Alex's Point of View
It had been ten years since my sister and I came to live with our grandmother, a peasant living in Canos, a farming town in the northeastern part of the Deogon Kingdom.
Before that, we lived in Lvida, a small village in the northern part of Deogon, close to the ruins of what was once the Arctic kingdom, now a wasteland overrun by demonic forces.
Lvida was peaceful. Just fifty people lived there, helping one another, sharing food and working side by side.
We hunted, farmed and gathered fruits and vegetables from the wild.
Everyone was kind and cared.
But everything changed when a horde of goblins and orcs began to appear near the village. Fear spread like wildfire.
The village chief sent word to the local lord, then to the kingdom itself, begging for protection.
But no help came.
He even appealed to the Adventurer's Guild but not a single adventurer was willing to take on what they saw as a cheap and hopeless mission.
The night our village turned into a bloodbath, I was just eight years old. My sister was only five. Our father, the best hunter in Lvida, volunteered to help defend the village, armed with nothing but his dagger and bow.
Our mother hid us in a small basement, one that our father had secretly dug beneath our home in case this day ever came.
"Don't come out, all right? Alex, protect your sister!"
Those were the last words my mother ever said to me.
I still remember the moment it happened.
Through the narrow cracks of the trapdoor, I saw it, goblins bursting into our home. That could only mean one thing, my father had already fallen.
The monsters began ransacking the house, overturning furniture and tearing through our belongings like wild animals. Then a goblin's dagger plunged into my mother's stomach, she let out a scream, one I'll never forget.
My sister began to cry, i have no choice but to covered my sister's mouth with one hand, and my own with the other, trying not to make a sound/
But even in my mother's final moments, she tried to cover the trapdoor with her body to protect us.
I watched frozen as they started punching and tearing her clothes.
Those monsters didn't just kill her, they played with her, laughing while she suffered.
They violated and brutalized her, then tore her apart like she was nothing.
And all I could do was hide, helpless.
At that moment, a fire ignited in my heart.
A hatred so deep it burned through every tear I held back.
Hatred for the forms that destroyed my family, and for the powerful people of this kingdom, the nobles, the soldiers, the so-called protector who did nothing to help us.
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The two of us stayed hidden until morning.
I waited in silence, listening for any sign of movement. When I could no longer hear anything outside, I slowly pushed open the trapdoor and peeked out.
My mother's body was gone, the house was empty.
I turned to my sister.
"Wait here !"
I whispered.
But she started crying and clung tightly to me. I had no choice but to hold her hand and bring her with me.
As we stepped outside, I immediately saw something that made my heart drop.
Without thinking, I covered my sister's eyes and hurriedly dragged her back into the house.
I found a piece of my mother's torn dress and gently wrapped it around her head like a blindfold.
"I can't see anything … brother" She whimpered
"Be a good girl, alright?" I told her softly, forcing a smile through the pain.
"Your brother will always be with you."
I gripped her small hand tightly, and together we stepped outside again.
The village we once knew was gone.
Houses burned and smoldered. Blood stained the soil like spilled ink.
And in the center of the village, a pile of decapitated, naked corpses stacked like garbage.
I nearly threw up from the stench, but there was nothing left in my stomach. The emptiness only makes the nausea worse, twisting my inside into a knot of pain.
"Brother… I'm hungry"
My sister whispered softly, her voice fragile in the silence.
Her words lit a fire under me.
Without saying anything, I began searching for food, anything that could still be eaten.
Most of the homes had been looted or burned, but eventually, I found a few bruised fruits scattered on the ground near a collapsed stall.
They were half-rotten, but it was all we had.
I brushed off the dirt and handed one to her.
"Here… eat slowly," I said, kneeling beside her.
She took it with both hands and nodded quietly, trying not to cry.
"Is anyone here !!"
After a short rest, I heard a man's voice shouting near the village entrance.
I quickly rushed toward the sound and saw a group of five approaching.
They weren't soldiers, but they wore light plate armor and carried weapons, Adventurers.
"Oi, Boy, are you all right ?" one of them called out, rushing toward me with the others close behind.
"Please …save my sister…"
That was the last thing I managed to say, my voice barely a whisper, before everything went black and I collapsed from exhaustion, hunger and fear.
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