Chapter 1

The first scream came from Master Gōrudenraion temple, on top of the tallest hill in the quaint town of Raionzuden. I remember because my mother poked her head out the window a looked toward the temple that stood the largest and most magnificent building in the village. She scanned the village, eye looking frantically around, then she jolted back gasped and shut the curtain. It seemed she just saw a demon by the way her skin paled, and her eyes sat empty. She sat agents the straw window, and I could practically see her heart pounding in her chest, that's when the second scream came, but this one was closer to our little cottage at the edge of the village. It snapped her attention back to my younger brother and me.

"Children," she spoke in a hushed but panicked tone. "We must leave." Her eyes changed from panicked to protective, much like a mother lion looks when her kids are in danger. She raced over to the candle that sat on the dinner table that sat in the middle of the cottage at frantically blew out the candles. It sent a dark shadow from the home and sent my younger brother Sota to grasp my arm in fear.

His dark golden eyes stared confused at the same window our mother once looked through. His golden eyes were the prettiest and held the most color in the entire town. Although everyone in town gifted with these eyes, his stood out the most. You could see those eyes in the darkest of rooms, and he could reflect enough light just to light up our dark cottage.

"What's going on?" he asked mother as she grasped his hand.

"Nothing your father can't handle," she said trying to give off a vibe of confidence, but I could almost see a tear stream down her face. "Hurry now boys, we must leave." She jerked us out the back door and a suddenly I could smell the deep thick smoke, and I could see the whole town light up, like the festival of the Gold Main. It almost exactly like the festival, the shooting the lights even the smoke made it seem similar, but the difference was these screams pierced the ear and called for help then one, by one the screams would vanish into the dark forest. The same forest my mother began to drag us to, this worried me; this worried me a lot.

"We must run to the woods and h-…" she stopped mid-sprint, and she began to stare that same worried stare, but her mouth dropped, and she gasped for air as she stood stiff as a board. She shook mildly as of she was paralyzed, but she wasn't because almost instantly her golden eyes shot down towards me and she spoke in the harsh whisper, "Run…Run!" her hand let go of our wrist, and she went flying back towards the village screaming and disappeared into the bushes.

For a second, I jutted for the bushes, but my wrist grabbed by a small soft hand. "She said run, and if we don't run, then she will be mad at us." Sota didn't quite understand that we won't be seeing her for a while, but he did have a point she told us to run and she knew a lot more than I did.

I grabbed Sota by the arm and practically dragged him to the forest, his short little legs were having trouble keeping up. We ran for an extensive amount of time, my lungs burnt and I felt like I could almost taste blood in my mouth. Sota began to whine, "I can't run anymore! My chest and my side hurt!" He wailed. His loud and obnoxious wailing was going to get us caught, and I knew of no other way to keep his mouth shut then just to let him get his way. We stopped running, and I surveyed the surrounding area, we were close to the dirt road, and I could hear loud laughing and I could hear a small group of men around fifteen walking the road. Currently, no one was a beautiful person, so I pushed Sota into a large bush, and I followed swiftly behind.

"Hey don't-." I covered his mouth and watched as the men walked away from the village. These men wore gray armor and carried large swords, but no banners to identify them. They laugh as she boasts about their victory on the Raionzuden and how one of them name Auto was a brilliant artist. It infuriated young mind and almost sent me into an empty rage, but a small soft hand tugged my shirt and said, "Who are those people?" I looked down at those deep gold eyes and just hug him tightly, one to cover his mouth and two because it's the second time he's saved me.

The men passed, but I waited; I waited all night till I felt safe. Sota fell asleep on my shoulder, but I didn't sleep, I didn't even blink. The night was cold, but the Bush became a crappy insulated tent that kept us relatively warm. I could smell the smoke creeping from our village I tickled my nose and made me cough a bit. For the first time, I was genuinely scared, for my brother and my family.

Day broke through the trees and heated my cheek. I now felt safe, safe enough to shake my brother awake and crawl out of the bush. I could still faintly smell the smoke, and my curious mind began to walk towards the village. I found myself walking down the dirt road, my younger brother grasping on my shirt sleeve. The bushes around begin to rustle, and Sota hands gripped harder. "Haruto?" Sota spoke under his breath, "Look." I stopped and turned around to see young kids with golden eyes creep out of the bushes. Some were cover in ash other in blood.

"Haruto!" a familiar voice broke from the small group of kids. I turned around to see my best friend, Renato pushing his way through the crowd of sad broken children. Renato was taller than I, and he was the nice one of the two of us. I was surprised to see him alive. "I can't believe it you!" he pushed through the group and grasped by the shoulders. He always been the nicest kid in the village and he had always filled with unintentional humor and kindness.

"Are you guys ok?" he scanned my mud cover body.

"I'm all right," I replied. He smiled then turned around and faced the group then back to me. "It looks like we are all going the same way you are, mind if we join?" Reno asked. I jester towards the village and we began to walk.

To this day, I call that turn "The Broken Leg" because of the silent whimpering of children filling their thoughts with the worst possible thoughts. Some too young to realize what was going on other old enough to prepare themselves for the worst. I was one of the oldest boys in the group, and I still couldn't prepare myself from the nightmare that lived head.

The smoke increased and along with it a rotten burnt stench that burned my lungs. The closer we walked more visible the village became; littering the cobble streets were dead farm animals and still some fires that haven't put themselves out yet, but there was something new in the middle of the village something large and something that a strong stench slithered out of and made its way rotting our lungs.

We stood and stared at the art that stood in the center of the village. The body's stacked on top of each other to form a rectangular tower. Arrows pinned the bodies together, and precise placement made it, so they didn't fall. There burnt gray corpses were already rotting, and the fly's swarmed, making an unpleasant buzzing, but the disturbing thing was that every single eye of carved out of the skulls.

"We need to leave!" a young girl choked back tears. Then the whole group begins to agree, but I was stuck in a trance staring at the demon art that was placed in the middle of this once peaceful town. I would have stared at that tower until it, or I fell to the ground. I felt a tug on my sleeve, and that was enough to break the trance.

"Can we please leave Haruto?" Sota asked tears filling his eyes. I looked down at those golden eyes and nodded my head.