Pain.

That is the first sensation I felt upon opening my eyes

Unimaginable pain.

Pain so strong I was screaming at the top of my lungs before I knew it. Feeling like I was dying.

'Wait, death.' I managed to think.

Then when I did the pain I was experiencing got even worse, if that's possible. Only instead of being all over the place this new feeling of pain was centered directly in my mind. Where it was accompanied by a series of images. None of which made any sense to me. All I knew it the more those images flashed through my mind the worse my pain got.

The small remaining clear part of my mind at the moment wondering why the fuck I hadn't passed out yet.

Though that particular thought was quickly dismissed as I soon found myself surrounded on all sides, by rough-looking individuals.

"What the fuck? Why the hell is this brat awake?!"

"He was supposed to stay unconscious until the process was complete. But just look at him."

"Well I guess that means we've got another failure."

"Yes, it seems so. Alright boys, you know what to do. And hurry it up, that damned screaming is annoying."

The people standing around me nodded at that last persons words. Then one of them pulled out a knife and started lowering it towards me.

Seeing this my intense pain was immediately joined my intense fear.

No...stay back...stay back....

"STAY BACK!!!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. I then felt a huge pressure erupt from inside of me.

But before I could try to make sense of it my vision filled with all white, and then nothing.

***

(3rd Person: POV)

Throughout his long life Warrod Sequen had seen and experienced many things.

[Insert image of Warrod Sequen here]

But the scene he was currently looking at before him had a uniqueness to it he rarely saw.

A building in the center of a deserted town he was passing, completely and utterly destroyed. Numerous corpses littering the ground around it. Some torn apart, and some impaled. Though all of them were killed by the same thing. The blackest colored tree roots Warrod had ever seen.

And he'd seen plenty of tree roots.

Examining the roots not only with his eyes, but also with his senses, especially his magical ones, he quickly determined they were not natural but created by magic. Powerful magic at that.

Which he sensed came from the same source of that burst of magical energy he had sensed earlier that had drew him to the abandoned town in the first place.

Placing a hand on his chin Warren started rubbing it slowly. "Just what happened here?" He mused.

Then a moment after Warren did the tree roots in front of him started moving.

An action that instantly put the man on guard, even more than he already was.

Watching the black tree roots every motion Warren observed as they parted right down the middle, creating some sort of passageway. Which told him the person likely responsible for creating the scene he saw before him was heading his way.

So with that Warren decided to wait patiently.

Then five minutes after he made this particular decision he saw a figure emerge from the passageway the tree roots created.

The figure in question being a young boy of no more than five or six by his estimation. Dressed in tattered clothing, that barely fit the definition of clothing, with bruises and several wounds all across his body, along with his sunken cheeks, instantly allowed Warren to see the young man in front of him was not at their current location by choice.

No, he was most likely a slave or captive of the dead individuals before him.

Leading Warren to instantly stop grieving for them. Because he had no room in his heart for people who did anything to children.

Oh and speaking of children, Warren soon returned his attention to the one in front of him which was walking closer and closer, until he eventually reached him and then slowly grasped the left side of his coat. After which the boy turned his gaze upward, and looked Warren directly in his eyes.

The old mage seeing a pleading and desperate look in them.

"H..elp...me..." The boy asked. Just before his eyes rolled back in the back of his head, and he began to fall towards the ground.

But before he could even touch it Warren caught him in his arms. He then put a kind smile on his face.

"Do not worry young man, you are in good hands. I promise." Warren gently spoke.

He then lifted the child gently into his arms and started making his way out of the area.

Extremely curious as to the story of the boy in his arms.

Warren couldn't wait to find out what it was.