The lingering night was as black as ink.
Fire snakes licked at the ruined beams, and billowing black smoke rose, burning half the night sky crimson.
The boy crouched behind a broken wall.
The choking smell of charred ash filled his nose and mouth, making him desperately want to cough, yet he did not dare.
Shouts echoed again and again amid the crackling flames and the ruins.
"Search! The young son of that remnant of the former dynasty is inside! Orders from above: pull up the weeds by the roots. Leave no one alive!"
The clatter of iron armor drew ever nearer. These pursuers clearly knew he was hiding in this village.
Indeed, the reason they had set the village ablaze was to hunt him down.
A soldier swung his blade, hacking apart the scorched brush blocking his path. As the edge swept through, sparks flew in all directions.
And the direction he was heading was precisely where the boy hid.
The boy held his breath, his heart pounding like a war drum.
He cautiously poked his head out and swept his gaze around. To the east stood a stretch of fiercely burning thatched huts, their exits sealed by raging flames.
Enemy soldiers guarded both the north and south. Only a narrow alley to the west had yet to be touched by the blaze.
But if he ran out from there, the pursuers would certainly spot him.
Thick smoke continually poured into his nose and mouth. Every breath scorched his throat, while sweat mixed with soot streamed down his forehead and his vision gradually blurred.
Over the past century, dynasties had changed six times. Such an age of chaos was rare even in the several-thousand-year history of this land.
The master upon the dragon throne changed time and again. The