The past seems like a distant memory now that everything we had has been ripped away from us. It was a perfectly normal day until that… thing… found us. He stole everything, plundered our village, ripped us from our home, destroyed anything in his path. We’re the only survivors…

His name was Napoleon Oddmin, the son of King Ezekiel and vice admiral of the central army. I’m uncertain of his motives, but I know that whatever he did was on the behalf of the king. He said he only needed my grandfather, but refused to say why., When he declined an army was sent to destroy everything.

My sister Freezi and I somehow managed to escape them, but now we’re lost. We have no real experience with the outside world, so it’s hard to adapt. Especially when the only thing around is snow, snow, and more snow. We’ve been wandering for maybe three days? I’ve lost all count at this point. All that’s been on my mind is trying to get away from that… monster as quickly as possible. I want nothing more than to turn back time and spend just one more day with my grandfather.

I never got to say goodbye to him before he was taken away by a knight, no; by a monster. The people in our village had done nothing wrong, we simply wanted to live our lives freely, but the tyrant king wouldn't even allow us that. Gramps always told me that hating was wrong, and to love others as I love myself, but how could I possibly feel empathy for the monster that took everything away from me?

I suppose dwelling on it won’t do me much good, after all Freezi sees it that way, and she seems to be doing just fine. Despite our situation she’s trying to see the bright side of things. I just wish I could think that way too. I wish I could just believe that everything is going to be okay, but in this cruel world, not everyone gets what they want, do they?

“Everything alright Chris?”

I turn and see her looking at me, but something is different. I can tell she feels the same way I do.

“No, not really.”

I reply, feeling nothing behind my words. I can’t care enough to lie in a time like this. Freezi’s used to this weaker side of me, especially since grandma died, so I suppose it's nothing new.

“Yeah… I get that much.”

Her lips curve in a way I’ve never seen before, for once a sadness replaces the usual light in her eyes. As our gaze meets, her mask slowly breaks. I feel my lips quiver and a sharp pain violently pierces my throat. I sniffle a little bit of snot away, and so does she. Soon enough, the silence is broken by our sobs and screams. Everything else faded, and it felt like we were the only people left in the world. She’d scream and I’d beat the ground like it made a difference, but our cries fell upon deaf ears. We were truly alone.

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As the days passed by, barely a word was said. We simply walked, and walked, and walked. After a while, we went numb to the cold and only knew the pain of hunger and exhaustion. It hurts to walk, let alone stand, but if we stop, he might find us. I look into the moon wondering what we ever did to deserve this. Suddenly the ground starts shaking, Freezi quickly grabs my arm and holds me close.

“What’s going on!?”

She scanned her surroundings before whispering

“Just…stay still…don’t say a word.”

My confusion turned to terror as I saw it. A herd of large fuzzy creatures rushes towards us.

“Snogore…”

I whisper. The creatures headed for us were named Snogore, and had the jaw force and sheer arm strength to rip us in half simply if they wanted to.

“Freezi run!”

I grab Freezi’s hand and charge for a nearby hill for cover, but something is off… The ground is too soft, even for the powdery snow surrounding us.

“Chris no!”

Freezi screams, trying to bring us to a halt, but it’s too late. the gives way and we fall into the caverns below.

A-am I dead?

A million thoughts rush through my head in an instant. We’re trapped and I’m powerless to do anything about it. As my breath and heartbeat slow I find the strength to open my eyes. I looked around but the mysterious place we have fallen into appears to just be a house. I use all my strength to sit up, and I’m met with the warm glow of a green campfire… I must be seeing things… I hear the echoes of an unfamiliar man’s voice humming in the distance bouncing off the walls.

“Hello?”

I call out to the voice. I stare into the infinite darkness, waiting for an answer.

“Freezi?”

I begin to grow weary. Where am I? Who's there? Where’s Freezi? Once again, my brain is flooded by my thoughts and I begin to breathe heavily again.

“Relax… I’m not going to hurt you.”

Says someone with a scratchy voice in the void in front of me. The figure slowly reveals itself from the shadows…

“I just want to ask you a few questions…”

When his body was fully visible I could barely believe my eyes… A goblin? His skin was green and his ears were pointy. Or at least one of them was, the other was bent in half and pointed downwards. In all honesty he just looked pretty banged up in general. He wore frayed old bandages around his head, and the maroon cloak wrapped around his small body was ripped, torn, and had been poorly stitched together.

“The name’s Jess, I have some questions for you.”

He steps forward and leers at me from the foot of the bed.

“Starting with this one…”

He looks up at me and lifts up the tan bandage hiding his eye. He stared at me with piercing yellow eyes.

“Who the hell are you?”