A:N: Hey all! I was in the middle of writing the latest chapter for this series and ended up going back through some of the older chapters (and the game) to get a feel of where I was going with this and I was kind of appalled by it? To be fair I was still trying to figure out my voice and how to write but still I apologize to my followers that read the previous version (seriously, omg you guys are saints). I have since revised and updated this chapter and will be doing so with the other chapters as well to fit a much more experienced voice! I hope you enjoy!

Doug could smell the smoke before he saw it.

The distant scent of charred wood and grass wafting in the air seemed harmless, pleasant almost, as travelers and merchants often made camp in the peace of Autumn Road before reaching the nearby town of Selphia.

However, as Doug pulled through a dense cluster of fall colored trees and into a clearing, a heavy stone dropped to the pit of his stomach at the sight of a sinister column of smoke too thick for a lone campfire.

With unparalleled speed, Doug swung himself atop his father's painted mare, the one he had been assigned to guide home from the Monster Expert's house, before skillfully twisting the leather reins in his hands and giving it an urgent click to the side, forcing it into a gallop.

Panic seized him, his anxiety spiraling almost painfully throughout his system as the hoofbeats of his steed began to match the pace of his heart. His breath coming in pants as his body demanded more and more oxygen and with another click to the horse's side, urged it into a sprint that was almost too much to control.

It wasn't much farther now, his village had just been a short distance away from the clearing, and as he began to near it, felt the pace he set begin to slow, the ground beneath them becoming more uneven than before.

Guiding his mare through the thickened undergrowth, Doug heard the disturbing sounds of frightened animals start to near them and in an instant monsters and creatures of various sizes broke through the orange shrubs and trees.

With a whinny of dismay his horse began to back up, spooked by the local wildlife as Doug moved forward to soothe them with a gentle rub to the neck, attempting to reassure it.

Desperately trying to calm the grim thoughts that had begun to ensnare his mind, Doug waited for a break inbetween the stampeding animals before snapping the reigns once more.

Less than a mile in, smoke seemed to lay claim to everything in the surrounding area, flaring up into Doug's nostrils as he began to cough at the suffocating odor. Involuntary tears springing up in his silver eyes as he attempted to relieve the tight burning sensation within his chest, covering his nose briefly to try to obtain some relief.

Dark smoke billowed menacingly around him despite the thundering pace of his steed and Doug hoped with all of his being that he hadn't arrived too late. That everyone in the village if not everything would still be safe somehow.

As a wall made of thick stone became visible, Doug steered the mare to the side, aiming to circle around to the entrance that was closest to his house when a rush of smoke pulled him into another coughing fit.

For a brief moment Doug closed his eyes, dealing with the worst of the smoke inhalation, before reopening them as terror swiftly shackled itself to him.

There at the entrance, the Dwarven village, his home, was nothing but a wall of fire.

Angry flames licked the edges of the stone wall that surrounded the entirety of the village, the wooden entrance now a pile of blackened ash as an insufferable heat raged outwards.

Utterly distraught by the disturbing imagery, Doug didn't notice the tree above him had been set aflame. Only the sound of a sharp crack from the burning branch gave him any warning before it fell, crashing heavily in front of him in a display of sparks.

His horse reared, thoroughly frightened and with only half of his attention geared toward the animal, he failed to regain control, the reigns slipping from his hands.

He fell hard, scraping his palms along pebbled earth as a sharp pain shot up his left arm forcing him to buckle over and cry out in pain. Then, with no time to recover from his clumsy landing, Doug felt the ground beneath him begin to shake, issuing him just enough warning to roll out of the way of his rogue steed, barely escaping being trampled.

"Damn it!" Doug cried out in frustration, pulling himself up off the ground as he gingerly stretched his left arm, flexing his fingers experimentally to be sure that he hadn't broken anything before rushing to the heart of the village.

Half blind and practically suffocated at the hands of the ever present black smoke, Doug attempted to search fast, darting his eyes around his neighbor's homes in hopes to see a familiar face or at the very least find someone retreating out of the fire.

Yet, he found no one.

It was almost a relief, perhaps they had already evacuated and he had been panicked over nothing.

That's when familiar screams touched Doug's ears, the source only a few yards away and upon shifting his gaze felt adrenaline spread through him anew as he swiftly approached the remains of his childhood home.

"Mom! Dad! Are you in there?" Doug yelled, alarm apparent in his words as he gripped the hot doorknob. Yanking with all his might and blistering his hand in the process, he released it to bang his fists against the stubbornly stuck door.

It refused to budge, the thick wood of the door acting against him as Doug tried the warmed handle once more.

It felt like it had been locked, his parents never thought to lock their house during the day, even during the evening was a rare occurrence so why?

Were they somehow barricaded inside? Unable to free themselves?

"Doug!" A female cry answered, though it was muffled by the sound of roaring fire and crackling wood Doug knew it to be his mothers.

"Damn it, open!" he growled, throwing himself into the door, urgency surging within him, encouraging him to break it down but the wood held fast.

With a scream of agitation, he thrust his leg forward, kicking the door in by dismantling the doorknob, allowing just enough leverage for it to be opened. With a blast of heat, the door swung open violently as flames rushed to spill out causing Doug to shield his face to protect himself with his uninjured arm.

"Mom, where are you?" he yelled, eyes desperate to see through the unyielding heat of the flames.

Then, with a disturbingly loud crack, a burning support beam fell in front of the door, blocking further passage, not allowing him to receive any other answer than an agonized scream.

Before Doug could grab the support beam to try to force his way inside, large, foreign hands gripped him around the shoulders, tossing him to the side as if he were a lightweight ragdoll.

Springing up from the ungraceful tumble Doug noticed several soldiers in thick armor run past him, yelling out orders to one another, yet despite the oddity he chose to ignore them in favor of the sight of his home.

His eyes met up with the flaming entrance to his house, intent on running through the fire to rescue his mother but the sound of an eerie creak gave him pause.

The entire front of the house seemed to waver, as if being pushed forward and in a rush of ash and smoke it collapsed before him.

Doug hadn't realized he was screaming until a soldier yanked him around the waist, meaning to pick him up but doing it so roughly that it pushed the air out of his lungs.

"Come on kid, snap out of it! You need to get out of here!" The soldier yelled, struggling to be heard over Doug's persistent cries of grief.

Tears spilled over Doug's cheeks, blurring his vision considerably but he did not protest as the soldier locked his arms around him to help him stumble back to the front entrance.

A few moments later, they were out of the village and were being helped into a small camp where several battle mages surrounded the stone wall, fighting the growing flames.

Doug hardly noticed the change in location as he was gently set down on the ground, a solider or two barking rough sounding words at him yet he couldn't find it within himself to offer a reaction.

Everything felt to warm, to wrong.

This shouldn't be happening.

This couldn't be real.

A wave of cold struck Doug as a bucket of water was thrown onto him by one of the soldiers, then they did it again, the chill of it snapping him back to reality.

Brushing his red bangs from his eyes to take in his surroundings, Doug turned his head to observe the many mage's that surrounded the main entrance of his village. Utilizing the rock wall as their only line of defense, they continued to cast Water Laser an exhaustive amount of times, all in hopes to tame the hungry fire.

Encompassing Doug were several soldiers and judging by their armor and the colors they wore, they were from Sech Empire, the neighboring kingdom.

The man that had saved him, a Sech soldier with armor that covered most of his face, reached out to offer Doug a canteen of water, a damp cloth in his other hand.

"You're really lucky you know that, kid? If we hadn't caught sight of you during our retreat you could have been crushed." The soldier scolded as Doug attempted to accept the water but accidentally spilled it, his hands shaking so violently from the onslaught of emotions running through him.

"Please, do you know if anyone in that village made it out alive?" He asked, his voice hoarse from all his previous screaming.

The soldier seemed to ponder answering for a moment, a sympathetic silence emanating from him before slapping the damp cloth gently onto Doug's face.

"Would you please worry about yourself for a second? You're an absolute mess." The solider complained as Doug ripped the cloth off his face, unintentionally smearing soot across his light skin.

"I don't give a damn what I look like, this is my village, I need to know what happened!" Doug raged, his grief briefly replaced by anger and the soldier sighed before turning away.

"I'm sorry to break it to you but…" he paused for a moment, as if resentful that he had to be the one to deliver such news. "No survivors were found…'cept you. We arrived too late to help anyone."

The surrounding soldiers that had been listening in on their conversation turned away then, obviously not wanting to witness Doug's reaction to the grim news.

"No, that can't be right. My whole clan is just…gone?" his voice broke upon the last word, ice injecting itself into his veins, forcing him into a numbness unlike anything he had ever felt before.

Thoroughly stunned, he shook his head.

"H-How could something like this happen?" Doug asked the solider, his voice raised, but whether it was from rage, or sadness he couldn't be sure.

Fresh tears sprung into his eyes at the man's lack of answer, the foreboding noise of his mother's last screams entering his head, making him want to cover his ears.

He had been so close to saving her…and what about his father?

Had he succumbed to the smoke within the house before his mother? Did he leave her to suffer the fate of being consumed by that inferno alone?

The thought terrified him.

"Ventuswill is what happened, boy." A gruff voice sounded from behind him, and in an instant, all of the surrounding soldiers were on their feet and at attention, their hands formed into a respectable salute.

Doug turned slowly, still feeling to numb to stand up properly as he faced the owner of the voice.

An older man, sporting a long white beard with matching hair that lingered at his waist had been the one. Clad in blue and gold robes with a fluffy fur collar protecting his neck, he greeted Doug with a curt nod, his mouth pulled into a tight line.

The appearance alone was enough to make Doug's mouth run dry, he recognized this man instantly.

Emperor Ethelbert.

Ruler of the Sech Empire.