Ren's vision began to clear and he found himself in the village, right outside the stone building he, Olivia and Roxy lived together in, it had only been a few months but to Ren it had been a lifetime.
THUD.
The loud noise of something being dropped made Ren turn around just in time to see a blurry figure rush at him at high speeds.
"Reeeeeeeen."
Olivia shouted while tackling him to the ground, before Ren could respond he felt his grey prison uniform soak with tears.
"sob… You stink… sob."
Olivia said while weeping, Ren couldn't help but feel his own eyes moisten. The person that he had longed to see this whole time was finally in front of him.
"I'm back."
He whispered softly, as a tear rolled down his cheek.
***
Ren walked out of his first bath in a month and was greeted with the salivating scent of a homecooked meal. He rushed downstairs where he saw Olivia place a steaming plate of meat and bread on the table.
Ren grabbed the plate and immediately started to stuff his face. Olivia began to giggle.
"I'm glad to see that at least this part of you hasn't changed."
She said smiling, Ren momentarily stopped wolfing down the meal and his eyes narrowed.
"Hab I chaned?"
He asked, almost choking on his food in the process.
"What did I say about talking with your mouth full… but yeah, you've changed."
GULP.
Ren forced the food down his throat so he could talk.
"How so?"
He asked Olivia curiously, as far as he knew, he was no different than from when he last saw her. Olivia pondered the question for a while.
"Hmmm… I guess you've grown."
She said while deep in thought.
"But I'm pretty sure I'm the same height."
Ren said, very confused by Olivia's comment.
"No not like that, it's more… never mind. I don't think it's a bad thing"
She said while pinching his cheek. Just then they heard two loud knocks on the door. Ren looked at Olivia but she didn't seem to be surprised.
The door creaked open, the village elder and the pink haired Cherry walked in. As usual Cherry hid herself behind the village elder's legs.
"Welcome back to the village Ren, it must have been a long journey."
The village elder said while smiling, he walked over and placed a small basket of burnt cookies on the table.
"Thank you for the hospitality as always."
Ren said while polishing of his plate and eying the cookies hungrily, the fact that they were burnt didn't seem to bother him.
"No problem, this village will always have a place for you… the cookies weren't my doing, when Olivia told us that you were back. This little one rushed to the kitchen and didn't let any of us in until she was done."
The village elder chuckled and pushed Cherry forward. Ren forced himself to smile at her, this girl was the same age as him but he couldn't help but think of her as a useless baby that needed someone to protect her.
"Thanks, miss"
Ren said while biting into one of the cookies, it tasted exactly how it looked… burnt, nevertheless Ren continued to munch on them, which seemed to make Cherry happy.
"Welcome back."
She said cutely, before returning to her hiding spot behind the village elder.
"We're having a small festival tonight to celebrate harvest, I'm sure the other villagers would love to see you. How about it."
The village elder asked. Ren saw no reason to refuse.
"I'll be there."
Ren agreed happily, after exchanging a few more pleasantries the village elder took Cherry along and left to help with the preparations for the harvest festival.
"Definitely grown."
Olivia muttered to herself while Ren continued to devour the cookies.
"She's not actually my sister you know… at least not blood-wise. I'm actually an only child."
Olivia said out of nowhere. Ren looked up at her with crumbs all over his face.
"Is that so."
Ren said unenthusiastically, prompting Olivia to smile.
"You could at least pretend to be interested."
She sighed while grabbing a handkerchief and wiping the crumbs off his face.
"But I'm not though."
Ren said flatly, causing Olivia to shake her head. She continued speaking anyway.
"Just like you, she came floating down the river… minus the life-threatening injury. Since then, we took her into our family and she became a real sister to me. The only problem is that in the five years she's been with us she never made any attempts to talk to people her age… until you arrived."
"What's your point."
Ren asked when he realised that the conversation was headed in a strange direction.
"I think she could relate to you somehow, when you first arrived you didn't let anyone close- and put-up walls just like her. Like you, I think something terrible happened to her, it's hard to believe that she can remember something from when she was two but whatever it is, I want to let her know it's going to be alright… All I want is for you to talk to her."
"That's fine."
Ren agreed, Olivia had been his rock and without her, he wasn't sure that he would have survived the I.M.S. He would do anything in his power to make her happy.
***
"Cheers."
The whole village was filled with lively chatter. Everyone was gathered around the rosewood tree drinking and singing merrily, the villagers danced wildly around a large bonfire while spilling their drinks and laughing loudly.
Ren wasn't swept into the craze like everyone else and was peacefully overlooking the festivities. Olivia had tried to drag Ren into the festival but this was something he refused to budge on. But he let her go and have her fun.
Ren caught sight of Cherry, like him she was sitting alone staring at the other kids with a complicated expression.
"Tsk."
Ren kissed his teeth, he hated being a busybody but he had given Olivia his word, he grudgingly made his way over to her.
"Oi useless girl, it's too loud here, follow me."
Ren said to Cherry, before swiftly turning around and walking away, Cherry looked around in confusion and after much deliberation she chased after him.
Ren walked over to the river bank, after scanning the surrounding he found a small ledge that hung over the river. He walked to the edge and sat down, letting his leg's dangle over the river.
"Sit."
He said rudely, waiting for Cherry to do as he asked, once she hesitantly did as she was told, Ren pointed at the river.
"That's the exact spot my master saved my life. Because of that I met your sister… those two are by far the most important people in my life."
Ren said slowly, Cherry's eyes went wide and she opened her mouth but Ren didn't let her speak.
"Back then I was in a dark place… I still am, but when I met Olivia, I found a light. A fierce, bright and somewhat annoying light. That light is what keeps me moving forward, when I feel like the darkness is about to take over, I look towards the light even if it blinds me and then I find the strength to keep moving."
Ren said while gazing into the distance. After a long period of silence Cherry found the courage to speak.
"What… What if I don't deserve that light."
She said softly, her eyes seemed to be filled with fear and pain, Ren continued to gaze into the distance.
"I don't know what you think you've done, but trust me… I've done worse and I'm sure that the thing's I'll do from this point on will be ten times as bad. If anyone doesn't deserve the light, it's me… But you know what, I'm selfish. That light is mine and mine alone. No matter how far away it is I won't let it escape from my grasp."
"What if my sister dies… what if you lose that light."
Cherry asked meekly. Ren looked up at the starry sky and then back at her.
"If that happens… Then hell will break loose."
***
When Ren had got back, he fell asleep on the spot, it had been far too long since he had fallen sleep in a cool comfortable environment, he wished for nothing more than to sleep for as long as possible. Unfortunately for him fate had other plans.
The thick stench of smoke, filled Ren's nostrils, waking him up with a start. He drearily rubbed his eyes but he suddenly froze, mixed in with the heavy smoke was the unmistakable stench of blood.
Ren jumped out of his bed and rushed downstairs.
WHOOSH.
A wave of heat swept over Ren's body, Orange tongues of flames creeped up the stone walls burning anything they touched.
"OLIVIA."
Ren yelled at the top of his lungs but received no response. Ren sprinted through the flames and slammed through the door, after solitary confinement, this level of heat was nothing.
Ren stood outside the doorway in shock, the tranquil village from before had been turned into a nightmarish hell. All of the wooden huts were consumed by orange flames and blood curdling screams echoed across the fields.
Dozens of Soldiers in black armour patrolled the village, some of them held flaming torches that they used to burn everything that they could while the rest hunted down the terrified villagers and plunged their weapons into their back.
"What… dammit I need to find Olivia."
Ren thought to himself, while wrapping his body in tendrils of shadow's, Ren bit his lip and ran straight past the villagers who were begging for their lives to the soldiers.
"Olivia"
Ren kept repeating her name in his head, trying his best to drown out the soul crushing screams of the villagers. Ren ran through the bloody ground littered with bodies. He ran past the bodies of the farmers he had worked with on the fields.
"Olivia"
Ren screamed in his mind trying to keep his head up. Ren ran past the cold corpse of the village elder, He bit his lip so hard that blood began to trickle down his chin.
"Olivia."
Ren shouted constantly, his crazed eyes shifted around frantically as he looked everywhere for her.
In his delirious search he realised that he had ran all the way to the village elders hut, somewhat surprisingly it was one of the few that hadn't been burnt down.
A girlish scream made him freeze, that was Olivia's voice. Ren immediately looked up and saw a tall man wearing a black plumed helmet standing over Olivia who was desperately trying to crawl away.
WHOOOSH.
Ren sent a massive firebolt at the soldier causing him to instinctively take a step back, narrowly avoiding the spell.
"What the fuck"
The soldier yelled in surprise but before he could react, Ren leapt in front of Olivia and stared back icily at the soldier.
"Ren."
Olivia said weakly, her face was covered in scrapes and bruises which only served to fuel his rage. By now the soldier had recovered from his initial shock and he looked like he realised something.
"hmmm… A child breaker with a mean stare. You definitely fit the description… Lucky me."
The soldier laughed loudly. In that moment Ren realised something, if he was the target then that meant this massacre had been ordered by his father, all of this was because Ren had decided to run away from home.
"That was quite the impressive attack though… now I see why they sent me."
The man said while smiling, an immense aura burst out of his body, making Ren feel sluggish and intimidated, this man was a Rank two Breaker.
Ren slowly backed away while scanning his surroundings, it looked like the other soldiers were still unaware of his presence. If at any point they did, he would be outnumbered heavily.
"Run… I'll come back for you"
Ren shouted at Olivia before running towards the forest.
"Are you gonna let your target get away."
Ren shouted back at the soldier, before disappearing to the trees.
"I'll be the one coming back for you sweet cheeks"
The soldier gave Olivia a chilling smile before chasing after him. Ren headed deeper into the Forest until he reached a small clearing and turned around, he was now far enough that his fight wouldn't alert the other soldiers.
"You're a fast runner kid, shame you stopped though, that might have been your only chance at leaving here alive."
Ren stared back at the soldier coldly, the moonlight illuminated the clearing, giving him a better look at him.
The soldier wore a heavy steel chest plate and stood at an impressive height of six feet, he had a pencil thin moustache and his short black hair was covered by a black plumed helmet. Sheathed at his waist there was a short sword with a golden handle, and Ren noticed a thin silver ring on one of his fingers with a small black crystal embedded onto it.
"Allow me to introduce myself, the man before you is the captain of the fifth royal squad Finton Radley… As well as your personal executioner."
Finton smiled, as his aura once again surged out of his body making Ren shiver. Ren braced himself, this man was clearly a Rank Two, far superior to him at Rank One.
Roxy had repeatedly told him to only think about running if your opponent outranked you but with Olivia's demise pretty much guaranteed if he fled, Ren held his ground, this wasn't going to be an easy fight by any means.
"Ignis lorem"
Ren chanted while placing his palms together, A large streak of fire raced towards Finton who shook his head casually and put his palm's together.
"Ignis Lorem."
Finton chanted and a massive streak of fire shot out of his hands, colliding with Ren's in mid-air. The massive spell that Finton released overwhelmed Ren's measly attack and continued forwards, landing squarely on Ren's chest.
Ren grunted in pain as he was thrown back a few meters, his shirt had been burned to ash and there were severe burn marks on his chest. A thick cloud of dirt and smoke kicked up in the explosion made his eyes sting to the point of watering and he coughed up a copious mouthful off blood.
"How does that saying go… Everything you can do I can do better. Just give up kid, if you surrender now, I'll give that girl a painless death."
He said, while the smoke cloud began to clear. Finton raised a brow, the spot where Ren had landed was now vacant.
"You're a stubborn one, I'll give you that."
Finton sighed and closed his eyes and a ripple of aether began to spread out from his body.
Ren, who had hidden himself in the shrubbery after the last exchange, was clutching at his chest with a pale face and a grim expression. Ren knew he was only delaying the inevitable, his only choice was to fight or Olivia would be killed.
Ren desperately tried to come up with a solution. This man was far superior to him in cultivation, competing with Finton in magic would be a one-sided battle with him on the receiving end. That left Ren with only a few options, the first of which was his trait, which was unreliable and Ren couldn't imagine that it would make a difference in the face of such a wide power gap.
His last and final option was his ability to enhance his muscles, although this would give him the advantage in physical combat, the problem was that an experienced breaker like Finton wouldn't let him close enough and bombard him with spell's if he tried.
However, Finton should not be aware of Aether enhancing, this was a technique unique to Roxy's homeland and if he got the right timing it would be a game changer. He couldn't use it recklessly, otherwise Ren would lose the element of surprise and Finton would be prepared for it the next time.
"What are you thinking about so hard… Is it how much you miss me?"
Finton walked into Ren's line of sight while grinning at him through the shrubbery. Ren stumbled backwards in shock.
"How… How did you."
Ren stuttered in confusion. He knew that Finton would eventually find him but it had been far too quick.
"If you're asking how I found you, it's simple… I'm sure you heard of Aether sensing."
Finton replied, his words made Ren pale. Roxy had briefly mentioned this term in one of her theory lessons. Aether sensing was one of the perks you got for breaking into Rank two.
A breaker could sense their immediate surroundings by emitting pure aether out of their body, this is why Roxy was able to blink to places outside of her line of sight. Ren didn't think that Finton's range came close to Roxy's but this was a worst-case scenario, he could no longer hide.
"Well, enough chit-chat, why don't we pick up where we left off."
Finton said while flashing Ren a toothy grin. He interlocked his fingers and started chanting
"Electra Stritus"
Arcs of pure white lightning jumped across Finton's hands converging into a dense white sphere that crackled loudly, one look at that sphere filled Ren with dread, getting hit with that was definitely bad news.
The element of electricity had unmatched speed and destructive power but no element was perfect. Ren had a little experience with the element knowing a spell himself, so before Finton could cast the spell, Ren hastily took out his make-shift dagger that he received in the I.M.S and threw it to the ground in front of him, making the blade stick into the soft soil.
CRACKLE.
Ren saw a bright flash of light and a deafening roar. Quickly jumping back, Ren could see that the handle of dagger he had thrown out was glowing red hot. That was a little too close for comfort. The dagger acted as a lightning rod, diverting the spell at the last second.
Ren still had his steel thread in the event of another electric spell but that wouldn't last forever.
"Quite the head you got on those tiny shoulders… that sucks I was hoping to end this quickly, guess I'll try something else."
He sighed in disappointment, Ren didn't wait around for him to finish talking though. Ren cupped his hands together and a stream of orange flames spewed out of his hands. The flames travelled towards Finton at an alarming pace, the attack made him raise in brow in surprise but a man with such rich experience wouldn't let this get the better of him.
"Aquas Lorem."
He chanted casually, sending a huge stream of water through the flames, Reaching Ren in a flash. Ren predicted that his spell would get blown apart and had already started to dodge but the gap in power was too huge. Ren managed to get his head out of the way but the spell grazed his collarbone taking a large chunk of Ren's shoulder with it.
Ren was knocked off his feet, blood poured out of his wounds and trickled down his arm. Ren screamed in pain while clutching his shoulder. He squirmed on the ground as he struggled to not lose consciousness.
"Just give it a rest kid, you and I both know how pointless this struggle is, the sooner you die, the sooner your suffering ends."
Finton's words echoed in Ren's head and something snapped. This was the same pathetic excuse his sister used to justify plunging a dagger into his stomach.
All of these people playing god, thinking they could decide when he died pissed him off to the fullest, his father, his sister and now Finton. So what if he was destined to destroy this kingdom… forget all of that, right now he wanted to live and that was enough to stop him from giving up.
"Is wanting to live such a bad thing."
Ren roared while shakily getting back to his feet, his scarlet irises glowed bright red. Finton took a step back at the fierce aura radiating out of Ren's body, an aura that didn't lose out to his own. Ren had finally broken through to Rank two.
"Impressive kid… I'm starting to get excited here."
He grinned manically, while staring Ren down like a hungry wolf.
With the help of his trait, Ren could fully appreciate the changes in his body brought along by breaking through. After getting hit by that last attack Ren was already at his limits, but Finton's words had pushed him over the edge causing his emotions to bubble up and his mental strength to surge.
Ren had compressed every ounce of aether within his body with everything he had and the result was a small marble-sized Aether core, sitting in his upper chest where his aether pool used to be.
However, it wasn't like all the aether Ren had used up so far had miraculously replenished itself. Usually someone who had broken through would lock themselves away and meditate to strengthen their core but right now he didn't have that luxury.
Despite his diminishing Aether supply, Ren still sent out a ripple of aether from his body. Just like a sonar, as the ripple spread out he began to sense everything it touched with a new clarity. It wasn't that he saw his surroundings but more like he could feel them.
"I hope you don't think you can beat me just because you broke through."
Finton said while grinning. Oh, how badly Ren wanted to wipe that cheap smirk of his face but that didn't change the fact that he was right.
Finton had decades more experience than him, he also had a much wider arsenal of spells and could easily counter the few spells Ren knew. But this didn't stop Ren from being filled with confidence. He needed to confirm something.
"I can and will… Ignis Lorem."
Ren shouted arrogantly while chanting the incantation for the firebolt spell. Ren tapped into his aether core and dense aether flooded through his body into his fingertips.
Under other circumstances Ren would have probably lost control of his new found strength causing the spell to backfire but with his trait Ren had all the time he needed to firmly hold the reigns.
WHOOSH.
A massive streak of fire raced towards Finton. It was much bigger compared to Ren's previous attacks but it didn't even faze the experienced captain.
"Aquas Lorem."
Finton chanted, an equally impressive stream of water shot out of his palms and collided with the firebolt causing a massive explosion of steam. Once the air cleared Finton stared at the empty space where Ren was standing just moments ago with a disappointed look in his eyes.
"Seems I gave you too much credit, why would that trick work if it didn't the first time."
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, in the next moment he locked eyes with Ren who was up in the trees.
"That settles it."
Ren thought to himself, seemingly not bothered by the fact he was discovered. Ren jumped down to the ground and sprinted into the trees. His figure quickly vanished into the dense shrubbery.
"I guess he finally ran… what a disappointment."
Finton said while shaking his head and chasing after Ren.
Ren continued running until he reached a large open valley with a stream running through it, this was the same place Roxy brought him to fight demonic beasts when he first arrived at the village.
Not having the time to reminisce, he briefly scanned his surroundings and quickly found what he was looking for, wrapping himself in inky black shadows, Ren descended the valley at breakneck speeds.
Finton who was following Ren's trail closely stopped and closed his eyes. He immediately sensed Ren hiding up in the tree and just as he was about to make his way over to him… he sensed something else.
"What the fuck is that."
He shouted in shock as huge furry figure the size of a small building came into view. He heard Ren laughter come from the trees.
"I believe that's papa wolf."
The humongous crimson wolf howled loudly and locked its black beady eyes on Finton, it bared its lethal fangs at him and slowly circled him, its spiked tail swaying menacingly in the wind.
Of course, Ren had no idea if the beast was really the father of the wolf cub that he had fought previously but that didn't matter. What mattered was its strength and although it wasn't a beast king, it would definitely give Finton a tough time.
Up on the trees Ren felt relatively safe, his entire body was cloaked in a writhing mass of shadows and now that he broke through, his shadows had taken a qualitive leap and hid all of his scent and most of his presence.
Demonic beasts couldn't sense Aether and relied heavily on scent to track their prey, which was why Ren could peacefully spectate the fight. While he couldn't meditate without releasing the shadows, he would be able to take a short breather.
CRASH.
Finton's body was thrown into a nearby tree trunk, courtesy of the wolfs tail. Finton's torso had become a mangled mess due to those spikes and blood trickled down his waist.
"THAT KID IS FUCKING DEAD."
He cursed out loud, struggling to get back to his feet. Some of his ribs where definitely broken and his insides had been shaken up to the point where he spat out a large mouthful of blood and glared at the wolf hatefully.
When he was tracking down Ren, he had been completely focused on his target, allowing the Wolf to catch him off guard with its superior physical prowess but now that he had been sent flying and had some space to work with, he wasn't worried.
"Electra Stritus."
A blinding flash ensued followed by a deafening roar, a thick white snake of lightning bridged the gap between man and beast in an instant. The wolf howled in pain and stopped advancing towards him.
Despite this, Finton had severely underestimated the Wolf'svitality. Its thick hide of crimson fur was a great insulator against electricity and had absorbed most of the destructive force behind the attack.
Finton's spell hadn't been completely useless though, the heat generated by the current had scorched its fur and left a huge spot off charred skin on the beast's side.
The injury only pissed the wolf off and it charged wildly towards Finton while snarling ferociously. Sensing the immediate danger Finton hastily put his palms together and started chanting.
"Ignis Lorem."
Finton sent out a massive firebolt towards the wolf, it slammed into the beast's snout dazing it temporarily and making it once again halt in its tracks. Not willing to let the wolf recover, Finton sent firebolt after firebolt at the defenceless beast.
After five consecutive spells, the wolf could no longer take the abuse and collapsed onto the ground, the whole front of its body was charred to a crisp and it whimpered weakly but Finton wasn't done just yet, he squatted down and placed both of his palms to the floor.
"Terra spika"
Finton chanted and the ground below the wolf began to rumble. A large earthen spike rose up from the ground below the wolf and pierced through its massive body with ease, silencing its whimpers.
Finton breathed a sigh of relief, he couldn't relax his guard just yet. Demonic beast's had impressive vitalities so he should cast one more spell just to be safe.
Before he could finish that thought, he saw a small blackish figure dart out of the shrubbery in the corner of his eye. The figure was too fast for him and had already made its way over before he could react
BOOM.
Ren buried his leg into Finton's stomach just below his ribcage, completely squashing his diaphragm. Ren's Aether enhanced strength sent Finton flying back into the trees.
The wolf was just a distraction, as much as Ren would have liked to finish him in one attack, that would have required a level of Aether enhancement that would cripple whichever body part he used, after the fight was done, he still had to conserve his strength to make sure Olivia was safe.
Finton immediately scrambled to his feet and placed his palms together.
"Gasp… I…Gasp."
Finton tried his best to speak but could only wheeze. He had been winded by Ren's kick and couldn't string together a word much less the incantation for a spell. He stared at the grinning Ren with wide eyes.
"You lost for words."
Ren chuckled, this had been his plan all along. The fact that Finton never used true magic in their fight had set off alarm bells within Ren's head, his inkling became a full-blown suspicion when he saw how Finton used aether sensing. He closed his eyes and had to concentrate, simply put, his mental energy was weak, far weaker than Ren who could aether sense without the extra steps.
A weak mental strength meant that Finton's true magic would be just as weak. In short, he would now be powerless to stop Ren's attacks.
Ren charged at the wide eyed Finton with his fist prepped to swing, this would be the most efficient manner to take him out and it didn't hurt that he really wanted to punch this bastard in the face.
Finton who had managed to recover from his initial shock, was now faced with a fist heading towards his jaw at a blisteringly fast place. Instinctively he held out his hand with the silver ring.
BOOM.
Before Ren's fist connected with Finton's jaw, he was thrown back by a black haze that poured out of Finton's Ring. Ren crashed into the ground but the black haze seemed to stick to him, ravaging his body and putting him in paralysing amounts of pain that made it impossible to think.
Finton shakily got to his feet and coughed violently, splattering blood onto the ground. The black crystal on his ring crumbled away making him wince in grief, this was a lifesaving treasure of the shadow attribute, it had cost him a fortune to obtain.
He coughed up more blood, the effects of Ren's kick where still around but he had to finish him off before Ren managed to recover. He drew the gold handled short sword that was sheathed to his waist and clumsily stumbled towards Ren who was twitching uncontrollably on the ground.
Finton managed to make his way to Ren and raised the sword high. He took one last glance at the kid that had caused him so much trouble and swung the sword down.
"Oh no you don't."
Before the blade reached Ren's neck, a loud shout came from behind him and he was tackled to the ground.
"Olivia… what."
Ren said weakly, even in his semi-conscious state he could recognise that voice anywhere. Olivia and Finton rolled around on the ground, with Olivia tearing at his hair, doing everything in her power to restrain him.
"WAIT OLIVIA."
Ren shouted as he realised what was going on, the fog in his brain had lifted and the black haze that tore into his body began to disperse. Why the hell was Olivia here… wait never mind that, first he had to save her.
Ren clawed his way over to them, trying his best to stand up but it wasn't good enough, that ring had sapped him of his remaining strength.
SMACK.
Ren saw Olivia's body get thrown onto the ground while Finton made his way over to her.
"MOVE DAMMIT."
Ren shouted at himself, pouring the aether in his body into his legs and leaping towards the unsuspecting Finton.
BOOM.
Ren put aside reason and filled his right arm with as much Aether as he could muster, sending a rocket fuelled punch into Finton's face, making his skull cave in and his head explode in a bloody mist of blood and brain matter, Ren's arm was completely ripped to shreds in the process but Ren couldn't care less, the only thing on his mind was Olivia. He dragged his feet towards her.
"Ren… is that… you."
A weak voice came from Olivia who was lying face down on the ground. Ren rolled her over and rested her head on his lap. His eyes widened when he saw a large wound across her stomach that was bleeding profusely. Ren glanced back at Finton's headless corpse and spotted the short sword, stained with blood.
"Yes, its me."
Ren replied anxiously, pressing both palm's onto Olivia's wound and trying his best to stop the blood from leaking out.
"Good… your alive… I'm glad."
Olivia said, her voice was getting lighter by the second. Ren kept pressing down on the wound but it was no use. The wound was too deep and blood poured out through his hands.
"Don't talk save your strength."
Ren urged her, Olivia placed a dainty palm on his cheek and gave him a faint smile.
"Cherry… We hid her… she's in the basement… Look after her for me."
Olivia said softly, Ren's eyes began to moisten.
"What are you saying, you can look after the useless girl yourself. You're not going to die… If you die then..."
Then it's my fault. Ren couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence. Tears rolled down his cheek as he tried his best to hold in the waterworks. This was all because of him, if he never ran away from the mansion that day, none of this would have ever happened.
"Ren… I'm glad… I met you."
Olivia's voice had become so faint that Ren had to lean closer to understand what she was saying.
"Whistle… that song… I like."
Olivia said, Ren struggled to hold the tears in and started to whistle the catchy tune Olivia always used to when she was in a good mood. Memories of Olivia flooded into his head, her beautiful smile, that cute pout she did when she was angry. Her laugh that lit up a room.
Ren could no longer hold back the tears. He kept whistling until his tears ran dry, when he finally mustered enough courage to look down, he saw that the light in Olivia's eyes had faded. He gently laid her on the ground and closed her eyes.
"I… I'm sorry"
***
The sun glared down on the village fiercely, illuminating the burnt down huts that where still smouldering. The giant rosewood tree at the centre stood strong, there where multiple burn marks on its trunks but it seemed that the tree refused to die.
Roxy passed by the tree slowly, her fiery red hair danced in the wind as she walked by, she passed by the ground that was littered with the corpses of soldiers and villager's alike.
She continued walking until she reached the bank of a river where she saw a small ledge that hung over the river. She saw a young black-haired boy sitting cross legged with his back facing on her. A young pink-haired girl was sleeping peacefully while resting her head on his lap, but her eyes where puffy and swollen.
The two kids were sitting behind a grey rock that looked like it had been engraved with something sharp. The handwriting was messy but Roxy's superhuman vision allowed her to read it clearly.
"Here lies Olivia Marth, loving sister, caring daughter and a proud member of Cherry village."
Roxy sighed, there was a complicated expression on her face as she approached the two kids, without turning around the boy asked Roxy a question.
"Master, do you remember why I had to run away from my family."
The boy said, his voice was cold and distant. Roxy walked over and sat herself down next to him, gazing of into the distance.
"If I remember correctly it was something about you destroying the Kingdom we're in."
Roxy replied. The boy turned around and looked at her, those eyes of his were filled with darkness and ice.
"And that's exactly what's going to happen."
He spoke softly yet firmly. His voice wasn't domineering or even loud but his tone made it seem like he was stating an irrefutable fact. Roxy couldn't argue with him because right now… she didn't mind destroying a kingdom or two herself.
"It's time to go brat."
Roxy said while sighing, the boy sitting next to her reminded her of when she first met him, but there was something even more sinister lurking behind that gaze of his.
"Where?"
The boy asked
"Some place really far away."
***
END OF VOLUME 1
***