Hallie worked quickly and gathered everyone in the most spacious place in town— the mayor's residence. Many were reluctant or distrustful of the promise of relief, but just as many rushed to follow her. Hope came in many forms— and any hope was better than none.

The streets lined up with people because not everyone could fit into the residence; the adolescents alone amassed into the hundreds. As Priscilla arrived, the parents of the ill children all turned toward her, their stares mixed with frustration, doubt, and hope.

Priscilla's words caught in her throat. Seeing their fervent emotions and knowing the children's state, she hurried into the mayor's residence. Inside, it was mostly just the children and several dozen parents tending to them. They were all in pitiful states, practically corpse-like and barely breathing. Priscilla closed her eyes momentarily with the subtle gusts of air swirling around her. She heard the soft, droning buzz that filled the room with its noise emanating from the youths.

"All of you get out and leave me alone with them," Priscilla said as she walked toward the center of the room.

"How can I leave my child?" One woman bellowed angrily.

"If you don't want them all to die in pain, LEAVE!" Priscilla commanded.

"Come on, all of you," Hallie said with a tenderness that balanced with Priscilla's determined commands. "She can help them, trust her, and leave. The young will be fine."

They were reluctant. Some knew who Priscilla was from the night the mayor died. Others were too far or too scared to have paid attention and found it hard to trust her. But through Priscilla's firm commands and Hallie's familiarity— the parents forced themselves to oblige and step out of the mayor's residence.

Priscilla sat down in the center of the room and closed her eyes, focusing on the faint sounds and the beating of her heart as it accelerated. Pain struck her hearing as the shrill drone of countless insects amplified. The entire room filled with them, nestled within the children, feasting on their vitality.

'Bugs... insect-like vermin like the Skriythe and believers from the old world...' Priscilla's thoughts flittered, 'Was my second chance truly a stroke of good fortune or something more?'

'Father, the empire, and even Rin...'

Priscilla shook her head at the burden that weighed on her. There were things she could not see no matter how she tried; it caused her to feel like such a small piece of a grand tapestry, but in time she would find out. It would start by stopping these monsters from attempting to wipe the children out. She turned her palms to the floor, breathing a deep breath of air, and focused a gentle blaze that swirled out from her as the center point, filling the room with its might.

She had to be careful and gentle not to harm the children, but when it came to fire, she was the most confident of all the elements at her whim. Priscilla told them it would be impossible to save everyone, but this was something she could not be sure of until she tried.

As the flames spread, the room's temperature rose to an unbearable degree. The walls glistened with condensation as they rebounded against the force. For Priscilla, it was a comfortable feeling that blanketed her, but for the insects that latched onto the children's insides, it was a hellish torture.

Grueling, lispy trills filled the room as the insects thrashed around within the children's chests. As the temperature increased, so too did the volume of the trills as they escaped the residence and filled the streets with their helpless wails.

It panicked the people who believed it was their children— they wanted to barge in immediately, but Hallie and several women who believed in the chance of survival stopped them.

"Be patient!" Hallie uttered with a groan as she held one persistent woman back.

"But my child! Can you not hear those howls, Hallie Eckhart?" The woman yelled with teary eyes.

"You don't know that it's your child! Does that sound human to you? Pull yourself together for your child's sake!" Hallie retorted as she pushed her back into the crowd.

"She's right, Mari! Those noises don't sound normal..." Another woman added as she grabbed Mari's shoulder tenderly. "You must believe, what other choice do we have?"

Mari broke down into fragmented sobs as she slumped down onto the ground, struck with powerlessness in her legs. "Will it truly be fine, Hallie? Can she save them?"

Hallie knelt and placed her hand on Mari's back. "If anyone can do it, it will be Priscilla. Have faith, Mari."

"Hall!" Jensen shouted as he raced toward the crowd, pushing past the frantic women as he made his way toward Hallie. "Is Priscilla inside already?"

"She is, Jens. What's wrong?"

"We found something, possibly the source of this disaster! There's an abandoned tunnel network underground. We don't know where it leads yet, but it's highly possible to be connected to the count somehow."

While they were discussing, Priscilla remained in an inferno of her own making. The swirling crimson weighed heavily on the building and the children. It was not a force that seared the flesh or soul but a burning that assimilated deep into the body, purging the corrupt and flawed elements that did not belong.

To Priscilla, however, it was a cleansing of bliss, a force that purified her frustrations and fatigue. As her eyes closed, so did the stress building in her subconscious. It took all of her focus and attention, but the flames were increasingly effective. The insects' trilling magnified until finally, it reached a calm.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Coughs stirred as the children retched involuntarily, their bodies pushing out the remnants of the creatures. They stirred and rolled in their half-conscious state, awakening like the dawn of spring. As their blurry vision set sight on Priscilla, they were awed in her presence as the crimson glow radiated off her skin.

Young as most of them were, the older among them were only a few years younger than Priscilla before her execution. They looked at her like an angelic being that radiated warmth and kindness. It dazed them and comforted them. Several of the youngest ran up and embraced Priscilla's legs, afraid to let go.

"It's okay now," Priscilla uttered with warmth as she reached out and caressed their heads. "You're safe now. Do you want to go see your parents?"

The kids nodded vigorously, their excitement boiling over. They may not have known what happened to them while they were unconscious, but still, the kids knew they wanted to see their parents.

"Come on, let's go," Priscilla said. "Grab the little ones, and we'll find your parents outside." With that, she lifted a toddler and headed toward the door— the others quickly followed, with the oldest adolescents taking care of the youngest.

As they exited the mayor's residence, joy and surprise rang out in unison. The crowd gathered around Priscilla with hastened steps. "Blessed, Divine One!" They whimpered as they took to embracing their children. One after another, the parents and youths reunited.

"Thank you, Divine One!"

"You saved my child! Praise the Divine!"

Their rejoicing words overwhelmed Priscilla, who did not understand why they thought so highly of her. Even if she could help them, it was just something she had to do. She could not let the youths suffer through a fate worse than death. And she could not give up on them in their time of need.

Hallie noticed Priscilla's expression and came up to her with a hand on her back. She looked at the crowd and spoke, "Don't treat her like some otherworldly being. Priscilla is more than that. She's our Duchess. The empire's heir! Priscilla Valentine!"

"Remember it as a favor, not as a blessing! One day, she'll need us the same way that we needed her today!"

"Hallie!" Priscilla said, nudging the woman in surprise. "Why did you reveal that?"

"It'll be better for you, dear," Hallie whispered in response. "You cannot run from who you are. The sooner you embrace it, the sooner you'll take control of your fate."

Priscilla mulled the words over. Despite her insecurities and fears, Hallie's words struck a chord and resonated with her deeply. It made Priscilla accept the label quietly. Whatever it led to, she would handle the consequences.

The crowd silenced into a state of confusion, for they only knew of Dukes and not Duchesses so young. But seeing the two women talking, they did not care to interrupt. Their children were walking again, breathing, and smiling. If Hallie said to remember the favor, then remember it they shall. They began to return to their homes with their offspring, with the woman's blessing preserved in their heart.

"Good job, Priscilla," Jensen spoke as he approached through the parting crowd. "You're becoming more and more amazing with each day."

The man smiled before adding, "We found what you were looking for, it seems. Jared's currently checking it out. Shall we go find the bastards that caused this mess?"

"Did you?" Priscilla asked, "Let's go! If we don't stop them, the whole town might suffer the same fate as the kids."

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Meanwhile, Jared was swerving through an endless path of tunnels that seemed to intersect throughout the whole town. Behind him, several men followed. They split and followed the twining paths in the hopes of discovering the root cause of the town's ailment.

At times, their paths would connect, and they'd regroup, while other times, they led in an entirely different direction to the far reaches of the outskirts. They kept pushing onward, however. Eventually, Jared seemed to draw the lucky card as he saw light at the end of his tunnel. He barged out from underground to a room lit with lanterns that encircled the entire perimeter of it.

The stench of death overpowered him as he forced down the desire to retch right then and there. As he looked around, Jared saw the streaks of blood and gore that painted the walls red. Bones littered the floor, decayed, and picked clean.

"What abomination is responsible for such a sickening thing..." Jared muttered under his breath. He was about to dive underground again to mark this area for the others, but the echo of footsteps sounded approaching near him.

He debated whether he should wait or confront. Would the kids be fine now? Could they wait for reinforcements? It was difficult. He wanted to fight, but despite it, he chose to duck down again and wait. Jared sunk into the tunnel and maintained only a hidden line of sight onto the room. Even if he decided to be careful, he still needed to know who was there.

It did not take long for several cowled men to approach, dragging chained women. They struggled, but the men pulled harder on the reins before tossing them onto the pile of bones.

As the women slammed into the bones, the sound of scurrying came from beneath the mound. The women grew restless and struggled to stand, but the men pulled out daggers that pierced into the women's extremities. Letting blood trickle down onto the bones beneath them. They screamed with tears streaming down their faces. But their emotions could not elicit any form of response from the cowled men.

It did, however, elicit a reaction from Jared. Who barged out of the tunnel, lunging at the closest man with all the force he could muster. "You depraved bastards, what do you think you're doing?" Jared roared as he slammed into the man and flung him across the room.

"If you want to hurt them, you'll have to get through me first!" Jared huffed as he picked up the dagger on the floor that the flung man dropped.

The cowled men stared at him blankly and emotionlessly. "Kill him."

A brawl broke out as soon as the words were said. The men wanted to kill Jared, and Jared wanted to protect the women. The only option was to fight. The cowled men were persistent in using their numbers to besiege Jared, but he was a skilled fighter who dodged and weaved through their attacks with ease. It broke down into a standstill where neither side could advance.

No standstill could last forever, though. As one of the women picked up a fractured bone and pierced it into Jared's back with blood dripping down her lips and tears in her eyes, she turned to the cowled men, "I helped you! Please let me go now! I'll forget everything that happened here, I promise!"

The men did not need to waste their breath as a deluge of blackened spots rushed out from the bones and blanketed the bloodied women in a sea of pain as their flesh and blood began to be devoured. The black mass parted as a batch turned toward Jared, following the scent of his bloodied wound.

"Shit." Jared muffled through clenched teeth as he struggled to press down on the wound. He quickly ran toward the tunnel, and behind him, the swarm followed.