“Sorry, I should have knocked, but the door was already open, so I let myself in. Is something wrong with you sir? Few people are dead here, are you the reason for it?” - a voice enquired.

  “Humans should always portray peace and protect the weak ones, abusing someone with your power should not be the case in any scenario. The strength that lies in you is only because of the lord himself.” - a mysterious voice continues.

  The creature turned, with tensed muscles and fear in his deep yellow eyes. Gritting its teeth the creature put its hand on the sword that was there on its waist. The fear was so evident that even Elio was able to see the creature was shuddering.

  The creature leaped forward unsheathing its sword towards the voice. Slash….

  Mysterious person swings his sword, which was so fast that both Elio and the creature were unable to see the attack coming.

  In a moment, the person cuts down the shoulder of the creature and its arm falls to the ground. The part which got cut started burning with red and hot flame, giving warmth and heat like the sun. The flame was so strong that it was consuming the creature bit by bit. The creature groaned with pain and gritted its teeth, as he was getting vaporised in thin air.

  Now, the face of the person was finally revealed to Elio. The person looked like a 40-45 years old man, he had a mustache along with a mid-trimmed beard. His big brown eyes resembled fire within his heart. He was covered with an orange and white robe, with one prosthetic hand on the handle of his sword and another on his thick belt wrapped around his waist.

  “Oh! I am sorry, I totally forgot that you’ve left your humanity long ago, and no one should expect compassion from a creature like you. Only lord can tend your soul, you deserve to die.”- the swordsman says calmly. With this the swordsman took a stance holding the handle of his sword, a posture so calm and composed that it seemed like the calmness of early morning when sunlight first hits the ground.

  “Dawn….Strike”, the swordsman says, and within a fraction of seconds he slashed his sword and sheathed it. Elio and the creature both looked at the swordsman thinking what is going to happen next. Suddenly the creature realised what happened. As soon as he came to know, his head fell off from his body with a bright red flame burning his headless torso.

  Swordsman folded his hands, in a praying position -”May the lord forgive all of your sins. May you find peace and goodness. …Amen”. The head burns and vanishes in thin air. The swordsman steps over the burning torso of the creature and comes near the attic and opens to see Elio frightened, with teary eyes and startled expressions.

  The swordsman calmly says- “It’s over, don’t worry child, the lord sent us to protect this town and its people”. Elio dropped down on his knees thanking the swordsman, “Thank you sir! I’m grateful for what you did…but now I am all alone, I have nobody. All of my loved ones are dead. Please sir, have mercy on me. Kill me, I want to see my family again.”

  “Hahaha!”, the swordsman laughed in a sarcastic tone. “The creature that attacked you is a soldier of Indu. You’re not dead, you survived. You should thank the lord, if there would not have been any purpose of your existence in this universe, then you also would be lying on the ground along with your family. Never doubt the Lord's decision. Get up, be glad that you are alive and trust in the lord for he has a great purpose for you, for all of us.”

  Elio stood up rubbing his eyes, but the tears kept on falling. All he could think about is how the creature killed his family and the abnormal strength the creature had. He felt guilty as he was not strong enough to defend his family.

  “What now sir? What shall I do now, I have nowhere to go. I can’t stay here where my parents and siblings are lying dead with half remaining flesh, in front of me.”- Elio asked the swordsman sobbing. “Praise the sun!”- the swordsman said, patting Elio’s head. His hands gave Elio warmth as if he was lying down under an open sky with the sun shining bright.

  The swordsman walked past all the dead bodies, holding Elio’s arms, while Elio cried his eyes out for his dead parents and siblings. “Sir, I want to give them a proper see off”- Elio requested the swordsman. The swordsman folded his hands again in praying positions and started chanting a mantra, which Elio was not able to understand.

  After the swordsman completed his enchantment he opened his eyes and all the bodies of Elio’s family started burning with red hot flame, consuming not only their body but their soul too. “What are you doing, have you gone mad, you jerk?”-Elio said angrily,with tears still dripping from his eyes.

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  “Have faith in the sun, as they sent me, a Protector of Ravi. They are getting a proper see off, their soul will rest in peace, don’t worry child. And, yes, from now on address me as Lord Altan.” - the swordsman said, smiling with a proud expression on his face.

  After some time, all of the bodies burned away and Elio finally started to stop sobbing. Altan held Elio’s hand and started moving towards the exit. Elio, still looking back where he was born, where he lived his life, the place where he used to play with his siblings, the family that gave him warmth, all gone in a few hours. His 12 years of life changed in those few hours.

  Outside of his house, the environment was drastically different. The town was covered in snow, cold and fast wind was blowing, which could freeze anyone to death. A normal person would feel irritation in breathing and after sometime he might die. But, somehow all of this was not affecting Elio at all, he titled his head and looked up, Altan was surrounded by a red aura, which seemed like a fire. After sometime he noticed that not only Altan but he too was surrounded by that same red fire.

  The red fire which burned the monster and made it vanish in thin air, is not harming them. Such control of magic and power dazzled Elio, as he only dreamt of achieving the power Altan had. On their way, they saw a white guard lying on the ground, emotionless. His chest had a huge hole, the blood spilled was all frozen due to the harsh weather in the surrounding area.

  “Do you know someone named Dyre?”- Altan asked Elio, looking at a paper note in his hands. “Yes, he is the mayor of our White town.”- Elio replied. “Show me the way boy, I have some business to do with your respected Mr.Mayor”. They slowly started walking towards the town square. Many bodies of dead people and white guards were lying on the ground, all of their skin frozen in the cold. “Don’t look at them, we have a task to do.”- Altan said with great resolve.

  Approx 500 metres from town square, Altan suddenly stopped. “You monsters just don’t give up, well you will be blessed with great warmth and prosperity today”. Suddenly two monsters, of similar appearance as before, jumped in front of them.

  One of the monsters was carrying a spear in his hand, while the other didn’t have any weapons. He had long nails, longer and sharper than the monster that wiped out his entire family. Both of them set up a strategy to attack Altan and Elio from two sides. Elio started to get more tense, as these monsters looked more dangerous and they were more in number.

  Elio looked at Altan, and got anxious as to how a single person would defend himself from two of the deadly monsters of Indu. Not only that, Altan also needed to protect Elio, as Elio was not at all strong enough to get away from a single of the monsters. Elio wanted to run away, he started looking at options to get away from the fight. He doesn’t want to get caught in the line of fire between both sides.

  “Stay back, don’t do anything stupid! Stay where you are.”- Altan ordered Elio, his voice was so determined that Elio stopped and a certain level of belief came inside him. Altan said with a strong voice,“don’t you worry, they will not harm you, my flame is stronger than them, I will be victorious, believe in the sun”. Altan’s voice and determination shook up Elio, he started to see Altan as his leader, a person he could die for.

  Suddenly both the monsters jumped toward Altan, they attacked from both sides. One of the monsters, using his sharp and long spear, if the spear hits it will go through an average human body. While, other with sharp fangs, if anyone comes in between those claws his/her body will rip to pieces.

  Altan took a step backward, taking a perfectly balanced stance. Altan’s robe flew above the ground creating a very mythical view for Elio. “Fire Ring!”- Altan shouted, making a ring of fire all around Elio and Altan, as the monster with sharp fangs came in between the fire and started burning. The monster dropped on the ground and started rolling, but the red hot fire kept on burning and consuming the monster bit by bit.

  While the other monster threw the spear towards Altan and took a step back. The spear was coming in the direction of Altan but he didn’t move. The spear went directly through him creating a hole in his body. Elio got surprised as he thought that Altan also became a victim of those ferocious monsters.

  The monster started smiling, as it thought that Altan would be dead soon. Elio fell on the ground with despair as nothing was going his way all night. Suddenly the expression of monster changed to nervousness. The hole in Altan’s body started burning and his body started filling back. In a moment he was absolutely fine, like nothing ever happened to him.

  Altan puts his hands on the sword, Soosh, in a fraction of second Altan slashes the monster's head off. The cut was so smooth that even the monster was not able to understand what was happening to its body. After a few seconds the head fell off the monster’s body and the cut started burning with red hot flame. The flame started consuming the monster bit by bit.

  The other monster on the ground vanishes into thin air, and with that both of the monsters are gone. Altan sheathed his sword and said-”Come on we need to finish some more business there”. Altan was so relaxed about the situation that it made Elio think about the level of power Altan had.

  Both of them started walking towards the mayor’s office, and in a few metres they reached the gate. There was very foul odour coming from inside the office, Altan pushed the gate as it was already half open. They went inside the office, there was a dim yellow light and a harsh and foul smell was coming from everywhere. It seemed that something was rotting there.

  Slowly they started moving forward, and suddenly Elio’s foot came up on something. Something hard, he looked below, it was the head of a person. Elio got scared and fell back on his butt, the head was of a white guard, with a rat devouring the flesh from the hole created in his right eye.

  Elio got up on his feet and then he noticed something strange, it was not only a single white guard lying dead there, but there were many people dead, scattered in the whole office. Men, women, white guards, even children, everyone was lying expressionless and dead. Rodents finished off the flesh that was still remaining on their body.

  “Hmmm…this was expected from a orb of night, I can feel his presence in the air. He is the reason for all of this, and for all the monsters roaming around in the streets of this town. Finally, someone worthy to use my full potential.”- Altan mentioned. Elio started getting nervous again, as the temperature of the room started falling significantly.

  Suddenly the room was filled with thick fog, Altan put his hand on the hilt of the sword getting ready for action. “Fall back, hide, go find somewhere safe. It is going to get real serious now.” - Altan ordered Elio with great persistence.