The village they resided in was called the whispering pine village which happened to be in the ironwood fortress clan territory, one of the ruling clan in the lower heavens and since they are under the protection of the clan, the villager didn't have to worry about being attacked by the others as they continue to live their happy life. But all of that change on a faithful day when Ethan went hunting with Alden as they usually do in the bamboo forest.
The villagers were busy in their day to day activities when some men came to the village all dressed in black robes with a red tag on their arms that has the picture of a snake with its jaw open.
When they noticed these men in their village, the village head went to welcome them after sensing the aura they carried which sold them out that they were cultivators until them, mere mortals who just wanted to live their life.
"Welcome to the whispering pine village, if I may ask, what brought esteem guest like you to a small village as this?" asked the village head with a bow.
When the village head went to greet them, the others stopped what they were doing as they just focus on the visitors as they hoped they haven't offended the ironwood fortress clan, but what happened next shocked them all as the village chief's head suddenly flew into the sky, and it happened so fast that they were unable to understand how the man was able to accomplish such feat and the incredible thing is that the village chief body was still in his bowing position until it finally fell as he did not know how he has died until the very end.
"You have to blame the ironwood fortress clan for having fallout with the Shadowblade clan. Now let's see how they are going to deal with this". Said the man after killing the village chief before giving out orders.
"Kill them all and set this place ablaze".
After ordering the four men behind him, they quickly dash into the crowd, starting a killing spree moving from one person to another as the screams of the villagers could be heard while some tried to escape only to end up being killed.
It didn't take them much time to wipe them all, leaving the village in blaze as they left just as they had come with blood all over the ground, men, women and kids lying on the ground died. Meanwhile, in the bamboo forest, Ethan and Alden were busy chasing a hare and just managed to catch the hare as they let out a laugh.
"That took a while, but we managed to catch this fellow" said Alden with a smile plastered on his face as he flicked the hare in it stomach playfully.
"Ah, I thought we won't be able to catch the hare and was already reaching my limit" commented Ethan while trying to catch his breath as he watched the hare in Alden arm.
"Hahaha, luckily I was more faster than this fellow else won't be going home with any game since it happened to be the only game we could find since coming here" said Alden with a laugh.
"You are right about that. Why don't we take a rest before heading back to the village?" asked Ethan while taking a sit on the ground as he rested his back on a bamboo.
"That's not a bad idea" replied Alden with a smile as he also sat close to Ethan while the hare in hand but already strangled to death.
They rested for a long time before finally deciding to head back to the village. On their way back to the village, they noticed smoke rising into the sky, and it happened to be coming from the village location. They didn't say anything as they dashed towards the village at full speed in fear that something might have happened to the village.
It took a long time before they finally arrived at the entrance of the village but the scene before them was not what they were expecting as bodies were lying everywhere with all of them dead while the buildings were burning away.
"Mother, father, where are you hiding" yelled Ethan with tears flowing down his eyes as he charged in trying to find his parents. It was the same with Alden, who also went searching for his parents.
Ethan was able to locate his parent as they were both hugging each other, even at their last moment. Seeing the two covered in blood, Ethan lost all strength as he fell on his knees before the two bodies as he was in tears. Alden also came overlooking lifeless with tears flowing from his eyes as he tried to be strong, but he couldn't just stop the tears from falling.
"It seems like we are all alone in the village" said Alden with a sad face as he sat on the ground while looking at Ethan who was still in tears.
"Who could have done this, we have never offended anyone so why did they decide to wipe us out?" Ethan could not help but ask as tears continued to fall from his eyes.
"Who knows, but the only clue we have about who might be responsible for all this is this" replied Alden while revealing a red tag to Ethan which happened to be the same tag the men were wearing on their arms.
Looking at what Alden was showing, all Ethan could see was the image of a snake with his jaw opened wide but didn't say anything and just registered the image in his head as all he could think about right was finding those that destroyed his village.
"There is nothing left for us to do here, so if you have anything to take with you, now is your time to get them before the whole building goes ablaze" said Alden as he stood up and walked away to get what he needed.