The night they came was horrible. I was only six years old at the time. I repressed the memories deep inside myself. But sometimes, it would come back in my dreams as nightmares.

  I heard them coming before I saw anything. The screeches and inhuman noises made my ears perk up. I was sitting on the floor when my daddy rushed in.

  He talked to my mommy, his words frantic and scared. Back then I didn’t understand, but I knew it was bad. "They have the village surrounded," he had said, his voice trembling despite his attempts to sound brave.

  "How many?" my mommy asked, her tone different than what I was used to. At the time, much like my daddy. I didn’t understand. It was fear, her voice was filled with it.

  The next thing was the smell, it was so strong. A smell I would come to learn and hate for the rest of my life. The smell of undeath, That awful smell hit me—strong and acrid, making my eyes water painfully. "Mommy!" I had cried out. "My nose hurts!"

  My mother had looked down at me with sadness on her face before quickly scooping me up, pressing me against her chest. I had buried my face in her clothes, grateful that her familiar scent helped mask the terrible smell. Berries and Lilac, mixed with a sweet herbal scent.

  It was at that point everything got worse. A loud crash shook our home, followed by a horrible sound I'd never heard before. I still don’t know what that horrible sound was, but the only way I could describe it was if metal was grinding against itself.

  "Get out of here, monster!" my daddy had shouted.

  Mommy had turned us away before I could see what daddy was shouting at. There was a shout, a cry of pain from daddy and the sound of a body hitting the floor. Then a sound that made me cry to this day.

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  A loud creeping moan that seemed to paralyze me in mommy’s arms. "Mommy!" I had called out, fear gripping my little body.

  "Quiet sweetie, it's going to be okay," she had whispered, but I could hear the terror in her voice, and it had scared me more than anything. Then she screamed right next to my ear, it was so loud, my ears flattened in pain as tears filled my eyes.

  I felt us topple and my back hit the ground, my mommy landing on top of me. I couldn’t breath from the impact. I had tried to move, but mommy was too heavy. When I looked up, I saw her eyes—blank and lifeless, filled with terror but seeing nothing. Not anymore.

  I stared into those eyes as I heard the crashing sounds around us. The sound of our house being torn apart. My tail had wrapped tightly around my leg in fear as the horrible sounds and smells intensified.

  The screaming, the sobbing, the pleading, the moaning. But most painful, even though I didn’t understand it then. were the bodies. I heard as each body hit the ground, I heard as the undead consumed people. I was lucky to have not seen it. But perhaps the sight of my mothers dead eyes was just as bad. Thud. Thud. Thud.

  Everything went dark and silent for a while. I don't know how long I lay there, too scared to move, too shocked to cry anymore.

  Then I heard someone moving debris. Through half-closed eyes, I saw an old man with storm-gray hair carefully lifting beams and rubble. His piercing blue eyes found mine—they looked sad but determined.

  He had reached down gently, lifting my mother's body off me with surprising strength. I wanted to tell him to be careful with her, that she might be hurt, but deep down I already knew the truth. I had looked into her eyes, they were empty of life. Even as a child I understood what that meant.

  "It's alright, little one," the old man said softly as he carefully picked me up. "You're safe now."

  He gave me something sweet to drink that made the pain fade. As I drifted into unconsciousness, I felt us moving rapidly away from what had been my home, the old man carrying me into the forest.

  That was the day I had lost everything, That was the day I became a ninja’s apprentice