Chapter 2 The Night That Changed My Life

I ran into the forest.

I felt frustrated with my parents...

No, I felt frustrated with myself...

I know, I can't be a royal guard.

But deep in my heart, I truly wished that my parents will support me in whatever I do.

I keep running into the forest.

It was so dark right now.

I can't see anything.

*Thump*

I stumbled when my foot hit a tree root while running.

My body fell into a pud of mud and my ankle was strained.

I looked around for help.

There's no one.

Well, of course, there were no people.

I ran into the forest by myself...

What am I thinking to myself?

My eyes were finally comfortable with the forest darkness.

I finally could see a little bit better in the dark.

I looked around myself once again and found an abandoned hut not so far ahead.

I forced myself to stand up and walk slowly toward the hut.

As soon as I reached it, I lie on my back under the roof of the hut.

My ankle hurt...

My clothes are still drenched with the mud...

My tears won't stop flowing from my eyes...

Yet... I still don't want to go back home...

I cried myself to sleep on that night.

*****

Where is this?

It's dark.

Mother?

Father?

Are you there?

What... There's a light coming from there!

A man is coming toward me on a horse.

A tall man dressed in a blue and white uniform.

Is that... A royal guard?

He rides his horse toward me.

He stops.

He slips down his horse and brushes my hair gently.

"Don't worry..." He whispered to me gently. "I will take you home."

He puts both of his hands under my arm and lifts me onto his horse.

He slips back on his horse and we rode toward home.

*****

I woke up.

It wasn't a dream.

It was a memory of the past.

How I met my first royal guard.

How I did aspire to become a royal guard in the first place.

He saved me from being lost in the forest when I was much smaller.

Back then, I didn't remember either his face or his voice.

What I remember was the warmth and kindness from the royal guard.

He was supposed to be guarding the royals, but he still saves a commoner like me.

I wished... You were here now...

I then snapped back to reality.

I looked around at my surrounding.

It was still dark.

The moon was directly on top of my head.

'It is still midnight huh...'

I am feeling a little bit better now.

Maybe I should go back home.

Mother must be worried sick about me.

I went back the way I came from.

Luckily, my footsteps were still there, so I wasn't lost.

I almost went out of the forest.

'Wait... Why there's a red light coming from the village? It's supposed to be midnight now.'

When I got out,

The entire village was burning.

There are bodies everywhere.

'What... what happened here? Mother... Father... Are you fine?...'

I walked to my home.

There were many bodies along the way.

My neighbor...

My friends...

As I got closer...

There was a man in black clothing on a horse in front of my house.

And my house...

Burnt to the ground.

'It must be him! He must do all of this!'

I hid behind a wall nearby.

He was on top of the hill, so maybe he didn't see me with all of these bodies.

At least... That's what I thought...

As I slowly stepped back for cover, my feet hit a table full of pot at the market.

The pot fell and made a huge noise.

He immediately turned to me.

He rode swiftly toward me.

I tried to run, however, stumbled on a body and fell down.

'Damn it... Why this time of all time...'

He rode toward me and snatched me while he rode away from the village.

"Let me go!" I yelled at him. "I must meet my parents there! let me go!"

"What? You are their son?" The man spoke softly with his deep voice.

"Yes! Why... Why are you doing this... This village is not even rich, why are you raiding this village?!"

"It's not me who raided this village. I'm just a passerby. Look at me, There's no single blood on me, right?"

"Then... Who did this?"

He slowed down just before we got out of the village.

He pointed to a flag that was dropped on the ground.

It was a blue cross with a white background.

Yes... It was...

"The royal flag." He said to me. "It was the soldier from the palace that raided this village. I had no Idea why... But I definitely know who."

"Then... my parents were..."

"If you were talking about the couple from the top of the hill, they were not dead."

"What?"

"They were alive. I had no idea why, but they were taken by the soldiers. Probably to the castle."

"Then, they were fine?"

"I wouldn't say fine, but at least they were still alive."

I let out a sigh of relief.

We rode out to somewhere safe deep in the forest far from the village.

"But why are you helping me?"

He looked at me.

For some reason, his black eyes really filled with sadness at the moment.

"I... Just want to..."

At that moment... I didn't understand what he meant.

If he saved me, he must be a good person...

Or so I thought...