With the glistening sun shining down on the strongly scented grass and flowers, in the middle of it all were farmers, working in this heat for hours and hours. Even so, this was honest work that brought smiles to the faces of those farmers. The birds began chirping, singing a rhythmic song that added on top of the laughter and strikes of the tools that were used for the crops. One of the farmers came to a halt, huffing and puffing, displaying exhaustion and dehydration. Placing his tools to the side, he turned away from the crops and the other farmers, walking in a certain direction to gather bottles of water and bring them back to everyone else. However, within that time, he came back with the destruction of what were beautiful crops and the heads of each person falling to the ground, letting out a loud thud. Blood began spilling out, splashing on the water bottles that the man had, before also being completely decapitated along with the other farmers. Standing firmly and tall, a large bearded man held a giant sword that followed his appearance and laughed as the lifeless corpse of the final farm fell to the ground.
"Haha! Perhaps we should've let these farmers live since food resources would've been good to have, but it's too late now."
He joked before continuing to laugh before turning in the direction that led to the small village that contained residents that lived there. A rather small man came running over to approach the large bearded man, saluting.
"Sir, Storm! We've finished docking our ships!"
"Good, gather the rest of the men into this village. We'll take everything here in these hideous homes and kill any of those that choose to stand in our way. I mean it, kill anyone and everyone if need be. Then again, they'll all probably put up a fit so kill them all, I guess."
He said bluntly as if the lives of the people didn't matter in the slightest. Raising that large sword of his, he marched into the village. Coming to one of the houses, he kicked the door in with little to no effort. A rather small family was inside with two parents and three teenage children. The only thing that the family there could feel was fear. After all, someone like this breaking into your house should be the only thing you could feel. However, the parents still had the obligation and sense to protect their children, which they did, charging at the man to attempt to do some kind of harm. In a swift and fast motion, that gigantic sword was lifted and began to swing at the parents, cutting them both in half. Their blood soon burst, spilling onto their children, witnessing something nobody ever should have to. Completely frozen in fear, there was nothing else that they could do and just like that, the bearded man came marching forward, slaughtering the rest of the people there with the biggest smile on his face. After the screams of those children stopped with their deaths, the noise of a crying baby could be heard in the other room. As the bearded man opened the door, there sat a little girl, holding a baby in her arms with the most frightened expression ever.
"How unlucky. You were so close to escaping me, but this little brat had to start crying and screaming. This is why I fucking hate children, so much. Always here and there to disrupt any plans and just so damn bothersome. Well, whatever. It's time to die, you brats."
Raising his right leg, the bearded man thrust his foot, aiming at the girl's head to kill her in one blow. Suddenly, an arm came breaking right through the walls that the back of the little girl leaned on. The same arm held a sword that sent right through the shoulder of the large bearded man, sending him flying across the floor. The swordsman broke through the walls even more, walking through, with bloodshot red eyes. Completely enraged, the gaze of the swordsman shifted down to the little girl that held the baby that continued to cry, and back to the one that caused all of this. The smell of blood was all there with the rest of his family completely dead.
"You made a fucking mistake, bastard. I'm the village's warrior and the people who you killed were one of my few family members. You're gonna regret all of this!"
Dashing forward, the swordsman struck his blade downwards onto the bearded man, hoping to split him right in half. However, that was suddenly blocked by that gigantic sword that was held. Getting back his composure and back on his feet, blood began to pour, dripping from his shoulder. It didn't seem to have phased him, though. The two would finally come rushing towards each other, clashing blades for what seemed to be nearly twenty minutes. With both of them coming to a halt, their levels of exhaustion were the same, difficult to continue with the pace and intensity that was happening. The bearded man began to laugh and soon speak.
"Woah! How interesting this became! I didn't expect this little sad-looking village to contain such a strong warrior. Then again, for the time we've been fighting, there's something strange. You seem so familiar to me, like I've seen you before…Wait a second, are you by any chance him? You're Steelheart, aren't you?! To be thinking I would be facing a legendary warrior and going toe to toe with him! You're rusty as hell, I would've thought you'd be better than this!"
The swordsman didn't utter a word as the bearded man spoke and decided to lunge at him, attempting to deliver a piercing strike right through the heart of the large bearded man that continued to laugh. All of a sudden, that trusty sword of the Steelheart legend shattered and broke into pieces along with a missing arm that the large sword cut right through it. A loud painful scream could be heard throughout all of the other noise that filled this village.
"The name's Storm. Storm Blue and you ought to remember that if you weren't about to die right here and now. Goodbye old legend, a pathetic one at that. Leon Steelheart."
Before Storm was going to deliver the final blow to Leon, one of the soldiers that came on the ship with Storm to take over this village had the same frightened expression that the little girl had that was going to die.
"Sir! We've made a grave mistake! This is the village that's protected by the Grand Three! Most of our troops have already died!"
The excited expression Storm had on his face swiftly vanished before lowering his giant blade. Turning away from Leon, a loud groan came from the man before exiting the house and soon retreating from the village. Leon now dropping down to one knee, held onto his missing arm, with sweat and blood dripping to the ground. Turning his gaze over to the girl and baby, a smile appeared on his face, satisfied that he was at least able to protect those two. Seconds later two glamorous armored individuals came into the house, staring down at Leon.
"Looks like you're not the same as you used to be. By the looks of it, I think I could probably beat your ass, but I suppose I shouldn't test it because your arm is now missing. We did tell you to not stop training since there's a chance that this could happen. Whatever though, Gracie and I can take it from here. We have a ship that the survivors can go on to get away from this place. After all, it's already been infiltrated and I wouldn't be surprised if they came with backup. Anyways, let's get you patched up. We'll be off to a colder area than this, so I hope you can get used to it."
Just like that, the survivors did manage to all board the ship, but the cries of the baby continued through the silence of the traumatized passengers. Leon holding on to that baby with the little girl resting on his shoulder, a slight smile managed to appear on his face as a sigh of relief came out of him.
"I hope for you two to not remember this moment and that only peaceful times will be in our future, Lilly and Bennett."
Luckily for them, peace was in their way for seven short years that seemed to brush through like a swift bolt of lightning. In the newly built village of theirs, this cold weather was manageable and everyone lived happily. All that changed when in a distance, a fairly large ship could be seen sailing through to this island.