Ability: Fueled breath Type: mid Triggered Event:

"I pity you humans, so I shall give you my dragon blood as a small gift."

Effect Inhale the energy on your surroundings, and convert it into flames of unbearable heat.

----------

Fate groggily opened her eyes as if she was struck on the head by a rock.

Her head was spinning and in great pain, but she managed to sit up from her previous position.

She noticed she was wrapped in a brown blanket, on top of a grey bed that most likely used to be once white long ago. As she looked around, Fate saw that she is inside a wooden room that had a vertically rectangular open window where the bright sun shined on her face.

“Hi” a voice suddenly said.

She was startled and quickly turned her head in the corner, where she found a white-haired girl sitting emotionless and staring straight at her.

Fates body shook and tried to move further back from the bed until she is touching the wall.

“Monster!” She screamed.

‘I saw her die! I was sure that the sword pierced through her heart, but then….’

“I remember” The girl commented, then smiled innocently, “But I forgive.”

She started to form more tears.

The girl stood up from her seat and casually approached her.

“Stay back please!” She screamed and closed her eyes in the hopes that this was an illusion.

Fate waited, but nothing happened. When she opened them, she saw an outstretched hand patiently waiting for a response.

“Seraphine.” The girl said with enthusiasm “You?”

Fate, who has no idea what is happening simply answered, “…..Fate.”

Seraphine did not move from her position until Fate realized that she was waiting for a handshake.

She doesn’t really know whether to take it or not, but eventually decided to shake it anyways. Whatever ulterior motives Seraphine has is better than getting killed by rejecting her.

Seraphine sat beside the bed and continued staring at her. After an awkward few seconds, she asked Fate a simple question.

“Tell me about you.”

“About…me?”

Seraphine nodded.

“Why?”

She did not give an answer.

Fate could feel the pressure she is going through. She has no doubt on her mind that this Seraphine girl must be a powerful old woman that wanted to know the location of her village.

“I um uhh… a goat beastfolk. I don’t know where I lived.” She lied, quickly regretting her obvious false statement.

Seraphine continued to stare. Fate could only assume she wanted more.

“I am 10 years old, I uhh I’m an only child, and I’m considered pretty by my friends.”

She still did not respond. Seraphine didn’t even blink.

“I uhh I also don’t like cramped spaces, and I’m love to eat the yellowmist mushrooms of our village to the point that the leader thinks-“

As she continued to ramble every random facts she remembered, she finally noticed that Seraphine smiled even bigger.

“Your sister now.” She stated.

“Huh?” Fate asked.

Suddenly, the wooden door on the other end of the room burst open, showing the face of middle aged woman with red colored hair.

“I heard a scream here, what- oh! After three days, Stevan’s daughter is finally awake!” She shouted as if they were kilometers apart.

The woman immediately came up close and personal with her, painfully squeezing her cheeks.

“I heard that your retarded father had some relationship with a woman and somehow gave birth to you two. Funny how genetics work right? One is a human and another is a beastfolk. Don’t worry though, I have done slave trading but I’m an adventurer by heart. I’ll take care of you two since he is busy. You can call me Aunt Keren!”

Although she had many questions, one thing stood out to her the most.

“Mom?” she asked, hoping that maybe she could have been saved.

“Dead.” Seraphine, the murderer, blatantly stated.

She felt her tears form on her eyes, partially from her cheeks getting squeezed too hard, and mostly from losing a loved one.

Keren immediatley let go and then hugged her.

Fate wanted to resist, but found that the woman was too strong, and her body still felt too weak to push her away. She doesn’t like getting hugged by her captors, yet every second of being embraced felt much more comfortable. She is enraged, yet she wanted to also feel like she is not alone. Eventually, she simply accepted and bawled her eyes out.

“I’m not going to apologize, but I just want to let you know that I already told the guild that the village location was false. It’s okay now.” She soothed, “We were forced to do horrible things to others by the world, so I hope you won’t grow up to be scum like us and let it all out.”

And letting it out she did.

Right now, she simply wanted to cry. Revenge could come later, when she has the chance to organize the mixed feelings on her chest.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

----------

Stevan really wished that they weren’t forced onto such a circumstance.

“Im sorry, Lord Verum, but I really needed your help.” He spoke on his head.

“Whatever, you just want me to accompany you right? I don’t mind. Besides, Its necessary for the two girls to decide things without my interference anyways.” His Lord responded back.

Stevan agreed, “It helps them develop as children.”

He was walking past every beautiful house and slowly entering the ugly side of the kingdom.

It’s a pretty large place. The slums are probably around 1/10th of Sydney, famously known as Kreig’s playground.

The road that he was previously stepping on was slowly fading, becoming a dirt road, the building that was spaced and grand before is now much smaller and very compact, forming many alleyways and dark spots for shady activities. He could already smell the foul stench of rotten egg and decaying corpse of cats, dogs, or possibly even humans.

The citizens aren’t very welcoming either. He could already spot many different gangs eyeing him and mostly looking away after realizing who he is. They already knew why he came back to his old birthplace.

Stevan sighed and made an emotionless face as he walked by many starving people.

He had always wanted to help them, but found that doing so would only make his life much worse than it is already in now. The ruler of the slums doesn’t like saints because it makes him feel irresponsible to his territory.

Stevan still doesn’t know why guards and the kingdom never patrol this place and let that monster do whatever it wants.

He finally arrived at a particularly fancy building that looked so out of place in such a rundown neighborhood. It was made of grey stone that is extremely polished that it reflected his image. The pillars that supported the three story house is encased in various alchemy circuits, and the open yard is blooming with perfectly cut bushes and grass. Stevan could tell that some of the flowers are made with gems and gold, yet nobody wants to even approach the house, let alone steal a piece of decoration.

There were no guards, but he already knows he is being watched, the entire slums are.

Stevan saw a small white rat emerged from the grass like it’s on water. The rat squeaked at him and casually walked towards the mansion. Stevan had to follow.

As he opened the fancy wooden double doors, the rat led him to one of the rooms, passing by many expensive decorations and priceless paintings.

After the many times he went in here, he could recognize a lot of the things happening in some rooms. One of then he could hear faints screams of agony, on another he could smell the aroma of an addicting drug, on others he saw some pretty horrible stuff he can’t mention, and he might go inside one of them if he can’t successfully convince the ruler, the nobleman to give him more time to repay his debt.

As he finally entered the last room, what greeted him was a blonde fat man sitting on the side of a giant lion, which is currently lying down eating a human sized bone, it’s jaws making loud sounds as it destroys it with every crunch. Below the man are a man and a woman, kneeling with their heads down.

Steven guessed that there must have been some other business happening that he interrupted, so he simply closed the door, stood behind them, and silently observed the various heads of different animals on the walls. The nobleman seemed to not pay him any attention either.

“Please sir Krieg. I’m- Im telling the truth! There was a beastfolk village there! My subordinate can prove it!” The woman kneeling said.

“Are you telling me that the church was wrong?” Krieg asked, “The only two survivors of the group that I sent said it was false information. Are you calling my loyal subordinates as liars? Besides, High priest Marie herself confirmed the report, are you calling her a liar too?”

“Its- I” the woman started shaking, while the man who still had his head to the ground is getting visibly paler every second.

Krieg smiled wickedly at their reactions.

Stevan found his hobby of turning his subordinates against each other to be foul. If he had his way, Kreig would have been dying slowly and be revived only to get tortured again.

He had served this tyrant for many years, yet it seemed that the debt he and Keren owed just kept getting bigger.

If only his bad luck did not tangle with him, then maybe the three of them may not have left their separate ways.

“How about this then? Since I am very kind, I shall give the decision to the one who reported it in the first place. Stevan, Are they lying?” He smiled, his yellow mustache showing an innocent expression while looking at Stevan’s eyes.

Stevan doesn’t know what to do in this situation, he knew the two kneeling on the floor. He had worked with them for a long time now and knew their backstory. According to Marie, they were a rich merchants kids that ran away from their home in search of opportunity in Sydney.

They were kind to him and everyone else despite resorting to underworld business, and he owed many things to them as well. It is unknown how they came across Kreig.

Stevan hesitated. He now had to choose between saving them or saving himself.

‘Just say they lied.’ Verum spoke up in his head.

‘Right, I should.’ He thought, Stevan doesn’t know why, but Lord Verums decision seemed to make sense, yet it feels extremely wrong.

He decided to improvise.

“It was wrong information, but they just made a mistake.” Stevan tried to convince him.

“A mistake?” Kreieg smiled, then laughed uncontrollably that even the giant lion had to stop chewing while he dismounted.

“Well that mistake has cost me a lot. I sent 8 men, yet only you two came back. Not only that, but all of the supplies are gone as well.” He raged, “Since you want to defend them so much then how about you take the punishment? In fact It should be Keren, the leader responsible that should take it then.”

Stevan doesn’t know what to answer. His unlucky effect should already be over, but it feels like it is not.

Besides, he is still considered more valuable than others due to his rank. Core manipulation is still very hard to attain. Now that he is at core perfection, he should have been more valuable now…….unless he felt threatened? But even Keren is a bigger problem than him. The only explanation he could come up with was that he could somehow sense Lord Verum and thought he is now at the same level as him? But then-

‘You should have just listened to me.’ Verum stated, probably shaking his head.

Stevan got startled at his Lords voice. He felt ashamed at disappointing him, and decided that it doesn’t matter what is in the head of this nobleman, he has to die now by his own hands. He has to correct his error, this scum that should have been dead a long time ago. Stevan refused to sacrifice another friend now that he has his Lord with him.

“Puck, kill these three. They need to die for their so called mistake.” Krieg declared.

Puck, the giant lion, immediately stood up and swallowed both the man and woman that weren’t able to make a sound. Stevan knew those two would die a slow death given how that species had low metabolism.

It turned its head to him and immediately pounced.

Stevan had no time to react as he simply placed his hand on its mouth to prevent it from closing with him in it. Surprisingly, it was actually relatively easy because of his new realm.

Or rather, he could feel the energy within him being manipulated at a much more efficient way. Stevan had no doubt that his Lord is helping him control it better.

With some effort, he slowly but surely opened the lions mouth so much that it started to rip. It tried to remove his grasp, but Steven was just too strong that even it’s massive swipes aren’t able to scratch him.

“Wait!” Kreig screams, but Stevan ignored him and completely ripped out the lions Jaw. He then pulled out one of the lions longest fangs and stabbed it from the mouth through the skull, killing it instantly.

Blood sprayed onto the whole room, and Kreig was dead silent, even when the man and woman crawled out from the Lions mouth.

“You piece of fucking filth.” Krieg finally admitted. “You will pay for killing my favourite pet.”

“[Starless domain: Trails of the Weak]”

Stevan suddenly felt a massive headache going through his skull, and a indescribable voice telling him to “Slaughter Stevan”. He could then feel his mind connected to every single being in the slums area, getting the same command from Krieg. Every rat, dog, human, and even he himself are out to kill him.

However, it only happened in less than 3 seconds before disappearing. When his senses came back, Krieg was already on the floor shivering uncontrollably.

“Wh-wh-what was that!?” he cried out “Inside you there is…monster!”

“Calling me a monster is a little rude don’t you think?” Verum emerged “I wanted to conserve my strength you know, but you just can’t help but activate a domain skill. Come on, I wanted to see what your ability does now that you wasted my precious energy.”

“Please! I don’t want to die!” He begged and formed a waterfall of sweat. Stevan was very pleased at his pathetic state

“I will do anything! I have connections from royalty, I can help you! I didn’t know a powerful being like you is present!” He said.

“I don’t think I can trust you though.” Verum placed his skeletal hand at his chin, then raised a finger as if he had a great Idea.

“How about this then? Since I am very kind, I shall give the decision to the one who you attacked in the first place. Stevan, Is he lying?” He turned to him as if to smile.

Stevan smiled back “It was wrong information, but he just made a mistake”

“Mistake?” Verum laughed ominously at the ceiling then faced the fat mans ironic realization.

Kreig knew what the skeleton is about to say next.

“Kill him. He needs to die for his so called mistake.”