16 The illusion of peace

Varmon Empire, one of the powerful five empires contained many cities and rural villages. With all the villages comprised of false mortals. These people just love to live the simple life, trying as much as possible to avoid incurring the wrath of the empire.

At a certain dilapidated looking house, surrounded by farms and different animals, a young looking boy of about twelve years old with black hair and brown eyes could be seen tilling the farm under the bright sunlight as sweat and dirt filled his body.

As he was busy working, a little girl quietly sneaked up on him in silent but steady footsteps as she got close to him and shouted in her cute tiny voice

"Boo!"

"Ah! who-" screamed the boy but he paused when he realised it was the little girl before a big smile was plastered on his face

He ruffled the girl's smooth black hair as he spoke warmly "you cheeky brat, you're getting bolder each time"

The little girl smiled sheepishly as she spoke "hehe big brother you get scared too easily"

He looked at the girl with warmth as his smile grew wider, their mother died a year ago and they never knew their father, however he worked extra hard to provide for his little sister with the fellow villagers extending their help from time to time.

His case wasn't unique as other villagers all had sad stories to tell but they were a tight knit bunch, they loved each other and looked after each other. The young boy then proceeded to lift the girl into his arms before speaking

"Alright, today we're going to head to your favorite food stall"

The little girl looked at him with her big round eyes and puffy cheeks as her smile brought enough warmth to rival the sun before they began heading towards a simple food stall not far from their house

As they were walking, they greeted their fellow villagers with booming smiles, the boy was content, he was happy, as long as he had his sister all was fine and well in the world, the little village was lively with people playing musical instruments as some of the women danced while some men just admired the sight, little children also running around and playing together

The young boy and the little girl were happy but that all changed in the next instant as the air became heavy, the various songs halted, the women dancing stopped moving, even the young boy and the little girl became stiff, a small black cloud enveloped most of the villagers as deep black liquids rained down

At first they were all confused but the next moment screams began to echo in the silence as anywhere the rain touched was contaminated, those touched by the liquid immediately slowly withered as the extremely pungent scent of rotten flesh assaulted the environment

The boy and the girl were not enveloped by the black cloud but they stared in horror and fright at the unimaginable scene in front of them, the boy became terrified, the girl began to cry but still, they couldn't move an inch

Eventually the black clouds dispersed, but what was once a peaceful and happy village immediately became a scene from a nightmare as the soils of the ground became black and withered, the unlucky villagers became like dried and withered leaves as all the blood was drained from them

Immediately, something appeared not far from their location, at first it wasn't visible but as it became clearer it took the form of a human, to be more precise a young looking boy with black hair, pitch black eyes, wearing a red long sleeve and black shorts. A brown haired middle aged woman was also behind him wearing a maidservant outfit

Cain looked at his work and shook his head, he was quite disappointed. He came out here to test the powers his Ashel bloodline offered him and what better way than some useless false mortals but because his purity wasn't high enough, he couldn't even kill all of them in one fell swoop.

He looked at the remaining survivors, most of the villagers had already died so only a few remained standing, he decided to try another of his powers, his eyes slowly turning crimson but it didn't stop there as his crimson eyes began to glow in blistering blood red light

By this time, when Cain's eyes returned to normal, the villagers realised they could freely move, they were first quiet before they all panicked and didn't hesitate to escape this unreasonable maniac but alas, reality was cruel as one by one their bones began to shatter slowly from their insides, various screeching sounds piercing the air, as their blood slowly came out of their eyes, nose, mouths and skins.

It was truly a gruesome sight, the young boy watched as his little sister screamed in pain as blood came out of all her pores before she eventually fell on the floor like a sack of potatoes, her lifeless and mangled body the only proof she was ever alive.

"Bi-Big bro...ther" was the last thing he heard from his dead little sister

The young boy watched this and was first silent from shock before he screamed at the top of his lungs, he tried piecing her back together but nothing, she was well and truly dead. Tears flowing down his face, his mind going through various emotions ranging from shock to anguish to fear to anger.

He turned his head and faced Cain, anger clouding his senses as he screamed at him with tears continuously pouring down

"Why?! we never did anything to you, just why did you have to kill everyone, why, why did you have to kill my innocent little sister, she did nothing wrong" shouted the boy as he stared at Cain with hate filled eyes, his hands still on the lifeless corpse of his little sister

Cain however was impressed with the second power his Ashel bloodline offered him, it seemed to be well suited for torture if he could control it perfectly but he was disrupted by the shout of the boy as he stared at him, he was a bit surprised he was still alive but it didn't matter

He chuckled as he stared at the boy, he knew those eyes all too well, pain was a feeling that he had gone through so he understood the boy's emotions

"Innocent? did nothing wrong? now that is false, you see, the fact that they died was just due to their powerlessness, that is all. no one is innocent" said Cain blankly as he stared at the boy

The boy heard this and became even angrier, what sort of shitty logic was that, so his sister died because some maniac considered her powerless. Blood rushing to his brain as his common sense was thrown out the window

He immediately dashed towards Cain with madness in his eyes, he wanted to kill this bastard, he wanted to avenge his little sister, he wanted to rip that foul mouth of his, he reached Cain who still stood and stared at him a little amused as the boy threw a curved punch at Cain's face but all it did was break his own bones as he let out a loud scream. He felt he hit an extremely hard rock

Cain however was testing another of his bloodline powers, dark body which made his skin extremely durable and strong which is why he just watched the boy as he punched him. Nodding his head as he was satisfied with this one as well, he then looked at the boy who was on his knees, holding his broken and bloodied right fist

"Life is fleeting, one day you're alive, the next you're dead and do you know the reason for that?" asked Cain as he stared at the boy with apathy

He continued "it's due to our fragile existences, we are but nothing, a speck of dust in the hands of fate"

He then proceeded to grab the boy's head as he began to squeeze slowly with the boy flailing his arms around

"Peace is only a privilege for the strong, you and these villagers weren't living peaceful lives, no, you all were living under the mere illusion of peace, that's why this happened, you can only blame your own powerlessness" said Cain in a cold tone

The boy however kept flailing his arms around but at the same time kept wondering how and why all of this happened, just what kind of rubbish luck was this, what crime did he commit to deserve this, his little sister didn't deserve this but all that was for nought, his life was in the hands of the little demon in front of him

Cain however continued squeezing his head until his skull cracked open as brain matter scattered in the air, before he threw his body to the floor and wiping his bloodied hands on his cloth

He stood and watched his handwork, he wasn't happy, he would never allow himself to get drunk on this meager display of power, he raised his head and stared at the stars as he stretched his little hand seemingly wanting to grab the faraway sun

Meanwhile, the woman in maidservant outfit just stood silently and observed everything, even when Cain killed all these villagers she didn't even flinch

Cain was silent before speaking again "Valery, I have a very important mission for you and the others, but firstly we need to head somewhere else"

Valery nodded silently like an obedient little lamb without saying a word as she just remained standing almost like a robot

"The next few years will be quite a spectacle if everything goes according to plan" said Cain as he looked towards the east