A child playing near the stream his parents house, his small fingers tightening around the wooden toy sword in his hand.His wide eyes turned toward the distant horizon, where the faint but rhythmic thunder of marching boots whispered through the stillness of the late afternoon air.

His older brother paused beside him, listening. “What’s that sound?”

Before either of them could answer, a tremor ran through the ground beneath their feet.

The other children stopped playing.

Then, with ...