Bandit II

Sura had been the first to charge forward, swiping her fingertips through the air. Intricate runes gathered at her palm and shattered into embers just as the earth groaned beneath the shadows of the bandits. Suddenly, seven large stalagmites tore themselves from the earth, raining entrails from the skies, shredding horse and man apart. 

She snapped her eyes towards the left, conjuring a barrier faster than most could blink as two arrows reeled through the air, striking against the semi-translucent bubble. The arrows shattered. Sura sneered, her fingers dancing to draw her next Rune when Zariel emerged like a shadow from the rear of the two archers, forty meters from Sura. He lept up, and with the cold grace of an executioner, his sword hissed and blurred, passing through the necks of the two bandits. He suddenly whirled mid-air, striking with a roundhouse kick to the abdomen, knocking one off his horse before his head detached from his body. 

Everything had happened so quickly the three remaining bandits couldn't grasp what had happened. And by the time one could howl 'Flee,' Sura had already completed her next spell. 

"Earth Breaker!" She howled, hitting the earth with a powerful blow that sent tremors throughout the village. 

Instinctively, Zariel had already taken to the air, leaping nearly twenty meters into the skies with the aid of [Feather Foot]. Cold, dead eyes watched as the Weave shone a complex array of Arcana converging beneath the ground. He landed on top of a nearby cottage, feeling what she'd done was overkill. 

"Aurelia," He swiftly commanded, and despite her daze, the young girl lept up after him. 

Suddenly, the earth thundered, thrashing back and forth as if caught amidst a great storm. Hundreds of stalagmites shredded the three remaining bandits, trying to flee into smears and would have the entire region for the next hundred miles had Sura not controlled her anger. 

"Filth!" shouted Sura, stomping her foot down, glaring at the wreckage around her. It was all so horrible that tears began to gather in her eyes. She wiped them away before they could fall, not allowing herself to cry. 

Recasting [Feather Foot], Zariel gracefully glided down with Aurelia. "I thought you were planning on destroying the region with that Level Five Spell." 

She snorted. "It wouldn't have…" She turned to him, frowning. "How'd you know it was a level five spell!" She asked incredulously. 

Sura had made sure to draw the actual formula in her Astral Sea where no one could perceive her will. All she had to do was draw the corresponding rune. It was a complex technique that took nearly a decade to Master. 

Yet how did he?

"I've my ways," The boy mused. 

"Acting all mysterious, eh? You know you're just a seven-year-old kid, right?" 

"A badass seven-year-old Kid," Zariel corrected, pointing to the headless bodies of the two bandits he took down. 

Once again, Sura felt strange; she'd only glimpsed the strike that had taken two lives, but she knew it was at the level of Master, and she couldn't help but wonder if he was from an Ancient Family of Aether. 

"Malos… You're in the stages of building your First Arcane Star, right?" 

"I guess. "Zariel said, glancing at the silent Aurelia, looking at the blood shred. "I'd have thought your hunting trips might have steeled your heart to such things or…" He grinned. " Is it you are horrified you feel nothing?" 

Through the Weave, her little pixelated Soul Flame seemed to quiver, rippled with the grey pigment of anxiety. 

And the Silver Devil's grin deepened. "I'm right, aren't I? No one will blame you if you walk away, you know. You owe these people nothing. Let them rot where they were slain." 

Sura frowned. "Malos, that's—" 

"They abandoned you, didn't they? They coldly watched as you had to fend for yourself, watched as you ate poison leaves, nibbled at the bark of trees, and gorge yourself on grass. They sat by and watched it all. So watch, laugh, point. And know none of this is your fault. It's there. Theirs for being weak." 

"Azalea's grace, you're bloody insane," said Sura. " Don't tell her that. While I don't expect you to forgive them, you shouldn't laugh at them, nor should you gloat. You're better than that."

"Is she?" Zariel laughed. "Well, we'll see. Come on, let's go… or are you curious to see if your father survived." He left after that, pulling the two horses away without a care in the world. 

"That little bastard is a menace. Gods. What the hell is his problem?" Sura sighed and glanced at Aurelia, taking it all in. 

She was looking at a little girl, shoving her mom with an arrow buried in her eye, crying for her father, who seemed nowhere to be seen, and she wasn't the only one.

Aimlessly, Aurelia wondered about watching mothers wailing over their children who had either been trampled over or run through by an arrow. 

It was all such a horrible sight, and yet Aurelia continued to stare until she was upon a familiar door frame. The door had been kicked open… and there was blood… a lot of blood. She stepped inside, listening to the hollow whimpering, and for a second, Aurelia felt relief… and disappointment. 

"Wake up… please wake up. Daddies here please… please… pl…please…" Thain cried, cupping the limp body of a small girl with shaggy brown hair. It was matted now, dripping with blood where parts of her brain shone. "Ainsley, please don't… please…"

Aurelia stared blankly, eyeing the empty bottles stained with blood, and then Ainsley… she looked at where the glass still clung to her head.

"Y-Y-You—" Aurelia covered her mouth, feeling her gut about to burst. 

"It was the bandit!" Said Thain hurriedly, drenched in tears, but a fool could see he was lying, and so too could Aurelia. Zariel had taught her how to hunt and how to read her surroundings. 

"You killed her… Gods." she hurled, unable to hold it in. Tears had begun to swell as she looked at Ainsley, her sister. "You… killed her." 

"No!" Thain howled, drunkenly rising to his feet. He toppled over his head, shattering a bottle as he fell. A large gash stretched across his brow. He howled like a dying pig. His voice rose even higher as he bore witness to the blood pooling through his fingers. 

"I… I… didn't… mean too." He whimpered, clutching the gash, spewing blood. " She… she just kept… saying she was hungry… I didn't know what to do… I just…"

"Father… where's… Mother?"

***

On his rocking chair he had fallen in love with as of late, Zariel swayed to the gentle breeze of frigid air billowing against his face. He loved the cold. Had his body not been so weak, he might have stripped down to his undergarments to lay in the snow. 

"Ahh~ life in the forest is oh so sweet. All that's missing is a warm bath." He mused, feeling sleep might come to him today. His eyelids felt heavier than usual, beckoning him to the darkness until… they grew sharp as a blade. Zariel stood up at the dense scent of blood and then laughed at the bloodstained sight of Aurelia. 

She had a lifeless look in her eyes, one almost reminiscent of the one Zariel held at times. 

"So, who'd you kill?" He asked her. 

Aurelia didn't answer. She didn't want to talk. 

One step at a time, she waddled forward, stopping as Zariel blocked her path and looked at him. 

"Do you still want to stay?" —She shook her head—"Do you want to leave tonight or tomorrow. " she nodded her head. And Zariel snickered. "Let's leave tomorrow." He said, pointing a finger at her. Aurelia felt a light breeze billow past her. It was warm, like the kiss of summer. Aurelia had nearly forgotten the sensation, but when she looked down at all her feet and palms that were stained red, her eyes went wide. The blood was gone—gone as if it never existed. "Go rest. We leave at first light." 

She didn't move. She just stood there, her dead expression fixated on Zariel. 

"Join me if you must. I was thinking of sleeping outside tonight." 

Zariel returned to his rocking chair, and Aurelia followed. 

"Care for a story? Hmmm. Let's see. Long ago, in a distant land known as Iluthath, there lay a blind, broken prince. However, he was not the only prince. The Broken Prince had hundreds of brothers and hundreds of sisters, all vying for the throne. Each of them was a genius in their own right, seeking to do whatever was in their power to become king. Until one day, the broken prince suddenly regained his eyesight, alerting the realm to his existence. Hundreds of millions called for his head, claiming he used some type of demonic magic to steal the eyesight from one of his brothers. So the boy's father tore him from his mother's arms while she lay weak and sick with child and implanted two nails the size of swords into his adjoining shoulder to seal his movement and tossed him into the darkness." 

"... Did he escape?" 

"No, for fifty years, he was locked in the darkness, whipped and beaten each day and night in hopes he'd confess to his crime. He was freed by those who loved our prince and proved his innocence in court. He was set free. But he was forever different. He didn't smile much after that. What went in was a child, but what came out was a devil…" He looked at Aurelia and booped her nose. " I don't care who you killed. I merely hope you allow that experience to temper your mind. Steel not just your heart but your mind to it all." 

She looked at him, tears streaming down her cheeks, and sniffled, "Kay…I… will. Aurelia… promises."