Xerxes

The escape

Breathe Xerxes, just breathe.

Soot and ash still fell from the charred sky.
Everything reeked of burning flesh from the dragon attack.

Queen, the love of my life was gone.
How could I move on?
This battle was clearly over, my life was clearly over.
The cards were all up, I had lost.

There was no way we could defeat the King and his army. The King had the coven of dark magicians on his side. He also had the Vladians and their dragons. He had demi gods and demons acting on his command. There was no way a group of humans without useful weapons could attack. Even with the handful of magicians in the field, it was nothing when compared to the thousands of blood thirsty necromancers with nothing left to lose on the side of the King.
We had clearly lost.
It was time to count our losses and retreat.
Who knows, maybe I would live to see twenty five.

"All magicians on the right, the humans on the left and the Vladians in the middle!" a man announced repeatedly.

That was the General putting us in line to take the next ship heading for Volak. It was a neighboring town and we would all hide there until the heat was over. At least, it was better than being killed by the Drakas. Our forces had been devastated by the surprise attack from the Vladian. So many people had died during the attack leaving us with no choice but to flee for our lives. If there was a first strike, there would be a second and a third. There was no telling how gruesome the battle would be if the full force of the Vladian army were to invade Capalu. It was time to leave the town and start over with a new name and a new identity.

"You there, boy! What are you supposed to be?" he called out to me.

"Human, Sir," I sniffled, still broken from losing the love of my life.

He scoffed at the answer.

"Ha! No. From here on out you are nothing but dead meat. You are a poultry bird waiting to be slaughtered by the King and his Drakan army. That is what you are. Now climb on that ship and sail home to your new prison, where you shall serve your sentence as a nobody!"

He wasn't wrong. I was literally a nobody. I had no one to call my own. I had no people, no friends or family members, I was all alone.
My entire village had been burnt down and I was the only Klax left.

Once upon a time my village was full of life, magic and godly powers. Humans, magicians and gods lived together in peace and harmony till the King of Draka got tired of peace and decided to attack his citizens. In this kind of story you would expect a hero to appear in shining armor and save the day. Unfortunately, every single hero who faced off against the King died in horrible ways. They were either killed out or they were forced to switch sides. We were in this fight alone. One way or another, we were all dead.

There was no need for us to keep fighting but give into the Kings demands. Well, where I was going there won't be any need to fight. I would join the sailing corps and live an unfulfilled life and maybe die of old age. There would be time for redemption, but it was not today.

Everything smelled of sweat, blood and smoke as I walked into the ship. I leaned over the bow while looking out onto the field we were leaving behind. It was still in flames and there were men on the field. I guess they were going to act as decoys. The ship had started to back out from the harbour as it headed for the blue ocean. The future was...

"Hello," a feminine voice called out.

My eyes darted over to the owner of the voice. Okay, I know I vowed never to make new friends, but she was too beautiful to not have as a friend. Her name was Ang and she was among the cooks in the field. We had met and talked a couple of times however, she was always out on errands and I had to be with my squad most of the time so there was no way to hang out. Her parents had died during the war, leaving her behind with her little brother. Where was George by the way? She seemed to read my mind.