The night arrived but Lucas couldn't fall asleep. He wasn't really bothered that he would move to the city, but he was rather intrigued by the school where you could learn to be a mage. He was always fascinated by the stories of mages that could do the impossible. But for him, who was too old to awaken to magic, that was but a meager dream. Tired of laying in his bed, which was a wooden plank with some old clothes as a cover and a long piece of cloth as a blanket, he stood up. He put his clothes on and went outside for a walk.
Tonight there was a big full moon in the sky.
'So beautiful'
'yet ominous.'
While walking around the village he was reminiscing about his life so far. He could see the bakery of Olivia where he got most of his food. Thinking about the fact that he got breastfed by her made him a bit red, but he moved on. He visited the construction works again, and he saw the foundation of a new building. 'Apparently, they were going to build an office here for something.'
'I think I heard one of the guards say it had something to do with administration of new miners.'
'As long as they don't disturb us it's fine, I guess.'
The foundation was already finished, there were already three walls erected and the base for the roof was already laid out.
When he was at the end of his walk he approached the church's front again. He could see his own shadow stretching before him, being cast onto the steps to the door. Suddenly the light turned from a pale blue to a crimson red.
Shocked, Lucas turned around and what he saw was a Full Scarlet Moon hanging in the sky, looming over his village. The entire sky lid up in a blood-like red. "Wha-, what's happening?!" Lucas stood frozen still for a moment before storming inside the church, looking for Marie for an explanation. He went inside her room and shook her awake "Marie, Marie, wake up, wake up!"
"Hhmmm what is it Lucas, …let me sleep."
"The Moon is red!"
"Hmm? WHAT? THE MOON IS RED!!!" Lucas had never seen Marie panic like that, her eyes were hyperfocused and she was wide awake. Jumping out of bed, running towards her bedroom's window she opened it and just stood still. Watching, staring at this crimson moon. "LUCAS! Wake the others up, HURRY!"
Surprised by Marie's shouting he rushed to the other room to wake up his brothers, he barely stepped outside Marie's room when
"HELP ME, HELP ME" "AAAAARGH"
He heard screaming from the outside, but he was too focused on his task to spare the screams any attention. Waking the brothers up they all gathered near the benches. Marie was taking the fire pokers next to the altar and started to hand them out, except to Lucas, because there just weren't enough fire pokers. "Marie, what's going on!" Gregory yelled to cover up the screams from the outside.
Most of the kids were surprised to hear Gregory refer to her as Marie, but the situation didn't give them time to give any remarks on it.
Marie tried to calm herself, ignoring the screams from the outside and the smell of fire she gave a quick explanation.
"There…there's a Scarlet Moon, this makes all monsters extremely aggressive, we need to get out of here as fast as we can. As long as we can reach the guards that are stationed here we'll be safe!" Although the family had never seen an actual monster, they didn't need to be told that is not a good idea to fight against them. Mentally preparing themselves they went to the front door and slowly opened it. Marie took the door handle in her hands and started to smell blood, mustering up some courage she opened the door.
The entire group could now see what happened to their village in such a small moment of time. Almost every house was on fire and the screams and cries of the townspeople were extremely audible. The smoke piled up in the sky and ash was starting to spread on the surface of every building. Their entire village was being burnt to the ground.
"HELP ME!" Olivia was running towards the group, but a monster intercepted her. It was twice the size of an adult and had dark green skin with gnarly teeth. They didn't have any clothes on except an animal hide covering half of his chest and his groin. It had Olivia in its grasp. "MARIE, GREGORY, HELP ME, HELP ME!!!" Yelling while crying wasn't a pretty sight, but the monster brought his mouth closer to her. Marie and her family could only watch on in horror, too scared to even move.
"NO, NO, NOOO!!!" struggling against the monster she tried to push its face away, but that only slowed down the inevitable.
"AAAAAAAAARRRGGGHH" Her arm was partially bitten off, you could see the bones sticking out with a fountain of blood. Luckily for Olivia, she fell unconscious. But for the onlookers, it wasn't as pleasant.
Tris started to barf on the ground and the men couldn't help but follow her example or hold it in.
The monster swallowed the entire arm down in a few seconds and went for a second bite. Its teeth were completely red and a few drops of blood made their way from the gaps between the teeth, down its lips and chin. Olivia wasn't in any state to do anything so the monster could bite her from the neck up.
CRUNCH, CRUNCH
Physically hearing someone's skull getting cracked, the men couldn't hold it back anymore, the rest barfed except Gregory who tried to hold steady to give some form of protection. "RUN…RUN…HURRY!" Marie screamed at the top of her lungs to wake the others up from their frozen state. Gregory took the lead and held Tris by the hand. They quickly started to run, but there were monsters everywhere. Some looked like small humans with long ears and green skin, they ran towards the group. Gregory froze for a second before deciding everyone's fate. "Rast, Jack with me, Korian, you lead Tris, Marie, and Lucas out of here!"
"But, but…!"
"DO IT NOW!"
Rast, Jack, and Gregory took the fight against the approaching monsters. While doing so they opened up a path for the rest.
"YOU STUPID BASTARDS BETTER GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE, GOT IT!" Tris yelled out while tears streamed down her face. The Three boys took one last look at Tris and then at each other. While they looked scared, they also looked happy that they could protect their family in a small way.
"Alright boys, let's show these monsters what we're capable of!"
Using the fire pokers they could fight at a distance, their enemies were about half their size, which gave them a massive advantage. Even with the obvious advantage and the motivating line, they were very scared to actually fight for their lives. Gregory looked very nervous with sweat forming on his forehead, he took the lead. "RAAAAAGH" Yelling while thrusting his poker forward without looking Gregory hit the monster straight inside its skull, surprised that it was so easy to kill them. Rast and Jack saw this and mustered up the courage to follow his example. Jack hits the monster right in its chest, "Greg! I did it!"
"WATCH OUT!"
Despite the fact that the smaller monsters were very weak, they overcame that weakness by numbers. While Jack was celebrating, three others were already onto him. Jack saw the trouble he was in and pulled the poker out of the carcass, but it was stuck between some bones. Looking helplessly the monsters took advantage of him and bit down on his ankles. He could feel the teeth of the creature puncturing his arteries. Another one jumped on him to bite him in his side. "AAAAAARRRGHH" Screaming in pain, Jack didn't last long against the monstrosities.
"JACK!"
"Rast, don't, it's too late now, follow me!"
The two ran away while warding off the abominations with their pokers, they didn't put much energy into swinging them. They ran and ran, but to escape the village they still had a horde of monsters to go through.
Korian, Lucas, and the two girls moved on while looking back a couple of times. Everyone was frightened and was crying, but they didn't have a choice, they needed to escape this hell. "There, in that alley, that's the fastest way to get to the guards." Their goal hadn't changed, even though they knew that the guards wouldn't be capable of stopping any of this.
They approached the alley but before they could a giant spider came towards them, towering above them. The spider didn't have any hairs but had legs that looked like steel and only had four eyes, reflecting the group. Korian wasn't fast enough and one of the spider's legs pierced his heart, instantly killing him. There were no heroic words or brave deeds, he was just another dead victim in this village.
Lucas grabbed Marie's hand and started to run, leaving Tris behind. Tris didn't even notice that she was abandoned, she was scared stiff, looking into the spider's eyes. The monster slowly crept up towards her, while she backed away. Eventually, her back touched a wall, she had no more room to run away to. Her legs gave in and a small puddle appeared between her legs. She started to lament her situation while snot and tears ran over her face, covering her face in the hope the monster wouldn't see her.
Lucas and Marie just kept running without bothering to look back anymore. Marie snapped out of her scared state and started to run a lot faster than Lucas could. She slowly created some space between them, Lucas tried his hardest, but his body couldn't move with him.
"IN HERE LUCAS!" She went into the alley pointed out by Korian before.
"AAAAAAH" Lucas heard Marie scream and stood still for a split second. He started to sprint, turning the corner and looking into the alley. Marie was there, but she was flocked by a bunch of monstrous-looking ravens. They pecked her clothes off and forced her onto the muddy ground. Slowly they pecked pieces off skin and nails to fill their appetite. Screaming in pain, Marie saw Lucas in the alley.
"LUCAS, RUN!!!"
But he couldn't, he was petrified, he barely blinked as the image of her being eaten alive was burned into his memory.
Marie could barely see, but she knew that Lucas was still standing there. She didn't have a lot of energy left but tried to speak for a final time.
"…Lucas…..run…..I've.…always...".
Lucas could only look on in despair as his beloved was being turned into a pile of unrecognizable meat. One of the raven-looking creatures used its beak to pull out one of her eyes, signifying her end. His face was a mess, when one of the strange ravens started to stare at him. It's red eyes glistening with the red moonlight, they stared at each other.
He looked at what was left of Marie and something awakened inside of him. He suddenly felt his thought move faster and he didn't feel afraid anymore. Instead, an apathetic feeling spread over his body.
He looked back at the main street and he saw multiple people running for their lives. Monsters were chasing whatever they could find.
'The guards! They'll fix this mess!'
'The guards are too weak to deal with this mess, we need to hide'
His mind went over every available option and it didn't take long for him to run towards the construction works. He was already close by so if he sprinted he could reach it before another monster chased after him. He started to rush towards his new goal and reached it pretty soon, but what he saw wasn't good. The building he had worked at was in ruins, but not on fire, which was good enough for Lucas. He started to look for a hiding spot inside the rubble when suddenly
"ROOOOAR"
A big boar with red eyes and big tusks was looking at him. Hurrying up his search he chose the first spot where his body could fit.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
The boar was getting closer so he didn't waste any time forcing himself between a wooden pillar and some stones. He was strong enough to lift the stone so he tried to create a small opening. He didn't bother looking back, it would only waste time.
The boar got very close, just a few meters left. But Lucas was barely finished but he didn't care, he forced his body inside of the small cavity. Splinters pierced his skin in multiple places but he never stopped.
'It's this or death'
He pulled his final leg inside before the boar could eat it. The monster didn't have the most intelligence and could only stand on top of the rubble but not remove it. Frustrated the boar went to look for another meal.
Lucas turned around in his cavity to look to the outside. Yet, the only things he could perceive were the dying screams of his family and the roars of the monsters. The fire spread to the church and everything started to fall apart. The smell of burning wood and flesh were entering his nose. Just like a switch that was suddenly turned off, Lucas was starting to lose his apathetic feeling and emotions suddenly surged. His protective state dissipated.
He felt extremely sad, but didn't cry for his voice could give away his location
He felt despair from losing his family, he felt rage at his own helplessness but didn't yell it out.
But most of all, he was filled with self-contempt. He hated himself for being weak.
'If I was strong enough to help out we would've gotten enough money to move to the city'
'If I was strong enough I would've distracted the giant to save Greg, Jack and Rast'
'If I was strong enough I could've saved Tris and Korian from the spider'
'If I was strong enough I would've entered the alley first and killed the monsters'
'If I was strong enough…'
'If I was strong…'
'If I…'
'If…'
'If…'
From that moment an extreme desire for power was born, and this night would go down in history as the Birth of The Lord of Shadows.