-Eric
"It.. can't be.. I'm too late."
All my brothers and sisters... No.. Please..
Why? What did I do to deserve this?..
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-Ophilanna
I arrived at the orphanage out of breath. Frantically scanning my surroundings, I noticed that something was out of place: the orphanage was situated next to a plaza, with a gate and stone walls separating it from the street. However, the gate, usually closed, was wide open. No.
It's been forced open. Somebody broke in.
A scream, seemingly from the other side of the orphanage's outer walls, caught my attention. I could tell whose voice it was, too. Eric. He is having a breakdown. Mmm. I can understand that... But it's not too late yet, is it..?
And so, I hurried. To Eric. While I sprinted the way, I immediately smelled smoke emerging from one of the windows, which rang my alarm bells, making me physically convulse.
Trauma response. Well, naturally, I keeled over, right in front of a crying Eric. That, ironically, resulted in him snapping out of his pessimism, for now, as he tried to tend to me.
I could quickly recover with him comforting me, and Eric didn't bother asking about my reason for... having such a dramatic reaction to smoke. He probably knew, anyway.
Regardless, I quickly stammered to Eric that we had to do something
"There's smoke coming from a window. Can't we do anything?"
At the mention of smoke, his gaze turned grim. But he steeled himself.
"I have no choice but to try and save as many of my siblings as I can. Please stay here and tend to them while I go in and lead them out."
I grabbed his hand, shaking my head.
"It's better if we go together, Eric."
Eric was visibly pained by my words. Mmm. Does he want me to just sit pretty here?
But he spoke: "Alright. Stay close and be careful, Ophi."
Nodding, and hiding my blushing reaction to his nickname for me, I followed. Through the gate and the front door, which was leaning open just ever so slightly, the double door was ajar. We could peak inside a little.
It wasn't enough, however, and Eric squeezed my hand while taking a better peek inside. In the hall, everything seemed clear. While entered, the door squeaked. There was absolutely no sign of any personnel, which was suspicious.
Moving towards the stairs to the upper floors, he told me to be quiet and hushed me. The fire's smell became even more nauseating. At this point, the only thing keeping me from passing out was his firm hand squeezing mine.
Mind you, Eric was just as shaken as I was, for a different reason, but married close, still. His siblings are gone, when they should've been here.
Not daring to speak a word, I intently listened to whatever I could hear. Barely anything, though, that was.
Crackling. Distant cries and screams. Mmm. The children? The maids?
Eric's breathing became erratic when we reached the first floor. It felt like an eternity, though. He's clearly scared and anxious. So I firmly held his hand, like he did mine. It seems to help, I thought.
On the first floor, vision was slightly impaired by the smoke. That means the fire is either on this, or the second floor. While we couldn't make out any movement that was suspicious, he whispered in my ear:
"Let's split up. I'll head to the second floor, you check the rooms closed on the first. Stay safe, and run away when there's danger. Please."
Nodding to his pleas, I looked around, let go of his hand, and he made haste to the upper floor. We couldn't be sure that the culprit wasn't here, but it was unlikely.
Sneaking from door to door, I opened rooms by placing my hand on the handle and gently twisting it. Some doors weren't locked, others required a little force to open. One, however, was locked. There was smoke coming out of the door's cracks, meaning the fire was likely behind this... door.
Suddenly, I tumbled, nearly throwing up and falling to the ground. Luckily, I caught myself against one of the drawers. Shit, I completely forgot.. about my reaction...
My eyes felt heavy, though I just had to keep them open. Brute-force your way through it, Fi! Come on... I need to get to the ground floor..
Due to my situation, I had a hard time moving much.
A thought popped up in my head, though.
Why don't I just extinguish the fire?.. If it's the only one.. then.. cough..
The problem is how. I can't use magic. Opening the door would feed the flame. Could I snuff it out using magic..? How would that even work..?
Think, Fi, think..! You have to do something.
Suddenly, a vision blitzed through my mind. It was.. shockingly vivid. This.. was an insight!
If I struggle with fire magic.. because I'm scared of fire.. then extinguishing a fire could help my trauma? How do I even go about this.. Do I reverse the process of casting a fire spell? Hmpf..
Enough thinking. I have a chance, it's worth trying. With as much bravery as I could muster, I tried to break the door open. Crack! It worked. The door flung open, and then...
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-Eric
Gah! I nearly fell just now. Hopefully, Ophilanna will be okay. She's strong and brave, I know.. but I can't help worrying myself sick over leaving her down there.
Mmm. She'll be fine. I have to believe in her, since Ophi came in with me. I don't want to betray her bravery and comraderie.
As soon as I stepped onto the second floor, smoke filled the hallways of the orphanage I used to live in. No soul to be seen. They'd been wiped from the ground, apparently. I grew sicker with worry with each step. Nonetheless, I continued onwards. I just have to try and listen for screaming.
Almost all the doors were open. Before passing each room, I peeked inside, making sure nobody was there.
So far, no fire. Weird. Was it downstairs..? Where Ophi was...
Argh! Stop worrying..
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-Ophilanna
Stop worrying about the fire. Stop worrying about everything. Focus.
The door had flown open, but what greeted me wasn’t a raging inferno—yet. The room beyond was thick with smoke, the air oppressive, as if every breath clawed at my throat. In the corner of the room, a flicker of orange light danced maliciously. A pile of what used to be curtains was ablaze, the flames licking up the walls. My knees buckled again, the heat and smell overwhelming me.
Get it together. You don’t have time for this.
The fire wasn’t massive yet. This was my chance. My trembling hands reached out instinctively, feeling the spark of magic within me that I’d buried so deep it almost didn’t feel like it existed. I’d never been able to properly cast, especially anything related to fire, but if I didn’t act, this entire building could become an inferno.
The thought of flames consuming the walls, the rooms, the children Eric was so desperately searching for—it was too much.
I shut my eyes tightly. The memory came back unbidden: flames roaring around me, the unbearable heat, my mother’s talisman scorching against my skin. No! Not now.. not here.
“Focus,” I whispered to myself, my voice shaky but resolute.
I knelt and stretched my hands toward the fire. I didn’t know exactly what I was doing, but the sensation in my chest—the quiet hum of magic—seemed to guide me. Fire was destruction, yes, but it was also energy, motion, life. What if I could stop its hunger, take its breath away?
The vision I’d had earlier came back to me, vivid and raw. Reversing fire. Drawing it inward. Containing it.
I reached deeper into myself, feeling the magic flow reluctantly through me like water through a clogged pipe. I was scared, terrified even, but there was no choice. The talisman in my pouch seemed to grow warm against my side, almost like a reassuring hand.
With all my will, I tried to reverse the fire’s energy. At first, nothing happened. The flames continued their greedy climb, snapping and crackling with defiance. But then, a strange coldness began to creep into my hands. It wasn’t physical—more like the absence of heat, the absence of motion, as if I denying it of its energy. And so, the fire raged on as it continued to grow weaker, weaker, until I saw it flicker.
The fire wavered.
It was working.
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-Eric
Each step felt heavier, the smoke got noticeably thicker. I was starting to feel dizzy, my lungs burning with each breath.. and the second floor was eerily silent, save for the crackling of distant flames and the occasional creak of wood. I could hear screams, shouting, vibrations.
I’d checked three rooms already. Empty.
The fourth door was slightly ajar, and I pushed it open carefully. Inside, two of the younger children were huddling under a bed, shaking and sobbing. Their faces were distraught. My gaze wandered across the room. Bloodstains, spritzed across the wall. One of the maids, Alisha, had been.. killed. The perpetrator? Nowhere to be seen. Two of the children are alive. Where's the rest?
“E-Eric?” one of them whimpered, their small voice barely audible over the growing chaos.
“It’s me,” I said, dropping to my knees and reaching for them. “Come with me, Darius, Yana, we have to get out of here.”
Both of them crawled out hesitantly, and I wrapped an arm around each of them, holding them close for a moment.
“You’re safe now,” I murmured, even though I wasn’t sure if it was true, at all.
As we made our way back to the staircase, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ophi. She was still down there, likely struggling with her own fears.. The fire. She was brave, no doubt, but the thought of her facing that fire alone gnawed at me.
The second floor was becoming hotter, the air harder to breathe. I knew I couldn’t waste time worrying. These kids needed me. The orphanage needed me, and Ophi needed me to trust her.
Once I told them to hurry downstairs and meet up in front of the orphanage, out of harm's way, I'd hastily stumble back checking the rooms I haven't gone through. Some of them seemed... peculiar, to say the least. I would see a dead person here or there, but none of the children. As if they vanished into thin air.
And yet, screams and pleas for help were growing louder, like thunder during storm. I needed to find them, and find them fast. With a fire bellowing below and around us, it wouldn't take long until we'd all be trapped in this monster's stomach. A door was leaning open, there... right in front of me. I felt so dizzy.. but had to push on.. let's see..
Wait! "What are you doing here?", I exclaimed, out of shock, when I extended my hand to...
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-Ophilanna
The flames sputtered and shrank, their aggressive dance losing its vigor. My hands felt cold as ice now, as though I’d drained the fire’s very essence into myself. The room became eerily quiet, save for the faint crackling of embers.
It worked. I did it.. I couldn't believe it. My fear.. is overcome.
I stared at the smoldering remains of the curtain, disbelief washing over me. For a moment, I couldn’t move. My body felt like it had been wrung dry, the effort of extinguishing the fire leaving me shaky and lightheaded, and there, I noticed a cloaked figure outside. Steps from above, too, that treaded downstairs.
There wasn't time to rest, not much. Staggering out of the room, I clutched to the wall for support.
My chest heaved, each breath feeling like it barely counted. Eric. I need to find him. Tell him I did it. Help him...
Suddenly, I felt as if I was locked in place, a sound froze me. A low, but deliberate creak from somewhere, somewhere down the hall.
Someone's here. We must have missed them. Judging by the light treading, it wasn't any of the children.
Hiding my presence, I pressed myself against the wall. Believe me, my heart was pounding in my ears. My fingers brushed against my side, where I had my mother's talisman, tucked away safely in its pouch. This.. it's luck I need. To help. The familiar weight of the talisman grounded me, telling me to stay calm, it'll be fine.
Peering around the corner, I saw a shadow move near the far end of the hallway. A tall figure, cloaked and menacing, was pacing toward the staircase leading to the second floor. I could hardly even see the afterimage. That was bound to be a danger...
Eric! I need to warn him. If they're heading upstairs.. it's for him. A trap.
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-Eric
I froze at the sight before me. A cloaked figure stood at the far end of the hallway, their silhouette eerily illuminated by the dim glow of embers creeping along the walls. They turned slowly, their face obscured by the deep hood, yet I could feel their gaze piercing through me.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded, my voice trembling with a mix of anger and fear.
The figure didn’t answer immediately. Instead, they took a deliberate step forward, their boots echoing ominously against the wooden floorboards. My body tensed, every instinct screaming at me to run—but I couldn’t. Not with the children’s lives hanging in the balance, up in the air where the rest of them were.
“They’re gone,” the figure said finally, their voice low and distorted, as if filtered through layers of shadow. “You’re wasting your time. In fact..”
“Gone?” My voice cracked, the word barely escaping my lips. My chest felt hollow, the air heavy with smoke and dread. “What do you mean? Where are they?”
"Let me speak.", the figure chuckled darkly, a sound that sent chills racing down my spine. “You should have stayed away, Eric. Now you’ll suffer for betraying us. This is entirely your fault.”
I didn’t wait to hear more. Clenching my fists, I forced my feet to move, stepping toward them. “Where are my siblings?” I shouted, desperation boiling over into anger.
The figure didn’t flinch, didn’t react. Instead, they raised a hand.
Step upon step, they inched closer towards me, with each their hand at a higher point than before.
Then, as if whizzing through the air, like the blade of a guillotine cutting the neck of one to be executed...
The figure slapped me. And for an ordinary slap, right to the face, it hurt so much. As if there was more behind that hit.
"Had you just... not aligned with that wench, the Queen! You just had to...", the perpetrator of this mess started weeping. Every move, calculated, but now, they were crying. It wasn't a battle in the physical sense, but definitely... taking all of my restraint to break down from confusion.
"And worst of all, I do my best.. to make way for a new world.. where our kind can live.."
They paused momentarily, breathing in and out, before rattling off their monologue.
"Just to see my very daughter.. be her pawn. That damned wench!" The figure's fist clenched.
Not even a moment was what it took for me to recognise, finally, the identity of this person, the terrorist, the perpetrator behind this vicious targeted attack.
My mother. The one who raised me, my siblings.
The shadows around us seemed to take in the both of us. An unnatural chill crawled up and down my spine. My legs, like lead, and my breath so shallow due to the oppressive weight of this reality sinking in, I had a hard time.. standing up, straight.
Looking into the eyes of mother, the terrorist, I saw true fear and anxiety. Terror. Behind the tears, the mask, the facade, a little fawn that wanted nothing but safety, but was shot by a hunter and devoured. A part of a whole, but nonetheless a hole that eats, eats, and eats.
Tears trickled down her cheek, quickly followed by a loud slap. From me. Across her face.
"What do you think you're doing to my siblings, you monster?!"
With a voice as aggravated as I could muster energy for, I laid into her. As if I was channelling all I could, from beating and battering her to a pulp, into verbally reducing her into ashes.
"We went through hell after you left, just left us here! Beaten, bruised, bullied... Starved! And you?!"
Wiping my tears in my elbow, I continued to lay waste to her horrific fantasies.
"Joined a cult, whatever it is, to change the world... to lament me for doing the same. While I still support my loved ones. The ones YOU abandoned!", slowly, my voice began to crack at its seams.
"You have a lot of nerve to appear here and talk of revenge. To rope in my siblings.. for my actions. Get out of here right now!"
I never talked to mother, or anyone else for that matter, in this fashion. Never had I anticipated that, either. But.. I just got really angry.. at her. What she did. Her accusations... it hurt. It hurts, still. It will hurt for a long time. Someone I agonised over, betraying you..
She, with her dried crocodile tears, just stood there. Nothing happened for forever.
But then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement.
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-Ophilanna
There he was—Eric, standing frozen in the middle of the hallway, face-to-face with the cloaked figure. I gritted my teeth, my body trembling with exhaustion, but still surging with a fierce determination.
They’ll hurt him if I don’t act! Please.. stay safe, Eric!
The cloaked figure was distracted, their focus entirely on Eric. Shadows writhed around their outstretched hand, growing darker and more sinister with each passing moment. The hand raised, and raised... until it came down like a guillotine.
A slap.
Instead of hazardly trying to cast a spell at the both of them and getting Eric hurt, I waited, hid.
They seemed to be discussing something. The cloaked figure lowered their hood, it was a woman.
She looked, uncannily, like Eric. I could hardly make out what they were talking of, some words I picked up were "Trap", "Daughter", and "Fault". Eric shouted down the intruder, slapping her as well. Then it got quiet. He stepped backwards, unsheathed his sword.
The figure, though, did nothing. She stood there, ripe for an attack. As if she was awaiting one.
It seems Eric noticed me, then, and called out to me. He told me there was an outhouse the other kids were locked into, I should free them.
"I'll take care of this one!"
I nodded, frantically creeping down the stairs and stairs. Not thinking, not hesitating. Yes, I practically launched myself through the house, out the door, where I saw two of the children weep. One of them, upon noticing my being an elf, said I should help Eric.
"Eric told me to free your siblings. You're safe now. The fire is out.", I comforted them.
After leading me around the orphanage, to the outhouse, I could hear muffled voices, banging against the door. I opened it, as quickly as I could, to reveal most of the children and a few caretakers from the orphanage. I.. recognise them, from when I ran away. From the orphanage, right as I got there.
They were glad to be saved. I told them that the orphanage was empty, save for Eric... who's facing off the intruder.
"The Mother?!", one of the maids exclaimed in a scream. Terrified, she was.
"Yes? Who's that?", I asked.
"She killed many of the maids and locked us, including the children, in here. Two.. weren't taken. Darius and Yana."
"It's good they're safe, then."
I told the remaining caretakers to call for help. Outside, I was heaving for air from all the shock and trauma I had tried to suppress. As I limped back inside, when I opened the door, Eric... practically fell into my arms, and we fell over backwards. He looked.. haggard, hurt, wounded. There were minor wounds all over. Moreover, Eric didn't talk, say anything. He just passed out in my embrace.
I held him tightly and closed my eyes for a second. This second turned into minutes of me blinking in and out of a trance-like state.
Once the maids notified the guard and Granny heard of the mess, she must have come by...
"You've really done it now, haven't ya?", the Madame said, poking me with her cane. She bent forward, ruffling my hair. Behind her, I could only see.. an elven beauty of fair complexion. I blinked.
"I'll take care of both of them. Is that fine with you, Lisette?"
"Ain't a chance it wouldn't. I'll come by tomorrow then to teach the brat a lesson. But seems she did well all on her own."
"They grow up fast, don't they?", the elven woman said, as we were carried to her mansion.
Right after, I passed out.