Our grande tale starts ages ago in a small and secluded town. Diving into the lives of these individuals, the residents of this village were pacifists who spent most of their days tending to their crops and animal life. You could feel the life and joy that spread throughout this town by the sight of children playing on the gravel road and even in the nearby stream, young men assisting their fathers in the labors of their town, women out and about walking down the paths to fetch supplies from merchants and returning home to begin their own duties, elders roaming the town getting irritated by the children or offering advice to the younger people, and even the occasional drifter or adventurer that would happen to pass through the town on their way to other lands. All was well in this quaint village; harmonic and peaceful. The only oddity was the towns scholar: Albus Windhelm. The young human was tall and thin wearing a dirty tunic with his shaggy hair and beard and his most notable feature, his black hair and eyes. A strange but charismatic character, very rarely was he ever still for he was constantly on the pursuit of knowledge and what the world had to offer him. He awkwardly stumbles at random moments as he scurried through the streets trying to get back to his home nearly dropping his papers and scrolls.
"I see yuv started yer madness bright an early, aye Albus?" One of the townsfolk hollered with a grin.
"Yes! A new discovery! No time to lose now!" He yelled back quickly as he continued to run.
"Hello there, Albus." A few of the maidens said waving to him as he passed by.
"No time–!" Albus had said as he distractedly runs into a wall and awkwardly chuckles. "He... I uh knew that was there.." he says as he begins to run with the maidens giggling. Albus continues to run throughout the town until he finally returns to his small hut at the end of the village. It didn't seem like much but it was still home.
"I'm back from the library!" Albus stated bursting through the door as he runs straight for the back of his home into a room filled with papers and reserch on the walls and floor with insane symbols and such. He begins to place down the papers and scrolls he had come in with and starts writing with a gleam in his eye.
"Father..?" A small, groggy voice says. Albus turns his head and sees a small boy rubbing his eyes. The boy looked like Albus's spitting image with black hair, and all.
"Hello little one. I'm awfully sorry, did I wake you?" Albus asks.
"Yes father. Again." The little boy says grumpily scowling at him.
"Oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry little one. Go back to sleep now alright?" Albus says leading the boy back to his little cot in the separate room. After he puts him to bed, Albus goes straight back to his work muttering to himself and smiling as he fills out more papers and connects the information like a puzzle piece. The strange symbols continue to fill the pages as Albus works for the long period of time as the sun begins to set and his hands slow down from writing. He begins to laugh hysterically. "I've done it", he says, "I've finally done it. I must go to the Great Elder!" He starts to pack many of the papers and small devices he has in the room and starts to walk out the house again. "I'm leaving again my boy! I should be back soon." He says calling out to his son. He opens the door of his house and notices the darkness of the sky as he sighs and turns around seeing the little boy on the floor eating out of a bowl. "I did it again didn't I?" He says out of guilt.
"Yes father. I made the food." The boy says.
"I'm sorry again little one. You know I have my work and it truly is so important! I promise you though, after this I will be done with my research and you and I can go feed the chickens together or something along those lines. Wouldn't that be great?"
"Yes!" The boy replied cheerfully. Albus smiles as he tousles the boys hair and leaves closing the door behind him. Albus walls through the dark and sleepy town with a few lit torches as some of the townsfolk either are packing up their shops or walking back to their homes. Albus turns down the road heading for the big house that stands high at the other end of the village. As he reaches closer to the building, he stops to the sound of a woman's cry of utter terror. He immediately turns around to see a woman dead on the floor with a man wearing animal skins towering over her wielding a bloody axe.
"Raiders." Albus says in horror as a flaming arrow flys right by his face. He jolts back dropping his satchel and looks to see more with deadly weapons. The raiders screech and howl as the begin to run towards the town shooting their arrows and throwing their weapons. Some on horseback, some partnered with wolves. All bearing their markings of the Berserkers. Albus, in a panic, grabs ahold on his things and begins to run to the Great Hall but stops in his tracks remembering his own. "Little one!" He begins dashing back to his house to protect his child as he witnesses more of the raiders breaking into the homes of the villagers slaughtering them one by one to take their belongings and pillage the town. Fire was everywhere and the town had no way of defending themselves. Some of the villagers possessed knives and swords but very few had actual training. Women and children were tied up and hoisted onto the horses of the raiders to be taken away as the men of the village had their throats slit and other limbs ripped off. Albus continued to run to his house until he saw that his own home had been broken into. He leaps into the hut seeing one of the raiders standing over the table where his son was hiding under. "NO!" Albus roars as he drops his satchel and grabs a small kitchen knife brandishing it to the brute. The raider slowly turns around and begins to laugh meniacly as he moves towards Albus. Shaking, Albus thrusts the knife into the raiders arm but the raider only winces looking at the wound and continues to laugh pulling the blade out and knocking Albus to the floor with a single shove. The raider gets on top of Albus and begins to beat him viciously over and over again. The boy screams and starts crying as he exits from under the table clenching his fists and trying his best to hit the raider as hard as he could but causing no effect to him. The raider gets off staring at the boy with blood covering his face and fists. The boy looks to his father, blood covering his broken and smashed face. "Run..." Albus mutters sticking his hand out towards the boy. He tries to run but the raider grabs his hair hoisting him up off the floor and laughing. He throws the boy outside the house and another raider with rope rushes towards him laughing as he ties up the boy and kicks him in the face.
"What do we do with em?" The boy can hear the muffled voice as he starts to lose consciousness.
"We could sell em as a slave."
"And the house?"
"Just burn it!" A raider says as they pick up the boy putting him over their shoulder walking away. Before he loses it, he could see his house burst into flames as raiders throw flaming torches at it.
The boy blacks out.