And that's what kept him going.
The path curved, and the fields began to open. That's when the first line of smoke revealed itself, cutting the sky like a dark scar.
"Elise…" Elian whispered, his voice choking.
She had seen it too.
And then, a second column of smoke. Then the flash. Muffled explosions echoed in the distance, like thunder caught in the earth's throat.
When they crested the final hill, Elian's world shattered before his eyes.
The farm was burning.
The field where he'd grown up, where he'd learned to walk and plant, had been reduced to glowing embers. The barn had collapsed. The house was a flaming skeleton. And the animals… all dead. Their bodies piled, still burning, releasing the acrid stench of scorched flesh that made Elian cover his face with his arm. It didn't help. The air was thick with death.
Deep furrows scarred the earth, as if something — or someone — had swept through the fields with magical explosions. Signs of battle were everywhere: broken protective circles, dried-out lances of energy hanging in the air, and arcane residue flickering in hues of purple and scarlet.
Elian screamed:
"Emanuelle! Mother! FATHER! Anthony!"
Only the sound of ruin answered him.
And then — a presence emerged.
At the edge of the clearing, surrounded by a trembling, unstable protective circle, stood Marduk.
His battle cloak was torn. Blood streaked one side of his face. His left shoulder hung limp, as if broken. But he was alive — and fighting. His right hand channeled beams of pure energy, firing them into something hidden in the smoke. With each shot, his body faltered. But he didn't stop.
He was alone. And still resisting.
Elian tried to dismount, but Elise grabbed his arm.
"Wait. You'll get hurt. I'll handle this."
But Elian couldn't wait.
"Not again," he thought. "This time, I won't just stand still."
His eyes — still red from crying — now burned with the fury of two lifetimes. The pain that haunted him since the day Luciana was killed because of him, the blood that soaked his childhood, all screamed in unison:
Not again.
"I have to get to them…" he whispered. "Even if it's the last thing I do."
★★★
The horse hadn't even stopped when Elian jumped from the saddle.
"Elian, wait!" Elise shouted, but it was too late.
His feet hit the ground hard, and he tumbled across the ruined earth, his shoulder scraping against stones and ash. Pain exploded through his left side, wrenching a ragged groan from his throat. But he stood anyway — staggering, trembling, his knees scraped and his hands bleeding — and ran.
"MARDUK!" he screamed, his voice cracking. "MARDUK, WHERE ARE THEY!?"
But before he could reach the wounded mage, a fireball came hurtling toward him, tearing across the sky with a burning roar. The flames were about to engulf him when Elise reacted.
"Vallum Terrae!" she shouted.
The ground rose into an abrupt wall of stone and packed earth, muffling the blast with a dull thud. Scorching fragments ricocheted everywhere, casting crimson light on Elian's face — as if blood were being flung into the wind.
On the other side of the barrier, Elise knelt beside Marduk.
The mage was on his knees, his left arm useless, covered in blood and soot. His eyes were half-closed, teeth clenched against the pain. The robe of the Tower of Wisdom was torn and stained, his hair singed. Yet still, he clutched his staff — and his magic, though faint, still burned at the tip.
"Hold on. I'm here," Elise said, already casting a stabilizing spell. "Elian, get behind me!"
But he didn't hear her.
"Where are they!?" he screamed again, tears in his eyes. "My mother! My sister! Anthony! WHERE!?"
Marduk's breath was labored, his voice rough.
"I... I managed to get three of them out… I dug a trench behind the silo, with an illusion field. They're hiding there…"
"Who!?" Elian cried, dropping to his knees beside him. "Who!?"
Marduk coughed blood.
"Anthony… Emanuelle… Maria…"
Elian's legs buckled.
"And… and Arthur?" he asked, barely able to breathe. "Where's my father!?"
Marduk hesitated.
"He… stayed. Said he had to hold them off… to buy time for the escape."
"WHERE!?" Elian shouted, desperate. "WHERE IS HE!?"
"He was taken…" Marduk murmured, his gaze heavy. "One of them dragged him into the forest… behind the house…"
Elian sprang to his feet. A primal, blind urge to run into the darkness seized him. But just then, a spear of stone erupted from the ground, shot like a treacherous arrow.
"WATCH OUT!" Gremory roared.
The ground froze instantly — a wall of ice rose, and the spear shattered against it. Razor-sharp shards flew, slicing Elian's arm, but he didn't stop.
Elise ran to him, grabbing his shoulder hard.
"Elian! Calm down!"
"CALM!?" he shouted, wide-eyed and trembling. "How can I be calm!? He might be dead! I can't…"
"What could you do — as a five-year-old child!?" Elise yelled back, her voice sharp as steel.
The words hit like a slap. Elian stepped back, chest heaving.
Silence.
His body trembled, his wounded hand clutching his robe over his heart, as if trying to hold it together.
He remembered.
The blood. The smell of gunpowder. The shot that threw him to the ground. The chaos. And then — Luciana's lifeless body… not because she was protecting him, but because he did nothing. Because he was the first to fall. Because she had no choice but to stay by his side — and die there too.
It was the same now.
The same helplessness. The same guilt.
"Elian…" Elise said, gentler now. "We'll find him. But first, we have to make sure your mother, your sister, and Anthony are safe. Understood?"
He shut his eyes tight. Took a deep, shaking breath that sounded like a swallowed sob.
"…Okay." he murmured, voice broken. "Okay…"
Marduk pointed with effort toward the silo, conjuring a faint light on his staff.
"Go that way… follow the crystals. I marked the path with illusion light. They're still within the containment field. But be careful… more enemies are near."
Elise nodded.
"Gremory, hold the rear," she said, turning to the mage still facing enemies at a distance. "If possible, take the last one alive."
Gremory spun on his heels, his combat cloak swirling like a living shadow. His voice replied between spells:
"I already killed one. The other is surrounded."
That's when Elise saw him clearly.
That face.
That magical signature.
Her eyes narrowed.
"…Kreld."
The name fell like ancient poison — not in surprise, but in recognition.
Something far darker than mere thieves lurked in that night.
And Elian, though he didn't fully understand, felt deep in his chest that this was only the beginning.
The fire still burned around them.
The night had only just begun to bleed.
★★★
The flames still danced across the fields, painting the sky red.
Elian walked with Elise beside him, his body aching, his feet stumbling over furrows and glowing embers. Marduk, though wounded, kept behind them, sustaining the ice shield with frail but persistent magic.
Then — a new blast sliced the air. A sphere of fire, cutting through the night like a poisoned comet.
"Down!" Elise cried.
But Marduk had already raised his hand. The ground trembled, and a wall of earth burst upward, blocking the attack inches from Elian's face.
The explosion echoed with a roar, magic and crystal shards flying in all directions.
Elian fell to his knees, ears ringing, chest heaving. But he didn't back down. He stood — shaky — and kept going.
Behind them, hoofbeats fell silent. Gremory had stopped.
And then — like two worlds parting — the night split between escape and battle.
★★★
At the rear
Gremory walked with steady steps, his cloak rippling behind his lean frame. His staff carved the air with a cold glow, and the field before him froze with a crack.
Kreld responded with a twist of his arm. A spiral of fire tore the earth, melting the ice with a burst of searing steam.
They advanced.
Gremory struck first: three crystal spears shot from the ground, swift and silent.
Kreld leapt, twisting midair — and countered with a blade of compressed ash. It extended like a claw, slashing the air before Gremory's chest.
The mage blocked with his energy-wrapped forearm, but the blade flung him three meters back.
Wordlessly, he slammed his staff into the ground.
From the soil, pillars of ice erupted like the fangs of a slumbering beast.
Kreld snarled and extended his claw-shaped hand.
The frozen columns imploded before reaching him, turning into needles he fired back.
Gremory dodged, spinning midair like an ancient warrior, landing with a fist to the ground. From it, a web of frozen roots spread out, trapping Kreld's feet.
"Hmph," the enemy muttered for the first time.
But instead of breaking free, Kreld crouched… and released a wave of heat from within himself.
The roots evaporated in a blazing roar.
Gremory was thrown back.
His body rolled across the ground, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Still — he stood. A faint smile appeared. The first time in years he felt he might die.
Kreld launched another blast.
Gremory froze the ground.
Fire and ice collided — two primal forces trying to rip the world apart.
And in that conjured hell, the two vanished — the night swallowing the battle like a secret between monsters.
★★★
Along the path of ruins
"There…" Marduk whispered, nodding ahead.
Among the field's shadows, behind the old burned silo, a subtle distortion shimmered — as if the world itself trembled, a mirage of heat. The illusion field.
Elise raised her hand and murmured an arcane password.
The magic veil dissolved.
The air wavered… and there they were.
Three bodies huddled together, hidden among the rocks.
Maria held Emanuelle to her chest, hands shielding the girl's eyes. Anthony lay beside them, his arm over them both — as if he alone could shield the world.
Elian froze.
For a moment, his feet refused to move. His chest filled with something that hurt more than fear — a cruel kind of relief, a reunion drenched in blood and ash.
"Mother…?"
Maria looked up.
The silence of that moment was like the final second before rain.
She ran.
"ELIAN!" she screamed, her voice breaking into sobs.
He ran too.
They fell into each other's arms, clutching like lifelines.
Emanuelle cried his name and wrapped her tiny arms around him in desperate embrace.
Anthony collapsed to his knees, his body shaking with sobs.
"You're alive… you're alive…" Elian repeated, over and over, unable to stop.
Elise watched from a distance, her robe still streaked with ash, her eyes alert.
But for a moment… just a moment, she allowed herself to feel.
Yet this wasn't the end.
It was only the first victory.
And somewhere in the shadows of the forest, Arthur was still missing.