He must have read my thoughts as I accepted his proposal without a second thought, considering I wanted to learn what had happened to my family. Afterwards, he had a maid show me to a room and told me to return to his office within an hour. As I stared into the clock, watching the seconds tick by, I had more time to consider the gravity of the situation.

And then the seconds stopped ticking. I counted down the seconds, but they simply moved much slower than before. Had my impatience reflected on my ability to count? Shaking my head, I restarted counting the seconds. This time, the seconds felt correct and in place. 

I paced across the room that the Marshal had given me to stay inside while he was dealing with some matters. The room was of elegant design, it had gold colored horizontal stripes on the walls that gave it a very rich appearance. There was a mirror against the wall with a desk right across the room from the mirror. A bed was placed across the only window in the room.

"Finally," I said under my breath. "It's time to go." speaking to no one, I walked out the room and headed for the office. I swept through the elegant hallways in a slight sprint, making sure I did not look ridiculous by running. I was greeted by four soldiers, patiently waiting outside of the Marshal's office. I walked up behind them, but they did not seem to notice me and continued to chat about their day. I checked all their ranks from their shoulder pads, and determined that there was one Captain, one Sergeant and two Lieutenants.

Quite the high-ranking bunch, I thought to myself. The Captain, a young man which I presumed to be in his 30s, knocked on the door. Why didn't they do that earlier? I thought, before I noticed the time. It was exactly the hour Hayya had told me to come see him, and assumed punctuation was important in military affairs as well. 

"Come in." I heard Hayya's voice from behind the door. The soldiers went inside, and I followed them in. At which point, they finally realised my presence and looked at me curiously as if wondering who I was and why I was in their meeting with the Marshal. 

Hayya looked at me and spoke, "Good to see you are all here on time. Daniel, I would like you to meet the scientific investigation team. These men are our most prominent military scientists, equipped with both brains and brawn." Afterwards, Hayya shifted his gaze from me over to the soldiers. He cleared his throat and spoke again,

"This is the boy I mentioned. He is currently the only known surviving local and knows the area well, I would like you to escort him to the town and determine what has occured. Dismissed." he said with an assertive tone. The blonde Captain saluted and left the room, and I followed behind them.

We swiftly left the mansion and soon, the city. We were walking our way to the town, which seemed counter-productive to the mission, but I refrained from speaking about it.  We made our way to the town in a few hours and nothing could have prepared me for what I was going to see. The Marshal had already informed us of this, but seeing it up close.. It was something else.

There was nothing left in the once bustling town. Not even a brick remained in the remains, but only a massive crater as a grim reminder to what may have happened.

I fell to my knees. The nothingness gave me both hope and despair. Tears started flowing out of my eyes. The soldiers said something to each other, but my ears did not register the words. I always thought of myself more mature above others, unlike the kids who played with magic and sticks I had chosen to try to become an adult, just like my parents. But I didn't have any other option. I couldn't play with magic like the other kids. 

But here, all my maturity crumbled down as I wailed at the loss of my parents. I thought about nothing. I just sobbed for ten minutes.. then fifteen.. until I finally stopped out of exhaustion.

I finally accepted the truth. My old life was gone... buried deep inside this crater that stood before me. 

Note: Hey everyone who is still reading this.. I promise I'm not dead!!! I had exams for the past two weeks and struggled with those and keeping this updated was just not possible... so sorry for disappearing without a warning! So I'm here until my exams start again.. and then another two week break!

I really appreciate everyone reading these. Ever since I was younger I really wanted to share my stories with people and I am truly grateful for granting me this opportunity. I'd also really appreciate if you liked, or even subscribed to my stories! Gives me that extra bit of motivation, haha

Love you all, I'll release Chapter 5 soon enough.. sooner than a week.. exciting things coming I tell you!