The First Sign The icy, desperate sensation of realizing it when it was already too late.
The same sensation that many youths throughout the Fracture would experience that night.
And the final sensation before their lives were taken.
That was what Kair was feeling.
The liquid slid down the back of his neck.
When…?
How…?
It doesn’t matter!
Kair remembered his uncle telling him: “Only survivors tell stories.” He needed to run.
He needed to flee as fast as possible.
Just moments ago, he had been shouting that he would never run again, and now he was already moving between the vines, running for his life.
The liquid moved farther down, and Kair realized it.
His leg took a few seconds longer to respond.
His hands trembled, and the sound of metal from his clawed gauntlet rang out.
The poison…
It’s paralyzing!
Shit!
“Help…
Hel-” The pleading sound reached Kair’s ears like the rustling of the crimson flowers.
Kair spared a glance.
A brief look between two vines that resembled tree trunks, they were so thick.
Kair regretted looking the very instant he did.
A member of the lion lineage.
The same one who had been provoking Cassian moments ago.
The youth, who couldn’t have been more than sixteen, was right there.
In a kind of clearing formed by several winding vines.
It seemed to Kair as though the world had slowed down.
The youth was floating in the air…
No, something was holding him in a bed of nearly invisible threads.
If not for the youth’s blood saturating the threads, Kair wouldn’t have noticed them.
The most terrifying thing wasn’t only the obscene amount of blood the youth had lost, but what was above him.
Dozens of furry legs.
Dozens of eyes that Kair could almost swear knew exactly what they were doing.
Like a surgeon of death.
The damn thing was dissecting every part of the young lion into anatomical pieces.
Bile rose into Kair’s throat, and he couldn’t look anymore.
He still had to fight for his life.
However, how was he supposed to survive this?
How could he survive after being poisoned?
His left leg finally stopped responding.
He fell.
Dozens of meters from where some insane creature was finishing off the young lion.
Kair found himself on the ground.
“Fuck!
Respond to me!
Come on!
Now!” he shouted at his own leg as he dragged himself as far away from the creature as possible.
A faint glow made Kair stop.
Now on the ground and seeing his surroundings more clearly, he was able to examine the sky above him.
“No…
This place…
It’s a damn trap.” Even the words leaving Kair’s lips were becoming slower as his eyes examined the crimson flowers.
Thousands of threads like those holding the young lion formed a web connecting every flower that grew from the vines.
Or were they stems?
Maybe roots?
Kair wasn’t sure, but he knew one thing.
He had fallen into the web, and it was only a matter of time before one of the creatures devoured him.
And that time had come.
When the sound of rustling leaves made him gather his last remaining strength to attack, he used one of his still-functional legs as leverage, and his metal claws flew toward the sound.
The metal met two deep green eyes.
Not far from Kair.
The cries of several youths could be heard.
But they weren’t cries of despair or madness.
They were clear and disciplined commands.
Above one of the gigantic roots or vines, a black-and-white wolf youth stared at several webs engulfed in flames.
Several creatures were burning and screaming.
Another wolf, this one with red eyes and dark fur, approached Rael with admiration.
“Young Lord Rael.
Reporting.
All wolves with fire-related lineages, along with several other members of lineages with similar abilities, have begun the operation.
I believe we’ve cleared a vast area.” The youth sounded quite experienced at making these reports, judging by his tone of voice, and he was clearly someone Rael had known for a long time.
“Good.
Were the connecting threads preserved?” With his feline eyes still fixed on the webs that formed a great sea of fire below, Rael spoke in a monotonous manner, almost as if he were asking what they were having for breakfast.
“Eh…
My Lord…
They were, but we don’t understand why…” “Enough!
This is an order from my father!
We will maintain it!” For the first time, the young Lord’s voice rose by a tone.
“Yes, Lord!” The flames below reflected in Rael’s eyes, and through those flames, another location not far away was also burning.
Crimson flowers had been stained black from the burning.
The roots from which they sprouted were marked with dark shades, and clouds of smoke began to cover the fragmented sky.
Amidst those flames, like a serpent in fresh grass, a certain princess wandered through the area, slaughtering countless creatures with numerous legs and intelligent eyes.
“Remember…
Last year, the survivors reported that the Crimson Roses were covered in webs.
You must destroy as many webs as possible, but only release the Flowers when dawn is near.
Do you understand me, Elyra Sythviper?!” The voice of one of the old elders of the royal family echoed through Elyra’s mind like a poison deadlier than that of any viper.
Fuck you and your order, old man.
Elyra this, Elyra that.
Fuck it!
If the Flowers are the danger, then I’ll just burn everything!
Flowers, roots, whatever the hell this is, and the webs.
Even these creatures will turn to ash!
The red-haired girl screamed at the top of her lungs as the world burned around her.
The flowers and webs were ridiculously flammable, and with the lineage of an Igniviper, she was in her natural habitat.
“Besides!
It’s Elyra Igniviper!!” The words came out like poison wrapped in pure magma.
Far from the royal court.
From royal duties.
From royalty filled with manipulation, lies, and words laced with deep, invisible poisons.
Here, among the flames and the world burning around her, not even the screams of creatures dying within their flammable webs, nor those of other lineage members whom she casually removed from the path of her flames, could disturb her peace.
Pure and simple peace in watching the world burn.
Her flames.