The alarm sounds rang. I woke up with sweat on my back. I thought it was just a nightmare.

My parents rushed into my room and quickly grabbed me without telling me anything.

"Come on Jules we are leaving. Joseph grab our emergency bags and let's leave."

I had never seen my mother panic before. This was not a drill. My father had a sword on his side while carrying an old, brown, leather bag. My parents had prepared an emergency bag in case they had to leave in a hurry.

The bag had everything one would need to survive in the wild - rations, water, a med kit, and a foldable tent.

The alarm sounds were ringing in my ears as we left from the back of our house. There were two ways we could escape the town, climb over the walls or try to sneak towards and escape from one of the two entrances in the town.

The climb was less risky, but we were very vulnerable and it would take one well-placed attack to knock us down. This was especially true since my mother and I are not mages.

We didn't have superhuman abilities that came from being a mage. So, my father decided we were going to sneak out of the town.

Though my father was not ridiculously strong, he had confidence in cutting down most bandits as he was a high D rank mage.

My father went towards the center as the outskirts were wide open, mostly used for farmlands. This was dangerous as we could be spotted from far away.

We weaved in and out between buildings, my father occasionally striking down bandits that got in our way.

"Huff Huff Huff"

After running for so long, I was naturally getting exhausted. My mother's face was also pale and I could tell she was tired as well. My father takes notice of this and takes a break in a small alleyway between two buildings.

He was keeping a lookout for any bandits. Nearly half the townspeople had been captured or killed at this point.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Charlotte and her elder sister in a cage. Charlotte was desperately trying to break the bars, tears streaming from her face. But none of the bandits took notice of this. Her mother lay dead on the floor nearby.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

In other cages, I could see all my friends tied up. Some were resisting like Charlotte, others had just given up and started denying reality. But one thing was all common on their faces, they were all afraid.

Everyone wanted to believe this was a nightmare and would go away if they woke up. I even pinched myself in hopes this was true. But this was reality. The bubble we lived in had been torn down.

I desperately wanted to help my friends and free them from their suffering. Yet I knew I was too weak to even lay a hand on them.

The bandits and my father moved fast, I could barely keep track of them with my eyes. And my father would stop me before I even took a step.

The guilt was tearing up my insides.

'It hurts.'

It was more painful than anything that had ever experienced. And I had broken multiple bones when I fell off my bicycle.

Emotional pain is always worse than physical pain. At least physical pain eventually goes away and it can be numbed. Emotional pain can only be numbed for so long until it explodes.

I couldn't make a sound as we would alert the bandits, so I bit my bottom lip so hard it started bleeding.

We rested and drank water for around 5 minutes before we started running again. Spells could still be seen flying around people were still trying to put up some semblance of resistance.

As we ran, everything was fine until I felt a heavy pressure collapse on me. I had never seen someone with this much mana in their body before. The amount of mana my father had looked minuscule in comparison.

I quickly looked all around me and tried to detect where the presence was coming from. I would have thought I was imagining it if not for the fact could still feel it and it was coming closer.

I prayed in my mind that we would not meet him. But when have gods ever been kind to me?

I looked behind me. I could see all the scars all over his body. He licked his lips and stared lustfully at my mother. I could also feel his stare on me as well.

My father recognized the danger and immediately went to confront him.

"Lucy, run with our child! I'll try to distract him for as long as I can."

"GO!"

My mother grabbed my wrist and ran. She didn't even look back.

*Clash Clash Clash*

I could hear the fight going on behind us we continued running. I couldn't help but take a quick peek behind me, but as soon as I did, I regretted it.

I saw my father being cut down and him folding like a doll. I couldn't believe it.

"NOOO!"

'He wasn't dead! He wasn't dead!'

I tried denying it but the facts were right in front of me. I attempted to run away faster, but he caught up to both of us in a second.

My father's sacrifice was futile. He grabbed our wrists and dragged us to an empty vehicle. We tried to resist, but his grip was too strong.

He chucked us and ordered 4 bandits to keep watch on us. It seems we were special prisoners.

I could see from the window that the other humvees had 10 or more people with only 5 bandits watching. And one of the bandits here was particularly strong. These humvees were bigger than normal and could be confused as trucks.

I slumped down as the mental exhaustion finally caught up to me. I collapsed on my mother's lap and fell asleep.