Rion ran without knowing where his feet were taking him.
Branches slapped his face, twigs cracked beneath him, and the wind kept stealing his breath.
He didn't slow down. The tears made everything blur.
"Father… you're heartless… you're a monster…"
The words returned to him again and again, like echoes refusing to die.
But the forest didn't stay silent.
Somewhere between his sobs and steps, a memory pushed itself into his mind, uninvited.
---
Paul stood by the house doorway earlier that day, his arms crossed, his expression unreadable.
"You should've told me," Rion muttered, trying not to yell. "About the Fairy Land curse. About outsiders forgetting once they leave. Why hide that?"
Paul rubbed his forehead. "Because some truths are heavy. Too heavy for—"
"For me?" Rion stepped closer. "I trained all these years and you STILL treat me like a fragile child?"
"You trained your magic, Sword," Paul said quietly. "Not your heart."
Rion scoffed. "My heart? This again?"
Paul didn't raise his voice.
That made it worse.
"You don't cook. You don't clean. You can't even fetch water without complaining. You still need your mother for everything. A boy who hasn't learned to hold his own bowl wants to hold the world's secrets?"
That hit deeper than any monster's claw.
Rion's fists shook. "So that's what you think of me…"
Paul didn't deny it.
And then Rion felt something burning in his throat—something ugly, something he never wanted to say but said anyway:
"You're a monster."
Paul flinched. Just barely. But Rion saw it.
"A monster never fades," Rion went on, voice cracking. "It just hides deeper. Even when pretending to be someone's father."
Silence.
Heavy. Crushing.
Paul's jaw trembled—not in rage, but in the kind of hurt that only a child can inflict on a parent.
Then Paul snapped.
A slap.
Sharp.
Echoing.
Rion's cheek stung.
"You dare speak like that to me?!" Paul thundered. "To the man who raised you—fed you—taught you—protected you?!"
Rion fired back immediately, voice shaking.
"And what about when the village boys bullied Lior and Feya? I fought them. ALONE. But you didn't praise me. You scolded me. You slapped me THEN too!"
Paul's eyes widened as if he had forgotten that moment.
He opened his mouth to speak—
Rion didn't let him.
"You didn't see your son protecting your family… You only saw a boy causing trouble. That's who you are."
Paul's temper snapped—he threw a punch.
Rion stumbled aside—
and behind him, a tree split in half with a sound like thunder.
Both stared.
Paul's breath hitched.
He hadn't meant that.
Rion's voice dropped to a fragile whisper.
"…You really are heartless."
He turned away.
"I'm leaving."
Paul didn't stop him.
He didn't even face him.
"Then go," Paul said. "Go.
And don't come back."
---
The memory dissolved as Rion reached a lake deep in the forest.
He fell to his knees, chest heaving.
The water was calm, too calm, and Rion didn't see his reflection.
He saw another him—the man from his past life.
Jobless.
Lonely.
Jealous of the only friend he had.
Starting a fight out of insecurity.
Ruining everything.
"I'm doing it again," he whispered. "Hurting the people who care about me."
He covered his mouth as another sob escaped.
"I have to go back… I have to… apologize."
He turned back toward the village—
But the village wasn't waiting.
---
"We can't delay anymore!"
"We must leave before the monsters arrive!"
"Rion isn't worth all our lives!"
Niana's voice cracked. "He's my son! Please—just a little more time—"
"NO!" the villagers roared.
Paulo stepped forward, trying to calm them.
But the shouting drowned him.
Then someone yelled, "We're risking everything for ONE boy!"
A hand shot out—
Paul's.
He grabbed the man by the neck and lifted him off the ground.
"You dare."
Paul's voice was low, trembling with something darker than rage.
"You dare speak of my son's worth?"
Everyone froze.
Niana shouted, "Don't forget—Paul saved you all, risked his life countless times! But now you turn on him?!"
"That was the past!"
"The present matters now!"
The words snapped something in Paul.
With a single diagonal slash, wind exploded from his blade—
trees splintered, the earth cracked, a house split in two behind the arguing villagers.
Silence fell instantly.
Paulo swallowed. "Everyone… we stay together. No splitting. No chaos."
Rion arrived just in time.
Niana grabbed Rion before he could react. "You're safe—thank the Great Spirit—"
Paul's eyes met Rion's.
There was no anger.
Only relief—and a quiet, unspoken apology.
One family still left, dragging their cart.
Muttering curses.
And the world punished them first.
---
A blast.
A deafening explosion.
A ball of fire swallowed the cart and everything around it.
Then came the screams.
Wings in the sky.
Red eyes.
Claws.
Teeth.
Monsters flooded the village.
"Aegis Lumora!"
"Circulo Protectum!"
Niana and Talia's voices overlapped as their barriers expanded, merging into a dome that swallowed the villagers. It glowed warm at first… gentle… comforting.
Rion blinked through the light, confused.
Then the world outside came into focus.
And his eyes widened.
Their village—was burning.
Flames licked the rooftops like living creatures.
Ash rained like snow.
The ground trembled as distant roars rolled through the valley.
And above them—
Rion felt his throat tighten.
The Astral Barrier, the sky-wide shield that protected their land, was webbed with fractures. It looked like a blue crystal struck by a hammer.
Each crack pulsed with sick red light.
Crack.
Crack-crack.
CRAAAA—K.
Through the final rupture poured flying monsters.
But they weren't birds.
They weren't beasts.
They weren't anything natural.
They had wings of bone and burning membrane.
Their eyes glowed with molten gold.
Their bodies were twisted, thin, long… like something pulled from a nightmare and stretched too far.
Their screams sounded like metal scraping bone.
Rion staggered back. "Wh–what… what is that…?"
Before Rion could think, Paul stepped outside the barrier.
Sword unsheathed.
Jaw clenched.
Not a hero—just a father with no choice.
A monster swooped toward the barrier—
SHHKK—!!
One swing.
One clean cut.
The beast split in midair.
Paul shouted, "Don't leave the barrier! Don't step out—do you hear me?!"
But panic doesn't listen.
A man broke first. Then a woman. Then a family.
"Run! Run! They're coming!"
They sprinted out of safety, hoping speed would save them.
It didn't.
Monsters dove.
Claws tore.
Teeth crushed bone.
Screams cut short.
Rion slapped his hand against the barrier's surface.
"STOP! DON'T RUN! PLEASE—!"
But they couldn't hear him.
The monsters slammed into the dome.
THUD.
CRACK.
THUD-THUD.
Talia winced as the dome flickered.
Niana's hands shook as she forced Essence into her spell.
"It's too many," she whispered. "Too many…"
Rion watched, helpless.
Then—
BOOOOM—!!!!
The barrier shattered.
Light burst.
Wind exploded.
Rion fell backward.
Monsters surged forward.
But Paul took the front line—cutting down the first three that reached them.
"GO TO THE TEMPLE OF THE GREAT SPIRIT! SHE WILL PROTECT YOU!" he yelled.
People ran.
People fell.
People died.
The air filled with screams, flames, breaking bones, tearing flesh.
Rion's heart hammered so loud he couldn't hear his own breath.
A shadow leaped behind Paul.
Rion reacted before thinking.
He raised his wand, shouted—
"IGNIS FLARIUS!"
A blazing fireball streaked across the air, hit the monster—
BOOOOM—!
Paul turned, stunned. "Rion?!"
Rion managed a shaky smile.
"Mom… Talia… Lior, Feya… everyone—go! Don't look back. I'll come soon!"
Niana's eyes shook. "Rion—"
"GO!"
She grabbed the children and ran.
Rion stepped beside Paul.
Paul exhaled. "You shouldn't be here."
Rion's voice cracked. "I know… but you're my father."
A silence—brief, but heavy.
Then Paul nodded. "Then fight with everything you have."
Together, they fought.
Magic and steel.
Heat and silver light.
Father and son.
But the monsters weren't thinning.
They were increasing.
Paul gritted his teeth, planting his foot.
"Rion… step back."
"Father—?"
"NOW."
Rion obeyed.
Paul lifted his blade. Dark essence swirled around it like storm clouds.
"Whirlwind—FANG!"
He swung.
A crescent wave of shadow shot forward, expanding into a spiraling storm.
Dozens of monsters ahead were sliced into fragments—falling like shredded paper.
But when the attack ended—
Paul dropped to one knee.
His skin paled.
His breath trembled.
Essence flickered out of him like leaking steam.
"Father—you're exhausted! You used too much—"
"I know," Paul whispered. "But if I didn't… we would be dead."
Rion slung Paul's arm over his shoulder.
"Let's go. We can still make it out—"
A massive beast swooped down—bigger than a house, with teeth long as daggers.
It grabbed Rion by the shoulder and dragged both of them upward.
Rion screamed, "FATHER—!!"
His wand slipped from his fingers.
Paul saw it.
His eyes widened with fury.
"DON'T LAY YOUR FILTHY HANDS ON MY SON!!"
He threw his sword.
It flew like a streak of silver lightning—
piercing the monster's skull—
killing it instantly.
Rion fell.
Crashing onto dirt, rolling, coughing, scrambling for air.
He grabbed his wand again, shakily.
"Father—! I'm coming—!"
But the scene he ran toward—
he wasn't prepared for it.
Paul was surrounded.
Claws in his shoulders.
Teeth in his arm.
A horn in his side.
Blood dripping down his leg.
He fought like a man who refused to die—
—but his body couldn't keep up.
Rion blasted two monsters away with the last spark of Essence he had left.
He fell to his knees beside Paul.
"NO—no no no no—Father—Father—!!"
Paul exhaled, shivering.
His eyes barely focused.
"Rion…"
His voice was thin.
So thin.
"This… isn't your fault."
"It is! I came out—I fought—I—"
"No." Paul shook his head weakly. "A swordsman… must walk forward. Even if he regrets. Even if he is afraid. You walked forward today, Rion."
Tears streamed down Rion's face.
"You're strong… stronger than I ever was," Paul whispered. "And I… I'm proud. I'm proud… that I got to be your father."
His hand slid from Rion's cheek.
His eyes dulled.
His chest… stopped moving.
Rion froze.
Then shattered.
His scream tore through the burning village.
He ran.
Blindly.
Breath broken.
Heart broken.
He reached the temple's clearing—
—and stopped.
Blood.
Everywhere.
The bodies of villagers.
Children.
The elderly.
A grotesque monster bent over a corpse—its body tall and skeletal, skin pale like mold, limbs long like spidery branches. Its jaw unhinged as it swallowed flesh whole.
Rion's eyes darted across the ground—
—and froze.
His mother.
Niana, Talia
Face peaceful.
Body torn.
Rion fell to his knees in the blood.
"Mom… mom, please—please get up…"
No movement.
No warmth.
He picked up his wand with shaking hands.
"IGNIS—IG—"
Nothing.
No Essence left.
The monster turned toward him.
Its jaw dripped blood.
Rion grabbed a sword from a fallen villager.
He screamed and ran toward it.
Their fight was messy, desperate, hopeless—
but Rion killed it.
He dropped the sword.
Fell into the bloody ground beside his.
broken, shaking, alone.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…. I'm sorry… It's my fault … It's all my fault."
But the forest didn't answer.