'The smell of burning wood, the shouts of people around me. What has happened in the few hours I was out hunting?'

Orion stopped in his tracks and looked at the orphanage burning in flames.

Around him, the villagers were running around with buckets of water in their hands, desperately trying to extinguish the fire.

"What happened?"

Orion approached Director Keith, who was busy directing everyone.

"Someone lost control of their magic inside the orphanage."

While activating his Calm Analysis ability, Orion carefully observed the situation.

"She's missing! Damn it, where is she?!"

"..."

Keith turned his face away in an attempt to hide the emotions of fear on his face.

"She's inside, isn't she? Sir, tell me!"

All he received as an answer was a small nod. The man looked at the burning building, before looking at the young man.

Realizing that Amelia was missing, he had to rush inside, and fast.

'What do I do? Do I go blindly?'

'No. Water first.'

Hurriedly, he approached a beastman carrying a bucket and asked to be doused in water.

They immediately agreed, and Orion, now sufficiently drenched to resist the fire, began to sprint into the burning orphanage, with only one thought in his mind.

"Be safe, Amelia. I'm coming!"

With a loud bang, Orion opened the doors of the orphanage, before being engulfed by the raging flames.

...

'What happened?'

Amelia was having difficulty breathing, she felt a burning sensation on her skin, but also different kinds of sensation all around.

She was unable to see, her vision blurred for a reason she did not understood. All she could see was a red glow between her bangs.

'What was I doing? I remember waiting for Orion to come back.'

Her mouth did not move. No words managed to leave her mouth, yet she was sure she was speaking.

'The ringing isn't stopping.'

A deafening, strident noise buzzed in her ears, making it very difficult for her to do anything. It was loud, it made it difficult to focus on her inner voice.

'I have to... move?'

Even though she did her best, her body refused to move. She remained sitting motionless on the floor.

'I can't see, I can't hear, I can't feel anything. What is happening to me?'

"Amelia! Where are you!?"

Someone screamed her name, yet she couldn't hear it. No one answered the voice.

Orion entered the building, now at the main entrance, where the benches and the reception desk were.

"The fire, it's everywh-"

Something rapidly flew toward him, stopping him before he could finish his sentence. He moved his waist sideways and dodged the projectile.

'What was that? A stone?'

Looking at the projectile that looked like a sharp stone, he confirmed his thought. A sharp, elongated stone was stuck inside the door behind him.

When he looked back in front of him, he understood the situation he was currently in.

'This might be bad...'

With a dry smile, he stood strong in front of many other sharp stones, ready to strike him down at any moment.

Activating the 'Calm Mind' ability, Orion increased his processing speed, giving himself more time to think.

'There are four places Amelia could be now.'

'First, the kitchen on the left. Second, the women's bathroom on the right. Third, her room on the second floor. And fourth, my room on the same floor.'

'She's not in the kitchen nor in the women's bathroom. She did not answer me when I called her name, meaning she might be upstairs.'

His gaze moved past the stones and settled on the stairs leading to the upper floor.

'My room, or her room. I have one chance. If I take too long, the building might collapse, with me and Amelia inside.'

He had to focus more than usual. His gaze returned to the stones as he readied himself to move. Time was against him.

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The faster he found Amelia, the quicker he would be out of the building.

'There are a few more stones on the right side. It should be the direction of Amelia's room. I'll bet everything on that.'

His instinct kicked in. He released his ability, and readied himself to dodge the stones.

The first stone flew in his direction without any warning. He slid forward on the floor, stopped, and watched the second rock lodge itself in front of him. If he hadn't stopped, the stone would have pierced his left leg.

He ran backward and stepped on the wall, pushing himself away from it. As he moved, the next three stones crashed on the floor, before a fourth one came exploding on the wall Orion jumped away from.

Dropping on the ground, he glared at the remaining projectiles.

'Only three remaining, I should be able to move forward. I have to!'

But something strange happened that broke Orion's focus as he was attempting to run past the stones.

'Water? Is it coming from Amelia's room?'

An absurd amount of water flowed from the stairs leading to the upper floor. It began to flood everything rapidly.

Distracted, Orion reacted too late to the stone coming his way.

He managed to avoid a big injury by throwing his back at the wall, but the stone still managed to cut on his right thigh. He thanked the protective gear he was wearing, as it could have been way worse without it.

'This is getting troublesome. Amelia, what is happening?'

He ignored his bleeding and hurting leg, focusing once again on his objective.

Avoiding the two remaining rocks wasn't a problem. The water was actually more of a concern for him.

'If I dodge the stones, jump on the front desk, and catch the railing upstairs, I might pull it off.'

Another idea formed in his mind. There was no time to be picky about the method.

He pushed forward, awaiting the incoming attacks. The second to last stone flew toward in at an angle, forcing Orion to step on the wall and perform a flip over it. He dropped in the water, and waited for the last stone to fly toward him.

The moment the stone was shot, he rolled left into the water, creating a big splash. He stood up quickly, looked cautiously around him, and nodded as no more stones remained.

He ran to the front desk, jumped on it, and jumped again on the wall behind it to catch the railing.

The moment he caught the railing, a large explosion surprised him.

*BOOM*

The door leading to Amelia's room exploded, launched toward him. Before it could reach him, a white arrow made of electricity pierced the door, breaking it in wooden shards that threatened to impale him.

'What the-'

Orion had no other choice but to let go of the railing. He had to avoid water at all cost now, to avoid electrocution.

The arrow crashed on the other side of the upper floor, breaking apart from the wall in the aftermath.

The place became a mess. Flames ravaged the wooden walls and floors, water flooded the upper and lower floors, sharp stones were embedded into the floor and the walls, and now, Orion was at risk of being electrified.

What more could happen? The only disaster remaining would be strong winds.

Luckily for Orion, no such thing happened.

The arrow broke the railing Orion grabbed earlier, destroying his easiest path to Amelia.

'This is ridiculous. Is Amelia doing all this? Why?'

'This is the only explanation, since everything is coming from her room.'

'Now that I'm back on the lower floor, what should I do?'

Orion thought of everything he was taught. There had to be a way to get to Amelia.

'The front desk.'

He jumped from the front desk into the water he knew was safe, before lifting the desk. He placed it against the wall and made a ramp with it.

After taking a few steps back, he turned around and ran to the desk and grabbed the part of the ledge that wasn't destroyed.

On high alert in case another arrow of lightning flew at him, he breathed a sigh of relief when nothing came out of her room.

Hurriedly, he entered her room, immediately noticing Amelia sitting on the floor.

"Amelia! Are you alri-?!"

She was in a lethargic state. What was truly shocking was the state of the room, and the way her body looked.

Some sort of wind aura was pushing the flames away from Amelia. At least she was safe from the fire, but her body said otherwise.

Rock scales covered her legs, lightning sparked behind her forming ethereal wings that changed forms constantly, water flowed from her right hand, and fire burned from her left hand.

It was surreal, Amelia was using all kinds of magic, which shouldn't be possible. She was too old to be able to manifest magic.

But the reality was right in front of Orion. The reason of this mess was definitely her, as she had lost control of her elements the moment they manifested.

A Strange mark glowed on her hand, where her glove covered previously, now burned by the fire.

On her left hand, she wore a glove to hide something unknown to everyone, even to Orion. It was a key symbol, like a tattoo.

Even though her hand was enveloped in fire, it was unaffected. The fire only burned her glove to ashes.

At that moment, Orion got out of his shock, and ran to Amelia.

He grabbed her shoulders, and lightly shook her.

"Amelia. Amelia! Can you hear me?"

Amelia was in a state of panic internally.

'Orion! What's happening?! Why am I not moving?!'

In a split moment, a curved wind blade appeared next to Orion, aimed at his head.

The blade flew at him, but he managed to avoid it in time.

The wind blade continued on its trajectory, and grazed Amelia's face without hurting her. The blade clipped her bangs, hiding her eyes. She had managed to hide them to everyone, just like the key mark on her hand.

Orion looked at Amelia's blurred eyes. She blinked a few times, and regained control of her senses at last.

She possessed extremely gorgeous eyes, like pearls. They were a light pink, with small shades of blue, green, red, and yellow in some parts of her irises.

Orion was stunned. He couldn't look away.

'She has beautiful eyes...'

He had no other thought besides praising their beauty.

'This is no time for this! Get a hold of yourself, Orion!'

He regained his composure, and grabbed Amelia's shoulders again.

"Amelia. Are you alright?"

"I... think I am."

The various magic engulfing her started to dissipate. At the same time, the wind aura started to disappear too, letting the raging flames around them close in rapidly.

"We need to get out of here Ame-"

His sentence remained unfinished.

Amelia grabbed him and pulled him closer to her. She couldn't contain it anymore. All the fear she felt, and the relief of seeing Orion. Everything came back to her instantly, leading Amelia to burst in tears.

Orion was in a difficult position. He had to take her immediately outside, but he was unable to ignore her tears.

'I guess it's fine, we can always jump through the window if it comes to that.'

He hugged her.

At that moment, something incredible happened. The key mark started to shine brightly, as one tear fell on Orion's right leg, creating a burning sensation. It burnt differently to the surrounding fire, it was something happening inside him.

'What is this feeling, it's burning me.'

The bracelet with his name began to shine as strong as the mark.

At that moment, Orion lost consciousness.

...

He opened his eyes to a scene he had never seen before.

A battlefield, blue sky, red earth, cracked ground, a horrible amount of dead bodies, and three people fighting.

Three different beings fought on the battlefield, with a human easily overwhelming the two others.

"What is this? I don't understand anything. Where am I? Where's Amelia?"

The shape of two beings talking and hugging each other on the battlefield right in front of the human leader made his heart ache for some unknown reason.

He grabbed his chest in pain.

The whole scene happened in front of his eyes, with the two giving their lives to seal the human in layers of crystal. At the end, they both vanished.

"What was that? Was that... history?"

"It's more than that, my child."

"This is your heritage."

Two gentle voices echoed behind Orion.