Lothar, Traetos Province, Southern Avestria

Herios suddenly woke up in the middle of the night due to the tumultuous cries falling on his ears. As soon as he woke up and his sight went out of his window, he saw raging flames of fire dancing through his window slit. Startled, he fell from his bed. He thought it was just some nightmare but his belief of a delusion vanished when he felt a stinging pain across his elbow when he banged it on the ground while standing up.

He immediately kicked Mythra who was engrossed in his sleep. Mythra woke up, his eyes clouded by the rheum, and his vision blurred. He somehow managed to stand firm on the ground and glanced ahead at Herios. He was flabbergasted to see the huge flames rising from the window, in front of Herios.

"Oh my god!!" he exclaimed. Mythra and Herios immediately rushed out of their room and ran towards the egress. The Roshai and Aerytha intercepted their path and all four of them ran towards the door. The entire homestead was on fire. Mythra immediately lifted Aerytha over his shoulder while Herios and the Roshai attempted to break through the door. A fallen tree had blocked the door hinge and became a stalwart for their escape.

Herios landed a strong kick at the edge of the door and it blasted open. As soon as he stepped outside, he assisted the Roshai to step outside the door as well. Mythra was standing at the door with Aerytha over his shoulders. He pulled her down and held her in his hands. Although he was not much older, he was strong enough to hold Aerytha in his arms. Herios and the Roshai extended their hands to receive Aerytha from the grip of Mythra. When Aerytha was successfully rescued, Mythra quickly bent down and crawled through the blasted door.

All four of them ran outside their territory by running through the garden. When they were outside the perimeter of their homestead, they were terrified to see the entire neighborhood, burning in flames. People were running hither and thither all around the milieu. It was a chaotic, disastrous, and terrifying sight. They could see people with their throats slit and their bodies mutilated. Some of the corpses were aflame but some of them were burning when they were alive. It was excruciating to watch the people go through that agony.

Aerytha's legs were wrapped around Mythra's waist from the front and her head rested on his shoulder. Her hands tightly surrounding Mythra's neck. Mythra had instructed her to close her eyes to avoid seeing that bloodshed. Aerytha followed his instructions but she was shivering and crying. Herios was petrified as well, opposed to his usual calm behavior.

Lady Roshai was clueless about the entire scenario. All the houses in the vicinity were burnt and demolished. Mutilated bodies of people were thrown in the lake and its pristine water was now polluted with the blood of the people.

"Lady Roshai!" yelled a woman who collided with granny Roshai from behind. It was one of her disciples. "What is happening?!" shouted the Roshai. But just before the disciple could explain, they heard the ringing of the garrison bells from the castle.

"We're under an attack! Fr-From the Parso," replied the disciple. She stuttered and her garments were filled with patches of blood. She could barely manage to walk with an injured knee. Same was the case with Mythra. He had an impaired foot from the beating that he had received from the soldiers, that afternoon.

"The infirmary?!" exclaimed the Roshai as she suddenly remembered all her mentees and the injured folks that were stationed in the infirmary. Her disciple pulled the sleeve of her garment and held her tight.

"No lady Roshai. It's a lost cause," she said. "I can't abandon them! I am responsible for their safety as long as they are in the infirmary. It's my duty as a Roshai." she said firmly.

"You take them with you to the garrison. I will be there with the others," she instructed. Before she could head out towards the infirmary, Herios stepped in front of her.

"Granny. I am coming with you!" he said. The Roshai ordered him to go with the disciple to the garrison, but he was obstinate. She got down on her knees and placed her palms on his cheeks.

"Listen to me, Herios. If I know you are there with them, I know that Aerytha would be safe," she said in a mild tone. "But Mythra is there__"

"She needs both of you!.....Trust me, Herios. I promise I will be there. And you know I never renege," she replied calmly. Herios looked into her eyes and then turned away without another word. He trusted his grandmother's promise.

Mythra was equally obstinate about letting granny go alone but he knew that he had to protect Aerytha. Mythra and Herios along with the disciple rushed towards the garrison. There was a horde of people running along with them, terrified and shuddered. As they were scurrying towards the garrison, they saw burnt houses, corpses lying on the sanguinary streets like pebbles, farms obliterated, people and cattle --- slaughtered.

It was the ruination of their town and their kingdom. The Parso forces had somehow invaded the kingdom when everyone was asleep. It was against ethical warfare but the invaders were far too immoral to follow the ethics for the subjugation. The entire horde of people was suddenly being chased by a small company of Parso troops who had supposedly destroyed their town.

The troops had the symbol of their province engraved on their flags as they sat on their Shrava* and chased the civilians of the village. Fortunately, Mythra and Herios were in the middle of the herd so they were protected, but they could see the people getting impaled by arrows and swords. As Herios glanced behind while running, he saw a Parso soldier decapitating a woman. The depravity of the nefarious Parso was boundless as they ravaged and pillaged the peaceful town. Although Mythra was always hated by society, he still felt the anguish when he saw the villagers dying around him.

He was terrified of seeing this slaughter by the Parso soldiers, as he fled along with the other survivors towards the garrison. In front of the gate, they could see a line of soldiers defending the door to the garrison. The soldiers of their kingdom had finally arrived but there was only a handful of them. A group of them were swordsmen while some of them were Pikemen.

Mythra could recognize some of the faces from the training grounds that he used to spectate at the banks of the river Nelam. While running, Mythra glanced at the keep of the garrison to see the bowmen stationed over the ramparts. Once the survivors were inside the building, the soldiers closed the door from outside while some civilians sealed the garrison from the inside.

As Mythra glanced around the voluminous room, he could see a large number of people gathered there. Most of them were crying and praying to the gods for rescue. Some of them were shivering and some were cringed at the corner of the room. The men inside the room were standing near the doors to defend it, in case the invaders tried to break through it.

Mythra gently placed Aerytha on the floor. She was shuddering in fear and her palms were tightly clasped around her ears. She couldn't bear to hear the cries and shrieks of all the people who were being slaughtered outside.

"You wait near Aerytha, I will be back," said Herios and walked away without hearing any response from Mythra. Mythra stood near Aerytha and the Roshai's disciple, as she was equally frightened. Herios briskly sprinted towards the upper floor, following a spiral staircase.

The garrison was made out of stone and rocks, just like any other military buildings. The staircase was tenebrous with sconces, lit at the nooks of it. After climbing the spiral staircase, he arrived at the ramparts stationed in the keeps. He saw the bowmen standing at the windows of the keep and firing their arrows at the enemy soldiers below.

They were so engrossed in the battle that none of them could sense Herios's presence. One of the bowmen from the company was taking the lead in commanding his comrades. He had short hair and his left eyebrow was split into two.

It was a cut that he had received from his earlier battles. He had knelt on one knee and his left arm holding the bow was stretched outside. His right arm pulled arrows, out from the holder that was tied to his back and he shot them at the enemy vanguard.

His name was Ikshah, from the house of Rectasius*. Herios ran towards a blank window adjacent to Ikshah's position and glanced below. He was petrified to see a blood bath at the gate of the garrison. The soldiers of Lothar were being slaughtered by the Parso cavalry and the infantry units. It was not a battle, it was a massacre.

"Watch it!!" yelled Ikshah, looking at Herios. Ikshah vehemently yanked Herios towards him. Before Herios could realize the reason for this pull, he saw a huge spear penetrate the wall behind him. It came from down below. Herios was devastated when he realized that if Ikshah had not pulled him behind, the spear would have penetrated his chest.

"What the hell are you doing here?!! Have you gone mad?!" he fulminated at Herios. Spears were charging inside the keep from all the windows and the bowmen were getting killed, one by one. Herios was petrified and he was unable to hear anything. His feet had gone numb and his entire body was shivering. He couldn't hear Ikshah yelling at him.

After a few moments, Herios finally got back to his senses when Ikshah waggled his body. After realizing that Herios was back to his senses, Ikshah dragged him towards the spiral staircase. The rest of the bowmen were dead and their corpses filled the path, to the staircase, with blood. Herios had never seen such a sanguinary battle before. For the first time in his life, he was unnerved. To add to his dismay, he had no idea if his grandmother would be alive, amidst this chaos.

Ikshah and one of the bowmen along with Herios rushed down the spiral staircase to reach the gathering hall. The civilians in the hall were already disorganized as they heard the Parso soldiers banging their swords on the closed doors of the garrison.

"We are all leaving!! Right now!!" yelled Ikshah stridently so that everyone could hear him amidst this chaos. Mythra and Aerytha found Herios amidst that rabble. Mythra was tightly holding Aerytha's hand in his own but he was dumbfounded to see Herios in a shock.

"Herios!! Are you all right?" he spoke loudly while shaking Herios at his shoulder. "Yes," replied Herios in a low voice. "Women and children will follow my comrade. All men must follow me!" yelled Ikshah.

It was no time to disobey as the enemy was at the door. Women and children quickly rushed towards the comrade, the bowman who had accompanied Ikshah and Herios down the staircase. Mythra and Aerytha were dragged towards the bowman along with the rabble.

Herios struggled to push through the scurrying crowd to move towards Mythra and Aerytha who were separated from him but suddenly he was smacked by someone's elbow. Herios collapsed on the ground by the impact and a further injury incurred as someone's knee collided with his head. Ikshah saw the same kid falling to the ground. He immediately rushed towards Herios and lifted him over his shoulder. Herios was completely unconscious due to the blow over his head.

Ikshah, along with all the other men ran towards the other door while his comrade led the women and children out of the garrison through the back door. Mythra had once again lifted Aerytha over his shoulder to avoid being separated. They were already separated from Herios and ergo Mythra did not want Aerytha to get lost in this chaos. The disciple of the Roshai helped Mythra and Aerytha to stay protected with the crowd.

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Footnotes:

• Rectasius is one of the warrior clans in the Traetos province

• Shrava is a species of a mammal similar to a Horse on Earth