As Nogh slept his dreams replayed his memories, memories of his parents, him playing with his sister, some of the mischief that they caused to the village. Then it turned dark and started showing him memories of his parent's burial, from the words of the old druid to his final goodbyes.

As that memory finished, his brain shoved in the events of last night into his dream, starting from the blindingly bright flames, running through the burning house, his sister soundly sleeping on her bed. Then, reminding him that she was forever gone as he watched his sister walk away from his reach. While he's laying on the ground, unable to move and just reaching up towards her.

He watched helplessly as his sister walked further and further away. Nogh couldn't hold his tears back anymore and slowly started bawling his eyes out, crying out his sister's name, praying for her to come back, which then turned into curses. Curses at the sadistic gods of his world, at the adventurers who attacked them, and finally at the cruel fate that was laid out for him. Vowing to get his revenge one day.

The further she went, the smaller and smaller she got, until Nogh could barely make out a speck over the horizon. Then nothing, he was laying on the ground sobbing, surrounded by the endless nothingness. As he kept laying there, a small green light started dancing over the horizon. Which then triggered a green sun rise, replacing the previous orange sunset.

It had started at the spot where he last saw his sister. And it kept growing and getting brighter… It took him a second to realize that it wasn't actually rising and growing in size, but that it was approaching him. Slowly but surely he could make out what was the source of the green light.

It was a lantern and there was a green flame dancing inside its glass prison. A pure black lantern decorated to look gothic in design, and it had a skull shaped top where the handle was connected to both sides of the skull's temple. There were two words etched into it, Nogh of course couldn’t read, and he doubted anybody actually could as it looked like a long forgotten tongue.

The lantern itself was floating closer and closer to Nogh, until it stopped inches from his face, floating there as if it awaited for him to reach out and hold it. Noticing this, he slowly got up onto his knees, then he began to stand up, his body still feeling battered and bruised. But once he was on his feet, Nogh stared down at the lantern before making up his mind and grabbing the lantern by its handle.

Upon receiving his touch, the lantern's flame grew stronger, the previously dim green flame turned brighter, stronger and wilder. It became so wild that it ripped the glass door open and shot out a line of green flame that started dancing around Nogh and slowly overwhelming Nogh's entire body.

Nogh stood there, engulfed in the green flame. The fire wasn't hot, it was lukewarm and didn't hurt him, as he watched this, he noticed something. He quickly brought up his hand in front of him and watched as his bright red scales slowly turned a greenish black.

Then, as soon as it was done changing the colour of his scales, the surrounding nothingness went from looking like a normal dawn to a darker dusk with a green tinge on the horizon. As he stared off at the brightest spot in the emptiness, it grew brighter and brighter until Nogh was fully blinded and unable to shield his eyes with his hand.

Once Nogh came to, he had already opened his eyes and was shielding them from the sunlight. It was early morning, he also noticed that his scales were no longer red, now they had a dark greenish tint to them. He then found the lantern from his dream at the foot of the bed, the green flame inside was dim, but it was still vividly flickering inside. He could see Ralk and a couple others still sleeping on piles of wheat or on the cold ground. Nogh was still sitting on the bed as he looked around, trying to find Raouk, who was missing from the little group's campsite.

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The child got out of the bed and started walking around looking for Raouk, the more he walked about, the more he saw of the now ruined village. He couldn't find him anywhere nearby, so went further in, eventually passing by his ruined home. After standing there for a few minutes, he decided to go to the graveyard to visit his sister's grave. Once he arrived at the gate, he noticed the old druid casting magic to grow wild flowers on the graves and cleaning the older gravestones. Nogh walked up to him and started giving him a hand, distributing flowers and cleaning the headstones. They kept working until they were done with all of them, many generations worth of kobolds had been buried here, but it might just be the last time that it will be used.

After all that had work, they decided to take a short rest as they sat under a tree near the end of the graveyard. They hadn’t exchanged any words so far today, but Raouk finally broke the silence.

“Nogh…” he said, catching the boy’s attention.

“This village is most probably dead now…” he continued slowly. “Most of us will probably leave… Some said they were going to the closest Kobold settlements to try to join them… Others will try their luck in the big city, to see if they can make a living somehow… My point is… Will you come with us, boy? Ralk and I will make the journey towards the swamps where the Lizardfolk reside. Hopefully they will be more welcoming towards us… More welcoming than the elves or humans, at least… That being said, it will be a long journey, and we will have to travel across the Dwarven mountain ranges, they might not outright hunt us, but our kind is far from welcome in their land…” Raouk finished, refusing to break his focus from Nogh’s face, seeking answers from his expressions.

The boy looked at Raouk, then he looked back at the ground, carefully considering his options. The Lizardfolk might be their closest kin biologically, but they have a survival of the fittest lifestyle, and kobolds would never be able to compete with them on fair ground. The Lizardfolk are also in quasi war with the local human kingdom of Baldrich. Both sides start small skirmishes, shedding each other's blood, rumour has it that humans even started wearing their skin as boots and belts. They were truly a barbaric species who knew no limits.

He had to think this through properly. There is nowhere he can go that isn’t risky and dangerous, his current abilities would barely keep him alive in this somewhat tamed forest, let alone racist settlements and warring clans. He sat there pondering on this for a while, until he made his decision.

“I think, that I’ll join you, old man. It is far from the safest place to be, but being together with you two would be the safest choice after all. Maybe I’ll learn how to fight properly from the lizardfolk who knows.” he answered with a slight chuckle.

Raouk looked at the boy with a forlorn smile, observing the once bright red, cheerful boy. The boy who never let anything knock him down, not even the death of his parents, had stopped him from walking his path. Although he was but a boy, he was stronger than the old man facing him.

‘This old man couldn’t muster up the courage to try to save the village, let alone stay and rebuild… How pathetic am I? This child who is barely 6 years old is stronger than I… A skilled druid with 10 times the life experiences than this boy!’ Raouk’s thoughts were going haywire as he belittled and insulted himself, agonizing over his actions.

That is, until his train of thought got cut. Nogh had put a hand on his arm, trying to get his attention.

“Everything okay Raouk? I can go my own way if ever… I don’t want to be a burden to you guys.” he said softly, the sadness in his voice was unmistakable.

A moment of panic washed over Raouk as he processed what the boy just said.

“OF COURSE YOU CAN COME WITH US!” he screamed out in horror and simultaneously scaring the boy.

Realizing his new mistake, Raouk immediately caught himself and repeated softer.

“Of course you can come with us, Nogh. Don’t scare me like that child, if I dared to leave you to fend for yourself how would I face our ancestors… How would I face your parents? It is unthinkable, you are a precious child of our village, I shan’t let any harm befall you.” he promised.

Nogh answered with a big smile and hugged the old man, expressing his heartfelt gratitude to Raouk. The old man couldn’t stop himself from reciprocating the hug, and they sat in silence for a few moments.