The Corrupted Draconic Spawn's jaw opened wider, strings of black saliva stretching as it loomed in front of her, its breath rotten.
'All things considered… Being eaten isn't so bad.'
When compared to being left to the Goblins, it certainly didn't feel like it. Plus, just some time earlier, she had held the knife and debated getting it over with.
The jaws got closer and,
"...?"
Akane's ears suddenly twitched.
She could sense someone. A heart beating nearby. It was strange. She could have sworn there was nothing left apart from the monster and the flames.
Akane's gaze shifted.
Hidden in the distance, crouched low in the shadows of burning huts, was…
'Huh?' She frowned.
The female Hobgoblin was watching.
'Why?' Akane asked herself. 'Why is she here? I'm sure that there was no one earlier. She left, yet now… Did she come back? Why? She… Came back?'
Her eyes followed the faint glimmer in the female Hobgoblin's hand.
"...!"
Akane's chest tightened, her heart skipping a beat.
'A key. She's holding a key! That must be the key for… She came back to free me? She came back to save me? Someone… Came for me?'
While confusion and surprise filled Akane's mind, the Corrupted Draconic Spawn screeched violently in her face.
She did not notice at all. She did not hear that screeching at all.
Akane's mind was fully focused on the possibility and idea that somebody had actually come to help.
She was lost in that fragile realization, in that glimmer of hope that,
BAM!!
She didn't even notice as the Corrupted Draconic Spawn stepped back and flicked its tail at her. It landed like a great hammer, caught her across the stomach, and launched her helplessly away.
'Fuck!' Syl cursed internally.
Akane slammed through charred beams, rolled on the ground, and landed amidst the debris of a burning hut.
Wood crashed down on her, and fire roared.
She lay half-buried in the blaze, her consciousness faltering.
Her eyes slowly closed. Fire was all around her… Yet, it didn't hurt. It didn't burn.
A familiar sensation. She started losing consciousness. The flames and warmth… Were almost comforting.
***
For the first time, it wasn't cold.
The child hated the snow that repeatedly covered the village and the land surrounding it. The child hated the cold.
That night, it wasn't cold.
The heat and warmth consoled her. She curled herself up, eager to sleep.
But before long, the heat and warmth choked her.
Dark smoke covered the ceiling.
"Mama!"
The child's voice echoed as she stumbled through her burning home.
Her room's walls collapsed. Smoke and cinders stung her lungs. She ran into the next chamber
"Ma-"
Her cry froze.
Her mother stood, a spear driven through her hand by a man in armor. Blood dripped down her wrist.
"Run, Akane!" her mother shouted as her fist crashed into the soldier's chest, sending him sprawling. She grabbed her daughter's hand, pulling her out.
The door gave way, and they escaped from the burning house.
"...!"
The snowbound village had turned into a blazing furnace. White fields had turned crimson, black smoke hiding out the stars.
The child and mother had escaped her burning house, only to step into hell.
But a quick glance allowed her to catch a familiar figure in that hell.
"There!" the child screamed as she pointed. "Dadd-"
Before her father could fully turn in her direction, before she could utter the whole word,
Zzzzt!
The magic circle that floated in the air a dozen meters above him shone brighter, and a pillar of flames descended, engulfing him completely.
A pillar of fire engulfed him, the mage's spell swallowing him whole.
Static swallowed Akane's mind as the mage's spell swallowed the silhouette whole. She couldn't hear his final shout, she couldn't hear anything. She couldn't think or-
Her mother tightened her grip on the child's hand.
Run, her husband had shouted.
The mother dragged her child through the woods.
"There!"
Arrows pierced the air. Spells were fired continually as they ran. Each step piled another wound upon the mother's body.
Countless tears ran down the child's emotionless face.
The village burned. Her friends screamed. Her father had…
Sniff- Sniff-
Syl held the key tightly before throwing with all her strength.
Screech!
'Yes! Go there!' Syl thought, momentarily distracting the creature from the hut in which the Fox girl lay. 'Come on! Get up! Get up, and run away from here!' She urged, her hands trembling.
The beam groaned as cracks split its charred length. The heat hollowed it from the inside until, with a sharp snap, it broke loose and fell. Embers scattered as it struck the ground, splintering before breaking into flames.
Akane's eyes open. The sight of the flames surrounding her reminded her. They reminded her of her father, of her natal village… They reminded her of everything.
But she wasn't sad. She wasn't sorrowful. Staring into those flames, lying with them, she didn't want to cry or sob.
She wanted to scream. She wanted to shout. She wanted to grab it all and break it with her hands.
The desperation, the despair, the sorrow, and the loss of hope… They had all passed.
All that remained was a smoldering wrath.
Wrath at the fire. Wrath at the humans that took her parents, that destroyed her village. At the chief who gave her away. At the Hobgoblins that held her captive. At the Goblins that wanted to use her.
Wrath at the world that let it all happen, when she didn't deserve any of it.
She was mad at it all. All of it.
Burning. Burning. Burning heat. Extraordinary heat that choked her.
But the heat didn't come from the fire. It came from inside her. From deep inside her. It burned hotter than the inferno devouring the huts ever could.
Her hands clenched, so tightly. They clenched, as if to take hold of it all, to smother it all.
Ash clung to her bare feet as she stood in the center of the burning hut, fire curling higher around her.
Her eyes locked with the monstrosity. With the Corrupted Draconic Spawn.
Akane didn't recognize it as such. She didn't see a beast. She didn't see a monster. She saw it as something entirely different.
The black goo oozing out of its body, the incessant strident screeching, the torn strings of skin furling around its body, its sharp blackened teeth…
That thing, was no monster.
It was a manifestation of every betrayal and every cruelty. It was a manifestation of every evil that she had crossed paths with.
In it, she saw the humans that murdered innocents, humans and Goblins that wanted to force themselves on her, Hobgoblins using her as a currency… All of it, was held within the confines of that creature's dark body.
Hope was indeed lost. The last glimmer of hope had been smothered.
But, right now, Akane didn't want hope. She didn't want to be helped. She didn't want to be saved. She didn't want someone coming for her.
All she wanted, was to expel that wrath. To turn that rage outward, to turn that rage into destruction.
To destroy those evils.
What happens after didn't matter one bit.
'I don't care… If this is all there is to it. Even if I die, even if I never get to see them again…'
The Corrupted Draconic Spawn took a step back, before unleashing another strident screech.
'I just want…'
The spinning flames surged upwards. Smoke bent and twisted. Violent winds fed the blaze further.
'To destroy it!'
The Dragon screeched, and the Fox roared!