Chapter Text
"Mom! Dad!" he screamed as he looked at his parents beyond the great fire that was engulfing their home.
"Stay away!" his father yelled as he looked over at his son holding his unconscious daughter. His son was only 7 years old and his daughter was only 4, while his wife was holding both their children to protect them while making sure to stay away from the fire around them.
He can see the fear and confusion in his son's eyes as he looked at him.
Boom.
He looked towards the source of the explosion and saw the Imperial Guards charge through. He grabbed his wife and children and ran to a room he made in the event where the situation he was in at the moment would happen.
In the distance, he can hear the sounds of the Imperial Guard's armor clanking as they marched towards him and his family. He knew it would take time for all of them to hide, so he grabbed a hold of his children and put them in the room while he and his wife stayed outside to distract the guards in order for them to stay safe and hide.
"Stay in this room until I get you back. If I don't, keep your little sister safe." he said to his son. His son sensed the grave seriousness in his father's voice, so he nodded.
With that, his father closed the door and the door changed and made itself an ordinary wall.
"Hopefully they stay safe." his wife said, with worry on her face.
"Yeah. Hopefully."
Several days have passed since the attack on their house, and the boy grew worried as his father never came back. His little sister, Angel, woke up a couple days earlier and was now sleeping because she got tired of asking where their parents were and crying.
The boy needed to protect his little sister to fulfill his father's order.
He looked towards the doorway and hoped that in the next minute, his parents were there to take them back, but that wish wasn't granted as he heard knocking from the other side. The knocking woke up his sister that was sleeping, and fear was worn on her face.
Hey Boss, behind this wall seems to be hollow! I wonder if there's any treasures lying around in there.
The boy grew terrified and held his sister to his chest, hoping they would be let go.
Move away, I'm breaking the wall. Don't blame me if you get hit because you didn't go far enough.
BOOM.
The door slowly crumbled down and showed the faces of these bandits.
The boy was petrified as he looked at the unknown people before him. He could feel his sister trembling from fear.
"Oh, there seems to be nothing here. Hm-" something caught his eye. He started cackling. "Ahahaha!! There's some kids here, though they aren't treasure, they must be worth something if we sold them, right Boss?"
The person in the back of the group started walking towards the crumbled-down door. He glanced at the kids and thought They must be survivors or kids from the recent extermination of the Imperial Guards.
"Hehehe... everything in this world has a worth. These two aren't any different." he said.
He started walking to the terrified kids and reached out his hand to pick them up.
The girl tried to break away from his grip while the boy was being held down by one of his minions and can hear him spouting empty threats.
After a while of trying to resist, the person the other people called 'Boss', started to get annoyed. So, he threatened the little girl that if she kept it up, he would kill her. But the girl didn't stop, so, at the edge of his patience, he brought out his sword and stabbed the girl, straight through her heart. Tsk, money wasted... he thought.
The boy stared silently at the lifeless body of his little sister. His father's words were resonating in his ears 'Keep her safe.' He was brought away from her corpse and was silently the entire time, not accepting that the only family he had left had just died. So then, he fell unconscious.
Clack.
He woke up to the sound of a horse's footsteps. He looked around and saw that he was in a cage, filled with other kids around his age, and they had chains and shackles that prevented them from escaping. He looked at his boy and found that he was also in a similar situation, with chains and shackles restricting his feet and his hands. Suddenly, the wagon stopped, and a man opened the curtain that was preventing sunlight from entering their cage.
"Get out, and make yourselves useful." he said in an arrogant and cold voice.
The other children complied and started to walk towards the exit of the wagon. The boy also started to walk towards the exit and was stunned for a moment when sunlight met his eyes, as he hasn't seen sunlight in who knows how many days. He was brought out of his sudden stop by a kick behind him.
"Keep going and don't stop." he heard a cold voice from behind and didn't dare to look back and just started running towards the other kid slaves.
He has since lost track of time and found out that he was in an enslavement camp. During the time he was in the camp, he has gained countless wounds and scars on his body and hands. His throat was also scarred as punishment for not making the daily quota one day. It was during this time that he decided, I'm going to escape the first chance I get. and his wish was granted this once a months later as apparently someone found out that they were running an enslavement camp and the surrounding cities help attack the camp.
Now's my chance.
He started using the pickaxe he was using to mine precious minerals to break the chains and shackles that restrained him. After some hits, the chains and shackles were finally off and he started running. Thought it wasn't a grace period where he could run and be safe, as he saw one of the slave merchants in the distance. He hid until the merchant was past him, then started running again. He ran and ran, and even though his feet were sore from running without anything protecting his feet, he kept running, until he heard someone say in the distance, A brat escaped! Find him! he grew terrified and ran faster and then suddenly heard a loud bang followed by a bullet going through his left shoulder. He kept running despite his injuries and later saw a crevice, but before he could look down and see if it's safe to jump down, he collapsed from exhaustion into the crevice and fell to its depths.