It was a brief moment.
A chilling sensation ran down his spine upon getting a strange feeling; the sensation of being watched.
They were being observed, and Ian realized it immediately.
Yet, not quick enough to react on time.
"AAAAAAAHHH AHHHH HELLLPPP!"
A scream pierced the atmosphere. One of the actors slumped down. Burning flames, which weren't there just a second ago, shot out from his body, devouring his whole.
The man was being burnt down alive.
"Ahhhhhh!! AHHHHHHHH!"
The man threw himself to the ground, screaming and rolling around. The surrounding actors fell back from shock instead, each fleeing to one side.
"AAAAAHHH!"
"FIRE!"
"HELPP!"
Screams arose. People, startled, jumped out of their seats and ran around. The audience fled the rows and ran to the exit. Alarms rang aloud. Other actors moved as far away from the man as possible while searching for a means to put out the fire.
The scent of burnt clothes and pleas for help blended to give shivers to anyone present despite the heat of the flames.
The theater turned upside down.
Before anyone could approach the male actor, the carpet and curtains in the scene cut on fire at an unnatural speed. The flames spread around like food-starved snakes, devouring everything in heat.
The stage was embraced by a red ring of flames in an instant.
'It's... One of those things.'
Ignoring the heat scraping against his skin, Ian rushed towards the burning man after the brief initial shock. There was a single thought in his mind,
'One of them is nearby. It's causing this fire.'
He couldn't see it but could feel the presence for sure.
A cursed entity, a wicked existence.
However, Ian's arm, running forward, was caught by a firm grip and pulled away before he could get any closer. He was yanked back by Kieran and dragged away from the spreading flames. His thin and frail body was moved around helplessly by the strong force.
Ian snapped his head up to retort, but before he could say anything, the black-haired boy grabbed someone else beside them and pushed him forward without a second of thought.
"Oh my gosh, what the hell?"
Alaric yelled his curses under his lips as he was pushed towards the flames. Yet as if already prepared, spread his arms open and mumbled something under his lips.
SSSHHHHH
A bubble of water emerged out of thin air and splashed at the surging fires in the scene. Hot vapor rose into the air instantly.
As the people in the scene gasped and retreated rapidly, the water magic was cast again, this time, aimed at the burning man. The sound of splashing water came a few more times before the persistent fire finally died out.
When the steam went away, what could be seen of the actor was a deformed, strangely colored burnt body.
No movement, no voice, no breathing. He was already dead.
"...."
As the fires distinguished and realization dawned on, a suffocating silence descended in the theater hall.
The audience that had gone into chaos just seconds ago and was trying to run away halted their movements. The actors surrounding the stage froze in their spots. Some covered their eyes and some fell to the ground as they gradually came to understand the situation.
Someone just burst into flames and died within a few seconds, right in front of them, with no logical cause for it.
"Uh..."
Eleen, about to rush to check on the actor's condition, hesitated once her eyes caught on the man's situation. Beside her was Alaric, whose whole body was soaked in cold sweat, shivering uncontrollably.
"W-wh-what just happened...?"
His question, being the question of everyone present in the hall, snapped the dazed back to reality and gathered the crowd's attention to the mage that had put out the fire.
Before anyone could utter any word of gratitude, someone among the crowd shouted aloud, their voice audible to all.
"It... It must be the curse!"
The curse. It echoed in their minds. This theater is cursed. Strange stuff happens in it all the time. They were all warned about it before. They knew what that person was talking about.
The voice carried a weight and emotion understandable by all. Tension, as one could say, spread among them rapidly and mumbles arose all around.
Someone shouted, "We should leave before we become the next target!" and then another retorted, "How would we know if it wasn't a murder? We have to examine the crowd!"
A young child burst into tears and an old man raised his cane, threatening the theater guards blocking the exit.
It was utter chaos.
Watching the scene unfold, Alaric's body quivered even more. He stole glances at the corpse and then at the crowd, taking small steps back in the process.
"What's going on?"
It didn't seem right. These people's actions didn't seem right! Someone just died, why were they like that?!
"We should leave here immediately."
However, it seemed that it wasn't only the crowd that had no care about the deceased.
"Miss Eleen, Young master, we should go. Hurry up!"
Ian pulled the due's clothes from behind, forcing them to snap out of their daze and follow him around. Kieran was already tagging along, not phased at all in the face of an abrupt, sudden death.
'That entity is dangerous. We can't afford to get mixed into this.'
Whatever was causing all the chaos was still somewhere in the theater, so it was true that staying there might pose a threat to their lives.
'This is none of our business.'
A foreign city, foreign people; why would he care about them? They hadn't yet received their payment from their employer but that didn't matter much. They could find a job at a later time.
"But, but someone just died!"
Ian couldn't help but click his tongue at Alaric's trembling voice and naive words.
"So what? Will he come back alive if we stay around?."
"B-but-"
"We aren't responsible for others lives."
They didn't even know that man's name, why would they care?
'Also, Alaric put out the flames so he must've been noticed by that thing.'
They needed to leave immediately.
Being led by Ian, the group hastily walked out of the backstage and approached the exit. Although Alaric's steps were hesitant and shaky, he did well in following behind at an acceptable pace. The exit was already bustling with the frightened crowd when they arrived.
"Please calm down and move back. We need to call the city surveillance and a priest before anyone can leave! This might be a murder!"
The guards were blocking the exit and preventing anyone from leaving. They were carrying out their duties quite well, and their actions were valid and logical for normal circumstances, but in this situation, their actions were far from helpful.
'Uh... There must be another exit somewhere...
Ian raised his head to look around for another door. He was sure there must be a door in the backstage, but as they'd been working here for only a few days, he wasn't aware of the building's structure.
His wandering gaze moved here and there, aimlessly searching for an exit, but he couldn't find anything while surrounded by so many people. Ian huffed a frustrated breath and looked back at the guards. If things didn't progress, he had to intervene personally.
"Tell them to open the doors! Hurry up and open the doors!"
As someone yelled, a short and chubby man got thrown out of the crowd. The man trampled and fell to the ground due to the force, his body weakly shaking.
"Dad!"
A little girl ran out of the crowd and clung to the man's arm, raising him before hugging him tight. The crowd had retreated a little bit, creating a circle around the father and daughter due.
They were the owner of the theater crow and his child.
"It's him! The owner! You have to take him to the prison!"
"Why are you holding us when the culprit is here?"
"Cursed! Cursed! Take him out!"
The man took shaky steps back while hiding his daughter behind himself. He shook his head from side to side, doing his best to clear the misunderstanding.
"I-I also don't know what happened! I'm innocent!"
"Tells who??"
"Throw him out!"
The atmosphere was heating up.
'This won't do!'
Ian didn't care about these people, but his group had to leave this place before anything happened. He could still feel something watching them from afar. That existence's lust and madness was unmistakable to him, a veteran saint.
Could he purify that thing? If he used up all his power, he probably could. But why would he do such a useless task? Why would he reveal his powers here and put himself and his group the target of The Empire's pursuit of the saints? Was there even anything to gain from that?
Tap. Ian took a step forward, moving through the crowd. He had to do something himself before the situation escalated even further.
Just then, an aged female voice made everyone else close their mouths.
"Huh? Isn't that Doris?"
All eyes turned to a specific location, to where the woman was pointing at. There stood a young girl at the center of everyone's scrutiny, hesitantly looking around at the sudden attention.
Her face was round and her hair was jet black. There was a tinge of crimson whirling within her black pupils and even the tips of her hair looked slightly red. Her blood-red lips and the slight crimson lines under her eyes made a clear contrast with her pale white skin, creating a rather rare beauty.
"Uh... Um..."
The people surrounding the teenager hurriedly fled back upon realizing her presence as if they'd seen a ghost. A circle was created around her in a few seconds with the girl alone in the center, frozen on her spot and quietly trembling.
"Doris? She was here?"
"What's she doing in this place? She can't be here to watch the theater!"
"Was she working here?"
"And that man burnt down!"
"Do you get it? There was fire and there was also Doris!"
Doris, the girl with a crimson hue to her pupils, bit down on her lips as she lowered her head, staring at the floor without uttering a single word. Her back was hunched and her fingers intertwined, hands tightly clasped. The attention of the crowd has shifted from the theater owner to a random girl in an instant.
The woman who had first called out the girl's name kept her finger pointed at her and raised her voice even more.
"Wherever there is a fire, there is Doris! It's this witch! She killed that man! It's her doing again!"
The words were unexpectedly wicked as if having been sharpened with hatred for ages.
"That's right!"
"She's right! It's Doris!"
"It must be her! She's such a witch!"
Among the whole crowd, no one blamed the woman for her words, but they instead began to support her. She was accusing the teenager of murder, yet everyone seemed to have already accepted it as a fact that everything was her doing.
"It's her! Take her out! Take that witch away!"
The audience continued to yell and shout in anger.
'What the hell?'
Ian, about to push away the crowd and force a path to open, paused in his tracks. The atmosphere was strange. There was way too much hatred being thrown at a girl for no reason. She was being called a murderer out of nowhere and was now being cursed by everyone present. It was as if these people were waiting for a small spark to throw all their hostility at the girl and tear her to pieces.
'Ah, it's none of my business.'
"Call up her father and tell him to luck up this living misfortune before the citizens eat her alive!"
One of the guards ordered the other and the younger man ran out of the theater as fast as he could. Even the guards seemed reluctant to intervene, only watching from the sidelines as the crowd approached the lone girl.
"N-no! Wait! Don't call father!"
It was only then that the girl opened her mouth.
"Don't tell him! I haven't done anything, please, don't tell him!"
Yet, no one seemed to care about her words. Rather, they were even more agitated. Someone raised their fists and threw something at Doris. A crumbled piece of garbage hit her forehead before dropping to the ground. Trembling, Doris took several steps back, but she was surrounded by the crowd from all sides no matter where she moved.
"I-I didn't do anything..."
She looked to be about to tear up but was holding them back quite well. It wasn't until she saw the circle around her getting smaller and smaller. No one even cared if she was guilty or not. They were all already prepared to erase her existence long ago.
Was there anything she could do even if she struggled? Even if she ran away from here, how was she supposed to deal with that man?
"Wait wait wait! What do you people think you are doing?"
Just when she was about to close her eyes and let whatever would happen happen, a soft male voice cut down the cursing and yelling of the crowd.
"You can't just randomly accuse someone of murder and then try to execute justice on the spot! Do you even understand your own actions?"
It was a man whose face was hidden by a cloak, but it was evident that he was a young man who might not even be in his mid-twenties.
"What? Where did you come from? Who are you to intervene?"
Ian closed his eyes as he shed imaginary tears.
'Yes, who am I to intervene?'
When did he even jump in the middle of the square? What was he thinking?
"Instead of wasting time on useless quarrels among yourselves, everyone must leave this place first. Plus, you can't blame an innocent girl and attack her without having any proof!"
Someone gasped at his words. Ian couldn't see who they were. The crowd's attention suddenly shifted to him, as well as all of their agitation and hostility. If it wasn't for Kieran who rushed to stand in front of him, Ian would've been greatly frightened by the pressure.
"You are the one who is talking without knowing anything!", the same woman who started it all, spat out her words in a hoarse voice. "That's The Witch you are defending. Wherever there is fire, there is Doris! She is cursed! She is a misfortune! She's an evil born in our city! We should've gotten rid of her sooner!"
What the actual hell?
Ian snapped his head back to look at the said 'witch', only to see a pair of round eyes staring back at him, shaking with nervousness.
'She's just a blessed one!'
What were these people talking about?
'It's obvious that she is a mage with an affinity! She is a rare talent. How can they treat her like this?'
And Ian already knew what was the cause of the fire and the unnatural phenomena happening to this theater crow. This girl could in no way be related to that thing.
No, there was one way.
'She must be a target.'
That entity must be seeking her potential.
'Um, doesn't that mean that she is both in danger and the danger?'
But she hadn't done anything wrong. That entity must've found her by chance once it came to this city and chosen him as easy prey.
"Then move aside!"
"Move!"
"She must be executed!"
The woman shouted, and the others followed suit. Ian's words didn't seem to help calm them down at all.
'Um... Can we make it?'
They had Kieran, so it wouldn't be too hard to knock down all these ordinary citizens and flee the scene. But what about after that?
"Ah?"
Just then, a brief gasp came from someone before it turned into a piercing shriek.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"
The woman leading the crow suddenly fell to the ground, her whole body covered in flames.