Everyone ran, there were screams, shouts, cries, death surrounded them. It was here, it had finally come. They couldn't hide in the woods any longer. Their attackers came in from all directions without any intention of leaving survivors; they were merciless, cruel, and had a goal. Search and Destroy. Some of the ambush victims fought to keep themselves and their children alive, others ran hoping for the best; but either way, everywhere they turned there toiled chaos and destruction. It was exactly as planned, not a battle, but a massacre.
The darkness hung over the nomads as fire and torches lit up the black skies with a treacherous red, the destroyers were dressed in thick leather cloth carved from the flesh of a manicore, tough, almost scaly, and the strongest natural leather known to man. Their helmets hand crafted from earth's metals forged in the east side of the Lucosean Mountains, their eyes riddled with hatred and sickening excitement to see the destruction they caused. Fire flew from their hands, stones rose from the earth to attack the nomads, and the earth opened up to swallow them into hell. Swords of splitting wind and ice, blew from their swords and sent shock waves through the humble resting grounds, knocking the innocent off their frightened feet.
"Take her and go!" the mother's cries could barely be heard over the shouts and cracks of man crafted thunder. She grabbed her children close, her two sons and small daughter, "Keep each other safe, you must stay together no matter what!" her red curly hair fell loosely in her, still in disarray from her slumber, her amber eyes watching them closely with a brave smile forced on her light pink lips; she knew this was the last time she would lay eyes on her children in the mortal world, and it was written across her freckled face. Giving them a final push out into the cold world, they fled to the trees, as their only life they ever knew fell pray behind them to the horrific fate of genocide.
The thick green grass felt soft beneath their bare feet, and oddly cool and moist as they pushed their way through the thick trees of the humid forest. Slowly the sounds began to die as the children pulled farther and farther away. Finally, once the echoes died from the crisp mountain air, the two boys stopped, and leaned over taking in deep heaving breaths refusing to let go of their small sister's hands. Somehow she had remained quiet and emotionless the entire time, she couldn't understand what had been happening; she was lost and unable to reconcile the weight of anything that had been or was to come. The boys on the other hand realized they were alone and even though they had only been alive for 20 solstices, nowhere near ready to protect themselves much less their sister who had been alive for half. The red haired boys sat down on a large tree trunk pulling their small sister onto their laps where she sat still completely quiet and emotionless. One of the brother's spoke to her kindly,
"Are you alright?"
She didn't respond, but her large almond shaped amber eyes focused on the direction from which they came, they had be miles away by now. She didn't realize they had run such a distance, the dawn could already be seen creeping its way up from the east, the pink skies creating a sense of serenity within the silent forest, it didn't match. It almost seemed nothing had happened and it was all a horrifying nightmare.
"Hey." The other brother shook her hand slightly to get her attention, "Are you well?"
She jerked back to look at them, her face a mirror image of her mother's. She nodded before falling into their arms, her heart pounding and body aching as the slow realization crept over her. She was alone, her brothers were all she had and her mother and father were gone.
They held onto her both looking at one another with incredible worry, their spring green eyes reflecting in one another's. One spoke to the other in a near whisper as their sister fell asleep in their laps, "What are we supposed to do now?"
"What Ma said we're supposed to do… look after one another." The other answered as he bit his bottom lip in thought, how to look after one another, that he wasn't completely sure. He was identical to his brother in every way except the freckles on his face. He had nothing, his skin smooth and void of any markings, while his brother had a light band of freckles across his nose, the only way anyone knew them apart.
"We're not adults, we're not even close! I can't set up camp or hunt and cook!" panic began to rise in the freckled one's high premature voice.
With a hush, the other replied, "Ba has shown us before. We've gone with him many times."
"But I don't remember anything…"
Before he could open his mouth to give a comforting and reassuring reply, the sound of rustling trees and the exuberant cries of a hunter on the trail echoed through the thick woods; they were coming. Immediately, the boys jumped up without even a second's hesitation as survival instincts kicked in. They grabbed their sister's wrist and pulled her from her sleep jostling her and commanding they leave now. Only within seconds, she too was up and ready for the chase to continue. They pushed off the thick grass and ran as fast as their sister's legs could take her. Unfortunately, the warriors were catching up quickly. Their cries getting louder and the echoes growing, they were faster, they were so much faster. No one spoke as their attackers voices could be heard only yards behind them, they knew it was inevitable, it had come, the end of a long line of greatness and power, of legacy and knowledge, the last hope for their race's survival was about the be gone. The leader of the chase raised a whip of fire into the air, the flames toiling around his hand, his eyes burning with insidious passion.
The small girl couldn't bare it any longer, their attackers' breath practically on their necks. She turned her head to look behind her, fear rising in her gut as she faced her own mortality. His eyes were a dark brown, and appeared almost black and absent of light or color, his hair, a thick curly brown protruded from under his helmet framing his strong jaw and sharp, symmetrically nose, expression twisted with hate and loathing. He brought his whip down and the girl closed her eyes, waiting to meet her parents again.
She opened them, every thick black eyelash startled and awake, but there was nothing around her but darkness. Her brothers still held her hand, but there were no attackers. Their heavy breathing and panicked heartbeats could be heard through the silence drowning out her own fear. Had they been killed, was this what it felt like to die? No… it felt like living. The fresh moist dirt compressed beneath her feet, the pain in her chest still remained and the adrenaline rush had not yet died down. Looking ahead, they saw a light, a bright light of the fully risen sun. They walked to it, pulling each other forward and blinking rapidly to shield their eyes as the sunlight poured over them, lighting up their tired and dirty faces. They were in the forest again, but somewhere foreign, somewhere they had never seen nor traveled to before. Wherever they were, they were safe and they had each other.