"One day, I'll become the greatest Mythril Adventurer, respected by everyone."
I don't know why those words returned to me now—spoken long ago to my mother, whispered with childish pride. I remembered them as she was assaulted before my very eyes. Heroes were supposed to save people. Heroes were meant to arrive when hope ran thin. Then why—why was a hero from another world doing this?
*-*-*
My mother was the most beautiful and kind woman I had ever known. She was one of the rare Spatial Magic users on the continent, a mage powerful enough to serve in a lord's mansion. Yet she abandoned rank, comfort, and prestige to remain with me in our quiet village of Mulap.
That peace shattered when EDRICK ROLAND, our village elder, gathered us in the square. He was a tall man with scar over his cheek with a warrior's build and a grim voice hardened by years of battle.
"The army of VINASEL marches toward RAVENHOLT," he said. "MULAP lies directly in their path. At their current pace, they will reach us in one week. We must evacuate."
Panic spread instantly. Everyone knew what VINASEL left behind—burned villages, broken families, and blood-soaked soil. That nation thrived on corruption and slavery. Its nobles fed on gold and flesh, draining the people dry while lounging in mansions built from stolen lives. Their king dreamed of conquering Trivrat, and to achieve that dream, they had even summoned a hero from another world, corrupting him with pleasure, women, and power.
3 days into the evacuation and 40% of village has been evacuated
The warning came from the entrance
"A scouting party of 25 soldiers are coming from the West Side."
"There appears to be an well equipped person leading them."
The gatekeeper's voice carried a tremor of raw fear as he called out, his words barely steady while addressing the scouting party.
"Hurry!" Edrick roared. "Gather the children, women, and elders. Get them to the church—protect them with everything we have!"
Around sixty villagers rushed inside. My mother stood at the center, her eyes calm yet resolute. She knelt, placing her palm against the stone floor, and began chanting in a language older than the continent itself.
"Bhūmigr̥ha māyā-līnaṃ, chāyāmarṇa pralīyate,
Adṛśya-sthāna saṃhāraḥ, pretavāsa vilupyate.
PHANTOM SPACE"
Church disappeared as the chant completed.
I rushed into the church, my heart pounding as I was looking for my mother. In that instant, a crushing realization struck me: she was not inside.
"Mom. Momm. "
I searched frantically, panic clawing at my chest. "Mom! Where are you?"
"Boom"
An explosion thundered from the village entrance.
Silence fell over the church—thick and suffocating. Everyone but me seemed to understand what that silence meant, grasping the grim reality of the situation we were in.
The silence thickened with every passing moment, until it weighed on my chest. Unease crept through me like a chill. Something was terribly wrong, and I desperately wanted to hear anything—anything—to break the dread of the unknown.
After a long silence what felt like an eternity, a man's voice rang out, cruel and laughing.
"She the first woman I've seen after I've entered the village she's going to be mine."
Follwed by a sounds of multiple horses galloping due east right before the church.
It dawned to me. "Mom" I started to run towards the church door even before I realise. It's my mom, she's stayed outside to divert the pursuers away from the church.
"Hey don't go outside, stop that kid."
"We all may get found out if he go out now."
"It's my mom, I need to save her. Leave me."
"Don't you get it? She's trying to save you. Don't go waste her sacrifice. Don't act foolish, it's not the time PRA BOY." Said a middle aged woman with dark brown hair and light tanned skin, HILDE SAN. "But Higde san" I sobbed "mum, they're gong afer mum. I wat to rotect.." I was unable to complete my sentence. Tears starting to roll from my eyes. I can't stay here forever.
The villagers inside the church never gave me a chance to escape. Hands held me firmly, refusing to let me go. Surrounded by people, I cried alone, isolating myself from everyone else as I waited—desperately—for a chance to break free and search for my mother outside. I needed a chance—just one. I had to wait until everyone forgot about me or their attention shifted elsewhere.
"Wooff wooff"
Did a dog just bark?
The thought struck me like a jolt. My breath caught as I listened again, every muscle in my body going rigid. There were no dogs in our neighborhood—none at all. We had never kept them, not even the surrounding houses. The sound didn't belong here.
A cold unease crawled up my spine. Something was wrong. No—horribly wrong. The silence that followed felt unnatural, as if the world itself were holding its breath. My heart began to pound, each beat louder than the last, drowning out my thoughts. Whatever was happening outside the church, whatever had made that sound, it wasn't meant to be here—and the moment I realized that, fear settled deep in my chest like a warning I could no longer ignore.
In the fraction of a second, a blinding white light exploded before my eyes—
"BOOOMMMM"
A thunderous roar tore through the church, the sound crashing against the walls and echoing violently in the enclosed space.
I saw it as an opening—one I could not afford to miss. I had to reach the back door. This was my chance. I tore free from Hilde San's grip and sprinted toward the rear of the church. Throwing the door open, I stepped out into what remained of our village.
Mulap was gone.
Every house burned. Roads ran red with blood, flowing toward the village center like a mockery of life. Smoke choked the sky. Screams echoed and then fell silent. I started to run aimlessly hoping to find my mom. "Mom where are you?" "Mom, moommm, mooooommmmmmm"
As I moved past a nearby house, a soldier's strained moans and heavy breathing drifted out, just as two other soldiers stepped from the doorway.
"She's great, I wonder how other women taste in this village."
"Let's gather a bunch of em and enjoy as much as we can"
"HIMKAZ SAMA only like late teens or early 20's girls, all others are ours to enjoy."
"Yes yes, all others are ours to enjoy."
"Hahahaa" laughed without a hint of mercy in their face.
I waited until the soilders leave
"Cold already, huh? Ruined the whole damn mood. What a waste."
Even though I knew what awaited me inside, I clung to a fragile thread of hope—that the person within was not my mother. Fear rooted me to the ground, my hand trembling as it reached for the door. I wanted to turn away, to run, but my legs carried me forward against my will.
I entered the house through the main doorway.
What I saw shattered that last remaining hope.
A headless corpse lay sprawled across a blood-soaked man, its lifeless form rising and falling in a grotesque rhythm. The body was clad in a torn red chemise and a cream-colored skirt, both stained and ruined beyond recognition. The scene before me was wrong—unnatural—an abomination that froze my breath in my chest.
"Mom! Mom! Mooooom!"
My hysterical cries startled the soldier. Snarling, he hurled my mother's body aside and lunged toward me, striking my face with brutal force. The blow sent me flying across the room, my body crashing hard against the floor.
"Stay there, you little brat," he snarled. "I'll deal with you after I'm done here."
He turned back to my mother's body as if I didn't exist. A wave of nausea surged through me, my stomach twisting violently. I retched where I stood, bile burning my throat as I collapsed, unable to endure the sight any longer.
"It's a body of a fyn slut. Your father was a lucky bastard to enjoy this pussy in it's peak."
Father… even I don't know who you are. My mother told me once that I was a gift from God, that she had never been married. Yet, why do thoughts of a man I never knew even existed haunt me now? My mother—humiliated even in death—had sacrificed herself for the villagers, and now the sight of her desecrated body ignited a fire within me.
A sudden, blinding rage surged through me—the urge to strike down the soldier who had humiliated her, who had struck me across the face, who had destroyed our village, who had brought this senseless war into our lives.
"Everyone… everyone of you," I screamed through clenched teeth, "I'll kill every last one of you—now or in the future!"
The soldier's eyes snapped toward me, frustration twisting his face. "The corpse is cold, and I wasn't satisfied. And you—disturbing me like a pathetic fly. Fine. I'm done with this one. I'll find another… but first, you die."
He lunged toward me with brutal speed. I twisted to the right, dodging into the kitchen. My gaze fell on a kitchen knife lying on the counter. Heart pounding, I snatched it, gripping the blade tightly, ready to defend myself. The soldier grabbed me with his left hand and began raining blows with his right. As another fist hurtled toward my face, I thrust the kitchen knife upward with all my strength. The blade bit deep between his middle and ring fingers.
He screamed in agony, releasing his grip. "Arghhhh! You damn brat—this is your last day!"
I stepped outside and found a large wooden plank and a hard, sharpened stick. I set the plank alight, the flames licking upward with a dull roar, then carried it back inside. With trembling hands, I used it to cremate my mother's body. A single tear slipped from my eye as I watched the fire claim what little remained of her.
Behind me, the soldier regained his footing.
Another appeared at my back, closing in until I was trapped between them, with nowhere left to run. I clenched the stick in my hands, my fingers aching from the strain. As I struggled against the man in front of me, the soldier behind suddenly seized me, locking both arms around my body and pinning me in place.
The one before me struck without hesitation.
His fist crashed into my cheek with crushing force. Again and again he hit me, each blow driving the breath from my lungs, until pain became the only thing I could feel. When he was finally satisfied, he hurled me aside as if I were nothing more than discarded flesh. Believing me dead, they turned and left.
I lay there, broken and unmoving.
I mourned in silence, knowing I was powerless to avenge my mother. I was weak—nothing more than an ordinary thirteen-year-old child.
"Why did you save me?" I whispered. "Why didn't you try to save yourself? Why did you have to sacrifice everything?"
My voice cracked as I cried out, "I need you, Mum… Mom… Moom---"
The words faded from my lips as darkness closed in. I collapsed beside my mother's burning body, and consciousness slipped away.