A child born from flames rises faster than a child raised in the rain. 

Juar woke up to the sound of screams. From the window, he saw the deep night, but that didn’t terrify him. It was the giant square bell, its enormous sounds vibrating through the entire square. But even louder than the bells were the screams. Juar lived not in the biggest town, but to call it small would be to lie. He felt like he heard thousands of cries around him. How did he not wake up? 

The weight of the screams settled upon him, causing his thoughts to darken.

His parents

His siblings!!!

Without his mind on his sandals, his body flew off his wool mattress on the floor. With great speed, he zoomed through his tiny home. Within seconds, he was already there. Standing in front of his mom and dad’s beds. Juar saw nothing.

He ran behind to his siblings’ room. Nothing again.

The screaming from the outside world was gone. His head was spinning faster than it ever had in his small brain. He couldn’t comprehend it. Had the evil attackers somehow gotten to his family? But what about him? It made little sense?

The house was so small the rooms, if you could call it, weren’t even closed with a door. They were all mere meters from each other. There was no way the attackers had missed him, Right? But there was not a single sign of a fight inside his home.

Juar shook his head. He somehow had to find out where they had gone, too. The screams returned and grew louder and louder. His little hands gripped his shorts. Juar's little head couldn’t handle all of this. It was all too much. 

Juar nose burned up, his arm covering his nose. His eyes traveled upward.

SMOKE!!

His house was on fire. Someone had attacked his house. Juar could feel the tears welling from his eyes, his small feet shaking. “……mom” he mumbled, his voice nothing above a whimper.

“BUR DUAR TURA” he heard from outside, a language that was not his own. He heard footsteps, and they were growing louder, but his feet were stilted to the floor. They wouldn’t move. He could feel the tears rolling down his cheeks. The steps got louder and louder. He shivered at each sound. Until he could hear they were just outside the building. 

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SLAP!! 

Juar slapped himself across his cheeks, both turning red. Running, he entered his parents’ room, where they had a small assortment of clothes. Despite being the second oldest in his family, Juar was fortunate enough to be one of the smallest children in the village, allowing him to bury himself under the pitiful amount of clothes they had. With people entering his home, screaming and laughing in a language he did not understand, he tensed. Juar was dead silent, his body not moving an inch. Above his piles of clothes, he could hear large crashing sounds. Whatever monster was out there, it was tearing his house apart. 

His small hands clenched the clothes. They were damaging his parents’ stuff, his siblings’ things. They were destroying their house!!.

Juar was shaking with rage, but that all stilled when they reached his parents’ room. 

His body turning to stone, he sucked in air and vowed not to breathe until they had left. He couldn’t see under the pile of clothes he was under, so all he could do was close his eyes and pray. 

A scream there, a laugh there, a kick between them. All he could do when he heard anything was winch. There was two in his room. He couldn’t only pray they wouldn’t try to touch the small pile of clothes in the corner. Just as he felt like he had maybe escaped alive, he felt heavy footsteps nearing him. He could only feel liquid running down his thigh, and he thanked god he was lying face down. But just as he thought that his time was up, a man further away seemed to have called them from outside. Both their movements stilled. They both sounded angry and Juar heard footsteps leaving his room and house.

Juar let his breath go. He sucked in more air than he ever had before, and let his head come through the pile of clothes. Air.

Juar looked around his small home, which had turned into a trash site, all the furniture torn apart, nothing left intact.

Juar rose from the small pile of clothes and slumped to the siblings’ side of the house. Everything destroyed here as well. Something caught his eye, a small doll created with nothing but walnuts and strips of strings from old clothes. Sara!!

He picked up the small doll and held it to his chest, the tears from earlier falling in full now. As the screams from outside wouldn’t stop.

Juar released the doll from his chest and looked down at it.

He had to find them. He knew they couldn’t have died. There was no way, daddy and his brothers were too strong. That’s right, he told himself. They were probably in a hurry, and couldn’t get him unless they got caught. That was it, Juar figured it out. He had to find his family, and make sure they were ok. Juar put the little doll in his left pocket, making sure it was ok.

He had to give it back to Sara. Juar stepped closer to the door, trying to leave, but the closer he got, the louder the screams got as well. Flashes of people entered his mind. He wondered if all of them were ok. He knew they lived right on the border of the Kara and the Barugh. It was a big topic in the town, especially since the kara had been moving closer and closer to their territory. But he had never imagined this. Juar didn’t even know what this was called; the only thing he knew was that it was wrong. With a steeled heart, his small hand found his left pocket. He drew strength from the small doll and walked out the door. He had a family to find.