"Please make sure to give it to him." a concerned female voice said as a plate of food was handed over to two men, who appeared to be standing guard in front of a small shack.
"Don't worry, as usual." one of the two assured the woman who nodded and walked off, midway she glanced back to the hut, but continued walking soon afterwards.
The man now holding the plate turned to the second one "As usual?" he asked, "As usual." the other confirmed.
He took the plate and walked further into the forest, soon arriving in front of a pile of rotting food, by now it had become quite a sizeable heap.
The woman had returned home, it was Margareth, her face revealed a complex expression, her husband was already home, both because it was evening, as well as his severe decrease in work.
"What is wrong, my love?" Markus asked her as he walked over to embrace her.
Margareth too embraced him "I am not sure… I have been feeling so uneasy the last few days… I am so worried about what they might do to our Frey!" she began to choke on her words by the end, her worry consuming her from within.
Markus did not feel any better, but he pretended to do, just so he could make his wife feel a little better, that they still had hope to cling on to.
"I don't even understand what gives the Flinn brothers the qualifications to stand guard for our boy!" Margareth spoke in a muffled tone, her face pressed into Markus' chest.
"Right, they are butchers. They have their ways with a knife, but aside from that they are just walking dunces." Markus affirmed her words while he caressed Margareth's head and hair.
Over at the other end of the village a young girl with an impassive gaze was intently looking down at a bouquet of yellow flowers, who appeared to have been ripped out of the ground.
The bouquet didn't look fancy in any way, quite the opposite, the flowers had started to wilt due to a lack of water.
Yet, the girl's eyes were firmly glued to the mix of yellow, green, and brown… up until a scream woke her from her stupor.
"RAIDERS!" a loud and ear-piercing scream forced its way through all parts of the village, creeping into every room of every home.
Cindy looked up from the flowers and ran towards the door, she went outside and stared down the long, open road that leads right through the centre of the village.
Not just her, but all others across the village looked on in horror as their hearts dropped at the mention of that word… there were no official guards to protect them after all.
The only time guards were present within the village would be during the visit of the travelling merchants, or during one of the much rarer visits of a higher-ranking official.
Most of the villagers quickly returned into their homes, slamming their door shut and locking it firmly, whereas some others attempted to flee in the opposite direction of the incoming pack of horses.
Each of them was mounted by a person clad in a mix of grey metal and brown leather armour, some wore helmets, while others allowed their hair to dance with the wind.
They all had a weapon, like a sword, an axe, or a mace in hand, while the other hand was reserved by a burning torch that couldn't be overlooked at this time of the day.
"He has called them here! It's all that demon's fault!" shouted a hysterical woman from across the street.
Cindy turned her head to look at the woman, and sure enough, it was Miranda.
She looked as if she had aged another twenty years, wrinkles all across her face, her hands trembled as she firmly pulled on strands of her own hair.
"Pillage everything, then burn the rest!" a deep, male voice ordered from within the mass of horses, after which several of the raiders cheered with mad grins on their faces.
The sounds of horse-hooves hitting the rocky road filled the air as the outermost buildings were set on fire.
"What are you doing?! Get back inside!" a boy not much older than her grabbed Cindy by her wrist and pulled her back into her home… it was Jake.
Cindy was surprised by the sudden pull; her fingers lost hold of the flowers and fell to the ground.
She attempted to reach for them, but she was unable to recover them before Jake had successfully evacuated her inside.
"What about the villagers, boss?" one of the raiders looked towards the centre of their formation, there stood the most eye-catching breed among the horses.
It was a brown horse with patches of white across its body, its legs were thicker than the regular horses', and its entire body was bigger in comparison.
On every one of those white patches there were strange characters engraved into its skin.
The horse's face looked as if it was unstable, as if it would indiscriminately lash out and bite off the heads of whoever came too close.
The raiders were keeping their distance from this horse, but they didn't express any fear towards the steed and its rider, only admiration.
The man atop the intimidating horse wore a fully metallic armour that covered all parts of his body; he additionally wore a helmet behind which his face was hidden.
His armour wasn't a pure grey, there were some strange red and some brownish colours splattered all across his body and face, presumably dried blood of his former victims.
"What about them? We have no need for hostages. Do as you like-" the leader answered his men's question; however, his thought process was interrupted by the appearance of an old man who profusely knelt before the group and hit his head onto the ground "Please have mercy! We will hand over all of our goods without putting up a fight, so please leave my people be." it was Grandpa Dom, who tried to salvage the situation, and to at least secure the lives of the villagers.
"Without putting up a fight? No, please do! It wouldn't be any fun otherwise, haha!" the raider's leader refuted the old man's plea.
Dom's body started shaking, he cursed his luck, he just had to encounter a bunch of maniacs that preferred blood over food.
"Look here old man, let me make you an offer." the boss of the bandits spoke in a much kinder tone to before, which caused Dom to see hope and immediately get up from his hunched position to look at the terrifying helmet the man in front of him wore.
"I will give you a chance. If there is anyone in this village that can put a wound on my body in a fair fight, then we will leave without taking a thing." the leader continued to explain his offer, and after finishing the men that surrounded him began cackling in amusement.
"We- We don't have any warriors-" Grandpa Dom attempted to plead for a different offer, however an axe the size of an adult human just as quickly rammed into his head and cleanly split his corpse in two.
Both of his halves fell to the ground with a quiet thud "Then don't waste my time." the leader of the raiders sneered as he got rid of some of the blood that stuck to his oversized axe by swinging it into the air.
"What are you waiting for? Get to it!" the boss shouted at the raiders around him who were still admiring his superhuman strength.
The raiders urged on their horses, and with loud neighs spread out into the village, stealing whatever they saw fit, and setting fire to the rest.
Soon enough shrill screams were heard throughout the village, other times loud crying, and by the end only the sound of burning wood remained.
"It's all his fault! It's all his fault! It's all his fault!" Miranda was cowering on the floor of her home, tears and snot all over her face.
"Pull yourself together! We need to leave now!" Kirk, Miranda's husband, tried to pull her up from the floor, for them to flee before the raiders arrived, but not a moment later their front door was kicked in.
"Hehe, I knew I heard voices here." a man with a crazed gaze licked his lips as he walked through the broken remains of the door.
"It's all because of Frey! You should kill the demon! Not us!" Miranda reprimanded the bandit.
"Miranda! Get a hold of yourself! This is not Frey's fault! He is locked up!" Kirk shouted at the woman he used to love, she who had been consumed by her own insanity.
"Locked up?" the bandit looked confused and raised his eyebrow.
"Yes! We locked that demon into the shack at the edge of the villa-" Miranda gave out the information of what could have been the only survivor to this slaughter, and Kirk was too late to shut her mouth "Miranda!" he tried to interrupt her, but the bandit had already heard enough.
"Good to know. The boss is gonna like this piece of news." the crazy raider grinned as he brandished his sword.
At yet another end of the village, two men were standing guard at a small hut, it was the Flinn brothers, who were stationed to watch over Frey, but by now even they had noticed the bright light and smoke coming from the village.
"Huh? Are they having a grill-party?" the first of the two said as his mouth watered "Without us?! Where are they getting the meat from?" the second one said in a hurry "Let's go quickly!" the first grinned and said to his brother.
The two dunces ran off from their post, straight towards the village, and into the open arms of the group of bandits.
"Boss! Boss! You are gonna like this one!" the same crazed bandit that showed up at Kirk and Miranda's home sprinted towards their leader with an excited gaze.
"What is it?" the leader asked as he glanced at his subordinate, he had no expectations, his men were a disorderly and mostly brain rotting bunch.
"I killed this pair of people, and guess what they said before that? Apparently, there is a demon locked up at some shack at the edge of the village!" as the bandit finished his words the leader practically looked at him in a new light.
"That is… interesting. Follow me to look for this place, the others are to continue!" the man clad in metallic armour spoke with excitement; a demon was an opponent he had never fought before, surely it would be able to put up a fight!
The leader rammed his foot into the side of his steed, which loudly neighed in response.
A sane person would expect the horse to feel pain and try to retaliate, however this one seemed to enjoy the pain.
The big horse slammed its hooves into the ground, the sound much more imposing than any of the others, and the engraved characters on the white spots of its skin began shining in a blue hue.
From the characters formed blue lines across the horse's skin, like veins, but much more visible from an outsider's point of view.
As these blue lines connected with one another the steed appeared to speed up, almost leaving the crazed bandit, who was following his leader, in the dust.
The bandit's horse did its best to catch up, but by the time they did, the leader of the raider-group had already dismounted.
They had arrived in front of the old hut which formed Frey's prison until just a while ago.
In front of him stood a young and malnourished child with hollow eyes, residual stains from tears could be seen on his cheeks, however at the moment none of them were flowing.
Frey had lost consciousness while standing, his mind broke after realising that the destruction of his home was real, that whatever fate had befallen his family was real.
"Locked up… Shack at the edge of the village… It looks like I found our 'demon'." the bandit leader spoke through the cover of his helmet, his excitement from before had lessened already, there was no real demon after all.
"A child? Want me to take care of him, boss?" the crazed bandit asked as he too dismounted and approached the peculiar sight.
"Now where would be the fun in that? We likely killed this boy's family, friends, and everyone else he had relations with… you say they called him a demon, there must be a reason for that. I want to find out why." the man in full body armour spoke, and his lackey showed a surprised expression in turn.
"Boss, you mean…?" the crazed bandit inquired, guessing at what his leader planned for the boy in front of them.
"That's right. We'll take him with us. Let's see how long he can hide whatever there is about him." the leader revealed his intentions with a malicious tone.
Back inside of the village the pillaging was coming to an end, as the majority of the buildings had been turned into ash, along with whatever was still inside, be it living, or non-living things.
The bandits that still rampaged heard a loud whistle and looked towards the direction of the source, recognising it as the signal for them to retreat.
The horses ran back through the remains of the village and its streets, trampling on whatever came between them and their path, rubble, rocks, wood, cloth, or flowery remains.
Once the bandits gathered, they all displayed a curious and surprised look on their faces, they never expected there to be a young boy on the back of their leader's mighty and arrogant steed.
The crazed bandit informed them of their leader's intentions, and though they had mixed feelings in regard to the arrival of a newcomer to their ranks, they would never dare to openly voice their opinions.
The bandits were well aware of the extend of what their leader's axe could cleave in just a single hit… their armour and skulls were most certainly included in that list.
Frey was unconscious for the entire duration of the journey this bandit-caravan took back to their hideout, a giant cave on the side of a tall hill hidden far inside of the forest on which Frey's village had used to border.
The leader handled Frey's body with care, placing him down on an improvised bed on the ground of the cave, before ordering his men to bring food and water to Frey.
Without their leader's order they did not dare to touch even a single hair on Frey's head, it was obvious to them that their leader had plans for Frey, it was not their place to judge or interfere.
The strong gave orders while the weak obeyed, these were rules people like them had to follow in order to survive.
"Reporting: we managed to plunder rations that will last us for a month at least." one of the raiders informed his leader as he knelt on the ground.
The leader nodded, then fell into thought; this wasn't the first village they attacked, nor the last, by now word of their actions should have reached various forces within these plains.
Though the leader was hot-blooded, looking for opportunities to fight and kill, he was no fool, he understood that their plundering continuously put them at risk, and sooner or later they and their hideout will be found.
Frey remained unconscious for another three days, the bandits had to forcefully feed him in this state, as their orders were to keep him alive.
Towards the end of the third day his small eyes slowly opened, he looked around himself, only to find himself in an unknown location.
Then a fierce headache assaulted him, Frey winced in pain and held his head with his hands.
His memories returned to him like a flood, and for the first time, he managed to shed a tear for the passing of his loved ones, Margareth, Markus and Elizabeth were the first to come to his mind.
However, he also wept for the other members of the village… though they treated him horribly within the last year, Frey still held fond memories of former times.
One of the bandits entered his part of the cave and realised that Frey had awoken "The little prince is up!" he shouted in response to finding out.
His voice echoed throughout the wide cave, reaching most parts within, causing various of the bloodthirsty raiders that massacred Frey's village to come swarming towards him.
"So, this is what a demon looks like…" one of them exclaimed and nodded, but a second bandit quickly hit him on the head "No you idiot, that's a child." he rebuked the former.
"You wanna start something?!" the bandit that was hit angrily put his hand onto the spot where he had been hit and glared at the perpetrator.
"Shh!" but the others around them signalled for them to hush, as metallic steps approached them, it was their leader, who had taken off his helmet.
The leader squatted down in front of Frey, his long blond hair hanging down, almost reaching the ground, his face was riddled with scars, but had a strange charm to it.
Frey's tears had stopped already, he roughly understood the situation he was in, he was once again a prisoner.
"We are the ones who destroyed your village." these were the first words the man uttered in front of the woke Frey, who recoiled internally, his face however remained mostly still, just like three nights ago, where Frey could not decide on what to make of the situation.
"My name is Hodwan. I am the leader of this unruly bunch of criminals, and you are now one of us." he declared, his straight face revealed that there was no room for negotiation.
Hodwan got up again and turned to leave, he did not ask Frey for his name, or anything else, he did not ask why the village called him a demon and locked him away… all of those were questions Hodwan wanted to find the answers to himself.
The bandits looked at Frey for some more time, causing him great discomfort, as most saw him as weak prey, ready for the slaughter, but they all left in the end.
"Did you feel something from him, now that he is awake, boss?" one of the bandits who accompanied Hodwan asked with curiosity, their leader was known for having powers beyond human comprehension, his limits were unknown to them.
"Nothing. It's like he is just a regular boy." Hodwan answered, but this revelation simply made himself all the more curious.
If the boy had a power so deeply hidden that not even he could sense it, then it must be something fearsome… which would give Hodwan a thrilling fight!
Several weeks passed by without any further commotion, the bandits held feasts nearly on a daily basis, knocking themselves out either through the use of alcohol, or by bashing each other's heads in, Frey slowly adapted to his surroundings, learning to subservient himself to the bandits.
Frey ate and drank with them, however no matter how much they teased or threatened him, he never spoke a word.
Every time he wanted to open his mouth, he delved into the memories of the incident in front of Grandpa Dom's house… Frey was terrified of himself.
He wanted nothing more than to lose this power of his, he wanted to be comforted, but the people here had no empathy for him.
The only one Frey could lean on in such a time was Lu, but Lu hadn't shown himself since he rescued Frey from the shack.
"Our rations are being drained quicker than expected." one of the bandits reported his findings to Hodwan while kneeling.
"Obviously, since we are feeding an additional mouth, which we did not account for." another one revealed his thoughts.
"The mute little prince needs to eat tons to grow big and strong like our leader, you know." a third chuckled.
"That is within expectations. I have already made preparations. We will set out towards the west, in a few days' distance is a small town, there we can replenish our stocks." Hodwan declared from his seat, a sturdy pile of rocks in the form of a throne.
"Peacefully?" one of the bandits asked with his raised eyebrow.
"Of course, we are diplomats after all." Hodwan looked at his men, a creepy smile surfaced on his face, and all of the bandits understood their assignment, they too had malevolent expressions growing now.
"But boss, how much longer are we gonna take care of the boy? He doesn't seem to be anything special…" one of the bandits voiced his discontent.
Hodwan's glare made the bandit quickly lower his head, afraid to make eye contact.
"This world houses powers beyond your understanding. It is obvious that the peaceful environment I have shown him didn't cause any reaction… now it's time change my approach." Hodwan spoke with a cold expression.