Prologue
"The baby sings her little woes,
While playful flames steal countless souls.
Mystic embers dance and rise,
Painting scarlet across the skies.
The baby only wants to live...
She wants to breathe.
She wants to smile.
She doesn't want to die...
She doesn't want to die..."
A voice—soft, sweet... almost childish—echoed through the sea of fire.
Someone cloaked in white, now soaked crimson with blood, sang the strange lullaby as though performing for an audience that no longer existed.
Around the figure, flames devoured everything they touched.
Homes collapsed.
The streets melted beneath the inferno.
The desperate cries of men, women, and children blended into a single haunting melody that rang endlessly in the figure's ears.
Yet the song never stopped.
Instead...
It grew gentler.
"Cry, my dearest Red-Haired Princess.
Cry until your little heart grows weary.
For soon...
You'll become nothing but ashes.
Cry, my precious little lamb.
Let Salamander's breath embrace you.
Let the flames kiss your skin.
Let your soul... succumb.
La... la... la..."
A smile slowly spread beneath the bloodstained hood.
Warm.
Tender.
Completely out of place.
The figure watched in silence as the flames crawled over human flesh like starving beasts, swallowing every scream, every prayer, every trace of hope.
Not once...
Did the smile fade.
The city burned.
The heavens burned.
Even the wind carried the scent of death.
When there was almost nothing left but ashes, the cloaked figure finally turned away.
Not a single hurried step.
Not a single word.
Only the lullaby lingered in the smoke.
As the crimson mist swallowed the figure whole, the fire continued to dance across the ruins—
As though celebrating.
And for many nights after...
The city never truly stopped burning.