"I'll handle it."
Ever since she heard those words, they've been echoing in her head from the point she heard them till now, when she had returned home and lay on her bed.
Each time her mind replayed the scene, something stirred in her chest, something she couldn't understand. So instead of trying to understand it, she decided to do something so she would not think about it any longer.
She threw the sheets off herself and walked over to the desk next to her bed and took a seat. Picking up a pencil and a specific book marked
She was about to do something she had been doing for as long as she could remember. She was about to draw.
From the moment she had been able to think, Roanna had been a creative soul, and the only way of expressing this creativity that Roanna had been drawn to was drawing. Not only has drawing been a way of self-expression for her, but it has also been a way to distract herself and calm herself.
Now, she was going to use it as a way to distract herself from the strange from the strange feeling and to keep herself from worrying about emmet.
Opening the sketchbook, a plethora of drawings and doodles were revealed. As these were her drawings, and she had seen them many times, she simply flicked past them, skipping dozens of pages, until she found a free page,
Placing the first mark on the paper, Roanna completely focused, and her mind was fully immersed in the art of making each line on the page.
***
— A Few Hours Later
Knock. Knock.
Hearing the knocking on her door, Roanna put down her pencil before answering:
"Yes?"
Following her answer, the door was pushed open slightly.
"Your brother is here. He said there is something he wants to say to us."
Roanna jumped from her seat and rushed to the door, almost tripping in the process. She pulled the door all the way open to reveal her father standing there. Taking his hand, she pulled him to the living room, where she assumed her brother would be.
As they entered the living room, Roanna caught sight of a young man with honey-like eyes and shoulder-length brown hair hanging loose. He wore red, mage-like robes with blue accents and the crest of a phoenix on his right shoulder. His face resembled that of a model's. Along with his mystical presence, it made him quite a beautiful man,
This was Andre Yuan, Roanna's older brother, and the only known mage to come from Lios village.
Seeing her brother, Roanna let go of her father and ran towards her brother, jumping into him.
"Andre!"
Andre reacted immediately and caught her in his arms.
"Roanna!"
He rubbed her face against hers and kissed her on the cheek.
"How is my beautiful baby sister!"
Roanna giggled.
Andre turned to their parents and turned serious.
"Now that everyone is here, there is something I want you all to know."
He paused before continuing.
"I earned a spot as an imperial mage and will receive the baron title along with a small territory west of the capital. To keep it short, I want you all to come with me."
***
Thwak! Clack!
Noel swung his with the ferocity of a tiger cub. His technique was amateurish but still obviously practiced.
A blazing ember lit in his eyes as he imagined himself as his father on the battlefield. Fire licked his blade as he cut through his enemies. The force of his swings was like hurricanes on the battlefield, shaking the earth as well as the morale of his adversaries.
Each one of his swings released spouts of fire that served as beacons for allies, but devastating elementals to the enemy.
It was through fire and brimstone, practiced technique, and bestial ferocity that resembled a raging lion, which won him the nickname 'The Blazing Lion of the Infernos army' and earned victory in the territory battle in the western plains.
As the embers faded from Noel's eyes, he glanced around, remembering that he was alone.
"Ah, right…"
At this time of year, his father would leave on a journey with Aries's family.
Despite his absence, Noel still thought of his father. Everyone always told him that the stories he heard of his father were exaggerations of reality and that the stories were made up to boost his reputation.
At one point, he even started to doubt his father, but during practice, his father showed him something that dispelled all of his doubts.
His father took out one of the training swords and made fire cover it— from nothing! What's more, the wood didn't even burn! How does that even work!?
Anyway, from that point on, Noel never doubted his father again, and his admiration for his father shot through the roof. He was told by him that it was something that he had picked up while in the imperial knights, and from that moment on, Noel knew that he would become a knight, to follow in the footsteps of his father.
Looking at the wooden sword in his hands, he wanted nothing more than to run to the capital to become a knight immediately, but he knew that he was nothing compared to his father. Until he could replicate even a fraction of his father's abilities, he would continue training.
He was done with training for today, though, so he turned around to go back inside. Instead of his food landing on the step to step up onto the porch, a blur flashed in his vision, and in the next moment, he was sailing through the air.
The last thing he heard was the sound of a rat squeaking.
***
Thud.
Before she had any time to react, her body hit the floor with a thud, a stinging red mark on the side of her cheek.
Rubbing her cheek, Nina stayed calm and decided not to move; she would be safer that way. This was something that happened often; whenever her mother came home frustrated or something went wrong, she took her anger out on her.
She was lucky today, as she only got a few hits before something else in the house took the brunt of her anger.
While she tried tuning her out, Nina still caught some words that her mother said. At one point, she heard words like 'rats' and 'mission', which left her stunned and confused.
'What the hell is she talking about?'
That was what she thought in the moment, but then her mother's neck twisted around to an uncomfortable degree, her eyes locked onto Nina, her eyes resembled a predator hunting its prey.
Nina's breath hitched, her mind went blank, as if her thoughts were erased with an eraser.
Her mother spun the rest of her body around and stomped towards Nina.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Stopping just before her, her mother looked down at her with manic, deranged eyes. Her hand reached down, casting a shadow on her. Getting a bad feeling about what was about to happen, Nina dashed between her mother's legs and made a run for it.
BANG!
Without a moment's notice, a hand reached out and clasped onto Nina's hair and slammed her into the ground. Grasping her hair tightly, Nina's mother dragged her up and pressed her face against hers.
"You think you can get away from me? An unawakened girl like you?"
She spat with disgust. She seemed offended by the very act of Nina trying to escape.
"Aaah!"
Nina screamed and clawed at her mother as she was dragged away.
"It's time you became useful to me for once."
She pulled Nina through the house, heading for the back door, where she quickly exited before walking through the forest for a few minutes. By the time they reached their destination, Nina had passed out, but her mother didn't care.
She stared at the small bloody tree, which had flesh for wood and countless normal-looking and abnormal rats guarding it. The tree had several sacks of flesh, each with the silhouette of children in the fetal position in them.
After a few seconds of silence, she called out. A few moments passed before a gray rat with a symbol carved into its back, which was as tall as her, walked forward. She tossed the unconscious Nina to the rat, who responded by catching the girl and turning to the grotesque tree.
As the rat walked toward the tree, a new sack opened up, and the rat placed the girl's body into it and allowed it to close.
Proceeding this, the rat seemed to mutate further and grow even larger.
Seeing this, Nina's mother smiled.
"Perfect…"
Then her smile turned ecstatic, euphoric even.
"It's finally time!"
She turned around and shouted for all the rats to hear.
"It's time! Erase this wretched and blasphemous place off the map!"
Then she let out a manic howl. As she did, all the rats shrieked in response.