Early morning, when the moon was in its last third on the western horizon.
Aira awoke from her sleep to the sound of whining, when she raised her head, she found that the whimpering sounds were coming from Vir who was sleeping on the floor on a thick blanket.
The little girl frowned for a moment, then slowly got out of her cozy bed, approached Vir, and knelt beside him.
Vir's face looked like it was in pain, at least, that's what Aira thought. Especially with the sweat pouring down his face. Aira thought that Vir was probably having a painful nightmare. The man was very restless in his sleep.
For a moment, Aira hesitated about what she was going to do. But then, she raised her right hand, placing her palm an inch above Vir's forehead.
After one long breath, the little girl cast a spell. Slowly, Aira's palm on Vir's forehead gave off a faint bluish light, exactly the same color as her eyes. And then, she closed her eyes.
Aira passed through a shapeless passage, only flashes of thin bluish mist moved quickly around her, but that was probably because her body seemed to be pulled by an invisible supreme power.
Then everything seemed to stop, the nine-year-old girl's body was floating at a height, she glanced here and there, and found a seven-year-old boy who was hobbling down there.
Aira floated slowly, approaching the boy who was none other than Vir. She let out a long, soft sigh.
Yeah, she thought. Vir was dreaming about his childhood. Or rather, about the bitter experiences he had lived through.
Although Aira was very close to Vir, little Vir didn't see her, and couldn't even feel her existence.
Little Vir with a shabby body, puffy eyes, and several bruises on his face, hands, and feet continued to walk among the charred, blackened trees, still billowing smoke.
Aira gazed around the location, which was in fact the dreamland of an adult Vir. Her gaze became wide-eyed and her heart wept at the sight of the devastated nature. Her gaze returned to little Vir who continued to walk in an uncertain direction.
Little Vir seemed to be in pain because he stepped while holding his stomach in such a way with one hand. But he kept going. And not only were there charred trees around him, but also other bodies. Human, animal, and one or two wyvern carcasses.
The six-year-old boy stopped his steps, he looked around, then there was a subtle grunting sound from his mouth.
Aira who witnessed this knew for sure that Vir was holding back his tears and fear. Weeping at the death of the villagers, at the devastated state of nature, and fear that he would be left alone there.
He is the only survivor, Aira thought. This must be when the Central Empire and the soldiers of the four lands that supported the emperor's ambition to crush any future resistance to the emperor's rule were, genocide.
Slowly, tears rolled down the little girl's cheeks.
At least, this was the same thing that had happened to her ancestral homeland in the Southeast.
Although Aira had not witnessed it with her own eyes as Vir had, she had learned about it after she gained her abilities, and peeked into her mother's dreams when she was still alive.
But it seemed that this ruined village was not the village where little Vir came from. No, it looked like any other village that was still in the Northeast Country. Aira could sense that from what little Vir was feeling at this moment.
Aira moved her hand in such a way, as well as her ten fingers, then the scene below seemed to speed up.
Little Vir was moving very fast. From him looking dazed, to falling to his knees while howling, to standing up again, walking far away to a point, and stopping in front of another forest area, in the north of the Northeast Country.
The conditions there were the same, having been leveled to the ground. The charred trees had mostly fallen to the ground, not a single one remained, and there was no sign that there had ever been humans. Perhaps it was an untouched forest area before.
Little Vir looked hesitant, but it was only for a moment before he resumed his steps.
Looks like little Vir is heading to the North Country, Aira thought.
Stepping aimlessly like that would likely only lead to death. But of course, that was not the case because, in the real world, Aira was now near the adult Vir.
Little Vir continued to walk with an empty stomach, limping steps, and moaning over the wounds on his body.
Aira, who was watching little Vir striding aimlessly, suddenly felt something strange around the large area. Something very strong, but she didn't know what it was about or where it came from.
She looked this way and that as she continued to float quietly behind little Vir, but still, she couldn't find the source of the great power she now felt. Not a single wild animal he found around, not a dragon or a human.
Then what was this great energy?
Aira was startled when she heard Vir shouting loudly. The six-year-old boy had accidentally stepped on the fragile surface of the ground, causing it to collapse around him, and the incident had pulled little Vir deep into the ground.
Well, that's the sort of thing Aira feared would happen when you tread like a walking corpse, without direction, without purpose.
But after little Vir fell into that deep hole, Aira suddenly became stunned. The huge and terrifying energy that she had felt before, now became even thicker and stronger, as soon as the surface of the ground within a two-meter range was exposed.
She widened her eyes and floated down. Like a diver, Aira very gracefully followed the crack in the ground that opened up as a result of being accidentally stepped on by little Vir.
The deeper she followed the crevice, the wider the crevice itself became, and it ended in a large cavity, like an underground cave with various bones of wild animals scattered on the cave floor.
Aira widened her eyes. Not at the sight of little Vir who had fainted but at the bones around Vir.
"That..." Aira gulped. "Black Dracael's skeleton!"
Aira now understood where Vir had gotten the unique black dagger that he had been carrying around. Surely, he must have gotten the legendary dragon's solid bones in this underground cave, she thought.
Aira looked around the cave. Apparently, in ancient times, this cave was the lair of the Black Dracael. It was also possible that this was the last lair of that type of dragon before it became extinct forever.
Then, her attention returned to little Vir who was lying unconscious on top of the Black Dracael's skeleton.
"How long are you going to faint like that?" she muttered, and then she moved her hands again in such a way, speeding up the fragments of memories that had occurred in the area.
Every time she moved her hand in this way, her unique blue eyes would appear to glow more and more brightly, and then her fingertips would appear the same light, but dimmer.
Just like before, the scene around the little girl became faster than the actual time.
Little Vir woke up, then winced and screamed loudly because he had sprained one leg, then the boy tried to crawl to a corner and leaned against the cave wall until little Vir tried to stand up after several days in the cave without food and water.
Aira stopped her hand movements, her forehead furrowed, and her eyes narrowed. This is very strange, she thought. Little Vir shouldn't be able to survive without food and water for several days. Even more so, with the boy himself in such a miserable condition.
She understood that Vir could get through it with the evidence that she had finally met the adult Vir. But what Aiara didn't understand was the fact that little Vir could defy all impossibilities on his own.
"What kind of life spirit is that?" she muttered. "The Vulcher doesn't seem to have that! Or maybe because he ate a wyvern's heart raw earlier?"
In the end, Aira could come to no such conclusion. Except, perhaps this was already her destiny, the destiny for Vir who ended up being the one Aira herself had to protect as the only surviving Vulcher.
"Yeah, that purple aura," she muttered. "It was Vir's own celestial destiny that saved him."
The little girl fast-forwarded through the scene below to the moment where the hungry and thirsty little Vir was examining something around the bones scattered around him.