"Lady Aurora!" A knight said on the side, saluting her approaching figure along with the others.
Noah and Lillith froze for a moment before doing the same, standing out from the lined knights thanks to her laugh having broken the somber silence.
Aurora sent them a dismissive glance, putting everyone at ease as they returned to standing still and monitoring the children; however, she did not go away, coming closer to Noah, who tried to avert his gaze.
"I see your mind is full of doubts." She glanced at Lillith, who turned pale at her golden gaze. "Even so, do not cause any commotion; we have to be quiet so as not to disturb the little ones' efforts."
"Have you forgotten what your duty as the Sky Rose knights is?"
"No, ma'am." The two of them said in unison with almost robotic precision.
She looked over them with a thin smile before turning around and looking at the fire before them intensify.
"This year, we have chosen to do it in public for a multitude of reasons."
"The selection is a sacred ritual that everyone must follow when being blessed, so who can judge us for simply watching?"
She paused for a moment before placing her hand on the pommel of her thin rapier, lightly wrapping her fingers around it.
"There have been some troublesome reports coming in lately. Words of beasts that came from deep within remnants of ash had started spreading throughout the Cradle, ambushing the believers, stripping them of their own worlds."
Noah's gaze shook briefly at her words, which she noticed, smiling at him.
"Those are not the beasts you have encountered before, Noah."
"How do we know that?" He suddenly asked, prompting Aurora's lips to curl up from amusement.
She pointed at one of the children, the one closest to them, who seemed to be struggling, sweat dripping down his burning skin, which had begun to crack faintly amidst the crackling flames.
"Those children who have been newly blessed are not in pain because of my cleansing flames; they are fighting something within them, a dark force that has been born along with the blessing."
"Does that mean..."
"Yes." She nodded. "The Charred. They learned how to infest fresh minds and spread their seed inside them."
As she finished, the struggling child began to spasm uncontrollably, drawing attention from the startled knights.
Her eyes opened and rolled back into her skull; blood started to seep out from her eyes and nose, turning into ash the moment it came into contact with Aurora's brilliant flames. Her skin cracked and popped like ice, twisting and wrapping over itself to create an outer layer of burned flesh and charcoal.
From the child's mouth, a dry shriek of charred flesh washed across everyone present, giving birth to a beast shedding tears of ashy sorrow.
Crack! Grit!
Twisting its stiffened limbs, it stood up with its arms as another set of legs; the previously clean nails were now as sharp and brittle as burnt wood, leaving traces on the light stone.
"A Charred?" Someone muttered, looking at the beast.
Standing at slightly over two meters tall, its eyes rolled back down, looking at the row of Knights with a burning amber glare.
Clatter!
One of the Knights dropped his sword; the steel scraped off the polished stone. "S-sister?"
His voice shook with emotion; a name came out of him, slurred, impossible to understand. His body, trembling, started taking slow steps towards the creature made of scorched wood and dry blood.
Its form became clearer, with two deer antlers sprouting from its forehead and glowing cracks spreading across its body's surface, glowing with faint searing heat. The charred skin breathed clouds of cold ash, dying the ground beneath it in different shades of black and gray.
As the knight entered its range, he outstretched his hands towards it, trying to embrace whatever remained of his long-gone relative.
His hands passed through it.
Like ice, his body came in contact with the beast and shattered into pieces, scattering across the ground without a sound.
In an instant, three knights closest to it leaped at the creature faster than eyes could perceive and, with coordinated precision, cut through its shell into three segments.
Before it could react, it was already over.
Ash mixed with the blood and flesh of the fallen knight.
Noah looked at it with a blank look, swallowing with some difficulty and turning to Aurora, who remained next to them, not interfering.
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Her judgement was obsolete, and that is why it went so smoothly.
Not asking her questions like 'Why didn't you stop him?' or 'Was that truly necessary?' he placed his hand on his sword, gripping the sturdy pommel with his fingers.
Soon, another scream came from the flaming pile.
***
Struggling in the alley, Valentine tried to move his frozen body, twisting amidst the writhing shadows that tried to climb on top of his chest, most likely searching for his heart.
His limbs held by the charred hands could only struggle as more blood drained from him, mixing with the shadow that swallowed it and turned thicker, emptier than before.
It's... Slowly eating me!
The realisation washed over him like cold water.
The longer he struggled, the stronger the shadow grew amidst it, absorbing him like a delicacy that had to be savoured with time. Its inky limbs were intertwined with his own, clinging to his clothes without any signs of letting go.
Valentine looked up at the moon that hung frozen in the sky, contemplating for a moment before swallowing his doubts and managing a desperate shout towards it, his voice cutting through the silenced world.
"Here!" The shadows slipped from one of his hands, which he used to rip off the ones trying to crawl onto his face, looking up at the starry sky. "I'm over here!-Hphm!"
Instantly, charred hands stuck to his lips like glue, holding his mouth shut to stop him from trying to inform the moon. The darkened nails dug into his cheeks, drawing fresh blood mixed with pained grunts of desperation.
Please, hear it!
He tried to wrestle his way out once again; however, the darkness held onto him firmer than before, understanding that letting this go on any longer would endanger its existence and put an end to its feast.
His watery eyes stared at the moon with desperation; the motionless crescent that had yet to answer his call was simply watching his attempts with no remorse.
Suddenly, needle-like teeth grew around Valentine's thrashing body, popping out one by one in two wide circles, both above and below him, like an open maw of an anglerfish.
They were as white as polished marble, and most likely as durable when it came to tearing through fresh, soft flesh.
Shit!
Cursing inside his mind, his eyes darted in all directions, scanning his empty surroundings.
If only there was something he could find, just a tiny clue, an imperfection that he could exploit and get himself out of its hold.
Then he saw it, a white spark that flickered next to one of its teeth with almost unnoticeable yet perceivable shine. To him it was visible, only for his eyes, which were sharpened by Sunday's healing flames.
So that's how!
He realised what to do immediately; the knowledge of how to escape came to him as naturally as breathing. It was too easy! So easy that he could laugh at himself for not noticing it any sooner than when it was almost too late!
Without wasting a second, he took a sharp, unsteady breath to retract his belly where shadows weren't as densely packed.
Startled, the creature tried to take hold of him, but instead it loosened its hold on Valentine's limbs, just enough for him to tear through its grip.
Followed by sounds of snapping, the shadows that held him in place were torn like old ropes, unable to hold him down immediately.
His eyes snapped at one of the teeth, at the glint around its corner that whispered into his ear with soundless words, and held it with both of his hands, pulling on the tooth while pushing down the hands wrapped around him.
The atmosphere shifted with that decision.
Charred remains that leeched off his blood were now crawling towards his arms, rapidly stabbing through his skin and inflicting many shallow wounds that dripped blood on the murky alleyway.
Shadowy tongues hooked over his torso, aiming to stop his struggles as fast as they could before the moon found the two. Three more wrapped around his neck and both legs, cutting off his oxygen supply and coming closer to crushing his neck.
Despite the pain, he clenched his teeth and pulled on it even harder, forcing sweat of effort to appear on his pale skin for once.
A cracking sound came from under it, this time not from Val's broken leg, but from the tooth where a giant crack had formed without a warning, ready to let go of its precious roots.