Your eyes widen once you hear the child sob out the sentence. You look at Eridan to see a shocked and worried look on his face.

"Eridan," you say, getting his attention, "keep Elias safe, I'll go help fend off the monsters."

Eridan shoots up, looking at you dead in the eyes, "there is no way that I'm letting you go off by yourself."

"And leave Elias alone," you huff, "I've fought before, I'll be fine."

Before Eridan could come up with a retort you've already passed by him and Elias. You were running towards the village, your bag hitting against your side with every step. Your staff was gripped tightly in your hand. Your feet slam against the gravel path as you make it to the village.

You stop in your tracks when you see that state of the village. Buildings were burning and people were screaming as they ran from the disgusting monsters. A sob nearly escapes your lips when you see the familiar tattoos on one of the monster's arms. But you harden your expression and charge towards the nearest monster.

You begin shouting out chants as you swing your staff at the monsters. One monster goes to swing at you with a large club; you lift your staff up and shout.

"COSUR!"

A bolt of lightning fires from the end of your staff. It directly hits the oversized beast and sends it flying into a large tree. You turn around and continue to take them down, one by one.

You snap your head towards the direction of a scream. You see a young girl standing in front of one of the monsters, she was crying as the monster lifted his axe. You run towards the monster, slamming your shoulder into its side. The monster drops his axe.

"Cosur!" you yell once again and the beast crashes into a home.

You pick up the young girl and begin running from the village. You give the girl to her father, who runs off into the forest to avoid the chaos.

You look around at the remaining village guards. Most of them looked almost done for. So you charge back in, aiding any of the guards or civilians that needed your help. The destruction around you was immense.

'I don't know if we'll be able to get rid of them.' You think as you run up to the next monster.

The monsters had fled. After so much loss and fighting, they finally fled back to wherever they came from. You groan as you sit down against one of the destroyed homes. You watched as slowly people begun to wander back into the village. People were crying at the loss of not only their homes, but some of their loved ones.

Your eyes begin to water when you see the dead body of a young girl sticking out of the rubble of a building, her lifeless eyes staring at you. You close your eyes and lean your head back against the broken stone.

"Alright everyone," the mayor shouts over the crying crowd, "we have to see if anyone is still hiding or stuck."

And although the townspeople were distraught, they began to look around the broken buildings and nearby forest. With a pained hiss, you get to your feet. During the fight you had been thrown at a building harshly, which killed. But the adrenaline that had been running through you at the time stopped the pain from getting to you. But now it was all coming back.

'I have to leave.' You think and slowly make your way home.

You trudge out of the main part of the village and up the gravel path that lead to your house. You kept quiet and made sure no one was following you the whole time.

After a painful trip you manage to get back home. You open the door to see Rose sitting right in front of the door. She looks up at me.

'What happened?' she asks.

"The village was attacked." You explain.

"Was it...' she trails off as you nod.

"Well, I'll start packing." You sigh and walk into your bedroom.

You fill your bag with everything you deemed necessary and decided to leave everything else here.

You take one last look around the lounge as you swing your bag onto your back. You grab your staff, which was leaning against the hallway wall.

"Alright Rose," you say, looking towards her, "let's get going."

You feel Rose jump onto your shoulder, lying around your neck. You open the door and instead of going down the path, you head straight into the forest in order to miss coming across any of the villagers.

Just as you were about to jump over a large fallen log a voice speaks up.

"Where are you going?"

You freeze and slowly turn around, facing the dark haired alchemist that stood behind you. One look at his confused face makes you flinch from the guilt.

"Um, out." You manage to reply.

"I don't believe you." Eridan frowns.

"I'm sorry to tell you but I will be leaving the village." You state.

A hurt look covers Eridan's face.

"You know something about the monsters that attacked the village," he says, walking towards you, "but what..."

You try to take a step back, only to be stopped by the fallen tree. You wince when Eridan stands right in front of you, grabbing one of your wrists.

"You turn up at the village, not long after monsters from all the way in the Rage Kingdom attack the village," he continues, "you help defend the village and then try to slink off."

You take a deep breath and look Eridan in the eyes.

"Alright, I'll tell you everything and then I'm gone," You say, "but please let go of my wrist."

Reluctantly Eridan removes his hand from around your wrist and you bring it to your chest, rubbing the injured limb with your uninjured arm. You sit down on the log and look up at Eridan.

"I was born and mostly raised in this kingdom, along with my siblings, when I was always good at magic, I got my first wand when I was 5," you begin, "when I was 13, when the ruler of the kingdom vanished, the army of the Rage Kingdom attacked my village, somehow bypassing the other kingdoms, my family was killed, but I was taken to the Rage Kingdom because of my magical potential."

"I'm so sorry." Eridan mumbles.

You look up at him; he had a sad look on his face. You were going to reply to his comment but decide to continue the story.

"I was stuck working for the Grand High Blood for five years, it was awful, he made me kill so many people," by now you were beginning to sob, "but I finally escaped and for the past year and a half I've been travelling in order to stay away, I thought I'd be safe to settle down... but I guess not and now I've gotten people killed."

Your shoulders shook as you sobbed loudly. You gasp when you feel arms wrap around you.

"I'm so sorry to hear what happened to you," Eridan speaks up, "but you don't have to go back to travelling, just stay."

"I can't," you tell him, pushing him away; "I've decided that I would confront the Grand High Blood."

"That's insane!" Eridan exclaims, "You'll be killed!"

"Well, at least I'll try." You say as you wipe the tears from your face.

You get back to your feet and turn your back to Eridan. You go to jump over the log in your way, but a hand firmly gripping on your shoulder stops you.

"Then let me come with you."