They dragged me into a narrow alley, where the stench of mold and filth made me want to vomit. For a moment, one of them lifted his hand from my mouth. I drew in breath to scream, but before I could, he tried to kiss me — like I had seen Mama and Papa do, but now it felt wrong, vile. I shoved him away and received a heavy punch across the face. Pain exploded on the right side, and tears spilled from my eyes before I could hold them back.
That was when I screamed. I screamed my brother's name.
"Elian!"
I didn't even think. It just burst out of me. He was the first person who came to mind. Maybe because we were always together, maybe because, deep down, I believed he would always come to save me.
They clamped my mouth shut again and dragged me deeper into the alley. The rough ground scraped against my feet, the reek of old garbage and damp clinging to my nose. My heart pounded so hard it felt like it would burst from my throat. I had lost all hope. I didn't know what they meant to do, but I was sure it would be nothing good — and that thought filled me with terror. I only wanted to see Mama, Papa, Anthony…
And then, like a sudden flash, I sensed him. Elian stood at the mouth of the alley.
The instant I saw him running toward me, my body loosened, as if the weight of the darkness had been ripped away. Warm relief filled my chest… but quickly turned into despair. Because the boys began to beat him. I screamed inside, but no sound escaped. I knew magic — Mama had taught me the basics — but my hands trembled, my legs were frozen to the ground like stone. Elise later told me it was panic. But in that moment, all I felt was cowardice consuming me.
"What use are these legs, if when I need them most, they refuse to move?!"
Elian was on the ground, being kicked, and still he shouted to me:
"Manu! Please, look away!"
I obeyed instinctively, turning my face, tears pouring down. I trembled uncontrollably, but then the air shifted. I felt a cold, funereal energy crawling through the alley. It wasn't words — it was the weight of his presence that made my skin crawl.
I heard one of the boys beg for forgiveness, his voice breaking with fear. And then I heard my brother's reply, clear, unyielding:
"I don't want your forgiveness."
What followed was silence. A silence so heavy it smothered everything, broken only by the desperate cry of the other:
"You're a monster!"
The words echoed through the alley, dripping with horror.
"If my brother is a monster… then what are you?" I thought, my chest tight. You dragged me here, you tried to hurt me.
Then Elian's voice cut the air like a blade — cold, yet burning with something only I could recognize:
"Monster? Yes, I'm a monster! I will become a monster again if it means protecting those I love."
His voice was filled with affection, and I knew… he was talking about me. About us.
The alley filled with muffled sounds — fists striking, ragged breaths, short cries. I couldn't see, but I could feel their end drawing near.
Minutes later, I heard my name.
"Manu…"
It was his voice, weak. I turned my face, afraid of what I'd see — but the moment I saw Elian standing, bloodied yet unbroken, all fear vanished. I ran into his arms. He was so small, nearly my height, yet in that moment he seemed enormous.
Elise and Papa found us soon after. We were taken to Elise's home, where she tended every one of his wounds. While Elian slept, I refused to leave his side. I lay down beside him and eventually drifted into sleep.
That day, he became my hero.
I was the older sister, but I had been a coward. I should have protected him… and in the end, he was the one who saved me.
A few weeks later, Elian was to begin training with Elise. I cried, I threw tantrums, I begged until she agreed to teach me as well — even if only one week each month. In the end, I accepted it. At least we would still be together on weekends, and during that one special week I could learn by his side. It wasn't ideal, but it was enough to hold onto.
Before leaving, he handed me his grimoire, the very one Papa had given him for his birthday. On its pages were drawn the same strange symbols he sketched in the dirt when teaching me: water, earth, fire, and air. Strange drawings, almost incomprehensible, yet he swore they were important for casting spells without incantations.
"Learn this, Manu. It'll help you keep up." he told me.
In return, I untied my golden ribbon and fastened it around his wrist.
It was my way of saying he would never be alone.
That first week without him, I locked myself away with the grimoire. I spent hours repeating the strokes, memorizing every curve, every line. I wanted, when he returned, for him to see I hadn't been idle. I wanted him to be proud of me.
"Tomorrow he comes home…" I thought, before lying down that night.
Sleep was almost upon me when I heard a sharp crack. Then the smell of smoke. My eyes flew open. The room was filling with suffocating haze, and soon the heat of flames spread across the walls. I heard Mama and Papa rushing toward us, Anthony coughing beside me.
Papa burst the door open, his face stricken with terror.
"Run! Run now!" he shouted.
We stumbled out, and outside the night was aflame. The shadows of trees writhed like monsters in the firelight. Three men emerged from the darkness, and one — voice firm and urgent — told us to follow.
"Here, this way! You'll be safe!"
I looked at Papa, pleading with my eyes for him to come. But he shook his head, his gaze locked on mine.
"Go! I must buy time!"
"Papa!" I screamed, reaching for him. But the smoke blinded me, and Anthony dragged me away.
We followed the stranger to an improvised shelter, a stone outcrop at the edge of the field. The air was heavy, every minute stretching into eternity. I wanted to believe Papa would appear at any moment.
Then Elian arrived. Breathless, wide-eyed, his face streaked with soot. My heart eased just to see him — even in fear, I leaned on his presence, as I always had.
No one spoke of Papa. The silence was cruel, as if the night itself had swallowed all answers.
Suddenly, the sounds of battle outside ceased. The silence was broken by Elise, who rushed into the shelter. But the moment I saw her, Elian collapsed unconscious.
I ran to him, powerless. Time froze. For me, it felt like an eternity until his eyes opened again.
When he awoke, his voice was hoarse, almost lifeless.
"I know where he is… where Papa is."
That look… sorrowful, hollow, as if he had already witnessed the end before reaching it. I wanted to go with him, begged with my eyes. But they wouldn't let me. Elise and Mama insisted I stay. My body was weak, too weary. Fear smothered me, and without realizing, I fell asleep.
I woke before dawn, unsettled by the silence. I asked Anthony and the mage called Marduk where they were, but they only said they hadn't yet returned.
And then, as the first rays of light touched the scorched fields, I saw them. Elise, Mama, Elian, even Gremory — together, carrying a makeshift stretcher.
On it… Papa's body.
My world collapsed right there. My legs gave out, my chest tightened as if something invisible crushed me. I cried, screamed, thrashed. The whole world seemed to crumble around me. The smell of smoke and blood still lingered, burning my nostrils, and before me lay Papa's lifeless form.
The grief was overwhelming, so heavy I didn't know how to act, what to say, where to run. And as my eyes clung to him, the words of one of those men who attacked us echoed in my mind:
"All this is happening because of your son!"
That phrase was venom. My heart filled with something new, dark, a weight I had never felt before. I had always loved my brother, but in that moment, a shadow of anger was born inside me.
I looked at Elian, ready to scream, ready to say it was his fault. But what I saw disarmed me.
His golden eyes were shattered, brimming with fear, guilt, regret, helplessness. Too much fragility in that gaze — and yet, a stubborn defiance too, as if he forced himself to stand for our sake.
And then the pain struck me: I was about to blame the very one who saved me. The one who once told me he would become a monster if he had to — so long as it was to protect his family. How could I forget that? How could I deny the brother who threw himself into death just so I could breathe?