‘Wait don’t go. Where am I?’

Kan was left stranded in the darkness. He floated in the empty darkness. There was nothing there except for himself and the pitch black abyss.

‘How do I get out of here? Mommy. Daddy. Is anyone there?’

Kan had called out into the darkness but there was only silence. This was an eerie silence, Kan could not even hear his own breathing or heartbeat. It was like everything was gone, dead and destroyed from the world. Kan became worried.

‘Am...am I dead. No, I can’t be dead. I just turned 5 years old. Mommy. Daddy. Where are you? Please come save me.’

Kan curled himself up into a ball and started crying. He was terrified, he didn’t know if he was dead or not. If he was dead then he would never be able to see his Mommy or Daddy. He would never again see his friends or any of those kind villagers. He felt hopeless and alone. All he could do was call out for Claire and Clive but no matter how much time passed no one answered him.

‘UWWAAAAUWWWWAAAAA. Where...where are you Mommy, Daddy! Where are you.’

“Why are you crying so much Kan. You’re already 8 years old”

‘Mommy. Daddy. You guys came for me.’

Kan ran towards both Claire and Clive but he passed through them. It was like they were only a projection and had no physical form.

“I slipped on a puddle and scraped my knee, Mommy, Daddy. It hurts.”

‘Is that me?’

“Well it has been raining a lot so you should be more careful Kan. If it hurts too much then Daddy will carry you on his back.”

‘I’m right here Mommy, Daddy. Why won’t you answer me!? Why do you only talk to him.’

“Ok, Daddy.”

Before Kan had noticed it his surroundings had changed. It was no longer only the darkness that surrounded him. He was now back in the village he had grown up in. All the buildings were the same except that his parents looked a little older. On this day it was cloudy and looked liked it was about to be a downpour.

“Let’s hurry Kan and Clive, it looks like there is going to be a downpour soon. We wouldn’t want anyone getting sick.”

“Ok, hold on tight Kan. Daddy’s going to dash his way home.”

‘What...what is going on?’

The 3 of them ran home but they were not fast enough so they were all drenched. They all entered the house and so did Kan.

‘This is definitely my home. Why can’t anyone see me?’

“What do you say we all take a bath together so we aren’t cold and wet.”

“Ok, Daddy.”

Kan watched on with confusion in his eyes as this happy scene played out before him but everything was interrupted by a loud lightning strike. Kan walked out to look at the lighting strike while the other three were still in the house.

“That was some intense lighting wasn’t it Kan?”

“Yeah it was.”

As both “Kan” and Clive were talking about the lighting strike they were once again interrupted by a different sound. This was now the sound of the village alarm bell going off. It wasn’t just one alarm bell going off though, it was all of them. In total the village of Clear View had 4 alarm bells: Intruders, Monsters, Rampaging Animals, and Natural Disasters. At the moment the chaotic sound of all 4 bells were ringing out.

‘What’s going on?’

“What’s going on Daddy?”

“Shit. Claire take Kan and run. I’ll go meet up with the mayor.”

“BRING US CLAIRE RENNER OR BE EXTERMINATED!!! YOU HAVE 10 SECONDS BEFORE THE MASSACRE STARTS!!”

Clive had started running towards the mayor’s house while Claire had grabbed “Kan” and started running towards the forest. Kan was left there hopeless as to what he should do. He did not know whether to follow Clive or Claire but in the end he decided to follow Clive towards the mayor’s house.

“Dylan where is your grandfather?”

“He, he went towards the plaza where the voice was coming from.”

Clive ran faster and faster towards the plaza while Kan could only keep up with his speed because he was floating. Even as he floated, he was still a ways slower then Clive.

“I will never hand a villager to you people. Whoever this Claire Renner is, whether she is a part of this village or not, you guys will not put a hand on her.”

“Kill him.”

The mayor knew he could not defeat them so he had talked to make it seem that there was no Claire Renner in the village. He had tried to stall for time so Claire could run away. Every second he delayed meant a second longer that Claire could escape.

The mysterious man in blacked had ordered his men to kill the mayor. The mayor resisted their attacks but there were to many of them and each person had a different style of fighting so the mayor could not adapt to them. 6 men had attack the mayor. One had a spear, a shield, a sword, a bow, a trident, and a hammer.

The mayor had taken out a sword and repelled the attacks of them but he could not attack. Every time he tried to attack the shield wielder would intercept him then the rest would attack him from all angles. It was too difficult for one man to deal with six skilled fighters so eventually the mayor’s stamina was worn down.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Since I am going to die anyways i’ll bet everything to take you 6 down with me.”

The mayor’s body immediately swelled up. He was going past and beyond his limits. The mayor was a combat specialist who only had a 25% potential but now he was unlocking 35%. He was sacrificing his body to take down these 6 people.

The mayor fought valiantly but it was of no use. He had only managed to take down 3 of the people attacking him. The other 3 were injured but it was only scratches.

“Tch, what a hassle. Kill everyone if they don’t know anything about Claire Renner. Don’t leave anyone alive, including the women and children.”

At that moment of the mayor’s final moments Clive had arrived. Clive had seen the mayor get stabbed through the chest by the spear user. The mayor had also seen Clive and signalled with his eyes to run away but Clive did not listen to him.

“YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!!!!”

‘Grandpa Ranjer. Why...why is this happening. Someone tell me please.’