No warning, no sound, no cry of pain. Just the soft, sickening thuds of lifeless bodies hitting the ground. One moment they were alive, the next, they were not.
Master Thadd continued his tale. Taking another puff whenever he stopped briefly. His face looked as if just remembering the memory brought him fear.
We, the backup fighting squad, were trained to handle the unimaginable. But what we saw that day was something we couldn't have prepared for in a hundred lifetimes.
The sky... It changed.
What had been a clear, moonlit night turned blood-red in the span of a heartbeat. A scralet moon—vast, ominous, and utterly unnatural—hung low behind the child, turning the entire field into a hellscape, barren and thick with the scent of war— blood, metal, and death.
And then the mask... That plain, black mask that had unnerved me so deeply began to burn.
Bright red flames consumed it, crackling and roaring as if the fires themselves were alive, it felt extremely hungry for destruction.
But the child did not scream, did not flinch, did not move to remove the burning mask. They simply stood there, staring, those blazing eyes now framed by the very flames that sought to devour them.
It was as though the entire world itself was standing still, the air felt heavier, and oppressive, like the very atmosphere had turned against us.
I remember one of my teammates trying to move, but like everyone else, he too, was just standing still out of fear. Another dropped their weapon, frozen in terror. And me? I could barely think, let alone act. All I could do was watch, powerless, as this being—the child who should have been overwhelmed by our forces—transformed into something beyond comprehension.
The form of the child— it shifted, grew, morphed into something... monstrous. A bird. No, not a bird— a gigantic bird, a bird made out of crimson flames, a creature so massive, so terrifying, it looked like it had come straight from a nightmare.
It was a monster unlike anything I have ever seen, it surely felt like it was turning into its racial form, but not once in all my years of living have I heard or seen such a terrifying beast. The heat it gave off... it made the battlefield, already hellish, feel like the very pits of the underworld.
Victor, I was never a person to believe in anyone being born with talents, I always believed that people who are said to have been born with great talents are the best hard workers, I was also one.
But as I watched the sight, I wondered about what defines talents. Is it the strength? Is it the ability to think? Is it the ability to grow? Then what about monsters, about that monster, how would one define its talents, was it born stronger? Or was it made into a monster?
Thankfully, our group leader, even though scared, tried to keep us as much alive as possible. He screamed for us to get a grip, grabbed me by my collar, and threw me as far away as possible, two more people followed, we three were the youngest of the group.
We three, we always talked about bravery and being courageous warriors who never back down from a fight even if it costs our lives. But when faced with death, we all ran away like cowards, with our tail between our legs.
I learned something there— that death is the ultimate test for a warrior. When faced with it, it defines whether one is a warrior is brave or not. Our seniors were brave, but it did not mean they were fearless, no... I learned that being brave means advancing despite the fear of losing something, important or not— it might be a person, a thing... or it could be your life.
I never knew what had happened, I just knew our team leader turning into a true fairy with his transparent wings and the glowing halo, his racial form was so majestic. But he never came back for me to complement.
A team was dispatched to retrieve the remains of the battle, but they never found our team or the elite assassins that were sent to kill that one child. I still remember someone giving me the birthday present that the team leader packed up for me, it was my birthday the next week— it was a catalyst, a rechargeable one. I remember telling him I was saving money to buy that when I refused to drink.
He had a child, a daughter— I decided to look after her, but fate plays strangely. She suicides out of grief, that child who was barely six.
The picture was etched onto my mind, it was a birthday that nobody wanted to celebrate after everything, even me. The child hung herself in the bathroom, I don't know how she tied the rope and all, but she had even written a suicide note, telling she was going to meet papa.
Master Thadd lowered his head as if about to cry, "The leader protected me with his life, yet I couldn't let his daughter learn more about the world, poor child, she lost her mother at three, and losing the father at six might have caused a lot of disdain in the young mind."
Contrary to Thadd's position, he never shed a single drop of tears. Not that he was not sad, but he had lost the ability to cry a long while back. He gave the cigar another puff, throwing away the finished stick after it.
"She was my niece, and the only one in the younger generation from our family" He continued, not caring whether Victor listened or not, maybe he just needed someone to off his load on1, "Mother lost her mind after everything, and honestly— I felt like I am the most worthless person ever, that I should die... funny actually," He laughed lightly.
"But I decided to live anyway, if my life was worthless, then I should at least live for my brother's sake, the team leader gave me his life to live on after all."
Then he saw that the messenger with the reports on finding Isadora had been here for a long time, he stood up and looked at the girl dead in the eye. "This does not leave this room, if it did— you better say your family gets at least your body for burial."
"Y-Yes sir." The messenger, flustered, nodded as if she understood everything.
Thadd started to laugh, "Haa, I am just playing with you, no need to be so timid. The report, if you will"
"Yes, Master Thadd." The woman bowed before answering, "We cannot find the whereabouts of Subject 01167, it seems obstructed by either distance or a barrier."
"Call her Isadora, it is better to understand." Thadd sent a thoughtful gaze towards Victor, who was both excited but at the same time scared of what has he gotten himself into.
The organization that promised him power was too powerful, just one member was that terrifying. Then what about him? What would happen if he were to tell them that he suddenly do not want power? Would he be killed without mercy. Victor, he had been scared of power many times, but for the first time— he was scared of the unknown.
"Would it be obstructed by another dimension? Master Thadd," Victor tried his best to sound normal, "I mean, if the abductor was the person you mentioned, that means that person could create a dimension related to blood."
"That was no dimension Victor, the whole place was turned desolate" Thadd explained, "But it is a fair assumption considering we don't know much about our enemies."
"Would you be able to defeat that person with how you currently are Master Thadd?" Victor asked, half curious, half scared.
"I am not sure, but If see that person again, I won't back down. But I will start with eliminating anyone assisting before starting the fight to remove any liabilities."
"It is nice to hear you are confident Master." Victor smiled, but he had a hunch that he was missing something. "Why kill the assistant before killing that person, wouldn't striking that person be effective?"
"Because back then, the one who killed the assassin's was not that child, it was another child with the same black mask. But I can tell it is a boy, red hair, golden eyes that seemed to look down on the whole world.
I was scared of that mysterious boy more than the monster, there was no big reason why, it was just because I knew nothing about that boy... an entity that seemed it could kill with words."
Gosh that sounded so wrong.