Never to be Forgotten

"Stick close to me and don't make any sound" Norman put his index finger to his lips, gesturing for Samael, Lucius, and Lily to keep their mouth shut before he leads the way through the tree lines, still near the walls of the city.

But none of them were equipped with the skills to survive this kind of situation, this is their first.

From behind, Samael can see Lily's shoulders rising up and down rapidly, her rigid breathing can also be heard clearly. He stretches his hand to grab Lily's shoulder, and her body stiffens when she felt the touch.

Pulling her to face him, Samael finds that Lily is hyperventilating, and her face is very pale.

"Calm down, Lily. Steady your breaths..." Samael said when he saw Lily was not taking everything very well. But it's natural, she was not a fighter, she is only a normal woman that hasn't trained in the way of mages at all.

Even though he tries to calm Lily down, his hands are shaking due to inexplicable fear.

At this current moment, none of them know how this night would've played out, threats are still looming around them. Samael, despite believing firmly in the divine protection of God can't help but worry about his parents.

It was because of those reasons that his entire being is shaking in absolute fear.

Samael can feel the darkness around him becoming thicker and thicker, the coldness coming from it can be felt, stroking his skin with a stinging touch. Only due to the adrenaline pulsating in his body and his mother's words that he's able to keep moving and not break down in fear.

But amidst the chaos, Lucius thankfully already snaps out of his daze and focuses on reality.

Moving closer to Norman who is walking silently at the front, Lucius then asked while looking around warily, "Where are we going? Shouldn't we flee as far as possible from this place and avoid them?" he asked.

The four of them are walking through the edge of the forest, right beside the castle's walls.

Some of the mages that are still chasing the citizens that are trying to escape can be seen on their right, it's not safe for them to follow along the edges like this instead of going deeper into the forest and finding a place to hide until the raid was over.

"We need to warn your father, he'll get back into a trap if we don't intercept him" Norman replied.

Clenching both of his fists and tightening his jaw angrily, Norman kept his composure despite the raging anger inside of him, he also can't believe that a good man such as Fedele was going to be disposed of like this. "Your father brought the capable mages to intercept the Erovian army, it's these bastards' plan to lure the mages out and slaughter the city in their absence. Fedele and the other mages should be on their way back right now, we need to warn them before it's too late"

Upon hearing this, Lucius grasped the situation clearly now. It's not a good one to be in.

"Just why are they doing this... father is nothing but a good man!" Lucius exclaimed with tears filling his eyes, Fedele's wishes were to live a peaceful and calm life in the countryside instead of the capital city, nothing more.

But these people just need to disrupt his peace, Fedele doesn't deserve this.

As he was lamenting about the situation Norman grab Lucius' shoulder and pushes him down while simultaneously glaring at Samael and Lily, telling them to duck down with his eyes. In reflex, Samael managed to pull Lily down as their faces were clamped against the dirt.

"Go and check the surroundings! Find that bastard's sons and bring them to sir Hailma!"

While sticking their head low near the bushes, the four of them can hear a man shout right on the other side of the bushes beside them. A couple of rattling leaves can be heard as the other mages went inside the forest in search of them.

Norman put his finger to his lips, gesturing to keep silent until the man is gone.

Samael's heart was beating like a war drum as of this moment, the tension from waiting for the man to leave was heightening by the second. Every second the man stands there is another second he needs to suffer, worrying about getting caught.

Looking at Lily who is whimpering, trying to force herself to not make a sound, Samael panics.

"Hmmm...?" the man glanced to the side, hearing the small whimper from Lily's mouth. The four of them can hear the man's steps approaching, it would only need a couple more steps for him to see Samaael and the others lying on the ground.

Fearing that they might get caught, Norman was already prepared to strike if necessary.

In a desperate attempt to silence Lily's whimpers that are getting louder from the sound of the man's footsteps getting closer and closer, Samael was forced to cover her mouth with his hand and presses on it tightly.

But even then, the man's footsteps didn't stop and kept on coming closer.

As the man was about to reach right beside them and find the hiding four, a shout came from behind him which attracted his attention, "Gather at the main entrance! Sir Hailman's orders! It seems the bastard was about to come back"

Upon hearing the call, the man quickly turns around and heads back to the city.

When they heard what the man shouted, the four of them were startled but quickly snapped out of their surprise and got to their feet. Not wasting a single moment, the four raced toward the edge of the forest in an attempt to reach Fedele before he had the chance to return.

Samael's breathing was rigid as he tries to keep up with Norman and Lucius in front of him.

Clutching Lily's wrist with his left hand, he was bound to be the last to reach the main entrance to the city. But his mind was not focused on that, he instead keeps on praying inside his head, 'God always protects... Don't let there be anything bad happen to father, God always protects!'

Even though that is what kept on praying, Samael saw Norman and Lucius stop abruptly.

In response to seeing Norman and Lucius' stiff bodies, Samael unconsciously lets go of Lily's hand as he hastens his pace. Arriving beside the two, standing at the edge of the forest facing the main entrance from the right, Samael's eyes widened completely.

"We're too late..." Norman mutters, blaring his eyes at the scene in front of him.

But even though it hurts so much for Norman to see the scene at the main entrance right now, the pain he was feeling can't even be compared to the tip of the pain that Samael and Lucius are feeling at this current moment.

What lies in front of their eyes were two forces standing against each other.

On the left side were the mages from the city that just finished a devastating battle against the Erovian army, their bloodied and tattered clothes were an indication of the hardships they went through to return to their homes.

At the very front of the mages was Fedele, his dignified look was nowhere to be seen, he was hurt.

Samael and Lucius can see a brutal scar crossing Fedele's chest that is still fresh, crimson liquid drenched the chest area of his white robe. But the pain in his chest was nothing compared to the pain brought by the sight of the burning city that a moment ago is still his beloved home.

But that pain only keep on increasing when he saw the army standing across him.

On the right side, standing in line neatly in front of the main entrance of the city was also an army of mages. Compared to Fedele's forces, this army was still fresh with no sign of fatigue in them. Butchering regular people was not a challenge for them, and the blood staining their clothes was not theirs either.

Leading this army were two men, one has short red hair while the other is a light mage.

The man with short red hair is Hailman, he was the head family of the strongest family in the city. A new citizen of the city, he only has been here for about three years and helped the city by clearing the forest of annoying magical beasts that can disturb the city's farms with the mages under him.

Meanwhile, the light mage is a stranger, and it's not hard to know his origin due to his white outfit.

Gracing the emblem of two angel wings on his shoulder alongside a sun crest on his chest, this light mage definitely comes from the Divine Sanctum of Divinity. An organization for light mages, the organization that raised Fedele from adolescence.

Samael and Lucius witness the power being stripped from their father's face at the sight of a corpse.

"I do not want to do this, Fedele. But you have crossed the line..."

With a tone that is colder than the icicle of the snow, the light mage declared with his sight fixated on Fedele who doesn't respond whatsoever. Finding despair in Fedele's expression, the light mage then smirk before he raises the corpse in his hand by its head.

"For your sin of doubting the Grand Priest, you and your vassals are sentenced to death!"

Gazing at the deceased body being held up by the light mage, Fedele's heart began to thud faster as he tried to deny what he was seeing in front of him. Anguish and gloom started to shroud his thought like part of his soul had been stripped away from him. "No... No... this can't be happening..." he uttered.

"DIANA!!" Fedele shouted with a cracked voice that filled the entire area.

Suddenly the world around Samael stood still as he heard his father's anguished cry of despair. A chill ran through his veins and his heart pounded in fear. 'God always protects...' The First Divine Axiom keeps on ringing endlessly inside his skull until his breaths turned into desperate gasps.

His eyes then trailed reluctantly over to the light mage.

What he witnessed made his mouth open slightly, but no sound left his lips as shock overwhelmed him. The sight of the light mage cradling a lifeless body in his hand was drilled into his mind, no way to be forgotten.

A lifeless body that he recognized almost instantly. "M-Mother...?"