In the warm glow of the afternoon sun, Sheba k beside a rge wooden basin, the rhythmic sounds of her washboard eg softly. Her aura exuded warmth and wele, enveloping the space around her.

  As she diligently scrubbed the undry, a fine mist of water droplets caressed her skin, drawing her gaze to the source—the freshly washed sheets billowing on the clotheslines. A gentle breeze swept through the rolling pins, causing the sheets to dand the mist to refract sunlight, painting the air with hues of rainbow.

  Suddenly, a cry from the stables broke the tranquility and Sheba’s heart skipped a beat. One of the children ying thly with a horse’s tail. The startled creature reared its head with a displeased neigh, causing the child to stumble and fall.

  The other kids stood back, fear evident in their eyes, hesitant to approach their distressed friend while the horse remained agitated.

  Without a moment’s hesitation, Sheba approached and k beside the fallen child, her warm smile a bea of reassurance. “Are you alright?”

  The child ears welling in his eyes as he winced from the pain in his leg. “I-I think so,” he stammered, his voice trembling.

  With a teouch, Sheba pced her hand on his bruised leg, a soft glow emanating from her fiips as she eled her healing magic. “There, all better,” she said with a smile, her gentle words calming his fears.

  The boy beamed, his eyes wide with surprise. “Thank you, Sheba,” he excimed before pushing to his feet and scurrying off to py once more.

  With his hands tucked into his pockets, Feng approached Sheba having witnessed her kindness and passion. “I didn’t know you could use healing magic,” he remarked, respect hiddeh an aloof demeanor. “That’s a pretty rare power you’ve got.”

  Sheba rose to her feet and sloroached the skittish horse, her gentle caress soothing the creature. “...Yes, but not when I most.”

  Sensing the cold undercurrent in her words, Feng leaned against a wooden beam, opting to listen rather than pry further.

  “…I was born in the far north,” she began, her voice low. “I lived with my mother and father, and I was the eldest of five siblings. Our vilge was small ae, so everyone had to pit to make ends meet, even at a young age. My father was a farmer, and I took on the responsibility of looking after my brothers and sisters while my mother mahe household.

  Some days were tough, but we were happy.

  One year, we faced a particurly bad harvest, leaving our food supplies dangerously low. The winters in Vhale were harsh, so our situation was extremely dire. In his despair, my father turo drinking; a way, I suppose, to cope with his worries.

  It seemed reaso the time,” she remarked, a distinote of e simmering ione. “But things took a darker turn whearted gambling. In his druate, it didn’t take long for him to accumute a rge amount of debt, and the creditors were growing eager to collect.”

  There was a moment of silence, and Sheba’s hand stilled on the horse. “My father is a cold and calg man,” she tirying her best to keep her voice even. “Looking back, it’s disturbing how easily he prioritized logid reason over his own family, and I ’t help but resent him for it,” she fessed, her lips pressed into a tight line.

  “To settle his debts, he… resorted to the unthinkable. He sold my siblings to sve traders.”

  Feng’s frown deepe her words.

  “I still see it vividly—the men barging into our home, their brutish grip on my siblings as they were torn away from us. And there was my father, a mere spectator from the safety of the kit table, lost in the fort of his drunken haze.

  Despite my mother’s efforts to stop them, she was overpowered and fell, hitting her head oones by the firepce. I tried to help her,” whispered Sheba, her voice breaking, “but I just couldn’t stop the bleeding. Back then, I didn’t have any magic, so there was little I could do.

  Within moments, my mother was gone, all while my father wallowed in his own self-pity. I charged at him in a blind rage, my chest heaving. Before I k, my hands were around his neck. Yet, he was unresponsive, his mind shattered by the unfivable sin he had itted.

  I screamed, I cried, I pounded his chest in frustration. But the father I onew was gone, leavihout even an outlet for my anger and grief. In a matter of moments, my entire family was gone—ripped from my grasp and my life.

  Afterward... I left the vilge in seary siblings, only to find myself ensnared in a cage instead. And now... all I have left are regrets,” she murmured, her body sinking to the ground as tears traced a path down her cheeks.

  “As the merts took my siblings away, I aralyzed by fear, selfishly praying they wouldn’t take me too,” she fessed, her fiwisting into her hair. “If only I had—”

  Feng’s hand nded on her head in a rough yet f gesture, his other hand still tucked into his pocket. “You were just a kid,” he reassured her gently, “it’s natural to feel scared in that kind of situation.”

  “...”

  “I have faith that Haxks will e through for us,” he tinued, his gaze unwavering as he finally met hers. “Once we get out of here, I’ll help you to find your siblings, so don’t cry anymore.”

  Sheba’s eyes shimmered with gratitude, her cheeks flushing faintly as a tender smile graced her lips. “ we... just stay like this for a while longer?” she whispered.

  Feng averted his gaze sheepishly, his hand tenderly caressing her head. “Sure...,” he murmured softly.

  ***

  Aware that he was discreetly under surveilnce, Daisuke reized the y of projeg pliah Reginald’s directives. Without waiting for a direand, he proceeded to the library where he delved into the intricacies of alchemy to expand his knowledge.

  Sneaking into the ceiling during the daytime wouldn’t be a wise move, he thought, eyeing an access point above a bookshelf. There’s a higher risk of being seen or heard, and it’s likely that someone might e looking for me in here.

  It was frustrating.

  During the night was his only window for roaming free, but it came at a steep cost—the sacrifice of someone’s innoce, and perhaps their very sanity along with it.

  Ruth showed absolutely no signs of recovery from her trauma. While she was likely givehetib the pain during the experiments, she was fully scious and aware of herself being dissected and torn apart. No normal human being would be able to observe that and walk away mentally unscathed, and the mere notion of April suffering a simir fate was unbearable.

  After breakfast, Daisuke embarked on a thh iion of the estate, meticulously noting the frequent positions of the st guards stationed both in and around the property. In an ideal sario, he would have preferred several more days to painstakingly observe their movements and habits, but unfortunately, he didn’t have that kind of luxury.

  With a more or less secure pn in pce, all he o do rocure a few swords from the ons vault. If that proved too challenging, he would settle for the less durable ones ad the walls or mantles as mere decorations.

  Seg food tional.

  , setting the kit abze was crucial to the success of the pn. While the chaos ehe sves would seize the opportunity to flee the estate uhe veil of night. Holy, it wasn’t much of a pn, but time straints allowed no room for further improvement.

  Moving across the estate before most of the guards were sound asleep carried its risks, but Daisuke khe pn had to be set in motion before another i soul succumbed to predation. It was a one-shot opportunity, and failure meant losing everything.

  Taking a calming breath, Daisuke refused to dwell on what y at the end of his mysterious existence. As he awaited the setting sun, he found himself seated in the library, engrossed in a book. His eyes darted from side to side, fully immersed in the pelli unfolding before him.

  The veil between the mundane and the extraordinary thins, revealing alchemy’s profound ability to twist and distort the very essenatter. The alchemist, as the jurer of transformation, bees the weaver of reality’s fabric. Elements, ohought immutable, bow to the dance of alchemical intations, surrendering to their tent potential.

  Among the most coveted of alchemical feats is the transmutation of base metals into silver and gold. This is not a mere metallurgical process, but a union with the very heart of matter. Through intricate rituals and precise calcutions, the alchemist coaxes metals to shed their mundane form.

  To master the art of transmutation is to unlock the universe’s hidden potential, to traverse the fine liween sd magid to touch the divine symphony that orchestrates creation. The pages that follow delve into the mysteries ahods of this are craft, inviting the seeker to—

  Daisuke’s eyes widened in shock at the traces of torn out pages that followed. Huh? These pages were btantly ripped out. But why would anyone want to do that?

  Eager to tinue, he briskly approached the shelf where the book had once rested, his hand reag into the now vat space. Bang on tiptoe, he extended his arm, delving deep into the recesses of the shelf. Yet, to his dismay, he found nothing.

  Or so he believed.

  Unbeknownst to Daisuke, a cealed transmutation circle in the crevice slowly hummed awake from its long slumber. It resonated in harmony with the one he had iently activated in the ceiling abinald’s office. Together, the magic circles executed their embedded ands. Before long, a subtle tremor and a low rumble unveiled a trap door in the floor.

  Fear of monsters & the unknown: 32.8%