Raidha didn't know how to react to what her father said. He was right, everything was her fault. She just wanted to take a look at something different from that city. She was tired of enduring the monotony of her overprotected life. Of repeating the same boring routine over and over again.
Every day, every corner, every face, she couldn't take it anymore, she didn't want to take it anymore. That is why she escaped. She wanted to look at the wonders that the different worlds hid for her. She intended to return before anyone noticed her absence, without making a fuss, but in the end, everything went wrong.
'Why did I have to meet a katryde in that place?!'
Raidha lamented her bad luck, though perhaps it was not really as simple as bad luck. That girl had discovered her practically at the same moment in which she stepped on that world and attacked her without hesitation. Raidha was afraid to think that that katryde might have followed her to the point of discovering her home and she begged with all her might not to be the case.
'Why do we have to fight? Why do I have to be attacked simply for being a silphen?'
Her chest ached with frustration. She was tired of that hunt that didn't seem to show any signs of ending soon. Raidha hated katryde, how could she not? It was their fault that the silphen had to live in hiding, but at the same time she hated war more, and at that moment, she hated herself even more for dragging Drayd into this situation.
'If I hadn't escaped, none of this would have happened. I have endangered all silphen and now…'
While Raidha was lost in her thoughts, trying to hold back tears, Drayd stole Vurtalis directly from her waist.
"Hey, wait! Don't do anything crazy!"
Raidha turns around, intending to retrieve her sword, but her legs blocked after seeing what happened in just a couple of seconds. Something like smoke began to let out from all of Drayd's body.
'What is this?'
Raidha instinctively took a couple of steps back. An inexplicable chill ran up from her backbone, along with growing terror.
Drayd closed his eyes and relaxed his body to such an extent that he seemed to have fallen asleep in front of Raidha. He even lowered Vurtalis, which he had previously lifted towards the approaching guards. Everything suggested that he had decided not to resist but...
"Stay away!", Raydha yelled at the guards.
Not even Raidha herself was clear why she had shouted that, nor did any of the guards paid attention to her. One of them grabbed Drayd by the neck of his shirt, but at that moment, a sadistic and twisted smile, that finished freezing Raidha's blood, appeared on Drayd's face.
"Get away from him right now!", Raidha warned the guard.
That shadow-like smoke began to rush out of Drayd's body. His hair color faded away. The brown was replaced with the pure white of the snow that just fell from the sky, contrasting with the blackish color of the shadows that filtered through it.
The guard that was in front of Drayd flew off and crashed into a wall. Silence fell in the room as there was no one who understood what had just happened. All that could be seen was Drayd with his fist raised.
'He punched him? Impossible, there is no way he could have sent a guard flying with a single blow! Wait… what happened to my sword?!'
Drayd was holding Vurtalis on his other hand. The sword had completely changed. Actually, it wasn't strange. It was a weapon that changed according to the power of its user. On Raidha's hand was a double-edged short sword of about fifty centimeters. On Drayd's hand had become a longer one. Its blade was over a hundred centimeters tall and had a single edge that bent to the inside with a strange arc, looking similar to a sharp claw.
The guards, who had been somewhat stunned, quickly regained their composure and prepared to fight. Their gaze was fixed on Drayd, showing a mixture of confusion and anger. Still with that twisted smile on his face, Drayd calmly opened his eyes.
'I can not believe it!'
Raidha trembled at the sight of those eyes, which had turned red, like those of her own kin. No, they weren't really the same. Their tone was slightly different. Looking directly at them, one seemed to be glazing at a lake of blood rushing into a bottomless pit, filled with the deepest darkness.
Those eyes made Raidha freak out like she never had before. What she had in front was a being created with the sole intention of devouring anyone who came in front of him, removing even his own existence.
'Have I done this to you?'
Two guards charged towards Drayd from different angles. Without a word, Drayd extended his free hand at a freaking speed. The guards received a hard swift blow and both fell to the floor. The loud commotion caught the attention of some guards outside the room, who immediately rushed in. Drayd noticed them and began to walk towards the group, holding the sword in an inverted grip, dragging it across the room as if it were dead weight. An unbearable screeching sound echoed through the room as the sword ripped the surface.
'What the hell is going on? Why did it all end like this?'
Footsteps could be heard from the west end of the corridor. Another group of guards entered to assess the situation. The one who appeared to be the leader raised his spear and shouted toward his comrades, causing everyone to draw their weapons.
"Drop that sword and surrender right now!"
As before, there was no answer to that sentence. The same silphen, noticeably irritated, simply charged towards Drayd. He had not seen what happened a few minutes before, so he did not know that charging towards Drayd was not a good idea. His attack led to nothing. The spear in his hands leaped through the air and dug into the wall. Next, Drayd caught the silphen by the neck and threw it back at the group that accompanied him. They weren't expecting that, so they could not avoid it. A few ended up on the floor.
"What are you doing? Really you can't deal with a young boy?", said the king.
Raidha's father observed the situation with a calm that did not match the situation and even seemed to get bored with the spectacle. He was just watching with his head resting on his left fist. Still, his gaze was fixed on Drayd, and he even seemed to have forgotten how to blink. It was difficult to get an idea of what he might be thinking.
'Dad, don't just stare like nothing's wrong!', Raidha complained to herself seeing her father's passivity.
Three guards quickly rose and tried to attack Drayd at one. A similar attack hadn't worked before, and obviously, it would this time either. Drayd easily dodged the weapons and struck back with his free hand, taking down two guards in almost a second. The remaining guards tried to back off when they saw it, but before they could, received a forceful kick.
The guards' cries of pain could be clearly heard. From those wounds they would not die, but there was no doubt that they would not be able to continue fighting for much longer.
Raidha could no longer hold back her tears. She didn't know what to do or with which side should be. She wanted to protect Drayd, but she couldn't bear to have him hurt his people.
'Wait, none of them have died, right?'
Raidha glanced at all the men lying on the floor. None of them appeared to have severe injuries. Drayd was just knocking them out of the game.
'Why is not using the sword? Is he trying not to kill them? No, is he only playing with them?'
Raidha's head was unable to process what was happening. She just kept standing there, with her legs shaking. But why was she shaking?
"Whe-where does he get so much power from? He is a monster!", yelled one of the guards.
'So much power? The dark energy that I noticed in him… was not as much to…'
Seeing Drayd shaking them off as if they were moving in slow motion to him, the guards decided to attack from a distance. They began to load dark energy into their hands and threw dark projectiles at him. A great explosion was heard in the position where Drayd was, but when the smoke cleared, no one was there.
'What?! Isn't he there?'
Raidha was good at noticing different types of energy, especially dark energy. She could almost instantly notice the traces of dark power coming from above. Looking up, as expected, she saw Drayd falling like a bomb. It was not an exaggeration to say that, for as soon as he touched the floor, a shock wave of what looked like dark energy left his body, sending a small area of the floor flying around him, guards included.
'That… was it really an explosion of dark energy? No way!'
There was no doubt that the explosion carried dark energy, but something was weird for Raidha. That amount of dark energy shouldn't have been enough to cause that powerful explosion.
'I would need to use about ten times more dark energy to do something similar…'
Slowly, Drayd rose to his feet and rested his sword on his shoulder as he looked in Raidha's father's direction.
"Morons, you are bothering me more and more. Leave me alone for once", a distorted voice came out from Drayd's mouth.
Another chill ran up Raidha's spine. That voice wasn't even human, much less silphen. Every second that passed increased the panic she felt. She had to react and stop on both sides.
Raidha glanced at her father, who looked as if he was about to get up and charge at Drayd at any moment. A bead of sweat fell from Raidha's forehead. Although she had slightly complained about his passivity, she was actually relieved that he hadn't moved. Every silphen knew those guards were only guards in name. The truth was that they were mere servants. After all, her father was stronger than all of them together. Drayd might be able to face the palace guards easily, but if he started a battle with her father he would lose whatever option of salvation he might have.
'Can I stop him? No, I must stop him!'
Raidha shook off the terror as best she could and began shifting her legs toward Drayd. She moved to his back and grabbed his shoulder so tightly that her nails dug into them unintentionally. At that moment Drayd turned and looked directly into her eyes. That simple close encounter with his gaze made Raidha realize where that irrational terror that she had been feeling all along was coming from.
'Those eyes…'
Raidha was able to take a look directly into that bottomless pit, capable of ripping one's soul apart. An abyss of no return, where not even the same darkness resided in it. At that point she stopped considering that thing to be Drayd.
Raidha released it and stepped back as she covered her mouth with her hands, which quickly became drenched with her tears. Her body froze in place and her legs, which had barely obeyed her orders before, began to shake like jelly until they could not support her weight any longer, causing her to collapse against the floor between loud sobs.
'Drayd… maybe… were you swallowed by that abyss?'
That thing no longer had that macabre grin on its face. It stared at Raidha with furrowed brows.
"You…"
"Eh?"
Raidha's heart skipped two or three beats and her breathing stopped. Had he recognized her? Maybe Drayd still kept his sanity… Raidha bit her lip and swallowed all the fear she could.
"Listen, Drayd, stop! This only makes things worse!"
That thing stared at Raidha a few seconds before a weird smile returned to its face.
"Drayd… I'm not that moron."
"Eh?", a surprised sound went out from Raidha's mouth.
Raidha's mouth remained open, unable to reply. If it wasn't Drayd, who or what was and where it came from?
"Don't underestimate us."
One of the guards got up and charged back to that. As before, it just kicked at the guard's belly at a tremendous speed. The guard fell on his need, enduring the pain.
"And don't think I will act like him. I'm not going to sit still watching how anyone tries to eliminate me.", the distorted voice came out again.
That thing raised the sword in the air, aiming at the guard's neck.
"Enough! Don't even think about moving that sword!"
Raidha's father's cry echoed through the room. He rose from his throne and spread his magnificent wings. That thing rested his sword on his shoulder again and turned toward Raidha's father.
"Wait… that's..."
Raidha tried to say something, but before any word went out of her mouth her father interrupted her.
"I have seen enough. Raidha, you only have a monster before you. Its existence is a mistake that must be eradicated here."
"Waid, dad! I can't let you hurt him! This is… I will take care of my mistakes!"
Raidha runs between both, her father and Drayd. Her father let out a heavy sight after seeing her daughter still trying to help that thing.
"Raidha, my daughter, you know that I love you, but I cannot allow you to make a serious mistake by siding with him. That boy no longer has salvation."
"That shouldn't be true!", Raidha replied.
That thing was not unmoved by the king's words. It lowered the sword from his shoulder. Its eyes narrowed with a serious expression, staring directly at the silphen king. A battle between those two seemed inevitable.
"But I just… I didn't want this, I just… I just…"
She met Drayd only a couple of hours ago. He only was a complete stranger, but she didn't want him to die for the simple fact of meeting her. Also, he was the first person around her age that she met. If he died there she would feel guilty for the rest of his life. She had no choice but to act.
She leaped up and grabbed Vurtalis, intending to stop that thing at any cost. After all, it was because of her that Drayd had been drawn into such a situation. Because of her, he ended up in Nilhemfir. Because of her, he was in front of her father. Because of her, he had turned into that thing. All because of her...
'Drayd, if you're still here… I won't let anything else happen to you!'
Raidha gripped Vurtalis tightly and, with her hand resting on the hilt, tried to activate the dimensional portal to get them out of there.
"Sorry, dad… I know this will disappoint you…", Raidha whispered.
"Raidha, don't even think about it!", her father yelled at the same time he rushed toward her.
Raidha had no idea what she was doing but poured all the power she could into Vurtalis as she begged to get them out of there. At the same time, she wished with all her being that Drayd was alright.
'Please go back to normality! Go back to being human! Please! Please!'
But as she prayed, a huge sense of loss filled her from top to bottom.
'What is this? I felt like all my power was sucked out. What's going on? Don't tell me that… Is it taking away my power?!'
And when the portal opened and began to swallow them, Drayd's hair returned to its original color. Raidha's sense of loss grew higher and higher. At the same time, the sword itself began to shrink. At that moment Raidha had a bad feeling…
"Raidhaaaa!", her father yelled.
But before she could do anything or even the silphen king reached them, the portal had already closed behind her, leaving him standing in the middle of the room without knowing what to do.
"Raidha, what have you done? That thing is a danger to him as well as to everything else… And you…"
He clenched his eyes and fists with all his might, as his face twisted into a grimace of pain.
"Even after I did my best to prevent it… Dalia, what am I supposed to do now?", he muttered to the ceiling, waiting for an answer that never would come.