He should have listened to everyone. He should have listened to his father when he was told to leave the moment the horns sounded. But when the screaming began, his legs locked beneath him, and he could not stop himself from looking back. There, he saw the horrors unfolding, his people being cleaved apart by strange armored raiders.

  “Teral, move! Do not look back!”

  Screams cut through the night air, sharp and wet, echoing along the wooden log bridges of the village. Torches flickered as something heavy struck a home behind them. Wood cracked, and beams snapped. A burning lantern rolled across the walkway and tumbled into the branches below, instantly setting them ablaze.

  “Do not let any of them escape. Kill them all!”

  The shout came from behind, belonging to an armored man. Teral looked back and caught a glimpse of his face. It was similar to theirs, yet the ears were much shorter. The humans had attacked. His mother gripped his hand and pulled him forward until strength finally returned to his limbs.

  “Keep going!”

  His father shouted as he ran ahead with a young girl in his arms. All of them had long ears, and their forest village was going up in flames. Teral had heard his parents warn him about the bloodthirsty humans, yet he never believed such people truly existed. Now, with the walkways groaning under his feet and fire swallowing everything he knew, he had to admit that his father had been right.

  His mother never let go of his hand. Not when a spear hissed past her cheek. Not when the raiders’ laughter rose behind them.

  “Do not look down, Teral. Keep your eyes forward.”

  Her voice trembled, but her grip stayed firm. His father, broad-shouldered even for an elf, sprinted ahead with his sister held tightly against his chest. She sobbed loudly, her cries lost in the roar of the flames.

  “There. The last ones. Get them.”

  The shout echoed from below as they neared the village exit. Teral forced himself not to look back. He ran beside his mother while his father led the way. Soon the trees thinned and the clearing opened before them, the space dominated by the statue that overlooked the village. They were almost free, or so he believed.

  “Run.”

  His mother pushed him forward with both hands. A heartbeat later, she screamed. Teral turned in time to see a sword drive through her chest, a long human blade blackened at the edges. She slid off the metal, her blood spraying across his face, warm and glimmering in the firelight.

  “M-mother?”

  His voice trembled as she staggered forward and collapsed near the statue.

  “G-go, my Teral.”

  These were her final words before she fell still. His head slumping forward, blood pooling around her and the statue she rested against.

  “NO! YOU BAST…”

  His father’s cry resounded from nearby, but it was quickly interrupted by a swarm of arrows. Teral turned just in time to see him swaying, arrows jutting from his back as he tried to shield the baby sister in his arms.

  Teral’s breath hitched as his father staggered again, knees buckling under the weight of too many wounds. The arrows quivered with each trembling step, yet he still tried to protect the tiny bundle pressed to his chest.

  “Father…?”

  Teral froze. The sight of his father bleeding out was too overwhelming for him to comprehend. His father looked at him with fading eyes that no longer recognized the boy in front of him.

  “Run, son. Run.”

  A sword flashed in the firelight. The raider swung without hesitation. Teral watched the steel bite into his father’s shoulder and carve downward. Blood splattered across the burning grass. His father collapsed, curling around the infant one final time. The baby gave a hushed cry before a spear drove through them both.

  “No… no, no, no…”

  Teral’s mind cracked. His breath stalled, yet his legs finally obeyed him. He ran toward them without a weapon, without strength, without any chance of survival. Tears blurred everything. His mother. His father. His baby sister. All lay before the ancient statue as if cast there as a sacrifice.

  One of the armored humans stepped forward, his sword dripping with fresh blood.

  “Well, look at this one. Still breathing.”

  An arrow pierced Teral’s shoulder and sent him stumbling. He slipped in his mother’s blood, fell hard, and clawed his way forward, desperate to reach his family.

  “P-please… someone! Someone help! ANYONE!”

  The words tore from him with raw despair. He knew no one would come. His village had been destroyed, and he might already be the only survivor. The man behind him sneered as he raised his blade and brought it down on the youth’s back.

  The strike ripped across Teral’s back. Pain exploded through him and he screamed. He rolled onto his side between the bodies of his mother and father. His vision blurred, yet he could still see the raiders’ faces twisted into cruel smiles. These were not people. They were monsters who took pleasure in slaughtering everyone he had ever known and loved.

  Something broke inside him. A tide of anger and hatred surged through his chest, fiercer than anything he had ever felt. He wanted to tear into them and return their cruelty a hundred times over.

  The world dimmed around him. It was not from blood loss but from something ancient and powerful. A warmth pulsed beneath his palms, soaked in the blood of his family. The statue seemed to tremble, as if something within it had awakened.

  “Do you feel that?”

  One of the raiders stopped mid-stride as the air shifted. The others scoffed and closed in with raised blades.

  “It is only the forest burning. Finish the brat.”

  Teral’s fingers curled against the earth. He did not understand what was happening. He only knew that he wanted them dead. Every one of them. Every last human who had touched his family and something had answered that desire.

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  “What?”

  A sudden burst of crimson light erupted beneath him, forming a glowing circle etched across the soil. The raiders jumped back in panic. Some shielded their eyes as the radiance grew stronger and brighter.

  “What is that? Something is coming out!”

  A massive figure rose from the circle. It was broad and heavy, shaped entirely of metal. In one hand, it held a shield large enough to cover a wagon door. In the other, it gripped a halberd that crackled with lightning. It remained still as it fully emerged, its polished plates catching the glow of the burning forest.

  ‘A spirit?’

  Teral had no idea what he was witnessing, but he remembered the old stories his parents had told him. Elves had once called upon spirits to protect their people, yet the ability had deteriorated with time. His family had lived quietly in this forest for multiple centuries, and no one he knew had ever summoned anything like this.

  His gaze drifted to the bodies beside him. His mother. His father. His baby sister. Rage surged through him once more, so strong it shook his entire body. He looked back at the strange being and reached for it with everything he had. He did not know what it was or why it had appeared, but he no longer cared. He would give anything, even his soul, if this creature would help him destroy the monsters who had taken everything from him.

  “Spirit…”

  He called out to it and the metal titan’s helmet shifted in a subtle movement that felt like a gaze. It seemed to look not only at him but through him. The red glow of the summoning circle flickered across its armor and revealed plates etched with enchanted symbols. The raiders hesitated and formed a loose half circle around the boy and the newly risen giant.

  Teral could not move because his wounds were too deep. He reached toward the metal being with a trembling hand.

  “Spirit, help me. Kill these monsters, kill them all. You can take my soul, I do not care. Just avenge my family and the people who lived here. They did nothing wrong, and these bastards killed them all.”

  He could not stop himself from crying as he begged the being for help. The humans did not wait. They unleashed a volley of arrows toward the giant of metal. The arrows struck its frame and bounced off as if they were made of nothing more than wood.

  ‘I do not need your soul, but do not worry. All of them will die...’

  Teral fell silent as the strange voice echoed inside his mind. Its tone was solemn and held no hatred or animosity, almost as if it meant to calm him. The giant turned and swung its long weapon that resembled an axe. With a single motion, the earth trembled, and the wind rose around it.

  “Gah…”

  “No…”

  The screams of the human raiders rose as several of them were cleaved apart. Their bodies fell before they even understood what had struck them. The halberd’s arc finished with a heavy thud as its blade cracked into the soil, leaving a shallow crater. The metal titan rose turned around to face the enemies, and soon the burning village was filled with the screams of the ones that attacked it.

  “W-what is that thing?!”

  One man shouted just before the metal being hurled its weapon, impaling him and two others standing behind him. Their bodies flew several meters and struck a tree that had only just begun to burn. Their screams rose in pitch as the flames consumed them, then fell silent as they died.

  The raiders finally recognized their new foe and released their battle hounds. These beasts were far larger than any normal dog and had teeth as sharp as daggers. Two of them leaped at the metal giant, yet both were swept aside when it struck them with the massive tower shield it carried.

  “Fall back.”

  “No, stay back. Stay back, I say.”

  Teral watched in awe as the metal being carved its way through the human raiders. The raiders had torn through his village with ease, but they could do nothing against this new enemy. Each swing of the halberd or shield claimed another life. Even when the battle hounds bit into the metal, their teeth could not pierce it.

  “Ha… ha…”

  A strained laugh escaped him. Tears blurred his vision as he watched the humans who had brought so much suffering fall one after another. Their cries of pain sounded almost like music to him. He looked toward his mother, then his father, then his baby sister.

  “Look. The spirit is killing the evil humans.”

  He paused and gently placed his hand on his mother’s cheek.

  “It came to avenge everyone and to protect us. Everything will be fine once the evil humans are dead, so…”

  His hands began to tremble as fresh tears streamed down his face.

  “So please wake up. Do not leave me alone…”

  His pleas were drowned out by the battle that followed. The last of the raiders scattered, breaking formation, tripping over burning roots, and stumbling across the bodies of their own dead. Some tried to flee into the forest, but the fire they had started blocked their only path, and the metal hulk cut off every other escape.

  To make matters worse, the bodies of their fallen allies began to move in strange ways. They rose from the dead with twisted, unnatural motions. Some were mismatched, with legs from one body joined to the torso of someone much smaller, and all fitted in heavy armor. They were weak, yet these risen creatures still managed to block the path, trapping everyone so the slaughter could continue.

  Teral pushed himself forward until he could see the carnage unfolding. He saw the being fighting with a strange and merciless brutality. The enemies who had caused all of this fell to its blade as if they were insects being brushed aside. At one point, another weapon appeared in its hand, and it used it to unleash even greater destruction. Soon, the forest village became quiet. The cries of the raiders faded and only the crackling of the fire remained.

  "They are all dead."

  The metal creature stood among a mound of corpses. Its body was covered in dents, scratches, and puncture marks. The humans had fought hard, but they could not defeat this giant. One of its weapons had snapped in half, and still it prevailed.

  "Ha… ha…"

  Teral laughed as his vision blurred. Now that everything was over and the adrenaline had drained from him, he collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The pain rushed back, and he remembered how gravely he was injured. Yet he did not care. As long as the evil humans were gone, he was content.

  From a distance, he heard metallic footsteps approaching, and he smiled. The metal giant was probably returning to claim his soul as payment for its services. He feared death, but what truly terrified him was the thought of never seeing his family in the afterlife. If his soul was taken, he would never reach them. At least, he thought, they had been avenged.

  Slowly and carefully, he walked back to his family. If he were about to die and lose his soul, he wanted to spend his last moments with his parents. They were still slumped against the statue. For some reason, they looked peaceful to him.

  His mother’s hair, usually braided with small wooden beads, was now tangled and stained with blood. His father still held the small bundle that had been his sister, as if even in death he refused to let her go. Teral reached out to them with trembling hands.

  “Father… I’m here.”

  His voice trembled.

  “I’m sorry. I could not run. But do not worry, all the evil humans are dead.”

  He soon heard footsteps behind him. The metal reaper had come to claim his soul. He turned while slumping against the body of his mother. The creature appeared, its massive frame towering above him, and he could barely see it through his fading vision.

  “I…”

  His voice broke again. He could not speak. Images of his life flashed before him. He saw his parents smiling, and he saw the day his little sister was born. Those were days filled with pure joy, but now only darkness remained.

  “…”

  “…”

  “…?”

  “Huh?”

  He did not know how much time had passed when his eyes slowly opened. The scenery had not changed, except the trees had been burned to ash. He touched his body, and where there had been deep wounds, there was now nothing. To his side lay several empty bottles, their corks tossed away. His parents were still there, motionless, yet he was alive. In front of him stood the metal giant, its form turning translucent as it began to fade.

  “W… why did you save me?”

  He asked, unsure of what the creature wanted.

  “Why not? Would your family not want you to live on?”

  The metal figure answered, then vanished completely, leaving the young survivor alone and confused. He rose to his feet and looked at the bodies scattered around him. The village was gone, everyone he knew was dead, and he was truly alone.