A young lady dressed in fur dropped a bagful of twigs on the floor space undisturbed by the snow. It was all the dry woods she can collect. She removed her gloves, clasped her palms and brushed them together. The lady takes a deep breath, placed her hands towards the twigs, and exhales slowly. Soon enough her hands glowed bright red and embers sprayed from her palms towards the twigs. She takes another deep breath, and again exhales slowly. The embers soon became flames, burning the branches in front of her.

She watched her flames and noticed that tears are already falling through her cheeks.

“Oh, not again.” She whispered to herself, whimpering. “Not again, please… I've been crying all night.”

She puts her gloves back on her hands and sits in front of the fire she created, her back leaning against a tall tree. Gazing at the flames, she starts thinking about her village. Her friends. Her father.

“Oy, Aerix… Aerix, wake up!”

Aerix wakes up to the worried face of her father. She quickly bolted upright, confused with what’s happening.

“Pack your bags, kid. Quickly!” Her father continued as he walked towards the windows, closing them one by one. Following him is a small dog as white as snow. It's tail wagging in worry. He grabbed his longbow and quiver, inspecting the arrows before placing it on his belt.

“Wait! Papa, what’s happening?” Aerix stood up, frantically grabbed her bag and filled it with clothes from a nearby basket. The small dog jumped on her bag and looked at her, with eyes clearly frightened.

“There is no time to explain, come here!” her father opened the back door, where they're greeted by two of her father's fellow huntsman. One of them old, with tired eyes and grayish beard. The other looking rather young and agile.

“Davon, we need to move quick!” said Blake, the older huntsman, impatiently.

“Where are they?”

“Raiding the tavern, few blocks from here.” Gabe, the young huntsman reported, pointing his finger to where the ruckus is at.

“We have little time, then.” Davon assured, “Let's head for the forest, but we should move quietly.”

Davon started walking hastily, his strides firm and purposeful. “Follow me.” He said. Moving silently towards the darker pathways of the village. Aerix hugged her small dog and run towards her father. It's the middle of the night, but shouts and wails are clearly heard from a few blocks away.

“They're burning everything on their tracks, killing everyone!” Gabe added.

“We have no time to worry about that.” The father answered, holding his daughter's hand, Aerix could barely keep up. “Where are the others?”

“My brothers are waiting at the edge of the forest. They have our wolves there.” said the young huntsman, following their leader.

“And your wife?” Davon asked, glancing at the older huntsman on his left.

“Dead.” he replied with bloodshot eyes, his mouth trembling.

Aerix still cant believe everything she just heard. She looked behind her and saw more than half of her village already in flames.

“Hey! You!” One soldier appeared from a nearby alley. Quickly shot by an arrow from behind her. Aerix turns and saw her father already drawing two more arrows from his quiver.

“Run. Now.” Davon glanced calmly at her daughter. He fired his arrows, hitting two soldiers on their necks. He draws three more arrows, even more soldiers appeared from the corners.

“Take my daughter to the forest, I'll be right behind you.” The father said as he aimed and fired his arrows at the soldiers closing in on them.

“Who are these people?” Aerix asked the older huntsman, worrying. The man didn't reply.

“They burned our village!” Aerix sobbing close to despair. “Why are we running away? Why are we not fighting?”

“Please tell me? Why is our village on fire? Who’s doing all this? Please--” She pleaded.

“The king.”

Aerix wakes up gasping for air. She realized it's already morning. She looked at the burnt woods that kept her warm all night, then stood up and turns to her right. From a distance, past through the forest and hills, she can see all the big flags bearing the Golden Lion, and amidst all of it, the kingdom. Proudly standing high on top of the horizon. An eight mile hike from where she is. Almost there.