Chapter 08

It was early in the morning, where the skies were still dimly lit, the children still lay on their beds peacefully in deep slumber. Frianne entered the orphanage at this kind of time and entered from the garden entrance, which was very unusual of her. She would usually arrive by sunrise and help Esia with breakfast preparation and enter from the back entrance connected to the kitchen. So, when Frianne appeared from the hallway entrance, it gave Esia quite a fright.

“What’s wrong Frianne. It’s unusual for you to enter at this time and not from the kitchen.” Esia asked while continuing her preparations.

Frianne was unable to sleep, unable to think properly as the words of Osar stuck to her head since yesterday. Even Aniem was worried for her.

“Don’t worry, Frianne. I usually have a good eye for people.” Esia said, trying to cheer up the downcast Frianne. “They’re good people.”

“... I hope so.” Frianne held on to that wish. She also knew that they are a kind hearted couple who genuinely wanted a child.

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The skies have become much brighter and it was time for the children to wake up and to be woken up. Frianne had went to the room where the kids were sleeping and woke them up. The children woke up one by one, rubbing their eyes, yawning, and walking while still half asleep. It’s the typical morning for the children.

After their breakfast, they washed up with warm water heated by Esia. And after everyone was wiped from top to bottom, their morning class was about to begin. They grabbed whatever paper was around and starting using it. Esia and Frianne taught them from letters, to spelling to sentence structure depending on their knowledge level.

After their lessons, the children were allowed to play, but since the outside is too cold and they don’t have much thick clothing, they opted out of playing outside and decided to just play inside. Esia and Frianne played with them, practically letting time pass on. It was nearing time for lunch and they all made lunch together. They slowly learned how to properly and safely hold blades, how to cut vegetables and meat, as well as trying not to cry when cutting onions.

Their lunch was finished faster than they expected, and so decided to eat. The tables were livelier than during breakfast. Frianne wiped some food off the mouths of others, Esia scolded Alana for misbehaving again, but they all enjoyed and had their fill.

After resting, it was time for their second lesson of the day, basic mathematics. Although it wasn’t well received at the beginning, the children have become accustomed to solving math problems using the basic operators with large numbers. Surprisingly, Alana was the smartest among the children when it came to maths, easily and quickly solving them without even writing it down.

Once their lesson ends, it would be play time once more until dinner time. After eating would be lights out and bed time. Such is the typical day of the orphanage. The days are peaceful even with clouds looming overhead. It’s peaceful until the first snow fall comes.

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Night has fallen and the skies remain cloudy as ever. There has barely been any sun for the past few days, or even weeks. Probable sign of snowfall. It was pitch black in most of the areas, save for taverns, gambling dens, and the red-light district. Torches lined the streets but most areas are left unlit. Soldiers patrolled the area in pairs along these dark alleys, keeping the peace.

Somewhere in the eastern district, a pair of guards walked to a certain dark alley that was dimly lit from other sources like the insides of a house or reflections from other torches along the main road. Along their walk, they heard voices of a few people and what seems to be mumbles.

The voices became clearer and more audible to the guards. As they approached, they noticed two adults, a man and a woman. The man was pinning a kid onto the ground and covering his mouth with cloth. It dark but one of the guards recognises the child being subdued. He recognised Veyrr because of his single horn. He shouted out his name and the child let out more noises while thrashing about.

After Veyrr was muffled and bound on his hands and feet, he was lifted to the side of the man. The two adults came walking forward and a little bit of light form the main street reflected into this dark alley. And after their eyes adjusted, the guards saw the appearances of the two adults. It was Gaman and Aldia Komriya but their appearance was slightly off compared to a human’s.

Gaman had two horns shaped like a ram at the side of his head and his hair, which was originally cut short, was long until it touched his back. His face was no longer human as he had a snout of reptile while having a beard tangle from his lower jaw. Although his head was that of a reptile’s, his eyes were similar to a bird’s.

Aldia had three hords on her head and all were protruding from her forehead and it’s as if it was being pulled backwards. Her face still looked human for the most part but her eyes were pitch black with a thin white line stretching horizontally and vertically from end to end, forming a cross-pattern. She had two pairs of wings on her back and her legs were not that of a human’s. It was human-like from her waist to her knees but suddenly thinned down like a needle going down to her feet.

The partner, the other guard, was ready to attack, pointing his spear to the two adults.

“Samuel, go inform the other guards!” The guard shouted. “I’ll take care of this.”

The other guard, Samuel, was slightly dumbfounded by the situation but immediately regained his composure. Without saying a word, he dashed to the direction they came from.

“Kill the other one. But if he goes out into the light, retreat immediately. I’ll kill this one.” Gaman told Aldia while claiming he will stay behind.

“Okay.” Aldia said nothing more and flew towards Samuel.

The other guard ignored Aldia fly past him and prepared his stance against the approaching Gaman who was still holding on to Veyrr by his waist. Since the guard hadn’t moved at all, Gaman was the one who initiated combat and rand straight for the guard.

On the other side, Aldia drew closer to the escaping Samuel. He was only a few more metres to the main street, where other guards, hunters, and other people were drinking and having the time of their lives. Only a few metres yet it felt like an eternity. It felt like the alley was getting longer and longer. But he made it to the exit of the alley. But when he exited, he stumbled. He yelled out that there was a monster in the alley, that the alarm needs to be sounded.

People screamed and others grabbed their weapons and headed towards the alley. There was nothing there, the people hadn’t seen a thing but they all started to move. Because when Samuel exited the alley and tripped, his legs from his knees down were missing. The screams of nearby civilians alerted other guards and woke other people up. Samuel explained what had happened and another guard who was nearby acted immediately and ran somewhere.

Samuel had just realised his legs were missing and the pain suddenly rushed in, forcing him to scream in agony.

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Gaman charged right at the soldier swinging his arm at him but the soldier was nimble and avoided the large build of Gaman. Without hesitation, he thrust his spear towards the monster, but it didn’t even do so much as a scratch. Gaman once again swung his arm haphazardly towards the soldier but was quickly avoided.

Their little bout didn’t last more than a minute as they heard noises coming from everywhere. After a few seconds, bells were tolled. After the sound echoed throughout the eastern district, the soldier had now a thrilled expression. Probably elated by the fact that other soldier and hunters would come his way. Gaman, on the other hand, had a sour expression and only sighed.

“Failed, huh.” Gaman sighed and placed Veyrr down. “I need to end this now then.”

“Failed? Then better surrender and move away from-“

The soldier was unable to finish his sentence as he was shocked by the sudden appearance of Gaman right in front of him. His head was grabbed by the monster and lifted off the ground. While screaming from, pain and agony, he cast magic, sending torrents of winds directly towards Gaman, swirling around him. His clothes were slowly being ripped apart and caused some wounds, or rather scratches, to his body but that’s all the guard’s magic can do to him. His seemingly triumphant face when he casted his magic turned to one of fear and horror when he realised it practically did nothing to the monster.

“Now, it’s my turn.” Gaman declared and used his other hand to thrust into the armour and chest of the guard.

His hand pierced the chest and while grabbing the armour, he forcefully ripped open the front. Blood and mushed organs splattered around and the area. The guard’s body bounced off the ground and ricocheted somewhere like a ragdoll. His torso became one large cavity with part of the spine displayed and loose flesh and muscle dangling from the torse. There was so much force that only a few pieces of vertebrae attached to some muscle and flesh stayed connected to the head of the soldier, still held by Gaman.

Aldia returned to where Gaman was and to her surprise, his clothes were ripped and saw some slashes on his person. Ignoring the screaming and flailing Veyrr, she apologised that she wasn’t able to kill the other guy and let him out into the open.

“It’s fine. We’ll be harshly scolded by Eiulj, but it’s better than losing the child and fighting our way out.” Aldia felt shivers down her spine when she heard Gaman speak about Eiulj. “Here, take the kid. I’ll rendezvous with you later on.”

“Alright.” Before Aldia flew off, she asked Gaman a question. “What happened to you that you got wounded, although insignificant.”

“He can use magic.” Gaman replied as he tossed the head of the soldier, which still had a part of the spine attached to it, to the body. “Now go, I’ll cover our retreat.”

“Don’t die. I don’t want to be the one explaining the situation to Eiulj.” She pleaded Gaman to be there with her at their rendezvous point.

With a nod, Gaman saw Aldia off and began casting magic. He drew different shapes and wrote different words on the formation, looking something abstract. But after he was finished, the image disappeared along with him. No one was there in that alley besides the corpse of the soldier.

Not long before he disappeared, soldiers began flooding that alley with torches. They only saw a very horrific scene of splattered blood and what seems to be meat. When they found the mutilated body and detached head, different scenes flashed through their minds. Many were disgusted and could not hold back their urge to vomit on the spot. Among those who arrived was Osar who also wanted to vomit, but held it in. Not knowing what happened, he could only guess like the rest of the soldiers present at the scene.