Invasion

It was a long corridor, very dark and gloomy. He could only hear the incessant noise of his footsteps as they continued to an unknown destination.

The walls were made of rather damaged bricks and the floor looked slightly wet.

There was a very high humidity in there and the air was not breathable because of the dust.

Cesar could not see the end of that immense tunnel, it seemed almost infinite.

Suddenly, where there seemed to be only infinite darkness, a rather strong light appeared that forced Cesar to close his eyes.

"A... Light...?".

 Every step that he made the light became stronger and stronger. He was approaching the source of that light when, all of a sudden, the environment around him turned into a completely different room.

He could hardly see anything in that room, his eyes were completely blurred.

Only one detail stood out to him. A tablet is placed exactly on the wall in front of him. It was quite far away, so he could not see well. He noticed that on the tablet, there were inscriptions.

He tried to get closer to read them, but a strange sound interrupted everything.

His vision became increasingly blurred and the only thing he saw after that was the ceiling of his room.

The alarm clock was at seven in the morning and, after getting up, he turned it off.

"Again... That dream... " he whispered, as he wrinkled his face for sleep.

He didn't pay much attention at first and went to have breakfast with the little he had.

As he ate, however, his gaze was caught by the castle of the nearby village. He looked at it from the window of his living room and, suddenly, the words of Yuusaba from the day before came to mind: "You must stay away from that castle... It is guarded by many guards and the government of this nation, as well as the Kormany, prohibits the population entry into each castle... ".

"Why...?" he thought.

"Why do I have to stay away from that castle?? Why did my grandfather want to get in there so much??".

He didn't even finish his meal when, all of a sudden, Yuusaba showed up at his door once again.

"Him?? Again??" he thought, before getting up and checking who it was.

He opened the door and let him in.

"Cesar!! Good morning... How are you??" asked Yuusaba entering the house and sitting on one of the chairs around the table.

"You were having breakfast I see... what time did you wake up??".

"At seven, as usual... Why did you come here again??".

"All I had to do was make sure you still had the money and that it would last for at least another seven days... Next week I can't pay you, Cesar... I had to spend more than my due for my things... ".

"Ahh okay... Don't worry, I have money, it's fine... ".

"Good!! Today I'm going to learn a little more about Tevon so that tomorrow you can go to him, is it fine??".

"Okay, but how do you find out something? Who will you ask for information?? Tevon was a friend of my grandfather... I don't know if it's safe to do this... ".

"Rest assured, Cesar... I know what to do, don't worry!!".

Yuusaba stood up from the table and headed to the front door to leave.

"I let you finish your breakfast, and I recommend... Stay away from that castle!! Yesterday you seemed too curious, haha, I trust you. I recommend!!".

"All right... " he said, saying goodbye to Yuusaba, who left.

"Again... Why does he always remind me to stay away from that castle?" He thought curious, turning to the window of the living room to observe the castle.

Suddenly an alarm rang in the village.

Yuusaba, who was still on the way back to the village, heard this alarm and stopped.

"What the... " he thought, heading quickly to his house.

Along the way, people seemed to be quite agitated and trying to figure out what was going on.

Cesar could hear that alarm too. He rushed out of the house to listen better.

As soon as he set foot outside the house, that alarm stopped and, all of a sudden, a robotic voice echoed in the environment.

"It's not a drill. Red alert. It's not a drill". 

After a few minutes where the voice kept saying the same two sentences, the dialogue continued.

"A group of fighters has been spotted along the village's borders. Take refuge in houses, barricade the windows, lock every entrance. A group of fighters has been spotted along the village's borders".

One of the villagers, who was out shopping, asked for information from one of the guards called to defend the village.

"What's going on?" he asked worriedly.

"Did you hear the voice? Take refuge immediately in your home!!" he ordered with a cold and authoritarian tone.

The man obeyed and walked away rather frightened.

Many guards had been assembled to defend the village from invaders. These guards came almost all from the castle of the village and positioned themselves along the outskirts.

"There are four of them... They seem quite dangerous... " whispered one of the guards to a colleague.

This group of fighters was composed of individuals possessing power. They camped near the village to conquer the castle.

However, behind that group of outlaws was a boy lurking behind a rock. He seemed to have followed them all the way and he seemed to want to enter the castle too.

[...]

"But what... " exclaimed Cesar again, who tried to get closer to the village to see better.

As he approached, Cesar entered the village unseen and noticed that the streets were almost deserted.

He walked around the streets looking for passersby who could explain the situation to him when, all of a sudden, from a corner popped a boy running. He was the same boy who, until recently, was behind the invaders. This boy had managed to get into the village and, turning into a curve, went straight into Cesar.

"Ouch!!" exclaimed the boy, who fell to the ground.

"You hurt yourself??" asked Cesar, trying to be nice.

However, the boy got up and continued to run.

Cesar took the opportunity and followed him. He had sensed that he wanted to enter the castle and it might be useful for him to go with another person.

"Hey you!!" he exclaimed, trying to stop him.

He did not stop at the call of Cesar, thinking that he was a guard.

"Stop!! I don't want to do anything!!".

Hearing this, the boy stopped and turned to Cesar, holding his sword.

"What do you want??" he asked threatening and ready to defend himself.

"No stop... I don't want to do anything... I'm a normal guy like you... ".

"What do you want from me?".

 "I was just trying to understand... Do you want to enter this castle?".

The boy, unconcerned about the consequences, replied in an arrogant tone.

"Yes, I'm entering that castle... What will you do now? Will you call the guards?".

"Not!! I want to go in there too!! I was wondering if... " he was interrupted.

"I do not seek collaborations or alliances... " he said, jumping over one of the buildings to lose him.

Cesar did not give up and continued to follow the boy, who was heading towards the entrance of the castle, taking advantage of the absence of guards around.