I Will Remember

Upon the death of the Fire Primordial, the forest returned to its silence once again.

Danger should've ceased to exist now but that was not the case.

Ravenna, Mirel, and Bakar bear witness to the unbelievable show orchestrated suddenly by the newest member of their family. Lucivar stood meters away from them—his body, facing away but his eyes were fixed on them.

His green wing stretched to the side, intense with a massive amount of ether.

Each one of them stared ahead silently, fearing to breathe under Lucivar's murderous gaze.

If a pin drops here, it will be heard instantly due to the choking silence.

Confusion mixed with fear coursed through them as they didn't know what to do.

"Lucivar... It's over, he's already dead" Mirel was the first one to speak.

He knew Lucivar was only being like this because of his anguish.

At the sound of Mirel's voice—beckoning him to snap out of his trance, Lucivar's murderous eyes, an unnatural pair of green jewels shifted and locked intensely onto him. Just the gaze he gave alone made Mire's heart pound in his chest uncontrollably.

Mirel could see no trace of the Lucivar he knew within those green depths.

Only a burning desire for malice and blood.

"Don't say another word," Ravenna whispered from the side—pulling Bakar towards her and gesturing Mirel to come close to her. "He's unstable. Since the Fire Primordial is dead—let's go back and get Lucivar later when he calmed down"

Upon hearing this, both Mirel and Bakar nodded in understanding.

Agreeing on what to do, all three of them began to move back as slowly as they could.

It was clear to their senses that Lucivar would attack them if they made a sudden movement.

Keeping her eyes locked onto Lucivar, Ravenna was ready to react in case he attacked.

However, they were making good progress in getting away from Lucivar slowly—that is until she heard a light grunt, coming from her side. Bakar was hurt from the attack he suffered to his stomach earlier, and thus a grunt escaped his mouth when he stumbled.

Only then did Lucivar pivot around, his fierce eyes locked onto Bakar.

Ravenna instantly rushed towards Bakar when she saw this.

A couple of steps was all she needed to reach Bakar, but when she glanced to check Lucivar, her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Lucivar's hand was already inches away from her face—ready to hurt her.

Caught off guard, Ravenna and the others couldn't react in time.

Just as Ravenna was preparing herself for the pain, Lucivar's hand never reached her.

Someone stopped him, grabbing him by the wrist.

Glancing at the figure to the side, relief washed over Ravenna, "D- Darwin!"

Not even minding her—the muscles inside Darwin's arm bulged, as he gripped Lucivar's wrist firmly. Lucivar tried to retaliate, but he was even faster. He pulled on Lucivar's arm, and made a seamless trip to one leg.

Before Lucivar knew it he was already pinned on the ground, his arm was locked on his back.

Regardless of how much he struggled, he couldn't overpower Darwin from his position.

His line of path was facing straight towards Delilah's body—and that made him more frenzied to the point that Darwin, had no other choice but to knock him out. Channeling his ether onto his hand, he karate-chopped Lucivar's nape.

Everything was rapidly becoming dark from Lucivar's vision.

But even then, his eyes were fixed on Delilah as he kept on struggling until the very end.

A single tear drizzled down his eye before he eventually passed out.

Darwin released Lucivar—watching as the green wing retracted painfully into Lucivar's back, leaving nothing but a tearing wound. Only then did Darwin turn to Delilah's lifeless body, and inhaled sharply, "What happened...?"

Moments later.

"How in the world did this happen, Darwin?" Mirel asked, messing his hair in frustration.

Darwin has achieved the rank of Acolyte—and his senses were extremely acute thanks to his bloodline as an Albino Werewolf, so naturally he should've sensed this coming. But instead of that, they were ambushed, resulting in Delilah being killed.

On the side, the others were grieving with Nerissa crying profusely in Ravenna's embrace.

Upon hearing this, Darwin clicked his tongue, "I don't know, I don't know how this happened"

"I remembered meditating in my carriage but when I woke up, the carriages were destroyed and were burning in flames with Bob—and Tobias knocked out beside me. It does not make sense, but that's what happened" He added, clenching his jaw tightly.

Mirel became angrier when he heard this, "How in the fuck did all of you got knocked out?!"

"I was blasted by the explosion but I'm fine! There's no way you're not fine!" He barked.

From his point of view, Darwin's explanation didn't make sense at all.

Darwin, Bob—and Tobias were stronger than him so it doesn't make sense for them to easily be knocked out like a bunch of weaklings like that. Bakar then turned to face Ravenna, "You, you're in the same carriage as Darwin and Bob but you managed to reach us. What's up with that?"

"I was disoriented from the blast but I didn't pass out like the others," Ravenna replied.

Bakar's eyes flickered, "Then you must know what happened to them!"

"Of course—I tried to check the situation after I recovered," Ravenna gritted her teeth before she answered. "I saw both Darwin and Bob already passed out on the ground with Tobias on their side—but he also passed out soon after. I brought all three of you away from the flames before I went to search for the others and met with Delilah"

"So are you saying Tobias did this?"

"Of course not, when did I say that? Why would he even do that for, Delilah died!"

"Then make it make sense! All of this doesn't make fucking sense!"

"I don't know, why are you blaming it on me? Maybe you drugged us to get rid of Lucivar, he outshined you so you probably did this to kill him but the Fire Primordial came, and attacked us first"

"Really? We're going that way now?"

"STOP!

Frustrated at the others who were arguing fiercely, Nerissa intervened, stopping them.

She then glared at each one of them in utter disbelief.

"Is this really the time to be arguing?" She asked—tears, flowing down her eyes. "Regardless of what happened, it already happened. I get it, we are all grieving but shouldn't we focus on the present? Tobias was burying Delilah, we should be helping him. Not to mention Lucivar— he was already awake but hadn't said a single word"

Under Nerissa's scolding, the others were silenced.

Naturally, their emotions began to come out as Delilah was like a mother to them.

Just like Delilah to Lucivar, she has always been there for them.

On the other hand, a distance away from the others was Lucivar, sitting on the ground.

Currently, he was already back on the road where the carriages were ambushed.

It seemed like the others brought Lucivar back here when he was unconscious.

He was looking at his palms that were still stained by Delilah's blood in silence, the pain in his heart was unbearable but there was no emotion on his face. His tears already dried up, and it leaves only a cold expression on his face.

"Easy there, dear, your body is still recovering..."

"I'm proud of you"

"Are you suffering from success already?"

In his silence, Delilah's soothing voice rang inside his head, amplifying the pain in his heart.

His time with her was brief but it was impactful.

Other than Delilah showing him what it felt like to be loved, she also made him remember the past. She was exactly like him in the past, trying to be helpful to those around. But in the end—she also ended up on the same road as him.

Due to trying to be good, she was sacrificed, and now she was no longer here, dead.

Good is not rewarded in this world, and Lucivar truly believes it now.

Maybe he was punished because sometimes, inside his head, he wanted to lash out his pent up emotions to his family but Delilah was pure. She has no such tendency and even then she was still punished.

As he thought of that, Lucivar's eyes were pulled to something to his right.

Something buried underneath what was left of the carriages.

Grunting lightly as his wounds were still not healed, he stood up and went over to it.

Pushing aside the wooden fragments, he squatted down and took a phone.

Its screen was cracked, and no matter how many times Lucivar tapped on the screen—it was not responding. Flipping the phone, he saw a rose sticker on the back. It was Delilah's phone, and as he saw the sticker, her voice rang again in his mind.

"I will always be there for you. Let it all out, I'll listen to all your troubles"

Lucivar gripped the phone tightly and rose to his feet again.

Just then, he heard footsteps coming from the side—it was Tobias.

He came back from burying Delilah's body.

Even though it was night, and everything was dark, the moonlight showed that Tobias' eyes were sunken, his clothes disheveled, and his steps unsteady as he walked absent-mindedly down the road.

It was clear that he was a wreck right now, haunted by Delilah's recent death.

Lucivar was not awake when Tobias first saw Delilah's lifeless body, but he was sure that it had been extremely tough for Tobias. His appearance alone shows that he had been crying but was trying to be strong.

As Tobias neared him, Lucivar looked down, "I'm sorry... I should've protected her"

Upon hearing this, Tobias paused his steps and shook his head weakly.

"No," Lucivar suddenly felt Tobias placing a hand, on his shoulder—prompting him to raise his gaze. "I should've protected her, but I didn't," Tobias continued with sadness in his voice. "Do not make her death burden you. It's good that you're alive. I know my wife well... she wouldn't be able to live with herself if any of you died trying to save her"

"Let only me carry the burden for her death," He shook Lucivar's body lightly as he said that.

Giving a faint smile, Tobias continued ahead, "Come, we need to keep moving,"

"Tobias," Lucivar suddenly called, stopping him in his tracks.

Tobias looked over his shoulder and saw Lucivar holding a phone in his hand, "It's Delilah's, I assume you want it as a memento to remind her. Here, take it. It's broken from the crash but you should hold onto it"

Listening to this, Tobias smiled again, "Keep it, I think you're the one who should hold onto it"

Giving no further explanation, Tobias walked away.

On the other hand, Lucivar looked at the phone for a good couple of seconds before he put it in his pocket, and cast one last glance to the side—in the direction where Tobias, supposedly buried Delilah, "I'll make sure your death is not in vain—Delilah. I will remember what I learned here,"

As Lucivar uttered that, his eyes widened slightly.

In the distance, there was a faint trail of white energy there connecting to him.

But he quickly shook his head, knowing that he must be seeing things, and followed Tobias.