Another 2 years had passed since Lacy first arrived. Lacy was now 16, Akai, Kidd, and Lamorie were 10 years old. By this time, Lamorie was apprenticing in her parent’s blacksmith. Kidd was training his swordsmanship full time, and Akai was working with the sawmill when he was not hanging around Lamorie’s forge or the training field with Kidd.
This morning, Akai was in his bed. He had regained his bedroom while the family built a small extension to their home, giving Lacy her own room on the ground floor. He had his recurring dream again, this time something of note was happening. Akai dreamt he was the blue armored knight, which he now knew was the son of the head of the phoenix clan, whatever that was. Nobody knew anything about a clan by that name. Liam is the only one who knew what a phoenix even was. An extremely rare creature of legend he had read about once in the capital city’s library.
Right now, the knight was rising from his tent, the smell of smoke wafting through the war camp. He had no time to don his plate armor so he threw on a chainmail shirt, grabbed his sword and shield, then head out to find enemy soldiers storming the war camp. A team of heavily armored warriors rushing his tent, with his father not here the unnamed knight was the one in charge. He felt fear about being outnumbered, but he felt confidence in his skill and strength to repel them and the rest of the attack. Using his shield to block two of the 5 men’s spears and rushed in, heat rising inside of him as he exerted himself. Bashing the edge of his shield onto one to break their stance, he slipped his sword past their guard easily. The blade snaking its way through a gap in their armor and piercing through the padding beneath their uniforms of primarily metal scales.
The nameless knight stepped back and expertly shifted and dodged around incoming attacks and using his shield to keep those pesky spears at bay. He worked his way around until he had an opening and rushed in, managing to strike down one spearman and dodge a thrust of a sword before he took down the other. Leaving only 2 of the 5 enemy warriors meant to deal with him. The knight saw the fear mounting in the enemy’s eyes, and he felt reluctant to do more than just wound them. But he had to steel himself, knowing if he didn’t deal with them, they’d happily kill him and likely leave his head on a pike for his father to find. This silver haired knight gritted his teeth and the heat within him grew more and more. Enough that wisps of a yellow flame began forming around him, trailing his movements.
With an explosive speed, the knight rushed in, disarming the soldier he initially targeted, grabbing his collar, and pulling him in the line of the other soldier’s attack. His ally now literally disarming the soldier, making him fall to his knees yelling in pain, clutching the wound. The knight moved, parrying a 2nd strike and ignoring the last one standing’s curses. He parried with his sword and thrust the edge of his shield forwards in a punch with enough force to break the man’s ribs under his armor. He fell to his knees and the knight swiped his sword, opening up the last one’s throat before he put the one armed man still yelling out of his misery.
The knight scowled, hating the feeling of ending lives. The only thing keeping him from risking himself to fight them without a sword was the sense of duty he felt to protect this border. He yelled out, calling to his men to repel the attack. Yelling this command a few times, the soldiers away from the edge where a force was rushing in began moving to fight them off. The knight himself ran to join the defense, striking down every enemy soldier he saw wearing the white and gold colors of the north. His own men wearing green and gold.
When heading towards the edge of the camp, he finally heard a horn sound from the distance and the soldiers attacking his camp began leaving. He looked up towards the hill and met eyes with the enemy commander. The knight stood with silver hair and amber eyes among his men. Fire faintly burning around him as an aura.
At the crest of the hill stood a woman with waist length white hair, deep beautiful blue eyes glared back as frost filled the air around her as an aura of intense coldness. She wore a white and gold lamellar war dress which the knight got a good look at as she turned around and led her men to retreat, the battle only a harassment and failed assassination.
Akai soon woke up in his bed, feeling confused as it felt like intense heat within his chest carried over from the dream to real life for a moment, but it swiftly cooled down as he began to fully regain his awareness. Akai was 10 and his hair was fairly shaggy by this point. He was letting it grow out. When he washed his face, he saw his own blue eyes staring back instead of the amber eyes of the knight in his dream he often became.
Today was another day where Akai was joining his father on a kaber hunt, just the two of them. He got out of bed quickly and began to get dressed. Grabbing his bow. Then heading out to the woods with his father joining him. Unaware of the band of people coming in from the south.
It was about an hour later when Akai and Rei were returning, already catching a kaber pretty quickly. Rei taking the shot this time and being a former scout, his archery was far better than Akai’s.
As they came closer to the edge of the forest, they saw smoke rising through the air. A fear began to grip Akai’s and Rei’s hearts as they picked up the pace. As they left the edge of the forest, Akai and Rei noticed men wearing basic armor walking through the streets, lighting buildings on fire. Some groups were fighting with the militia members but there was a group heading up the road towards Akai’s house.
Both Akai and Rei readied their bows and began trying to get closer to his home without being seen.
Inside the house, Jennifer, Emmie, Lamorie, and Lacy were all together talking before they saw the group walking up the road from the window. Lacy, by this point, had become a beautiful young lady. She still wore bandages around her arms where her skin was left sensitive from scar tissue. But her strawberry blonde hair and emerald green eyes were no longer hidden by her. Even if her face had burn scars still on it.
“Quick, everyone. We need to hide” Lacy quietly called out
Next thing the girls did was move. Jennifer grabbed Lacy and began heading upstairs as Emmie grabbed her daughter Lamorie and followed behind. The four of them moved to hide, Jennifer hid Lacy in the back of the attic before finding another place for herself. Emmie and Lamorie hid one in the storage room and one in akai’s room, hiding behind or under furniture.
Less than a minute passed when they settled in their spots did one of these bandits kick in the front door, breaking the latch that held it closed.
“Listen, We know you’re in here! Come out and we won’t be too hard on ya!” as he marched in, followed by a number of other bandits. The men began ransacking the house, looking for the people they knew lived here.
South, many of the village’s buildings were catching fire as the bandits threw lit torches on the roofs. Outside they heard a man yell “Lets smoke em out!” before throwing a torch on the roof of Akai’s family home. The flame not taking long to begin spreading to the wooden shingles. As they did this, Rei and Akai moved to try and stay out of sight. Akai felt his chest swell with heat as he grew angrier about the situation.
It wasn’t long until the bandits first pulled out Jennifer, tossing her onto the dirt in front of the house and said “Found one wench but it isn’t the girl.” before heading back inside. Next they did the same with Emmie and Lamorie, tossing them onto the dirt.
Bandits outside grabbed them and wrapped their wrists and ankles with rope and left them sitting on the grass by the shed. Emmie looked at the bandit who touched Lamorie with an intense hatred that even made the man flinch despite her being tied up.
“Is that everyone?” Asked a tall man with dusty blonde hair, he was wearing a much nicer suit of armor compared to the rest of these men. Where his men mostly had axes and hammers, he had a longsword on his waist. He had brown eyes that radiated wickedness as he stared at the home with the roof burning, the fire spreading.
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Before one of the other bandits called it, they heard Lacy scream from the attic. Moments later she was also brought outside. Lacy was not thrown down into the dirt and tied up, however. The young teenager was held and kept standing by the bandit that grabbed her. “Found her, Boss.” the guy said with a dark tone to his voice. The boss, who Lacy met eyes with and immediately trembled visibly in fear, was Kell. The man who was the source of her numerous scars across her body.
He smiled and leaned in, gripping her face with one hand as he turned her head. Inspecting her like she was not even a living person. “Still disgusting but not nearly as so.” He muttered.
Just then, a scuffle was heard behind the shed and everyone turned to face it. Thrown from around the corner was Rei by one of the numerous bandits that approached their home. The bandit stepped out and was dragging Akai by the hair and tossed him too, Akai cried out in pain as he was tossed in such a painful way.
“These two were sneaking up on us with bows. Barely dodged their shot.” he said as the one with the rope worked to tie up both Akai and Rei. The original one that caught them wrestling them down, overpowering both of them.
The blonde bandit leader, Kell, looked at both Rei then Akai with wrathful disdain. He let go of Lacy’s face and approached them. Rei struggled against his bindings before a boot slammed into Rei’s chest, knocking him over. Kell said “check the boy for weapons.” As he kicked Rei’s side as he lay on the ground. Rei groaned in pain as Kell kicked again. “You think you can just waltz up on us, bastard?”. He grabbed the knife out of Rei’s bound hand that Akai’s father had been attempting to cut himself free with. He threw it to the wayside and said. “Stand him up.”
Akai had bandits check over him, pulling the knife off his belt and everything out of his pockets. Including the quiver he still had. He was made to sit up and watched as the bandits stood up his father. Kell said “Peasants like you always think they’re tough, it’s time you learn a lesson in humility.” before driving his fist into Rei’s stomach. The bandits held him as Rei cursed back, but was interrupted with another punch to the stomach, making him double over. Rei would have fell if he didn’t have two men holding him in place.
“Stop it!” Akai yelled almost in sync with Emmie who was glaring. Jennifer was worried but she was scared of what would happen if she tried to intervene. Lamorie was shaking in place in fear, she heard the horror stories of what these men did to Lacy and feared she’d face the same.
Lacy herself, she was paralyzed. She didn’t dare take a step or make a sound, she had been victim to this man for so long that now that she was facing him again, she felt powerless. Lacy would, by a modern medical professional, be diagnosed with PTSD.
The bandits behind the 3 bound women jostled Emmie before striking her and told her to shut it, then took cloth and gagged her with it. Akai yelled again. “Stop it, don’t hurt my father!” as he tried to rise to his feet. Burning heat welling up in his chest as Akai felt exceptionally angry at the sight of his father being beaten.
Kell had a disgusting smirk on his face as he drove another powerful uppercut into his father’s stomach. Everyone knew from Lacy that Kell was an awakened sorcerer. Even though he was a sorcerer, all who had their powers awakened by the gods have exceptional strength. Rei was left wheezing as they let go of Rei, letting him fall to the ground.
“Rei” Jennifer muttered before she noticed Akai getting to his feet. She said “Akai, don’t!” but her son didn’t listen. He had a hateful look in his eyes as he stared at Kell. The bandit leader looked at the 10 year old and laughed. “See this, Lacy? See what you’ve done, I told you this would happen if you ran away.”
Kell approached Akai and kicked him in the stomach, sending Akai falling back onto the ground. Kell said “I promised you that whoever you tried to hide behind would only suffer because of you. Look at this well, Lacy. This is your fault.” He said with venom in his voice. Akai rose to sit before the man’s boot came down upon him again. Akai yelled as he was knocked down again, then Kell stomped down. Driving his heel into Akai’s ribs, Akai refused to yell in pain until he felt his ribs crack under the pressure. The sharp pain was too bad for just a boy to handle and Akai began screaming as he writhed on the ground.
“For the love of the gods, stop it! He’s just a kid!” Jennifer yelled, unable to stay silent. She looked at Akai, tears welling up in her eyes as Lacy’s face only showed terrible regret and sorrow.
Kell turned to face Jennifer and spat “The brat’s mother..” before he took a step away from Akai. Akai writhed in pain but he heard what kell said. The heat in his chest was horrible now, feeling like his insides were burning as he tried and fail to sit up. Struggling on the ground.
“Of course the boy doesn’t know how to respect his elders, just look at you.” Kell said in disgust. As he approached Akai’s mother, the kid forced out a pained “Don’t you dare” as he sat on his knees despite the broken ribs. A bandit approached and Kell stopped to look back. Seeing the bandit draw a short falchion and hold it out towards Akai.
“The boy does have spirit. Maybe we’ll take him with us too after we kill his disgusting parents.”
“No!” Lacy suddenly managed to shout, but her voice seemed to put a deeper scowl on Kell’s face. Akai began struggling to break from his bindings as it became hard to think with the fire burning in his chest. He felt too hot and stopped caring about his own pain.
Kell began to draw his own sword as he stood over Jennifer. Rei began trying to sit up as well but a bandit put a boot on his back to hold him down.
“Please, you don’t have to hurt them, I’m sorry, I’ll come back with you.” Lacy cried as the bandit handling Akai put the sword to his neck, then had to physically hold him down as Akai ignored it and began trying to stand again.
As Kell raised his sword, Akai felt his hatred and anger give way to the burning need to protect his family. He heard a voice in his head briefly. Then, Akai felt something within himself give, no longer containing the torrent of heat within his chest.
“Gods damn it, this kid won’t stop,” said the bandit, trying and failing to keep Akai pushed to his knees. The boy rose to his feet as the air began to grow hotter around him. This caught Kell’s attention as he turned to look.
Suddenly, all the fire within the village was extinguished. The roof of his family home and of the rest of the village completely stopped burning or smoldering. Even the smoke had stopped. The bandit pushing down on Akai’s shoulder pulled his hand away and cursed, the hand blistering as if touching red hot iron. Kell’s eyes widened as he saw golden fire ignite behind Akai’s eyes and quickly conjured a magical shield around him.
“I SAID STOP!” Akai roared as the ropes binding his hands and feet ignited and burned away. Orange flame rising around and swirling in a vortex around Akai. The bandit with a burned hand took a step back, raising his sword to try and kill this kid. Unfortunately for the bandit, Akai’s fire was changing. The vortex of fire changed to a vibrant, bright golden yellow and intensified into a horrific inferno. Catching the bandit in it, who didn’t even have the time to scream as they were enveloped with Akai.
Next, it exploded out and burned away the ropes binding his family, miraculously not hurting them. However, it did char the skin and clothes of the bandits except for Kell. Causing them to cry in pain and blinding them. The bandit behind Akai was gone, the only sign they were there was ashes caught in the wind and glowing white hot metal slag pooled on the dirt.
Kell raised his sword into a guard behind his arcane shield as Akai lowered himself some, then launching forwards far faster than any human had a right to. Leaving a streak of bright yellow fire behind him as his fist crashed into the arcane shield, shattering it. Kell was shocked and only just began moving to strike with his sword, but it was far too slow. Akai, enveloped with an aura of yellow fire with the same bright fire shining through his eyes, dug a foot into the ground and pivoted on it.
A back spin kick landing his heel on Kell’s hands, crunching the bones and sending the sword flying and burying into the wooden wall of the shed. A heartbeat later, Akai planted his other foot in the dirt and continued the momentum. His torso twisted and fist shot forwards, trailed with bright fire. His fist buried into Kell’s stomach deeper than should have been normally possible, then an explosion of yellow flame engulfed them both. Kell was launched back, barely avoiding the house as he shot back. Around 50 years in, he was rolling on the ground like a ragdoll, only stopping well beyond a 100 yards because his body hit a tree.
It has only been 3 seconds now since the fire dispersed and Akai struck Kell. While his body was still launched back, more yellow fire enveloped Akai before shooting into the air in large plumes. In the sky, it coalesced into bolts that shot outwards, targeting the bandits. Forming into a vague shape of a bird before striking both the bandits around his family and most of the bandits deeper in the village battling the militia.
His family saw these bolts of fire burn through the bandits, leaving smoldering fist sized holes through their chests.
After a grand total of 12 seconds since Akai erupted into fire, it began to lose its yellow shine, returning to mundane orange fire enveloping him before extinguishing. Akai fell to the ground unconscious.
