He had never planned on attacking them. He didn’t want revenge; he didn’t want war… That is until they brought the war to him.

Sir Aldrich gazed below from his stone balcony. What once was a clear, amicable view of the town of Sapphire Village, with houses built up to scrape the air with their imperial height, became a cloudy, bothersome vision of the ruined, shattered Sapphire Village. The foxes had rode on their black horses into the towering walls that shielded the city. The horses were powerful enough to make the walls fall as if they were obliterated by the hand of Moros. Then, the foxes rode through the town, lit torches in their hands, prepared to cause devastation.

Sapphire Village had a policy to never saunter their way into the vicious clutch of war because they weren’t appropriately qualified to battle other cities for any reason, whether it be for civil, resourceful or commandeering purposes. They’ve always been the town to flutter out of the way of the heinous road that was destruction and hellfire. They’ve perpetually managed to stay away from the glaring limelight of the crosshairs of rival cities. But today was greatly different.

The village smelled of flaming wood from the flames lit by the foxes’ torches. The sounds that surged from the village were cut-off as soon as they were uttered, sobs, tweets and gasps. The blue sky was coated with the pain of thousands of years of arduous work and peaceful harmony damaging the once dominant town. The sapphires were all being demolished with the tremendous hammer of the foxes’ paw, making them forfeit all of their gleam and glitter that made them so luminous.

At last, it was Aldrich’s turn to relinquish the very town he had cherished for centuries. A commander fox had found him on his stone balcony, and drew his sword at him. The conclusive words uttered by the fox before it severed the defenseless commander’s head off was “Goodbye, son.” Down the head plunged into the ruined town, a fatal recollection of what could have prevailed, but ultimately never was.

Farewell Sapphire Village, the foxes shall feast on an enormous amount of birds tonight.