Zephyr’s POV

'Lyon is... It's all my fault, it's all my fault.'

If I didn't lie Lyon wouldn't be... He was but a mere boy wanting to explore the world. No, he wasn't a mere boy; he was an Elemancer at the age of four. That was unheard of, and I... for my selfishness... for the sake of my own mental well-being, stripped it all away from him.

'What have I done? What have I done?'

"Snap out of it!" Seth's voice boomed in my mind once more, snapping me out of my self-deprecation and grief.

The cacophony of painful, agonizing screams finally reached my ears in deafening choruses. The hunting dream of my flesh peeling off and burning before me resurfaced in my mind, and shivers ran down my spine. There was only one word to describe what I was witnessing: carnage.

People scattered in all directions in chaotic manners. Some were ablaze, frantic in their escape, while others rushed to secure their own safety. Amidst the pandemonium, the children, the fortunate enough to escape the annihilation, cried out in helpless desperation. Some would snatch them up in their fleeting urgency, but most would leave them unnoticed. Buildings crumbled, counters erupted in flames, and the carriages were lit up in flames, blocking the roads as they connected one fiery building to the other.

The phoenix ascended high in the sky, and my attention turned away from the living hell around me. At that moment, all the surrounding sounds drowned in my ears. No agonizing screams, no sizzling of fire—just the mythical beast suspended above, scanning the area.

Kraa-aww!

At its deafening cry, and I could feel the blood rushing to my ears.

"Snap out of it, damn it! You send two of the three children you take care of away, do you want the third one to die as well!?" Seth's voice boomed again, jolting me from my daze, but it sounded muffled… as if he was fading away.

'Yes- yes, that's right. I have to find Orion and Theodore and get out of here.' Breathing heavily from all the smoke and my inability to stay calm, I remembered the way they took for the orphanage. On my way there, the surroundings seemed blurry, the path the only thing that remained somewhat clear through the smoke.

Just as I was about to make a turn, the phoenix descended and another round of screams cried out. Although I was far away from the destruction, a heatwave surged and the temperature increased, feeling like my clothes were fusing with my skin. The pain both from my core and the rest of my body intensified, but with everything on my mind, I didn't care, or rather, I didn't have time to care. With another turn, just as I was about to cross it, the building next to me crumbled down in flames, blocking the path.

"Tik-tak, tik-tak, time is slipping away. If you don't find them soon, there will be nothing left of them." That… that wasn't Seth's voice. It was different. Distorted. Ignoring it, and the surging feelings I desperately withheld down, I opted for the longer route, picking up my pace.

I paused when the phoenix ascended again. This time, it didn't let out a cry; instead, it meticulously scanned the depression it created. Our eyes crossed and the moment they did, the phoenix immediately dove again, only this time, I was its target.

It opened its beak and white fire shined inside its throat, the image of white flames eclipsing every color around me, flashing in my mind. Frozen in terror, there was nothing I could do but wait for my end.

"Yes, that's it! Just stay there and die! You couldn't save them anyway!" The voice howled with deranged laughter, taking pleasure in my inability to move.

With boiling rage, I clenched my fist and punched myself over my damaged core. Thunderous waves of pain coursed through my body, dropping me to my knees. The agony suppressed my terror, allowing me to regain control over myself."

Just as the white inferno launched, I averted my gaze and jumped out of the way behind a burning counter. The roaring crackles of fire reached closer to my ear, and for a moment, I thought it was all over. Opening my eyes, however, I was fine. Not even a part of my robe was touched by the flames.

Glancing back, the fire had missed me only by an inch and the phoenix flew past over me, continuing its relentless destruction on its path. The only positive outcome was that by evaporating the building behind me, I had finally reached the orphanage, or at least what was left of it.

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More than half the building was destroyed while the other half was burning. At the front gate, a giant bolder was half-burying a body. Reaching closer, my heart ached, and I reached for my stomach, wanting to puke. The bolder had completely crushed the man from the waist up.

Conformation wasn't needed. That was Orion, one arm extending for the inside of the building.

"Ah, there goes Orion. Theodore is the only one left, or is he?" The twisted voice laughed hysterically.

"SHUT UP!" I yelled, but there was no response.

Waah! Waah!

A cry fell on my ears. My head spun for the burning door of the orphanage. Breaking it down with pure force, I looked left and right as the cry grew louder, but no one was there to be seen. I raced for the second floor, the entire building quaking as chunks of the ceiling tumbled down, blocking the staircase's end.

The crying abruptly stopped, and my heart skipped a beat.

'No-no-no-no-no-no-no!'

"Ah... And there goes Theodore." The sinister voice mocked, sinking me deeper into the darkness.

"I SAID SHUT UP!" I spat my words as if that would protect my unraveling sanity.

Reaching the staircase's end, I plunked my hands inside the burning piece of wood, and by reinforcing them with quint, I tossed it aside. Huffing and puffing, exhausted, I stepped inside the room.

"P- Papa?"

A sweet yet painfully fragile voice reached my ears from the corner of the room. Slowly turning, I fought to maintain control over my expression, anticipating the worst. There, in the corner surrounded by flaming debris, Theodore was curled into a ball, his eyes swollen from the tears.

As he tried standing up, the building quaked. "P-papa! I'm scared!" He yelped as tears streamed down to his red cheeks.

"Don't worry Theodore! I'm here, everything is going to be okay." I blatantly lied, trying to believe the words I was spouting. "It's okay. Everything is going to be okay." I repeated in a lower voice, slowly approaching.

Theodore seemed to calm down at my words, his tears ceasing and his breathing flattering, and once I was closer, he even extended his arms. Just then, two steps away from him, the building shook, and from above the ceiling, spiky flaming debris rained down.

Time slowed down and without wasting a single second, I jumped and hid him in a hug, bracing myself for the impact. A grimace twisted my face, and I turned the other way as blood escaped my lips, the sticks burying themselves into my back.

"N-no," I murmured weakly, the hardened mask on my face crumbling as Theodore's lips turned from a pink-red to deep crimson.

Shakily looking down, I broke down in tears. I had failed. The spikes hadn't stopped in my back, but pierced through me and even further sunk into Theodore. He was motionless, his head rolled back and his hands clinging to my robe without any strength in them.

"Th-Theodore… Theodore… Theodore…" I repeated again and again, unable to believe my eyes.

Suddenly, his lips moved, and felt my robe being pulled.

"…it's… okay… Papa is here… everything… is going to be okay." He said in a low, barely audible voice, pulling himself up to hug me.

'H-how…? How can he be so calm…? He should be in so much pain… how can he smile…?'

Despite the bloody lips and the burning spikes embedded in him, he looked so calm and peaceful, embracing me with all his heart, devoid of any hint of pain.

The cold wind blew from the open side of the building. With trembling lips and a faint distant voice, Theodore said, “Papa, can you… finish the story?”

Flustered, I paused for a moment unable to think of anything, my mind an empty void. Slowly, I raised a hand to wipe away the hair from his face before give him a red smile. “Of course Theodore.”

Waiting for another moment to remember where we left of, I began. “He was very sad, and didn’t want to be alone anymore, so… to defy his lonely fate, he took an axe and cut himself right down the middle.”

"So that he would always have a friend?" The fire he once held in his eyes was now reduced to a mere-fading spark.

"So that he would always have a friend." I repeated.

"Ah… that was… a nice… story." A lone tear ran down his cheek, and with it took the final spark, his eyes turning grey, gazing into the distance.

A profound numbness coursed through my body. Not because of the fading pain-my senses were already dolling out, but because of Theodore. He wasn't afraid because he was with his Papa. He had his own lonely friend to be with him and that gave him strength to pass away happily, with no pain or regrets.

Slowly, I rested on the wall with Theodore still in my arms; the spikes grinding deeper, but I didn't care. I couldn't feel the pain anymore, anyway.

A horse laugh escaped my lips. Theodore was only a child, yet he taught me something, I couldn't grasp until the twilight of my life. Perhaps that should have been a somber realization, but it wasn't. I was happy. Happy to have to share my final moments with the choice left by my one and only brother behind. Wasn't he, in a way, the lonely friend who stood with me until the very end?

Suddenly, Seth’s figure appeared before me, and next to it, a dark

My breathing calmed, and I could feel my strength leaving my body. Turning to the half-open side of the building, I wanted to gaze into the distance one last time.

There Seth’s figure was illuminated by a bright shine, and was extending a hand towards me in his familiar smile painted on his face embracing me, but next to him, there was another. A dark silhouette I’ve never seen before. However, I didn’t have to to know what it was. The dark silhouette, the distorted voice hunting my mind, was me. My past mistakes, my past regrets, all those things I hadn’t forgiven myself for.

My tired eyebrows closed, but when I forced them open, they were gone.

Beyond where they stood, the scene unfolded, the white flames danced atop the buildings, casting an eerie glow. As my vision blurred and receded, the structures slowly vanished, and my eyes racing to escape until they focused on a distant figure.

Despite the brilliant flames, his hair refused to shine, and the vast expanse of the azure sky reflected in pairs.

Everything fell dark.

A trembling smile formed on my lips. I turned back down to Theodore to caress his hair one last time. "Theodore… he… survived…"