"You knew! You knew these people had been killed! And yet you did nothing you coward!"

"Human do you even know what a coward is? It's someone who runs in the face of danger and I do not run. I confront and you are letting emotions get in the way of a battle you haven't fought yet."

He signaled for the elf to remove his sword from my neck and looked at me. I expected anger and for him to hit me, I expected rage. But there was only curiosity.

"They've killed my family! They have killed an entire town! Yet you stand here hiding in the woods while they're right out there! You could have saved them!"

"They killed them all a day ago. We got word of it and learned they set a trap for us."

"My lord! The Inibrius are on the edge of the clearing but the wards are holding."

He looked up and the guard and dismissed him with a nod before walking around me to the edge of the clearing.

I followed him with my eyes and I could feel the anger on me wash away in one second. They red eyed beasties were standing in front of all of us... and the one in front held a girl. A familiar little girl with brown hair that matched mine. I was up in a second and drawing my blade.

I ran forward, and stopped next to the prince, all the anger I had facing him turned into pure determination.

"Eridan named Prince of the Elves!"

The one in front spoke up first and his voice rang of pure evil but I suppressed the shivers that wanted to run down my spine. I looked at him closer and I was baffled.

He was the one following me from the shadows. He was real.

"I bring a descendant of the Lost King!"

"What is he talking about? That's my sister out there!" I whispered to the prince in hopes that he would understand my urgency to save her.

He turned to me and once again showing annoyance. "I can not go out there, no matter who she is. I am the crown prince, risking my life for a so called descent of the Lost King is foolish. Many have claimed to be that and none have ever proven true. We are safe inside of the barrier they can't hear, see or come in here."

I gasped. "You ass!"

Before I was even aware of it, my mind had decided what to do. I ran at the red eyed monster holding my sister, my sword drawn ready to strike. But instead of running into a hoard of monsters, I ran face first into an invisible wall. An wall that knocked me onto my butt while I was helpless to watch.

And while I sat hopelessly on the ground, the monster in front of me drew his own sword. The shine off the moon reflected of the blade.

One.

"NO!"

Two.

He put the blade to her neck and she started whimpering.

Three.

I watched him pull it quickly across her neck, splitting her throat open. Something wet hit me.

Four.

Screaming. There was so much screaming. The sound of blood pounding through my ears muffled the rest of the world.

Five.

Someone held me back from trying to run. Run to where? There was no where to go now.

Six.

I watched the life leave her eyes. The waterfall of blood draining out of her neck and falling on the ground.

Seven.

I stopped moving and wiped the wet spot on my face. Blood.

Eight.

I built a wall around my heart.

Nothing like this was going to happen again.

Nine.

No one else will die.

Not humans, not elves. Not any more.

Ten.

They were going to pay. They were all going to pay for this.

~~~~

I trained harder than before. I was driven by rage, driven by revenge. I fought and defeated every person I battled against. I trained before people showed up and stayed til long after they were gone to make sure I could beat anyone I went against.

To be able to protect anyone...

I sighed and grabbed another arrow from my quiver. I couldn't live replaying everyone's deaths in my head so I did the only thing possible: I locked them away in a black box. One I wouldn't ever dare to open.

"Human, why are you out here in the dark trying to shoot at a target? I doubt you can see it."

I ignored the prince once again as he scoffed at me pulling the arrow back and releasing it. With a thunk it hit the center of the target and I turned around to call it a night. I wanted to ignore the haughty jackass as long as I could, no telling how angry I'll get at him.

"My lord, the Gate is ready ."

I stood still and listened to their conversation.

He would leave after what happened?

"Are you just going to run home after a whole village of humans were slaughtered? There were children! These people's families lived there and now you'll just leave?" I put my hand on my hip and turned to stare at him.

So much for ignoring him.

"Human not only is it rude to barge in on a conversation, but I'll let it go because I'm more curious as to how you can understand what we're saying." He dismissed the elf with a nod of his head and turned back to me.

"What do you mean how can I understand what you're saying? You're speaking english."

He examined me in the darkening sky and I shivered. "Go home human, and don't bother coming to training in the morning. You haven't spent a single day away in three weeks. There's no use being dead weight and useless in an actual battle because you trained too much."

I was frustrated. I didn't even get an answer to my question that I had asked and he told me to go home. Let alone telling me I'd be useless if I kept training. It took all I had not to stop my foot and act like a child because he was telling me, a twenty three year old woman, what to do.

I didn't even dignify him with an eye roll as I walked into the woods, there was no way I was going home yet.

But as always... I could have avoided so much if I would have sucked it up and listened...