The village was burning.
Lif could hear the crackling of flames and the sounds of desperate cries, but they were muffled by the roar of the fire that consumed everything. His chest tightened with each step he took. The heat was unbearable, and the smoke stung his eyes, but the devastation was worse— houses burnt to ashes blood everywhere and screams of the ones he once knew.
"Stay here, Lif," Maeron's voice sliced through the haze, calm and authoritative. "Stay out of the way."
Lif wanted to protest, but before he could speak, the elder was already moving. Water surged around Maeron's feet, rising from the ground and hurling itself at the flames. The elder's magic was powerful, but even that wasn't enough to stop the inferno that tore through the village.
Lif stood frozen for a moment, watching Maeron move farther into the chaos. His legs felt like they were made of stone. The weight of the screams and the burning heat pressed in on him, a suffocating reminder of how fragile life could be. Every crackling fire and distant scream made his heart race faster.
But then, something in him snapped.
Lif took off running, his feet pounding the ground as he raced toward the heart of the village. Every breath he took was thick with smoke, but the stench of death, the sharp tang of blood, made his stomach churn in a way that was even worse. His heart hammered in his chest, yet all he could think about was the need to move to do something.
The village was crumbling. The buildings were collapsing into the ground, the flames licking at the sky, hungrily devouring anything in its path. As he ran, he passed houses that had been reduced to ashes, the streets filled with debris. But it wasn't the fire that made his breath catch in his throat.
It was the bodies.
Lif saw them scattered throughout the village, torn apart, mutilated. They were children—ones he had known, ones he had played with. Their faces were twisted in agony, and their bodies were nothing more than mangled remnants. Lif's stomach turned as he forced himself to look away, but the images burned into his mind, each more horrific than the last.
One child—a kid that barely passed for 5 years old —lay face down, their limbs twisted at impossible angles. Their eyes were open, lifeless, staring at the flames that consumed everything. He tried to move past them, but the sight of their small body, torn and bloody, froze him in place.
The flames crackled behind him, louder now, almost as if mocking his paralysis. Lif wanted to run. He wanted to turn away from the nightmare unfolding around him, but he couldn't. His legs felt like lead, his chest too tight to breathe. His body screamed at him to move, but his mind was frozen, locked in place by the horror that surrounded him.
He could hear the screams—distant, desperate. A cry for help, but none of it reached him. His world was this street, these bodies, these twisted forms of innocence destroyed in a single moment of violence.
Lif shook his head, as if trying to dislodge the horrific images from his mind. He couldn't stop moving, couldn't stop running.
Every step forward felt like a punishment. The faces of children he had once known, now mangled and broken, seemed to haunt him at every turn. Their bodies lay in pools of blood, some headless, others without arms or legs. There were no survivors. Only the grotesque remains of a peaceful life, destroyed in an instant.
Lif's chest tightened with grief and fury, but still, he couldn't stop himself from moving forward. Each body he passed, each dismembered corpse, only spurred him onward, faster and faster.
He stumbled into the center of the village. His mind reeled, but his eyes were fixed on something—or someone—lying in the street.
Lucia. His mother.
Her body lay in the middle of the street, blood pooled around her like a dark halo. Her throat had been slit, and her belly was pierced by a vicious stab. The horror of it nearly drove him mad. She was pregnant. She had been pregnant for just a month, and now, she was gone.
His body went numb. His chest ached with the weight of the loss. His legs felt like they were made of stone, but somehow, he forced himself to move toward her.
"Mom…" he whispered, though his voice barely escaped his throat.
Victor, his father, was kneeling beside her, his face ashen with grief. He didn't seem to notice Lif's approach as he held her hand, his eyes locked on her lifeless body. The world around them could have been crumbling, but Victor's gaze never wavered from his wife. Lif's heart shattered as he watched him.
Then, in the blink of an eye, Lif saw him. The man.
A towering figure stood before them, his presence commanding, his armor gleaming like some kind of twisted, majestic shield. He was a man of power, but there was something off about him, something that made Lif's blood run cold. His white hair cascaded down his back, and his eyes—cold and unfeeling—fixed on them as if they were nothing more than insects beneath his heel then lif saw his ears, his pointy ears.
Victor's eyes flared with rage as he stood up. "You did this!" he yelled, his voice breaking. "You killed her!"
Lif watched, helpless, as his father charged at the Man, fists raised in a futile attempt to avenge his wife. The mqn was slow to react, but his movements were calculated and precise. He grabbed Victor by the throat with one hand and effortlessly lifted him off the ground.
"Dad!, no!" Lif cried, but his voice barely reached his father.
Victor fought back with all his strength, but the man's grip only tightened. Lif's vision blurred as he watched, panic flooding his chest.
The man was toying with him. The look in his eyes said it all: this was a man who had already decided the fate of the village, the people, and their lives.
"Your wife was a weakness," the man said, his voice calm, almost bored. "And now, so are you."
Lif's breath caught in his throat as he saw the Man raise his sword high above Victor's head. The blade gleamed in the firelight, and in a single, brutal motion, it came down.
Lif's world shattered as he watched his father's head roll from his shoulders. It felt like the earth itself had cracked beneath his feet. He was paralyzed, frozen in place, his body unable to react as the Man tossed Victor's lifeless body aside like a ragdoll.
The man didn't even spare him a second glance. He turned, his footsteps heavy and slow, leaving Lif alone in a sea of fire and death.
Tears welled in Lif's eyes, but he couldn't cry. He couldn't move. His legs felt like lead, and his mind was consumed by a single thought—he was gone. His father was gone.
Suddenly, a force slammed into his side, sending him flying. He hit the ground with a painful thud, gasping for breath.
He stood up, dazed and confused, only to see a soldier towering over him. This soldier was different from the others. His features were sharp, his build imposing, and his pointed ears marked him as one of them—an elf. It couldnt he a coincidence.
Lif froze. His mind couldn't process the sheer horror of what was happening. Elves. They were the ones responsible for this destruction.
But then, something caught his eye. Behind the soldier stood Sela, her body trembling as she knelt beside Ren, her face twisted in grief. Ren... One of his closest friend. Lif's heart stopped as he saw the bloodstained corpse of Ren in her arms.
Sela's sobs echoed in Lif's ears, breaking through the numbness that had taken over him. Her pain mirrored his own, but it wasn't enough. He couldn't stand there, helpless.
The soldier raised his sword, his eyes narrowing at Lif. "You're next," he said, his voice cruel and unfeeling.
As the soilder swung his sword lif had no time to react, before the blade could slash his head clean off, the soilder gets blasted by a ball of fire,
Lif motionless turns to see rael running towards, lif didnt move from his spot untill
"MOVE" rael yelled out,
Lif turns back at the soilder mid swing aiming for his head once again, lif jumps from the ground barely avoiding it as he kicks him right in the face,
Lif lands on his feet rael standing next to him, a fight for survival and they know what their job is.
They charged at the soldier. Lif's heart was a whirlwind of emotions—grief, rage, fear—but he focused on survival. He had to protect Sela. He had to protect Rael. He couldnt bare losing anyone else.
The soldier's sword swung down with deadly force, but Rael was faster, dodging the strike and launching a fireball at the soldier's side. The soldier grunted in pain but retaliated quickly, slashing his sword toward Rael.
Lif dove in, using the distraction to land a heavy punch to the soldier's ribs, the armour was tough, The soldier staggered, but his rage only grew stronger. He swung his sword wildly, aiming for Lif's neck. Lif barely managed to dodge, but the blade grazed his shoulder, sending a searing pain through his body. But the adrenaline surging through lif's body was enough to keep him going, lif uses the soilders sword as support grabbing the blade, feeling his hand being cut but it didnt faze him he kicked the soilder right in the throat, he lands back on the ground looking at his bleeding hand, his turns to rael,
Rael was on the ground now, knocked back by the soldier's vicious blows. Lif's heart skipped a beat, but he couldn't afford to hesitate. He stepped forward, with pure fury in his eyes, landing several strikes before the soldier finally managed to knock him to the ground.
But lif used this to his advantage with a quick sweep he knocked the soilder off his feet as rael got up and jumped at the soilder,
Rael's hand lit up with a fiery glow. He gritted his teeth and, with one final effort, sent a powerful point blank blast of fire straight into the soldier's face. The soldier screamed, the flames consuming his features. He laid on his back, his body twitching in the final throes of death.
The battlefield fell silent. Lif stood there, panting, his heart racing. He had survived, but at what cost?
Rael walks next to the corpse of the soilder grabbing his sword, "here lif, youll need it"
Lif takes the sword from rael "do i need a sword because im a hollowborn?"
Rael chuckled. "No You idiot, well yes but still we need to defend ourselves." Lif wiped the blood off his hand on his pants chuckling despite the chaos and terrors they have seen just a few minutes ago,
Sela's sobs reached him again, and Lif turned to see her standing beside Ren's body, tears staining her face.
Lif slowly walks up to her and sela looks up at lifs bloodstained clothes and then face,
"You're bleeding..." Sela said
"We have to go," Lif said, his voice thick with grief. He reached for her hand, but his own hand was shaking. Sela stands up holding lifs hand wiping off her tears
Rael nodded grimly, wiping his own tears away. "We move forward. We survive. For them."
And together, they ran, leaving the burning village behind them. Lif looked back once, seeing the flames rise higher and higher. He wanted to scream, but the words wouldn't come.
The world was lost. But they still had a chance. A chance to survive.