The oak tree at the center of Oakhaven had always been their best spot.
Kael, Eren, and Torin met there for the first time when they were little. Back then, they could barely climb over the tree's huge roots sticking out of the ground. Now, years later, they still came back almost every day.
The village had rules. But the most important one was; children weren't allowed to leave the boundaries of Oakhaven. So the three boys made the oak tree their own little world.
The tree was pretty big. Its trunk was so wide that all three of them together couldn't wrap their arms around it. Thick branches spread out in every direction, creating a roof of leaves that blocked out most of the sun. Under its shade, the air was way cooler and easier to breathe.
The ground beneath wasn't entirely flat. Large roots broke through grass like wooden snakes frozen in place. Some were thin, easy to step over. Others were thick, twisting and turning across the earth.
Today, like every other day, the three kids were there.
Kael stood on one side of the tree, wooden stick gripped tight in both hands. At nine, he was the smallest of the three—thin and wiry, with dark hair that fell into his eyes. Sweat already soaked through his simple white shirt. His brown trousers were dusty at the knees.
Across from him was Eren. Ten years old and built solid, with a round face and plump cheeks. Short black hair stuck to his forehead with sweat. He held a plank-shield in front of him—something old Joe had carved from oak wood.
They'd been at it for a while now. Playing warriors, like they always did.
Kael swung his stick hard at Eren's shield. The sound echoed across the village center.
Eren didn't move, his feet stayed planted on the ground as he grinned wide behind his plank-shield.
"You call that an attack?" Eren laughed. His plump cheeks shook. "You'll need way more than that to break my defense!"
Kael's grip tightened on his stick. His hands were already sore, but he wasn't giving up. He pulled back, ready to swing again.
Thwack!
Something small and hard hit him right in the forehead.
"Ow!" Kael dropped his stick. His hand flew to his face. The sting spread across his skin, sharp and hot. "That hurt!"
"Fireball!"
Torin popped out from behind the tree trunk, waving his slingshot in the air. He was the youngest among them. His messy black bob bounced as he jumped up and down. His glasses slipped down his nose.
"I got you! I got you!" Torin was grinning so wide his missing tooth showed.
Eren burst out laughing so hard that his whole body shook. He had to lean on his shield to stay standing.
"That's cheating!" Kael yelled, holding back tears.
"Nuh-uh!" Torin was already backing away, still grinning. "It's a basic warrior's strategy!"
Then he turned and ran.
Kael forgot all about his wooden stick lying in the grass and took off after Torin.
"Hey!"
Torin's giggles echoed as he darted around the tree trunk. His small legs moved fast, weaving between the roots.
Kael chased after him. Once around the tree. Then twice. He jumped over the smaller roots and dodged around the bigger ones.
Eren stayed where he was, watching and laughing. "You're never gonna catch him!"
But Kael was getting closer. Torin was fast, but Kael had longer legs.
He reached out. His fingers brushed the back of Torin's gray shirt—
His foot caught on something.
A root. One he hadn't seen earlier, barely sticking out of the ground.
Kael's body lurched forward. His arms swung out, trying to grab onto anything, but there was nothing but air.
The world tilted in that instant.
His momentum sent him tumbling, his body rolling over the grass.
He rolled a few more meters before finally coming to a stop face-first just outside the tree trunk's wide shadow.
For a moment, he just lay there, panting heavily, trying to catch his breath. Slowly, he rolled over to his back. His lungs burned from all the running and the sudden fall. Despite everything, a laugh bubbled up in his chest.
It started small—just a huff of air. He couldn't help it, then he burst out laughing.
The sound echoed across the clearing, breathless and loud.
The moment Kael started laughing, Torin and Eren joined in.
They'd been watching him carefully, but seeing he was fine, they both let out their laughter they held back since his fall.
Their laughter slowly faded, replaced by heavy breathing and wide smiles.
Then Kael sat up, brushing bits of grass from his hair. Torin pushed his glasses back up his nose with two fingers. Eren wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his right hand.
"Kael! Boys, come eat!"
All three of them turned in unison to the voice that came from a cottage across the clearing.
Lyanna, Kael's mother stood a short distance from their cottage, hands on her hips. She looked to be in her late thirties, with black braids pulled back neatly. Her slender frame was wrapped in a plain brown gown with a white apron tied over it.
Her expression was warm but carried that familiar look—
"You three have been out here all afternoon!" she called, though there was a playful edge to her voice.
Kael groaned but pushed himself to his feet.
"Coming, Mom!"
Torin scrambled to grab his slingshot from where he'd dropped it when he ran, while Eren bent to pick up his plank-shield, still grinning.
In that moment, a beam of light tore straight through the village center in less than a heartbeat—a straight line of blazing violet wrapped in twisting black strings.
It hit the oak tree's dead center, shattering the ancient trunk.
The big tree—the one that had stood for generations, the one wider than three kids—was gone. Where it had been, there was nothing but empty air and a blinding violet glow.
Torin and Eren were gone too.
One moment they were there, reaching for their things, and the next, they ceased to exist.
The cottage behind the tree, caught in the beam's path, shattered too.
Then came the impact of the violet beam.
The ground erupted.
A shockwave of force and heat exploded outward from where the tree had stood. The earth itself buckled and split, massive cracks spreading like lightning across the grass. Chunks of dirt and stone flew into the air.
The wall of pressure slammed into Kael, lifting him off his feet like he weighed nothing. His small body flew backward through the air. The world spun around him in a blur of sky and ground.
He crashed into the earth several meters away.
The impact drove every bit of air from his lungs. Pain exploded through his right shoulder and the left side of his head. He bounced once and then rolled, his body tumbling over grass and dirt before finally coming to a stop.
His mother was thrown backward by the same shockwave. With no time to react, her body slammed into the cottage wall behind her with a sickening thud, which sent her crumpling to the ground.
Silence fell over Oakhaven.
Not the peaceful kind of silence, but the kind that comes after something terrible.
Kael lay face-down in the grass, completely still.
He couldn't move for some time. His body still heavy from the impact, and the shockwave.
Dust hung thick in the air over the entire village, blocking out the sun.
Slowly, the thick gray cloud that had swallowed the village started to thin. Shapes emerged through the haze—broken walls, collapsed roofs, people stumbling through the rubble.
Lyanna pushed herself up from where she'd fallen against the cottage wall. Her head throbbed, her back aching from the earlier impact. She coughed hard, dust choking her lungs.
"Kael!" Her voice came out rough and desperate. "Kael!"
Around her, other voices rose through the settling dust.
"What happened?"
"Was that an attack?"
"Help! Someone's trapped!"
People coughed and groaned, pulling themselves from the wreckage. Some limped, while some crawled. The air was thick with confusion and panic.
But Lyanna didn't care about any of that.
"Kael!" she called again, louder this time.
Her eyes searched frantically through the clearing haze. Then she saw him.
A small shape lying on the ground, several meters from where the oak tree used to be. Where there was now just a wide, scorched trench cutting through the village center.
Her heart stopped.
"No. No, no, no."
She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the pain shooting through her back. Her legs nearly gave out, but she forced herself forward. She stumbled over broken stone and splintered wood, pushing past other villagers who were just as dazed and lost.
"Kael!"
She reached him and dropped to her knees beside his small body.
There was blood on the left side of his head, running down from his temple. It matted his dark hair and stained the grass beneath him.
"Kael, please." Her voice broke. Her hands trembled as she reached for him, turning him gently onto his back. "Wake up. Please wake up."
His face was pale. Dust covered his cheeks.
"Kael!" She patted his cheek, gentle at first, then more urgent. "Baby, please. Open your eyes."
Tears spilled down her face, cutting clean tracks through the dust.
"Please," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Please don't leave me."
She pressed her ear to his chest. His heartbeat was faint, but still, this was enough to send relief through her.
"Kael, wake up," she said again, stroking his hair away from the wound. "Please. Wake up."
While she desperately needed Kael to wake up, the air suddenly changed.
The sounds of the village—the groaning, the crying, the calls for help—seemed to fade into the background. The air itself felt different. It felt heavy and smelled wrong.
Lyanna froze, chills ran down her spine, cold and sharp. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
Something was here. Something that didn't belong.
Then she heard it. A cheerful light voice. Completely out of place.
"Oh my, what a mess I've made."