Soft Scarlet | Part 8

In the middle of their grieving a slow clap was heard as a person entered the room "Won't you look at this? Your tears would be useless if the person is already dead" a smirk was seen on his handsome face "You..! What did Father even do to you?!" Gael was enraged as Layla pulled him back.

The person that appeared was no other than Gunther Cayden, the first son of the beastman tribe. He had the same features as his Father with those cat-like eyes, his hair was spiky and was tied in a high ponytail. The only different thing about him was he had black hair.

Gunther ignored his brother's piercing glares and squinted his eyes at the tribe elders at his side before turning to the others. "I see you invited some guest," he said and looked at Callista who was in front of him.

"Such a fine beauty. You remind me of the moonlight with that eyes of yours" he smirked "Gunther, please stop doing this" Layla pleaded and stepped forward and tried reaching to him but he avoided it.

"Do not touch me" he glared in gritted teeth making her stumble back "You shouldn't talk to your Mother like that, Young Chief!" a tribe elder scolded

"Why are you here, brother? Why are you doing this? Don't you already have what you wanted? Father's dead!" Gael shouted in anger "But you're still alive, aren't you?" he smirked in disdain

"What?" he was taken aback "I have to get rid of you so that I can breathe freely," he said and extended his hand as a big sword appeared. He swung it without moving from where he stood and just like Gael the air moved with his attack as it flew Gael away as he hit the wall that got cracked.

Gunther was about to attack again when Layla stepped in his way "Stop doing this! Stop hurting your brother, Gunther!" she begged as her voice raised with tears streaming down her cheeks.

It hurt her how Trek had left them and both of her sons were now killing each other. It was breaking her heart.

Gunther didn't even feel sympathy as he raised his sword to push Layla away as she fell to the floor with a loud thud. "Anastasia!" Callista shouted when everything was now getting out of hand and Anastasia understood what she meant as she quickly guided the villagers to safety with the accompany of Denovan.

"Ivan, please get Trek out of here" he was so surprised that his eyes widened like saucers "Why me? I'm not lifting a dead body!" he exclaimed so he earned a glare from her "Can't you fucking teleport, idiot?" she said with a raised brow so he huffed

"Fine," he said and walked towards the bed while Callista and Ignis looked at each other. It was like they were communicating with their eyes as they both nodded. She turned back to the bed and was relieved when Ivan and Trek were no longer seen so she turned to Gunther.

"So you're the brother, huh?" Gunther's attention went to her "You look weaker than I thought" she smirked "Such a beautiful face with a nasty tongue" he said and walked towards her having Ignis the chance to run to Layla and carried her out.

"What would a woman like you know? Do not fucking underestimate me" he hissed and raised the sword's blade to press it into her neck's skin.

Callista didn't answer as she studied him "You do not look like you were influenced by something" she muttered before smirking "You were never influenced by anything in the first place, weren't you?" Gunther was enraged with her arrogant face that he was about to slice her neck when it was stopped when she held his wrist.

Their arms trembled as they fought with strength and he was angrier seeing that she wasn't even having a hard time.

'Why is this bitch so strong?' He thought.

He gritted his teeth making her delighted "Not so strong now, huh?" she said and showed a mocking smirk "You bitch!" he shouted so she pushed him with her other hand sent him flying to the other corner of the room as he hit the wall causing a crack.

Just like what he did to Gael. She flipped her hair as it was getting away with her face as she looked down at him. Gunther glared at her from the floor and Callista could see how he took out a gold coin from his back and his thumb caressed it. Before she could even process what it meant golden thorns grew from the ground as it caged her completely with nowhere to break out.

It was funny how Gael did the same thing with the dirt.

'An alchemist, huh?' she thought.

She looked when she felt the ground trembling and her lips parted when she found out that another golden thorn was about to grow out from the ground under her that would lead to her death. She scoffed. What a cunning bastard.

Gunther smirked in victory as the golden thorns shook showing him that the golden thorn from inside had grown.

"I told you you shouldn't underestimate me" he muttered to himself but his eyes widened when he felt a presence behind him and when he was about turn around, a kick sent him flying to the other side and through the wall as he landed on the ground.

He was furious again as Callista stepped out from the hole on the wall and started calmly walking towards him. She tilted her head when Gunther tried getting up but she had already stepped on his shoulder stopping him from standing up.

She dug her heel into his shoulder to stop him from squirming as he winced in pain. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she looked down at him before she leaned down "You.." her face showed confusion.

"You weren't the one who poisoned him, weren't you?" he suddenly stiffened, his eyes widening, and his pupil trembling. Seeing his reaction she straightened her back and looked around to see that the village was completely silent.

Before a moment of thinking, she stepped away having Gunther the chance to slowly stand up as he clutched his shoulder. "Gunther, should I tell you a story?" she asked and her doe eyes stared at him "What?" Gunther was confused, baffled actually, weren't they in a fight? He couldn't understand what was going on in her mind as he studied her.

"A girl was born in a big family. That family had a curse passed down by their ancestors, and wanting to find a cure for the curse that little girl started to learn dark magic to save her sister. Thus, she became stronger, stronger than her family causing them to envy her. They bullied her and began distancing her from the family. The little girl was alright with that, she believed that once she found a cure everything would be alright. She was wrong. When her parents found out that she was learning black magic they kicked her out of the family without hearing her explanation. The sister she wanted to save didn't even save her. She felt lonely. On her journey, she met a bird who flew her to the sky. She also met a tiger that protected her from evil and a blacksmith that taught her things. She met a panther who had brought her warmth but had to leave her in the end. By the end of the day, she was still alone" she took a deep breathe.

"So, Gunther.." she called as she looked up at the clouds "Did you feel lonely?" Gunther flinched at her question as she blankly stared at him "Gael was lonely and even Trek was lonely" she said.

"How did you know that?" she looked at him "Hm?" she hummed "How did you know they were lonely?" he asked with furrowed brows, "They told me so" she replied and walked towards him before sitting down a centimeter away from him.

"Gael had lost a brother he looked up at. Just imagine being hated for no reason" she smiled as he avoided her eyes "As for Trek, he had told me that one of his sons, Gunther, wanted to learn alchemy and thus begged me to help him find an alchemist. Just imagine how hard it was to look for a race that had long been gone" she said.

"I had a reason!" he suddenly shouted, "Everyone says I was being unreasonable but I always had a reason.." his pupils quivered as he glared at her "That's right" she agreed in a soft voice before she stood up.

"We have different ways to protect the people we love. Sometimes that we even end up hurting them" she sighed making him bitterly chuckle "I'm not protecting anyone" he said.

"Then why are you doing this?" she asked "Because I hate how they looked down on me! That Gael! He thinks he's superior to me! Father and Mother, they always think I'm fighting with them without a reason! I'm just taking my revenge so if you're just going to stand there lecturing me then get the fuck away!" he shouted in fury making her smile that made him baffled.

"Don't worry" she said and looked back at the hole in the wall "He'll be wanting revenge too" she said and he was confused and was about to ask when Gael stepped out from the hole with his yellow eyes glaring at him. He stiffened as his pupils quivered once again realizing what happened.

Gael awakened.

Seeing that his brother was walking towards him with obvious killing intent he glanced at Callista who only smirked down at him as if mocking him for his stupidity making him grit his teeth.

'Damn this woman!' He cursed.