Loss

The royal soldiers started to march into the streets of the city. They spread out all over with some nobles taking command of small detachments middle of the night.

One detachment of soldiers went to the slums. The soldiers started to knock on the doors of the houses. If they didn't open the door themselves, they forcibly went in or broke the door. They then dragged every man out from fathers to sons.

"The king has ordered every man to fight for the defense of the capital. Every man over the age of fifteen is obligated to serve their king!" A noble yelled waking up everyone in the streets.

The soldiers went inside old man Haufen's bar. They started to drag old man Haufen outside to be taken to the armory.

"Where the hell are you taking me," Haufen yelled.

"The king has ordered you to fight for the country and king. Do your part and do not resist. Failing to comply with the command of the king means dead," a noble said to him looking down on old man Haufen.

"You will not force me to fight. I have already fought for this shitty kingdom and I will not do it again," old man Haufen yelled at them.

All of the other citizens looked at old man Haufen resisting the soldiers. Old man Haufen was a well-known person in the slums who many people respected.

"You will fight, or you will die," the noble yelled.

Old man Haufen looked at his wife who was looking at him with worried eyes.

Haufen stopped resisting because he wanted to make sure that they wouldn't hurt his wife. He complied and started to walk alongside the other forcibly conscripted soldiers.

"Don't give up!"

Haufen looked at his wife.

"Don't you dare admit defeat because of me. I didn't marry a coward!" Mrs. Jean yelled urging her husband to keep resisting.

"Shut up woman or I will have your head on a spike," the noble yelled at her.

"Don't give up!"

The yells of his wife reignited his heart. He started to resist the soldiers. He then threw one soldier to the ground and punched the other.

"Damn you all. If you want to fight for the king and the nobles fight yourself. They never have fought for us so I will not fight for them," Haufen yelled getting the attention of all the citizens who were watching him.

"You will be sorry for this stubborn act," The noble said and took out a sword.

Old man Haufen just chuckled and smiled.

"You all will be sorry when Rufus arrives here. He will make all you pay for your crimes. This is just your last act of desperation realizing that you have no chance of winning. You know what will become of you and you also realize your guilt. When the truth is out and a new nation arises you all will be dead without a grave and people remembering you only for your evil deeds.

"You now finally realize what it's like to be us. How does it feel to be the one being afraid of someone more powerful?" Old man Haufen just looked at the noble who started to get cold sweat realizing that he was speaking the truth.

The noble's hand shook in fear. It was the first time a commoner had opposed him. He started to get mad and began to manifest his divine power. His sword started to heat up like it was smoldering hot and it turned hot red.

The noble lunged and cut an arm of old man Haufen. Haufen fell to his knees and was holding his cut arm with his other arm. Haufen looked up and saw the noble about to plunge his sword at Haufen.

"He may come here, but neither shall you see this new nation," The noble said looking down on Haufen.

Haufen closed his eyes and was ready to accept his death. He just hoped Rufus would take care of his wife when he was gone. Mrs. Jean was his entire life.

The sword came down and a sound of it hitting flesh was heard. Haufen didn't feel any pain though.

Haufen opened his eyes. He looked up and saw Mrs. Jean had stopped the hot blade with her body.

Jean just smiled at old man Haufen who looked shocked at the situation. His eyes were wide opened and his pupils were dilated.

"Learn your place you rats," the noble said.

Haufen held on to his still barely alive wife. She was coughing out blood, but still smiled believing she had done the right thing.

Haufen got mad and punched the noble breaking his nose. He fell to the ground but was still conscious.

He touched his nose and looked like it was the first time in his life hurt.

"Oh, you will pay for that," the noble said and stood up and yelled," Soldiers kill them both!"

None of the soldiers did anything.

The noble turned around. He saw that all the citizens had started to attack the soldiers. They had no weapons, but they outnumbered the soldiers and were attacking them in mass.

The citizens went and started to attack the noble. The noble started to swing his smoldering hot sword killing a few people before they were able to overpower the noble as well. They started to plunge knives into the noble's chest and rip the limbs off of him. A riot had started.

Old man Haufen carried Mrs. Jean back into his bar.

The sword of the noble had fallen onto the porch of the bar. It ignited the porch into flame fast making the whole building and buildings next to it catch into flames.

Old man Haufen looked behind him after he laid Mrs. Jean on the floor. He saw that the door had already lit aflame. The path of running away was closing fast.

"Just run away you fool. The kids need you more than they need me," Mrs. Jean said while looking at old man Haufen.

Old man Haufen shed a tear. He then smiled.

"They don't need us. For a while now we have needed them more. Besides, I don´t think I can even get to the door," old man Haufen said while holding on to Mrs. Jean.

Mrs. Jean looked at the back of old man Haufen. She saw a knife sticking out of it. During all the commotion someone had stabbed him in the back. Mrs. Jean also realized that Haufen was also about to die.

"You know I used to be sad that we never had any kids, but I don't think like that," Mrs. Jean said smiling and holding on to Haufen's hand.

"Hah. Me neither," Haufen said back at Jean while holding on to her cheek.

They both hugged each other. The entire building had caught on fire. The roof caved in and fell on them.

~ ~

The entire city had exploded into anarchy. The few nobles were unable to keep order and the people exploded on the city that had engulfed into flames.