WebNovels

Chapter 11 - Chapter 11: Escaping the Flames

Janine, his kobold mother, held a bow made from a gaseous bow of darkness standing in the door frame. She breathes heavily from physical excretion rushing to her child's room. The weapon fades into nothingness as she runs over to Reece. Her eyes quickly scans Wolfhard's body to assess his condition.

"I'm so sorry for being late! Oh thank the Idols that you're safe..." Janine says going to lift Reece into an embrace. One so tight that it's like she's scared of losing him if he slipped away.

"Y-you're crushing me..." Reece squeaked out while under such pressure from these thin but powerful arms.

"Oh- My bad... Now, we need to go far from here, can you be brave for me?" She speaks softly while setting him down on wobbly legs. She gently places a hand on the side of his face with a strained smile. 

"Y-yeah, I can!" Reece felt the fear pool in his head, a swirling storm about what's going to happen with his family and his new home. 

Janine nods with that strained expression which if a child saw would be fooled but all it did was make a pit form in Reece's stomach. He's fully aware of what's happening and couldn't even tell her to not worry about explaining it to him. The words hang in his mouth ready for her sake, however, he's quickly guided to the living room of their house before they escape.

Grandpa Aurel was popping open a floorboard to pull out a dusty and old travel bag. He quickly cleans it a bit before checking what's inside, his old eyes registers the contents of it for a moment. An annoyed grunt escapes his throat standing up while closing it up then moves to Janine.

"We don't have much pack-able food to take, so hunting is our only choice until we reach the Gnome Capital." Aurel says handing Janine that bag with a grim expression across his face.

She took the bag with her strained smile wavering but gave her father a wordless motion of agreement through a nod. Reece's mother turns to him and lifts his arm to loop the travel bag's strap around his shoulders. It weighs heavier on him more than anything that could physically exist inside.

"Keep this close until we're safe, If you see a chance to run then take it... Please." Janine speaks with hidden dread that shakes her voice as she pats him on the side of his forearms. That expression masking her true feelings bleeds through a bit, desperate for his safety. 

'I can't explain anything to her, I'm stuck witnessing that painful mask...' Reece had to nod but the idea of following her advice gave him dread that coats his veins with a chill. 

Janine's face softens for a moment when standing back to her full height and turns to Grandpa Aurel who pulls out a belt from the same place as the travel bag. It had two sheathed blades on its sides, and he quickly wrapped its strap around his waist.

"Pascal will be here soon, It's time to head out now." Aurel says with a firm tone as he walks towards the door. "Make sure to stand behind me with the child, Janine."

Reece had never heard his voice so cold in the past, his gut instinct can't help but scream about something awful coming. He saw the hellish wildfire outside consuming the village around his home when Grandfather opened the door. The smell of ash was leaking in beforehand but now, it flooded into the house.

He faintly could pick out the smell of burnt hair and something metallic dominates everything else. Those creatures quickly emerged from the flames to descend upon Grandpa Aurel but Reece simply blinked in that moment. There wasn't any sound for what happened when they opened next.

Reece saw each obsidian monster cleaved apart in what he could assume were three slashes that moved through all of them. He looked towards his grandfather as he sheathed those twin blades again with a sizzle and smoke. Sweat began to form on his face along with Reece's as those things created molten puddles on the ground around them.

"Cursed flame demons, those poor souls consumed by this corrupted fire." Aurel mutters looking down at the bodies around him. Their molten remains suddenly cool as a grim chill bellows around him. "Rest well, I was honored to share this kind village with you."

'Wait- Does that mean...' Reece looks towards one of the so-called demons and sees golden traces in their body. It looked like melted jewelry fused into the demon's obsidian skin. There's a click inside his mind to his worst fears. 'Those were people, my neighbors, I knew them.'

As sunk in for him, sounds of a racing horse were heard approaching them. He turned towards the source but relief washes over him seeing who it was. Pascal, his father in this new world riding a guard horse with another horse besides his which was being guided by its reins in his hand. His father wore two wrist guards wrapped in chains.

"Honey bun! I missed you!!" Janine shouts seeing her husband as pressure was clearly lifted seeing him. 

"Sweet tea... I dreaded every second away from you!" Pascal announced lowering his head to her as the horses halted in front of the group.

Janine and Pascal's foreheads meet, a moment of peace between them. Janine moves back from him to grab Reece then plops him behind Pascal on the horse. She goes to join Aurel on the second horse after securing him on the saddle. While Reece's gaze is away from her, that expression breaks to show her tired eyes.

"Wolfhard, my boy, make sure to hold on tight!" Pascal takes the reins of his horse before Reece could speak back and this massive animal took off with its full speed.

'Pascal, be more careful!' Reece internally cursed at his father figure while he grips tightly on Pascal's armor straps. His jaw hasn't clenched since they started to move from these flames but something feels off. 'Wait, our house barely had any fire on it-'

In that moment, Reece felt heat suddenly swelling to his left as this crimson light blinds him. He's ejected from his spot from the horse by an elbow strike. Pascal could only react so quickly to defend Reece but that no longer mattered as he felt his body skid across rough grassland dried by blazing flames.

He witnessed his father stand in front of the poor horse that writhed in pain, its back legs unresponsive to the struggle. The left gauntlet's chains melted from raw heat that had struck it in those few instants which burned against his forearm. A pained grunt escapes Pascal's lips as he looks at the crippling wound.

The figure who done it loomed over Pascal with obsidian armor decorated by countless cracks of burning crimson bleeding this cursed flame around their frame. A mace of red hot metal rested on this monster's side after an attack that'd shattered bone like glass. Those fiery eyes glared downwards to Pascal's firm stance against it.

"Brave soul, will you risk such foolishness to protect the traitor's blood with one's life?" The obsidian knight's voice causes slight trembling in the air with a plume of smoky breath. 

"Of course... I'd never let someone like you touch anyone." Pascal stands firm while speaking despite the pain his left arm is in. He takes his right chain and wraps it around the remains of the left gauntlet before snapping it equally in half. "Aurel! Janine! Grab Wolfhard and ride into the forest, I'll slow him down."

Reece opened his mouth to protest his father but before words could escape his throat, something cold wrapped around his torso. He's pulled up to Janine on Aurel's horse and holds him tight. His sides hurt trying to reach towards the man that's being left behind. His mother's eyes were wet with sorrow when his gaze moved up seeing her face.

The knight watched as they moved those burning eyes burnt into Reece's vision while the distance expanded between them. It holds up their flaming mace turning back towards Pascal, smoke escaping its face-plate. 

"May your soul find rest, Sinner on the side of the kin traitors." The booming voice announces sending down the mace. 

Reece from afar witnesses a wave of crimson flame spill over the buildings blocking his view of his father's fate. He knows deep down that man is gone now, there wasn't anything he could've done about it and a cold pain rests in his chest. 'He only knew my childish act... If only...'

A disgust towards himself paints his thoughts as burning buildings are replaced by trees around them. Lost in his own mind to notice something else, more dirt for his wounded heart but a moment of clarity which gave his heart another dreadful omen.

'None of those bones were burnt and that monster wasn't-'

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