"DDDDAAADDDD!" Adel screamed as he saw his father being beheaded in an instant, not a single shred of hesitation in the strike of the corrupt captain. His mother grabbed him and began to run. With tears in his eyes, the last time Adel saw his father was his sad corpse in front of his home.
While Adel was too disturbed to understand the situation, Helen took her son and tried to escape into the village. She knew they were betrayed by count Rowland. The fake smile of that man appeared in Helen's head. All those things he said, he planned to kill us the moment Abel rejected him. And yet he smiled and talked to us like friends. Damn you, Rowland.
She ran as fast as she could. None of the soldiers pursued her. Instead, the captain aimed his sword at her. "Extend." His sword turned long and thin, the rapid point of the blade aimed directly at Helen's back. In just a few seconds, he caught her and pierced her back.
"AAAAHHHH!" The blood fell into the dirt. A single stab was all it took to bring her down, still hugging her son in her arms. Helen tried to keep a cool head as she spoke. "Adel, you need to run to the village and look for your brother. The two of you need to run as far as possible. I'll catch up with you after I lose them. Do you understand?"
"NO MOM, DON'T LEAVE ME!" He pleaded with his mother to stay together. He had the gut feeling that if he left her side, she would die like his father. With tears and a cracked voice, he broke down. "I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE PLEASE MOM!... AUGHHH, AHHHHUUGGG!"
She could hear the footsteps of the soldiers coming closer to finish them. The wound on her back hurt; the pool of blood was growing bigger by the second. Still, with all her heart and willpower, she touched Adel's face. "Listen to me Adel, I won't die, but I need you to get away from here. I'll find you and Daru as soon as I lose them. I promise."
She smiled as a bit of blood was dripping from her mouth. Adel wasn't sure until her mom put a finger in his mouth to calm him. His mom always did that when he was being selfish, a promise between mom and her son. If you hold on a bit longer, I'll make up for it. His mom never broke a promise, so with blind and innocent faith, Adel ran.
"DON'T LOOK BACK NO MATTER WHAT!" His mom's last words as he ran and cried.
"Hey, the kid is getting away. Go catch him." One of the soldiers told his partner to follow the kid. At that moment, a raging fire covered the soldiers and burned them.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" They only screamed for a few seconds before the flames consumed their flesh and turned them into a pile of ash.
The captain raised his eyebrows as he saw the woman standing in the middle of the flames. "I wasn't told you had magical abilities, Lady Helen."
With his right arm burned, Helen looked to the captain and raised her left arm. "I discovered my potential when I was already a mother. Luckily, my husband managed to keep it a secret, and with the help of a friend of his in the Court of Wizards, I learned how to keep it down. I don't need to hold myself anymore. I won't let bastards like you touch my children."
From her hand, a new wave of fire extended. She covered her entire home and the soldiers. They tried to flee, but the flames were too hot. Some died in agony, some managed to get far enough away, but only the captain stood his ground in the middle of the hell.
"AH… AH… AH…" The heat was affecting Helen and burning his left arm. She wasn't going to let go. Even if her entire body was consumed by her own flames, she wasn't going to let them capture her son. The love of a mother was the only thing keeping her standing. She raised a wall of fire as far as she could to block them. Her hair was burned, and her face was unrecognizable. This was the price for using her powers without training.
She refused the offer to stay in the Court of Wizards and learn to control her flames because she wanted to raise her son. Daru was only a few months old. If she accepted the offer, she would miss all of his childhood. She wanted to be a mother. All the memories of her family flashed in her mind. I made the right choice.
Helen wouldn't trade those moments for anything else in the world. Thank you, Abel, for everything. Daru, Adel, please live a happy life- Those were her last thoughts as the sword of the captain pierced her heart. The flames couldn't be extinguished by her death, but the intensity was reduced.
"You think a pathetic attack from an untrained mage could harm me? You insulted me." He only had contempt for the woman who fought to protect her child. "Your pathetic resistance is useless. It is not just your family, everyone in this village is going to die."
Adel reached the center of the village, but what waited there was hell. Houses were burning, and soldiers were killing people. It didn't make any sense. Why was this happening to them? The truth was that count Rowland didn't intend to kill his family alone, he planted evidence of conspiracy in the houses of several civilians. All of this was to support his claim that the Rivale family was plotting against the King. With the help of a corrupt captain and his soldiers, he was going to destroy the whole village to not leave a single trace of his true intentions.
Adel moved in the middle of the chaos, looking for the smithy where his brother was working. The cries of help and desperation from the people haunted his ears, the smell of things and people burning was disgusting, and the sight of bodies was forever ingrained in his mind.
He tripped over a body. When he looked back at it, he noticed it was his friend. They had just finished playing a couple of hours ago. Now, the boy lay dead with his eyes empty. Why? Why? Why? Why? WWWHHHHYYYY?
Adel's mind broke looking for an answer. Crushed by the pressure, fear, and sadness, he found the answer. 'I need your help to depose the current King' The words from Rowland were the key to all of this. As a result of his father's refusal to join in a complot, Rowland was taking revenge on the entire town as punishment. A monster, only a monster, would do something like this. It was nothing short of madness.
Gritting his teeth, Adel's heart was filled with fury and vengeance. "ROWLAND!" He yelled at the top of his lungs in the center of the fire and cried out in despair. "I'll NEVER FORGIVE. I SWEAR I'll MAKE YOU PAY!" His cries of revenge fell on deaf ears. In this hell, the only thing waiting for him was death.
A soldier appeared behind him. He raised his bloody sword and struck the young and defenseless boy...
"AUGH!" The soldier fell to the ground. Adel looked at his back and saw Daru stabbing the soldier in the stomach. Daru stabbed the man repeatedly, making sure he was dead. With bloody hands and face, he looked at his younger brother.
"Are you okay, Adel? Where are mom and dad?" He asked with shaky hands, afraid of hearing the answer.
"Dad is... Mom told me... agguhh.. baw…" He couldn't speak as the tears made a node in his throat. Daru saw the answer on his face and hugged his brother in a tight embrace.
"Let's go. We need to run away from here." He grabbed Adel's hand and began to run into the forest without a clear destination. They ran and ran without looking back. The sound of footsteps followed them. A singular soldier was running behind them.
"Shit, Adel, keep running. I'll catch up with you after I kill this bastard." Daru took his sword and prepared himself for a fight.
"What? You can't beat a soldier, idiot!"
"I had to kill two people today. One more is nothing at this point." He pushed Adel. "Keep running, stupid kid!"
Adel ran without looking back, just like his mother told him to. At that moment, the sensation of losing his brother and never seeing him again crossed his mind. This time he turned around and saw Daru pinned down on the ground with the blade in his stomach.
He didn't want to lose anyone else. His father and mother were already dead. Losing his brother would mean losing his entire family. Adel's heart was filled with determination, and he grabbed a nearby stone and threw it at the soldier.
By mere chance, the stone managed to hit the man in the eye. In that single moment of hesitation, Daru pierced the man's gut with his sword.
"You little shit!" The soldier punched Daru and broke several teeth. Adel jumped on the back of the soldier and tried to strangle him. His hands were too small and lacked the strength necessary.
The soldier shook Adel easily, but that was enough. Daru saw the opening in his opponent's gut, and with his bare hands he pushed into the meat and pulled out the intestine.
The man fell dead on top of Daru. Adel tried to help his brother, but he stopped him.
"I told you to run… ah... even now you're still a little kid, Adel... ah…"
"Daru I…"
"Adel, I know I make fun of you and tease you all the time, but…" He made a weak but sincere smile as he touched Adel's face with his bloody hand. "I love you little brother, please never forget that…" Daru eyes closed as he died with a smile.
"Sniff... Daru, Daru, please... sniff... Don't leave... Ah, ah BAAWWWW!" Adel cried his eyes out until there was nothing left. On a single day, Adel Rivale lost everything...
Adel kept silent for several minutes after recalling his past.
"What did you do after that?" Thanatos asked.
"I managed to run far away from the land of Rowland. After that, I spent my remaining childhood in an orphanage. I left there after turning thirteen and began to work for small groups of criminals. Unlike in the Republic, syndicates are very small in the Kingdom, so I lived poorly until I got an offer from someone in the Red Dragon to work for them."
"Count Rowland? That's the name of one of Ennis's companions. They're still plotting against the King today."
"It doesn't surprise me. Someone who destroys an entire village without regret is never going to back down from his ambitions. Even today, the army and the King think that my father was really plotting against him. That's why I want to destroy them all." Adel's vengeance was still fresh.
"I can't forgive them. Rowland, the army, King Gabriel Lothar the III or the innocents. The rage inside me demands that I burn them all. I'll make them feel one hundred times the pain they caused me. The only way I can do that is by destroying their beloved country."
"I see. That's why you got upset after seeing Eric grow stronger in such a short time. Thank you for being honest with me, Adel. Come on, we have a party waiting for us." Thanatos stood up and began to walk to the base of Underworld.
"Wait. Are you serious? You aren't going to mock me or try to change my vengeance for something more realistic?"
"Realistic? I'm trying to become the leader of the biggest crime syndicate in the Republic. I'm just glad you don't want to destroy this country because that would make me the boss of the ashes, and Lia's family lives here, so she would definitely be against that." Thanatos spoke with sincerity. "If you decide to do it alone, that's fine, but you can always ask me for help. I try to help my friends when I can."
For the first time in his life, Adel expressed his dream and someone understood him. He remained silent until they reached the base. The party inside was full of laughter and joy.
"Adel, please try some food. I guarantee it's delicious." Lia offered him a plate.
"Hey, stop standing there awkwardly and drink something." Neo gave him a mug of beer.
"Don't think I'm going to stop training. I'm going to prove to the boss who deserves to be his right hand: enjoy while you can, you bastard… HIC…" A drunk Eric made fun of him, it was clear he already forgave him for the situation before.
"Please enjoy the party; I had to spend half of the month's budget on it." Castess drank his tears with alcohol.
Yes, this is what I felt in Master Thanatos that day. He has the presence to attract people, ambitious and dreamers alike. I could never tell my dream to anyone in the Red Dragon, but here I can become stronger, because he's aiming for his dream too.
With a smile on his face, Adel joined everyone else at the party. After fifteen years, Adel felt at home surrounded by them.