I woke up and noticed some light coming out of the door. I checked my surroundings and it seems everything is intact. The wounds and scars from last night still hurts but not as much. I open the door a little bit to peek outside and it seems calm as if nothing had happened just a few hours before.

I look for some food inside and found some salted dried meat on a jar, if I remember correctly we created a rule that we must keep food inside just in case we need it. That time I always complain to the others but now I’m really thankful to them. Tears began to fall again remembering what happened that blazing night, houses lit up by fire, bandits killing everything that moves.

“Everyone is probably dead, I’m all alone now*snif*”

I left the place and slowly return to the village hoping that there are other survivors or anything left I can use.

As I go near I can hear someone shouting in a commanding tone. I sneak in and hid myself on a big tree near the entrance of the village.

“Are those bastards still here?”

Honestly I’m scared and I don’t know what to do. There are a lot of questions in my mind right now but the first thing I think I must do is survive.

“Who are they? Those people are different from the bandits I saw last night”

I became more confused and try to sneak further.

“Wait those bodies on the ground they are not from this village”

This made my head spin for a bit, well I’m not the brightest kid around but I’m sure I don’t know some of those dead people.

“HURRY UP AND WE NEED TO FINISH THIS BEFORE SUN DOWN”

I saw a man which body is clad in metal from head to foot. Shouting at the others who are lifting the dead bodies and others are digging some holes.

“What are they doing? Burying the dead?” I tried to move closer and searched where my house is located before it got burned down.

“HEY BRAT WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE”

A man grabs the back of my shirt lifting me up, it surprised me as I struggle to break free.

“LET ME GO, LET ME GO, I JUST WANNA SEE MY MOTHER”

“Hmm” The man made a confused expression and suddenly drag me away.

“HEY LET GO”

“SHUT UP BRAT OR DO YOU WANT TO GET KILLED” the man shouts at me at an irritated tone of voice and it seems he’s the type to lose his temper easily.

“So your one of those bad guys who killed my mother” I said in a low voice, losing all hope, crying with mucus falling out of my nose.

He did not say anything as he drag me to the one shouting earlier and wearing the metal clothes.

“Sir I saw this boy roaming around the village and it seems he is a survivor”

“hmm very good you may leave now and continue your work”

The man released me and leaves us; the one wearing the metal clothes then threw some rag at me in the face.

“Wipe that disgusting face of yours before I ask you some questions”

I did as he asked fearing what he might do to me. Now looking at him this close I can see that some pattern is visible on his right chest.

“Now kid I’m going to ask you some questions which you don’t have anything you can do but to answer them. Got that?”

I nod at him then he removes the metal covering his head.

“My name is Jomar Unera son of a noble governing the city of Phos and the Commander to this army which the King ordered to subdue if not annihilate the bandits roaming around here………..”

I listened to what his saying and from that I understood that they are the people my uncle told me about.

“Why, Why did you just arrived *snif**snif* everyone is dead because *snif*your late*snif* waaaaaaaaa” I began to bawl

*sigh* “I really hate kids” he whispered

“LISTEN HERE BRAT, this place is at the far end of the kingdoms boarders we got our orders and rushed here as fast as we could. When we arrived by night we saw a huge fire and rushed here and what greeted us are the bandits, we tried to save as many as we could but the people of your village is either dead or on the brink of death. You’re really a lucky bastard surviving that ordeal; they even killed all the women and all of the children.”

“Now answer my questions, how did you survived?”

“My *snif* mother rushed me *snif* out and she got killed *snif* and I ran to the forest *snif* while she grabs the bandit *snif* and I hid on a secret base *snif* me and other kids made before”

The man put his hand on his chin “ are there others besides you on that base of yours?”

“NO *snif* I’m the only one there”

“I see” he then move back and forth while his hand is still on his chin.

I finally clam down and observe him; he is quite young about 20 to 26 years of age. He’s quite tall blonde with brown eyes and I think he’s strong judging from his movements even though he is wearing such heavy armour it doesn’t bother him at all and walks as if wearing leather clothes.

“Kid I’ve decided to take you with us but I don’t think any of us will adopt you. I will send you to an orphanage when we reach the capital. There you will live with the other orphans then you’re on your own”

I don’t know what’s happening and by the time the sun sets the group of people erected some tents and lit a big camp fire at the middle.

The soldiers gather around the campfire and Jomar began a speech

“Men thank you for your hard work and tomorrow we leave to the capital as soon as possible. We manage to find a single survivor and I’m planning to take him with us to the capital and send him to the orphanage. I know every one of you are tired but we must go back as soon as possible since were done here. Rest well and take turns for the watch.”

The moment he finished his speech the soldiers dispersed and do their own stuff. Some drink some ale, some began chatting and some began to play some instruments.

I don’t know what to do; some soldier gave me a blanket and decided to sleep on a corner.

Early in the morning the soldiers started packing their stuff and started to move. It’s a long journey sometimes it rained heavily and sometimes a pack of wolf began to attack us during the night but in the end they just serve as food since the soldiers are strong not one of them got injured.

It took us about two to three months to arrive in the capital.

The city has huge walls which I noticed that there are two of them, inside the first wall are normal houses, street vendors and some small stalls.

The inner wall consist of grand buildings, maybe those nobles reside on the inner walls I thought.

After we arrived at a huge building he asks one of his men to send me to the orphanage.

What greeted me are kids around my age, some are older some are younger.

Days passed and I became a loner. There are other kids liked to play or chat with me but I just brush them off and thinking about the last words of my mother.

“How can I became strong?”

The orphanage is being managed by several adults but one particular adult catches my attention. A woman in her mid-twenties, she is kind and always talks to me, even though I find it quite annoying she still do it. Well she’s quite the beauty if you ask me, slender figure with the right curves, long red hair and have a bright personality.

How did I know? Well some kids bring me along and told me were going to an adventure, of course they forced me to come which lead us to a river and we saw someone taking a bath, as we sneak in I noticed that there are others but what really caught my attention was her figure. ***Authors note: I’ll leave it to your imagination with a droll ;p **

Yep I got exited but due to embarrassment I turn around and tried to leave, that’s where I noticed an old man hiding up high in one of the trees with a disgusting look on his face. It made me remember the face of the bandit that night, then I grab a stone threw at him.

With a *thud* it hits him while he made a sound *aaaaaaaaaaaaaaww*.

I run away heading back where I heard a loud scream *KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A PERVERT*

“Hope he got what he deserves” I said while praying he din't manage to run away.

Going back I learned that she’s one of the orphans that grew up here. She’s working now on a bakery run by the orphanage. It seems that some of the taxes go to the orphanage for us to use on our daily life. The orphanage is located on the outskirts of the capital and surrounded by a high fence near the forest.

Over all this place is really nice but the last words of my mother still bothers me.

A month passed by and so as my birth day. This time I’m officially five years of age.