Joseph was living with his parents in Prosperity City, a place teeming with novelty. According to his parents, everything here was thanks to the heroes. The magic lights, which kept the city safe at night, were apparently powered by something called electricity. As far as his parents were concerned, it was just another form of magic.

However, for Joseph, who was enrolled in the public school system, learning the basic fundamentals of circuits felt like navigating a maze, especially with those vacuum tube thingamajigs making his head spin.

"Hey, honey, how's the school work?" His mother inquired.

"I'm doing well, Mom. It involves a lot of math, but it's pretty interesting. How was your day at work?" Joseph replied.

"It was annoying. Those stupid Demi-humans tried to leave their positions again," his mother grumbled.

"Call it what it was, dear. The damn slaves revolted again," his father responded.

"I don't understand why we have to be nice to those... those things now! It's the one bad thing that the heroes keep insisting on. Luckily, the new royal family is thwarting that, and those Demi-humans are keeping their roles."

The sudden darkness enveloped the room, plunging them into an eerie silence broken only by the faint hum of the city's generators in the distance.

Joseph's mother sighed in frustration. "Not again. These power outages better not become  frequent again."

His father grumbled in agreement, reaching for a flashlight stored nearby. "Seems like the electricity wizards need to work on their spells." 

Joseph couldn't help but chuckle at his father's attempt at humor, though unease lingered in the air. Without the comforting glow of the magic lights, the room felt strangely unfamiliar. Especially as long as Joseph could remember they had the lights

"We should check the circuit breaker," Joseph suggested, stepping cautiously through the darkened hallway toward the fuse box.

As he fumbled for the switch, a distant screaming echoed through the streets outside, muffled but unmistakable. His parents exchanged concerned glances, their worry mirrored in Joseph's own expression.

"What's going on out there?" his mother whispered, her voice tight with apprehension.

Before anyone could answer, a series of loud bangs reverberated through the house, startling them all. With a shared sense of trepidation, they moved toward the window, unsure of what awaited them on the other side.

Heart pounding, Joseph followed his father to the nearest window, his parents close behind. As they cautiously peered outside, their eyes widened in shock at the scene unfolding before them.

Shadows slumped on the ground, their forms barely discernible in the dim moonlight. Strange, viscous liquid pooled around them, reflecting the red glow of the moon.

"What in the world...?" Joseph's mother gasped, a shiver running down her spine.

His father's brow furrowed in concern. "It looks like... some kind of attack? I don’t really know I mean how would they get past the walls?” 

The sound of a thump rang out the house as his mother suddenly collapsed. Blood pooling on the carpet. 

The sound of a thump echoed through the house as his mother suddenly collapsed, her body hitting the floor with a sickening thud. Shocked gasps escaped Joseph and his father as they rushed to her side, horror flooding their veins at the sight of blood pooling on the carpet beneath her.

"Mom!" Joseph cried, panic rising in his chest as he knelt beside her, hands trembling as he searched for a pulse.

His father's face paled, eyes wide with fear as he reached out to cradle his wife's limp form in his arms. "We need help—” his father began but was suddenly cut off by a blood-curdling scream from outside.

Joseph's heart hammered in his chest as he scrambled to his feet, and he ran, he ran and he iran and he ran.It was an instinctual feeling , all of his senses telling him  to run. driving him forward with adrenaline-fueled speed.

His father's desperate voice echoed behind him, calling out for him to stop, but Joseph couldn't bear to wait any longer. Every fiber of his being screamed for him to escape, to find safety.

Joseph's heart seized as he heard his father's heavy footsteps falter behind him, then the sickening thud as his father collapsed to the ground. 

A quick glance behind him would allow him to see his father being pinned to the floor by a hooded figure, which was hunched over biting at his father's neck. Suddenly the hood blew away and it revealed a pair of dark cat ears and blood-red eyes staring into the depths of his soul.

"Wuaaa!" Joseph screamed as he ran past the lifeless bodies strewn across the street, his shoes kicking up blood with each frantic step. His heart pounded in his chest as he glanced over his shoulder, relief flooding him momentarily as he saw the red-eyed shadowy figure was gone. But his relief was short-lived.

Suddenly there was pain, as  his foot collided with a hard object, sending him sprawling to the ground with a cry of pain. Up was down and down was up as the stars flew across the floor. 

The last thing the young boy heard was a whisper of “I’m sorry.” and then there was nothing.