The sun was setting, casting long golden beams through the open windows of the little house.
Inside, laughter filled the warm air — rich, alive, full of life.
Kairen sat cross-legged on the floor, wrestling with his little sister, Liana, over a hand-carved wooden toy.
"No fair!" Liana pouted, her cheeks puffed out. "You're cheating, big brother!"
Kairen laughed, ruffling her hair. "You're just weak, little worm."
Their mother, Eliah, shook her head from the kitchen, smiling. "Play nice, you two. Dinner's almost ready."
At the table, their father, Rolan, polished his old, worn blade — not in preparation for battle, but out of habit.
He hadn't needed to fight in years. This village was peaceful. Forgotten by the world.
Safe.
Or so they thought.
The night fell.
The stars blinked into life.
They ate together, joked together, as if nothing could ever touch them.
For one perfect moment, Kairen thought, this is forever.
He never even heard the men arrive.
---
The front door exploded inward with a deafening crack.
Black-clad figures poured in like shadows given form — masks hiding their faces, guns and blades gleaming under the lantern light.
For a heartbeat, no one moved.
Then chaos erupted.
Rolan was on his feet instantly, but he never stood a chance.
A bullet tore through his shoulder, spinning him around. Before he could recover, a second man drove a blade deep into his stomach.
"FATHER!" Kairen screamed, lunging forward.
Rough hands grabbed him from behind, dragging him back. He kicked and thrashed, but he was only sixteen — still too small, still too weak.
"NO! LET GO OF ME!"
Eliah shrieked, trying to reach them —
but another man struck her across the face with the butt of his rifle, sending her sprawling across the floor.
"Mom!" Liana sobbed, clinging to her mother.
The leader of the attackers, a tall man with a jagged scar across his jaw, stepped forward.
His voice was cold, emotionless.
> "You were warned, Rolan. Leave the past buried, they said."
Rolan coughed blood, struggling to rise, hatred burning in his eyes.
"You... bastards..."
The leader shrugged casually.
> "You brought this on yourselves."
Without hesitation, he drew his pistol and placed it against Rolan's head.
Kairen's screams shattered the air.
"NO! PLEASE! I'LL DO ANYTHING—!"
The gunshot was deafening.
Rolan's body slumped to the ground, blood pooling beneath him.
Eliah screamed and rushed toward her husband — but the men seized her roughly, pinning her down.
Kairen was forced to watch, struggling uselessly against his captors, as they pulled his mother up by her hair.
"Such a shame," the leader said mockingly. "You should've stayed in the dirt where you belonged."
Eliah spat in his face.
The man only laughed.
And then, without warning, he slit her throat — slow, cruel, making sure Kairen saw every drop of blood spill.
Kairen's mind shattered.
A raw, animal sound tore from his throat — not a scream, not a cry — something deeper, more broken.
"Mom..." he whispered, collapsing to his knees.
Only Liana remained now.
Tiny, trembling.
Her tear-streaked face turned toward Kairen.
"B-Brother... help me..."
Kairen tried to move, but the hands gripping him were iron.
He could do nothing.
Nothing.
One of the masked men picked Liana up easily, like lifting a rag doll.
"No!" Kairen howled. "Please, she's just a kid! Please!"
The leader turned to him, smiling.
> "That's the point."
The blade slid into Liana's chest so gently it was almost tender.
Her eyes widened in shock.
She tried to speak — tried to reach for him — but only blood bubbled from her lips.
She sagged in the man's arms like a puppet with its strings cut.
Kairen's vision blurred with tears as he watched the light leave her eyes.
And then she was gone.
---
Silence fell.
The men stood over the carnage they had created, breathing heavily.
Kairen was thrown to the ground like trash, a boot slamming into his ribs.
He coughed, blood splattering across the wooden floor.
> "Leave him," the leader said with a sneer. "Let the world take care of the garbage."
The men filed out, their footsteps fading into the night.
Kairen lay there, surrounded by the broken bodies of everything he had ever loved.
The smoke from the burning house stung his eyes, but he barely noticed.
He was empty.
Hollow.
Worthless.
Discarded.
Like something broken — no longer useful.
---
As the flames consumed the last pieces of his home, Kairen whispered into the darkness:
"I swear...
I swear I'll make you all pay..."
But the only answer was the crackle of fire and the cold indifference of the night.