Ashes and the smell of burning wood. The sound of crackling cement and a tang of iron and blood permeating in the air. The first Vilge of the Barbarians was situated beside the giant cavernous mouth of a cave, hidden behind hills and rge mountains that require specific spells to get access to. That hidden vilge in the deep snow was now set under fire as the Kingdom id waste to wreckage.

  Crash!

  Benjamin O’neal, Crown Prince of the Empire, broke down a door with his shoulder and was welcomed by bright glowing fire nearly turning his face into cinders. He coughed from inhaling the burning air as he fought the falling pieces of timber to gain access inside the crumbling home.

  “Julian,” He beckoned to the knight beside him, “help me push this beam out of the way.”

  The older boy, his dark skin sweating from the heat, nodded and helped the young prince with the wooden beam, fortunately revealing a somewhat safe path deeper inside the house.

  “IS ANYONE THERE!?” A call from further inside, a man’s panicked voice and the cries of a young girl heard behind a closed door.

  “We’re coming, don't worry!” Julian called back and attempted to walk forward but the fires roared towards him nearly burning his skin off. “Crap.” He bit back his tongue as the fmes proved to be too hot to deal with.

  “Stay back a bit, Jule.” Ben pulled his colr and stepped forward himself, his body coated in a white aura that somehow mitigated the heat generated by the coursing walls of energy. The door at the back end opened and a middle aged man peeked from inside, “Don't move!” Ben warned, “It's still too dangerous!”

  Overhead a piece of the ceiling cracked and fell down smming and breaking right on the prince’s back. “Ack!” He cried in pain but he managed to keep his footing and avoid falling over.

  “Boy! Are you okay!” The man from behind the door called in worry.

  “Papa?” The little girl’s voice seemed to tug him back but he managed to calm her down.

  Ben was struggling to see through the smoke, it enveloped the whole house with a thick yer of itself that formed a sort of barely translucent curtain that bnketed over everything.

  Ahead of Ben was a rge shelf, shards of pottery scattered by his feet and the wooden shelf and its cupboards burning with tall fmes.

  “Your Highness!” Julian called from behind him, trying to get him to retreat, “The fire's much too dangerous, we have to head back.”

  The man behind the door winced when he heard the Knight speak so he pushed his daughter back inside the room.

  “Julian!” Ben called, “wait outside and be ready for them!” Ignoring his aide’s advice he trekked on in the burning building.

  He used the Spirit coating his body and touched the burning cabinet. His fingers burned and his mouth bit down on itself trying to hold back the pain. If it wasn't for the Spirit, he would have been toasted to a crisp by now.

  He lifted up the cabinet and pushed it aside, finally reaching the door where the man and his child hid. It was a wet room, they had their mouths covered with a wet cloth and their bodies wiped down with a bit of water to keep themselves from passing out from the heat.

  “Over here! Quick!” Ben yelled when the path was opened up and the man nodded quickly, picking up his daughter and running beside Ben’s cover, who used his spirit to push back the fire over and over.

  Finally making it out of the house, the family pair was greeted by the knight who immediately took them in his arms as the father’s knees turned to jelly and he fell on the snow to his knees.

  “Papa!” The girl came to her father's rescue. She spoke in a nguage Julian didn't understand as she embraced her father dearly.

  Ben came out stumbling behind them coughing hard. His hand on his chest as he wiped his mouth with his arm. His eyes were red from taking in smoke and his lips were dry from the heat. “Are they safe?”

  “Yes, Your Highness.” Julian looked on to his young lord with concern, “In another note, take a rest, Your Highness. You've overexerted yourself, no matter how strong you are, you're still prone to many of the same things normal humans are.”

  “Still,” Ben stood firm and looked on as the rest of the vilge shone in bright orange as fires consumed everything, “there must be something more that I can do.”

  A bit ways away from the two, Autumn was running around the Vilge and guiding the people towards the exit whilst also asking for information regarding her own parent. “PAPA!!!?” She cried as people ran the opposite direction she was headed, “PAPAA!!??”

  “Autumn!?” An older looking woman who was leading the panicked crowd rushed to her side and cupped her cheeks, she spoke in a nguage only Autumn could understand. “Dearest, You're alive!?” She then embraced the young girl tightly.

  “Tante!” Autumn hugged back, “please, I must find my Papa! Where is he?”

  “Oh dear, I don't know.” The woman’s lips pursed as she wiped the snow off of Autumn’s brown hair, “You must run with us, the seal is in danger and the vilge is on fire, we must seek shelter in the other Vilge.”

  “Nei, Tante,” Autumn shook her head, “I will stay and fight to keep our pce safe!”

  “What are you saying, toska!?” The woman pulled on the girl’s ear, “It is dangerous!”

  “Aaah!” Autumn got herself out of the punishment by squeezing herself away, “Tante, I’ve survived far more dangerous waters than this, I will survive.”

  The older woman stepped back and her arms wrapped around her body, the furred and many yered clothes she wore seemingly unable to keep her warm. She let out a sigh and patted the girl's head. “Be safe, snuppa.” She took off her coat and wrapped it around the girl.

  “Ja, trust me.”

  The older woman finally nodded her head with a smile before yelling and returning to leading the evacuees out of the burning town. As Autumn continues her search for her father.

  “PAPAAA!!!” She yelled as people flocked past her trying to run away from the vilge and the cavern at the far end of the walls. “Is he there?”

  As she wondered she ran into a rge hunking body, one unnatural for a human, stumbling out of the smoke. It was a giant knight, its helmet covering most of his face except the sunken hollow eyes beneath. His arms were thick and the chainmail armor that covered his body seemed stretched beyond belief. The shield he held and the longsword on the other shook rapidly, his hands trembling as Autumn felt a cold gaze run down from above her. The Knight wore the blue insignia of the Kingdom.

  A cold breath escaped from the small patch of holes in the helmet that covered the rge man’s mouth.

  “Watch out!” A voice behind her called Autumn didn't even realize the Kingdom Knight had already raised its arm and was swinging down at her.

  Someone pulled her aside as she recognized the long snow-like blue hair that wrapped around the wind like beautiful snowfkes. She was pulled into Scarlet Bay’s arms as she held a steady stance and raised her arm revealing a small ptelike shield. The rge longsword smmed onto the shield and as the young dy of the west winced, she used her strength to shove it to the side as, while still holding Autumn, dove to the ground.

  Behind them chains burst through and wrapped itself around the Knight's arms locking them together and frozen in pce.

  “Nice one, Scarle!” Vander smiled as he ran forward and unched himself like a bolt and using the pull of his chains and the force generated from his body he nded a powerful kick right into the rge Knight's face sending it stumbling backwards.

  Vander unraveled the chains and nded softly right in front of his sister and ally, Autumn.

  “Showoff.” Scarlet’s face was emotionless as she criticized her brother. She picked up Autumn who was entangled in her dainty arms. “Are you okay, Miss Autumn?”

  Autumn blinked towards the girl, her eyes meeting with that of the beautiful bronze eyes that this young woman had, the pink lips and the slight blush that formed on her cheeks due to the cold. Autumn blinked again. Maybe she had understood what the Prince felt after being caught off guard by this girl.

  Autumn coughed awkwardly and pulled herself away from her. She started speaking but realized she needed to use the common tongue of Middle Earth as the twins stared at her in confusion, “That man feels different.”

  Scarlet hummed as she pulled herself up and tied her hair into a more fitting style, a ponytail, to deal with the human-like hunk of metal lumbering ahead of them.

  “They don't even feel like real humans anymore.” Vander scoffed as chains broke through his skin, he grasped them within his palms and used them as whips, “What are these guys?” His snowy blue hair waving from the wind.

  The hunk of humanoid moving steel regained its posture and stomped forward, its sword drooping and its massive shield raising. Its rge body shook before snapping ahead like some sort of vile creature. It roared in a very demonic fashion, an angry call and dreadful yell.

  Autumn’s eyes widened. She was about to say something but—

  “Bright light’s shine through the night, end the suffering and end this blight!” A spell casted from beside them fired a beam of glowing light that shone down and changed the dark gloomy atmosphere of the winter dark and snow into something bright and summery. It was Thomas who’s sweat poured down the side of his head, he had, after all, just casted an advanced light spell meant to brighten dark pces and dispel any visual impairments and fogs. He grit his teeth, his mana feeling drained from just that one spell, even his small dog ears were wiggling from fatigue.

  The knight glowered at the sudden change of hue as it covered its eyes from the bright light. Vander, however, wasted no time as he rushed forward and spun his body like a top and lifted himself off the ground by pushing up his feet. He spun around in the air and smmed the ends of his heavy metal chains into the cheek of the metal helmet twice. The being groaned as the steel bucket that covered its head was now dented on one side severely bludgeoning its skull and shattering it.

  “That's what I call—a fantastic performance!” Vander grinned nding sharply on his hand and feet.

  The knight stumbled on the ground and fell off its legs as it struggled to maintain its stance.

  “You always celebrate early, brother.” Scarlet chastised him as a white glow began to form around her body. Autumn looked up at her tall figure. Scarlet, realizing this, gnced down and gave her a faint barely identifiable smile before returning once more to her apathetic bnk face. She gave the barbarian girl a small head pat before unching herself into her brother's side and throwing her shield towards the Knight, striking it right at its head. The shield then bounced towards the side but Scarlet was fast enough to observe exactly the direction it was going to bounce and how fast she needed to get there. She retrieved the shield back at her arm as she regained a defensive position.

  “Nice one!” Vander cpped for her but his sister only met his regard with an eye roll.

  The Knight’s feet finally gave way and it fell on its back upon getting hit in the face directly with a flying circur shield.

  “Did it even fight back?” Thomas managed to speak in between his tired exhales.

  It seems his question was about to be answered as a loud rumble sounded from the knight’s heels and in a cloud of snow and dust it revealed itself standing straight and firm, the dented mental helmet in its face no longer seeming to bother it.

  It stomped one foot forward and let out a debilitating roar that sent snow flying away in all directions. Autumn covered her face as the blowing breeze of freezing cold almost turned her eyeballs into ice. Though, Autumn realized there was something off about its roar, that no one else seemed to notice

  It lumbered forward at a quicker pace than the group initially expected and used its arm with his long sword to sweep its surroundings threatening to cut all that came across its range. Vander raised his chains and formed a semi shield in his arms just in time as the edge of bde struck him but due to the chains only flung him away instead of cutting through him.

  He was headed straight towards a burning house but Thomas stepped in between and managed to grab him though it sent both of them tumbling in the snow.

  Scarlet focused on the enemy before her and once again, a white aura surrounded her and the shield strapped to her arm. She then rolled to the side as the Kingdom Knight sshed its sword towards where she used to be. Scarlet, upon rolling to her knees, threw her shield like a discus once more, its edge striking the temple of the helmet before bouncing back a few meters away where Scarlet caught it easily again.

  The Knight, seemingly unfazed, ran towards and smmed its sword down where Scarlet blocked it with her shield but it didn't stop with strike. It kept walloping her shield as Autumn watched the white aura on Scarlet begin to focus on just her legs and arms.

  The humanoid hunk of metal roared once more and Autumn winced upon hearing it, it feels a lot clearer now but she still can't tell why.

  Scarlet’s face shifted to pain as her arms turned numb as the Knight monster smmed onto her arms over and over with only a shield in between to keep herself from being torn to shreds.

  Autumn had to do something.

  Among the burning houses she saw a burning piece of timber, a fairly decently sized and sharpened one. She took in between her hands and carelessly charged forward towards the Knight.

  “What are you doing!?” Scarlet showed an uncharacteristic amount of emotion as the Knight turned its eyes away from her and towards the reckless barbarian.

  It took one st sm toward the snow haired girl’s shield, sending her buckling to her knees before arming itself and raising its bde towards the approaching brown haired girl.

  “Miss Autumn!” Scarlet ordered, unable to move due to the vibrations in her limbs, she could only stare as the edge of the longsword made its way down to Autumn’s skull.

  However, chains from nowhere wrapped itself around the Knight's neck and pulled backwards, causing the hunk of metal to lose its bance and drop its sword. With one of its feet lifted off the ground the decently sized piece of timber turned spear successfully reached and pierced through the chainmail stabbing right through the knight. It roared in pain as Autumn kept pushing the piece of wood forward, digging it deeper and pushing it towards the fire.

  “PULL!” Together, Vander and Thomas screamed as they pulled the monster back, making it stagger until it ended up crashing into the walls of a burning house, the rest of the building colpsing on top of it, crushing it beneath the burning rubble.

  “EAT THAT!” Vander celebrated as a rge chunk of rock fell down again.

  Scarlet watched what had just incited before her and she turned her gaze towards the stupid girl who charged without a pn and the two dumbasses who were sent flying for not being on guard enough.

  A breath of both relief and annoyance escaped her lips as she cupped her face in her hands before allowing herself to return back to her usual bnk emotionless expression.

  Autumn watched the house crumble, the fire reflecting on her green eyes and the tips of her hair slightly burnt off as the burning fshed violently and wildly. She could understand its final cry right before it died.

  “Help,” She repeated the being's st words, “it asked for help.”

  “Miss Autumn?” She felt a hand reach and grasp her shoulder. It was Vander who's amused face turned concerned upon meeting her eyes, “Is something troubling you?”

  Autumn closed her eyes and whispered. “Hvil i fred, poor man.” She whispered in her own tongue before turning back to the three people who helped take down that Knight, “Thank you, good friends.”

  Thomas saw a wavering in her face as the burning fire roared behind the barbarian girl. Scarlet stared at the dimly lit green eyes of Autumn's, sensing something shift inside the girl.

  “Have you found your, Dad, Miss Autumn?” Vander patted the snow out of her hair and the barbarian girl pushed away his hand.

  “Not yet,” She shrugged and walked forward her hands trembling but not from the cold, “But—”

  Thomas held his hand up gesturing for them to quiet down. The vilge was now mostly abandoned, everyone who had needed to run away had already left. Only the sounds of fmes and crumbling stone were audible in the quiet snow.

  However…

  Out in the distance, towards the cavern of the seal, was the faint sound of cshing steel and roars of several brutes. “There's fighting in that direction,” Thomas whispered, “maybe your father's there.”

  Autumn stared at the young man and his soft squirrel cheeks with optimism.

  Meanwhile, a few moments ago as the four of them were dealing with the giant humanoid looking Knight, Ben and Julian were leading the father and Daughter out of the fire.

  “Thank you, Boy.” The man said as the Prince led them out of the vilge. The man noticing the color of his hair pointed it out, “your hair? Simir to that woman…”

  Ben’s gaze hardened.

  “Woman?” His heart began to race and an impossibility in his head suddenly felt hopeful. A maybe that he had so long desired to be true might just be—

  “Woman burn this vilge down…looking for the seals.” He said, his speaking choppy like Autumn’s, but Ben understood what he meant. A woman with hair like his arrived and burned the Vilge down alongside kingdom forces.

  “Alright—I’ll deal with it.” He held the man's hand and promised. “I’ll find a way to salvage whatever's left.”

  The father nodded and picked up his daughter in his arms, running with the wave of the crowd, yelling in a nguage he didn't understand. Maybe that's why Autumn couldn't speak properly, it's because she lived by a different nguage this whole time.

  “What do we do now, Your Highness?” Julian asked, gesturing to the ruins of the town around them.

  “Meet with the others, there must be a mastermind behind this attack and there's only one pce they will be—” Ben grit his teeth.

  “The seal.” Julian finished Ben’s thoughts.

  “Correct.” The red haired prince turned his head and began to walk towards where the others were, “It's time to settle the dispute in this vilge once and for all.”

  After a few moments they finally arrive as the four people they had left to help with the evacuation had now all but a grim look pstered on their faces.

  “What happened here?” Ben ran towards Autumn who's cheeks were grazed and her lips chapped from the dry air.

  Autumn nuzzled into his fingers before snapping herself away, her lips quivered as she turned away from the boy, “I’m fine…just some trouble.”

  “There was a Kingdom knight the size of an ogre that unched an attack,” Vander expined, crossing his arms, “it's completely sure now that it's them that set fire to this whole vilge.”

  Scarlet shrugged and approached the Young Prince, their eyes meeting and locking, refusing to let go of each other as she wiped away the dust and ash that had dirtied the prince’s handsome face. “You’re hurt, My Lord.” She muttered in a hushed voice but loud enough for the others to hear, “did something happen?”

  Vander stifled a chuckle as he crossed his arms behind his head, “Did you hit yourself on some rock or something?”

  Autumn gnced back and forth between the beautiful tall dy and the handsome hero prince that saved her. Her feelings felt tight and twisted as she watched her effortlessly and confidently assert her interest. Autumn has felt awkward ever since she found out that Ben had feelings for someone else but this young woman—she was still out for blood.

  The Prince eyed the snow haired princess of the west, her copper bronze eyes shining robotically back at him. An exasperated breath left his mouth as he lightly pushed her aside and walked forward, setting his eyes toward the mouth of the giant cave. “There is a single being leading this whole charade, we must move quickly and exterminate them before they awaken the seal.”

  Thomas, the plump canine beastman held out his hand as if in a css, “However, Your Highness, our job is to merely destroy the seal, I’m sure the moment we do so the Kingdom would lose interest in—”

  “NO!” Autumn yelled, stopping the schorly mage from continuing any further. “Destroy seal and…and…and my vilge—gone for good.”

  Thomas furrowed his eyebrows, “I don't think you quite understand, Miss Barbarian, once the seal is undone, Favaros will y waste to this entire mountain and render it unlivable. Destroying the seal is your only hope for rebuilding.”

  “YOU don't understand!” Autumn yelled again, stepping forward this time catching the beastman off guard.

  Julian rushed over and pulled her back, calming her down, she seemed furious and angry, her emotions seemed to be all over the pce. It's not like they can bme her though, her hometown had just been reduced to rubble.

  “Sir Thomas, I’m afraid the seal is what keeps the demonic beasts away from the vilges,” The Imperial Knight expined, his eyes wavering at the sight around them, “If we break the seal, there is no more safety for any of them.”

  Thomas’s eyebrows furrowed again and he took a step forward, “That's impossible, and either way it's either that or the threat of the whole Empire being destroyed, we have no choice here!”

  “There is always a choice!” Julian fired back, his nerves becoming more pissed as he held Autumn tighter around his arms. Having traveled with her for a while now he had unknowingly developed an attachment to the young barbarian, “to think of such things all the time with a rational perspective ignores the sentiments and feelings of the people inside!”

  “If there's a choice then what is it?!” Thomas seemed fbbergasted that they would even suggest letting the seal remain intact, “The seal’s location has been unraveled, if it's not destroyed it's only a matter of time before it is undone! Have you no loyalty to your nation!?”

  Julian turned Autumn away who shut her ears off with her palms and tears welling up in her eyes, “There must be another way! You're the smart one here, think of one!”

  “Oh so now you delegate your ideas to me!?” Thomas was becoming more pissed, “I have spoken my peace, there is no other choice than to destroy it! I apologize for the barbarians that must now live in fear but it's either that or my homestead and everything I love destroyed!”

  “That's selfish!”

  “So it is!”

  “ENOUGH!” Vander raised his voice to shut the two up. Scarlet merely sighed and flopped herself down at the snow to sit down, “both of you have made some decent points but as far as I see it, Julian…I’m afraid you haven't been able to give us another option—”

  The knight understood what he was saying, drops of sweat flowed down his bck skin as the heat engulfed everything behind them, “But—we can't just—”

  “There are sacrifices to be made…with every difficult choice, I’m afraid.” Vander shook his head empathetically, “Yet I know the words that will come out of your mouth…” He said, no longer addressing Julian but the gring kid behind him, “Your Highness, you're to be the Emperor—the duty you're burdened is something you were born with.”

  “Vander…” Ben’s green eyes felt like sharp gss.

  “The choice you make…you're duty to your people…or the lives of the innocent—” Vander felt his heart drop, this wasn't his choice to make, this was a burden that only the Crown Prince could carry, a mere sixteen year old boy soon turning seventeen, has the burden of an entire Empire in his back.

  Vander could never wish to be in his pce.

  “Prince…” Autumn’s tears finally flowed down, she tugged at the Crown Prince's sleeve, “please.”

  Ben couldn't help but reciprocate her tears with a smile. He turned to everyone and faced them all with conviction. “They have to survive, just as well as we do.”

  Thomas’s face contorted into fear, “but we might lose and…we might die.”

  Ben sighed, his nails digging into his palms causing it to bleed, “I know. We just have to avoid that scenario at all costs.”

  “Prince, I—” Autumn reached for him but he stepped ahead outside of her grasp as Julian kept his hold on her.

  He stood in front of them, ahead of the pack, a spear of blood forming in his palms. “We must move ahead, defeat the enemy, and secure the seal—and most importantly do not die—got it?”

  Vander smiled as he followed the young boy’s lead. Understanding why his father liked this boy so much and why his sister seemed to be all up in his business. “As you wish, Your Highness,” He smirked.

  Scarlet stood up and her bnk expression shifted to a more excited one. “Right behind you, My Lord.”

  “Fine.” Thomas stood next to his friends.

  Julian smiled looking at his leader and best friend’s back. He pushed Autumn forward as he too nodded his approval. “As always, Your Highness.”

  Autumn stared at him, his deep red hair shining amidst the fire surrounding them, the ash and dirt that had sullied the once well dressed outfit he wore before. The hands bruised and battered, muscur and strong—a hand that pushed forward so many times it doesn't know what it means to give up.

  “Takk—” Her throat struggled with the words, “Tusen takk, min prins.” Autumn felt like crumbling like the houses around her from gratitude. For everything, he's done for her.

  She could only utter words of gratitude and for him—

  Ben smiled without looking back. “Let's go. There's people waiting for us back home—let’s make them proud.”

  The group of six made their way towards the cavern with a hope to save not just the Empire but everyone.