“Get the kids to the room upstairs!” Jassiter yelled, while the other farmers around the table stood up and picked up their guns.

Jerry!” The young farmer turned around to Jassiter’s call while he was escorting the kids up the stairs to Jon’s room.

“Take anyone who can use a gun and keep them at the windows!” Jassiter ordered. “Take anything in the kitchen! My wife will help you. Only shoot if they get near. We have to conserve ammo.”

“Yeah…” Jerry nodded nervously and turned to Larry.

“Listen to him, son,” Jerry reassured.

Larry nodded, this time a lot more collected. As he went into the side room, Hector had emerged.

“What the hell is that?” Hector asked. “How many are there?”

“Doesn’t matter, we keep them away from the house,” Jassiter said. “It’s tough, but they’ll probably be able to come through.”

Suddenly, there was a large crash outside.

“...That sounded like the carriage,” Lou said.

“Mallory, light!” Hector called, stepping towards the door.

“Already on it,” Mallory said, following him.

Mercy looked Jon in the eyes.

“Stay in here,” she said. “I’ll help out.”

She tried to leave but Jon held her arm.

“I’m… coming,” Jon said. He couldn’t let her go out and get hurt for his sake. It felt wrong.

“...Alright, stay close to me,” she said.

He nodded.

Jon then looked at Jassiter.

Jassier frowned. "Got your blunderbuss?”

Jon pulled it from his back.

Jasstier grimaced. “Good man.”

Even in a life-or-death situation, Jon was glad that his father was acknowledging him.

Jon had to ignore his mother’s sad gaze as he followed Mercy, who ran up ahead to the door.

Hector was there preparing himself to run outside, with Mallory behind him.

“I don’t know how long I can keep up the light,” Mallory explained.

“Just enough for us to get another plan,” Hector said. “Right?”

“Right…” Mallory shook his head. “It’s not a real plan.”

The other farmers lined up behind the mercenaries.

“As soon as we leave out, Jassiter said, "we make a perimeter around the house. Make sure there’s room for the people in the windows."

He looked at Hector, who had just drawn his sword.

“Will you be okay?” Jassiter asked.

Hector nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

He opened the door and rushed out, slashing at the caiman he saw.

A trail of fire followed Hector’s sword as he swung, lighting up his area of the field.

Jon’s heart fluttered at the sight of the sea of snapping caiman.

When Hector cut the animal, it broke apart and fizzled into black dust.

“That's definitely mana-related,” Mallory said, rubbing his hands together.

Mercy had run out after Hector. As Hector cleared the path to the left side, she went towards the right.

She was much more speedy and nimble, quickly cutting down two approaching caimans with her sword as she moved opposite him.

Mallory stepped out onto the porch and placed his open palms in front of his chest.

A small ball of light appeared.

He raised his hands up to the sky, The ball expanded as it rose higher above the house. Soon, it was practically the same size as the roof.

The entire area around the house and then some were lit. Jon could even barely make out his school from the distance.

“Come on,” Jassiter said. “Go now!”

The other farmers trailed out of the house, holding their blunderbusses in one hand and their small ammo buckets in the other.

Before Jon knew it, there were gunshots from the other farmers who had already loaded their guns.

Mercy and Hector were still striking down many caiman as they could.

The only one who wasn’t doing anything to kill any caiman was Jon

He held on to his blunderbuss with tight both hands, and yet, he was afraid to move.

He walked slowly off of the porch, hoping to find the courage to point his blunderbuss at whatever he saw next and shoot it.

But he didn’t. Instead, he heard gunshots and saw the flailing bodies of Hector and Mercy as they worked to keep the ground clear.

“Jon!” Hearing Mercy’s cry, Jon's attention was drawn to a caiman running full speed towards him.

Its long snout waved side to side in the air as it crawled quickly towards Jon, but he still couldn’t bring himself to shoot the animal.

Suddenly, a metal star cut through the caiman, disintegrating it before it got too close.

Jon barely caught Mercy’s glance before she turned around and started cutting down caiman again.

His heart started to beat faster and faster. His chest became tight, and he was starting to sweat like no tomorrow. He thought he was gonna faint.

That was until he noticed a flash of light in the distance.

He squinted.

He couldn’t make out what the light was, but with the help of Mallory’s orb, he could tell that it was Farmer Taron’s house in the distance.

Jon turned to his father, who was nearby. “Farmer Taron needs help.”

“Of course…” Jassiter was sweating, reaching down into his ammo crate as quickly as he could with one hand, holding his open blunderbuss with the other. He shoved the bullets into the chamber along with whatever gunpowder he had in his hand and closed the gun.

There was a loud gunshot as he pulled the trigger, killing everything in a cone sized area.

“I don’t know how we can help,” Jassiter said. “We’ve got out hands full, literally… why the hell am I making jokes now?”

He was breathing hard as he reloaded his gun after its single shot.

Jon looked at Hector. He was still swiping at the floor, small lines of fire following his on armed strikes.

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He finally made one giant horizontal swing. A wave of fire quickly covered the area in front of him and disappeared. Jon saw a mass of black smoke dissipating.

“Hector…” Jon said.

Hector turned. “What?”

Jon pointed to Taron’s farm.

“What?” Hector squinted. “I don’t see... Shit…”

He turned to Mallory. “Stay strong, Mallory, I gotta leave. Be careful!”

“I’ll be...right… here…” Mallory was obviously straining.

“Mercy!” Jon called.

“Yeah, your dad! I know!” She hopped her way towards Jassiter’s side.

Jon saw that the other carriages in front of the houses had been chewed through. They laid over the field on their sides.

“No carriages,” Jon said.

“We’ll run,” Hector responded.

The thought made Jon’s heart skip a beat.

“Okay.” Jon tightened his grip on his blunderbuss.

Hector pointed with his sword. “This way is clear. Stay behind me.”

Hector snapped, and a small ball of orange light came into existence, floating over his shoulder and providing more light.

“Come on!” Hector yelled as he ran ahead. Jon followed.

After a few minutes of running, Hector stopped, turned around, and shoved Jon, knocking him back to the floor.

Jon fell back, deathly afraid.

“What’s wrong with you!” Hector asked. “You haven’t fired a single shot!”

Jon assumed Hector was talking about his blunderbuss.

Jon quickly shook his head.

“...No…” Jon finally said.

Hector sighed. “You haven’t been in a fight before, have you?”

Jon shook his head again.

There was some snapping approaching, so Hector turned his head and snapped his fingers. There was a small explosion of fire nearby and the sound stopped.

He returned his attention to Jon. “Listen to me, Jon.”

He stretched his hand. Jon took it and was pulled to his feet.

“Those things… caiman, whatever they are, whoever they are, it doesn't matter.”

Hector poked him hard in the chest. “Whenever something tries to attack whatever it is you care about, you can consider those things dead. They’re not living anymore. They’re just targets for you to shoot, you understand?”

Jon slowly nodded, but he was still trembling.

“You’re a soldier now, Jon,” Hector continued. “We’re all soldiers, and we’re counting on each other, alright. You’re not just shooting things. You’re protecting others.”

Jon nodded again. “Okay.”

Mercy had protected him from the caiman. Everyone was protecting the kids in the house. They were going to protect Farmer Taron’s home.

Suddenly, Hector slowly broke into a big smile. “How’d I do?”

What? Jon was confused.

Hector scratched his head in embarrassment. “I’m trying to be a leader… like my sister… it’s kinda embarrassing, and I suck, but… I think I did good, right?”

Jon didn’t know, but he nodded.

“Cool! Thanks.” Hector patted Jon on the shoulder. It actually made Jon feel a little weird to see Hector act so nice.

As Jon thought that, Hector’s smile disappeared.

“Let’s go.”

Jon nodded.

They raced off to the farm.

After Hector cleared the path of caiman, he and Jon ran up to the door of Famer Taron’s home.

Hector slammed the door with his fist several times.

“Hello! Open up! It’s the King’s-”

The door opened and Hector had a blunderbuss pointed at his face.

It was Rista. John recognized her from school. She had taken the test last year, during Jon’s second attempt.

Her hair was matted in sweat. “Is that Jon?”

Jon waved weakly.

They made their way in.

Inside, Jon saw that Farmer Taron was in a chair with a cast on his leg.

Oh…

“You have an injury,” Hector said.

“No freggin’ duh,” Rista responded. “That’s why we haven’t left!”

Jon could see her mother, Cass also holding a blunderbuss, although Jon could tell that she definitely wasn’t used to holding one.

“I’m just trying to assess the situation,” Hector said. “No need for the tone.”

“...Sorry. All this stuff…” Rista said. “I’m not prepared for it.”

“I told her to leave me behind!” Taron said. “I can’t leave here!”

“We’re not leaving anyone behind!” Hector said. ‘I don’t think your wife and daughter could fight to know you were left behind.”

Taron frowned. “I didn’t think of that.”

Hector sighed. “Is there anyone else here?”

Rista nodded. “We have some farmers, but there’s not enough ammo to get around.”

“That’s the same problem we have now,” Hector said. “Jon, do you know where we could probably find more weapons and ammo?”

More blunderbusses?

“School,” Jon answered.

“How far is the school?” Hector asked.

“Not far.” Jon pointed in its direction with his blunderbuss. He could tell even from inside the house.

“Alright. I guess that’s where we’re going next.” He turned to Rista. “Can we borrow some people?”

“You can borrow me,” she said.

“Fine. I assume there's carriages.”

“If the caiman hasn't eaten them all. You thinking transport?”

“Yeah, we can only hope,” Hector said. “Can you get two more people?”

Soon, Hector, Jon, and Rista were joined by Farmer Carol, a proctor in the exam Jon took, and Ms. Evelegine, the younger sister of one of Jon’s teachers. They all looked over to the large stone building in the distance that was the school. It was easily one of the widest structures on the farm.

“Is it just me, Jon,” Hector asked, taking note of the caiman, “or are there more of them?”

Jon agreed with Hector. He could see the large amount of raising snouts on the way to the school, which loomed in the distance.

“...Alright, then, listen up!” Hector turned to the others. “I can make a path to the school when we get close. As soon as I do, you run, got it?”

Everyone nodded.

“...You guys take directions quite easily,” Hector noted.

“Not much happens on the farm,” Rista said. “It’s mildly exciting.”

Hector turned and everyone followed him and his small torch as he led the way.

Hector still cleared the path, since everyone would only have one shot.

Eventually, the sea of caimans became clear. They stopped before they got too close.

“Alright, everyone, get ready.” Hector gripped his sword in two hands. Jon realized how weird it was to see, as Hector had exclusively used one hand to swing his sword around the entire day.

“Huuahh!!!” With a scream, Hector made a vertical upwards giant swing.

Two rows of fire trailed down towards the school, killing whatever caiman was in the line of fire.

“Go!” Hector yelled.

Everyone but Jon and Hector had run forward.

Jon saw that Hector had fallen to a knee.

“Go!” Hector yelled. “I’ll be right behind!”

Jon grimaced, but he ran forward through the flames.

When he made it to the high porch of the school building with the other farmers, he turned around.

Hector was slowly making his way towards them, swiping at the nearby caiman, but he had drawn their attention, and they were moving on him from all sides.

“He’s too close, I’ll hit ‘em,” Famer Carol said, looking down the barrel of his gun.

“Oh no…” Rista looked down at the caiman who couldn’t reach up to the porch.

“Stupid… stupid…”

She raised her gun and shot it from the hip. It cleared away some of the approaching caimans, but it wasn’t enough.

“Shit!”

Jon saw how close the caimans were making it to Hector. He saw one of them climb on Hector’s back, its long snout reaching over his shoulder as it weighed him down.

Jon pulled the trigger and fired the blunderbuss from his hip.

A wave of energy shot forward, rushing towards the long snout. It blasted the caiman off Hector’s shoulder.

Jon was momentarily happy until he realized that he hadn’t loaded the blunderbuss with ammo the entire time.

Jon looked into the barrel of the gun.

No gunsmoke powder at all.

...Mana…

Jon pointed towards the ground and pulled the trigger.

The gathering of caiman underneath him blew away into a poster of smoke.

Hector… Jon leaped down to the field and began blasting away at whatever separated him from Hector.

He didn’t ask any questions. Jon was happy to know that the blunderbuss could fire multiple of whatever it was that is shot. It was still one shot per pull of the trigger, and he wasn’t able to shoot very rapidly, but he was still able to make his way towards Hector.

Now, Hector was slowly able to send more for himself with Jons’ assistance.

One caiman had managed to escape the wrath of Jon’s gun, but it crawled by so suddenly Jon kicked it away by instinct. He made sure to finish it off with another shot, still glad to have all his toes after such a panicked reaction.

When another caiman got close, Jon quickly flipped the blunderbuss so that he was holding the barrel by both hands and swung, almost mimicking Hector.

Another wave of caiman was cleared, and Jon quickly brought the gun back to position to begin firing again.

Soon, Hector was able to shrug off the last remaining caiman near him and he ran to Jon’s side.

Both of them ran to the porch and jumped up, now clear of the field.

“I didn’t know you could do magic, Jon,” Rista said. “That was amazing.”

“The gun’s magic,” Jon said.

“You guys don’t seem impressed with what he did,” Hector said, out of breath. “That was amazing! He saved my life… not that it needed much saving…”

“Jon was always magic with the gun,” Carol said. “He just found a use for it.”

“Protecting… my ass…” Hector patted Jon on the shoulder.

Jon gave a flash of a smile before it quickly disappeared again.

“Let’s get inside…” Now that Hector had brushed himself off, they all entered the school.