Burn (Part-8)

***Ren Kaizel***

I couldn't help but smile looking at Liam. A few minutes ago he was raging around killing everything in sight, like throwing a tantrum.

But now seeing the girl all healed up, he looked up at me with a beaming face and the brightest smile ever. "Let's take her home. Let's reunite her with her family."

His mood changed so quickly, haha. He was like a child. That ain't a bad thing, Sylvie was always in that mode of childlike passion and earnesty, much like Liam right now. It's refreshing, I like it.

Though step by step on our way back, we started to realise. This happiness will be short lived.

***Liam Everhart***

What did I ever think adventuring was gonna be like?

We had just successfully rescued the girl Momo from a brutal fate at hands of the goblins. But we couldn't save her brother, Gyuwen.

On our way back, we returned to the spot where... where Gyuwen's body remained. Once again I felt a sudden pang in my heart seeing the horrible sight of what was in front of us. But the burst of rage was suppressed by the immense feeling of care and responsibility I felt for the girl we just saved.

We waited as Ren and Luca gave a proper burial to Gyuwen in the middle of the clearing. We decided it would be disrespectful to carry Gyuwen's mutilated body with us like a bunch of broken tool parts (Luca's exact words).

I offered to help them with the burial, but they said it would be better that I continue to look after the girl and protect her. Which probably was a good decision as I really was on the edge of raging out, and the only thing holding me back was the girl in my arms.

Once again we continued on our journey back to the village. I was carefully holding on to the girl in a way that will not only be comfortable for her, but also allow me to reach for my sword if needed. I could always just call it to my hand, but my mana was currently being spent elsewhere. I had my spatial detection turned on the entire time  even though Elaina herself had her own longer ranged tracking magic active.

I was also covering Momo in some of my light magic as I heard from Macy that the feeling of coming in contact with light magic has some soothing gentleness to it.

While people are restricted by their type and quality of magic, magic itself has the potential of being what you make of it.

But that statement is far, far more true for Light magic. It is literally what you make of it. Light magic has unlimited potential, only restricted by your mind and what kind of person you are.

Like healing. My father can seemingly only heal others, while I can only heal myself. But that's just because according to my father, he never felt the need to heal himself, so he never developed his magic like that. He doesn't even remember if he ever needed healing.

I know I can't heal anyone. But if light magic can really be what I want it to be. Right now, I want it to comfort this girl. I want it to embrace her, to let her the feel the light of being saved from the darkness.

Saved...

Did I really save her, or did she save me? The fate of the brother really hurt me, it still haunts me as I walk away from it. The rage I felt, it was terrible, but I wanted more. I ran my blade through the monsters, but nothing brought me any closer to peace. I wanted to kill, slaughter and then even more. Yet none of it mattered to me.

Until I met this girl. Struggling, surving, holding on to her life with all she had. It calmed me down. It made me forget all about my bloodlust. Instilled a wish to protect, a wish so deep that I would do anything to get her back to her family safe.

I rescued her, but she saved me.

"Hold up, something's wrong."

Elaina stopped in her tracks. She looked around, then upwards towards the sky.

"Smoke." Luca said.

Ren turned to him. "Luca, can you–?"

Before Ren even completed, Luca quickly ascended a nearby tree. A few seconds later he dropped down gracefully back on his feet.

"A dark cloud of smoke is heading towards us. It's so huge it's literally blocking the view up ahead."

Sylvie tugged on Ren's shirt. "Ren... I don't like this."

Ren looked at her, then turned to us. "We should hurry."

We started rushing as quickly as we could, weaving through the trees and bushes.

"What's going on?!" I asked Elaina.

"I don't know! This entire time the wind was blowing away from us. It just changed directions and we started noticing the smoke." She replied with a frown.

In a few minutes we broke out of the forest, only to be met with smoke right in our faces. I quickly turned my back to the smoke cloud and covered Momo's nose and mouth with the cape wrapped around her. I can't let her get exposed to anything harmful in her fragile state.

While we were all coughing, Elaina shot an arrow into the ground which blew away the smoke from our immediate surroundings with a gust of wind.

But there was too much smoke all around which again started to come onto us. Visibility was still non-existent with all the smoke around us.

"Whatever's burning, it definitely ain't small." Luca heaved as he took in a momentary breath of fresh air.

Elaina thrust her hand forward and the air started spinning in front of us, clearing away the smoke ahead.

"I can't keep the smoke away for long. We need to keep moving."

We followed behind her, keeping up our pace. Soon, we started to realise what was going on.

"The village!" Sylvie cried out.

No... this can't be happening...

We still couldn't make out much, but one thing was now apparent. The source of all this smoke.

We could start to see the orange glow lighting up the night in front of us through the smoke.

The closer we got, the brighter it got. Even the heat was starting to get to us.

The village was on fire.

With one last push Elaina blew away the smoke around us for good.

Standing at the edge of the village we could only watch in horror.

Everything was burning. Houses on fire, rooftops had caved in, stables had completely burned down, charred remains of the animals buried underneath.

But that wasn't all, doors had been broken in, broken pitchforks and shovels were scattered on the ground. Blood stains and signs of struggle were everywhere.

But the one that stood out most... a pile of corpses burning right in the middle of the village.

I was stunned. Speechless. I couldn't believe it, but I knew everything I saw was real.

"Gyu... wen..."

A soft, weak voice spoke again."Gyuwen..."

I dropped to my knees slowly and held her in a more comfortable position. I felt her wrist and her chest, breathing was normal, heartbeat... normal. She even opened her eyes and slowly looked at me.

Thank goodness. Momo... she was awake. She was back. She was alright.

I tried to hold back, but I couldn't stop the tear of happiness dripping down my face. I still couldn't contemplate the reality of what happened to the village, but at least this girl...

We saved her. If nothing else... if only this girl is all we can save...

I wiped my tears and looked back at her properly. "You are safe. We –"

"Gyuwen... He..."

Her face was turned to me but her eyes were unfocused. "Gyuwen... they hurt him. He... he tried to protect me."

She slowly looked to the sky as if searching for something. Her breathing turned shallow.

She then turned to me with a thankful gentle smile. "Tell him... tell him not to worry... tell him... sister is fine."

With that she let out a final breath and closed her eyes, slowly resting her head on my arm.

Sylvie was the first to realise what happened. Her eyes widened as she turned back and rushed towards us, desperately trying to heal her.

But there was nothing to heal. There was nothing to save.

Momo was no more.