Villain ran as fast as he could up the long hill that led to his village. The flames in the distance grew closer with every step causing the air surrounding him to heat up. Sweat poured down his body as he went, watering the grass with salt and blood. He had yet to notice that his fists were clenched so tightly that his fingernails were digging into his skin.

“Ahhhhhh!” Another scream pierced the night sky. Each scream only served to confirm his worry that this was no ordinary fire. Pushing himself even harder, nearly to the point that his legs threatened to give up on him, he ran. It was several minutes before the south gate was clearly visible. As he approached, he noticed what looked like two people hiding near one of the pillars. Villain called out to them when he was within shouting distance.

“What’s going on h-” He tried to stop too quickly, and his momentum pushed him over, sending him rolling forward several feet. When he opened his eyes, he confirmed what had caused him to halt. The two villagers next to the south gate were not hiding. They were dead. Looking closer he realized that they were the ones who had been talking about him as he passed by earlier that day, and every day before that he could think of. His stomach turned and he kneeled so he could brace himself on the ground. It wasn’t that he cared about them being killed in the slightest, but the way that they were killed that upset him. Their eyes had been gouged out and replaced with stones, while their tongues had been cut off completely. Even that was mild compared to what had been done to their bodies. Countless lines had been carved into them, all of which stemmed from a center point in their chest where they had been branded. It was a pair of iron balls chained together. Villain immediately recognized who this brand belonged to and his stomach turned over once more. They were the personal slavers of his territory’s ruler. Another scream attacked his ears from the other side of the village.

Standing in front of the gate he let his eyes roam over the scene before him. The entirety of the village that he could see from here was on fire. Several houses had already collapsed in the north east while the rest were still burning.

“They must have entered from that gate.” He mumbled to himself as he continued to scan his surroundings. Villagers’ belongings, broken furniture, and the occasional body littered the main road. From what he could see the village defense group had been destroyed. If anyone had survived, then they must have been taken. It was a bitter moment for him, watching the village burn. These people were terrible to him and he hated them, but this was still his home for nearly half of his life and seeing it razed to the ground was bound to upset him. With no plan and no choice, Villain stepped forward into the burning nightmare. The walls had created an oven like effect, the heat of which assaulted his body as soon as he began walking forward.

Breathing became difficult, and he wanted to remain somewhat quiet to avoid drawing attention, so he slowed down. Unfortunately, he was unable to skirt between houses to remain out of sight since most of them were on fire, so he continued in the center of the road. He inspected each body he came across, finding that each of them had been mutilated in the same manner. Lincera, Jeck, Ahna, Beth, and Yvard. Every time he grew closer to a body, he worried about it being one of theirs, and every time it wasn’t, he let out a sigh of relief.

As he reached the fork in the road that led to the remaining two gates he looked around. His eyes widened as he observed the small stack of bodies under the northeast gate. It seemed that most of the defense group had been overwhelmed right there, and the few he had already come across must have scattered shortly into the fighting. Gritting his teeth Villain turned onto the path leading to those bodies, needing to be sure that they weren’t among them. When he reached them, he realized it was a waste of time. The bodies had been piled up intentionally, so that they could be burned. Not one of them was identifiable. Frustration welled up inside him and he kicked an unburnt piece of wood that was sticking out of the pile. The force caused two of the corpses to roll down the pile releasing a plume of rotten air. It was so disgusting when he inhaled it that he doubled over, releasing the contents of his stomach upon the ground. After taking a moment to clean his face he pushed himself upright again. Another scream sailed over the burning village and his heart exploded in his ears. It was Lincera’s voice again.

Villain took off sprinting toward the west side of the village hoping that he could catch them before they left. As he ran, he pulled his new knife out of the sack he was carrying before he dropped it to the ground. The weight in his hand felt solid, and with the adrenaline coursing through his blood he had no doubt at all that he would be able to save not just Lincera, but everyone else too. It was then that he found himself standing in front of the elder’s house which was ablaze like the rest of them. What really caught his attention, however, was the large wooden pillar that had been erected in the middle of the road. The pillar was easily twice his height, and just as thick as his torso. If they had not buried the base it would likely have fallen over. Villain looked up and froze. At the top, bound by thick chains with nails driven into them, was Yvard.

“N-No way.” He could not believe what he was seeing. The old man had always seemed like the strongest, most reliable person in the village so there was no way he could lose. No matter how much he fought it though he could not bring himself to reject what was right before his eyes.

“V-Villain…” Yvard spoke so softly that his voice was nearly washed away in the sounds of the crackling fires. Villain’s heart lurched as tears flooded his vision. Yvard’s voice had never sounded so weak to him before now.

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“Yvard!” He cried out, tears breaking through and spilling down his face. He rushed forward and reached up to pull the chains off without thinking.

“AHHH!” Yvard cried out in pain as the nails dug into his flesh with every tug of the chains. Villain’s arms went limp as he released the chains and stared up at the old man. Tears flowed freely down his face as he observed the extent of Yvard’s injuries.

“What should I do? What can I do?!” He cried harder and fell to his knees as Yvard weakly shook his head. Fresh blood began sliding down the pillar, proof that he had only succeeded in hurting him more.

“They t-took th-” Yvard choked on the blood climbing up his throat. With what strength he had left he continued speaking. “Beth… A-Ahna.” Villain locked eyes with him and fell to his knees, the energy now gone from his legs. Yvard was crying. The man that he owed his life to, and looked up to above all others, was looking at him with helpless tear-filled eyes. The pain in his heart now was greater than any he had known before, including the day his parents had abandoned him.

“I won’t just leave you here! I can’t!” The pleading look on Yvard’s face grew more desperate. When he tried to speak, more blood came spurting into his throat.

“Stop! Please don’t speak!” Yvard was on the edge of death and seeing the old man forcing himself to speak at the risk of crossing that line was something Villain could not handle.

“P-Please… Villain.” Blood spurt out of his mouth, several drops of which landed on Villain’s upturned face.

“No more! I don’t want you to die!” Villain dug his fists into the dirt beneath him and rocked back and forth. Looking back to Yvard he found that his eyes had glossed over. The light had faded from them making them appear more like painted balls of glass now. Realizing what that meant, he threw his head back and loosed a pained cry into the sky.

“Yvaaaaaaaaaarrrd!” Unable to cope with his loss, Villain slammed his forehead against the pillar. The pain he felt brought him a strange sense of relief, so he slammed his head against the pillar once more. Then another, and another. Again, and again and again he slammed his head against the pillar until his blood had mixed into Yvard’s as it crawled to the earth below. When he finally stopped, his head resting firmly against the base of the pillar, his eyes were drawn to the knife he had discarded in his initial haste. The blade caught the light of the fires and seemed to glow a reddish orange. Seeing the knife appear so angry reignited the fire in his body and he used the pillar to climb to his feet.

“You’re right…” He spoke to the knife as he picked it off the ground. “We should kill them.” Gripping it tightly in his right hand, he allowed his arms to hang at his sides as he looked up at Yvard one last time. Villain stood there, wobbling slightly, staring up at his body with eyes so wide that you would not believe he had eyelids. Slowly, his lips began to twitch and curve into a twisted smile. A small laugh escaped from his throat as he repeated himself. “We should kill them.”

As fast as he could run, Villain took off down the road. It had been several minutes since he last heard a scream. If he ran fast enough, he might just catch them outside the gates, before they were out of sight. As he ran his lungs screamed in pain from all the smoke he had inhaled but he ignored them and kept pushing. The west gate came into view shortly after he took off. At his current pace he figured it would take him another five minutes to reach it, and if he was lucky another ten to reach the slavers group. Bodies still lined the sides of the road, but he no longer cared who they were. Lincera, Beth, and Ahna had all been taken which meant that the bodies were not theirs. The only one unaccounted for was Jeck, and he would have to wait if Villain wanted to save the others in time. Besides, he thought, Jeck might have been captured as well. In his distraction he failed to notice the body in front of him and tripped over it. Refusing to slow down or stop, Villain allowed himself to fall and rolled forward back onto his feet. Immediately he set off again.

Just as he figured, he reached the gate in just under five minutes. What he had not accounted for was that as he passed through the gate, another person called out his name.

“Villain!” Hearing the familiar voice, Villain glanced over his shoulder and locked eyes with Jeck.

“Which way?!” He yelled, without stopping. Jeck threw his hand up and pointed southwest. The slavers had apparently abandoned the road which meant that they were going to travel alongside the river. Villain adjusted his direction and gripped the knife tighter. He was running downhill now so his speed would increase, but that was the same for them as well.

“Be careful!” Was the last thing he heard from Jeck as he bolted away. Villain promised himself he would get answers later and pushed him from his mind. As he ran, he glanced over the landscape finding nothing but darkness in front of him at first. Increasing his speed so that he was running dangerously fast for a downhill slope he drove forward. After another minute or so he caught a flicker of light in the distance. He recognized the faint glow of a torch and his strength renewed itself.

“I can do this!” He told himself as more torches popped into view. The hill began to level out as the river grew closer which meant that he could continue his pace without the risk of tumbling downhill. Only three minutes more of this and he would be within reach. Villain had never fought with a knife before, but it seemed fairly simple to him. You stick the sharp end into the enemy, and slash. There was no way for him to count how many slavers there were from this distance, so he told himself it didn’t matter. He would just have to kill them all.

“Ahhhhh!” This time it was Ahna’s voice that he recognized. His rage boiled over and caused him to cry out without thinking.

“Ahnaaa!” There was no way he could surprise them now. He cursed himself under his breath for announcing his presence.

“Villaaaiin!” It wasn’t just Ahna who called out to him. He could hear Lincera as well, mixed in with several other voices that he could not identify. Villain had become so focused on catching up to them that he failed to realize someone was chasing him as well.

“Shit kid. I almost believed you could do it. I gotta hand it to you though, you sure can run.” Fear and shock overtook his senses as Villain spun his head around just in time to see the man behind him swinging a small club. In an instant, everything went black.