My eyes were so blurry that I couldn’t see clearly, but I could tell that in the last moment, Grandpa Jin smiled warmly at the blue sky, that was the same expression when he looked at Grandma Sha. I knew what he was seeing. It was Grandma Sha waiting for him in the Heavenly Realm.

He let go of my hand, and slowly closed his eyes

Golden sparkly dust started to form on his body, and that was the moment I knew he was gone.

My mind went blank, completely shut down.

I tried to retain those sparkles with my hands, but they slipped through my fingers quickly. There was no way to catch them. His body started to disappear. I must have screamed, real hard that I got out of breath. I could barely see anything, except for countless sparkles that looked like fireflies, slowly rising toward the blue sky.

I stopped trying to hold onto all the golden sparkles, and wanted to touch Grandpa Jin’s face one last time. It turned into dust all of a sudden. Nothing was left now except for the rising dust.

A pure white holy pearl formed and hesitated in front of me, as if wanting to say goodbye.

“Grandpa Jin…….”

Tears burst out of my eyes, and my voice was so weak and shaky due to grief. I held out a quivering hand toward the floating pearl.

“Please….Grandpa Jin…..don’t go………”

When I touched the pearl with the tips of my fingers, a blue light flashed right in front of my eyes and the pearl disappeared!

That hunter took it with no mercy.

I closed my eyes, and let the warm tears rolled down my cheeks. My nails sunk deeply into the palms of my hands. This pain reminded me of what just happened.

Grandpa Jin’s words rang in my ears as yesterday’s: While it’s quite peaceful here now, but it has its chaos, I wish you never witness any of them………

Grandpa Jin, I had witnessed the chaos of the Land of Ruins today. It was so heartbreaking that I could barely breathe, it had cut deeply through the heart and I had no idea when the wound would heal.

I was so lucky to come to this world and encountered you and Grandma Sha. These couple months were one of the best times of my life, and I thought it would carry on like this forever. If I had come here and directly witnessed the cruelty of this world, I would be shattered and broken. Even now, I was so broken that my mind went completely blank.

Oh, Grandpa Jin and Grandma Sha, how much I hated the man right in front of my eyes, and all his people for being merciless toward innocence! He was a murderer, yet, I knew I could do him no harm!

How I hated myself for being weak and useless!

Sorry Grandpa Jin, that I didn’t listen to you.

I just couldn’t run away.

I was so heartbroken that I lost all my will to live anymore.

The last drop of tear fell into the soil.

There was a bow and some arrows laying at my feet. They were Grandpa Jin’s. He used them to kill the Spotty Boar and for self defense. Yet, today he never even touched them. He probably already knew that this was nothing compared to a winged Aniesian, so he used all his magic arts to the last moment. Performing too much magic arts could lead to energy exhaustion and eventually death.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He knew that, but still decided to risk his life so that I got enough time to escape. He could use the time to escape himself, but he stayed here just for me. He did all this because of me.

All the guilt started to swallow my whole being. Hatred and the feeling of injustice grew inside like waves, and they got stronger and higher until I became fearless.

I calmly picked up a bow and put the arrow bag over my shoulder. I climbed over the hole and stood straight.

The village was smothered in fire and smoke. There were endless screams and crying in the background, and they got carried away in the wind. As I stood there and looked at the cold-blooded murderer, I had an illusion that this was actually hell.

The smell of flesh and blood.

The screaming.

The coldness.

There was not a sense of livelihood in this place. Yes, this might as well be hell, and the group of pearl hunters were executors of these poor souls. They ruled this hell, and we were just souls suffering and found no way out.

I wasn’t thinking too much, because there was really nothing to think about. Grief took over me, and there was really nothing left now.

Grandpa Jin and Grandma Sha were gone, our little hut was burned to ashes, the clay pot was shattered, every trace of my memories on this land was gone with the fire.

I pulled an arrow out and positioned it with the bow, then aimed its sharp tip right at the murderer.

Without even one second of hesitation……..

Swish----------

The arrow melted into a circle of water before even touching him.

“Hehe…….You are the same as that old trash. Why try so hard when there is no way out! Stop giving me so much trouble, so I can grant you a pretty death!”

I was shaking with anger and grinding my teeth, but my voice was calm.

“Grandpa Jin is not trash. He’s a hero! You are the trash.”

He gave a joker’s smile, “Little brat, you would regret your words.”

“Really? Too bad it would not go as you wish, even if you kill me, you wouldn’t get what you want.”

For I was not even a demon, and had no holy pearl at all.

I shot more arrows, but every time he melted them down without even moving a finger, just one glance was enough to combat all of them. I kept on shooting the arrows, like I was out of my mind. I used bow and arrows with Grandpa Jin one time, and that was all the “practice” I got. I had no skills at all, but just wanted to kill this murderer. Although I knew such a thought was only a fond dream, I wasn’t going to give up.

I knew he was “playing” with me, for he could squish me to death easily. Killing me was even simpler than killing an ant. He was like a lion playing with a fawn before tearing it to pieces.

“No more arrows?” The hunter laughed with coldness, “If so, then it’s my turn.”

I sneered, “Trash, you would be disappointed.”

He seemed to be angered by me calling him trash twice, and shot out a sharp blade. This blade moved so fast that I could barely see it.

I waited………

For the last moment……….

--------------CLANK--------------

A strong light flashed before my eyes!

I couldn’t see clearly what just happened, but it seemed an unexpected wave of energy blocked that water blade instantly.

An enormous bald man with armors riding a horse stoically and facing the winged Aniesian. This man was at least eight feet tall, and I was no more than a toddler standing next to him. His face and arms were full of tribal tattoos, and his expressions were fierce. Unlike other demons who actually looked like humans, the white part of his eyes were actually black like two black holes.

“Pearl hunters, huh? I have heard of you guys, but don’t expect to see you here. Do you dare to take off that face covering? A real man has nothing to hide!” The bald man’s voice was hoarse as sand.

Soon an army of soldiers came marching in with horses and waited behind the bald man for commands.

The pearl hunter laughed coldly, “A real man wouldn’t challenge a winged Aniesian when he is only a low level demon. This is the Land of Ruins, nobody rules this land. How can a bunch of Darkomi soldiers have the guts to stop us?”

“You are right that we might not be strong competitors for you guys, but Prince Blake is only a few miles away from here. If you continue to hunt, I can’t guarantee you won’t alert his highness. If he finds out that you are messing around in the boundary, his highness won’t let it go so easily. Worse than this, if you sparked a war between the two kingdoms, are you planning to pay for the consequences!”

“Prince Blake!? Liar, what is he here for?”