“Mommy?”

She wasn’t moving. She should be moving We had to go now.

The tears in her clothes showed the numerous bruises across her body. One of her eyes was gone and her legs were bent in the wrong direction. That must have been why she wasn’t moving.

“Mommy, I can carry you if you want. I’m strong enough to do it, but you have to wake up.”

I grabbed her arm and tried to shake her awake but she remained quiet. Though heat of her arm hot enough to burn me, no life could be felt under her skin.

“Please, wake up…”

Water droplets started to fall on mom’s face but I didn’t think it was raining. Why did this happen?

“Mommy, we’re supposed to be moving right? There’s still a lot of work to do, right? We can’t do anything if we stay here?”

Was it my fault?

I’d left her here by herself I should have stayed to help. I’m stronger than her, yet I ran away.

But, I’d only been doing what I was told.

“Mom-my, Ah- wah aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!! Wahaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!.....”

This was too much. Someone, anyone make this day go away. Give me back my mo─

“Guaaa!”

Something large hit me.

I think.

I’d been kneeling over mommy one moment and the next thing I know I was sent flying into a wall. When my eyes regained focus, I could make out a large figure standing over mommy a few yards away.

“Ueeh Hehe…”

That thing… That ugly yellow thing!! I remember now, it was responsible for hurting mommy. It was the reason mommy won’t get up anymore.

“Eeeh hehe...”

I tried to stand up, but my right leg buckled under the weight and made me fall over again. I only took my eyes off the thing just for a second and saw that my leg had been bent in the wrong direction. However, the thing had managed to raise its fist above mommy within that second.

“Heeh Ueeh heeh!!”

It was gonna hurt her again. I started crawling towards them as fast as I could but I was too late. The world seemed to slow as the thing brought its fist down on mommy’s head.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

A shout escaped my throat as I watched the insides of mommy’s head splatter on the ground. Color began to drain from the world as the liquid spilled from her skull, the only color left was was a deep shade of red.

In front of me, the thing dropped to its knees and grasped its throat for some reason

Was it mocking her? Celebrating for what it had done to her?

That thing. I won’t let it get away with this!!

A warm feeling began to spread over my body but that feeling turned into a sharp pain when it reached my right leg.

“Ahhhaaaagghh!!”

The sheer pain of it all caused me to roll on the ground for a few moments. It was as if a fire had been lite under my as the bones of my legs moved back into their proper order.

“Gua…”

That one sound refocused my attention to the thing, it’d become disoriented for some reason and struggled to breathe.

Just looking at it was enough to spur me on. I powered through the pain and managed to stand on all fours. In the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a strange light flowing from my body, but that wasn’t important right now.

It would die!!

No matter what it took, the thing would die.

“Haaahh Ahhhhhh!!!!!”

With a yell, I ran up to the thing and tackled it as hard as I could. Unlike the last them, the thing was sent flying back when I hit it. However, I’d already been chasing after it before the thing reached the ground. With a large leap I landed on it chest and started to hammer its face with my fists.

Over and over again my fists hammered into the things hard flesh, the skin on my knuckles peeling off and my finger bones snapping with every other hit, the sharp pain from before pulsating within my hands only fueling my rage.

I didn’t know how long the cycle of pain and anger lasted but the thing was almost unrecognizable when I finally stopped. At some point, its torso had been ripped open and few ribs stood straight up. The blood and various organs littered the ground around us, the creature now lying in a pool of its own blood. Worst of all was the head, strips of flesh had been torn from its skull, teeth had been shattered or were missing, and one of its large fangs had been stabbed through its throat..

There was a metallic taste in my mouth and I could feel things stuck between my teeth. I was breathing heavily and color was starting to return to─

“Garrraaaagghhh!!”

A roar suddenly came from down the street. Another thing was standing there in perfect health. I killed it, yet there was more of them. More of the things that hurt mommy, more of the things that took mommy away.

““Haaahh Ahhhhhh!!!!!”

“Garrraaaagghhh!!”

I had to kill! I had to kill them all!!

The last thing I remembered was the world dipping back into the red before the thing and I charged at one another.

I was too late and only had myself to blame for it all.

Around me the died and the dying transformed my home into a hellish landscape.

Beyond the destroyed gate, beyond the various piles of corpses, beyond the edge of hope, I walked deeper into the epicenter of the misery. The tavern I frequented had been reduced to a pile of smoldering rubble. The only wares the marketplace had out were the mutilated corpses of my fellow villagers. The once lively streets were now embraced by death’s eerie silence.

Almost in a daze, I continued to stagger my way through, simultaneously aware of and not caring about the trail of blood my wound was leaving in my wake or how chaotic my breathing was becoming.

The frozen blood that kept the worst of the wound’s effects at bay, that ice had started melting late last night and my attempts to refreeze it had failed. I bandaged the wound as best as I could, but without the proper items there was little I could do.

Not that it mattered I anyway, I’d been a dead man for two days now, it wasn’t a matter of if but when I would finally drop.

The only things keeping me going were the two strands of hope left in the miserable excuse of the life I had made for myself.

“They're not here either...”

There were only a few place left where they could be hiding unless I alread⎯

“Noooo!!”

“Stop!!!”

“Help! Mommy! Daddy!!”

“Garrraaaagghhh!!”

The pleas of survivors and an ogre’s roar cut off my chain of thought when it reached my ears. I’d ignored a few shouts like this before, but this was different. One of those voices belonged to my daughter.

With all the strength I could muster I started shuffling my way toward the point of origin as quickly as I could.

If I did one thing right, I would keep her safe.

Before I realized it I reached the center of the village, but the destruction even managed to reach this far into the village. Singed patching of ground and a few mangled bodies littered the area. A few of the buildings had or were on the verge of collapse, but one building, in particular, caught my attention.

A single ogre stood in front to the chief's house, freshly mangled corpses laid at its feet and at clawed into a moderately large hole it must have put into the building. I could just make out the figures of various people cowering within the house. They must have been discovered on their way to this location.

I started to search the area for something to use as a weapon, there was a slight chance that Aiyana was in there and I couldn’t fight an ogre bare handed. The terrified shouts of the people trapped by the ogre and the wet sounds of bodies being torn apart spurred me on.

Just as I managed to yank a worn dagger out of a severed arm I found along the ground, I realized the number of screamers had been greatly reduced. The ogre was mere seconds away from finishing its gruesome deed.

However, before I could even start towards the ogre I heard the sound which heralded our doom.

““Garrraaaagghhh!!””

More of them were coming and there was nothing I could do to stop them. Even if by some miracle I managed to kill the ogre I wouldn’t leave the fight unscratched. The best case would have me succumbing to my injuries shortly after the fight. The worst case would be me buying the survivors enough time flee the chief's house I was reduced to just another corpses.

Anything more than one ogre was asking for the impossible. I had to act before the others arrived. I readied my newly acquired dagger and prepared to change the ogre but something strange had happened.

The ogre, who mere moments ago relentlessly pursued the trapped survivors, stood immobile on its hind legs.

Something was wrong and when the ogres we’d heard finally arrived I understood what that something was.

As the two ogres turned onto the main road, I shocked by the condition they were in. The one out front had a chunk of its left arm missing and its right arm hung limply at its side. It struggled to maintain its balance, the bloody stump of what was once its right foot the likely cause of that.

While the lead ogre was in pretty bad shape, it was leaps and bounds above the one trailing behind it. The entire left side of its face had been ripped from its skull. One of its eyes had been yanked out. The flesh on its right arm had been reduced to ribbons, and its intestines hung out of the gaping hole in its stomach.

It was like they’d been mauled by a wild animal, but what the hell could maul an ogre?!

“Ahhhaaaagghh!!”

The two heavily injured ogre were a couple feet away from the first ogre when a small figure dropped onto the slower one from a roof of a nearby building. Immediately after the two hit the ground blood gushed into the air as small creature torn into the ogre’s throat with its teeth.

Even when the ogre’s body stopped convulsing the small creature gnaw at its neck.

“Garraaghh!!”

It was wasn’t until the first ogre ran up and sent the creature flying away with a punch did it release its hold. Even from here I could hear the sound the creature’s bones shattering upon impact.

When the dust settled I was able to get a better look at the crea-, no child? The kid couldn’t have been more than a few years old, even then he seemed rather thin for his age. The ogre’s punch had caved in his chest, but the blood that covered him from head to toe made it impossible to determine anything else about his condition.

In any other situation, the death of such a young one would have been a tragedy, but the effect was a bit diminished here. However, the boy had my respect for killing one of the orges and distracting the others. While the ogres examined their fallen brethren, I took the opportunity to creep my way towards the chief’s house.

Red bricks and blood littered the ground in front of the hole in the wall, peering inside revealed severe people raving in pain. Based on the smashed hands and deep bruises, they must have tried to fight back or flee the ogre.

Though I wanted to help them I couldn’t, at least not in the way they pleaded for me to help.

“Aiyana. Aiyana, are you here? Can you hear me, Aiyana? It’s papa.”

I kept my voice as low as possible, as I searched the house.

“Daddy!?”

My lovely Aiyana jolted up from behind an overturned coach. At a glance, I could tell that she’d been through a lot of hardship. She was pale as a sheet, her dress was covered in dirt, dried blood was mixed into her shoulder-length hair, and her emerald eyes were still wet with recently shed tears.

“Eugh.”

My side stung when Aiyana hugged me, but I did my best to hide it from her. It wasn’t that long ago that she couldn’t even reach my kneecaps.

We stayed liked that for a moment, being utterly absorbed in the sense of safely a loved one could provide.

However, it was a feeding moment.

“Aiyana. Where’s your mother?”

That simple question was all that it took for the tears to start flowing from her eyes. I was so close…

“It’ll be alright sweetheart, daddy’s here now. Come with me, we have to lea-”

“Garraaghh!!”

One of the ogres noticed us. I pushed Aiyana behind my back and raised the dagger I picked up. I would not let them take my daughter. Everything else was fine, I knew I deserved worse, but she was innocent damn it!!

The two ogres prepared to charge at us, but the remaining injured ogre was tackled to the ground from by the suddenly back up boy. Before anyone could react to his sudden return, the boy ripped one of the fangs right out of its jaw and stabbed it through its chest.

In a matter of minutes, the boy had slain two ogres.

I don’t know which of us was more shocked, me or the last ogre.

A golden aura enveloped the boy’s body and from this distance, I could see and hear the bones in his chest snapping back to their proper position as while as get a look at his face.

“Darh’ki…”

“Ahhhaaaagghh!!”

His pitch black hair should have been a dead giveaway, but the blood and dirt covered up most of it. But those eyes, the seemingly endless depths of those completely red eyes, there was only one type of monster in the world that had eyes like that.

An enraged Darh’ki had descended upon this already doomed village.

It won’t stop until it was dead or everything around it was.

The Darh’ki and the remaining ogre now stared down one another. These monsters would clash with one another, but only one would survive.

Unfortunately, it was easy to see who the victor would be.

While the Darh’ki had made an impressive showing so far, exhaustion could clearly be seen on his face and his element of surprise was gone. The ogre was relatively unscratched and entirely focused on the boy.

“Daddy?”

I looked down at Aiyana and immediately knew want needed to be done.

“Don’t move, sweetheart. It’ll be over soon.”

I looked back up just in time to see the battle begin. The Darh’ki ran at the ogre on all four before leaping at it, going for a quick kill right from the start. However, the ogre easily swatted the Darhi’ki away.

The Darh’ki rolled to its feet just before the ogre brought both fists down on the spot it’d just been. Utilizing the opening, the Darhi’ki rammed its shoulder into the ogre’s knee before darting away.

“Gaauughh!!”

The distinctive pop of a joint dislocating preceded the ogre's pained roar. Not letting up, the Darh’ki tried to take a bite out of the ogre’s neck but it was a second too late. The ogre caught the Darhi’ki in mid-air and repeatedly slammed it against the ground before tossing it aside.

When the Darh’ki tried to stand its golden aura began to diminish and it struggled to find its balance. This fight wasn’t gonna last much longer.

The ogre’s attention remained focused on the staggering Darhi’ki as it limped its way towards it. Now was the perfect chance to strike.

I’d been inching my way closer to the ogre’s back ever since the Darh’ki first attack. As the ogre raised its fist to strike down the Darh’ki, I stabbed it in the eye with my dagger.

“Gaaaaaaaaarrraaaagghhh!!”

“Daaddyy!!”

I heard Aiyana’s scream and the ogre’s roar before weightlessness took over, only for the weight to be brought crashing back when my body collided with the cheif’s house.

“Guah ahh.”

Blood flew out of my mouth as pain wracked my entire body. I wanted to get the ogre’s attention and I succeeded too well. I even as my vision started to fade I could only smile as the ogre limped its way towards me.

One of the first things I ever learned as a part of my job was that you never leave a wounded prey unattended.

“Ahaaaaaaaaa!!!”

The Darh’ki leaped onto the ogre’s shoulders and grabbed its head from under its chin. The ogre frantically tried to shake the Darhi’ki off, but the Darhi’ki’s grip remained firm. Slowly but surely, the Darhi’ki managed to stand up on the ogre’s shoulders, and started yanking at the ogre’s head as hard as it could.

Though only a few moments must have passed by, it felt like an eternity before tears started to appear around the ogre’s neck. With one final tug and a blinding flash of golden light, the Darhi’ki ripped the ogre’s head off.

The golden aura that surrounded the Darhi’ki completely vanished as it and the ogre’s body collapsed on the ground. Even as the blood began to pool around it, the Darhi’ki didn’t even try to move, were it not for its chest rising and falling you’d think that it was dead.

A dead ogre and an unconscious Darhi’ki was the best outcome one could ever hope for. Now I just had to finish the job.

Unfortunately, I was incapable standing anymore.

“Daddy!”

I turned my head towards Aiyana when she called my name and ran towards me. She had to live, no matter what.

“The… boy… tak- take care o… boy….. Saf-Safety… find… the boy…”

“What? What do you mean?”

It was too hard to talk anymore, with the last of my strength I tried to give Aiyana the dagger but it fell out of my hand halfway. The world went silent after that. I’m sure Aiyana was still talking to me, but I could no longer hear her.

Selina, wherever you are, I don’t know if I’ll follow.

The world went dark.