33 Stalemate (1)

Aris stretched her body as she opened the window curtains. From there she watched with interest as the snow fell down slowly but endlessly. From time to time a tree branch would break with a loud noise and chunks of snow would fall on the white ground that once was a garden.

"Hehe…" She chuckled for no reason, the snow always made her happy.

Because this was a small city, there were not many movements outside this time of the year. Yet, the gritter would clean the streets every morning and Aris liked to watch that immense truck pushing the snow away.

At that moment, the girl looked down at her injured leg.

The wound had closed over the week and now a small scar was becoming apparent. Fortunately, no bone had been broken, and now she felt no pain whatsoever. Even the doctor was impressed with her healing abilities, though she suspected that this was only possible because of cultivation but dared not to say it out loud.

She was barely able to cultivate at first, the spikes of pain in her leg radiated throughout her body and she easily lost concentration. Still, Aris never gave up, and it soon proved to be great training for her aptitude in meditation.

Unfortunately, the week was anything but smooth. Even though her father was still recovering from an injury much worse and much slower than Aris, her aunt Andressa didn't seem to mind too much and kept pestering the man.

At first Aris thought Andressa was only worried about her, but soon the small arguments turned into bigger fights.

"I can see that something is wrong with her! D-Did she get one of these demons' books they showed on television!?" Andressa's madened voice came up from downstairs.

"What are you talking about!? I thought you were not so stupid to belie-" Edvar's angry voice also reached Aris' ears.

"Me? I'm just worried about my niece! I don't want what happened to her mother to repea-"

"Don't you even dare to induce it!" Edvar stopped her midway, his face red with anger. Apparently, Andressa had touched on a sensitive subject.

"Morning father…" Aris said while slowly went down the stairs, scratching her eyes and faking drowsiness as if she had just woken up. "Good morning auntie."

She looked over and saw that her father was lying on the sofa in the living room as usual because of the bruise on his chest, while her aunt was standing in the kitchen doorway.

"..." The adults shut up immediately and looked at each other angrily, the arguments stuck in their throats.

"Oh, good morning little princess!" Edvar exclaimed while at the same time he looked out of the corner of his eye at Andressa, frowning slightly, signaling that their fight was not over yet.

"Did you sleep well girl?" asked her aunt, at which Aris nodded. "Good, I'll get you some chocolate…"

Andressa turned and walked into the kitchen. Seizing the opportunity, Aris ran up to his father and looked down at his bare chest. The wound, still large, showed signs of healing but it would still take time before the stitches could be removed.

'Fortunately, the antibiotics he took prevented a serious infection!' Aris remembered what the doctor repeated several times.

She then got closer to his ear and whispered.

"If you had cultivated like I said, you would be better, dad. Why don't you try it?" she pleaded with her small green eyes. In fact, she had done it for the whole week, hundreds of times, but her father denied every single one.

"I'm good, I'm good," he said lightly. "In a day or two I'll be much better and then we'll go home."

"Why don't you stay here with auntie a bit longer, Aris? We can make that chocolate cake you love sooo much!" exclaimed Andressa who returned just in time to hear what Edvar said. With a cup of hot chocolate in hand she tried to persuade her niece. "Moreover, they are saying in the news that the wolves are restless over the city and more people got attacked."

"Thanks auntie but I'll go with dad. We have been here for a week already and I reeeally miss my bed." Aris smiled back at Andressa who did not expect that answer, and her face contracted slightly, a reaction that did not go unnoticed by the girl.

Aris animatedly got the hot chocolate from Andressa's hand and sat on the shag rug on the living room floor, as the couch was completely occupied by her father, to watch TV.

They watched TV for a while, and the news revolved around the same "old" topics: the Reenboog Forest, the books and people showing off their newfound strength.

*********

It was late afternoon and the sun began to set. The sunset light reflected off the snow, turning the whole world orange, at least what Aris knew as a world. Edvar was snoring loudly on the couch while Aris sat next to him, Aunt Andressa on the other hand had gone up to her room to rest a few hours ago.

At this moment, Aris had her eyes closed and was taking the opportunity to cultivate. Small blue particles of Qi constantly revolved around her body, nourishing it, only perceivable for those who had also cultivated.

Suddenly, footsteps on the wooden stairs broke Aris' concentration and she immediately stopped cultivating. The girl opened her eyes and was immediately startled when she looked at the stairs. Because there, Aris saw her aunt Andressa holding a blue book in her hands!

"Y-you have a devil's book!" Andressa exclaimed when she saw her niece's gaze on her. The woman had a reddened face and trembling hands showing a mixture of fear, anger and anxiety.

"T-The book isn't demonic at all, I swear!" Aris tried to explain weakly. In fact, for some reason she felt ashamed deep down in her heart. No one knew where the books came from.

"H-have you read it!?" Andressa shouted, scared. She hadn't had enough courage to open the book, holding it was already proving to be too much for her.

At that moment, Edvar was awakened by the commotion. He got up and looked at the two and quickly understood the situation.

"Don't be stupid, Andressa!" He walked past his daughter, patting her hair and extending his left hand towards his sister-in-law. "Give me that book."

"I-I have to burn it!" Andrea screamed. "It's all your fault! It's always been your fault, my sister was already killed because of you and now Aris is tainted by the Demons!"

Aunt Andressa was having a mental breakdown, tears ran down from her eyes and her face flushed red.

"Shut up! Don't you dare talk nonsense about my daughter! " Edvar shouted with anger, walked upon her and snatched the book from her hands. "We are going home right now!"

"T-this should be burned!" Andressa shouted, despaired.

"Go take our bags!" Edvar ordered his daughter.

Scared by the whole situation, Aris did not dare to say a word and ran fast to the bedrooms on the upper floor.

[This is all my fault, I should have hidden the book better!] A small tear slipped from her eyes as she packed her bags. She was already old enough to understand that her father and aunt's relationship was not the best, yet, she never imagined that her aunt would be able to react this way.

Now her injured father would have to walk through the cold night to get her home! She blamed herself a hundred times over and over as she packed the few clothes on her backpack.

Suddenly, shouts coming from downstairs woke her from her whining, it seemed that the discussion was increasing.

Quickly, she went to the next room, where found her father's bag and his rifle. She momentarily stopped, deciding whether to pick up the gun or not. But it didn't take long before she realized that taking it was the best option.

The girl grabbed everything with her small hands and, not a second later, ran downstairs only to discover that Andressa was crying loudly, sitting on the floor, leaning against the living room wall while Edvar got the blue book in his hands and was ready to go.

"Wh - what is that for!?" Andressa shouted as she saw Aris walking into the living room with the rifle in hands. It was clear who she thought the gun would be used on.

All of sudden,at that moment, the group heard a heavy brake on the street and a truck soon stopped in front of the house. Alarmed, Edvar walked to the nearest window and spotted three men rushing out of the car. One had a black robe while the others wore common clothes, but all covered their faces and carried firearms on their backs!

This couldn't be a coincidence, right?

"What have you done!?" Edvar shouted at Andressa, that couldn't mean anything good.

"They are here to take care of this book, I don't want my house to be contaminated by the devil!" A small smile formed on her red lips, she was now safe.

"Shit!" Edvar got the rifle from Aris' hands and gave her the book. "Listen here my little girl, if anything happens to me I want you to run as fast as you can to the next city and find a man named Alden Reece, he will take care of you…"

Aris looked at her father, scared.

"W-why are you saying that, dad!?" She felt like he was her superhero, even though injured, nothing would happen to him. She knew that he would always be there to protect her!

*BANG!*

Unfortunately, before Edvar could comfort his daughter, the door flung open and two men entered the house. Edvar promptly positioned himself in front of Aris and aimed the rifle towards the newcomers. From afar he saw a third man outside, guarding the car.

"Looks like we arrived just in time to prevent a murder!" The black robed man declared after looking towards the imposing Edvar with his rifle and the cowered Andressa. Yet the duo, guns in hands, didn't move a muscle. "Thank god that you've called us, Andressa!"

Edvar observed them with his deep eyes. In this stalemate the first one to get distracted would be the first to get shot.

"You are indeed blessed by the light Andressa! Now, where is the book? Asked the other one.

"W-with her…" She said weakly, pointing at Aris and not daring to look Edvar in the eyes.

Only now did the two hooded men notice Aris behind Edvar.

"Look, we of the Cult of Light mean no harm to you, if you just give us the book to be burned we can drop this matter and go away…" Said the black robed man, at this moment, as if to show his kindness , he slowly removed the hood.

Aris stared deeply into a face she would never forget: a middle-aged, bald man with a large thin nose, small pink lips and huge dark circles around his eyes. A bright and amicable smile formed on his lips, showing his bright white teeth.

"Or you guys can just turn around and leave…" Edvar said slowly, his eyes shinning dangerously. "We were just about to leave the moment you arrived…"

"Unfortunately this cannot be done, the higher-ups from the Cult of Light will punish us if they find out that we let a demonic book slip by our hands." The bald man shook his head. "Why don't you -"

*AWOO!* AWOOOO!* *AWOOO!*

Suddenly, the man was interrupted by hundreds of howls coming all around the house.