The smell of firewood filled the sky. There was a cloud of smoke that could be seen from hundreds of meters away.

 The village was abandoned. There was nothing but the sound of burning.

 Ronald fell to his knees. He had a frightened expression on his face. Kyle quickly ran towards him and started comforting him.

 James was in shock as well. They have found the village on fire when they arrived.

 A lady crawled near them. She was in pain. Her right leg was cut off.

 Ronald snapped out of his shock and ran towards her.

"Ms. Appletree, what happened here?" Ronald asked.

"Soldiers came and took everyone away." she said. Her voice was fading away.

"Where are my parents. Where is Hunter?" Ronald asked.

"They took your parents too." she said.

"Why would the Empire do this?" Kyle asked.

"It wasn't the empire soldiers." she said.

"What!"

"They were carrying the Sunrise Kingdom's banner. They told us they were looking for the younger prince." she said and stopped breathing.

 Ronald started crying. Kyle slowly leaned down and closed her eyes.

 Ronald got up and ran towards a burning building.

 "Ron!" shouted Kyle.

 "Hunter!" shouted Ronald. "Hunter! Buddy! Are you there!"

 Ron ran into the building. Kyle ran after him.

 James didn't know what to do. He was enjoying a talk with Ronald minutes earlier but now he was seeing his friend in tears.

 Kyle got out of the building with Ron who seemed traumatized. Kyle sat Ron down on the cart. James hoped on.

"It's not safe here." Kyle said.

 They started to travel to the nearest town, Janna. Ron didn't speak for the duration of the road. James tried to give space to Ron. But he was curious as well.

"Who is Hunter?" James asked Kyle.

"He was Ron's dog. We found him dead inside the house. He was stabbed." Kyle answered.

"How cruel a person must be to do this to a dog." Ron spoke finally.

"I am sorry for your loss." James said.

"Thank you, I appreciate it." Ron said.

 When they arrived at Janna they learned that the Eastern Empire had declared war on the Sunrise Kingdom in retaliation.

 Kyle worried about Ron's mental health and wanted to take him as far away from the war as possible.

 They stayed at Janna for a few more days.

 Kyle decided to travel south to get away from the conflict. When they were buying supplies for their travel, Kyle came across a poster that angered him.

He ripped the poster off and took it to James.

It was about the Younger Prince of the Sunrise Kingdom. He had yellow hair and blue eyes. He was in his late tens. His name was Jameson the 2nd.

"Why did you lie to us?" Kyle screamed. A crowd gathered around them.

 The reason behind the raid on Hope. The reason behind the kidnappings of Ron's parents and the death of his dog. The man in the poster was James.