Burning Soul

“It began getting dark and the atmosphere around me was dark, gloomy, dusky and silent. I had already spent almost an entire day avoiding and fighting them, I was taking a lot of different routes just to get away "from those things", but wherever I went I couldn't escape it, but after I decided to take them out. I couldn't stop thinking about the kids. I kept looking around and making sure nothing was there. Every time I heard sounds of padded feet hit the mushed, damp grass my heartbeat increased, the challenge was to do it quick enough and without attracting any unnecessary attention!

I took a bit more spells and mana to round them back in open space, I really did regret making them run through the woods and what not!

I could have dealt with them earlier when they were already there!

I kept on running along the woods and tombstones. I boosted my speed and glanced behind to see that if anyone was following me. I kept on thinking about the kids, the villagers, the present situation and all. After a span, I initiated a spot where I could conceal myself for some time in which I could prepare spells.

But it wasn’t time to keep thinking. After a while, I managed to cast a one-shot spell using Potions!”

“Aren’t they quite rare?” Theo had a confused look, he looked at Merida and then while rubbing his forehead glanced towards the ground.

In this world, only wizards were capable of making potions. A potion is a liquid that contains medicine, poison or something that is supposed to have magic power, and that took a lot of time and resources. Some popular ingredients used in the potion were Spanish fly, the nightshade plant, Cannabis and opium which were very difficult to get and making one or getting hands on one of them was a big deal.

“Yeah!

But only that way I could replenish the mana essence in time!

Using a big bad spell takes a lot of essences!

Reluctantly I cast the explosion spell and wiped them off in one go!

In an explosion spell, there is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extremely vigorous outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high-pressure gases. Although I managed to save their physical form, I mean bodies! Because the main direct, primary effect to humans from explosion spells is the sudden increase in pressure that occurs as the blast wave passes. Which can cause injury to pressure-sensitive human organs, such as ears and lungs.

A big explosion is all it took to subdue everyone! But I couldn’t explain anything!” She tried remembering and nodded her head in a confusing manner.

“What exactly you couldn’t explain!” Aeneas stroked his hairs and asked with a concerned look!

“Yeah! One of them wasn’t a real guy!” She rubbed her forehead,

“real?” He narrowed his eyes and enchanted the eyebrows in an upward direction then nudged his face which had a confusing look,

“Yeah! I mean when I cast the spell on the entire area, there was only one guy who escaped the spell. For an ordinary person, it is not easy to escape from the spell. As the spell I used was very powerful, one couldn't help if trapped.

He was tall and slender, felt that he was wearing a long black coat, he had folded his hands around his waist and stood at a distance and looked at me saying, ‘My task is done!’ after saying this he disappeared in the dust as he turned into dust!

As it was dark I couldn't see his face properly, just a few expressions that seemed vicious.

Strange! I’ve never heard of any magic or spell that is able to do something like this!

Also, I don’t think it had anything to do with the massacre that took place afterwards!”

“Why do you think so?” Yvaine asked being curious,

“That guy only wanted to test the mechanisms of demonization! It was as if he was observing how they acted! I didn’t trace his presence the whole time, as if he wasn’t even there!

And yet at the last moment, he appeared out of nowhere! Isn’t it too strange! Like what was his plan or what he was doing, nothing could be traced!

Anyways! That doesn’t change the fact that if I ever find that guy, or you find him! Make sure you drag him to me; he deserves the most horrifying death! Something even the reapers in the hell would feel terrified of!” her anger was overflowing!

“Earlier you said you found a kid whose life force was sucked dry! If the guy you mentioned could demonize people, that means it’d have taken quite a lot of life force to perform forbidden magic.

If I’m not wrong, the life force of a mere child and only one at that wouldn’t be sufficient! As you haven’t mentioned anything about other kids yet, I fear the worst!” Aeneas looked at her with narrowed eyes!

“No way!” Theo looked at her with wet eyes, both he and Vivian were about to break into tears. Looking at both of them even Merida couldn’t hold back for any longer!

“This isn’t even the worst thing yet!

He killed them all!

Every single kid that I met just a night ago.

He killed them all!

He sucked their life force and left them to die!

Alone in that forest, at the hands of monsters!

Sucking out life force weakened them but didn’t kill them all, it was the monsters that followed afterwards.

What did they even do? I couldn’t even retrieve two of them, I never found them!” She got on her knees as she broke into tears!

Even Theo had never seen her like that!

“I bet that isn’t the massacre you are talking about, am I right?” Aeneas asked calmly!

Yvaine touched Merida’s shoulder trying to soothe her pain and she sat beside her and took Merida in her arms, she was sobbing.

“Yeah!

I hate how accurate you are!” She replied,

“The villagers!” Aeneas understood right away!

“All this time I was carrying Carena without letting her know about her friends, with what face could I?

I decided to let the elders handle this situation and began returning. Also, I was pretty sure about the safety of villagers as none of the traps went off!

If any had been, I’d have known!

Only if I had paid more attention, the threat wasn’t from monsters anymore!

I rushed back with Carena and the Bodies of Kids in the Storage! As for the men I fought earlier, I couldn’t take them home that way, so I froze them to save them from getting worse! It looked like they were dead for hours by the time they fought me!

But strangely even the air near the village was heavy! Even though it was just a small settlement, there were quite a lot of people!

But strangely I could feel no one around! Every house looked empty! There were no bonfires lit outside the shacks. I hid Carena in a shack nearby and set up a protection charm for her if anything happened, I wanted her to be safe!

Ensuring she was safe and sound, I proceeded to the only source of light that I could see from where I hid her!

I thought that all people were arranging for a feast as we already had brought the meat and maybe they were preparing it all to welcome the kids, but the heaviness in the air and something about the whole area told me to be on guard!

I tried looking up on elemental tracking, but I could feel none but one individual! And its presence was a whole lot different than anyone I met!

It was a guy who was strong enough to take out a hoard of monsters and yet I never saw him there!

After approaching the main square from where I felt his presence, I…” She took a pause and covered her mouth.

“I was late!

Again!” She was in tears yet again.