The winds swept over the desert hills of Ahken. The children of low-class merchants played in the streets. The wealthy children looked out their windows as life lessons were drilled into their heads by instructors paid to distance them from their parents. The house flags billowed in the wind, their wonderful colors twisting beautifully.

Tarr sat inside, watching the happenings of the town as he sat in solitude. He had been taught that his mask might frighten the other children if they saw him in the streets, yet he wasn't allowed to take off his mask. As always, it was a normal, boring day in Ahken.

But soon it wasn't.

A sound comparable to a sandstorm shook the houses, some falling down while the larger, more luxurious houses of the rich stood still. Tarr hadn't even deigned to think of his parents as wealthy or his small house luxurious, but as it stood tall the house seemed a greater luxury than he'd ever seen before.

Citizens ran through the streets, chased by unknowable beasts. Shadows rained down on them from the skies, their faces covered with bones.

Studying them, Tarr was certain that he didn't want to leave his house. The shadows' avian beaks frightened him on some primitive level.

Tarr pulled his eyes away from the birds only to see a massive lizard gobble a house up, and he realized that his 'luxurious' house would have to be abandoned even with the shadowy birds lurking just outside.

Slowly, he walked towards the door and realized that he'd never left his house before. Instead of horse playing outside like most other children, he played card games inside. Uncertain, Tarr looked at the old, peeling door and realized something. He was afraid.

The sound of his neighbors' house being stomped on was enough to shake Tarr out of his fears. Tarr ran out of his house, all but forgetting his previous concerns.

Tarr squinted at the sun, which was a stranger to him. As he noticed shadows flying across the sky, he realized he might have miscalculated.

There was nothing for him to do, as he was barely ten years old, and wasn't physically able to stand against such a crowd.

Seeing one of these bat-like silhouettes dive towards him, Tarr closed his eyes in anticipation for his end.

That end never arrived.

Tarr's father's immense figure was holding the monster that attempted to kill him in one hand.

"Come on now Tarr," he started. "These shadows are incomparable to us, don't shy away from them." He picked up his son and set him upon his shoulders. "Let's go find your mom, yeah?"

"Yeah," Tarr was excited at the prospect of seeing his mom. He was scared for his parent's welfare; however, if she was around, there would be nothing to be afraid of.

On his father's shoulders, Tarr could see so much more. Other people were dwarfed by his height, and when they asked how tall he was he would always say that he was about nine feet tall due to his race. When Tarr asked what his race was, he had referred to himself as an "archaic."

From Tarr's vantage point, he was quickly able to spot his mother. "Mom!" Tarr's mom looked over to the pair, but the boy's joy was interrupted by pounding footsteps behind him.

Tarr's father spun around and saw the giant lizard from before. He slowly set Tarr off to the side, stared at the beast, and took off his mask.

Shadows suddenly spread over the ground, almost like water, and devoured to wicked reptile. As an aftermath of using his magic, Tarr's father was left frail.

"Hieday!" he yelled out, unfazed.

"Nefti!" Tarr's mother yelled with the same energy. She ran over and showed her affection in the grossest of ways. A kiss! Tarr would have gagged if he hadn't already been numbed from the much worse things he had seen that day.

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Tarr's mom whispered into her spouse's ear, not realizing that Tarr could still hear her.

"The city's completely surrounded. Even if we simply wanted to get ourselves out, we'd have to fight over a hundred lesser scourge." Tarr's dad hid his shock well, but Tarr knew what signs to look for. He was mostly confused over what his mom meant by scourge.

"Let's go, Tarr," his mother said. As the family walked, Tarr noticed fewer and fewer Ahkenians.

The streets were abandoned, the remaining houses forlorn.

Tarr's dad passed Tarr to his mom. "I'm going to scout out the block."

Tarr's father climbed the closest building with a lizard's ease. Tarr could tell that something was going very wrong based on his dad's expression.

Leaping down, Tarr's father began to direct the family's movements. "Wait here," he said, leaving his wife and son.

Tarr's dad turning around a corner, out of Tarr's sight. He could only hope that his dad would be alright. Tarr still couldn't wrap his mind around what was going on. Where had these monsters come from?

His dad luckily returned with a sword on his back, his stance prouder. "There's not much time, let's get out of here."

The small group ran along the alleys, with Tarr on his mother's back. They quickly reached their city's edge. Tarr would never forget his home here.

The walls burst down; their structures were irrevocably razed by monsters Tarr couldn't even think to name.

Many looked human, but their bodies were like dust, pulling away at the gentle zephyr. In the blink of an eye, Tarr's father had his sword in his hands, It was several feet long, almost three times longer the Tarr was tall. In another blink, his father disappeared, cutting down monsters quicker than they appeared.

Tarr's mom stood back, slaying monsters that managed to pass the hurricane that was Tarr's dad.

In mere moments, the massive horde blocking the family was reduced to a fraction of its original size.

Continuing past the broken wall, Tarr's family quickly walked out of their home city.

That was, until Tarr heard something burrowing beneath them.

"Watch out!" Tarr yelled to no one in particular.

The sand split, and a maw was revealed right in front of Nefti's feet they had stopped just in time.

The beast rose from the desert floor. Its figure was humanoid, but it was absolutely huge and not quite proportional. It made the lizards look like a joke.

And then its body opened, in a way. Dozens of mouths gaped across the monster's body, crying out its hunger. As the abundant maws opened, barbed tentacles shot out, almost like hair.

The monster struck out with its arm, punching Tarr's dad into the Ahkenian wall quicker than he could react.

Even faster than the giant was Tarr's mom, who quickly grabbed her son and teleported him a safe distance away, where she believed no monsters would reside.

"Stay here," she said. "I'll come back to get you soon." She hastily teleported away, leaving less of a trace behind than Tarr's marble sized gates produced.

Tarr's mother referred to herself as an altruin, a race she said hadn't thrived for centuries. That's where Tarr's gates came from, although his mom didn't use those. She was a special altruin. A voidwalker. She was only seen when she wanted to be seen. It made 'hide and seek' very difficult.

Tarr refocused on his mother's fight. cuts seemed to appear on the monster's flesh with no origin to be found. Its hair-like tentacles lashed out violently, trying to find the person harming them.

At least, until they realized they didn't need to.

The monster sent its tentacles to grab an outpost and crushed it over the battleground.

Tarr's eye found his mom, lying on the ground. She wasn't dead, but she didn't look like she was doing very well.

And then the monster looked at him, its eyeless gaze acknowledging him as potential food.

Hungry tentacles scrambled after Tarr, and he began to run. No thoughts of valor, revenge, or even just fighting entered his mind. He saw death's eyes and couldn't do anything be try to escape.

Yet the monster still caught up to him. The tentacles grabbed Tarr by the ankle and lifted him up. It lifted Tarr so quickly, in fact, that his mask fell off, revealing his face.

Tarr's eyes burned. Black mists crawled out beneath him, searching for a meal. They found a giant.

Hunger met hunger. The mists crawled up the giant monster's limbs, consuming its rapidly healing flesh on the way.

Lightning crashed on the monster's head, despite the cloudless sky. A man, cloaked and armored, stood where the lightning stuck on the giant's head as it stumbled. Jumping off, the man sent wave after wave of lightning bolts at the beast, short circuiting its nerves.

Facing the newcomer, the monster chose to run, abandoning its old prey.

The man handed Tarr's mask back to him. As the mists faded, Tarr thanked the man for saving him.

"No problem," the man returned. "I only wish I could have gotten here a little sooner."

"Does that mean," Tarr gulped. "Are they dead?"

The man looked down solemnly. "I'm afraid so." He looked towards Tarr. "I have to continue my journey now, but if you desire, you may follow me."

Wordlessly, Tarr followed the man, leaving the spot his mother told him to stay.

And when Tarr's parents returned, Tarr was gone.

If only it had been just another boring day in Ahken.