"Mom! Dad! An emergency evacuation order has been issued, we have to leave for Galena right now!" Miles ran into his parents' room in a panic, waking them from their slumber.
"Galena? What are you talking about boy? What evacuation? If this is another prank-" Jacob asked grumpily while rubbing his eyes. They had only just fallen asleep but were rudely awoken by their son's shouting a few minutes later.
"This!" Miles clicked on his Spirit Band and a hologram of the order with the official stamp of the Mei Clan was displayed for all to see.
"What?!" Jacob jumped out of bed and checked his own Spirit Band. His wife, Miles's mother Sophia also got up and checked her spirit band and both of them saw the same notification. Their expressions changed abruptly as they started shuffling around the room, gathering the essentials.
"Go wake up your brothers, we'll leave in 10 minutes. And get the bulls ready, QUICK!" Sophia yelled while taking out a sword and a spear from under the bed.
Miles quickly nodded and ran out of the room in a hurry.
Jacob's last name was Miller and this was his farm. He had four sons and Sophia was pregnant with the fifth. He used to be a businessman but after his first son Felix was born, he decided to move to the outskirts and buy a large piece of land to grow his own food and give a healthier environment to his kids.
Unfortunately, Felix was a born troublemaker and always got into trouble no matter the location. And following his example, all the younger ones that idolized their eldest brother also got themselves into trouble every chance they got.
Currently Felix was in a 3rd-grade town called Galena. After he 'accidentally' burnt down a neighbor's shed, Sophia had no choice but to enroll him into the military academy there in hopes of teaching him some discipline and restraint.
"HURRY UP!" Jacob yelled from the living room while putting on some armor. They could only afford one storage ring after sending Felix to the academy since his tuition and fees were also pretty expensive.
Sophia walked in with a basket full of clothes and dropped them in front of Jacob.
"Boys! Damien! Reece! Hurry up!" she also yelled and went into the kitchen to get some food.
Felix was about 23 years old now, while Reece was 17 and Miles 16. Damian was the youngest at 12 years of age.
Jacob and Sophia got married pretty young so they themselves were only around 40.
"I'm coming I'm coming," Reece's voice came from his room and he walked out with the sleepy Damian in tow.
"What's going on? Can you guys not wait till morning to lecture yes? And you have no proof, whoever said I did anything is a liar!" he said confidently and sat down in front of the fireplace and started putting in wood to make a fire.
*Thud*
A can of tomato soup came flying in from the kitchen and hit him on the back of his head, sending him crashing into the wall in front.
"Shut up! I'll deal with whatever you did later. Go out and help Miles with the bulls. Attach the new carriage and put in the spirit crystal we were saving," Sophia's voice came from the kitchen, shutting him up instantly. He murmured something about unfairness under his breath and left dejectedly.
Within a few minutes, the new carriage was attached and everyone other than Jacob was on it.
"Where's your father?!" Sophia asked when she didn't see her husband at the front.
"He went to warn the neighbors. I told him there was no point, they all hate us anyway..." Reece replied, rubbing the back of his head which was still hurting.
Time passed slowly and Jacob return soaked from head to toe.
"Did you find them?" Sophia asked when she saw his expression.
Jacob shook his head, "They seemed to have left hours ago. The entire village is empty," he said dolefully and took the reins from Reece. "You boys get in the back, it's raining too heavily and the journey is long, we might have to switch so you can drive later."
"But-"
*Smack*
Reece tried to protest but a hand came from behind the cover and smacked him on the exact same spot where the can had hit earlier. "Get back here now!"
With tears in his eyes, Reece gloomily returned to the back of the carriage without another word.
Jacob smiled looking at him and took out the lone spirit crystal and inserted it into a socket on the side of the carriage. Small runes lit up and crawled all over the carriage, vanishing a few seconds later.
Jacob nodded after inspecting the carriage, making sure it was working fine. He gave some feed to the two Tiger Bulls in front who smacked their feet on the ground happily.
Tiger bulls were low-level Brute beasts without any intelligence. But they were very hardworking and had a lot of stamina so many people used them for farming.
He got up on the carriage and with a whip, speed off towards Galena.
After the Spirit stone was inserted into the socket, the walls of the carriage became like a one-sided mirror. No one could see in but they could all see everything around them clearly.
It was around 10 p.m right now and the rain hadn't let up for even a second. Instead, it actually seemed to be getting worse by the second.
Jacob's expressed worsened the more he looked around. There was a dried-up river between them and Galena which would sometimes flood during heavy rains. But whenever it did, the path would be blocked and the only way across would be through the mountains which not was not only longer, but also much more dangerous.
With gritted teeth, he once again whipped the bulls who increased their speed yet again.