In the center of Lien City's square, dozens of stakes stood in a row, each binding a person scarred and numb,
Countless citizens surrounded the square, their eyes on the execution platform at the center filled with excitement, disdain, and mostly, ferocity!
The sky was tinged with cyan, the color of the North Wind's divine power.
A figure in a white robe, accompanied by a whirlwind, slowly descended to the center of the square.
Horn, being the youngest, was tied to the last stake, his parents watching him from the edge of the square.
Their gaze upon him was as if they were looking at a monster!
And it was they who reported the just eight-year-old Horn as a wild witch to the North Wind Cult,
In Horn's eyes, they were more like demons!
The man in the white robe had a hooked nose and drooping eyes, and a head of beautiful long hair, showing a false smile to the crowd watching from the periphery.
He shouted loudly,
His voice spread across the square under the effect of the wind element divine magic.
"What are they?" the man in the white robe pointed at the bound people and said.
"Wild witches!" the crowd shouted in unison.
"What is a wild witch?" the man in the white robe shouted out loud!
"The lapdogs of witches!" the crowd, with slightly crazed expressions, said.
"How should we deal with the lapdogs of witches?" the drooping eyes of the man in the white robe appeared terribly fearsome to Horn.
"Burn them! Burn them!"
The shouts of the crowd were uniform, even somewhat excited.
The man in the white robe smiled and issued the execution order to the black-robed ministers around the pyre!
"You servants of witches, I execute you by fire in the name of the North Wind's will!"
Under the man in the white robe's command, a black-robed minister placed his hand on the chest of the first person, and a pale cyan flame spread from his palm.
The execution began!
Each wild witch being burned alive wailed and begged for a chance to live before death.
But no one listened to their last wishes, until the last minister approached Horn,
Horn's eyes were empty, lacking the vibrant colors typical of a child.
Suddenly, chaos ensued, countless flames and boulders flew down from the sky, and many clergy scattered in all directions.
To Horn, this scene akin to the apocalypse seemed like the arrival of hope.
What happened afterwards, Horn could no longer remember, only that the man in the white robe with drooping eyes caught fire on his head, and a figure in a black robe holding a long staff...