Third Person's POV

A low creak broke the tranquility, pulling both of their gazes toward the door. The large wooden panels had cracked open. Aurelia's eyes narrowed as she examined the opening of the library door but then a familiar figure stepped in.

Aurelia relaxed watching the one who stepped in.

"Eirys!" Alaric called out, "Sit" He pointed at an empty chair, and seeing him excited Eirlys smiled in reply and did as he asked.

"I thought you went back to Miss Xironia," Eirlys mentioned, she didn't expect him to be sitting here at all, children aren't really known for their patience.

Eirlys glanced at the book, "Oh, are you learning a skill?" Alaric nodded instantly, "Show me how you use it," Eirlys teased, her smile betraying the grin threatening to break free. Alaric's smile faded with an annoyed look and Aurelia audibly stifled a laugh.

"Stop making fun of me" Alaric whined, his hands flailing in front of Eirlys who simply chuckled at the child.

With both Aurelia and Eirlys now seated, the concept of reading soon evaporated. Alaric shifted gears quickly. What followed was a playful exchange, filled with laughter.

“Say ‘Aurelia,’” Aurelia teased, knowing full well he couldn’t.

“Awe-re-e-ya,” Alaric tried.

"Try 'Eirlys,'" Eirlys leaned forward, poking his cheek with a finger.

"Eir-is," Both women chuckled, clearly enjoying the game, even as Alaric tried harder and harder to master the impossible sounds.

Soon enough, Aurelia, content, returned to her reading, knowing Eirlys would take it from here. Her eyes scanned the book she had been reading before Alaric came.

Eirlys started helping Alaric read the same book, Peace reigned in the library, the soft turning of pages the only sound mixed with Alaric's reading—until it wasn’t.

*BOOM!*

The peaceful silence of the library was suddenly shattered by a deafening explosion.

The entire estate trembled as if it were about to collapse. The shockwave rattled the windows, and suddenly the glass panes of the window the group was sitting close to shattered.

"Alaric!" Eirlys’ voice trembled, her eyes wide as she lunged toward him, horror flooding her features. The shards of broken glass hurtled toward him, but before she could reach him, a wave of water crashed upward from nowhere, forming a protective wall between the child and the fragments.

Eirlys didn't get to sigh in relief after she had pulled Alaric into her embrace, the child stunned, blinking without any thoughts. "Eirlys, grab Alaric and move" Aurelia commanded, her hands quickly taking the book and returning it back to her storage.

Eirlys scooped Alaric into her arms, her normally calm features now tight with tension. Her grip on him was firm, her movements swift and determined. No one spoke as they fled the library, only the sound of their hurried footsteps filling the narrow corridors. Eirlys held Alaric tightly, her grip firm, protecting him from any further shocks that might come while Aurelia covered Eirlys.

The estate, once so familiar, now felt like a twisting labyrinth. Hallway after hallway blurred past as they sprinted, the acrid stench of smoke filling their lungs, undercut by a sharper, more sinister scent that clung to the air like a warning.

"What’s happening?" Alaric’s tiny voice wavered, barely audible amidst the chaos. His wide eyes darted between Aurelia and Eirlys, the panic swirling around them thick and suffocating.

"It happened on the front side," Aurelia muttered, Alaric was ignored.

"It did. It must be a stray projectile from the fight" Eirlys mentioned, and Aurelia nodded affirming it. Unnoticed to Alaric the two women did notice a shard of sharp ice that came inside through the glass, the explosion wasn't the reason for the window breaking that projectile was, if it were all the other windows would be shattered too.

"The east wing, quick," Aurelia urged, her voice tight with urgency as their pace quickened. Alaric clung to Eirlys, the world around him a blur of motion and sound. He didn’t fully grasp what was happening, but his heartbeat echoed loudly in his ears, an unfamiliar weight settling deep in his chest. He was scared

As they rounded the corner, the air thickened. A figure loomed in the distance, draped in black, a mask concealing their face. Every inch of them exuded menace.

Aurelia and Eirlys froze in place, their legs rooted to the ground. The tension in the air was suffocating, thick enough that even Alaric, sensing the shift, squirmed in Eirlys' arms, his small body restless as the unspoken threat loomed.

Aurelia and Eirlys froze in place, their legs rooted to the ground. The tension in the air was suffocating, thick enough that even Alaric, sensing the shift, squirmed in Eirlys' arms, his small body restless as the unspoken threat loomed.

The figure stepped forward, gloved hand outstretched, his presence oppressive. He could tell they were scared. "Hand that kid over," A heavy silence loomed over the group.

Aurelia’s voice cut through the thick silence. “Eirlys,” she whispered, her tone grave. Eirlys met her gaze. "Run," a sword from her storage ring materialized in her hands.

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"Do you truly think I'll let you run?" The man's voice was eerie, devoid of warmth, not muffled but otherworldly—something that shouldn’t exist. Alaric, now silent, felt his body go rigid, as if the air itself had frozen him in place.

With a blur of movement, the man launched himself toward them. He was mid-laugh, words dripping with cruel amusement "I was consider—" But before he could finish, his body hit the ground with a sickening thud. A shadow moved faster than the eye could track, slamming him down.

Alaric turned at the heavy crash, his eyes widening. There, standing like a force of nature, was a regal figure, daggers dripping blood, her cold, narrowed eyes locking onto the fallen enemy.

"M-Mama?" Alaric stammered, his voice trembling as relief flooded him.

Xironia looked at Alaric, her features softening in an instant. "I am grateful, you two..." She ran a hand over Alaric's hair, her smile was one of relief.

"Miss Xironia, My-"

"Calm down, they are already outside," Xironia interrupted Eirlys, "you were running the right way. We can escape to the back from the exit in the east wing," Eirlys visibly relaxed, "I was trying to find Alaric, since you came to my office trying to look for him I was terrified that he would be alone right now." Xironia explained, she reached for Alaric, cradling him close, her touch calming him a bit.

She looked at him with a warm smile before placing him close to her chest, "Don't try to speak, better yet close your eyes until I stop running." Eirlys and Aurelia didn't have to be told.

All three of them moved, the girls moving much faster since the highest priority was in much safer hands than theirs and they don't need to be as cautious.

"What about Master?" Aurelia asked, her voice tight with concern.

"They wouldn’t dare attack if he were here," Xironia scoffed, her tone sharp. "There are at least thirty of them. The guards won’t hold them all. Some are already inside—searching."

Aurelia glanced at Xironia, the question barely a whisper. "Are they all that strong?" She already knew the answer, but dread sank further when Xironia nodded.

The three of them reached the east wing exit soon, each gasp of breath was a sharp rasp in their throats, feet slamming against the ground with the rhythm of their frantic hearts, driven by nothing but sheer desperation. Xironia’s eyes darted to the group huddled at a distance. For a heartbeat, hope flickered—an ember in the storm, her face brightening from the thought that they could escape now.

That hope was short-lived.

The maids’ faces twisted with dread, but before Xironia could understand the reason, she found herself falling.

Pain shot through her shoulder, hot and sharp, and then another blow—a black blade—ripped into her leg. She crumpled, the strength draining from her limbs.

Xironia looked behind her a figure had descended from the top of the manor, few still there watching the events happening.

"You dare." Even in her fall, her body twisted mid-air, the fierce instinct to shield Alaric overriding the pain tearing through her limbs. There is no way she would let Alarc feel the pain of a fall with her own weight, and also because she wasn't one to get hit and not take revenge.

The dagger in her hand was gone during her fall, she landed with a dull thud on her back holding Alaric protectively and with her, another thud followed right after.

Seeing Xironia fall, Aurelia and Eirlys both stopped, trying to get her back on her feet, they took Alaric placing him behind and got Xironia back on her legs.

"Idiot," A deep voice was heard. "Laying low does not mean she is getting dull," the owner of the voice looking at his subordinate, his head was used like a sheath for the dagger with how the dagger had pierced his skull.

Xironia looked at her state, she could tell that let alone running even walking with Alaric would be hard, the wounds were deep. The grass under her slowly drenched in the drops of her blood and her dress slowly turned red.

"We were ordered to capture the kid, whether we keep her alive or not," another figure spoke before shrugging, trying to tell it doesn't matter.

Xironia turned toward Alaric, her eyes soft despite the pain, a sad, almost defeated smile on her lips. She moved closer, cupping his little face, her orange eyes looked like a soothing fire for wanderers in winter, and she kissed Alaric's cheek. "Run away, Al, let's meet somewhere safe, Mama needs to take care of these bad men"

Alaric's scared body, that was trembling stood stunned. He couldn't move, Xironia had already turned around, her back against Alaric and her eyes that were so soothing right now were cold as she stared at each of the figures at once.

"Most of you survived, eh?" Her voice, devoid of any fear, to her the only thing that mattered was her son's safety and she believed the boy had left, a rush of air from where his small body must have bolted.

She was wrong.

Xironia's eyes widened, she felt her dress get pulled, she felt so weak right now that she could have fallen down just from that but she held on.

"Not leaving," he choked out through sobs, refusing to let go.

Xironia felt her fingers going cold after hearing the voice, "Alaric, now is not the time to act stubborn. They are here for you."

"T-Then... I’ll go with them." Alaric’s voice cracked as he stared up at her, tears blurring his vision. His small hands clung tighter to her dress, desperate. "You’ll be safe then," his words came out in a sob, filled with the raw emotion of a child too young to understand the weight of his own offer but old enough to feel the dread of losing the one he loved most.

The intruders laughed—a dark, mocking sound. "Good boy," one sneered, his voice like the hiss of a snake. "Do as we say, and maybe Mommy gets to live another day."

Xironia looked at the one who spoke from the corner of her eyes, she was weak, too weak to do anything but the one who spoke felt a shiver run down his spine. The cold glare froze him in his place.

The man couldn't handle the look, "Bitch, give him to us!" a huge burst of flames shot out of the man's hands, and the air around it sizzled from the heat.

Even the intruders panicked from the sudden attack, they were to capture the child but one of them had let his emotion take over. It may end in failure after everything but it is too late, everyone present there could only hope that the child survives.

"Eirlys, grab him and make a run" Xironia shouted, she knew she couldn't run.

Aurelia, her face pale with fear, stretched out her hand to conjure a wall of water to douse the flames. But the fire was too strong, too fast. The water evaporated before it could even form, disappearing into the scorching heat.

Alaric had never escaped anyone's clutches, he wasn't fast enough. Never until today, he slipped between Eirlys' arms and wrapped himself around Xironia's legs refusing to let her be alone.

“No!” he screamed, voice hoarse with fear and defiance. “I’m not leaving you!”

Time seemed to slow, the flames drawing nearer, their fierce heat almost unbearable. Xironia’s heart pounded in her chest as she stared down at Alaric, her mind racing, unable to comprehend how to save him.

The flames surged, and there was no more time. It was over.

Xironia acted on instinct, throwing her body over Alaric, her arms wrapping around him in a desperate embrace. Eirlys, eyes wide with horror, froze in place, helpless. Aurelia’s hands trembled, her magic failing her as hopelessness gripped her heart.

The fire roared—impossibly close. Xironia’s breath caught in her throat, her grip on Alaric tightening. "I love you so much." All she could manage but her voice was soft, a smile as she covered her son.

*BOOM!*