"Xabiere, come on, let's go." My sister, Henrich, shouted from the top of the hill together with the twins, Rosie and Mondrea.

 

"Wait, Hen, I need to catch my breath," I breathed. It's not very easy to be fast when there is something that slows you down, you know?

 

"Come on, Xabiere! You're going to miss the parade!" Mondrea shouted as she kept gesturing me to come closer, but I was so tired that my legs wanted to give up. However, I held my breath and quickly climbed with my might. As I finally made it to the top, Rosie looked at me as if I was late for too long. "Why are you so tired?" she asked.

 

"Because I am carrying your heavy stuff!" I once again held my breath, carrying Rosie's box filled with knitting stuff. Jeez, for pity's sake, Rosie.

 

"Guys, here they come!" Mondrea pointed at the marching soldiers from a village I didn't know about. Who could blame me? Wait, no, not soldiers- warriors. Today was the triumph of the warriors who fought against the pirates who terrorized the village while stealing their valuables. But the robbery was over thanks to these enchanted heroes. A smile made its way to my face just by seeing them, but I don't know why. There's something about them.

 

They are "The Flash warriors", wearing damaged armor and had plenty of battle scars on their faces. I knew about them because of my neighbors from the stores, who kept chatting and chatting until that discussion was stuck in my head, though I still had little knowledge. In the parade, they were five of them. Just imagine this as a small parade, please. But I recognized the one in the middle- the queen.

 

The villagers were cheering while giving way to the warriors since they are tired from battle. The Flash warriors waved their hands to the cheering people as they marched.

 

Children were joyfully chasing each other around them. In the middle that I mentioned earlier, the queen was playing with them. She was blessed with grace and beauty.

 

As I watched her, she seemed very happy playing with the children. Her dark violet hair gently waved along with the wind, her light green eyes gleamed from the sunlight, similar to her white dress and tiara. Rosie gazed at the shining beauty. "Whoa. Beautiful, isn't she?"

 

"Now I'm wondering, why is the queen with them?" Mondrea asked. Henrich shrugged, and so did I, in case Mondrea asked me as well.

 

"Come on guys, let's figure it out." gestured Henrich with such enthusiasm to get closer. By the time I was out to reach the spot they were at, they went down from the hill while I'm stuck, still breathing. "Wait! Come on, I just got here." Abruptly, I accidentally dropped Rosie's stuff. My bad.

 

***

 

"Here you go, child." the queen beamed as she was placing a pretty flower to the young girl's right ear. "It's beautiful, thank you!" the young girl gave the queen a sweet grin and ran toward her parents. Despite the cheery atmosphere, the queen's smile turned upside down. The warrior from the back tried to comfort her by putting a hand on her shoulder. I couldn't see the look on the warrior's face because of his helmet. "Hey, is the queen feeling all right?" I asked Henrich as we finally made it to a nice spot where we can see the Flash warriors in a clear view.

 

"Hmph, I think the queen is not at her best," Henrich responded.

 

As I looked at the queen, I almost felt pity for her, not just compassion, but something else. I couldn't explain much. Suddenly, I heard my mom's voice from far away. "Hen! Rosie! Mondrea! Xabiere! Where are you?"

 

Mondrea hissed, "Henrich, it's mom, I forgot that she's with us!" The three of us looked at her before hearing our mother's voice again.

 

"Well, at least we saw the queen and the warriors," Henrich groaned. "Let's go ho-" Suddenly, the ground started to shake violently. From above exploded a powerful, deep scream that almost echoed inside our ears. As we struggled to follow the voice, a huge shadow rose from the clouds, blocking the morning sun. The silhouette showed two big wings spreading from its back like two massive blankets with the shape of bat wings. Everyone panicked and ran somewhere safe.

 

Is it a demon? Is it a monster? Or something else that can carry the definition of terror. The warriors drew their weapons, but one ushered the queen to safety. As far as I could remember, the beast blew powerful flames, penetrating the clouds like a pin to a paper. By the time the beast blew fire, I began to realize that it's a dragon, but no dragon could blow fire like that! Imagine a reptilian monster that can unleash fire full force as if nothing could stop it.

 

The dragon blasted the houses, making it a bed of dancing flames of hell. The people were terrified and just focusing to survive by running away as far as possible. It was so crowded that I didn't even see if someone got burned like toast.

 

"Children?!" Mom shouted through the rushing crowd.

 

"Mom, over here!" I yelled, waving my hand, so she could see. And she did come to us unsteadily as if an earthquake rumbled.

 

"Where have you been?! I've been looking everywhere for you!" she yelled over the noise.

 

"What?!" Mondrea's voice got louder because of the chaos.

 

"Never mind! Quickly, we have to get out of here!" Mom ordered. In her eyes, I saw how terrified she was and how stressed she must have been after her quest on finding us.

 

"What?!" Mondrea still couldn't hear her. I didn't know how I heard her from the explosions. That's pretty strange . . . What the heck?

 

"Over there, mom, I see a clear area!!" Henrich pointed at a clear path that would lead us to the village's exit.

 

"Wha-" Mondrea has never been deaf until now.

 

"For crying out loud, just go!" Rosie blurted. Mother and Henrich ushered us towards the safe area. People struggled to get across. I almost got tripped by the mother carrying a baby, poor them. Looking back, the Flash warriors dodged with immeasurable speed and slashed at the dragon, even shooting magical arrows at it. However, it seems that nothing is happening to the dragon, as if they were just playing with it.

 

It soared and flew around the village, resuming its flames of wrath. The Flash warriors aimed their arrows towards the dragon. Despite the crowd, I saw the mother carrying the baby moments ago, the dragon was about to blast them! My eyes widened as the mouth of the dragon lighting up. The mother fell from the crowd, but her baby was well protected in her arms. I stopped, frozen in place.

 

There's something inside me saying that I should do something in this situation. Before the dragon unleashed its powerful firepower, I ran as quickly as I could. I nudged, I pushed, I watched my step, and finally, I reached them, but a huge flash went in our direction. I had to make sure that the mother held the baby tight. "Watch out!" I warned the mother when I got close to her.

 

"What?!" shouted the mother from the loud noise happening right now. Oh, jeez. I pushed her away from the blast, along with the baby, of course. I saw nothing but light- a huge flash of light. My eyes widened, I couldn't move. As it hit me . . . I couldn't remember what's next.