I opened my eyes, awakened by a heart-wrenching scream.

An amalgam of shouts and explosions were everything I could hear for a few seconds. I unrolled myself from the sheet and got up, moving to the window where I lifted the frame to open it. But I left it half-way opened as I stopped, frozen by what I was witnessing.

Outside was still raining heavily. Despite the rain, there was mist all around as far as I could see. Explosions could be heard at different locations in the distance. And many other noises. Screams, and shouts; of women, men, and children. An eery howling of the wind, unlike in any other storm.

In the street below me were people mounted on big horses. They were chasing and killing others with swords, spears, or other weapons. These being chased were fighting back though, mainly shooting spells. Some had staves or wands, and I snorted unwittingly. I could hear that some of them chanted spells. I listened to their Words of Power, clear as if whispering in my ears.

Idly I wondered why I didn't wake up before with all that was going on.

There were limbs and corpses in the streets and I saw as soon more join the cold embrace of the ground deeper along the street. Then a man was decapitated. I felt he had a familiar face but I couldn't be sure, his head rolling too fast, painting the street red along with the other corpses.

"Don't leave survivors!" A rider in the street shouted something in a tongue I didn't recognize.

It had been just over thirty seconds but at some point, my legs started shaking a little. No, my whole body was shaking. I was almost frozen in fear.

I gulped. The realization just dawned on me as sweat started running down my back. This was an attack.

I had no idea of what to do.

At that moment, one of the raiders in the street looked up and met my gaze. Almost immediately my body froze. This time for real. I couldn't move at all. I couldn't breathe. Not even blink to close my eyes and feign that this wasn't happening. I wanted to run and hide but my body didn't respond.

I started to recognize some sort of pressure. Like the one the fat man exerted this morning.

But different. Stronger. Dangerous. Hungry.

I saw the raider lifting a hand and start chanting a spell in the ancient language which I didn't recognize.

Suddenly, I knew it. If I did nothing, this was it. Death.

A knot formed in my throat. Hopelessness. Despair. Powerlessness. Lack of confidence. Fear of death. A hymn of emotions invaded my mind all at once.

I felt tears streaming down my face without interruption. Since when was I crying?

My heart was beating like mad.

Why? Why was I so useless? Why couldn't move?

Why...Why did I feel fear?

What do I fear? Do I really fear death so much? I didn't. Never did. For me, death just was. There was never a need to overthink it. This wasn't the time either.

Did I want to die?

I felt my mind sharpening in an instant.

Dying, I would prefer if I didn't. But even if I die, so what?

As long as I tried my damnest to live I would be fine with the result.

If died like this I wouldn't be satisfied. I needed to move. Remaining paralyzed was like letting my enemy decide my life or death. Unacceptable. Utterly unacceptable. If they want my life they will pay dearly for it.

I felt anger. At my enemy. At myself.

Frozen from fear. Was this me?

No.

This fear wasn't me.

This fear... wasn't mine.

The corners of my lips rose.

Like a cornered dog that has nothing to lose, I would bite until the very end.

My enemy finished his chant. Done in five seconds. It was pretty fast for such a long chant.

The pressure didn't feel greater than life now. I could move again.

The mage raider already attacked, for a normal person, it would be too late to do anything. For me, too late was still enough. My inner cornered dog kicked into motion and I lifted both my arms. My right-hand hit the frame of the window, pushing me away as I insta-cast the first spell which crossed my mind as many times I could.

Earth Lance!

Five earth lances crumbled to dust after an extremely short existence, being annihilated by an invisible force.

The window exploded. Shards of glass and wood went flying everywhere.

I felt weightless for a second until I crashed to the floor and rolled sideways a few times until I stopped at the wall.

I didn't have time to feel the pain of my injuries as a heavy migraine assaulted my head; the effect of my massive expenditure of mana in a time so short.

"Hey, don't waste your energy like that, we need to get th..." Was the last thing I heard before blissful oblivion greeted me.

...

A strong cough was the first thing I became aware of upon awakening.

The second thing I became aware of was that the one coughing was me. My throat was dry. Everything was very hot and I was full of sweat too.

I could feel that my mana was already full, so at least two hours must have passed since I fell unconscious.

Ominous orange light and flickering shadows were coming from where the window used to be.

I had a few cuts and aches but I could move just fine so it was nothing serious. I got up and came closer to the window just to have my suspicions confirmed.

Everything was on fire. The town was burning. An orange and black fire licked at buildings and corpses in the street just half a block away from my location. That fire was definitely of magical nature. From here I was able to feel its threath and unbearable heat.

It wasn't raining anymore. The fire roaring down the road was the only sound to be heard.

The fire seemed to extend through the buildings from the center of the town. I had no time, I needed to get out of there now. I quickly put on my shoes and went to a wooden plank on the floor as I thought of a plan.

I needed to flee. The nearest town or city was too far away and I would have to go to the pass in the mountains first, but there was supposed to be a little village on the way that works big farmlands.

Under this plank was hidden a backpack that I put there for emergencies. At the time I thought that I was being dumb and paranoid, now I just could curse that I didn't put more useful things inside. There were only packed nuts, seeds, and dried fruits as yet another change of clothes and a second knife.

I quickly put inside my clothes of yesterday, the bag, and the only bed sheet I had. All that was enough to fill the backpack and coincidentally was also almost everything I owned; except for the money that I had hidden elsewhere but I had no time for that.

I climbed down the stairs and ran to the door when suddenly I heard the galloping of a horse among the sound of the raging fire. Coming to a halt, I quickly hid behind the wall at the side of the doorless entrance.

I waited in trepidation until the raiders passed by without even slowing down.

"Hah." I let go of a breath that I didn't know I was holding. I was shaking a little so I started to breathe deeply to calm myself. Now that I thought about it again I had a destination in mind but not a way to get in there. My plan had another glaring flaw, one more so than the others. The fire was coming from the center of the town and the mountain pass is coincidentally just in that direction.

I weighed my options.

I could go around the town while hiding between buildings from the raiders. Very bad idea. The fire will likely consume the outskirts of the town in a matter of minutes, I would get trapped.

Think.

Easy. I could leave the town from this side and go around it from outside. Of course, that was just as risky, with fire consuming the city, likely the majority of the raiders were out of it too, and out there I would have nowhere to hide.

Wait a moment. The Great Wild is less than a kilometer away from this side of the city. If I could roam that distance then I would be able to hide behind the trees and go around the edge of the forest without losing sight of the town and without being spotted. After that, I could decide if either wait until tomorrow or try to go around the town from afar in the darkness.

I had never heard of sightings of animals or creatures on the edge of the forest anyway. You need to go very deep to even find something small, of course, that something will still likely kill you.

Well, that was it. It was the best I could plan.

Now with a real plan in mind, I carefully left the building and started darting between shadows as I made my way towards the outskirts.

Meanwhile, I was wondering why all this happened. Where were the army and the divisions, what happened to the town's Shield, and more relevant at this moment, why did I feel my head a little fuzzy but at the same time very awake, almost more awake than ever?

After a few minutes of moving with only my thoughts and my frantic heartbeat to make me company, I arrived at the edge of this unwalled town.

The forest was ahead of me and it seemed closer than ever, without even a raider within sight.

Taking a breath to stabilize my shaking everything again, I lied on my knees and started crawling to the edge of the forest. All the soil was turned into mud and the grass was wet and cold but thankfully the grass became higher the closer I got to the forest. Also, the light of the fire illuminated less and less the closer I got.

I traveled almost all the way there when I heard horses nearing again. I froze my movements and made myself seem as small as I could while praying to the heavens that they don't notice me. I slowly turned my head to get a better look behind me.

The same moment that I turned my head the raiders stopped and I cursed my luck. This course of events was so obvious that even I could make out their conversations in my head.

'Hey guys, I saw something moving there'

'There? I can only see the forest. Are you sure?'

'Yes, I am sure. Something is definitely there'

'Maybe is a salvage animal, captain. What we will do?'

'Well, we could enter the city and throw ourselves into the fire'

'Ah, sounds funny, let's do it'

I knew that my prayers weren't heard when all of them started to ride in my direction.

"Fuck my life," I whispered as I jumped up and started running the less than fifty meters left between the forest and me.

I had never trained the inner mana, also known as spiritual energy before, but my body's condition was good enough so I arrived at the forest in about fifteen seconds. Quickly stepping sideways while running to hide my frame behind the trees as I avoided shrubs, plants, and tree branches; making a lot of noise thanks to the wet ground, the sticks, and dead leaves on the floor.

I continued to hear the stomps of the horses approaching at gallop until at some point they stopped.

I didn't stop, though. What if they just quickly dismounted and were chasing me on foot instead? I would just run a bit more until I could be sure that I wasn't being followed anymore, and then I would start walking back while curving the path a bit.

The minutes passed as I felt my mind lightening and my fuzziness banishing until I realized that I had been running for a very long while, so I stopped in a little clearing in the woods.

I leaned and supported my arms on my knees. I was out of breath. Completely exhausted. I was injured and all my body ached. I was hungry too, I hadn't eaten anything since the morning. I was all wet and covered in mud. I needed to piss and also take a shit.

What the hell happened this night and also what was I thinking? Running through a dangerous forest without any direction like a headless chicken. It was so dark here I could barely make out the floor with the light of the moon. Also, my plan of escape and its execution were pitifully bad. I could have thought of something better like covering my clothes with mud to have a better camouflage at least.

I am covered in mud now but it would be better to have been like that since the beginning thus likely avoiding being spotted. I could have been more careful. It could have been better, or well, maybe not.

Damn! Everything is so wrong, I can't help but let out a chuckle filled with despair. Everything until now feels a little surreal.

Now that my little outburst was done I could only sigh and follow the plan I already had made as I really didn't have anything better at this point.

But before that, I need to do my body's necessities.

Before going to piss, the plant at my feet caught my attention. It had a beautiful and bright green color, almost yellow. It had round purple fruits of the size of my nails that not only look appetizing but also smelled really good. It was also freakishly poisonous, killing untrained people in seconds. That I know because I recognize the plant from a book I read.

I also know that is very rare and expensive; if treated correctly the fruit's odor can be separated from the poison and quality perfumes and fragrances can be made; as can be made an odorless poison. That depends on how much you love the lady.

The poison can go through the skin so I better am careful. The woods must be full of things like this.

I felt a shiver go through my back.

I frowned.

While still looking at the plant with my head down I took on my surroundings. There was nothing strange. The wind was the same. The noises of the insects hadn't changed and even the atmosphere of the place was just the same as when I arrived.

Then why I suddenly feel so uneasy?

Lifting my head and looking ahead I reached the highest point in my life. For an instant, I am aware of nothing, but just that is enough.

The secrets of the universe, of life and death, unraveled before my tiny eyes, and the realization that in a past life I must have killed the kindest person to ever exist hits me as the only viable explanation to being born under the light of the most hated and unlucky star under the heaven and earth.

"Horse shit," I muttered.

Before me, was a behemoth of a creature. One and a third of a meter tall. I could see its claws as it slowly made its way through a shrub. It had four legs. It had a gleaming dark purple and blue fur. It had a humongous snout. With a sharp maw that was bearing its large and deadly fangs at me.

Slowly moving my eyes to scan my sides I started to make out the details of others of these creatures hidden and poking their heads off other shrubs. Many were even bigger than this one in front of me.

I couldn't help but let out a soundless chuckle at the hilariousness of my situation. How many times would I be at death's doors today?

Fuck my luck.

I am doomed.