They arrived at the small market square, which just the day before was full of activity, with merchants up and down, exhibiting their kind in about twenty small stalls with awnings of different colors. Now, however, it was the place where the corpses of the dead citizens were piled up. It was a grotesque macabre image, where men, women, old men and children lay badly piled in the center, dead, on a puddle of their own blood, mingling with the mud and water of the earth.

On one side, these well-sharpened, were the corpses of some of the aggressors who had been victims of the fierce defense of the people of the village.

On the other side of the square, an imposing, white-stone, three-story building burned sharply, illuminating the entire scene with a red, flickering light. The crackling of the flames muffled the noise of the rain and the battle that was taking place a few streets away.

That building had been the most important hotel in town, and perhaps the only business with enough profit to afford ether equipment. A small explosion inside fired a tongue of fire through one of the first-floor windows.

“Don't stop!”, the father shouted at them when they saw the Dantesque show at the square. “Don't look!”

Obeying him, the family ran into the square, in order to cross it as quickly as possible. Their goal was an alley to the left of the hotel. The square was about fifty meters from end to end, it should not have taken them long to cross it, but halfway through, they were surprised by three invaders who were scouring the corpses. Between the shadows cast by the fire, and the mountain of corpses, they had not seen them. Seeing them, the three men drew their swords, and, without giving the dialogue a chance, advanced towards them.

The father grabbed his weapon and pushed the rest of the family into the alley. His wife complained, as she feared what might happen to him and did not want to leave him alone.

“Son, take them!”, he exclaimed, in a tone of voice that left no room for reply, “And whatever happens, do not look back!”

He nodded. He had never seen his father so stiff. He swallowed and, pressing Nayla hard against him, grabbed his mother by the arm and forced her to move on, holding back tears. She cried and yelled at her husband not to, but she did not have the strength to try to stop him. It could also be that, deep down, he knew that if he wanted to save his children, there was no alternative.

Her father ignored her and replaced the anguish and certainty of what was going to happen with anger and violence. With a burst of adrenaline, he jumped forward and caught by surprise one of the attackers, who fell victim to a deep stab in the neck, which made him fall to the ground and, after a few seconds, began to agonize between spasms by the blood loss.

The mother and son did not have time to look any further, as they kept running into the alley and as soon as they entered, the sound of broken glass followed by a loud bang surprised them and they stopped suddenly.

From the third floor, a shadow jumped, shattering one of the windows, screaming in agony as it was swallowed by the blue flames of the ether explosion that followed. The body fell to the ground, still burning with virulence. He was already dead. Before anyone could say anything, a beam in the building gave way and part of the hotel collapsed, blocking the alley, leaving them with no choice but to turn around.

Without thinking too much, the brother led them back to the square, hoping to escape the main road, which was on their right, relatively far from where they had left their father fighting.

The mother closed her eyes and refused to see if her husband was still fighting, and let herself be carried away by her son, who also avoided staring at him. But Nayla did not do the same - saw her father lying on the ground, panting, his face broken by pain, his arm cut off and his leg making a strange angle. One of the attackers was checking to see if his downcast companion had died, and upon confirming this, the other kicked his father and spat at him.

He, raising his head in pain, could see the rest of his family, still alive, running. He watched as Nayla looked at him and felt proud. He smiled with the peace of mind that he had given his all to protect those he loved most. Then the cold steel of a sword separates his head from his body.

Nayla could not hold back anymore and started screaming in despair. She was trying to go out from his brother, who could barely stand. Mr. Bear fell to the ground. Seeing the girl's reaction, he understood what had happened. Tears began to well up in his eyes as he could do nothing to stop it. He felt the world falling apart.

The mother, however, yielded. She lost the strength in her legs and fell to the ground. She did not want to believe what was going on. Seeing this, he made his heart strong. He gathered courage from where he didn’t know he had it, and trying to hold his sister in one arm, held out his other hand to help her up.

"Be strong, mother" he said, trying in vain to keep his voice from breaking. “Everything he has done will be useless if we do not leave!”

She looked at him, crying like she had never done before, her face disfigured by the pain, and nodding her head, she slowly got up.