Chereads / History of a prophecy / Chapter 2 - THE DECIMATION OF CADIA

Chapter 2 - THE DECIMATION OF CADIA

12 YEARS EARLIER...

In the continent of Rhodesia, a small village near the coast stands at the foot of the Yahvinian mountains. There an eight-year-old boy with purple hair and eyes in loose fitted clothing is playing in the small village of Cadia. Okuri is the heir to the Ichikawa family which are the protectors of the village. Due to the loyalty and prowess on the battlefield Okuri's parents have been appointed newly founded nobles in this small village of Cadia. His parents possessed no affinity for magic so they trained their sword to become the warriors they are today. With the gain in status, Okuri's parents have been especially strict with him to meet the expectations that they have lived up to. Never really wanting to live up to his parents' Ichikawa name. Okuri was always wanting to joke around with friends, not study "proper etiquette". Playing pranks on friends, people of the village and skipping his home school tutoring lessons to hang with his friends in the village. Doing everything he can to avoid the responsibility being thrust upon him without any say of what he wanted.

"Wait, slow down"… said Tenma trying to catch his breath while laying on the ground. "I... I... I can't keep up with you Okuri, you're too fast and never seem to run out of steam."

Okuri looking at his friend with excitement says "Come on Tenma! The ground is for your feet not your back, get up and let's keep going. The others are waiting for us"...

Tenma and Okuri eventually meet up with their friends at the end of the village just outside the protective walls. In a slightly agitated voice a small girl shouts...

"What took you guys so long"... puffing out her cheeks in an exaggerated way

With an apologetic voice Okuri says to Elena.

"Sorry, but Tenma can't keep up with me." scratching the back of his head with a stupid look on his face.

"No one can keep up with you Okuri, that's why in tag you always start as it!" snarled Oishi

As the four friends come together they each get ready for the usual antics. Okuri counts from 20 and the rest scatter throughout the village and look for spots to hide.

"ZERO!!" shouted Okuri with a thunderous voice.

With the countdown at zero Okuri sprints off after his friends. Dashing through the streets and dodging around people going about their day. Ducking under and jumping over any obstacles in the way, Okuri catches a glimpse of Elena in the corner of his eyes hiding behind a stall. Okuri masterfully runs between two buildings on the other side of the stall where Elena is hiding and nimbly jumps wall to wall to get to the top of the building. Reaching the ledge of the building he pulls himself up on the roof and sneaks above where Elena is. Like a cat, Okuri jumps from the roof to the ground behind Elena tapping her on the shoulder whispering in her ear

"Got yah"

With one down Okuri again dashes back out in search of the others. Then suddenly a horse wagon pops up in front of his face and with little to no time to react Okuri quickly leaps out-of-the-way and keeps running. The woman driving the wagon shouted at Okuri with disdain in her voice

"You damn kid, didn't your parents teach you better."

As he continues to run Okuri shakes his head and says

"Those Noble parents of mine would say that a noble must apologize if they are in the wrong, but I simply don't care for the teaching of noble manners so I'll simply react faster next time." after speaking with the woman Okuri sped off.

As he continues to run and search Okuri jumps the walls protecting the village trying to get a better view of Cadia. Within minutes he sees Oishi and takes after him. Like a snake, Okuri slyly sneaks in the hay pile near Oishi then when he least expects it Okuri strikes with precision and gets Oishi making him scream in a high pitch voice giving Okuri an amused laugh .

"Dude, you scared the shit out of me… how did you get in the hay without my notice?" questioned Oishi with a slightly pale expression from the fright.

"A magician never reveals his secrets my friend" Okuri arrogantly said

Okuri sees Tenma right after his successful strikes and charges for him. Within seconds Okuri is about to tag Tenma when he notices something wrong. The guard posted on top of the front gate was shot through the neck by an arrow of crude designs…

When Okuri noticed, it was too late. Hordes of humans and demons had jumped the walls and broken down the gate. Okuri grabbed Tenma and started running.

"We have to get the others and find a safe place to hide." exclaimed Okuri.

"Come on and pick up your feet Tenma! I can't carry you all the way!"

That's when Okuri noticed, Tenma was not moving and he was dragging him this whole time. Horrified at this he looked at Tenma and realized that Tenma, his best friend covered in blood had his throat sliced by some sort of knife and bled out. Okuri's face went dark and realizing there was no point in dragging his dead friend he dropped Tenma on the ground and ran in towards the village. On his way he hears screams of the people everywhere. Men, women, elderly, and children all being slaughtered with no remorse... no hesitation... no empathy.... Okuri ran in horror avoiding everything in sight till finally he got to the front of his home where his parents could protect him. He ran inside and stayed there for hours until the screams stopped.

When the screams had silenced Okuri caustionly left the house and notices there were still demons and humans walking about. They were all gathering towards the village square.

Okuri said to himself

"Ok Okuri, Tenma is dead… Tenma is dead… Ten...Te... " Okuri started to feel the weight of what happened. His best friend had been killed and he left his body in the middle of the village for what god only knows what would happen to it.

"Where is Elena and Oishi… are they alright or are they..."

Fearful for the worst, Okuri pushed on towards the square where everyone and everything was heading towards.

"Where the hell is mom and dad now. They are the Noble warriors tasked in protecting the village and they let this massacre happen!" said Okuri in a hateful but worried tone.

As he moved in towards the square he noticed the bodies of his village were gone. Then looking out in the distance there were two soldiers on their knees, upon closer focus he realized that the soldiers were his parents and behind them were the bodies of the villagers. The dead were all piled up in a mound that had to have been 8 feet high, blood running from under it like a stream that will never end. A large pool had started to form and his parents were in the middle of it. Okuri frantically looked for his friends and knew he would not like the outcome of what he might see. As he snuck around to get in his parents sight he noticed their eyes were gouged out and could not see him. Then from the distance he heard a female's voice in a calm tone go

"Exterminate them, Bugs are not worth my time to speak to or even look at me."

With that command multiple torches set lines of oil on fire and Okuri's parents and the bodies went up in flames. The only screams came from his parents that had no idea that their son was alive, watching the horrific scene of them burning to a crisp. To Okuri this moment of his life seemed like a lifetime. To him his parents would be there screaming in agony forever, but all around him there was laughter from the army that invaded Cadia. The laughter filled the air and Okuri's stomach twisted making him sick from the sight. As his parents' bodies burned and the bodies of the villagers, the pile began to fall over and there they were his two friends, holding each other their bodies faces full of fear and pain. Their bodies mangled, stabbed, and set of fire as his parents were. With this sight forever burned into his memory he ran.

Being careful not to attract any unwanted attention on his way out of the village. The place he once called home was now nothing but ciders in the earth. He went to look for the leader of this army that had attacked Cadia. Unexpectedly, Okuri saw that the one that had caused so much hardship, death, and pain was an Ashen haired girl with beautiful red eyes. Seeing her Okuri thought to himself

"Why… why… why would you do this to me?"

His words kept playing in his head over and over, not stopping for a minute then felt like an endless loop only speeding in repetition as more time went by. As he heard the screams of his parents get louder and louder with these words. A plethora of mixed emotions of grief, sorrow, regret, and fear turned into anger. Such painful anger that couldn't be controlled, suddenly lightning surged off his body in a sporadic pattern. He started to lunge at the ashen haired girl who caused all this but suddenly as if his parents and friends were alive again holding him back he felt compelled not to go, then stopped himself with this lightning also cesting. Then in that moment he got close enough for one thing. He waited for what seemed to be an eternity, finally a battered and bruised man came up to the red eyed woman and said

"Lady Lilith the village of Cadia is no more…".

Hearing her name he burned into his memory then Okuri snuck out of his charred and cindered home saying in a psychotic, dark, hateful, and pained voice

"Lilith I will kill you a thousand times over and over, and over, and over…"