A village boy came running down a dirt ridden path leading up to a hill which overlooks his village. As the boy reaches an old tree which takes up the space of the hill, a girl comes running up.

The girl takes a couple of deep breaths as the boy stands next to the tree and looks out to their village. The carefree boy only shouted in a rough manner, proclaiming that he is here in this spot. The girl could only sigh at his mannerisms.

“Aatif, doesn’t your mom need help during this time of day?” She remarked as her course breathing could still be heard.

Aatif simply looks at her and smiles. “Mom said I could go out today after helping her all day today, so I did. Anything wrong with that Hasana? I bet you just want to head back since you always come with me.”

“Your mom always asks me to come with you cause she is afraid of what could happen when you come to this cliffside alone. It’s dangerous all the way up here you know. I heard rumors that there are monsters up here.”

Aatif looks at her with a curious look beaming on his face. “Where did you hear those kinds of rumors? From your dad?”

She nods her head in disapproval. “Didn’t you hear about the peddlers that were stuck on the road? Apparently their cargo was overloaded on their wagon, causing one of the wheels to break. My dad said that they were clearly packing too much, but the people who were lugging it didn’t want to give it up. They said there are monsters coming, and this is all they have.”

Aatif smiles again. “I can beat up a monster or two, don’t you worry Hasana. I will be able to protect you!” He says confidently. Hasana could only nod her head.

“Yeah yeah. With those stick like arms of yours, you could surely fend off maybe a rabbit of some sort. Anything more would surely break them into two Aatif.”

“No! You just haven’t seen me in action yet. I am sure just like dad, I will also become strong like him and become a warrior. Killing the bad guys and protecting all of us.”

Hasana seemed like she wanted to say more, but she stopped herself.

As the two look out, they could spot some clouds in the distance. However, these are not just any clouds. These clouds are dark, with a tint of brown in the air. The scene appearing over the horizon exuded a sense of foreboding.

Aatif looks out curiously at the large clouds of dust being thrown into the air. Of course, Hasana could only look out and starts to silently grip the hem of her skirt.

Then, the two could hear a distant commotion from the village below, as people began leaving their houses. Aatif just stared blankly while Hasana grabs his hand and pulls him down the hillside.

“Hasana?”

She keeps walking, but responds despite the situation. “We are heading back down!”

Aatif, still staring blankly just turns back to look just beyond the slowly disappearing horizon to see the large clouds of dust.

Soon, the two reach their village and see many familiar faces pop up.

“Hasana!”

Her father, a burly man called out to her. He is waiting near the edge of the village, anticipating their return.

“Dad! The clouds! Did you see it!” She spoke in a hurried voice. Her father only patted her head.

“The village chief has already started to let everyone know. Come, they already started.”

The three made a short trek to the center of the village, where everyone gathered. A sort of small panic already started to fill the air when the three enter the square.

“Chief! What will we do now? My crops were just sown for this growing season. Is there no chance that the monsters will avoid us?”

Many were hoping that the inevitable did not have to happen. However, the chief’s face did not change. He slowly shook his head.

“Have you not seen the ominous clouds lad? I have already addressed the council, but we cannot stay here. I closely advise everyone to start packing immediately. However, do be careful that you do not carry too much, as I know many stories of how people’s greed have led to their downfall.”

The chief continued to talk in the town square, combining a mixture of caution, but also re-assurance and hope for the next days ahead. Then, what they heard next soon caused even more tension in the air.

From where they sat, they could make out what could only be explosions a couple of miles away. The watchtower person could see the ominous clouds flash like lightning. However, he could not make out what the flashes were, nor what caused them.

He rang the bell once and shouted down. To alert the town of the changing situation. Everyone looked up and heard him, while the chief took the time to internalize the situation. He began speaking again.

“This does not change our situation. Start packing your things. We must start leaving immediately.”

He then pressed everyone to start moving.

Hasana’s father looked at Aatif.

“Go help your mom out, we’ll meet up later.”

Aatif nods and runs off.

He runs to his house with his mom Atisha still working on supper. When he runs into the house panting, she looked at him wondering what got him all stoked up.

“Finally here to help out huh? Felt guilty didn’t cha?” She slyly remarks.

Aatif catches his breath and tells her of the situation. She puts down her utensils and immediately walks briskly into another part of the house. Although it’s their home, it's less of a house and more of a large shack with not separated rooms. She brings back a large cloth to presumably start packing everything.

She beckons Aatif over and they begin packing essential possessions like utensils and cooking materials the like. Soon, footsteps could be heard from outside. Hasana runs up.

“Aatif!, we need to leave right now!”

“Hasana? Where is your dad?”

Aatif could see her hands tighten into a fist. Hasana looks up and shouts.

“My dad is helping the others to leave. The tower warned that he could see beasts running towards our village. He told me to get you two.”

Aatif’s mother grabs what she could while asking Aatif to also grab another two bags on the floor.

The three meet up with the others where Hasana’s father waited for them. He is still helping some others gather their belongings while talking to the village chief.

“Dad, I brought them.” She exclaimed. He turned around and patted her on the head. He looked to Aatif’s mother.

“Atisha, can I ask to watch Hasana for me. I will be right behind you two, but the village chief asked me to help with the evacuation.”

Atisha nods without hesitation. However, Hasana looked worried. However, Atisha doesn’t mind and just pulls her along to join the rest of the villagers leaving. Hasana turned her head to look at her father continue to help everyone else in the village.

She turns her head back to the front as she slowly walks with the rest of the villagers walking away from the ominous distant clouds.

They continue for one hours, two hours, then finally more than five hours have passed. Because it started getting dark out, many set camp near the road. Aatif, Hasana, and Atisha made their own camps to prepare for nightfall.

Later in the evening though, a commotion began as people started shouting in the middle of the night. Chaos soon spread as people panicked at the thought of monsters attacking the area. Soon, Everyone started running, including Hasana, Aatif, and his mother.

Because it is in the middle of the night, they could only blindly run and hide in the nearby forest patch and hope for the best. Atisha, pulled the two down and hid in a bunch of shrubbery. There, they hid for the rest of the night.

Occasionally, they could hear the outbursts of screams and shouts of fellow villagers. For the three of them, it would be an uncomfortable night.

Soon, dawn broke as the sky started to show itself once again. The once pitch black area now has a resemblance of light again due to the rising sun. Both Aatif and Hasana both fell asleep at some point due to exhaustion. Atisha still remained awake, with no indication that she got any sleep.

As soon as light started to show, she looked around to see if there are any signs of monsters. Using her best judgment, she wakes the two up with a calming voice. Hasana and Aatif soon start to slowly move about to wake up.

Atisha takes the initiative to move and pull along the two towards the main road carefully.

Last night, they must have run quite a ways since the walk back to the dirt road seemed much longer than last night. Soon, they could see the various empty camps from which they had set up near last night. However, despite all of the camps, it seemed eerily empty.

Atisha moved carefully back to their site where they could gather their things again. As soon as they got everything, Atisha beckons the two to move. However, Hasana stood and looked around for a bit. Soon afterwards, she runs towards Atisha.

Aatif, being tired and hungry, could barely focus on walking with everything he had.

Soon, almost three hours pass as they continue to walk on the path towards the next village. They would be closer north in the Quenlari Kingdom, but still far from being safe.

Then at last, the three finally see a village up ahead. Atisha and the three move towards the village in the distance.

Once they moved closer, they realized the village is no ordinary village. It’s a fortified outpost with wooden walls and gates. The village must be two to three times bigger than their previous village.

As they get closer, they see the guards call out to them.

Out of relief, Atisha’s legs give out as her adrenaline finally ran out. One of the guards run out to her and the other two. However, she already started to black out from exhaustion.

The last thing she sees is a strangely dressed person walk up to them.