They were 10 years old.

It was the middle of the night, yet no one was sleeping. Anxiety filled the air and the hearts of each and every resident of their village. 

The Powers: headed by Jiyong’s father, and the Blacksmiths: headed by Seunghyun’s father, were gathered in the middle of the village square. Jiyong was beside his father, and Seunghyun beside his.

“We can’t win this war Commander Jin. It’s been ten long years and our forces are thinning. We need to plan for evacuation and relocation”, Seunghyun’s father argued.

“Since when have you been such a coward Sai?! We are not surrendering! The fate of the entire race of Novises relies on us winning this war. We have abilities that humans don’t have and we need to have a better strategy of utilizing them”, Jin’s voice boomed across the entire village square.

10-year-old Seunghyun and Jiyong looked at each other, an understanding passing between them.

Their fathers are tired and weary. After 10 long years of warring with the humans, losing countless brothers and sisters in battle and even losing Seunghyun’s mother because of a village raid, Seunghyun and Jiyong knew that it was almost time for them to take over.

And it scared the out of them.

“But Commander—“, Sai was about to argue against Jin when someone ran in the middle of their conversation.

“ATTACK! ATTACK ON THE EAST GATES!”, the guard was frantically yelling at the top of his lungs.

Cold sweat broke on both of the boys’ forehead. 

An attack?

Now?

There was also an attack last night, and they still have so many wounded soldiers. Their healers can’t keep up.

“WHAT?! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SOLDIERS POSTED THERE?!”, Jin gripped the guard’s shoulders and shook him.

“T-there’s too many of them. W-we’re being wiped out”, the guard’s voice quivered.

“! REINFORCE THE EAST GATES! DON’T LET THEM BREAK THROUGH!”, Jin barked his orders and mobilized everyone. 

“Jiyong, pick up your sword. You’re fighting with me tonight”, Jin grabbed Jiyong and made him stand next to him.

Jiyong felt his body shake in fear at his father’s request. 

“Commander he’s still a child!”, Sai stood in front of Jin and tried to pull Jiyong away. Jin grabbed Sai’s wrist and gripped it.

“He’s my son Sai. And I say he’s ready to fight. If your son is ready, then so is mine!”, Jin hissed and roughly released Sai’s wrist.

“Come Jiyong!”, Jin barked, but Jiyong remained rooted in place. Jin’s eyebrows came together and he fixed a glare on his son.

“Are you defying my orders?”, Jin said in a low growl. Tears pooled in Jiyong’s eyes as he met his father’s eyes that were filled with rage.

“I-I’m going to die”, Jiyong muttered just above a whisper.

A hard slap resonated amidst the noises. Jiyong’s right cheek started to bruise and he tasted blood on the right corner of his mouth. Jin’s hand drew back and slapped Jiyong’s other cheek.

“I did not raise a coward! You will pick up your sword and fight!”, Jin yelled and was about to slap Jiyong again when the sound of machine guns filled their ears. 

Fear gripped Jiyong. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t think. All he knew was that….he’s going to die. All his years of training left him, only fear remained. And the guilt. The guilt of not being good enough. The guilt of being a disappointment.

The next series of events happened too fast to register on Jiyong’s mind. He was standing up, and the next moment he was on the ground with someone lying on top of him. His shirt was starting to get wet with some warm liquid. He was hearing a lot of noises, but can’t make anything out of them.

“Snap out of it!”

A hard smack on the face brought him back to reality. It was Seunghyun. 

“We have to go! This place is going to get overrun!”, Seunghyun was desperately yelling while taking cover from the rain of bullets being showered on them.

“W-what? Wait what do you mea—“, Jiyong’s question got cut off when he saw who was laying beside him, bathing in a pool of his own blood.

His eyes widened and his heart started beating erratically. 

No...

No this can’t be happening.

This is a dream.

A really bad dream that he’s gonna wake up from in the morning.

None of this is real.

It can’t be real.

“Commander please hang on!”, Sai screamed desperately while continuing his futile attempt to stop the bleeding from Jin’s chest. Jin coughed a handful of blood and shook his head.

“I-it’s useless Sai. L-leave me, t-take the boys and go to the shelter”, Jin tried to mutter even as blood continued to leak out of his mouth.

“No! Seunghyun find a healer! Tell them the Commander is injured! Go hurry!”, Sai frantically yelled and Seunghyun was about to go when Jin’s hand shot out and grabbed Seunghyun’s wrist.

“No... it’s not worth the risk boy”, Jin whispered. He struggled to turn his head to face Jiyong.

It can’t be real.

“Jiyong...”, Jin struggled to mutter.

No, this is not real.

Jiyong just stared at his father. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes.

“C-come here”, Jin coughed out more blood.

Reality came crashing on Jiyong.

His father is going to die.

Because of him...

Because he was scared...

Because he froze...

Because he was weak...

“F-father”, Jiyong hiccupped. He inched closer, trying his hardest to not burst into tears.

“Do not cry son. Crying is for the weak”, Jin tried to stay as sternly as he can. But he felt his strength leaving him. 

He reached out a blood-soaked hand and cupped Jiyong’s face.

“Listen Jiyong. The weak have no place in a world like this. Which is why you have to be strong. What happened tonight must never happen again, do you understand?”, Jin muttered not above a whisper.

Jiyong ferociously nodded his head, trying his hardest to contain his tears.

“Never show your weakness, never show mercy, never love anyone but yourself, and never trust anyone but your own kind. It’s kill...or be killed...You need to....live.... no matter what”, Jin coughed up more blood, and a few seconds later went limp.

Jiyong shut his eyes and bit his lip until is bled. He gripped his father’s arm, which is slowly turning cold.

Sai reached out and closed Jin’s eyes.

“We have to go”, he said with as much strength as he could muster. 

Seunghyun nodded and gripped Jiyong’s shoulders.

Jiyong wiped his eyes and slowly let go of his father’s arm.

“I promise”, he whispered before standing up and running away with Seunghyun and Sai.

They managed to get out of the village and into a safe house that was built for emergency situations. 

They were the only ones who made it out.

“Seunghyun and Jiyong, I need you both to stay here”, Sai ordered as he took some weapons from the safe house’s weaponry.

“Father it’s not safe to go back there!”, Seunghyun clung on to his father’s sleeve. 

“The Commander has fallen. And it’s up to me to save as many as I can. Seunghyun, I need you to keep Jiyong safe. He’s the head of the clan now, and you’re his second”, Sai strapped a few guns to his waist and a long sword to his back.

He stooped down until he was at eye level with Seunghyun.

“If I don’t come back, you must promise me to keep Jiyong safe. You will live to serve him, just as I lived to serve Commander Jin. Do you understand?”, Sai brought a hand up and cupped Seunghyun’s face.

Seunghyun looked him in the eyes and nodded. Sai smiled and ruffled his hair.

“I’m so proud of you, son”, he whispered and planted a swift kiss on the top of Seunghyun’s head.

With that, he stood up and dashed outside the safe house.

Seunghyun let a lone tear escape his eye.

He knew...

That his father would not come back...

He looked back and saw Jiyong pressed up against the wall, hugging his knees.

He walked towards him and sat beside him.

Silence enveloped them.

But an understanding passed between them.

They’re most likely the only ones who made it out. 

Seconds passed, which turned into minutes, which turned into hours.

------------

With each passing second, Seunghyun’s heart kept getting heavier and heavier. It’s been almost 8 hours since Sai left, and the reality that he wasn’t coming back started to sink in.

Tears started pooling around Seunghyun’s eyes. 

“Don’t cry”, he heard Jiyong mutter.

Seunghyun hurriedly wiped the tears pooling in his eyes and bolted his head at Jiyong.

“I’m not cryi--“, he abruptly stopped mid