The memory I could never forget was that night that changed my life. Our village which is very near the border of Hamzak and Cruce was attacked one night, our brave Datu tried to really the village warriors but the amount of enemies was too overwhelming. Among those warriors was my father who fought and killed many enemies and managed to hold on and escorted the old, woman, and children. He didnt make it, his sustained wounds was too much for his body to handle. He died not too far away from the safety of the next village. When most of the warriors succumbed to their wounds thats when our pursuers attacked, my mother defended me as much as she should and shouted for me to run to safety so I did. One of the lightly wounded warriors managed to find me and brought me to safety. That warrior told the neighboring village Datu the situation and he immediately sent messengers to neighboring villages to expect enemy attack and to fortify their positions as much as possible. Suddenly everyone who survived the initial attack were told to be ready to move again and evacuate into the bigger villages which could help us.

I don't remember any of their names, I was too young to remember I was 6 when it all happened. I don't even remember my parent's face, its all a blur to me now.

Still, every time we did manage to arrive to another village we wouldn't stay too long. A few days of rest then we were told to move again, though my memory is quite hazy all i remember was walking with the ill, women, children, our elders, and the wounded. What little I could remember was my elders saying that they heard dozens of villages has succumb to the Cruce invading force in a matter of weeks. Then one morning we saw many warriors appearing near the village we were staying at, that village Datu went out to them and talked. Presumably to inform them of the lastest news and how far the invaders have come into Hamzak. Many Datus went into the village Datus house and only came out nearing evening all looking quite angry from my memory. The next day all the warriors along with their Datus left towards the direction we fleed from.

All things considered it wasn't too bad in the refugee camps, there weren't too many of us that the food became a problem since most villages were either wiped out or had very little survivors. From my village alone we only had 3 women who had at least 1 child each, one lightly wounded warrior, 2 old men, and 4 orphaned children including myself. Some villages only had a couple of adults and children. I would like to think we were one of the luckier ones in terms of survivors. The morale was low, some of the refugees would bicker about anything, some would just leave outright to safer villages. The wisest elder from our village opted to stay since many more refugees would go furthur into safer areas and it might create shortage in food. Very little stay in the village we were staying at for the sole reason that it is near the battlefield. But we wouldn't complain, we had food, a roof, and a place to sleep.

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From this time all refugees were tasked to build, forage, hunt, nurse the sick, take care of the children. We all did whatever we did to be useful, we the children were taught what to do just in case an attack was imminent. Where to run, what to bring, how much food to pack, where to hide, anything that might just increase our odds of survival. Everytime I had time I would watch the warriors drills from afar. Weeks passed and everyday life seemed to get back to normal. Smiles and laughter came back to the once distraught survivors, some still had a lot of anger but life must continue. Some of these men volunteered to fight but many of them would never come back, those that did lost a part of their body be it arm, leg, fingers, toes, eyes, ears.

I wouldn't say the death all around me traumatized me, but it did numb me from feeling fear. I still remember the death of my father and mother every night and I would cry myself to sleep, remembering their death gave me the courage to go closer to the warrior training area. I would one day fight on the battlefront and slay those that killed my family, but I was too young at the time. One day the village Datu noticed me and called me, I took his hand with both my hands and placed my forehead on the back of his hand to give my respect. He asked me if I wanted to fight and I said yes, he smiled and called someone over to make me join the other children who were brave enough for warrior training. They told me I would be an alipin until I could pay back my debt to the Datu but until then I must train to fight.

We were given only one piece of clothing for the year, we would be made to live together with the other children, we would walk barefoot everywhere even during training, we weren't given enough food so we had to forage or even steal, we would be given instructions to form teams and try to survive the training together. Many more were introduced to make life a harder for us but trained us to be strong soldiers in the future. Many children couldn't handle the training, some went insane and then the adults would take them somewhere far away, we would never see that boy again. We would be taught Kali and also principles and good qualities as a warrior which most of which hurt. This lasted many years and the fighting seemed to die down quite a bit. The fighting would only be happening in small skirmishes since the fortifications to the villages would be too costly to raid furthur in. At least thats what I remember since the fortification to our village was very good at the time.

10 years later when I turned 16 something unexpected happened, Avade the northwestern kingdom joined the war on Cruce side which threatened to end the 8 year stalemate. This promted all Datus of Hamzak to send whatever they could to the northwestern beaches to make preparations for Avades eventual participation in the war. I would be lent to a different Datu to defend the beach heads and accrue war merit and honor while in the defence of my country.

This is where my life would really start is on the 10 year of the war against a fresh attacking force.