How long had it been? Johan couldn't tell, although he knew it had been at least a week.

'Damn. A whole week.' Johan thought to himself, 'A whole week since dad...' He didn't finish that thought. he was aware it happened, but, he didn't have the time to really think too far about what had transpired thus far. He was to busy fighting for survival, both for himself and his sister.

The duo had been from the country of Ambevelance. A country of the mundane where only the elite of the elite were ever free, at least in any real sense. It was those people who wielded influence and power who had ruined the previously ignorant and peaceful life of Johan and his family.

Johan had found that 4 years prior, when he was 13, he was able to control something that allowed him to do something to his body. He was able to use this power to throw harder, run faster and further and jump much better. Being into some supernatural stories at the time, Johan decided to hide this from people, only sharing it with his family, most notably, his sister, Anne. He did not share it with his father however, and his mother had died back when Anne was born.

Johan wasn't sure why he didn't share the information with his dad. Perhaps his dad would have been concerned and would have limited Johan? The teenager cursed his old self.

either way, unfortunately, Anne hadn't shared in his inhibition of sharing his powers with others. Mind you, it did take a while for the rumor to spread, since he never used it in any obvious ways, but when he was 16 Johan started to notice that he saw some common faces in his surroundings quite often, and slowly became somewhat paranoid that he was being watched for some reason.

This all came to a head when his family home was suddenly stormed by some armed men. The men rushed into the living room that Johan and his family, consisting of only his father and younger sister were watching a movie about some sort of bank heist. At first his father cooperated completely, letting the men loosen their guard, then while the trio was being led outside his father suddenly struck out against the kidnappers. Not expecting it Johan was taken off guard himself. He hadn't known his father to be a violent man, but suddenly seeing his father take down a group of 6 armed men all on his own changed that rather quickly.

His father then turned to Johan and told him to take the car and get out of the country. At that time, Johan didn't understand. Why did he need to leave the country? What was going on? Who were these people that had just tried to kidnap his entire family?

"Johan." His father spoke, "I'll explain more later. Just promise me that you and Anne will be able to get to safety."

Johan didn't respond for a moment. Looking back now, he could understand why. He could feel a dull conviction in his father's voice. One of resignation and acceptance. Then he answered.

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"Y-yeah, I'll make sure of it dad." He barely stammered out.

"Good. Now listen carefully. You need to get to the Karshlan Empire. We have some relatives there who will take care of you. We don't live there currently due to them not being particularly fond of me, but they should be willing to aid you and your sister."

"Dad? Why do you sound like you aren't coming with us?" Johan asked, unfortunately he never received an answer as he was sent off quickly by his father.

That had been just over a week ago, and as of current, Johan had no real clue where he was at. He and Anne had been traveling through what was seemingly a wasteland in all directions for a while, the road had ended shortly after the first day as the buildings deteriorated into terrible states further and further until eventually there just were none.

This unnerved Johan, as he hadn't ever been out of his city in his life, though that wasn't uncommon since Ambevelance was simply a country sized mega city. It had unnerved his sister as well, but Anne hadn't talked too much, instead just grabbing onto his arm with a somewhat tight grip.

He wasn't too read up on trauma, as much as it irked him at the moment, but Johan did know that sometimes a trauma can cause selective mutism, was that the right term? He wasn't sure, but he knew that sometimes people would just kinda stop talking. He decided that was likely what was happening with Anne. At least he had hoped that was all, with how hard the car was hit, he was just glad she didn't seem badly injured, if at all injured.

Of course his sister still spoke a little, simple yes, and noes usually, occasionally she would ask for water, or have a little small talk, but not much else, and the small talk never lasted long. It was worrying Johan a bit, but he wasn't able to do much to help Anne at the moment, he was struggling a bit too after all. Unlike his sister who had been knocked out by something hitting the side of the car while they were escaping, Johan witnessed a scene of dozens of men storming his street, with his father fighting them off.

At first Johan thought it was all for naught as he witnessed over 2 dozen directly surround his father until something happened. several men seemed to spontaneously combust, others seemed to gain wounds from thin air, and a few fell and started to spasm on the ground. This had given Johan hope, one that was quickly dashed however. Johan saw it through the rearview mirror. His fathers last moment alive.

As Johan and Anne escaped, a massive pillar of stone, wide as the car was long, and tall as a 2 story house fell and flattened his father into paste. There was no possible way that his father had managed to survive that, Johan knew it deep in his bones.

And so at the age of 17, with his 15 year old sister, Johan found himself a fugitive of Ambevelance, and fleeing through a wasteland that seemed mostly desert lands, to an empire that he was unaware of, and in a place he had no knowledge of.

He had seen a good many beasts, and thought himself to be rather lucky that the car was still able to move fast enough to escape them. Some of those creatures were even bigger than the car.

Cresting over a small hill, he laid eyes on a beautiful sight however. A small town, village really, one that looked a bit rickety and like it would blow over, perhaps, but it was still civilization. And so Johan drove into the town, the old red car making some scraping sounds along the way.