Alarms...trumpets and loud voices giving orders, that's what wakes me up and I can hear from my hiding place, (where I barely slept) I can't help but see my family in flames screaming my name and asking me to save them.

I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't touch them and I fell again and again in an infinite pit...but enough is enough, I must concentrate, I must calm down and control my emotions, I have a mission and only that must matter...find the Riftwatchers and warn them of all this.
I protect the sword in my chest and slowly walk outside, the colors and clarity hit me forcing me to close my eyes until I adapt to my surroundings and become even more confused than before, how far I ran, where am I, I am welcomed by the different shades of green and the warm breeze, the wonder tucks me in and accompanies the pain I carry in my chest...it is beautiful.
I walk slowly towards the voices and the smell of freshly baked bread and the cries of children playing reach me, I almost feel like I am in a dream when I push the branches aside and what looks like a village rises before me.
It does not seem that the war has ever touched the face of those children who run with joy and surround all who pass their way, it does not seem that they run away from anything or fear, so ignorant of the monsters that lurk from the farthest reaches of the forest, I approach slowly and look for some hiding place, branches, leaves and mud I do not think it is pleasing to the eye, not counting the scratches and the great sword hanging from my back.

And so I get to what looks like a large square, where now my wonder is increased, how much joy overflows this place, the music is part of the atmosphere and people are walking here and there doing their work ... How can I get out of here or even find someone to tell me where to go?

I'm concentrating on positioning myself and thinking about my next move when I feel myself being pulled into an alley.
"STAY AWAY ! I WILL NOT HESITATE TO USE THIS (I draw my sword and try to see where my target is )"
" Put that down already kid, you'll hurt yourself" they say.
It's a soft and feminine voice, the most beautiful voice I could catch, calm and paused.
"I demand you identify yourself and tell me why you pulled me down here" she demanded in the most stable voice I could fake.

" I don't think you are in any condition to demand anything stranger, unless you have some explanation as to why you are here, in that condition and with that weapon "
" I am Julian, I come fleeing from the legion of chaos and the reason for my weapon is none of your business".
The shadow moved quickly and almost gave me a heart attack when I felt an unbearable pressure on my neck, the little light that enters here let me see that it is small, but strong, it approached my face and I could notice only half of his face, a really beautiful face and eyes that look at me, a pair of pearls that hunt me with their eyes while evaluating mine ... he sees me almost as if trying to capture some gesture that gives me away of having lied.

"You say you are a survivor of the legion of chaos ?" He hisses cautiously.
" That's what I said, please could you let go of my neck I don't breathe well" I say with little force.
He angrily lets go of me and walks in circles, he looks like a caged lion, he turns and I almost feel like I lose strength, I don't know if from over demanding my body the last few hours or the lack of food and water...I think all of them.
"Where did they attack? He seems to have found calm and says to me almost friendly.
"I'm not clear where I came from, I just ran without looking back until I fell" I say with little strength.
I see double, my body is heavy and everything is spinning, suddenly I feel a strong pain and everything goes black.

"He's just a kid, how can you believe him, what assurance does he give you that he's not lying?"
" Will it be because he is more bruised than you when he won in fights ? Don't you see? Look how bad he is, he fell like an autumn leaf, he has no color in his face and besides... he had the look of having seen hell itself".
I hear voices, voices that as I regain consciousness become clearer, a discussion, that's all I can understand and ... suddenly all the memories come to me producing a scream in my throat, a heartbreaking one.
Agitated I look around me and fear takes over even more my sword is not there the junkers, what the hell.
"Heyyyyyyy calm down stranger calm down, you're not in danger" they say to me.
That voice, I turn around and I see her now clearly, she is not short as I thought, her golden hair falls to her waist, her green eyes like the forest that was my hiding place for I don't know how many days and innocent face.
She does not go according to her posture or her clothes, she looks like a warrior from the rest, her face stands out more so creating a combination that clashes.
Behind her there is a boy, one that looks older, he looks at me suspiciously with his arms crossed on his chest and approaches me.

" I was told by sunsent that you are running away from the legion, how true is that ?"
I don't waste time talking and focus on my surroundings, seeing that it is a small room with two wooden chairs and no decoration on the walls only a door and what looks like a closet.
I stand up and feel the dizziness taking over me, forcing my body to sit on the bed again.
"Don't try to get up so fast, your body is really beat up and your lack of food doesn't help, here eat something and we'll wait for you downstairs" Sunsent tells me taking the boy by the arm and dragging him out of the room.
I relax my muscles when he closes the door and I see what he offers me to eat, bread and milk.
In other circumstances I wouldn't eat it but the hunger is unbearable for me, I take it all with desperation and eat.

When I finish with everything on the plate I try to get up slowly, I walk around the room and see that in the closet are all my things, I take them and go out.
A corridor with three rooms welcomes me, I walk to the bottom and see some stairs, I see Sunsent talking and decide to go down.
"I see sunsent talking and I decide to go downstairs.
He walks towards me and I can swear that the one who almost suffocated me to death is not the girl I have in front of me today, holding my hand with a smile.
" I'm sunsent, this is my brother, Liam ( points to the boy ) "
"Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Julian, I appreciate your help but I have to go" I say.
" Where to ?" says sunsent crossing my way.
" I don't mean to be rude but it's none of your business" I say as best I can.
"You are, I don't know if you know but if you keep going the way you are going you won't last three days out there" says Liam.

I turn around and analyze my situation, I am alone, unaware of absolutely nothing around me and tired from so much running.
My conscience screams at me to go out and see how to gather information alone, but another part of me just tells me to ask them.
"I must find the Riftwatchers and warn them of the legion of chaos" the words come out of me without me controlling them.
The faces of both of them change, they turn and speak with looks that only the two of them understand, I shift uncomfortably for the situation and Liam approaches.
"We will guide you, on the condition that you vouch for us before them" he says calmly..

I almost choked with saliva and laughed, I ? Respond?
" If it was for bread and milk I can work a few hours and pay for it".
" No, Liam, leave this to me if ??" Sunsent turns to his brother and he walks away.
" Can you sit down and we talk ?"
My instincts don't work, they seem off before that greenish look, I sit down and squeeze the handle of my sword just to concentrate on something and think logically.
" My brother and I were once like you, we are not from here, our village was to the north...only we survived and we stopped here trying to camouflage ourselves for years, we know where the Riftwatchers will be but we can't get there by ourselves, it took years tracking them and the Riftwatchers don't welcome you are some junkers, thing my brother and I don't possess but you, you do...Julian it wasn't the best way to meet us but help us "

Sunset ends
This girl is direct, she doesn't give details but she says what is necessary without preamble, she is like a razor.
And I analyze everything, it is very true that the Riftwatchers disappear, they are almost impossible to locate them and it could take years on this, I don't have years I must find them before the legion changes places and my information is obsolete.
" I will, do we have a deal ?" I reach out a hand towards sunsent and she smiles, the most beautiful smile and takes my hand.
" We have a deal ?"
She runs out and looks for Liam, we spend the rest of the afternoon making plans and they show me all the information, blueprints, maps everything, we plan to leave the next morning we have only one day to find them before they change location.
At night I try to sleep but in vain, the memories torment me and steal my sleep leaving me only the bitter taste of loneliness and pain.
At sunrise we leave, sunsent is very cheerful, he paints the morning with jokes and humming songs that I don't recognize, on the other hand Liam is very quiet, he speaks as much as necessary and I feel his constant analysis of me.

They are like light and dark, we walk for hours, until we can't anymore....but stopping is not an option, there are only hours to go and we must move, these areas are dangerous.
"Only one kilometer to go, just move Liam" says sunset.
Liam roars and throws him a piece of bread, they don't seem to be suffering, I wonder how long ago the legion marked their lives and how long it will take me not to see how much they marked mine.
Thirty minutes later we stop, we are already on the edge, right in front...I'm right in front.

Mother, father I made it, I arrived.
"You must go Julian, just you, show your junkers and then plead for us, only then can we approach without getting our brains blown out" says Liam.
I get closer, there doesn't seem to be anything, but I still can't see behind just as Liam indicated...my body feels heavy, what's wrong with me.
"IDENTIFY YOURSELF!!!"
I don't see where the voice is coming from, but I tremble at how loud it is.
"I am Julian, Son of Arnarius" I say with a broken voice when I name my father, I show the junkers and leave the sword in front of me.
And everything changes, a field opens up, letting me see inside, I can't hold back the tears at what I see, my parents, my sister.
I made it and I will make it through all of this.
I swear to you parents.

I will avenge you.