"I'm scared, Mama," the boy whispered, looking up at the woman beside him, his wide eyes still unable to grasp what was happening.
"Don't worry, baby. They're here to help," she said softly, squeezing his small hand in hers as though her grip alone could shield him.
The figures surrounding them began to advance, their movements slow and deliberate. Heavy black cloaks veiled their faces, turning them into living shadows. Instinctively, the boy pressed himself behind his mother. He shut his eyes and braced for the worst, but the blow never came. When he dared to open them, the cloaked men stood motionless, as though time itself had paused.
A voice, cold and sharp as breaking glass, came from the darkness.
"What do you want, Diana? You know you are not welcomed here."
A tall man stepped out from the shadows, his presence heavy with restrained power.
"I need your help, Eliphas," Diana said, meeting his gaze, her tone steady despite the dark aura radiating from him.
Eliphas gave a low, bitter laugh. "Help you? After you and your sister betrayed us?"
"I know you're angry, "
"Angry?" His voice deepened, twisting with scorn. "No, Diana. 'Angry' is far too small a word. I am furious. Your little game cost the lives of many of our own. We are still recovering from what you did."
"Eliphas please,"
"Look around Diana, there is death all around us the forest still rejects us and you want help, look at them," he pointed toward the men behind him who looked like they wanted to kill her, "Almost all of them have lost a family member because of you."
"Please, just listen," she pleaded. "Do what you will with me, I don't care. But protect him." She drew the boy from behind her.
Eliphas's expression shifted as his gaze fell on the child. "An Andari…" he murmured, looking down and meeting the boy's scared eyes.
"Whose is he?"
"Idril's," Diana replied softly, lowering her gaze. "She lay with a demon."
Eliphas straightened slowly. "So she bore a child and now seeks to abandon her burden on us again?"
"No," Diana said firmly. "She bore a child and raised him. She changed Eliphas. Then she died saving him."
Eliphas's eyes narrowed, the darkness within them rippling like smoke. "Do you expect us to feel relieved that shes dead."
"She was attacked," Diana said. "Her enemies found her. By the time I arrived, she was gone. I saved the boy before they could harm him."
Eliphas studied her in silence, then asked, "And what is it you expect us to do?"
"Mama?" the boy whispered, voice trembling.
"It's all right, darling," she soothed, though her eyes glistened. "He's going to help."
"I want you to keep him here," she said to Eliphas, "and protect him."
"You know nothing here comes freely, least of all to a traitor," Eliphas said, his tone almost amused.
"I know." She reached into her cloak and drew out a small black pouch. "Take this two one from me the other is Idrils, it should appease the spirit of the forst."
He opened it, and for the first time, a smile crept across his face. "Your core. Without it, you'll be dead by dawn."
"I just want the boy safe," she said quietly.
Eliphas snapped his fingers. One of the cloaked men stepped forward and seized the boy by the shoulder.
The child's panic surged. "Mama? What's happening?"
"It's all right, baby," she whispered, her voice cracking. "It's for the best."
"I don't understand!" he cried, struggling against the man's iron grip. "Mama, please! What's for the best?"
She didn't answer. She only smiled, a small, broken smile, and turned away.
"Mama!" he shouted, his voice shaking. "I don't want to do this anymore! Please, Mama!" But she kept walking, her figure fading into the mist.
Eliphas crouched before the boy once more, his tone deceptively gentle. "Do not worry, child. You'll grow accustomed to it, the pain of being abandoned."
The boy's eyelids grew heavy. "I… I want my mama back," he murmured, his words slurred by exhaustion.
"I know you do," Eliphas said softly, brushing away the boy's tears with a finger that burned cold.
"Can you take me to her?"
"Only if you behave. Will you do that for me?"
The boy nodded weakly. His body sagged, his vision dimming into darkness.
"Then sleep, little one," Eliphas whispered. "Sleep, let the night claim you."