A girl blankly looked at Cochlinia's central square, barely believing what she had witnessed.
Cochlinians never were warriors, and even their spellcasters only specialised in hunting games. Thus, the whole chain of events, starting from their escape to the final battle that took place in their settlement, was something she only heard of in stories.
The might of Numidean fighters, and more precisely, their Sorcerers, was difficult to accept even then.
"Cassia! Stop lazing around and come help me transport the bodies!" Her twin brother's irritating yells woke her up from her reverie.
"Hey! Do you want me to die from exhaustion or what? I healed everyone, so let me recuperate a little!" she spat, her face an odious grimace.
"WE healed everyone! Yet here I am helping the others. You have no excuse." Cassius dug up a headless, muscular blond woman from the rubbles. "This one isn't one of ours..?"
"Whatever." Cassia pouted before finally standing up. "Let me take that one-... EH! Her head is growing back!"
Her brother, busy trying to lift her heavy corpse, noticed it too late. He nearly threw her away as he cried:
"AH! Why is it sprouting back!? VALOR! Come over here!"
"Shut the hell up!" The regenerating cadaver said. "I'm a Homunculus. Stop yelling in my ears!"
Decima forced the young man to put her back on the ground, her eyes dangerously flickering between each side of the battlefield. "Where are the others? Nihil?"
"Who?" The girl didn't know any of the names.
"A boy with long black hair, blue eyes, and a grey robe. He's a Homunculus too."
"Oh," Cassia recognised him from the description. "That disrespectful bra-" She faltered under the woman's oppressive gaze. "I mean, that gentle kid who totally didn't try to attack me the moment I healed him, yes! He's over there, speaking with Minerva." Her finger pointed towards the stairs leading to the Prius Woods.
"Got it!" Without even thanking them, Decima darted away at full speed.
She looked at her sprinting, mouth agape. "She's from Numidea too, right?"
Cassius, who shared her expression, only nodded.
"Why are they so crazy? That white-haired wench also chewed me off for no reason."
"Don't play innocent, you half-assed your spell while curing her wounds."
"I needed to preserve Mana for the others! They're outsiders, why should I have given them priority?"
"Because without them, we most likely wouldn't have won against Junia. Plus, the one with the golden eyes protected Vita, Valor's little sister. Even if she didn't say anything, he would have scolded you himself." Cassius sighed, exasperated by his twin sister's attitude.
"HEY! What are you doing?! Back to work!" Valor's orders startled them as he menacingly approached.
"Shit, to work, to work!" They both scuttled away, not wanting to get reprimanded again.
__
Minerva looked at the egg-shaped mass of flesh, hardly believing that it was Junia. The former Medice was apparently linked to the barrier, forever protecting the settlement.
She then stared at the ground near it, where lay a small, frozen child. It had Luni's appearance.
"What do we do with it…?" The boy Homunculus named Nihil asked.
"It's in a weakened state, but not dead. It's bound to recuperate sooner or later, so we should get rid of it." His white-haired friend replied, the aureate sheen of her gaze reminding her of the myths about Scaevola's accursed. "Aeden? Can you…?"
The Sorcerer seemed to be in a trance. He barely spoke since he took out the old hag, only nodding or grunting when his friends talked to him. His simple presence seemed surreal to young Cochlinian, who only heard about his kind from folk tales.
"Aeden? Are you alright?" Another call was sufficient to snatch him from the depth of his mind, and he widened his eyes, glistening in pure crimson. She was unsettled whenever he glanced at her, unable to bear their overwhelming aura.
"Hm? Oh, yes. I'll take it out. It can't be allowed to survive, no matter what." The Devourer looked at them with teary eyes, mimicking a sobbing boy as it started crying.
Its attempt only angered Minerva. "Foul creature. Junia most likely controlled Curo like this. He must've been devastated when he heard about Luni's death… and she took advantage of it."
"It's only following its survival instinct, nothing more." Aeden took a deep breath before scarlet Mana coalesced around his palm. "Good bye-..."
"Do be so kind as to not hurt the child."
"Huh?" The mysterious voice surprised everyone, making the Sorcerer stop mid-attack.
A woman suddenly peeked above Megissa's shoulder, a gentle smile etched on her comely face.
"Who are-?" She was interrupted by the feel of impending doom, an alarming impulse that screamed at her to run away.
Everyone froze.
They were skilled enough to understand - it would take a single wrong move for them to die. That's how oppressive her bearing was.
'An intruder? Was she watching the whole time?' Minerva thought, scared even to raise her head.
"Poor little one, taken from your sleep this early, forced to grow so quickly…" she lamented, gazing pitifully at the weeping Devourer. "It's alright, we're going home now."
The mysterious being reached out for the creature, not even hesitating to grab it from in-between hostile spellcasters. Her hair was umber and square-cut, while her irises were jet-black. She wore a brown travelling robe, plain and forgettable.
"You toyed so recklessly with its life, ignorant of its pain…" her hold was loving and caring, like a mother with a newborn. "Perhaps I should give you a taste of the agony it endured."
The last sentence sent chills down their spine, yet no one dared to stand up and face her.
That was the might of a true Imaginal Devourer.
"However, it seems that luck shines upon you all." She simply walked away. "Your life repaid the debt, son of Damara. Tell the Sorceress of Slaughter that He-Who-Remembers owes her no more."
She vanished amongst the crumbling buildings as quickly as she appeared, leaving them petrified and speechless.
Time only began to move again for them when Decima arrived.
"What's happening, everyone? Who was that woman?" she asked, confused by their expressions.
They all turned towards Aeden since he was the one she had addressed.
"I… don't know. I've never seen her before," he replied, just as lost.
"She said 'He-Who-Remembers', anyone ever heard of him?" Megissa inquired this time. "I don't like this. We must go, Aeden. We've attracted too much attention. That Witchspell you used? It reverberated throughout the atmospheric Mana. Perceptible spellcasters would feel it leagues from here."
"She's right," Minerva added. "It's never a good idea to make yourself known outside the barriers, especially around here."
"We're out of the Triscelus' reach, and thanks to that Ombre's intervention, we're on our own." he glanced at the mysterious woman's trail. "If a being that powerful managed to sneak in Cochlinia and get this close, we aren't safe anywhere. We must remain careful."
"Can someone explain to me what happened? I got beheaded by that old hag and then woke up to some kid playing with my corpse. Also, nice eyes, lil' Aeden." Decima was naturally clueless, but it was understandable.
For an unknown reason, she healed some time after the battle ended, which meant she didn't see her friend's unleashed power. Was she genuinely unaware of it, despite travelling all the way from Numidea with him?
"I'll summarize everything after, Deci. For now, we should-" Nihil stopped speaking when he noticed Aeden walking away. "Where are you going?"
"I need to be on my own for a bit." he seemed strangely dejected, not an expression someone would wear after such a victory.
Minerva patted her destroyed armour, somewhat flinching from the pain as she rose. The twins only healed her most dangerous wounds, and she had to endure the rest for now.
"I'm deeply ashamed to be unable to offer you anything in return for your help. Without you, and the honorable Sorcerer's might, we most likely would have lost." she bowed.
"Don't worry about that. You should focus on rebuilding Cochlinia and consolidating your defenses - especially now that the Devourer is free. You never know when and how he could come back." Megissa was still on her guard, trying to find an explanation for that woman's apparition. "Were there a lot of casualties?"
"Too many. Even apart from the dozen or so killed spellcasters, we have more than a thousand bodies unaccounted for. All of them civilians. Those who lived on the outskirts are thankfully safe, but…" she cursed her lack of power, again, despite everything she had endured to gain her Praes.
"No one expected that kind of monstrosity." The white-haired woman gently patted her on the shoulder before moving on. "Please don't blame yourself. We'll help you recover the buried bodies. Deci, Nihil."
They silently nodded before following her, leaving Minerva alone, next to the pulsating human-core that was once Cochlinia's Medice.
__
Aeden entered their previously assigned lodgings, slowly approaching the straw bed. The massive trunk his mother had gifted him was still there.
He slumped next to it, gently stroking its enchanted wood. Everything that happened that day was challenging to process, and he still was wrestling with his feelings.
His very first pledge was broken. The one he took when he learned that his own legacy would inevitably cause his mother's death. But was there anything else he could do?
He was the one that asked Megissa to accompany him. He agreed to let Nihil come into his party and had made an Oath to protect Aloysius' daughter.
It was the only choice he had, and yet… It burned him. The simple realisation that whatever his motives were, his actions would kill his cherished mother.
Some part of him had been overjoyed at the power he had gained, but that feeble delight crumbled when that strange woman appeared.
'I am too naive,' he mused. 'Too inexperienced. She could have easily crushed me.'
Despite that cursed inheritance having cost him priceless time with his parent, there were still beings far stronger than him.
Of what use was it then?
If he had to lose her, he'd need to dominate them all, to be the mightiest, if only to relieve some of his grief.
'Fire cures all,' a whisper slithered between his ears. 'Scorch your anguish, burn your conscience. You don't require them… you simply need to slaughter all.'
His crimson eyes boiled with an unfiltered hatred - and he knew, he understood, that those were not his feelings, not his thoughts. But they were ever so soothing.
They quieted his anxiety, hushed his heartache, and healed his pain.
How wonderful it would be to abandon himself to them, to taste the appeasing lull of violence.
"Uh… excuse me?" a faint voice came from the entrance; it was a thin little girl with brown hair and green eyes. "Big brother told me that you were the one who protected me… T-Thanks!" she awkwardly bowed.
Aeden remained speechless. Who was she again?
'V-...Vi-...' he had her name on the tip of his tongue.
"I wanted to ask you, i-if you don't mind! I can't find my dad. Do you know where he went?"
And then it came back to him. Joyful memories and mournful souvenirs struck his weakened mind like a vicious hammer.
He cradled his trunk like an invaluable treasure as tears flowed abundantly from his eyes.
The Sorcerer cried, wept, and sobbed… never knowing why.
His wits were overwhelmed. Wherever he looked, he could only see precious echoes of his mother, the one he had murdered.
A truly ironic contrast - perhaps- as his progenitress, also known as the Fire Singer, had never been happier.
__
Near the outskirts of Cochlinia, a strange individual was watching the settlement's exit with a particular interest. She looked through her finger circle like a monocle, smiling as she spotted the mysterious woman who was cradling the Devourer.
"That's an Imaginal Devourer alright," Her expression twisted, enhancing the ominous feel that her eyeless face gave. "She seems to be carrying another one of her kind."
"Please, Dame Louise, is it wise to reveal yourself like this?" a blonde girl clutched at her mistress' black armour, somewhat fearful. "Even I can sense her might."
The Ombre turned towards her subordinate, her long dark-green hair swaying in the wind. "Don't worry Alpheratz, she already knows that we're here." She delicately patted her head.
"How is that supposed to make me feel better?" Alpheratz grimaced, but that only made her superior chuckle. Her looks could only be described as enthralling despite her species' traits. Grace and strength merged with each motion, birthing a unique bearing.
She was Louise of Andromeda, the nineteenth of the feared Ombres.
"She doesn't seem to care, and neither should we. I'm only skilled at carving up Fae, so this sits outside my area of expertise." She sighed before snapping her fingers. "Mirach, Almach."
Two armoured men suddenly materialised from her shadow, bowing. "Yes, ma Dame?"
"Tell Nathan that his pet is carelessly messing around."
"With all due respect, I don't think addressing a Sorcerer as a pet would be-..." One of her aides tried to argue, but she quickly interrupted him.
"As long as our Roi doesn't acknowledge him, he's but a little project," The Ombre glanced at an elevated part of Cochlinia. "A pitiful one."
"But he proved himself against the Devourer, didn't he?" Alpheratz was confused. "To me, it felt just like the Sorceress of Slaughter."
"Power doesn't exclude weakness, Alphy. He's too careless, too human." her gaze became intense. "That's not how a Sorcerer is supposed to be. The Witch's children should be implacable forces of nature; their very instinct is to dominate and govern. Yet here he is, saving a mortal settlement for nothing in return. That alone shows that he isn't ready."
"Alright then," Mirach nodded. "Should I inform Seigneur Nathan about the Imaginal Devourer too?"
"He probably knows about it." She exhaled, somewhat unhappy. "That snake told me not to interfere inside Cochlinia no matter what. I don't like petty schemes, but he always takes it to another level."
"What do you mean?" The little girl seemed more and more lost.
"Devourers are taboo. They belong to a certain Being, and he doesn't like it when others play with his toys. That human couldn't have had the knowledge to awaken them, nor the skill to use Witchcraft." Old memories flashed back in Louise's mind, of accursed events that she was unable to forget. "This was an attempt to attract His attention… Tsk, Damara's child is stirring too much chaos, he should have stayed in Numidea."
Another man abruptly emerged from a nearby shadow, greeting Andromeda with a genuflection. "Ma Dame." He had dark skin and thick black hair arranged in neat braids.
"You're Aquila's subordinate." The Ombre nodded. "What news do you bring me?"
"Far to the North, amidst the Kiroho rainforests, They twirl~"
A crazed smile crept on Andromeda's face. "Fae!" She leapt with unimaginable strength as her aides scattered, wary of the ensuing shockwave. "Alphy, Almach, with me! Time to tear those bastards apart!"
"Wait! You're too fast!" Alphy was already wheezing, struggling to follow.
The messenger calmly watched them take off while Mirach went the opposite direction to notify Nathan.
The hunt could finally start.