Everything was quiet.

Us and a couple hundred villagers were huddled together in the center of the village. Those who were too feeble or old to fight on the frontlines had taken it upon themselves to form the last line of defense.

A while the sound of battle had reached the village’s main gate, the ogres’ roars and the combatants’ desperate screams frightening everyone this side of the wall.

But now, everything was unnervingly quiet. Even as the sky transitioned to a light orange hue, the world around us remained silent.

“Mom, is it over?”

I looked down at Geisai when his one question break the silence. However, before I could answer him a man across from us spoke up first.

“Silence that spawn of your before it gets us killed.”

“I’m sorry.”

Geisai lowered his head and offered a meager apology upon hearing that.

I glared at the man that spoke out but he and the crowd behind him remained unaffected by it. The speaker had visible wrinkles on his face, eyes that were barely a shade above a dull green hue, his blonde hair was starting to grey, and faded scars peeked out from under his brown tunic and pants. If he wasn’t in his fifth century already, he was getting close to it.

“My son has a name and it is not ‘spawn’. If you’re that worried about making noise why don’t you snap at the other mothers trying to console their children.”

Judging by the group of men and women that swarmed around him, I imagine that he’d built up some degree of respect in the village, and I was proven right almost immediately as one of the followers snapped back at me.

“Watch your mouth!! We’re only in this mess because of you! I don’t know what Donovan was thinking letting a thieving Darh’ki and it’s whore of a mother anywhere near the village!!”

“Yeah, I heard that the little monsters been stealing from the armory and warehouse.”

“Did you see how she tried to leave earlier, I bet you they led the ogres here to district Donovan from his investigation.”

These fucking idiots!! This is why I never wanted Geisai to enter the village.

Right now, they were all scared out of their wits and Gaisei and I were the outsiders, the canvas they could release their frustrations on without consequence in this time of uncertainty. So, I understood why they were acting like this, but that didn’t mean I was gonna sit here and take their abuse.

“Lesson here you piece of sh─”

{Dunn} (Duunn} {Duunnn}

Before I could even finish that sentence something began to pound against the main gate, and it was getting louder.

“Everyone prepare to engage the enemy!!”

The man that started this whole mess took charge of the situation as he and a few of his followers joined the others surrounding the main gate.

{Duunnn} (Duuunnn} {Duuuunnnn}

Cracks were starting to appear in the gate now and a few of the children had started crying.

“Take my hand, Geisai”

I held out my left hand to Geisai and wrapped the fingers of my right hand around the hilt of one of my daggers.

{Duwwnn}

“Ugh!!”

The gate exploded in a shower of splinters and metal rivets. While a few women and children go caught in the blast, the ones closest to the gate received the worse of it. A few of them even fell to the ground and started to bleed out because  large pieces of debris wound up embedded in their chest.

However, there was no time to mourn any of their deaths as the ogres began to pour in from behind the destroyed gate.

There were at least a dozen of them. All of them were injured to some degree, some covered in light burns and others with one or more of their protruding fangs snapped off. Anyone could tell that they’d won a hard fought battle, unfortunately…

“Garrraaaagghhh!!”

That roar was the signal for the massacre to begin.

These ogres had managed to tear through every able-body combatant the village had at its disposal, so  the leftovers didn’t even stand a chance.

Before the any of them could raise their weapons, the ogres descended upon them.

“Aaaghh”

“No. Noo!!”

“Help”

Bodies and severed limbs were sent flying as the ogres tackled, trampled, and torn apart the last meager line of defense. The remaining villagers were left dumbfounded as their final hope was utterly decimated, but only for a moment. Once the realization of what was to come dawned on them chaos broke out.

“““““Aaaaggghhhh”””””

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Some mother grabbed their children and started running in every which way, but others simply fell to the ground defeated, as the ogres closed in on them. A small mercy to those the ogres killed was that at least it was relatively quick and painless.

Those that fell or were intentionally tripped up were trampled by the crowd. Every now and again someone would focus enough to fire off a magic spell, the only for it to barely affect the ogres or miss the target completely. Balls of fire or fist sized stone connected with anyone unlucky enough to cross their path.

While the ogres were certainly a threat, it was the unintentional act of self-cannibalization performed by villagers that produced the most violent deaths.

“Mommy?”

Geisai’s voice broke me out of the trance the gruesome sight had placed me in.

Shouts and the sound of crying children surround us, and staying here any longer would be detrimental to our well-being. Looking down, I could see tears in Geisai’s eyes, and at some point blood splatter had covered his body.

“Honey, keep up with me and don’t look back no matter what.”

I didn’t wait to hear his response before I began to drag him towards the western side of the village. There was nothing more I could do here, I’d warned them that the ogres were coming but that wasn’t enough. As we waived our way through houses and alleyways the only thing on my mind was getting Geisai to safety.

There was a small reinforced gate at the back of the village, but if I knew about it the other survivors would know about it. Rather than trying to break through the crowd, we should try to sneak out undetected.

Things seemed like they were going our way until something came and tackled us from behind.

At first, I thought it was an ogre, but I was still alive. I rolled as I hit the ground and looked up to see what had hit us.

“This is your fault, all of it is your fault!!”

A crazed woman was straddling Geisai as she wrapped her hands around his throat. While he struggled to break free, her legs had his arms pinned to the ground and he couldn’t get any leverage.

“Get away from him!!!”

Before realized what I was doing, I’d gotten up and kicked the woman in the head. She was staggered for a moment, but it was enough for Geisai to knock her off. When she tried to right herself I drew my dagger and buried the blade into the left side of her chest.

After yanking the blade out, the woman fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. It was only after my temper cooled did I realize what I’d just done. I tossed the bloody dagger aside, yet my hands continued to shake. This was the first time I ever had to kill someone and it made me sick to my stomach.

However, the pandemonium around us meant that I couldn’t dwell on this for too long.

“ Geisai, are you okay?”

I did my best to maintain my composure, but when I turned towards Geisai he was eye level with me.

I panicked for a bit until I realized that I had fallen to my knees at some point. While he looked a little disheveled, he was no worse for wear, though the red of his eyes seemed more encompassing than normal.

“Alright honey, we need to get moving a─ bu… burgh”

The vomit came up as I spoke, lucky Geisai had reacted fast enough to dodge most of it. Once my stomach was completely empty I was finally able to think straight again. I couldn’t afford to breakdown right now, once Geisai was safe I could deal with all of this later. On shaky legs and with Geisai’s help I managed to get to my feet.

“Let’s get going?”

“Mom, what about… “

Geisai’s voice trilled off as he looked back at the woman’s corpse.

“Protect what’s important to no matter the cost. The world can be a cruel place, and you might have to act with the same amount of cruelly to survive it. Now, let’s get going.”

I wasn’t sure who I was talking to, Geisai or myself.

“Garrraagghh!!”

The red in Geisai’s eyes seemed to expand as an ogre’s roar reached our ears. I slowly turned my head in the direction the roar originated from. There was a single ogre down the narrow street we were on. Its body was covered in shallow cuts and one side of its face was a bright red color. The fresh blood dripping for its claws indicated how active the monster had been.

Its sights were set on us, so running would be pointless. At least, if both of us tried to run.

“Geisai, keep going down this street and turn left once you hit the wall. You should find a tall building, climb up that and it should be an easy jump to the top of the wall. Carefully shimmy your way down the other side, run into the forest, and don’t stop running til morning.”

I drew my spare dagger and pushed Geisai behind my as I gave him some simple instructions.

“What about you?”

“Geisai!! Do what you’re told!!!”

“But─”

“Now!!!”

“*Sniff*”

Thankfully Geisai did what I told him to, but I didn’t turn around as his footsteps became further away.

“Garrraagghh!!”

As if it had been waiting for this moment, the ogre let out a bellowing roar before it began its change. Every bone in my body was telling me to get out of the way, but I refused to budge.

It was only when the ogre was within a yard of my position did I move. Crouching down, I dove under the ogres’ massive body at the last second, Rolling to my feet before the ogre realized where I went. I started chanting a spell immediately and entered a dead run towards the ogres back.

Flames erupted down my forearms as I ran, yet I felt no pain or heat whatsoever. Just before the ogre faces me, I leaped onto its back and wrapped my arms around its neck.

“Guuuuaaarrraagghh!!”

The ogre began to flail about the moment the flames made contact with its yellowish skin. For the second time today the smell of burnt flesh overwhelmed my nostrils. That combined with the ogre’s stench made me grateful that nothing was left in my stomach.

“Guagh!!”

“Uaag!”

Blood began to drip from my mouth as the ogre slammed against a nearby building back first. I still hung on despite the pain, but I couldn’t keep this up for long.

“Uaaghha!”

Once again the ogre slammed me against a building, I felt the bones along my spine snap, but I held on.

The third collision caused the sight in my left eye to go black, and the feeling in my back had vanished along with it.

My effects weren’t in vain though, after the third hit the ogre’s movements began to dull. The flames had started to eat through the hard layer of muscle and was cooking the ogre’s esophagus

Just a bit more. I had to hang on for just a bit more. I had to…

The fourth hit finally broke my hold. I felt weightless for a moment before hitting the ground a few feet away from the ogre. I tried to stand up but my body didn’t respond to my commands. The bones sticking out of my limbs may have had something to do with it.

“Gauu- Gua-”

The ogre tried to let out another roar, but it was no use. I imagine that its throat had been damaged beyond repair. Even if it didn’t know it, the ogre already died.

It was only a matter of time before it ran out of air and suffocated. Though it could still breath through its nose, that wouldn’t be nearly enough to keep its massive frame moving for long.

The remainder of my vision darkened a bit as the ogre’s shadow loomed over me. It was obvious that the monster was going to finish me off, but my death was assured anyway.

I was tired, so very tired. The last few years had drained more from me than the sum total of my other one and a half centuries. So long as Geisai was safe, I could be at peace.

The ogre struggled for a bit, but it managed to raise one of it tree-trunk like arms above its head.

“Aaaahhh!!”

Out of nowhere, a small blur tackled the ogre from the side, knocking it down. It was only when the blur began to speak did I realize what had happened.

“Mommy!?”

Geisai was kneeling over me with tears in his eyes. He’d came back, my little hope came back.

Behind him, a silhouette began to form, a silhouette that seemed so familiar to me.

With what little strength I could muster, I spoke my last.

“S-Should have… so reckless… Just…like your father.”

Geisai was yelling something, but I could no longer hear him. I prayed that he wasn’t soon to follow me as the world went dark and I was allowed to rest.