The market's lively today, Venus Prime thought as his startlingly blue eyes examined the booths in the medieval-style market square. The townsfolk who he came to know well over his 7-and-a-half years of age crowded the square, making it considerably more difficult for Venus to purchase the things his mother had put on the list she had given him, but he didn't mind. He enjoyed talking to them. "Hello, Mr. Ginestel," He said carelessly.
Mr. Ginestel was Venus' next-door-neighbor, and as a good friend to the family. Ginestel whipped around to face him, and a wide grin broke across his face. "Why, good morning, Venus," He said with that familiar twinkle in his eye that Venus loved. "Are you shopping for your mother today?"
"Mhm!" Venus showed him the list and proceeded to list off everything that was on it.
"Would you like some help getting those items," Ginestel offered, delighted by the youth.
"Okay," Venus said. "Thank you!"
Ginestel laughed. "You're quite welcome! Now, let's see, what's first on your list . . ."
As Ginestel guided Venus around the market square, The ground under their feed quaked violently. People toppled over one another, marketstands crash and groaned. Venus was terrified.
Venus fell down hard onto the stone tiles as the earth shook him off his feet. Pain rushed through his knees and hands, skin on both scraped. But Venus was sensitive to pain, as he was 7 years old, so he began to tear up and call for his father to help him through his bawls. Ginestel scooped him up, running down the road toward their street on which Venus lives. "I'm gonna get you home, k, buddy," Ginestel said through heavy pants. Venus nodded and he wrapped his arms around Ginestel's neck.
A stranger pointed up at the sky, his voice filled with bewilderment and terror. "Oh, spirits, what on Etov is happening?!"
Venus turned his head to look at what the stranger was looking at, and stared at it in bewilderment and wonder. Haze spread across the sky like a disease, turning it a chilling pure purple. Silhouetted figures of all sorts of shapes and sizes entered the atmosphere, numbering in the millions, Venus guessed. "Spirits help us," Venus heard Ginestel whispering to himself, alerting Venus that he noticed the sky as well.
Suddenly, several voices sounded simultaneously, the magic in the words filling the peoples' hearts with terror and hopelessness, and shouted in challenge. "Whelps of Etov! Surrender your pointless lives, they matter not to us! If you try to resist us, you will be crushed by our power and transformed into warriors for our armies!"
The figures approached closer, thousands of dragons and monsters destroying everything and everyone in their path. Ginestel stopped abruptly as a strange grotesque knightlike creature, hands replaced with sharp blades dropped from the sky, landing in front of Ginestel, 5.6 feet away to be specific, Venus calculated. Ginestel dropped Venus, and shoved him off the road into the surrounding forest. "Go, Venus! Go home! RUN!"
Venus nodded quickly, and took off alone, running through the chaos. He didn't look back, afraid of what he might see.
The planet transformed from a peaceful paradise into a doomed wasteland within minutes. Monsters everywhere, tearing up buildings, slaughtering friends, family, everywhere he looked.
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