"Arghhh it hurts!" I wailed in agony as every time Roi moved, the burns would obviously burn.

"Hold on Kale, you'll get treated in just a moment. We're almost there." Roi tried to comfort me.

Although I could see the walls a quarter of a mile ahead, it seemed so far away.

It was the moon. No matter how much you yearned to touch it, it couldn't be done.

Oh how I wished I was taking a nice cold bath.

These burns were like thousands of needles being injected into my skin.

I could have sworn all my skin was gone.

As I probably looked like a lump of meat in elven form.

"Halt, why are you kids outside of Renuit." A soldier yelled.

"Holy mother of god, look at that kid's injury." Another soldier yelled, shocked at my injury.

"Is that Roi?" A familiar voice rang out loud.

"Uncle Hane, Kale has received some nasty burns and if we don't get him treated now, it may take away his life." Roi yelled urgently.

"Open the gates! NOOOOWWW!" Pop yelled at the guards.

As the gates opened, several elves came and used healing magic on me.

Man it felt like heaven. It must have been heaven as I've never felt so good and so happy in my life.

You could say that it felt better than drinking water after you ran a marathon.

As the adults were gathering around to see what the commotion was, I could faintly hear the conversation between Roi and my pop.

"Uncle Hane, you need to alert the town. There are thousands of draconians surrounding Renuit a mile away."

"Kale and I saw thousands of draconians surrounding Renuit. So we estimate that there are millions as we only saw a part of their army." Roi informed pop in a serious tone.

"If what you say is true, we'll need to prepare for war. I'll ask Berah to send some scouts to watch the enemy's movements as we can't see them a mile away due to the trees." Pop replied firmly.

It was then at that point that I blacked out from fatigue.

*****

As I opened my eyes to stare at the wooden ceiling, Roi was right there next to me...sleeping.

Usually, I'd make a joke or make fun of him, but today I'll let it slide.

After my near death experience, it wouldn't be nice of me to joke around when Roi was the one who saved my ass.

Thinking back, he's always been there for me although I was different from the other kids.

I don't know why, but Roi was always there for me.

You could say that he's one of the most important person to me right after my dad.

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"Hey, you finally woke up. So how do you feel?" Roi grinned as he just woke up from his nap.

"A bit better. So how's the incident with the draconians coming along?" I asked.

"It's becoming grave. The draconians really are going to invade us. The scouts came back saying that they've gotten us completely surrounded."

"For all we know, it's impossible to really win against them. I heard the adults saying that we'll just have to put a valiant fight if we can't make a peace treaty with the draconians." Roi replied nervously.

You could see that the draconians could slaughter us anytime as we were just sitting ducks inside their trap.

"Do you know the reason for this whole invasion?" I asked hoping that Roi knew something.

"I don't know but whatever the reason is, just hope we can make it out alive." Roi made a point.

"Everyone, to the town hall!" Several elves were screaming.

I watched as one by one, everyone moved towards the town hall.

Getting out of my bed, Roi helped me walk by letting me use his shoulders.

As we got there, everyone was mumbling about the draconians. The news had spread like wildfire to the town of 30,000.

When our great elven elder Berah came out of the town hall, everyone was silence.

"My friends and children. We are now in grave danger." Berah spoke solemnly.

"We have identified the draconians as the band of Wazerath."

"The most powerful slave trade organization in all of Vahsil."

"The city's guards and I have decided it's best to fight with glory."

"For those who fear death and wish to go down a road of suffering, stay here at this town hall where you will be gathered like herds and chained like dogs."

"If you wish for a quick death, go to the guild quarters, where we will have elves who will send you into the afterlife in but a flash."

"That is all, may we meet again brothers and sisters."

"For I shall fight til my last breath." Berah cried out with tears rolling down his eyes.

Immediately, 20,000 elves whether children or adult wanted to die valiantly on the battlefield (Roi and me included).

As for the other third of the elves, they either wanted to become slaves or have a quick painless death (which made plenty of sense).

The drums of war were ringing through my head as I prepared for battle.

Whether I live or die, fate shall decide!