The tranquil environment of the village was suddenly disrupted by a man's screaming voice. It started near the eastern gate but grew louder as he approached the center.
Hearing the screams, the villagers began to come out of their homes and saw a man running wildly and screaming while heading toward the village center.
His face was full of terror while an arrow was stuck in his left shoulder, while he repeatedly shouted a single line, over and over, with all the strength he could muster:
"Bandits are attacking!"
"Bandits are attacking!"
"Bandits are attacking!"
At first, the villagers were confused, but as soon as those words sunk in, panic started to grip their hearts.
For some, the words struck like a bolt of lightning out of the blue, while there were some who had dreaded this possibility for a long time, which had finally come true.
Regardless of what their initial reactions were, every one of them understood one grim reality: this was a time of crisis, and not everyone would make it out alive.
The reason was simple.
For some of them to even escape from this current situation and survive, others would have to stay put and try to hold off the bandits, essentially sacrificing their lives.
As these thoughts were going through their minds, they noticed three fiery streaks suddenly falling from the sky towards the village. Two of those struck the ground creating explosions while the last one landed on a house's roof, setting it on fire.
The resulting explosions were not very powerful, but were enough to throw the whole village into complete chaos.
People started screaming and running like headless flies, making the situation even worse.
Just before the explosions, some of them had the thought that if a few fighters stood their ground, they might be able to hold the bandits off for a bit, while the rest of the villagers escape, but now it seemed nothing but fantasy.
Some of the villagers scrambled to put out the flames consuming the house so that the people still trapped inside the house could escape.
On the other hand some of them grabbed their loved ones and headed straight to the opposite side of the village, essentially towards the western gate in a desperate attempt to escape.
While all of this was happening, the people who were stationed at the western gate as guards were now running toward the source of the explosions, trying to find the reason behind it.
But when they saw the people fleeing in panic, they were shocked, but when they heard the cries of those people that "Bandits are attacking!" their shock turned into panic.
Now, instead of running towards where the explosion happened to provide backup and support, they scattered in all directions, each of them were not heading toward their own families in a desperate attempt to protect their own as the panic was now turning into fear.
Even though they were part of the village militia tasked with protecting everyone, in this current situation they didn't even try to find what actually was happening, nor were they in any mood to find out.
Because fear of losing their families had already taken over their thoughts. So, instead of standing their ground to fight the bandits, they were now running towards their loved ones.
Suddenly, four more fiery streaks fell from the sky, but this time, they landed and exploded among the villagers who were fleeing toward the western gate.
Once again, these explosions weren't particularly powerful, but they had enough strength to send those people tumbling to the ground while three of them were engulfed in flames.
As crying and screaming erupted among those people due to the explosions, six more blazing streaks fell from above. Three villagers were directly hit and exploded, scattering flesh, blood and gore everywhere while others were caught in the explosion and were set ablaze.
While all of this was happening, Venfir was running toward his home.
The moment he saw the explosion while he was outside Alberic's house, a terrible feeling had started to bubble up in his heart. In no time that terrible feeling turned into fear when he heard the screams that bandits were attacking the village.
Along his way, he witnessed the horrific site of the villagers he knew, young and old, lying lifeless. Some had died due to arrows, while others were killed most likely due to the explosions as their corps were still burning.
Venfir abruptly stopped and jumped back as a blazing streak landed directly before him and exploded. Though he successfully dodged a direct hit by moving back, the blast's shockwave still sent him off balance, and he fell to the ground.
Although he was able to somewhat sense the danger, his body was no longer the same as it was in his previous life. His current body lacked the muscle memory that was the result of being in battle for a long time, which might have allowed him to react more adequately and avoid the blast and the resulting shockwave.
Some of the flying debris struck him but nothing serious, other than some minor scraps. Venfir quickly regained his composure, immediately got up, and ran towards his home again.
But before he could reach his house, he saw his parents running toward him. He was relieved and happy that they were safe but also felt nervous because they were running towards danger to get to him.
When they finally met, Venfir hugged his parents tightly. His mother who was visibly panicked before, looked immensely relieved to see him safe. His father, though silent, also seemed finally at ease.
However, the situation refused to allow them even a moment of peace as another explosion occurred nearby, catching them off guard.
This time, Venfir wasn't able to dodge in time because he had let his guard down due to feeling relieved after seeing his parents alright.
Luckily, the explosion wasn't too close. Even then, the force knocked them to the ground, while some of the flying debris struck them, resulting in some minor injuries.
Venfir and his parents quickly scrambled back to their feet, but instead of fleeing immediately, his mother began inspecting him frantically, desperate to ensure he wasn't badly hurt.
Seeing this, Venfir's father became panicked and spoke in a hurried voice:
"What are you doing? This is neither the time nor the place for that! We have to get out of here right now!"
Without waiting for a response, he grabbed his wife's and Venfir's hands and ran towards the western gate.
On their way to the gate, they were fortunate that no more blazing streaks, which they found were burning arrows, fell from the sky near them. However, the situation still remained dire.
Nearly half the village's population had lost their lives, some from the fiery arrows and the explosions they caused, while others fell to regular arrows.
As they ran, Venfir noticed something chilling: at a glance, the arrows that had struck the people looked to be randomly fired, but each and every one who had died died to a single arrow.
This was a clear indication that whoever or however many had fired those arrows possessed incredible precision, ensuring that every arrow claimed a life but were trying to cover up that exact fact.
This sort of deliberate thing had made Venfir's heart chill as an ominous thought occurred.
If they were being attacked by bandits, then where were the bandits? And if they were really bandits, would they be firing arrows with this much precision, and that too one at a time, as if they were hunting them?
Are we truly being attacked by ba...
Before he could finish his thought, he saw a woman running just ahead of them, struck by an arrow to the back; the location was clearly the heart. The force of the shot drove the body forward, tumbling along the ground for several steps before coming to a halt.
As Venfir's parents were horrified by seeing this kind of scene, Venfir's heart clenched as he sensed not just danger but death. But before he could even say anything, he saw his father's upper body explode due to being hit by an arrow.
The flesh, blood, and viscera covered him and his mother, but they stood there stunned. Time for them had stooped.
Venfir was the first to get back to his senses. He wanted to cry, to scream, but he couldn't. The situation didn't allow him because he had to take his mother away from here before he could even allow himself to mourn.
He looked at his mother, who was standing still next to him, still stunned, her eyes wide with disbelief. He tried to pull her, but it was as if she was rooted to the ground.
As he was trying to pull his mother, Venfir heard something running in their direction even in this chaotic situation.
He didn't want to turn around to look at whatever was approaching them or even be there for another second, but her mother was so shocked that she just stood still.
Vefir could have just left his mom there and tried to run away, but he who had not known what parental love was in his previous life, was fortunate enough to have gotten into this life.
Instead of running away to save his own life, he just resigned to the situation, deciding not to live like that this time, and even if he wanted to run away, he wasn't sure that he could.
So, he just moved forward and hugged his mother.