In the middle of the cold forest, covered with a fresh layer of snow, a young woman in blood-splattered blue robes staggered along. In her right hand, she tightly held her younger sister, who could barely stay on her feet.

"Sister... Aife, I can't go on."

The girl spoke in a halting and breathless voice.

Only the heavy sounds of breathing and teeth chattering echoed through the silent forest. A strong, biting wind caressed their bodies, and in response, the girls uncontrollably shivered.

Their bare feet sank deeper with each step into the thick snow, which consumed them, and with each further step, the freezing cold slowly numbed them. The snow's moisture and cold penetrated their skin, making them more and more numb.

Aife looked sorrowfully at her little sister and stopped. Her yellow eyes could no longer even shed tears.

Why?!... why us?!... What did we do to deserve this?

This question echoed in the girl’s mind countless times. And only one answer came to her mind — hatred.

In this world, it was common for people who felt hatred toward races other than the human one to resort to massive massacres and exterminations.

For generations, human society had treated interspecies beings as slaves, viewing them as inferior life forms whose existence was a burden. They claimed that interspecies beings had no place in the human world, and argued that cleansing the world of them was the best solution. However, there were those who protected the interspecies, respected them, treated them as equals, and liked them, though they were a rare minority. Fewer than 10 out of 100.

Humans believed that hybrids, as they were called, and others like them had no place in the human world, and although it sounded cruel, it was their simple truth.

And this winter morning was the day the girls would call "cleansing." It was a day of suffering and despair.

The girls, who had lived in a peaceful village full of friendly people and some interspecies races, had become victims of such a massacre.

The people who had appeared friendly and welcoming turned into ruthless monsters in a matter of moments. Their smiles vanished as quickly as they appeared. All that remained were cold, empty stares with no hint of emotion.

The worst part was that some of them started laughing, but their laughter was empty and ominous.

The killings were immense. Streets, houses, and even the roads leading to the village’s supplies were filled with the bodies of interspecies beings, fairies, and many other creatures within minutes.

Although rare and audacious, a small group of people tried to protect the interspecies rather than join in the massacre. It might have seemed that those who saw their kind on the side of the interspecies would at least consider exile instead of extermination. But the opposite was true — those who tried to protect the interspecies ended up the same way.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Traitors!! Kill them!" they shouted.

Aife glanced around, the cold wind whipping her face as her green hair, covered with snowflakes, fluttered in the wind. A green horn glimmered on her forehead, now half-covered with icy crystals.

She looked again at her little sister, who returned a sad, exhausted look.

Aife knew escape was impossible. She knew there was no chance of leaving this deep forest. The forest was so dense that anyone could easily get lost in it, as if some strange magic drove them. Even adventurers preferred to avoid it.

Suddenly, Aife felt her knees buckle. She tried to fight it, to stay on her feet… but her body was so weak and exhausted that it no longer obeyed. Her eyelids grew heavy, and the world around her blurred.

She fell to the ground.

Lara immediately knelt beside Aife's body and shook her.

Lara felt helpless, afraid that she would lose her sister and be left alone. She didn’t want to be alone. Aife was the only one she had left, and she couldn’t lose her. Tears slowly ran down her pale face, cold as drops of frost, as if reflecting the cold in her heart.

She continued to shake Aife.

"Sister! Please... wake up! Aife!"

"Lara..."

Lara heard the faint tone of Aife's voice, so exhausted that each word sounded as if it was on the verge of losing its strength. The voice was barely audible, almost as if it were spoken against her own will.

Aife slowly turned her head toward Lara and smiled sadly.

"I should have protected you better..."

Lara smiled weakly, leaned over, and hugged Aife tightly.

Though only 13, Lara knew very well that there was no chance they would both survive. For her age, she was smarter than other children, thanks to her parents' upbringing. They taught her kindness, taught her what was right and wrong, and how to perceive the world around her. Above all, they taught her to keep an open heart for those she loved the most, for others.

"You protected me... sister... and I am so grateful to you... I love you..."

At that moment, Lara lay beside Aife, pressed against her, and closed her tear-filled eyes, waiting for their slow death. Aife fought on, trying to overcome the pain to carry her sister to the nearby shed that their parents had built in the forest. Her life had been stolen from her; she only wanted her sister to live, to have a beautiful life, and to never suffer.

Then, as if answering their fear, a massive red dome, 2.5 meters tall, formed above them. It radiated warmth, enveloping them, and the girls felt their bodies warming as if they were in a warm house, far from the inhospitable winter and death.

Shocked and terrified by this powerful magic, the girls immediately stood up. Their hearts raced, their minds struggling to comprehend what

was happening... What was this magic? Who had saved them?

And then...