Ham picked up the little wooden figurine he had carved and gave it a thorough lookover under the sunlight. It still hadn’t turned out as he had imagined.

“Damn it!” Ham complained, “What is it going to take to be as good as him!”

He sighed and placed the figurine down on the workbench.

Then dusted himself off, of all the sawdust and woodchips that had stuck in his clothes and hair, and carefully made his way out of the shop and into his house. He didn’t look around as he did it, he knew it was only going to make him feel worse. The entire shop was stuffed with various carvings, masterfully crafted by his father, to which his own didn’t even hold a candle.

He could hear his mother working in the kitchen.

“Mother!” he shouted, “I am going out.”

“Where to?” She shouted back “Lunch is almost ready.”

“Gotta tend to Uncle Ragnar’s animals. They left yesterday for Sand Doon Grove”

“Alright, but be quick, and see if you can find your father while you are at it,” She said, “he should be near the church helping in the repairs there, tell him to return for lunch as well.”

“Okay!! I’ll be back.” Ham said while opening the door. “Love you__”

The sound of mayhem washed in.

It took a whole minute for Ham to make sense of what was happening. All the people he knew, neighbors, customers of the shop, all of them were running away from something, heading for the edge of the town.

“Wait… what, what is going on?” Ham heard himself mumbling as an unreasonable fear seized control of his body “M.. Mother! What is happening?”

Viona was already making her way out toward the door, having heard all the ruckus herself. She pushed Ham back behind her and stood in the doorway herself, taking in the scene.

Then a man suddenly appeared in the doorway, riding a majestic warhorse.

“Love!” He shouted from his seat, “Take Ham, and anything else you need and run for the town’s edge!”

“Enemies?” She asked, sounding surprisingly calm.

“Yes!” His father replied, equally nonchalant “A Hydra just appeared on the East edge.”

Then he turned his horse.

“Make sure that everyone escapes before you leave!” He shouted overhead as he galloped away, riding toward the said east.

“But father!” Ham shouted coming out from behind his mother, but it was too late. He had already gone past the hearing distance.

“Don’t worry yourself, Ham.” His mother said as she pulled him back into the house “It’s just one lousy monster, Kaizer can handle it. Now, let's go, we got some work to do.”

In the subsequent hours, Ham did all he could to help his mother make sure that everyone in Sakoe was aware of the incoming threat, and that everyone was heading out. However, the more time that passed, the more it became impossible for anyone to not be aware of it. Fires were spreading to the east and smoke clouds were reaching as tall as the skies. The intermittent roars of the monster were also unquestionable. Once in a while, one could also see, one or more dragon-like heads, flailing about in the skies over the Sakoe.

It was also impossible for Ham to not be worried about his father’s safety. Did he even have anyone to help him? Even Uncle Ragnar was out of town, one of the few people who he knew could support him, and the last he had seen big brother B’jorn was 4 years ago when he was leaving for the University of Magic, and there had never been any Dragonsguard stationed here, to begin with. Sakoe wasn’t a military town, it was the town of Bazars!! What enemies was his mother even referring to?

Eventually, the day had started leaning toward the evening and except for a few stragglers, the town had completely emptied. And yet, the sounds of battle continued.

As Ham and his mother stood there, a reddish haze coloring the sky, looking toward the central part of the town, a slow and horrible realization started dawning on them. Kaizer Stormborn, no matter how great a man, had been fighting too long. There was no human body capable of taking the kind of abuse he was being subjected to.

His mother took his arm and unceremoniously started dragging him toward the town’s edge.

“Mom!” Ham complained as he tried to dig his feet in the hard mud that made the roads of Sakoe, “Mother, no! We have to wait. You said yourself. There is no way Father is losing to that thing.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Viona did not answer or look back at him. Just kept on pulling him toward the town’s edge.

After a point, Ham gave up on trying to stop her, resigning to get his frustration out through tears that just refused to stop. He wanted to go to his father’s help. There was no reason he had to fight such a dangerous beast alone. However, much as he would try his mother won’t let him go. He hated every moment of it, he hated himself for not being prepared. Why hadn’t he spent his time learning to fight instead of carving? Why the more he thought about the prospect of facing the creature the more scared he felt? Why couldn’t he be strong like his father?

The entirety of the way Ham’s eyes never left the road, hoping against hope to find any sign at all of his father returning. It did not appear and they eventually reached the town’s edge.

Standing there, a little ways off from the remaining residents of the town who stood huddled together, they looked back one final time.

And a new wave of despair hit them, it was palpable, like water slowly filling their lungs making it impossible to breathe. Their town, their homes were burning. A town known for its peace, its diversity, for crafts and its bazaars, now lay deserted, getting decimated by a mindless monster and there was no sign of its saviour anywhere.

Then, just when it had started to seem hopeless…

A bright white light suddenly lit the entirety of Sakoe coming from the Church of Bahamut, where Kaizer had been holding the Hydra back. Glaring in intensity it lasted only for a fraction of a second and then disappeared with a vacuous sound.

Ham drew in a sharp breath as if revived by the light and jerked his hand free of his mother’s iron grip. He all but ran toward the burning town.

“Ham!” His mother shouted before rushing after him, catching him before he could have gone any significant distance.

“It was father, mom!” Ham screamed “Can’t you see? He defeated the monster. He would be coming this way! Leave me, let me go help!”

She did not let him go, and this time it was Ham who dragged her back. For a 12-year-old Ham, it was all he could do to slowly drag his mother with him as she tried to stop him. He did not have any special powers, he wasn’t strong like Uncle Ragnar or his father, neither could he control plants and cast spells like Big Brother, but he could help his wounded father and he was going to do it. No matter what. Their struggle went on for a little while, as both tried to outdo each other, but then there was a sound that made both of them stop.

They could hear hoofbeats with occasional whinnying and it was getting louder.

Ham’s eyes lit up and the ember of hope that he’d been kindling in his heart blossomed into a raging inferno. There was no doubt in his mind. He knew it was his father.

But still, as the hoofbeats came closer, both Ham and Viona couldn’t help but hold their breaths in anticipation, hoping to see the victorious face of Kaizer, returning atop his horse.

The smoke-filled haze and the ruddy light of the fires that still kindled made the visibility poor, but when the paladin emerged out of it, the effect was equally enchanting.

It was Kaizer Silverdragon, with his two swords and silver armour with Bahamut’s crest, riding his brown warhorse, coming out of the battle victorious. After saving a whole town full of people and his own family.

However, the moment the horse reached them, Kaizer simply fell and the greatsword sheathed at his back slid out of its sheath to rest at young Ham’s feet.

Looking at him Ham could barely recognize him as his father, the honoured champion of Bahamut. There were huge chunks of his armour and torso simply missing, and no hair remained atop his scalp. His face was the worst part as it still sizzled with acid. In fact, he was barely breathing at all. It was some miracle that he had managed to even reach back to the edge of the town. His force of will was the only thing keeping him together.

For Ham, it seemed like the whole world had fallen. He could not believe his eyes. That was simply not possible. That could never happen to him. There was so much that he wanted to learn from him. He needed him.

“No.. no, no no!” Ham mumbled as he dropped down to the ground “No.. this can't be happening. I am dreaming, am dreaming, am dreaming, am dreaming!” |

Yet his hands worked on his own as he picked his father's head into his lap, his mother sitting right beside him her hand resting on his father’s chest.

Kaizer looked at them both one last time and managed to muster just enough strength to say...

“Run!!”

Then he was no more.

His last words were punctuated by a monstrous screech that echoed through the night. There was no denying it, it was the wail of a predator. A predator that had been wounded. One that had been denied its prey and it was, unquestionably, back. And it was coming toward them.