The sounds of cheering and merriment roared out from the tavern of a small village out in the boonies, the villagers were all gathered to celebrate Alec's coming of age ceremony, Alver the local blacksmith gave Alec a hearty slap on his back as he held a mug in his other hand, congratulating him on finally becoming a man, already half-drunk from the strong mead that sloshed within.
Alec winced at the impact and gave an awkward laugh as he thanked the large man with a wide smile, grateful that everyone had come to celebrate.
Erner, the head of the local farmers wrapped Alec under his arm and cheerfully handed Alec a mug of his own, filled with the honeyed scent of this year's mead, claiming it was the first batch uncorked.
After Alec had finished half of his mead, Zoe, who lived right next door to Alec, pulled him by the arm towards the bar with a big grin on her face, she was only a few weeks younger than him, but her smile tonight shone as bright as the morning sunrise over the mountainous horizon. It enraptured him, and he was glad he could blame his blush on the alcohol in his hand.
Once they had reached the bar, everyone in the tavern, including Zoe, turned their heads to him, making him shuffle awkwardly in place as he wasn't used to so many eyes on him, and the silence that accompanied them all.
A slow chant rose up from his best friend, Roderik, chanting for a speech, though Roderik was the village chief's eldest and only son, Roderik was kind and well loved, he would often be found in the fields with Alec and Zoe helping the farmers pick and care for the crops and animals.
Feeling embarrassed, Alec smiled at his friend's antics, a smile that widened when he saw Zoe and his mother egging Roderik on by joining in and soon the whole tavern had joined in on the chant, which Alec just shook his head to.
Raising his mug half full of mead, Alec managed to quiet everyone down.
'Thank you! Really, thank you everyone for coming, tonight, not only do we celebrate our harvest, but also the day of my birth, and the coming-of-age ceremony earlier today.'
'Not only do I see the faces of my friends, I also see my family, Roderik, Zoe, Alver, Hamming, Delvin and Farkas Vilkas the terrible twins' that got a few chuckles and rye smirks as everyone looked to the two, who were red with embarrassment, they were the town troublemakers up until Alver had set them straight when he caught them sneaking tools from his shed, they had been working for him ever since.
'May their deeds go down in history!' Alec said, raising his mug once more, accompanied by joking cheers, Farkas and Vilkas on the other hand, looked like they were about to die from embarrassment.
Stepping down from the bar, Alec raised his mug once more.
'And to our harvest, may the gods bless us with great fortune and a bountiful crop!' Cheers rang out, endorsing Alec's sentiment.
The musicians began to play once again and Roderik and Zoe bounded up to Alec, Roderik slapping Alec on the back playfully, in the same spot that Alver had slapped him a few minutes prior, which caused Alec to stumble and nearly spill his mead, giving his friend a half-hearted glare, he cradled his mead as if it were a pouch full of gold coins in a big city.
'It's not the end of the world if you spill one mug of mead Alec' Roderik laughed and Zoe elbow him in the arm, which only made Roderik laugh more.
'What was that for?' Roderik asked with mock hurt, rubbing his arm dramatically.
'Is it because you lo- gah!' Roderik tried to say, but was cut off by Zoe's sharp stomp to his foot and Roderik cried out, but was still laughing despite the pain in his foot, he knew Zoe had a crush on Alec, the whole village knew, yet somehow Alec was the only one who didn't, it baffled him how his best friend could be so sharp and quick with his tongue, yet was so oblivious at the same time.
'You were saying something young chief?' came Zoe's serious voice, which made Roderik wince not just from the pain.
'No! Nothing ma'am!' Roderik said pleadingly but was met with Zoe grinding his foot under hers even more before pulling her foot back and skipping over to where Alec was now sitting at the bar, chatting with some of the farmers they often helped in the fields.
Alec had figured it wise to extract himself earlier and let the two work things out themselves, he had long ago learned it was a bad idea to get between the two over something so small.
Most of the villagers had stumbled home by now, but most were busy feasting and celebrating. Zoe had sat next to Alec and opened her mouth to cheerfully to say something, when an explosion rocked the tavern, caving in the ceiling and walls, the shockwave sending Alec and Zoe flying into the wall, wood splinters and glasses of beer and wine shattering, scattering everywhere as the liquids flowed freely, dousing Alec and Zoe, who were dazed by the sudden explosion and impact with the wall.
Alec's ears were ringing loudly, his vision bluey as he managed to open his eyes, Zoe was out cold, lying prone only a couple metres away from him, Alec looked up and saw something he thought he never would in his life, a demon. He was tall, standing a full head taller than even Alver, muscular, and searching the bodies, no, checking for survivors. Around the demon lay the bodies of the men and women who had stayed behind to revel into the night, eyes widening,
Alec stiffened in fear, the movement enough to draw the demon's attention, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zoe was still unconscious, but starting to stir, he had to protect her, he had to tell the town guards, someone, anyone.
But to do that, he needed to stand up, so he did just that, with great effort, Alec pushed himself to his feet, gritting his teethe through the pain, he grabbed a dagger the tavern keep kept under the bar and held it facing the demon, who only laughed, then swung at Alec, who instinctively rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the slash of the demon's sword.
Alec kept himself between the demon and Zoe, who was still out cold. Gritting his teethe again, he held the dagger tightly and charged to the demon, who kicked Alec in the ribs, which felt like it cracked a few, sending Alec flying, hitting the floor hard, Alec tried to roll to his feet, but he was too sore and tried to do so in time, but the demon was about to reach him, he raised his sword, about to cut Alec in two when a sword was rammed through the demon's gut, causing it to stagger and cry out, blindly swinging his sword backwards in an attempt to kill whatever had injured him.
It was Roderik he had barely managed to avoid getting his head cut off, but his arm was taken from him in the process. Roderik cried out in pain, clutching at his wound, having lost his sword, which was lodged in the demon's gut, Roderik shouted to take Zoe and run, that the whole village was under attack by these things. Roderik told Alec to get to the capital and tell the guards there what happened here tonight.
Not willing to lose his best friend, Alec lunged at the demon once again, this time he had the advantage, it had turned its back on Alec, and he realised he could kill it.
Taking advantage of the situation, Alec jumped on the demon's back and tried not to let him grab or dislodge him, Alec stabbed his dagger into the demon's neck over and over, the demon, now desperate, begam slamming Alec into the walls, trying to get rid of the pest that was trying to kill it.
Grunting and crying out in anger, Alec finally managed to lodge the dagger into the demon's throat, ripping it out as he fell from the demon's back, coughing and panting.
Blood poured from the demon's throat, and he clutched at it to try and stop the bleeding futilely, eventually he fell over and died.
Sitting up as Alec caught his breath, he notices Zoe had woken up in time to see the end of the fight, and was rushing over to him, panic in her eyes as she skidded to her knees, checking his injuries, Alec tried to tell her he was fine, but they all knew he wasn't, regardless, Zoe backed off none the less.
Getting to their feet, Alec and Zoe looked to Roderik, who gave Zoe a knowing look and Alec, who was clueless as to why he did so, a nod before walking out the door, only to be met by a demon who had cut his head clean off.
Crying out his friend's name frantically, Alec and Zoe watched in horror as the demon who had taken their friend's life walked into the room with the most sadistic grin Alec had ever seen.
The demon took a running start towards the two stunned young adults and was about to give them the same fate as their friend, when a town guard intercepted the demon's sword shouting at them to run, that he'd hold this monster off while they escape. The guard repeated Roderik's words from earlier, to get to the capital and tell the king what had happened here tonight.
Too shocked to respond, the pair just stood there, not knowing what to do, another shout from the guardsman snapped them out of their daze and they bolted for the door.
Making it outside, Alec and Zoe watched in horror as their village burned, villagers were being killed like livestock too old to keep around.
Alec saw Alver, Erner and Hamming were fending off two demons, but it was clear they were losing, Erner shouted at Alec and Zoe to run for the forest and take anyone who couldn't fight with them if they could, and they did just that, knowing and hating that they were in no condition to fight with the three, they would only hold them back, be liabilities, especially with how injured Alec was after fighting just one demon.
They ran for the forest in the direction of the capital to the west, avoiding the road as they'd be easy targets for archers there. As Alec was trying to process what was going on, a hellhound lunged at him, only to be blocked by his mother, who shouted at him to keep running and never look back, that she would catch up with the pair later, so they kept running.
After they had reached the tree line, Alec couldn't help but take a look back, and regretted it, he saw as his mother, who was busy fending off the hellhound, a demon rushed her from behind and impaled her heart with his sword, killing her, and Alec let out a loud "NO!" as Zoe pulled him by the wrist, tears in their eyes as they fled the only home they had ever known, the only families they ever had, and now, they were on their own, all they had now, was each other...