“Roy, it’s time for your trial.”

The disheveled young man took a deep breath as he looked up at the knight in plated armor. The smell of horse shit was still in the air, but Roy was already used to it, it was the neighing that truly annoyed him. Even on the eve of his execution, he couldn’t get a proper minute of shut-eye.

Roy bent his back over to show the knight his shackled arms. One thick yellow rope tied both his wrists with a knot, while another tied him to a wooden column that supported the stables’ structure.

The knight kneeled down and cut open the second knot to free the young boy, and Roy stood up in a firm position without showing any of his fatigue and weariness. However, before he could make a single step, one of his friends caught him by the ankle and stopped him.

“Don’t go, Roy. Just stay here! If they wanna kill us, let them come to us!”

Roy looked back to see his friend extending himself to the limit so that he could grab him with his tied hands. His ankles were tied to a piece of wood with a rope that dug into his flesh. The young red-haired man bit his lips until they bled and looked with bloodshot eyes at Roy. A myriad of emotions mixed and clashed with his eyes: fear, sadness, rage, and resolution.

The middle-aged knight breathed out a sigh. “Jack, don’t make this hard for yourself. Just two people have to die, don’t make it everyone.”

“Just kill us all then!” Another young man spat at the knight’s words. He too was strapped to a wooden column of the stable along with the rest of his friends.

“Robb!” Roy’s eyes were cold as he called out to his friend. His expression then soon softened as he looked at all of his brothers for one last time; they were all clenching their hands and biting their lips to stop themselves from letting out a single tear. Even the young Jaimie looked down and swallowed his hiccups; he tried his best not to cry, keeping the promise he made to Roy earlier.

“See you guys later.” Roy smiled at his friends before turning around and walking along with the knight.

As they were making their way to the plaza, the duo passed by the large farm fields. Roy looked at them and reminisced about his childhood, when he used to play hide and seek with his friends among the golden strands of wheat. They then entered the residential area, and pictures and images kept flashing inside his mind. Each house had its own special place in his heart, even the old shed atop the hill where no one lived anymore had precious memories for Roy—both happy and sad. 

As they marched closer to their destination, the middle-aged man stole multiple pitiful glances at the young boy before letting out a sigh and slumping his shoulders every time. By the time they could see the crowd, the knight finally worked up the courage to speak.

“If they sentence you to be tortured, I will do it. I will make sure it’s as painless as possible.”

Roy raised his eyebrows at the knight’s words before letting out a chuckle. “You’re a good man… I feel bad for you.”

The knight furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “They’re going to burn you alive, like your friend Aiden. Why do you feel bad for me?”

Roy looked beyond the crowd and at the giant wooden cross in the center of the plaza. “I will be strapped, burned, scream for a bit, and then die. But you… you will have to live with it.”

The murmurs and noise of the villagers as they whispered to each other made a private conversation no longer possible. The knight returned back to his previous professionalism and stoic face, while Roy walked behind him and looked around the crowd.

On top of a wooden platform stood three men. At the front was a man that looked to be in his mid-fifties with short gray hair that was meticulously slicked back and a defined beard that accentuated his sharp jawline. He was wearing a red coat along with a black surcoat on top of it. Next to him at his right was a fully armored knight, and at his left was an old balding man that wore a pristine white robe.

Even though the noble’s appearance was large and intimidating, it was the old man next to him that drew Roy’s ire. As he looked at the village chief’s stoic and aloof face, he couldn’t help but remember his old warm smile and grit his teeth. The same man that welcomed them every time they brought loot to the village with smiles and praise was now looking at them as if they were rats in his manor’s large kitchen.

The rage that bubbled inside Roy’s heart was calmed down as he understood its futility. He was not sharp enough to understand the conspiracy that was brewing around him, and he was now going to die for it. However, if the heavens ever decreed for him to get a second chance, he swore that he would not make the same mistake twice.

“Make space, make space! Stay back!” The knights and village guard dispersed the villagers and the crowd was split in two. Roy and the middle-aged knight made their way to the wooden cross, where he strapped the young man with even thicker and larger yellow ropes.

As the knights raised his body so that he is aligned with the cross and the ropes dug into his skin, Roy looked up at the sky. The sun of Vesaria shone brightly at the village, but as he looked in the distance he could see dark clouds forming.

The well-dressed man atop his wooden platform cleared his throat, and all the knights and guards shouted, “Silence!”

As the crowd slowly quieted down, the noble laid out his first order. “Before the trial is to begin, the criminal Roy is to be lashed twenty times for his disrespect and disregard for the great Vaserian empire’s nobility, tradition, and laws.”

“As you wish, my lord.” 

Roy turned and looked at the middle-aged man next to him who was bowing to the noble. The latter gestured with his head to the guards that immediately brought a large whip for the knight to carry his duty. He then took the whip and lashed the young boy.

Even though Roy was being whipped by a man that was double his size, he still had a smile on his face. The knight, as he had promised, made it as painless as possible. He stood close to the young man and only struck him with the middle portion of the whip, not its end. Roy could still feel the pain, and his skin was bruising, but a proper whipping would have cut his flesh open.

The crowd murmured and whispered as the young man received his twenty lashes. Some looked with morbid curiosity, others with delight, but most looked away at the painful sight.

“Dad, dad, why is everyone gathered here? Did big brother Roy come back with chocolate again?” A young girl pulled at her father's pants with expecting eyes.

The man who couldn’t bear to look at the teenager getting whipped was startled by the voice and the pulling of his daughter.

“Why are you here? I told you to stay at home with your mother.” The bearded middle-aged man raised his daughter over his shoulder and made his way out of the crowd. As the two were going back, the kid couldn’t help but glance at the crowd again. There she saw, with her newfound height, the young teen she called “Big brother Roy” strapped to the cross with bruises and whip marks all over his body. As she was being taken by her father back home, her heart couldn’t help but clench even if she did not understand the reason.

With the whipping having finished and some of the villagers leaving from the awful sight, the noble once again cleared his throat and the guards and knights called for everyone’s attention and silence. He then took out a piece of paper and recited his long decree.

“The criminal Roy and his band of outlaws have terrorized these peaceful lands for long enough. They have stolen from merchants, pillaged villages, and even dared to commit the sin of murder. Karthus the blacksmith was a man who worked tirelessly to provide for his family and was a pillar of this community. While he was working in the middle of the night, these crooks raided his workshop and killed him in cold blood. For these charges and more, I sentence Roy to be burned at the stake. May the fire purify his corrupted soul and his pain be of little solace to the countless he wronged.”

The crowd that was silent exploded into a cacophony of whispers, talks, and chants. While many of the villagers looked with pity at the young man, a loud minority started chanting, “Death to the criminal!”. Of those, most were guards and officials, but some were normal villagers as well. Soon, only those chants could be heard, no other word or noise could be heard. 

As the clouds in the distance came closer, and the chants became louder, a couple of the knights brought pieces of wood and dried grass and spread them around Roy. By the time they finished their preparations, the nobleman shouted, “Lit the fire!”

The middle-aged knight took an oiled torch from one of the guards before looking deeply into Roy’s eyes. His emotions were conflicted, pity, sadness, helplessness, and a deep sense of injustice. However, in the end, he steeled his heart and masked his feelings with an apathetic expression before throwing the lit torch on the dried grass. 

Roy let out a small smile at the knight before looking at the fire that was taking shape around him. His smile, however, did not last long and he dropped his gaze in a defeated look. The rage and hope that were hidden in the deepest corners of his heart died out, leaving only defeat and despair in their stead. He was going to die, and all the lies, betrayals, and thoughts of revenge would die with him. 

Just as he gave up on his fate, a water droplet fell on his forehead.

He looked up at the sky which was bright and clear just a few moments ago and saw dark clouds covering it fully. The few droplets soon turned into sheets of rain, drenching the young man strapped to the wooden cross. The fire that was meant to end the young boy’s life flickered and turned into dying embers. Roy looked at the middle-aged knight in front of him and they shared the same look: disbelief and hope.

The villagers, guards, and knights who were fervently chanting about his death stood in a daze looking at the raging skies that forgave the young man of his crimes. They could only murmur in shock at the heavenly decree.

“It seems that the heavens forgave you for another day,” The red-coated man shouted from atop the wooden platform with a crooked smirk. “Let the criminal stay on the cross for the night. Either the elements claim him, the hungry beasts consume him, or he receives his punishment tomorrow at dawn. Strap him with more ropes and make sure that they are well-tied!”

At the man’s orders, several knights and guards brought more thick yellow ropes and tied all four of his limbs. Soon, the crowd dispersed, each going back to their house to pass the storm, and only Roy was left strapped to the cross.

The young man shivered as the torrent of rain drenched him from head to toe. But even as the rain covered his body, and the cold wind grazed his skin, the fire in his heart was reignited. 

Roy looked at the dark clouds in the sky and shouted in his heart, “God, please, if you exist please give me another chance.” His expression then twisted with the rage and bitterness that he had been suppressing for so long. “I swear on the life you have given me that I will get revenge on those who have wronged me, and fix this rotten world from its core.”

Roy’s gaze could pierce through the heavens. Within it was all the emotions he had to hide until his final stand; humiliation, disgust, and unending anger. However, within it was an ember of sadness—sadness towards his brothers who were imprisoned and waiting for their trial, sadness at the death of his best friend and savior: Aiden, and sadness at the good people in the village who have to endure under the tyranny of the empire.

With the rumbling of thunder, Roy swore in the depths of his heart that if he were to survive, he would create a world where kids didn’t have to steal to eat food. He would build a world where men didn’t have to betray to survive, a world where he and his brothers wouldn’t be shunned to the mountains just for the mistake of being born.

However, as Roy was staring at dark clouds through the curtain of rain, everything became slow. The movement of the clouds slowed to a crawl, the droplets of rain showed their tear-shaped form, and the rumbling of the thunder elongated and echoed in his eardrums.

Time stopped. The droplets stood still in the air like in a paused movie, and the lightning in the clouds formed never-ending jagged arcs. Roy could no longer feel the stabbing pain of the wind, the cold icy rain, or hear the deafening thunder. His senses transcended his imprisoned body and flew into the air, amid the apocalyptic storm. Looking closely at the clouds above, behind the flashing lightning, he could see them forming the shape of a massive skull, with a mouth so immense it threatened to swallow the world.

When the clock ticked once again and Roy’s senses returned to his body, the only thing he could think was, “It was the end of times.” The earth shook with a thunderous rumble and screams and shrieks came from every direction.

From a distance, Roy saw women screaming as they shielded their babies with their arms while the men protected them from an unknown danger.

But soon that danger was revealed. Green-skinned creatures with crooked noses and small frames were running at the villages with weapons in hand. From afar, he could see that they numbered around a hundred.

Soon the villagers passed by him; the women and children came first while the men trailed slightly behind. As Roy stared at the apocalyptic scene, the unimaginable occurred. One of the green-skinned creatures singled him out as its target and charged.

“No, fuck!” Roy struggled with all his remaining might to untie himself, but the ropes were too tight. The more he pulled the more the fabric dug and cut into his skin. The young man looked down only to see that the green monster was in front of him. It took out its dagger and jumped at the base of the cross on which he was strapped.

Just as the creature was about to stab him, a middle-aged man pounced at it from the side and stabbed it through the chest with his knife.

“Die, you filthy monster!” The man continuously stabbed the creature while letting out a war cry before it dropped dead on the ground.

The man looked back at Roy while catching his breath. “Good thing I came back. Oh, I’m so glad I came back.” 

As Roy looked at the man’ immediately recognized the man as David. He was the father of a little girl he used to play with when he was a bit younger. Even after he became an outlaw and lived in the mountains, he came back to this village and brought some of his loot to share with her and the other children.

David quickly went up the cross and cut all the ropes that shackled Roy, before hugging him tightly. “I’m so sorry. I’m really so sorry. I should have stopped them, we should have all stopped them.”

Roy hugged David back and softly replied, “It’s okay. It’s not your fault, you couldn’t have done anything.”

After half a minute of the two hugging each other, David took out his knife and handed it to Roy. “Take this one with you, you will need it.”

“No, what about you?” Roy shook his head.

David grinned and took out another knife from his pocket. “Don’t worry, I always come prepared.” He then tapped him on the shoulder before looking around to see if there were any monsters around them. Once he checked there were none, he looked firmly into Roy’s eyes, “Take the knife, go back to your friends, and free them. Run away from this place, and keep yourselves safe, okay?”

Roy nodded with a serious expression, “You too, uncle David. Keep yourself and your family safe.”

The middle-aged man smiled and nodded before running towards his home. He couldn’t let his wife and kids alone when monsters were roaming down the streets.

Roy’s arms and legs were still numb after being freed from the tight ropes and it took a bit of time before he could regain a sense of his limbs. Once he could walk, he made his way toward the stables where the rest of his brothers were imprisoned. He needed to be there fast before the monsters could reach them. 

It took him around thirty minutes of walking with his bruised and battered body before he made it to the stables on the outskirts of the village. He could see his friends laying next to each other half-asleep and shivering from the cold and rain. Their hands and feet were tied with thick yellow ropes, much like those that imprisoned him at the stake. Jack, Robb, Fred, Alfonse, and young Jaimie.

“Guys, wake up! The things-” Roy’s yell was cut mid-sentence when another thunderous rumbling shook the earth. With it came an overbearing shout that resonated deep within his soul.

“Thine land, thine souls, those have been forfeit. Now is the time to rise! Become worthy of your realm. Adapt, evolve, only then can thy mind comprehend the truth we have come to impart. Seek Heaven, seek… Heaven…”