearfully looked behind him. They had not even spared the children. If they didn’t leave they would definitely kill them. ‘I-I’m sorry mom, I’m sorry dad… even though I wanted to protect you! I-I can’t…’ Lucas had already grabbed onto his arm and was running into the woods. With one last look back at the village, Alex tearfully said goodbye to his parents as he ran to the woods.

…

As the two ran they didn’t speak at all. Only the sound of leaves and wind could be heard as they made their way through the forest. Finally Alex spoke up, “Who were those people, and why did they… why did they kill everyone?” A lump was forming in his throat as he thought back to the village. “I don’t know… All I know is that mom woke me up in a hurry to go tell the logging camp about the attack. When I came back everything was already… like that.”

With only questions and no answers they continued to run. “Where are we going?” asked Alex. “To the boat. We can only hope we can get them off our trail by going to the middle of the lake.” Replied Lucas. It wasn’t terribly long that they began to see lights following where they had come from. “Damn it! How can they find us so quickly!” Alex saw the desperation in Lucas’s eyes as he held onto Alex’s hand. Alex realized that Lucas had been holding back in order for Alex to keep up with him. Tears welled up in his eyes again. ‘I-I’m so useless…’

“The boat!” Lucas finally looked happy as they ran to the shore. They both began to push the boat out to the lake with all the force they could muster. Once in the water, Lucas began rowing as hard as possible. Lucas began to relax as they continued to row. However, a whistling rapidly approached their boat. “Alex!” Lucas stood up and hugged Alex. While in his embrace Alex heard a loud thud hit Lucas. “L-Lucas?”

Alex had his eyes closed in fear of the noise, but felt a warm liquid touch his head. Looking up he saw Lucas standing over him. An arrowhead jutted from his chest. “Lucas!” Lucas sat back down as he groaned in pain. “Keep rowing Alex!” Alex immediately listened and grabbed ahold of the oars. As he rowed arrows continued to fall around him, landing in the water or the side of the boat.

Alex had never exerted himself so hard before as he rowed with all of his might. His skin tore on his hands, and his knuckles ached from gripping the oars so hard. Yet he felt none of it. All he could feel was remorse and guilt. Lucas was groaning as he laid down in the boat. An absurd amount of bright red blood pooled beneath him. His entire shirt was slick with blood.

“I’m sorry Lucas! If I- If I wasn’t slow, yo- you wouldn’t be hurt!” Alex’s vision blurred as he barely stuttered out an apology. Lucas replied in a quiet voice, “It- Ugh, it’s not your fault Alex… Just know that…” Alex wiped away the tears as he rowed.

The shore was no longer in sight, and eventually the silhouette of an island took shape before his eyes. Alex wanted to dock on the island as soon as possible to help his brother with the bleeding. Only then would he be reassured. The water was pitch black, and the only noise was the waves slapping against the boat. In that silence, Lucas spoke up. “Alex… I love you…” Alex quickly replied, “I-I love you too Lucas.” Lucas laughed a bit. “Haha, good to hear…” They were silent for quite a while before he spoke up again, “I know I made fun of you… but I believe in your dreams… I really do…” Alex didn’t say anything as he was nearly on the island.

After a bit more time he finally landed on the land of the island. Alex jumped out, “We made it, Lucas! We actually made it! Hahaha…” Alex let out a sad laugh and collapsed as he remembered the village. “Why why why why!” Why did they get slaughtered like animals? What did they do to deserve to be murdered? “Lucas?” Alex noticed Lucas wasn’t talking, and walked over to the boat. Inside Lucas lay motionless, a pool of blood beneath him.

“Hey, Lucas?” Alex shook him a bit. “Come on Lucas, don’t play a prank on me, it’s not funny.” Alex shook him some more. “Lucas, wake up… Please Lucas wake up!” Alex hugged his brother as he began to yell hysterically. “Lucas, don’t… don’t leave me Lucas!” However, no one responded. Lucas’s eyes were wide open, staring blankly up into the night sky. A faint smile was left on his face, as well as some dried up tears.

Alex’s tears dripped onto Lucas’s face as he held him close. His voice was hoarse from yelling, and all he could let out was whimpers. “Lucas… please… not you too…” Once again, no one responded.