The soft breeze of the wind enveloped my body like a warm embrace as I sat underneath the tree on the hill outside our small village. The tree covering me from the graceful rays of light the sun is shining down on the village we live in as it slowly dawns.

It was peaceful. I can hear the birds singing, the view of the grassy plain where our village is built upon. And the surrounding environment is a blessing of nature, as if a druid had sculpted it alongside the elemental spirits. The forest, the river, the hills, the atmosphere. The scenery of it all was beautiful.

There aren't many people in our village, probably around a few hundred, so naturally, villagers here get to know each other quickly, and even the slightest news would travel around everyone here in less than a day. Although we were part of the community, I still felt out of place here. There's a constant thought that gnaws at the back of my mind. It's the fact that everyone in the village was a complete... family. Yes, I do have a family; my mother, Renova. My friend, Linara, who is two years older than me, alongside her mother and father; Elana and Orden.

I'm still thankful for the fact that I do have a family and that they care for me deeply, but I'm still disappointed at the knowledge that I am the only one in the village that had no father. I asked my mother about him, but she would always smile at me and ruffle my hair, ignoring my question about dad. I asked the other villagers about my father, and they say that I look exactly like him. But when I asked them about how he was, their answers of him... varied. Some say my father was an honorable and noble knight, while others call him a scoundrel who abandoned my mother to pursue his thirst for the battlefield. I wasn't satisfied with their answers because I didn't really get to know about my father on a personal level.

A familiar voice knocked me out of my trance. "There you are Ragna! My mother was looking for you. She tasked us both to grab some bread from the bakery.", I look up to see her towering over me. I simply smiled and extended my hand to her in a grabbing manner. She immediately understood the meaning and helped me pull myself up.

After standing up, I stretched my body around a bit since I've been leaning on the trunk of the tree for quite some time. I asked Linara about something that has been on my mind since earlier, "Hey Linara." she hums in question. "What do you think is the outside world like? Because for the most part, everyone usually stays inside the village, and the village avoids interacting with outsiders. So I'm curious about how it is.", she opens her mouth but doesn't say anything. I scan her face for any clues, and I noticed her eyes were unfocused, the same face she usually has when she is cautious for me and tries to play around the truth to ease my curiousity.

I reassure her, "It's fine. You don't have to bend the truth about the outside world just for me. I want to know about it as it is. Just the pure truth.". She sighs in defeat, yielding to my question. She looks at me straight in the eye and asked me if I really want to know. I simply nodded in response. "The world is cruel, Ragna. Many groups vie for control, wanting to stay in power. Constant conflicts between people of our race, even when we share a common enemy. And the most dangerous part of it all is human greed. One moment, people would help you unconditionally, or so they will claim. But without a doubt, if they see a chance to benefit from betraying you, they will personally drive a dagger into your back. Which is why as much as possible, most of the people in our village avoid interacting with outsiders so that it won't happen to us, understand?". I didn't expect her to be so serious about it. I guess everyone in the village got betrayed by an outsider they trusted at one point.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

With the atmosphere being slightly uncomfortable now after Linara answered my question seriously, I tried to brush it off by reminding her about the bread her mother tasked us with. She just smiled and we started making our way down the hill and into the village towards the bakery.

...

When we finally arrived, we entered the store where the bakerman sells his goods. Just as the bakerman greeted and asked us what we would grab, when we suddenly heard the village's bell ring. We hear the shouts of the guard captain warning the villagers that orcs are raiding.

The bakerman urged us to immediately head to our parents and prepare to escape. Linara wasted no time and grabbed my arm. We ran back to our houses and our parents were there waiting for us to return. Orden told my mother to take us behind our garden and to the secret passageway underground leading us to the forest just west of the village.

Mother immediately grabbed Linara and I by our hands and took us towards the secret passage. I can see Linara screaming out to her parents with our distance quickly growing as they stayed behind to help the guards fend off the orcs.

We kept running until we arrived behind the garden, and on the back of the statue of what seems to be a knight, was a small gem socket. My mother reached inside her pocket and took out a small crystal-like gem and placed it in the hole. After that, a stairway leading underneath the statue has revealed itself and opened. But just before we were about to enter, we could hear orcs screaming and running towards our path.

My mother told Linara to take me and follow the tunnel below that would lead us out of the village. I screamed for my mother to come with us, but she simply stayed behind and removed the gem from the socket, closing the entrance.

I cannot believe what just happened in a short amount of time, but we still continued our journey through this secret passage lit by ever burning torches. As we ran towards the end of the passage, we suddenly heard an explosion above us and the passage started quaking. We can feel the debris of rocks crumbling above our heads. We immediately quickened our pace to avoid the incoming rocks that would fall from above.

Right in front of us, we could see a stairway with light at the end of it. We dashed towards it and managed to reach the end of this forsaken passage. When we got out, we were led to the forest, just like what Orden had mentioned. From the forest, we could see the entire village burning, with no sign of our parents anywhere.

With nothing left to return to, Linara and I looked back and made our way further into the forest. Linara led the way, and based on how she didn't hesitate in which direction we're headed, seemed like she knew where we should go. After walking around in the forest for almost an hour, we were lead to a paved dirt road. There, we see a small band of individuals wearing an unknown insignia and approached them for help