After finishing classes at the academy that afternoon, most students went out together for dinner since tomorrow was a holiday. But unlike them, I had to head straight home and keep training for the upcoming duel.
Once I stepped through the teleport gate with Roni, we went our separate ways. He suddenly had some business to take care of, while I walked back toward my village. On the way, I noticed dark clouds rolling across the sky. A storm was coming. I quickened my pace, not wanting my mother to be alone when the heavy rain arrived.
When I finally reached home, the house felt strangely quiet. Normally, my mother would already be in the kitchen preparing dinner no matter how busy she was. She never missed that routine. The silence felt wrong.
Suddenly I heard glass shatter upstairs. My heart jumped, and without thinking I dashed to the source. The sound had come from my mother's room, which was locked. I didn't hesitate. I threw my shoulder into the door and broke it open.
As I stumbled inside, I fell to the floor and looked up. Two men stood there, both holding knives. Through the small gap of a half-open wardrobe, I spotted my mother hiding.
Before I could ask who they were, one of them rushed at me with his knife aimed straight for my chest. I reacted instinctively, slamming wind magic into the floor beneath me. The burst of air launched my body upward toward the wall.
The attacker looked up in surprise, and in that instant I dropped down with my elbow driven by wind magic. My strike crashed into his face and sent him smashing through the wooden floor to the level below.
The second man drew a short sword from behind his back, but before he could swing it, I was already in front of him. My fist, wrapped in wind pressure, drove into his stomach and hurled him into the wall so hard that the planks shattered.
With both intruders down, my mother rushed out of the wardrobe and ran straight into my arms. She was crying, trembling so badly that I could tell how terrified she had been. If I had been even a minute late, I might have lost her.
The noise had drawn the neighbors. Soon people filled the house, helping restrain the two men. Because of my attacks, they were unconscious and badly injured, so the villagers tied them to a wooden post in a nearby barn where they would be watched closely.
The village stayed on high alert that night. Men carried torches and patrolled the area in shifts. From a rooftop, I kept watch too, wondering who those men were and why they had come for my mother.
Even though anger burned inside me, I forced myself to stay calm. My mother's safety had to come first. Thankfully, because of the respect my late father had earned in this village, people still treated us kindly. While repairs were made to our house, we were allowed to stay in an empty home nearby.
I missed my training that night, but it didn't matter. What mattered was keeping my mother safe.
The next morning, a shout from the barn carried across the village. The two men had woken up. Without hesitation, I rushed there.
A crowd had already gathered. Some villagers were furious, ready to take revenge, but the village head arrived before things could spiral out of control. Calm and steady, he stood before the two men tied to the post.
"What is your purpose here?" he asked.
One of them sneered. "None of your business, old man."
The villagers shouted angrily, but the chief raised his hand, signaling them to wait.
"If you refuse to speak," he said, "then you will be forced to."
Someone heated an iron rod normally used for branding cattle. The glowing metal was pressed against the stomach of the first man. His screams filled the barn, but he still refused to talk.
The second man, however, panicked when the iron came near his skin. Just before it touched him, he shouted, "Wait, I'll talk!"
The rod was pulled back, and he spilled the truth. "We were hired by a noble. He told us to kill a boy living in the small house we broke into. About fifteen years old, strong build, blond hair."
My chest tightened. The real target wasn't my mother. It was me.
The chief pressed for a name, but before the man could answer, a strange glow appeared on their foreheads. My instincts screamed danger.
"Everyone get back!" I shouted.
The crowd leaped away just in time. A surge of magic erupted, and the two men exploded into nothing.
Silence fell over the barn. We all stood frozen, shaken by what had just happened.
As I stared at the spot where the intruders had been, one thought chilled me to the core.
Someone out there is watching me.