"Shade, hurry up and get out here." I wake up to the sound of an explosion. Jane cam running

into my room, dressed in her black robe. She took a moment to catch her breathe, then spoke.

"The State Military is here and are attacking the city."

I jumped out of bed, then got my gear together. She stood there waiting to tell me where to go.

Blood was running down her face and arm. Her robe was torn up and worn out.

"What happened to you?" I asked her.

"I'm fine, some State Alchemist blew up my motorcycle, and a couple of the parts scraped my

head and arm. Now stop worrying about me, and get to Market Square." She shouted at me, then ran off. I quickly got ready and ran out the door. I saw smoke rising in the distance, and heard the sound of gunfire, explosions, and people dying. I ran at full sprint towards the Market Square. I was running past a bunch of screaming people and Jane who was escorting civilians to a safe zone. I made it to my transmutation circle right outside of the Market Square. All the alchemist drew circles all around the city so we'd be ready for fights like this. We alchemist would immobilize the attackers, then our militia would go in and take them down. Jane came up with up with the plan, she doesn't want any of her students to kill with alchemy. The plan hadn't failed once in five attempts, so the citizens still backed our little plan. The State Alchemist were just entering the Market Square. I searched for Jane to see if she was done escorting people to the safe zone. I saw her running into her position. She got to her circle, looked at me, and gave me the signal to focus my attention on her. We waited for the soldiers to get into position, then we would get the signal from Jane to paralyze the soldiers. They moved into the center of the Market Square, and Jane gave the signal. We sent electrical currents through the ground, striking the State Alchemist, thus paralyzing them. On que, our militia charged at them.

I looked away. I couldn't stand the sight of blood or death. It was bad enough that I was

assisting in the death of other people. The only way I was able to do this was because I was helping save the lives of the people I see everyday. I can't stand losing the people I see everyday. I hated, change, I would do anything to keep everything the same.

I kept my eyes on Jane the entire time, as I do every time. I never look at the dead bodies. She

knew I didn't like the sight of death. She walked over to me and held me with my back to the dead bodies.

"We might have to do this two or three more times. Are you okay? Can you still do this?" She

asked me with a concerned look.

"Yeah of course I can. I'm your best student, how would I prove that if I couldn't do this?" I

Responded. I tried to play it off like I was completely fine, but I knew she saw right through it.

"Well Mr. Tough Guy, if you're ready get to the center of town. That's where the next group of

troops is going." She gave me a reassuring smile. She ran off towards the center of town. I just stood there trying to get myself together. The toll it took on my body doing this weekly was one thing, but the toll it took on my mental health would kill me. I tried to rid my mind of those thoughts, and ran off after Jane.

I got to my circle with everyone else ready to go. Everything was happening the exact same way,

Just as it always has. I was going through the motions; wait for the soldiers to step into the larger circle, paralyze them, then look away as the militia goes in, but this time was different. Just as the militia was going in, there was a huge explosion behind us back towards where the civilians were escaping to. A wave of anger and adrenaline came over me, and I took off towards the explosion.

"Shade, come back here!" Jane yelled at me, but I didn't stop running. I wasn't going to do all of

this work to let it go to waste. I was going to protect everyone until the day I die.

I arrived at the sight of the explosion, looked around and saw no one. I heard the shifting of

rubble. I looked down to see a lead pipe on the ground. I picked it up, and transmuted it into a one-handed sword.

"Come out and fight me." I called out. Three men came out from behind what was left of the

remaining walls.

"Well aren't you a brave little kid. Make this easy and drop the sword." We stood there, in

silence, neither one of us moving. He laughed.

"Fine," He said, "Have it your way. Get him boys." The other two men smiled wickedly. I held my

Sword out in front of myself, ready to strike or parry. One came up to me, drew a sword, swung at me, knocked my sword out of my hand, and kicked me to the ground. I was conscious, but I couldn't move or speak.

"Throw him the truck." Their leader commanded. I was thrown in the back of a military truck.

the last I remembered was watching my home drift away from sight.