The night sky burned.
Flames devoured rooftops like starving beasts, spreading from house to house while thick black smoke curled into the heavens. What had once been a quiet village now looked like the ruins of a battlefield.
Screams echoed through the streets.
Steel clashed against steel.
Men in dark armor marched through the chaos with terrifying discipline, their boots crushing shattered wood and fallen bodies beneath them.
On each soldier's chest was engraved the same symbol.
A silver crest shaped like a blazing eye.
Wherever that symbol appeared, death followed.
A man rushed forward with a farming sickle, trying to defend his home.
A sword pierced his chest before he could even swing.
A mother ran with her child in her arms.
An arrow struck her back.
Mercy did not exist tonight.
Through the burning streets, a woman ran.
Her long silver hair flowed wildly behind her as she sprinted through the smoke, clutching two small bundles tightly against her chest.
Two babies.
They were wrapped carefully in cloth, protected from the cold night air.
But nothing could protect them from what was coming.
One of the babies whimpered softly.
The woman glanced down, her golden eyes trembling.
"It's alright… I'm here," she whispered gently.
But her voice shook.
Not from fear for herself.
From fear for them.
Behind her, armored footsteps echoed.
"Over there!"
"She's escaping!"
"Capture her alive!"
The woman clenched her teeth and ran faster.
Running beside her was a tall man dressed in a black coat.
To an outsider he looked like nothing more than a refined servant.
But the sword in his hand told a different story.
The blade was already stained with blood.
And the calmness in his eyes showed he had seen battle many times before.
This man was her butler.
Yet the way he moved… the way he held his weapon…
He looked more like a knight.
"My Lady," he said quietly while scanning the burning street ahead.
"They are closing in."
The woman glanced behind her.
Three soldiers had already caught up.
More shadows moved through the smoke behind them.
They were being surrounded.
Still, she did not slow down.
Suddenly the butler's sharp eyes narrowed.
"My Lady… look."
He pointed toward the intersection ahead.
Through the smoke, a young girl could be seen running desperately down another street.
She looked around sixteen.
Her academy cloak was torn and her brown hair messy from running through fire and chaos.
"My Lady," the butler continued calmly.
"That is one of your students."
The woman froze for a moment.
She recognized the girl immediately.
Without hesitation, they ran toward her.
The girl stopped when she saw them approaching.
"My Lady!?"
Her voice carried both relief and confusion.
She noticed the babies in the woman's arms and her eyes widened.
"My Lady… those children—"
The woman gently placed both babies into the girl's arms.
The girl almost dropped them in shock.
"W–wait! My Lady, what are you doing!?"
The woman gripped her shoulders firmly.
Her golden eyes burned with desperate determination.
"Take them."
"My Lady…?"
"Take them and run."
The girl shook her head rapidly.
"I can't! I don't even know what's happening!"
"Because I trust you."
The words silenced her immediately.
The sound of approaching soldiers grew louder.
The butler stepped forward, placing himself between them and the approaching enemies.
"My Lady," he said calmly.
"They will reach us soon."
The woman nodded.
Then she turned back to the girl.
"You must leave this world."
The girl blinked in confusion.
"…What?"
The woman stepped back slowly.
A faint glow formed beneath her feet.
The ground trembled.
Ancient runes began appearing in the air around her.
The girl's eyes widened in shock.
"My Lady… that spell…!"
"Yes."
The woman's voice remained calm.
"An ancient teleportation spell."
"But that magic was forbidden by the gods!"
"I know."
At that exact moment, soldiers rushed into the street.
"STOP HER!"
"She's casting forbidden magic!"
"KILL THEM!"
The butler stepped forward.
His sword gleamed in the firelight.
"Stay behind me."
The first soldier attacked.
The butler moved.
A flash of silver.
The soldier's head rolled across the ground before his body collapsed.
Two more soldiers rushed him.
Steel clashed violently.
Sparks flew through the burning street.
The butler moved like a storm.
Every movement precise.
Every strike deadly.
But more soldiers kept arriving.
A man in heavier armor stepped forward.
An officer.
"So it is true," the officer said calmly.
"You still remember the forbidden language."
The woman ignored him and continued chanting.
The officer's eyes turned cold.
"How nostalgic. Your kind always chooses sin over surrender."
The butler raised his sword.
"Enough talking."
The officer smiled faintly.
"You were always an irritating man, Cedric."
So that was the butler's name.
"Kill him."
The soldiers attacked all at once.
Cedric became a blur of steel.
He cut down the first.
Parried the second.
Kicked another to the ground and drove his sword through a fourth.
Blood splattered across the stones.
But there were too many.
A spear pierced his side.
He killed the man holding it.
An arrow struck his shoulder.
He snapped the shaft and kept fighting.
Behind him the spell circle expanded.
The air trembled with ancient power.
The girl held the babies tightly, tears running down her face.
"My Lady… you'll die if you finish this spell!"
"I know."
The woman's voice never wavered.
Then she looked at the babies one last time.
For a moment her chanting faltered.
Her eyes softened.
"My children…"
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"Live."
The magic circle beneath her feet erupted with light.
The officer shouted in rage.
"Stop her!"
He rushed forward.
Cedric blocked his path.
Their swords collided violently.
Cedric was bleeding from several wounds now.
Still he fought.
The officer's sword flashed with magic.
A white arc of energy blasted Cedric backward through a burning stall.
The girl screamed.
But moments later Cedric rose again from the flames.
His body shook from blood loss.
Yet he still raised his sword.
The officer's eyes narrowed.
"You should be dead."
Cedric wiped blood from his mouth.
"Professional pride."
The officer charged again.
More soldiers rushed with him.
Cedric fought like a man already dead.
Every strike was meant to buy one more second.
One more moment.
A sword stabbed into his back.
Another cut across his chest.
Yet he did not fall.
He stood there like an unbreakable wall.
Finally Cedric looked back at the woman.
Their eyes met.
No words were needed.
He gave a small bow.
A servant's final report.
The woman's lips trembled.
"Thank you… Cedric."
The officer raised his sword.
The soldiers rushed forward.
Cedric stepped into them one last time.
The woman spoke the final word of the ancient spell.
The sky exploded with light.
The girl and the babies vanished from the magic circle.
The soldiers froze.
The officer turned slowly toward the woman.
She stood alone now.
Blood ran from the corner of her mouth.
The spell had taken everything she had.
"You violated divine law," the officer said coldly.
"You used forbidden magic."
The woman smiled faintly.
"Yes."
The officer raised his sword.
"The gods will judge you."
The woman looked toward the sky.
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"My children… live."
The sword fell.
And Liora died beneath the burning sky.
For a moment, the village seemed to fall silent.
The officer slowly pulled his blade free from her chest. Blood dripped from the steel and fell onto the cracked stones below. Around them the flames continued to rage, devouring the last remnants of homes and lives that had once filled this place with warmth.
One of the soldiers stepped forward cautiously, glancing at the fading magical circle on the ground.
"Commander… the spell."
The officer's cold eyes shifted toward the spot where the teleportation circle had been.
The runes were already fading.
Cracks ran through the stones where the magic had erupted, as if the ground itself had been wounded.
"They escaped," another soldier muttered.
The officer wiped his blade clean with a cloth before returning it to its sheath.
"Yes," he said calmly. "But not for long."
The soldiers looked at him.
"The spell she used was ancient," the officer continued. "A teleportation beyond the boundaries of this world. A reckless act… but also a desperate one."
He looked down at Liora's lifeless body.
"Even if they survived the transfer, two infants cannot survive long in a foreign world."
The soldiers relaxed slightly.
"Still," the officer added coldly, "the gods do not tolerate disobedience."
One of the soldiers swallowed nervously.
"Commander… what about the bodies?"
The officer looked toward the fallen butler.
Cedric's body lay a short distance away, surrounded by the corpses of the soldiers he had taken down with him.
Even in death, his hand still gripped his sword.
"A loyal dog," the officer muttered.
He turned away.
"Burn everything."
The soldiers nodded.
Soon the entire village would be nothing but ash.
And the truth of what had happened tonight would vanish with it.
Far away.
Beyond the burning skies.
Beyond the boundaries of that dying world.
Two faint streaks of light shot across a vast darkness.
The ancient teleportation spell had not ended with a simple transfer.
It had torn open the barrier between worlds.
The journey through the void was violent.
The girl who had been carrying the babies had lost consciousness almost instantly when the spell activated.
The babies had vanished from her arms before she even realized what was happening.
Instead of arriving together…
The spell had scattered them.
Somewhere else.
Another world.
Two young boys sat inside a dimly lit hostel room.
A single desk lamp illuminated scattered books and notebooks across the table.
One of the boys leaned forward, his elbows resting on the desk as he tried to focus on the open textbook in front of him.
His black hair fell slightly over his eyes as he sighed in frustration.
"Aeth."
The voice came from behind him.
A younger boy sat cross-legged on the lower bunk of the bed, holding a tablet in his hands.
His eyes were wide with excitement.
"Hey big bro, can I ask you something?"
Aeth groaned without turning around.
"I'm trying to study."
"Yeah but this is important."
Aeth sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"What is it?"
The younger boy scratched his head, thinking carefully.
"Why do the main characters in anime let the villains live?"
Aeth blinked.
"…What?"
The younger boy continued.
"I mean think about it. They know the villain killed a lot of innocent people. But they still say things like 'I won't kill you because that would make me the same as you.'"
He raised the tablet.
"And then later that villain escapes and kills more people."
He frowned.
"So doesn't that mean the hero indirectly caused those deaths?"
Aeth stared at him for a moment.
Then he chuckled slightly.
"That's what you were thinking about?"
The younger boy nodded seriously.
"Yeah."
Aeth leaned back in his chair.
"Well… I guess you're not wrong."
The younger boy's eyes lit up.
"Right?!"
Aeth shrugged.
"In real life things probably wouldn't work that way."
The younger boy grinned.
"So if you were the hero you would just kill the villain?"
Aeth paused for a moment.
Then he shrugged again.
"If someone kept hurting innocent people… yeah."
The younger boy nodded thoughtfully.
"That makes sense."
Far away.
In the fading remnants of the magical teleportation spell.
Liora's consciousness drifted through darkness.
Her body had already died.
Yet the forbidden magic she had used had come with a terrible price.
A fragment of her soul had been torn from her body and dragged into the spell itself.
She could not move.
She could not see.
But faint echoes of sound reached her through the void.
Voices.
Strange voices.
"…Aeth."
"…Big bro."
Liora's fading consciousness stirred weakly.
The voices were unfamiliar.
Yet something about them felt… connected.
"…Why do heroes let villains live…?"
The voice of a young boy echoed faintly through the darkness.
Another voice answered.
"If someone kept hurting innocent people… yeah."
Liora felt a faint warmth in the void.
Two children.
Two boys.
The voices were soft.
But they carried a strange feeling of familiarity.
"My children…"
The thought surfaced weakly inside her fading mind.
She tried to reach out.
Tried to call them.
But her voice could no longer exist.
Instead she simply listened.
The boys continued talking in their small hostel room, unaware that somewhere beyond the boundaries of their world…
A dying mother was hearing them for the very first time.
And somewhere deep within the fading magic of the ancient spell…
Her final wish had begun to take shape.
Her children had survived.