Helena softly jumped over a branch that was in her way and tightly held the full bag on her back. She’d spent all night looking for the right herbs and plants that the shop needed, and she even went as far as picking a few special mushrooms. They could be seen slightly glowing blue between the many plants. She had a powerful sense of magic, and as such, she could easily identify the best there could be.

With a satisfied smile, she continued walking back to her home. What she picked up should be more than enough to pay for the clothes she got the children and then some. What’s more, noon just passed, so she should be back home in a couple of hours to make sure nothing happened to the children.

However, worries arose when a strange magical signature washed over her, causing her to stop on her step. There were many magical signatures all around her; from beasts and monsters, to hunters and normal people doing their daily routines, but this one was different, so she closed her eyes and focused on the lingering sensation.

“Holy Magic…?” she whispered to herself, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried to determine where it was coming from, and after a few seconds, she snapped her eyes open. “My home.”

Knowing that, she picked up her pace, walking faster than before. Seconds bled into minutes, and her hasty step turned into a jog that eventually became a full sprint as the thoughts of what might have happened filled her head. She jumped over boulders, stepped on branches, and leaped over any river that stood in her way.

Some herbs flew out, and even a couple of blue glowing mushrooms hit the floor, but she didn’t care, she needed to get back; heaving and running as fast as she could. The trees blurred around her, and any bush, branch or plant was brushed aside by Wind Spells as she sped through them.

Finally, after running for a while, she saw her home once more. With a snap, she stopped on the clearing in front of her house and looked at the few wet spots there were. It hadn’t rained last night or the morning, and after sensing for a moment, she realized someone had used magic.

However, she didn’t linger on them and turned her attention to her home. The door was wide open, so she ran to it.

“Kala!” she shouted as she approached the door, placing her hand on the frame once she got there. “Korr! Are you okay!? Where are—”

With a heaving breath, she stopped herself once she saw the inside. Things were dropped all over the place, the chairs were toppled, and even some of the food reserves were on the ground.

Her breath calmed down and her worried eyes turned cold when she saw the thing in the middle of it all. A corpse. A small one with green skin, fallen on its back with a bleeding hole through the forehead.

Helena slowly walked closer to it, dropping the bag of herbs on the ground with a thud as she crouched next to it. Her eyes went down to the black leather shoes and then up, inspecting Korr's blood-soaked clothes until she reached his surprised face. It was stiff and pale. Too much time had already passed to do something about it.

Helena tightened her lips, closed the goblin’s eyes, and stood back up, turning to the room she had given them. With calm steps, she made her way to it, expecting Kala to be laying in a pool of blood as well, but to her surprise, there was nobody there.

From the edge of her sight, she saw something glinting gold so she turned to it. On top of the table, being illuminated by the afternoon’s light, was a bag filled with golden coins. She calmly walked to it with the same cold eyes and noticed that there was a piece of paper under it. She pulled it out and read it.

After her eyes passed through it, she crumbled the piece of paper and set it on fire with a red flame. Then she picked up the bag of coins, held it in her right hand, and like the piece of paper, she set it on fire.

A bright red flame quickly melted the gold coins, which then spilled on top of her hand and then dripped to the floor, where it burned the wooden planks of her home until they were nothing more than golden marks on it. Finally, she stomped the floor, cracking it and pushing them deeper and into the ground, where with an Earth Spell, they were buried.

Helena turned to the door of her home and walked towards it, looking at the afternoon sunlight that was hitting the clearing in front of her house. Her eyes were cold, and her breath was steady. After a moment, she raised her hand and passed it over her gray hair. It was slow, but after her hand brushed it, the dim gray hairs changed to be soft, glossy blond, until her head was covered by golden hair.

Her face shape changed as well. Any and all wrinkles disappeared, leaving behind smooth pale skin, and in her cheeks, a healthy pink hue. Her pale lips turned full with a red gloss, and her cold eyes’ iris quickly gained color, becoming a bright blood-red from where a couple of black marks spilled into her cheeks like tears.

She glanced back at Korr’s body, inspecting it one more time. “I’ll be right back. I’ll find your sister.”

There was no answer, of course, but it didn’t matter to her. She turned in a direction, and took a couple of steps that way, but on the third, she disappeared as if she had never been there.

* * *

“Why won’t this kid stop crying?” Lord Theius complained, half-turning his face to look with annoyance at Kala. “Some ungrateful child, that one. Crying even after saving her life and giving her the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Kala had her face buried between her hands, tears continuously falling through them as she hiccuped and sniffled. She was sitting in a horse pulled carriage that was nothing more than a wooden box with four wood wheels. Next to her was Father Seig, with an awkward smile as he tried his best to comfort her.

“Come now, child. I understand that it was a scary thing to see today, and that you didn’t want to leave your home, but someone with your talents couldn’t stay in such a place—somewhere where Hellborne could attack at any moment,” he said, reaching with his hand to touch Kala’s head, only to be forcefully slapped away. He appeared surprised at first, but just smiled afterwards. “We left Miss Helena enough money to last her what remains of her life, so you don’t need to worry about her.”

And yet, despite the reassuring words from the priest, Kala’s crying didn’t stop. He looked with an awkward smile at Lord Theius, who just scoffed and looked ahead. The road still had some sunlight, but noticing that the shadows of the trees were growing long, the High Inquisitor turned to the side of the road.

“We should find a place to spend the night. Maybe by tomorrow she’ll understand her duty,” he said, and dropped down from the horse.

“Ah, we can only hope,” the priest said while shaking his head. “I’ll keep you company, so don’t worry.”

Kala ignored him, and balled herself up between her knees. “I hate you.”

“There’s no need to say such a thing. I’m just trying to—”

“You humans are all terrible,” she spat, gripping her arms while keeping her head down.

“Huh? Why would you…?” The priest asked back, slightly tilting his head to the side in confusion.

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But laughter from the High Inquisitor caught his attention, and his confusion grew larger. With a nod, Lord Theius looked at them. “It seems like even she understands that she’s special.”

“Is that so…?” the priest said, before turning to look down at the girl, who had slightly raised her head to glare at the man.

He pulled back with gasp when she saw her eyes. They were jet black, with a red dot in the middle of them, and as he was about to have a closer look, something crashed behind their group, causing them all to look back.

The silhouette of a tall woman with long golden hair stood behind them. Lord Theius was the first to move, rushing to stand at the front with his hand on the hilt of his sword. “Identify yourself or be struck down!”

The woman paid no attention to his threat and continued slowly walking towards them with a rather sensual sway and one hand stretched to the side. “I told you that she wasn't leaving.”

“Who—what are you talking about?” the High Inquisitor questioned, finally drawing the sword from his hip. “If you come any closer, you’ll leave us no choice!”

“Let go of the child,” she ordered as she got closer and closer.

“The child? You want to take this girl?” Lord Theius asked, narrowing his eyes as he did.

“You cannot take her,” Father Seig followed up, standing from the carriage and jumping down from it, “She’s been chosen by the Goddess, and as such, she’s under our protection.”

The woman loudly scoffed, finally stopping a few dozen steps away from them. “Your Goddess is nothing more than a sham; an excuse for self-proclaimed righteous people to kill anyone and destroy everything that stands in the way of their desires.”

“Huh?! What did you just say?!” the High Inquisitor shouted, taking a step forward as a vein popped in his forehead. “We’ve been patient enough! You shall be put down for your heresy!”

From the woman’s stretched hand, a blade suddenly appeared. It was blood-red, with a hilt as black as the night. She firmly grasped it, and right after, it brightly glowed with red light, finally illuminating her face.

Father Seig gasped once he was able to see her features, “I-It couldn’t be!”

“No fancy magic will stop me, heretic!” the High Inquisitor proclaimed, and with a shout, rushed to cut down the woman.

The priest stretched his hand in hopes of stopping him. “No! Don’t! You can’t go alone, she’s—”

The clear sound of a blade cutting the air, metal, and then flesh spread through the road and the trees surrounding it. The top half of Lord Theius flew to the air, cut from the lower side of his left hip and up to the lower ribs at the right. He hit the ground one second later, followed by the lower part of his body falling backwards.

“…The Hellborne Empress…” Father Sieg finished, his eyes opened as wide as they could be and sweat forming all over his face. “Men!” he suddenly shouted, and every other hesitating warrior that surrounded the carriage jolted from it, all of them taking a step back. “We will fall today, but we will do so under the gaze of the Goddess! Witness us, oh holy one, and grant us a righteous spot in your beautiful garden. We fight evil today!”

The priest lifted his hands up to the air, and from it, a rain of white light poured down on the men surrounding him. Their bodies glowed with a white light, and their stances grew confident.

“Go forth and earn your glory!” Father Sieg shouted, pointing at Helena, the Hellborne Empress.

All men raised their weapons and shouted, going for her. However, her eyes were set on the priest alone, ignoring completely the shouting men that were getting closer to her. He knew she was looking at him, and yet, he turned around, ran for the horse pulling the carriage, got on top of it, and spurred it to run as fast as it could.

With her eyes still on him, she swung her weapon from left to right, cutting one man in half. Then did so again from right to left for the next one, after which she took one step forward.

At the back of the carriage, Kala stood up and moved to the edge, looking at Helena with fearful eyes. It was then that Helena moved her eyes down to the girl, and softly smiled. “I can handle anything.”

The girl closed her eyes, and nodded.

Helena took another step, and it was after this one, that she burst ahead and through every man that was trying to surround her. She spun in the air, her blade dancing with her movements, and in a split second, she cut down every single person that was in her way. An explosion of blood splattered the road, and the quickly fading shouts of men followed, only stopping when she appeared in front of the moving carriage.

“What the—” was all that the priest could say as he pulled on the reins of the horse, causing it to neigh as it tried to stop.

In the hasty movements, the man lost control of his body, being thrown forward and down of the horse, landing right by Helena’s feet. He quickly recovered and looked up at her with a fearful gaze as he tried to crawl away from her.

“Demon!” he spat as he continued to scramble away, “You will be struck down by Goddess! This will not go unpunished! That child, she will show you that—”

“Elder Helena!” Kala shouted as she jumped down from the carriage and ran to her. She was still crying, and quickly grabbed onto her leg. “I’m sorry! It’s my fault. It’s my fault. Korr, he—he—”

“It’s okay child,” Helena answered, softly placing her delicate hand on top of the crying child’s head. “It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have left you alone. Besides…” she glared at the man that was looking wide eyed at the girl embracing her. “This is their fault. Not yours.”

“W-what have you done!? What kind of curse have you placed that child under!?” the priest denounced, pointing a finger at her. “Release her, demon!”

Helena mockingly chuckled and shook her head. “There is no curse.”

“What are you…?” he tried to ask, but when Kala shifted to look at him with her tearing eyes, his turned furious. “This has been a trick! A lie from the Hellborne demons to claim our souls!”

Kala’s eyes had turned their original form, and her skin was starting to turn the normal goblin green. Seeing the way the man was glaring at her, she hid behind Helena once more, who shook her head again.

“Someone like you would never understand,” she finished and took a step forward towards him.

“The Goddess will protect me. She will show me the glory of her gardens and the sweet taste of her fruits. I will live forever in—”

Helena’s blade cut the air, and the man’s head flew through the air, falling back some distance as his body sagged right after. Kala had her face covered, and to avoid having the child look at the mess she made, Helena snapped her fingers, and every corpse in the road burst into red flames.

She then approached the child, crouched in front of her, and placed one hand on her shoulder. The girl looked up to her again with tears in her eyes, which Helena wiped while having a soft smile. “It’s okay, Kala. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“W-what about Korr…?” she asked with a short sob.

“Let's go back to him, okay?” Helena answered with a sad smile. “He needs someone to wish him farewell.”

Hearing her say that, Kala broke into a loud wail. Helena picked the girl in her arms and turned in the direction of their home, petting her slowly as they moved.

* * *

Once night had fallen, they were back at their home. Helena asked Kala to wait outside while she took care of Korr, all while the child cried. She came out with the body wrapped in a blanket, and stood still as Kala softly passed her hand all over Korr’s body.

“Are you ready?” Helena asked with a soft voice once she stopped. The girl nodded and Helena walked to the side of their home. “Do it as I told you.”

With tears falling down her green skin, Kala stretched her arms to the ground, and after grunting, it split open, creating a deep, rectangular hole. Helena lifted her arms slightly, and Korr’s body started floating, with the blanket softly swaying in the wind. Kala watched while sobbing as the body slowly floated down the hole she made, waving her hand in a small goodbye motion at him.

Once he was in the darkness of the ground, Helena ordered: “Okay. Cover him.”

Kala stretched her hands once more, and after some effort, the ground was slowly covered, leaving behind a small mound. Once it was done, she retracted her hands and covered her eyes while tears continued to fall. Helena finished the grave by summoning a perfectly rectangular rock, and engraving it with Korr’s name.

They stayed outside for a while longer, illuminated by the moonlight as the child continued to cry.

After a few hours, her sobbing stopped and she looked at Helena. “Elder…”

“What is it, Kala?”

“Can I—can I—is it okay if I stay with you?” she asked with a soft voice.

Helena softly smiled and nodded. “Yes, of course.”

“Will you teach me to be as strong as you? I—I don’t want this to happen ever again, to you or—or anyone,” the girl finished with a sad look.

“I…” Helena answered, hesitating slightly as she looked at the girl’s expectant eyes. “I’ll do my best. Now come. You need to rest.”

“Okay,” the girl answered with a nod. As Helena went into the house, Kala half-turned, and gave the grave one final look. “Goodnight, Korr.”