"AaaAAHHHhh"
Strained, heart-wrenching screams reverberated through the forest, disrupting the tranquility of the night.
Its source: a lone, clearly abandoned wooden cabin, vines wrapping around the dark logs.
A testament to its lack of care.
Abandoned by man, reclaimed by nature.
"Huff!! Huff!! Huff!! Huff!!"
Quick, heavy breaths followed from within.
Fierce, determined, and desperate.
"Don't relax… push, it's almost here," another voice echoed, high-pitched but slightly hoarse:
Warm and insistent.
"AaaaaAAHHHhh"
The screams continued, much more strained than earlier, continuous like a war cry.
"I can see its head, you are almost there," the other voice urged, expectant and joyful.
The screams intensified, pushing out every ounce of breath from her lungs, determined to see this through despite the waves of crushing pressure and pain that rippled with each scream.
"AaaAAHHHhh!!"
"AaaAAHHHhh"
"…"
The screams continued, completely overshadowing the cries of creatures of the night—their own nightly calls either muffled or silenced, running away from the nonexistent danger.
The still wind shook ever so slightly, carrying her pain—her agony-filled screams—across the forest.
The sounds reaching a lone figure far from where she lay.
He turned towards the direction of the sound, his face obscured by the shadows of the thick canopy above.
"I found you," he exclaimed, in barely a whisper, his voice laced in rage.
Crimson eyes glowed from his form—eerily so, the only light piercing his shadowed, silhouette-like outline.
Unhurriedly, he stepped forward, moving toward the direction, his crimson gaze flickering with an unknown intent.
Within minutes, he arrived at the clearing encircling the cabin.
The screams continued—tired but determined.
"This stubborn girl," the figure snarled, stepping into the clearing.
Unhindered by the canopy of trees above, the three bright full moons bathed him in their radiance, exposing his features.
A handsome youth in his late teens.
Fiery red hair falling down to his shoulders, his brows naturally furrowed, giving him a perpetual glare—adding to his devilish charms.
He was adorned in simple camping attire, a strange, barely noticeable fiery glow surrounding him.
"This selfish girl," his brows creased further, his gaze fixed on the cabin, a gentle flickering of a lamp visible.
"Her selfishness will doom us all," he grumbled, walking toward the cabin.
As he reached his hand for the door, the screams ceased—replaced by the cries of a child, an infant.
"Congratulations… it's a boy."
"…" His thoughts ceased. His jaw clenched.
His crimson gaze flared with rage.
"She really is stubborn…"
The wooden handle instantly caught flame, the fire rapidly spreading across the door.
Fiery tendrils, spreading into raging sheets.
Seemingly controlled, the flames did not engulf the rest of the cabin, instead burning only the door down.
Ferocious but controlled.
One might think those in the cabin would have panicked, yet only the wails of the infant could be heard.
Their breaths held.
With a continuous thud, the door broke, falling before completely turning to ashes.
Fiery red eyes met clear blue.
One enraged, the other fatigued.
"What is the meaning of this?" he roared, the temperature in the room skyrocketing—visible waves of heat dancing in the tension.
"Master Aiden… please calm down," the third person in the room pleaded.
The elderly lady who had aided in the childbirth.
She winced in pain from the heat as it went above mere inconvenience to searing burns.
The infant didn't fare any better.
Its cries intensified, visible burns appearing on its skin.
"No…" she whispered, noticing the child's pain.
Still cradled in her arms, she moved back, trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and Aiden—the cabin too small to provide such solace.
"Heed my call, O spirit of waves—Serena!" she called out, her chest glowing a subtle blue that quickly intensified to a blinding degree.
After the light subsided, a translucent blue dolphin made of water enclosed them, protecting them from the searing heat around.
A pocket of air provided them with breath, the cool sensation of the watery walls calming the infant as his cries died down.
Aiden, despite endangering the infant's life, paid them no heed.
His enraged gaze remained fixed on the mother of the child.
Her crystal-blue eyes stared weakly at him, her breathing shallow—exhausted from her first childbirth.
Not to mention, her body wasn't ready for such torment—not that any mother ever truly is.
But for a teen, her anguish was all the more unbearable.
"Calm down, Aiden," the mother weakly urged.
"How can I!!" Aiden stepped forward, the heat intensifying—the air thickening, dry and suffocating.
"I told you to abort it!" His fiery red hair blazed, flaring like an erupting volcano.
The roof above caught fire, flames quickly spreading to form a blanket of cinders, raging like the skies of hell.
"You know I couldn't."
Surprisingly, the mother could still speak despite the suffocating heat—probably due to the faint blue glow around her, serving as a protective barrier.
"Huh?" Aiden paused, blinking in confusion.
His blazing hair calmed, flickering slightly like dying embers.
"You couldn't?!" he growled, his momentary confusion turning to rage.
The embers flickered back to life.
"Do you know what is at stake?!" He stepped forward, smoke curling from his mouth like a dragon.
"We are contractors of high spirits—prospective High Priest!!"
His steps were heavy, leaving scorch marks in his wake.
"And you couldn't?!" His face was now just inches from hers, the brilliance of his flaming hair illuminating her features.
Though fatigued, one could still see the innocent beauty she held—like an angel: beautiful, pure.
And her purity would have remained, if not for the man before her.
Aiden—the one responsible for breaking that purity.
He had taken her chastity and now demanded she dirty her hands—killing an innocent for a crime he knew nothing of.
"It… was… my mistake…" she weakly made out. "But this child is not to be blamed… he is innocent…" she turned to the infant, turning back to Aiden with a look of defiance. "I can't."
"Innocent?!" Aiden turned to the infant in the corner, cradled gently in the arms of the elderly lady, the water dolphin protecting them from the surrounding heat.
"If you can't, then I will."
Aiden walked towards them, his killing intent surging.
The flames roared, engulfing the entirety of his being, yet his clothes—though nothing special—did not burn, unaffected by the heat now touching every inch of the building.
"No!!" The mother weakly turned, hands outstretched, hoping—wishing—to reach them.
A small water ball materialized in front of her palm, irregular and clearly unstable.
As quickly as it formed, it shot toward Aiden—evaporating centimeters before reaching him.
"No!" she screamed, firing water ball after water ball.
All to no avail—only adding to the fog that quickly formed in the room.
Aiden, paying her no heed, had reached his destination.
The elderly lady cowered in fear.
"Master Aiden, please… have mercy."
Her pleas fell on deaf ears.
Aiden reached his hand toward the water dolphin. Its form boiled violently, the uneven distribution of heat causing it to burst.
The splashes of water went forth, sizzling as they met flames, most evaporating before they reached the ground, a few falling, boiling without containment.
"ARRGH!!"
The elderly lady screamed—her skin blistering from the boiling water.
She collapsed to the wooden floor, crouching over the infant, who had resumed wailing—
Wails from pain greater than his exit.
Pain from the blistering heat and scorching water that came in contact with his delicate skin.
"Cough?!"
A mouthful of blood splattered on the ground—the elderly lady paying the price for her spirit's forced cancellation.
The spirit still lived, not in the present but in a place they couldn't reach.
She couldn't call it back. The backlash nearly cost her Anima—her mana heart
"Please… Master Aiden… have mercy…!" she pleaded weakly.
Aiden looked down at them—his gaze distant and cold, as if directed at ants.
Without a word—though his glare spoke volumes—he extended his hand and touched the elderly lady.
At once, she burst into flames.
Her flesh sizzled as it burned and melted.
The pain—unlike anything she had ever known.
Yet… she did not move.
Her elbows locked by willpower alone.
Her knees, though shaking, never shifted—putting every last ounce of her strength into shielding the baby.
"AaaAAHHHhh!!"
A scream rang out—not from the elderly lady, who had already lost the ability to scream.
"How could you?!"
The mother roared, her form shaking uncontrollably, tears streaming down, sizzling as soon as they left her cheeks.
The faint blue light around her intensified—
clear blue like the sky, serene like the gentle waves of a lake.
Yet to Aiden…
it felt like dread.