The birds chirped their melodies on the top of the branches of tall trees, filling the atmosphere with an indescribable peace. Sunbeams filtered through the green canopy, illuminating shrubs and small animals. Among them stood a girl, distracted by her object of admiration.
"Lily! Let's go!"
A voice pulled Lily from her reverie. With a sigh, she glanced at the flower she had been admiring, with its thin blood-red petals. Looking back and forth between her drawing and the flower, she confirmed it was indeed a red spider lily.
For a moment, she wondered at its presence, since such a species usually didn't appear in this area. Just as she was about to ponder further on the reason, she felt a tug on her ear.
"You little daydreamer, we have to get back on the road!" The woman spoke in a tone that was both reprimanding and playful, already accustomed to her daughter's usual distractions.
"Alright, mom. I was just finishing my sketch," Lily grumbled, rubbing her sore ear. In the background, she heard a chuckle, catching sight of her father enjoying the show while snacking.
Noticing he'd been caught, Erick cleared his throat and said, "Your mom's right; we need to find a glade to camp in before nightfall."
With a tired expression, Lily slung her backpack on, following her parents.
And so, the family of three continued their journey.
Lily watched as the trees' shadows grew longer, yet no glade appeared. She bit her lip; if they didn't find one soon, the dangers of the forest would only escalate. Thinking back to their last close call, she shuddered with fear.
Lost in thought, she failed to notice a protruding tree root in her path.
With a thud, she fell face-first onto the ground. But before she could fully process the pain, she noticed, to her right, a… glade?
Her parents had already noticed the commotion and had come back to help her.
"Muuoom…" She called out, still on the ground.
Erick helped the girl up, brushing the dirt off her body and face. Elisa was already looking for some medicinal herb to apply to her scrapes.
"No, no, wait. I found us a place to stay!" Lily said, excited.
"Really?" Elisa and Erick paused, both surprised.
"Yes, over there." Lily pointed in the direction of the glade.
"That's great! Let's go, honey; we need to set up camp." Elisa nudged Erick's arm excitedly.
"Oh, and here, put this on all your cuts," she said, handing Lily a dark green paste, still worried about her injuries.
Lily nodded absentmindedly but was secretly determined never to smear that strange goo on her skin.
The clearing was small but sufficient for setting up camp, providing shelter from poisonous plants and small creatures. Larger beasts, however, would not be deterred by a mere fire — in fact, it might attract them.
When they arrived, Erick began pulling out various supplies from his backpack, gradually emptying it. Finally, he took out a recipient filled with a gel-like substance and spread it around the camp's perimeter.
Proud of his work, he wiped the sweat off his brow and told the two that he was finished.
"I'm hungry," Lily voiced what they were all feeling. 'Hungry for a barbecue,' she thought to herself.
When they passed through the last village, the locals had warned them that they were near wolf territory, so they all agreed to stick to eating dried meat and avoid lighting any fires.
Erick handed out the tasteless rations to the two. When he reached for his portion, he noticed the bag was nearly empty. A momentary look of concern flashed across his face, but he quickly hid it.
Night had fallen, but they had no blankets or campfire. It would be a rough night.
"Awooooo!" Suddenly, a chillingly familiar sound broke the silence.
Lily, already shivering from the cold, began to shake even more violently. She looked down at her hands, trembling uncontrollably, and imagined what might happen if they came after them.
"It's alright, honey. If they come, we'll handle it. Elifah is with us." Elisa whispered comfortingly, holding her daughter close in her torn sweater.
When Lily looked to her father for reassurance, she saw a flash of movement behind him. In an instant, a wolf had lunged at her father's shoulder, biting down hard. Blood splattered onto Elisa and Lily's faces, leaving them frozen in shock.
"Run! Run!" Erick yelled in desperation, trying to shake the beast off his shoulder. His shout brought the two back to reality. However, wolves had surrounded the camp, ignoring the scent meant to repel beasts, showing these weren't ordinary animals.
'Is this how our hope dies?' Lily thought blankly.
Everything they had fought for, all the suffering, the losses. Had it all been in vain?
Her brother's death hadn't that been enough for them to reach the empire?
She couldn't accept it. No, she refused to. She would destroy anyone and anything that stood in the way of her family's happiness.
Unbeknownst to her, an ethereal silver power began to gather in her hands. In a trance, Lily raised her hand towards the wolf attacking her father and thought, 'Release.'
The wolf's bite weakened, and Erick managed to throw it off, kicking its head with all his strength.
She focused her gaze on all the wolves surrounding them.
'Leave, you filthy creatures.'
As if by magic, they all retreated slowly, as though their minds no longer belonged to them.
A giant weight seemed to press on Lily's mind, and she collapsed, unconscious.
…
"Sweetheart, are you awake?" A distant voice reached her ears.
With difficulty, she opened her eyes and realized she was in Elisa's lap. Startled, she immediately sat up, feeling a sharp headache.
Elisa stroked Lily's hair with a mother's gentle touch.
"How… is Dad…" Clutching her head, Lily managed to ask a simple question.
"After celebrating how amazing his daughter is, I bandaged his wound, and he went to sleep."
"Hmm…"
*Growl*
Lily blushed. The sound came from her stomach.
Elisa chuckled a little before handing her some dried meat.
After eating, Lily and Elisa talked a bit outside the tent, both relieved at how the day had turned out. Before going to sleep, Elisa said, "Don't forget, Elifah is always with you. And so are we."
Lily, unable to sleep, nodded. She silently thanked for this chance to protect her family.
Now alone with her thoughts, she couldn't help but think of all that could have happened, a shiver running down her spine. Part of her mind said there was no point dwelling on an imaginary past, but she couldn't shake the fear that had taken root deep within her heart.
But gradually, she grew sleepier, until…
"Aaah…"
A groan of pain woke her up.
Startled, she sat up and looked around, not seeing her parents. Stepping out of the tent, they were nowhere to be found.
The groan sounded again, piercing deeply into her ears.
Worried it was them, she left the campsite. Wandering through the dark forest, Lily could barely make out the path. Strangely, she wasn't afraid. She smelled an unusual scent of blood growing stronger with each step. Entranced, she followed it like a vampire pursuing prey.
"You've arrived." A voice snapped her out of her daze.
In front of her, a blood-soaked man leaning against a tree trunk smiled. His features appeared young and charming. Even though he was gravely wounded, his smile didn't falter.
Lily's eyes widened in shock. "Are you alright?!" She asked, anxious, immediately feeling that her question was pointless.
"I… I just need to find my parents… Then, they'll be able to help you." Lily quickly moved closer and tried to staunch the wound on the right side of his chest, but when she touched it, her hands burned.
Before she could process this, the demon grabbed her neck, his charming and malicious smile widening: "No, you will be enough."
…
Caelus looked at the limp body of the girl in his arms, stained with his own blood. The sound of something burning pulled him from his thoughts. It was the girl's skin.
He knew that, right now, he urgently needed to keep his life and the dragon's heart safe. But in this forest at the edge of the world, Caelus had no means of salvation, except for one foolish little girl.
His body was gravely wounded, with venom spreading necrosis through him. He had no other choice. Resolving with a grimace, he carried the unconscious Lily to a cave.
The cave was relatively large and covered in moss. There, Caelus removed the upper part of his clothing, only to reveal his skin deteriorating, especially around the wound. The flesh had turned black with scarlet blotches. His eyes darkened with fury as he recalled the cause of his downfall.
He approached Lily, who was tied up on a stone slab, and ruthlessly tore away her tattered dress. Startled, Lily woke up, catching sight of her unconscious parents in the corner of the cave through her peripheral vision.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed in agony, lost and disoriented.
"What did you do to them? What are you going to do to me?!"
Ignoring her cries and protests, Caelus extended his claws and gouged out Lily's heart, tossing it into a random corner.
Lily lost all signs of life. Her eyes, frozen, showed infinite despair, clearly at odds with such an undignified death.
From the cavity Caelus had created, blood began to flow like a river. The arteries were damaged and had nowhere to pump, while the veins were flooding her body with venous blood.
Ignoring this, the demon removed a still-beating heart, encased in a cylinder of glass and iron. Once pulled out, its blackish-red color stood out, pulsing like a wild stallion.
Caelus smiled softly. After all he had endured, this was what made it worthwhile.
Then, he placed the heart inside Lily's open chest. It was a little larger than the previous heart, but would still be able to pump properly. Since he could not return the broken arteries and veins to their original state, he used his mana to temporarily repair them and connect to the heart. Pulling Lily's chest, he turned his mana into small shiny threads and stitched it together like a damaged rag doll.
At this point, Caelus could barely stand. All of his damage, coupled with his misuse of mana, caused his reserves to deplete at a thunderous speed.
"Anyway, the last step…" he said when he saw Lily's chest, he made a mistake again, causing the blood to drip down to the floor.
Finally, he could have the heart of a dragon.