Crimson Winter

For the next few moments…
Not Strixx.
Not Estheria.
No one moved.

The forest went still, except for the low growls in the dark.

The demon beast that had just bitten into me slowly backed off--its jaws dripping with blood.

It returned to the circle, walking around me with heavy steps, eyes locked on me like a predator waiting for permission to kill.

It didn’t lunge again.
It just circled.
Around me.
Around my pain.

On the other side, the Little girl still being circled too. Demon beasts stalked her carefully, toying with her like prey.
I lay in the center, broken and bleeding, helpless to stop any of it.

My mind was spinning. But I had no answer. No way out.

Strixx still stood frozen where she had stopped.
Tears slipped quietly down her cheeks. Her body shook with fear--and rage she couldn’t release.
And watching it all, the white-haired demon smiled.

“Agony… fear… panic.”
His voice was soft, entertained.
“So many things must be running through your heads,

He gave a low, slow laugh.
“Suffering from the inside out. And just watching it…”

He tilted his head, grin widening.
“Makes me feel so alive.”

He turned to Strixx again.
“But this is dragging on now, isn’t it?”
“Let’s add a new rule.”

The white-haired demon grinned.“Well, maybe we don’t need a new rule after all,” he said, eyes glinting with cruel amusement.

“The beasts are getting hungry.”
He tilted his head toward the circling monsters with cold satisfaction.
“This little feast will come to an end soon. The prey they’re circling… will be devoured. It’s just a matter of time.”

He turned back to Strixx.
“Whether you move or not--
It only decides how quickly they die.”

Then, with that same smug grin, he leaned forward slightly.
“But… I have an offer.”
His voice lowered--dripping with malice.

“Leave the elf girl. Leave the child. Walk away from this place… and I’ll let you and the boy live.”
“Isn’t that a wonderful offer?”

Strixx’s eyes turned toward me--wide, trembling, filled with horror.

And in that moment--I snapped.
“Strixx!” I shouted, my voice cracking through the pain.

“Don’t listen to him!”“We came here to help Estheria--we’re not abandoning her!”
“No matter what happens… we are not leaving her!”

The demon’s grin faltered.
His eyes darkened.
“No matter what?” he repeated coldly, glaring.

“Oi, oi, boy. Didn’t you hear what I just said?”
His voice dropped, thick with venom.

“Alright then. From here on out… whatever happens--is what you chose to bear.”

He gave the signal.
A few of the demon beasts lunged at me.
Some stayed in the circle--still pacing, surrounding, watching. But one by one, others pounced.

I tried to move--dodge--do anything.
But the sheer force and number overwhelmed me.

Claws slashed across my body, tearing into flesh. I stumbled back--then another hit. And another.
I was thrown to the ground--rolling through dirt and blood.

Screaming.

The pain burned--deep, sharp, endless.

Across the field, a child’s screamfollowed.

The little girl--

The beasts were biting her now.
Her cries were high and broken--pure terror, pure agony.

Estheria raised her head.
Eyes wide. Shaking.

“Leviaa… no!” she cried.
“Please, stop! Don’t hurt her!”
Estheria clenched her fists, her once-pleading eyes now hardened into a sharp, furious death stare locked on the white-haired demon.

The white-haired demon laughed.
A low, menacing sound--dripping with delight.
“The suffering… the helplessness…”
He stretched his arms wide, eyes gleaming with madness.

“Pure suffering--this is beautiful! What a wonderful scene to witness!”

He shouted with twisted joy, completely unhinged.
Then his eyes snapped toward Estheria.
His voice dropped, sharp and threatening.

“You--elf girl. Don’t even try to do anything stupid.
You move, you try anything… and both of them will be devoured in seconds.”

The white-haired demon tilted his head, flashing a crooked grin as he looked at Estheria.

“I know, I know…” he mocked, voice dripping with condescension.
“That look in your eyes--I get it.”
“If you could move… you’d kill me right here, wouldn’t you?”

He let out a cruel laugh, eyes wild with amusement.
“Too bad you can’t do a damn thing.”

Estheria trembled, her body frozen in place.
Her fists clenched so tightly, her fingers dug into her palms—but she couldn’t stop shaking.
Her lips quivered.

Her throat tightened with the weight of a scream she couldn’t let out.
Tears welled in her eyes, not from fear--but from frustration. From pain.

She hated this.

Being helpless.

Being forced to watch the people she cared about suffer while she stood there, unable to do anything.

A soft whimper escaped her.
She lowered her head, her shoulders trembling.

“I… can’t do anything…”

The thought stabbed deeper than any wound.

Strixx stood frozen, body trembling.
Her hands clenched.

“Stop this…” she whispered.
Her voice cracked.

“Stop this!”

Then--she broke.
Her voice dropped.

Razor sharp. Unmistakable.
“I told you…”

She stepped forward.
“Not to hurt Luca.”

“Estheria stopped moving…”

“Estheria is doing what you wanted… just so the little girl wouldn’t get hurt.”

“And yet--” her voice cracked, her eyes burning,

“the beasts are still biting her… and Luca’s suffering too.”

“You’re hurting everyone…”

The white-haired demon chuckled, mocking.
“Getting angry, are we?”
“So what are you going to do about it?”

Strixx looked down.

Her voice came out cold. Still. Terrifying.
“Tell your dogs… to back off.”

The demon just smiled wider.
The white-haired demon tilted his head with a smug grin.

“And if I don’t?”

Strixx raised her head--eyes burning like molten crimson fire.

Her voice was low.
Cold.

Unshaken.

“Then Strixx… will have to destroy every single one of you demons here.”

Silence fell.
A wave of dark energy exploded from her body--crashing through the forest like a shockwave.

Trees creaked. The wind howled.

The hood of her cloak--
The one that had kept her horns hidden all this time--

Slipped off her head, falling back slowly.
It had concealed the truth until now--
But under the moonlight, there was no more hiding.

Two crimson horns rose straight from her forehead--sharp and glowing with a deep crimson light.

And they were still growing.
With every breath, they stretched longer--driven by the anger building inside her.

A dark, powerful energy poured out of her--
Wild. Unforgiving.

Something the demons should’ve never awakened.

Blood dripped steadily from her eyes, painting trails down her face.

Then--
She moved.
One heavy step forward.
Boom.
The ground cracked beneath her foot.
The demon beasts which has been attacking me and the little girl immediately shrank back.

They whimpered.
Then dropped low--crawling backward, shaking violently in pure, primal fear.

Strixx didn’t stop.

Another step.

The air warped around her, pulsing with overwhelming pressure.

His breath hitched.
His legs trembled.
And as she approached--

The smug grin he wore moments ago vanished completely.
His face went blank--

Eyes widening, lips parting, every trace of mockery erased and replaced with something raw.

“PURE FEAR.”

Strixx’s eyes locked onto him.
Sharp. Calm. Unforgiving.

He tried to turn--tried to run.

“Don’t move.”

She whispered.

And just like that--He was frozen.

Not by magic. Not by chains.

But by the sheer pressure flooding off her.The weight of her presence alone crushed his body like a vice.

Blood spilled slowly from his nose.

Then his eyes.

Then his mouth.

A silent scream trapped behind his teeth--his body buckling under Strixx’s overwhelming power.

Each of her steps crushed his pride, his arrogance, his very spirit.
The closer she approaches--The more he broke.

Now he was trembling--as if caught in a deadly winter blizzard,his body seizing from cold that wasn’t physical,but buried deep in his soul.

A chill born of fear--the kind that strips away every shred of defiance and leaves nothing but the raw instinct to survive.

The demon beasts were already gone--fleeing into the shadows like cowards.
Only he remained.

Alone.

And for the first time in centuries--
A demon was afraid.
A Demon was trembling in fear