"What was that!?" William shouted as he went to the front, finding Harold stuffing provisions into his knapsack.
Without any sign of slowing down, Harold shouted back, "Why are you still here!? Fetch your family from your home! Damned Imps are finally here!"
William's heart stopped for a second. The onslaught finally reached his hometown.
Finally grasping the situation, William dashed out from the store, leaving the door wide open. His feet followed suit with his mind, dashing through the main road. There was something that he must save before saving himself.
'Mother, sister, be safe!'
Across the green plains, William saw smoke bellowing from the horizon. The Imperial's army were closing in, their soldiers running with rifles at hand, fully loaded and ready to shoot. The villagers were soon to become witnesses of a massacre.
'Palazet is a small and harmless village, why bother attacking it!?' William thought to himself. Unwilling to think the possibilities, William kept running toward his house with wild abandon to his surroundings. As he ran, he watched the terror on people's faces. Some already left their house with their beloved, some were defending themselves amidst the chaos.
In one of the turns, William found himself standing against a soldier. Getting caught off guard, the soldier let out a single yelp. "F-freeze!" was all he could say.
William dashed toward the soldier, quickly seizing his hip and pinning him to the ground. The rifle was thrown away in the split second counterattack. The soldier tried to reach the rifle, but William managed to grab it first.
"Stop!" William gripped the rifle while pointing it at the soldier, his hand's starting to become white by the force on his grip.
The soldier threw his hand behind his head. "F-forgive me! Please d-don't kill me! I... I have a family... p-please..."
"So am I! Now run before I shoot you!"
The soldier immediately got up and ran to the closest alley while muttering short thanks repeatedly. William caught his breath before running again.
Eventually he could see his house from the distance. The bushes in front of his house were trampled rather forcefully. The front door was wide open. He could feel blood drained from his face. He sneaked closer with his rifle raised, ready to shoot anytime he saw a threat.
'Sister, mother, please be well,' he prayed before going in.
William's feet tiptoed on the slightly creaky wooden floor to the west side of the house. No one was around, nothing except a fresh corpse. It's a body of an Imperial soldier pierced by his rifle's bayonet on the chest, the rifle itself was torn into two. His chest was still bleeding without any sign of stopping. A strong scent of gunpowder hung by the air near it.
William's mind was thrown into an utter mess. His sister was indeed a girl gifted with a strong body, but overpowering a soldier, killing him in the process? Now that's just otherworldly insane.
'Wait, this is my sister I'm pondering about,' William thought. 'She's crazy strong, but she will never leave without mother, which means she must be hiding with her around the house right now, but where—the basement!'
Before he had time to move, he heard several footsteps heading to the kitchen on the east side of the house, the only room with access to the basement in case of earthquake. He held his breath while moving closer to the noise source, overhearing a conversation between soldiers.
"Should we open that hatch?"
"Nah, I don't wanna take any risk, thank you! Lost my appetite seeing Albert's corpse! Open it a little, I'll pop a stick in."
William eyes went wide. He ran to the kitchen, wasting no more time. Nowhere else is safer than the basement, and now it's turning into hell.
"Explosive's up! I'm throwing it!"
"STOP, YOU IMPS BASTARDS!"
William saw three Empire soldiers, all looking toward the basement's hatch on the floor. One of them had a grenade cooked and ready to throw while the others managed to pry open the hatch by a little. William fired a shot at the grenade holder. Although hitting the soldier's arm, the grenade was already flung inside. William hailed barrage of bullets to the soldiers, giving them no time to fight back, thus killing them swiftly. When the last soldier fell to the floor, William could feel an explosion under his feet.
William stood there, mouth wide agape. The only safe place in the house, destroyed by the enemies. Dropping down to his knees, tears were escaping his wet eyes.
"Why? Why!? Mother... Sis... they all... no..."
"... ma..."
William's ears perked up.
"Wake up... ma..."
That voice. "Lucie!"
William opened the hatch, revealing a young girl kneeling beside a scattered mess of organs and chunks of meat. Only the head of said person was left, the remaining proof of their mother. She cuddled the head while crying.
"L-Lucie! No... No, NO, NO!" William jumped down into the basement. "You hurt!?"
His sister, Lucie, didn't respond. She cuddled the head harder. "Ma... Wake up... Open your eyes, ma..." She moved closer to once was her mother's body, disfigured by the explosion.
"We have to go! It's not safe here anymore!" William said as he extended his hand. She just sat there with her eyes still fixated upon her deceased mother's head.
"LUCIE!"
"MOTHER! WAKE UP... PLEASE!"
No respond. The head stayed still, the smile on that face didn't move an inch.
"Please...," Lucie muttered, slower than before. The head slowly rolled as Lucie finally let it go.
William grabbed Lucie's hand, pulling her from the basement by force. Lucie just followed without any response, sobbing all the while. They finally left the house, leaving it for good.
Near the trampled bushes, they saw a horse running toward them from a bunch of soldiers. William managed to pull the horse's leash from the side, stopping it on its track. His sister immediately jumped to the saddle, followed by him. They sat there back to back, William facing the soldiers and Lucie holding the leash.
"Go, Lucie, go!"
"O-okay."
Still sobbing, Lucie inhaled deep before pulling the leash hard, causing the horse to run once again. As the horse ran, William tried to shoot at the soldiers behind only to graze the wind, unable to injure anyone. Still, his bullets scared their chasers off their track.
After several bullets wasted, the rifle goes click. He clung the rifle on his shoulder before watching the soldiers that chased them becoming smaller on the horizon. The duo managed to shook them off without any further problem.
William sighed. "We... We survived."
"B-but ma... She... We left... Mother..." Still unable to calm herself, Lucie only managed to utter words.
"Lucie, stop for a second. I think we lost them."
After stopping to the side of the road, they jumped down from the horse. As her feet reached the ground, Lucie immediately buried herself in William's open arm. He hoped he could provide some comfort, but Lucie only cried harder in his embrace. William patted her head, trying to hold his own tears. He's the only one left for her as family now. He had to be tough, even if it's merely an act.
"Mother...," Lucie murmured softly on his embrace before William gently pushed her away from his chest.
"Lucie, listen." Holding her shoulders, he looked at her sister, his eyes almost on the verge of crying as well. "I know this must be hard for you, but ma won't be happy to see you crying up there," he inhaled a bit before continuing, "so stay strong and prove her that we both have finally grown up, okay?"
Although for a short moment, he could see Lucie nodded slightly on his words. William wiped her tears away with his hand and hugged her once again, this time harder than before. When Lucie eventually managed to calm herself down, they jumped back to the saddle. This time it's William steering the horse, and they continued their journey.
"Will... Where do we go?"
William stayed silent for a second, then responded. "We'll go to Bruhl first. It's the closest town from here. We have to warn them about this assault, so they won't end up having the same tragedy like our village did."
They stopped talking along the way. Looking at the untouched, lush plains surrounding them, they just rode the horse without looking back once again.
Without his sister knowing, William gritted his teeth, letting tears fall from his eyes without any voice, mourning her mother's death.