On a dark dreary night at the eastern edge of the magnificent and stalwart walls of Rosa, the great city was considerably quiet but still held its usual nightly bustle.
On the outside, atop the large walls were ramparts and various watch towers that overlooked the vast hilly plains that surrounded the city. His gaze landed on some small patches of forestry here and there before moving across the landscape once more.
Large lights scoured the landscape in search of any potential threats. If there were any, the alarms would have long rung off.
One of the knights atop the rampart was adorned in simple armour with red linings and a magnificent emblem of a red lion engraved into his protective wear.
Above it, he wore simple puffed clothes to provide some warmth to the slight cold.
It had been a month since he and many of his brothers in arms had meticulously destroyed all the creatures that potentially posed a threat to the city. Their mission was spearheaded by one of the higher ups within the knight order.
He released a chilled breath and glanced at the beautiful lights that scoured the city, some natural and others born of magic and engineering. Rosa was a great city that held a legendary lineage known for their mastery of such arts.
The Lionhearts were the rulers of the city and were known for having some of the bravest kings in history as well as the most renowned artificers in the world. Even then, deep within the city the greatest artificer of the current era was currently sleeping.
The knight detached his gaze from the beautiful city he was sworn to protect and shifted his gaze over the wall and down below.
The outer walls of Rosa were tens of metres high, and the shadows etched at the base of the wall were deep. The knight should have had trouble peering into them, but he was a sorcerer.
An individual that had awakened their spite and as such, his senses were far above that of the mundane man. Down below, pressed against the protective wall of Rosa was a small community.
A slum to be precise.
The community held hundreds of individuals that were too poor to live within the city or were outcastes and had nowhere else to go.
But that quite didn't make sense because there were plenty of vagrants and homeless persons within the city… The truth was that the people living there were doing so by choice.
Strangely enough the community was steadily growing, accepting more and more outcasts from the city.
But its living conditions were still primitive compared to Rosa.
The cold knight didn't understand why but he felt remorse and pity for the children that would be forced to live such a lifestyle.
"What a harsh reality…" he thought…
He couldn't have been more right.
At the community's edge, furthest away from the wall was a rundown shack in terrible condition. It was seemingly isolated from the others and looked on the verge of collapsing with a strong breeze.
It was a miracle that it was even standing and an even greater miracle that people were able to live inside.
Behind its rotten and beaten-up wooden door was a small room with a single wooden table at its centre with two roughly made wooden chairs.
Atop the table was a single dirty plate and two wooden cups toppled near it.
Next to the table were two boys wearing ragged and dirty clothes standing near each other, their bodies thin from lack of food.
The younger and shorter of the two, Xaryus, had short, coarse black hair whilst the older and taller of the two, Zadius, had grey hair that flowed smoother with slight curls.
The two young boys had brown skin, and their bodies were gaunt and frozen by an indescribable emotion, one strong enough to claw away at their hearts. Painfully, they looked up at the broken roof of the shack they claimed as their home.
They didn't even have the chance to admire the beautiful visage of the moon that sat high above the openings in their roof.
Their gazes were latched onto a string of rope that was roughly tied to one of the more stable branches of wood poking out from the damaged canopy of wood.
The length of rope descended a short distance before coiling around a woman's neck, her beautiful facial features were hidden behind a dark and tired expression. Her eyes were lifeless, with only a handful of pained tears running down her gaunt checks.
She wore a beautiful teal dress that looked strangely magnificent in the moonlight. With each moment, her body swayed slightly causing the stable branch of wood to creak periodically.
Another few moments of silence passed, and the two boys could only look on at her in silence.
Life had been rather unfair to them as of late, not only did their father collapse and pass away a few weeks ago, but after he did, they were exiled from the community without reason.
On top of it all, their mother had decided to leave them behind and follow after their late father.
What were they supposed to do now?
Xaryus' expression was filled with despair, almost as if he had been broken. Zadius however, had remained stalwart.
As the elder brother he had a role to maintain, even then he could hear his father's words, "No matter what, you must protect your brother…"
Slowly, Zadius shifted his hand towards his brother's and grasped it tightly. He didn't want to hide him away or push away his gaze from their deceased mother because this was what life was.
Oftentimes it was harsh and unfair, not caring whether you agree with its heart wrenching machinations or not.
"...I must stay strong, for him at least" Zadius thought, gripping Xaryus' hand even tighter whilst he held back a flood of tears.