Chapter 4 - Part 1 (Book 1 - Fantasy World)

The cold air whipped through Valessandria's long wavy blonde hair -- flowing behind her as she urged her horse to move faster.

Valessandria's mind was jumbled with thoughts, grasping to understand what had happened. Her heart still felt a chill run through it long past when she learned that the Empire had made its move. It was madness, with the Overflow estimated to occur within the next few years.

Even with all the regional powers acting together and forming an alliance to stand up against the Overflow -- Valessandria felt her body shudder as the oceans of monsters submerging the continent in screams and rivers of blood flashed through her mind. With the Empire starting a conflict and attempting to continue its unjust expansion, the only logical conclusion was for them to embrace their death.

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Valessandria remembered the dolls she played with when she was a child -- pretending that a prince on a white horse would take her and her family away to a bright future. How the older kids teased her about her appearance and how a prince would never choose to love someone as ugly as her.

That day, as the kids laughed at her, the sky began to bleed -- a crimson pool growing and blotting out the sun until the sunlight turned red as blood. The laughter of the kids was soon drowned by the screams of the nearby adults, who rushed to pick up their kids.

Never before had she seen so many adults running scared, tears beginning to well up as she looked for her parents.

Even to this day, the screams she heard that night haunted her dreams as she watched villagers be torn in half, devoured by the monsters that overrun the walls around her village. Bodies belonging to the children who had previously teased her were torn apart -- their dead eyes stared vacantly at her.

Valessanria felt her body lifted into the air by her mother, who desperately ran and avoided the eldritch horror hunting them.

Tears streamed down as she cried as she clamped her tiny hands over her ears, hoping to block out the awful noise made as the flesh of her neighbors was hungrily wolfed down by beasts she'd never seen before.

When they reached their home, her mother didn't bother knocking over dishes and books as she tossed aside furniture, revealing a secret door.

"Mommy, what's that?" Valessandria asked in confusion, unaware of such a thing existing until that day.

Not bothering to answer her, her mother ripped open the door to reveal a ladder that led down into the darkness. Turning to Valessandria, her mother lifted her and gently placed her inside.

Not knowing what was going on, Valessandria gripped the ladder before looking at her mother.

Despite the amount of time that had passed and the horrors she witnessed that day, Valessandria couldn't forget the tear-soaked face of her mother as she smiled and said, "My beautiful little girl, mommy will always love you. Remember to live a happy life and meet someone special. Mommy is so very sorry that she can’t come with you, but she will always be watching over her special girl.”

Valessandria couldn't have known that those words would be the last words her mother would speak to her as the door slowly closed, bathing Valessandria in darkness.

As Valessandria clung to the ladder, her mother's screams permeated through the darkness.

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“Lady Knight! We will be approaching Leaf village in a matter of minutes!" A voice called out.

Valessandria shook her head -- pulled out from her dark memories.

Turning her head towards the voice, Valessandria recognized William, her second in the Disciplinary Committee at the Academy.

"With the forces gathered, many of them still students at the Academy, I don’t know how much help we can be aside from assisting in the evacuation!” William held up a hand as the wind muffled his words.

Clenching her fists around the reins, Valessandria yelled, “We can at least buy the village precious time to escape from the forces sent by the Empire! Why do we receive such training and benefits if not to lay down our lives for those unable to protect themselves! Now stop talking unless you want to bite your tongue!”

Valessandria quickly looked back at her men before looking ahead to where villagers would be running for their lives to escape the merciless Empire.

Behind them, the rest of her forces followed. It wasn't difficult to notice that they all believed rushing towards Leaf Village was a suicide mission, with barely two hundred of them -- nearly all of them still in training at the Academy. Despite their doubts, they remained silent as Valessandria and William discussed the situation.

Valessandria cursed at how cowardly and indecisive the upper nobility was. When it was discovered that the Empire was invading the Kingdom without concern for the near-defenseless citizens, the nobles immediately began forming plans and strategies to ensure their own safety.

The apathy of the nobility was highlighted when intelligence determined that the invading forces were aiming for a decently populated village, Leaf Village. They selfishly ignored the reality that the villagers would be killed and enslaved to be taken back to the Empire.

Upon learning of the danger, Valessandria quickly convened a meeting of the Student Council and pleaded with the President to dispatch military aid -- even if it meant going against their doctrine of neutrality.

Valessandria knew that assisting Leaf Village could undermine their stance as a neutral power within the Kingdom and potentially destroy the place created for both commoners and nobles to join together for the purpose of removing divisive ideology.

Though the Academy was half the population of the Kingdom's capital, the various departments allowed them to be self-sufficient. Their self-sufficiency allowed them to provide practical experiences for the attending students -- which they could use to assist and improve their homes.

Knights that trained at the Academy were often some of the best in the Kingdom, even being able to join the King’s elite units. Seeing that the Academy wasn’t going to do anything, Valessandria gathered as many trainee knights as possible and dashed toward Leaf village. Regardless of how many enemy soldiers there were, she refused to abandon Leaf Village.

Valessanria's eyes flickered to dancing orange light off in the distance. At the entrance into Leaf Village was what could only be described as an inferno -- a horrific forest of flames lighting the night.

"Did the Empire reach the village already?!" Valessandia's heart sank, imagining the victims burning within the fiery sea. She turned her head and yelled over the thundering of the horses, "Pick up the pace! The Empire has reached the village! Forget about engaging them! We need to focus on evacuating the surviving villagers!"

Valessandria sensed the mood of her men, reflected by her own hopelessness about the situation. They were barely trained knights going against a force of trained soldiers several times their size.

But despite the despair and sadness felt, Valessandria knew that the villagers only had them to rely on. Inside her, battling the cold grief, a fire burned hot.

"All of you! Remember, we are knights of the Academy! Though the force we fight against is larger than us, they have no chance against us and our training!” Valessandria poured out as much passion as possible, hoping to ignite the flames of justice inside those that chose to follow her into the darkness of despair.