Legacy Diaries: Book 2

Taiga's Story

Taiga's POV

I was around 8 years old when I woke up from the scent of smoke. I rubbed my eyes and opened them, only to quickly shut them from the smoke. I began to violently cough since I was struggling to breathe. My mom bursted through the door and grabbed me. She dragged me behind her as we exited the house. My father called my mother over and embraced me in the tightest hug he could muster. My two older siblings had tears in their eyes as they looked up at me. I didn't understand why everyone looked distraught, but soon realized when my dad placed me back down. Our entire village was on fire. The houses had flames bursting through the windows, the doors, and roofs. I wanted to ask my family what was happening, but we were stopped by three men dressed in pteruges, black helmets, breastplates, and ankle guards. My dad pushed our family behind him and stared down the men. I took the time to glance around and noticed that there were a lot of men dressed identical to them burning down our village. My attention turned back to my father when I heard a flop. He was on top of one of the soldiers and delivered blow after blow to his face. I began cheering for my father, but my cheers stopped when another soldiers used his spear to impale my father from behind. Based on where my father was stabbed, it appeared that he was struck in the heart. My dad coughed up blood before his body slumped to the side. My mother let out an ear piercing scream while my other siblings cried. I was too stunned to react. The soldiers advanced towards us so my older brother ran at them, only to be stabbed in the abdomen by one of their swords. That action caused my mother to drop to her knees and wail in anguish. A solidier grabbed my sister which caused my mother to cling onto his arm and beg him to release her. He backhanded my mother, but she didn't give up. Instead, she got up and began to beat the man, but another solidier crept up behind her and slit her throat. She grabbed at her throat in order to apply pressure, but that did nothing to stop her from coughing up blood. I watched as the life slowly drained from her eyes. The next thing I knew, I too was being grabbed. The difference between what happened to my sister and I will never be known since that was the last time we saw each other. We screamed as she was being taken in a different direction from me. I cried and tried to free myself, but my weak frame was no match for my kidnapper. I was shoved into the back of a wooden cart. I pushed passed the bodies so that I could get one final look at my burning village before I was carted away forever.

X

I was jolted awake by the soldiers grabbing me. I attempted to thrash around which resulted in one of them slapping me across the face. I fell limp in his arms since that blow sent shockwaves through my body. I was dragged to a grand room. A young man was sitting on the throne whilst picking his fingernails. His eyes scanned the room before settling on me. It was then that I noticed I was accompanied by kids my age.

"Yes." He pointed at a girl.

"No." He pointed at the one next to her. A solidier walked up behind said girl and slit her neck. My breath hitched along with the other kids in the room. The process continued until he got to me, the last one. He rubbed his chin and licked his lips before stating, "yes." There were designated soldiers who cleaned up the bodies while the other ones took us, the "lucky" kids, to another room. The girls were separated from the boys. I was thrown into a dungeon like room that housed like 20 other men. These were fully grown men, not boys. The other boys and I cowered away from those men because they were intimidating with their scarred bodies and muscular frames.