"Nyx, go away." Thanos moaned as something tapping his chest woke him from a deep sleep.

Opening his eyes, he came face to face with two glowing green orbs that stoked his memory of the attack on Mysthaven. Sitting bolt upright, the strange bird flew away, and he looked around to see the rising sun in the distance lighting up the world.

Jumping to his feet, he tried to get his bearings, hoping to head back to the village, but failed as the landscape was totally unrecognisable. All he could see was collapsed cliff faces and downed trees as snow gently flittered about.

This scene of utter carnage made the worry knotting his heart even more profound as images of a giant ball of ice hitting Mysthaven repeated in his mind.

Sudden movement stole his attention, and he saw the strange undead bird watching him from atop a toppled tree. Before he could say anything, it took to the air and headed off, looking over its wing as if telling him to follow.

He debated ignoring it, wondering if he should find a better vantage point to orient from, but decided to follow it. If he had to guess, looking from where he was, the creature was heading in the rough direction of home, so he figured it was leading him back.

Raising his hand as he walked, he checked for injuries but found none, figuring his core had resolved that problem. It wasn't any smaller than he remembered, so whatever had happened to knock him out couldn't have been that bad.

Staggering over the rough terrain, he ran, avoiding the slippery rocks and fallen branches. It wasn't long until he reached the top of a mound of rubble, and the sight before he stopped him dead in his tracks as anguish threatened to overwhelm him.

He was standing at the entrance to the valley, and the entire place was destroyed. Gone was the picturesque beauty that he remembered, and instead, in its place was what looked like a land of the dead.

The steep peaks that had once ringed Mysthaven had caved inwards, burying the village under literal mountains of rock. There were still a few damaged structures standing here and there, mainly on the outskirts, and his eyes were drawn to a particular location.

Upon seeing the collapsed structure, his legs were already moving before he even commanded them as he ran for home through the desolate landscape, tears welling at the corners of his eyes.

As he neared, he avoided sharp rocks and pools of ice and noticed that the caved-in mountains roughly stopped outside his home. The barn was gone, buried, but the house was still there as a pile of rubble, only partially covered.

He knew it was probably futile. His family should have been in the village along with everyone else, and this thought caused him to drop to his knees as he blankly stared at what had once been his home.

Seeing the ruin made it feel like every memory and ounce of happiness he had found in this world, along with his family, was buried under it. It was all too much, and he felt his mind start to fray at the edges as he screamed and beat the ground.

After several moments, a noise from his rear caused him to turn his head as his blood-shocked eyes locked onto two familiar figures. One stared absently at where the village used to be, a blank look on her face, and the other watched him with a cruel smile of satisfaction.

"I should've known you would survive," Tantalus stated with a sneering look of disappointment as he slid his sword free from the scabbard at his waist.

"What are you doing?" Rhea said, almost yelling as the noise of the sharp sword leaving its sheath brought her back.

"Finishing what I started, he can stay here with his village of dead peasants." Tantalus grinned, stepping forward.

"No, you can't. What are you doing? There's no one else left!" Rhea screamed at the noble, grabbing his arm and yanking him back, her face a picture of pain and madness.

Tantalus turned and glared at the young woman, a look of distaste crossing his handsome features as his ice-cold eyes narrowed. With a flick of his wrist, the sword slid between ribs, drawing a sudden intake of air from the girl.

"What... are you doing?" Rhea quietly croaked, coughing as blood trickled down from her mouth. There was a look of pain, confusion and then acceptance as her eyes glossed over, and she fell backwards from the blade, crumpling onto the ground.

"I can't believe she really thought she would be my wife," Tantalus said in amazement as if talking to himself before turning to look at Thanos.

"I'm glad she talked me into returning, or I would never have gotten this moment. Does it feel good to lose everyone you know? Don't you want to join them? I can help you." The noble said as he stepped forward, sword dripping red.

Deep inside, Thanos knew this was all just a ploy by the teenager to bait him in, but he didn't care. All the pain, all the anger he was feeling right now boiled over into one feeling that rose above the rest, consuming them.

Before he knew it, Thanos was on his feet moving, a conjured twinblade in his hand. He felt like a stranger in someone else's body as he dispassionately watched as Tantalus was dismantled, piece by piece.

The first swing directed the sword to the side as a follow-up removed the hand holding it. Thanos watched as the arrogant face before him changed into one of pain and horror as the boy gripped his hand and screamed.

Another swing of the blade caught the fleshy part of a thigh, dropping the screaming noble to his knees. A downward chop removed an arm from a shoulder, causing the bleeding figure to fall to the ground as he rolled around shrieking.

The blade lifted again and came down repeatedly as gargled pleas were soon cut off. Even when the mangled lump of flesh had long since stopped twitching, the blade came down.

Roaring seemed to come from the distance and eventually hit him as the feeling of dissonance ended. Thanos found himself standing over the remains of Tantalus, crying with the bloodstained blade raised, as he stopped and gasped for air.

Falling backwards, he landed on his behind as the conjured weapon fell and faded into nothingness, a pool of blood where it had once been. Thanos stared at that red smear as the Earth slowly absorbed it, his mind blank.

"Alive." A cartoonish-sounding voice rang in his mind, causing him to snap his head up and look around, meeting glowing green orbs.

The voice sounded like something from a Looney Tune character, and it might have been funny had the situation not been so horrific to him. The bird wasn't looking at him now but stared past him to the ruined farmhouse.

"Dig." The strange voice said.

A small flame of hope kindled in his chest as he turned around, dragged himself forward on all fours, and then stood. He shifted large sections of wood and fallen rocks, not caring about splinters or the sharp cuts on his hands.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

After some time, he heard a muffled voice, and the burning flame inside of him grew brighter. He was digging faster now, frantic.

The building hope inside dragged him back to his senses, and he started using his skill to conjure items to help him clear the debris quickly.

He threw a large section of timber to the side with a vocal heave and gasped at what it had revealed. His parents were crouching together in a huddle, with the tiny form of his sister nestled protectively between them.

Rushing over, he spotted shallow breathing from his sister, but she wasn't moving. His parents were a different matter. It was apparent right away his mother was gone. She had a large timber beam sticking through her chest, and blood ran down from her mouth. Tears fell at the sight.

He brushed a lock of her red hair to the side and sniffled. She looked so peaceful with her eyes closed, and he hoped that it had been quick when it happened. The size of the beam and the lack of a pained expression made it look like that was the case.

Reaching between the pair, he put his arms around his sister and pulled her unconscious form out. Just as she was nearly free, Marcus reached out and gripped his arm, but there wasn't any strength in it.

Looking up, he saw his father staring at him with bloodshot eyes before coughing. He hadn't noticed it before, but a sharp rock pierced his father's body in various places from the rear.

"Son. You're okay, that's good." Marcus said, but his voice was a barely audible whisper.

"Father, it's mother, she's..." Thanos said through stops, struggling to finish the sentence.

"I know. I'll be gone too... soon." Marcus stated, his face morphing into a painful grimace.

"No! You can't. I still need you. We still need you. You must have some medicine in your storage device. I will find it." Thanos cried, reaching over to the black band on his father's wrist.

"No... use. Core destroyed. Dying. Here... take this," Marcus groaned, holding out a crumpled piece of bloody paper.

Reaching over with shakey hands, Thanos took it and gave a questioning glance at Marcus, spotting a pot of ink and a quill on the ground. His father must have written this recently in the hopes that someone would find Nyx, that he would.

"Follow... instructions. Look after sister." Marcus went into coughing after the words as blood started to leak from his eyes, nose and ears, along with his mouth.

"Proud to have a son.. like you."

Thanos watched as the life left his father's body, and the man who had raised him as his own all these years slowly fell forward, his head coming to rest against Valeria's.

At that, he burst into tears and hugged them both tightly, his head meeting theirs. Snot and tears streamed down his face, and he cried until he had no more left, then cried some more.

His sister, who was slowly starting to move behind him, brought him back from his grief. Collecting his father's storage device, he stored the bloody letter in it.

Thanos didn't want the first thing Nyx to see upon waking was their dead parents, so he picked her up and walked behind a massive stone slab nearby that blocked the view, putting her down. He used big pieces of rubble to quickly hide the bodies of Rhea and Tantalus.

"Brother, what's going on? Where is everyone?" Nyx asked, sounding confused as she rubbed sleep from her eyes and looked around as he knelt beside her.

"What is the last thing you remember?" He questioned.

"We were at the ceremony. I forgot my offering so we went back to get it and then there was shouting... I don't know." Nyx finished, her forehead eyes knitted in confusion.

He didn't know if she was awake when they were trapped, but he doubted it. Something told him his father had rendered her unconscious to spare her from any possible pain.

The next part was one of the hardest things Thanos had ever had to do, as he informed his little sister that her parents were dead, along with everyone else she knew.

They hugged each other and cried together like babies until all they could do was sniffle. The falling snow started picking up, and the cold caused Thanos to stand up.

I need to bury them before the ground freezes.

"Stay here. I will be back soon. Shout if you need me," Thanos told his sister, who blankly nodded in response.

Collecting the bodies of his parents, he conjured a large shovel and started creating a double grave at the rear of the house where a clear section of ground was. Tears streamed down his face as he dug, but he didn't stop.

Once the hole was dug, he checked the storage bracelet, finding that it was a size too big for his wrist, so he looped it around the silk ribbon on his neck alongside his amulet and the willpower ring. But not before taking out some sheets inside that he used to wrap Marcus and Valeria.

The weird bird creature with the eerie green eyes landed nearby and watched, but he ignored it as he buried the only parents he had ever known.

Using a piece of wood, he carved a crude headstone for them and left their names behind.

"What do you want?" He snapped, staring daggers at the bird that watched him.

"Help." The silly voice came back.

"You want me to help you? Do what?" He asked incredulously. He had seen what this creature had become. How could he help it do anything?

"Bury." It replied.

"You want me to bury someone... wait, you want me to bury your bond? Wu Zetian is dead?" He asked

"Yes. Follow"

The bird took flight and slowly started heading away from the house, looking back to make sure he was following.

"Wait, before that. Is there anyone left alive from the village I can dig out?"

"No."

Even though spoken by such a stupid-sounding voice, that word still hit him like a sledgehammer. Out of everyone in the village, only he and his sister had survived. Perhaps others would have lived if it hadn't been for the worship ceremony. Everyone they knew was in attendance.

He went and got his sister, leaving her at the graves of their parents so she could say goodbye. Removing his mother's bow and quiver from the storage bracelet, he left them nearby in case, but he doubted anything would be close. The enormous battle will have sent most creatures into hiding.

Following the bird, he waded around mounds of rubble and uprooted trees, finally spotting a still figure dressed in purple propped up against a large stone.

Thanos wasn't sure why he was helping the creature. Wu Zetian and this creature had been partly to blame for destroying his home, but he knew it wasn't that simple.

He had also heard the conversation between her and Fang Ming and saw Wu Zetian try to stop the attack at the last moment. Without that intervention, his sister might have died along with his parents.

Seeing Wu Zetian dead already, there was no hatred there, unlike he had for the Fang Clan. A burning rage unlike anything he had ever felt before existed for that Clan, and he would do everything he could to destroy them. For now, using that hatred as fuel, he channelled it to keep him from breaking down from his sadness.

"Why can't you bury her?" He stopped and asked the bird.

"Weak."

Turning to look at the glowing green orbs, he noticed they were faint now. He knew that this was probably a spirit summoned from the astral. A creature formed by a summoner wouldn't have sentience like this, meaning Wu Zetian was classed as an Evoker, not a summoner. It was a rare class.

Investigating Wu Zetian's wounds, he saw that the woman had died from a stab by a spear piercing her heart. Taking out more sheets, he covered her up and started digging, buying her where he found her.

"Now what?" He said, turning to the spirit.

"I go."

With those words, he saw a green ball of energy float out of the bones it had been inhabiting, causing them to drop onto the ground. He felt a strange ripple as the ball of glowing energy vanished, and it reminded him of spatial essence.

The creature was strange, but it looked like all it wanted was for its companion to have a proper burial. He knew that bonding with spirits formed from the aether was a contract of equals and that they were strange and nonhuman. It appeared this one was more human than most.

He quickly returned to find his sister hugging the bow left behind by their mother as she stared at the graves. Letting her say goodbye, he searched the ruined house for supplies, putting whatever he could find in the storage device.

Afterwards, he read the letter left behind by their father and frowned at the contents before putting it away with a sigh.

Perhaps it's for the best.

Taking out an item, he blew into it, causing a high-pitched noise barely in the audible spectrum to spread across the surrounding mountains, and waited beside his sister.

About thirty minutes later, a large dark shape came galloping towards them, and Thanos stood as he watched Nox, his father's war mount, steadily approaching.

He spent some time reassuring the horse, but she appeared to remember him and let him and his sister attach a saddle and get on.

Saying their final goodbyes, the brother and sister duo left the destroyed farmstead, lingering on a hill overlooking the ruined valley they had once called home.

"Will we ever come back?" Nyx asked, her puffy eyes red from crying so much.

"Yes." He replied, his gaze lingering on a distant spot that held a grave.

"Once I destroy the Fang Clan."