As the sun lowered over the evergreen trees, I continued to watch as the people of both Seraphis and Clifton began to cooperate without much struggle. As the people of Clifton began lighting fires and singing cultural songs around them, the people of Seraphis simply listened, showing slight intrigue with the people and culture of this small town. I sat inside of the safehouse, a glass of reddish-colored water in my hands.

  “For your troubles,” Ice Eyes said as he sat down beside me, sipping his alcohol as he slid over a plate with meat on it.

  The meat was dark-brown and practically leaking with fluids and fat. It was drizzled in a raunchy sauce and had chopped pillars of celery arranged beside it, accompanied and complemented by a small tub of raunch dressing.

  “Thanks,” I said with a smile as I reached for the fork he had supplied me. It was a wooden fork, carved and sanded down.

  Since I couldn’t touch iron or many types of metal without facing physical scarring, it was relieving to an extent to know that Kael’s organization valued small details like that.

  The entire night I had been thinking of the small detail Kael had brought up after he had paused in the middle of the field—Shinso knew I was alive. But why hadn’t he gone out in search of me. As one question after another buzzed in my mind like a rampant locust, I felt a burly hand touch my shoulder.

  Ice Eyes looked down at me, his light-blue pupils flickering with a faint splash of crimson. “I don’t see much concentration in your drink.”

  He pointed to the slightly red glass of water beside me. Compared to his own beverage—a drink that was much redder than mine—one could say mine was more pink in color. My cheeks turned a pink adjacent to my glass as I scoffed.

  “The stuff Kael gave me… what exactly does it do to the glass? Everyone here slips it into their drinks.”

  “It’s a stimulant, like that new caffeine stuff I’ve heard is growing over in the Adligon Clans. It helps us stay more active, and it also alters our thoughts and feelings. It opens new truths, and shows us what we’ve never seen before.”

  I looked at my pinkish water, sighing. “Sounds more like a miracle than anything.”

  At this moment, the door suddenly opened. In walked Kael, Crylla, and Cosette. The three of them sat down at our table. They looked indifferent, but Kael was the only one amongst them who bore a small smile.

  “How’d it go?” Ice Eyes asked.

  Kael lowered his head, sighing as his hand dove down to his bag. He splayed the contents of his leather bag on the table, and it was enough to flip my stomach upside down. Kael showed me a bloody, severed big toe, a few fingers with bone protruding from their lower ends, stained with blood, and the pulsating, almost writhing mass of a human tongue.

  I immediately looked away, but I continued to do so even when the Blood Moon Charm alleviated most of my nausea. Kael clasped his hands together and smiled like a child proud of their newest finger painting.

  “Paxton was dealt with.”

  Ice Eyes reached out, taking a hold of the bloodied big toe. He brought it to his nose, sniffing it in an almost canine fashion.

  “I smell the blood of a sinner.”

  “Don’t we all?” Kael leaned back in his chair.

  Even as I continued to avoid looking at the limbs, I felt Kael’s gaze fall onto me like a hawk spotting a field mouse.

  “I made the right choice keeping you out of the operation. Hell, you would have had a heart attack when the castration happened.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Y-you did what to Paxton?” I gulped.

  “No one gets away with hitting a child.” Kael’s voice darkened marginally, the air around him cooling.

  “Then why hasn’t your dick been chopped off?”

  “Becuase you’re not a child, you’re more than a child.” Kael flicked his wrist, crimson flames emerging from his palms to form a box of cigars. He spread the cigars amongst the members at the table, even offering one to me.

  “Yeah, I’m a teenager, so I’m not exactly a child to begin with.” I grabbed the cigar from his hands, before tossing it into the trash.

  Kael watched in silence for a moment before sighing with palpable disappointment. “That was a perfectly good cigar.”

  “I know, I don’t smoke,” I replied, propping my elbow up as I took another bite of the steak.

  “How’s Elizabeth doing?” Kael’s question hung in the air for a little bit as I finished chewing.

  I replied, swallowing my steak and wiping my mouth with a napkin. “I had her situated with a few other village women. If I were dumb, I would’ve planned on her staying with a group of men.”

  The crimson-haired man across from me looked out the window. “Men are animals. They want to enter whatever they can find; it’s in their nature.”

  “Then I guess I made the right decision.” I chuckled softly.

  “Silas?” Kael abruptly asked.

  I looked back at him, nodding. “Yeah?”

  “Weren’t we going to investigate the loss of those… Hens and chickens? After all, what if it was the Rakkiounk?”

  “Or what if those Seraphis rogues weren’t entirely honest regarding their operations? We can look in their massive wagons when they’re all asleep.”

  “You’re vying with the safe route?” Kael huffed out loud, rubbing his temples. “If it was my father you were talking to, He would have smashed your plate—maybe your skull—and insisted on His option. God forbid you continued to insist that you were the smarter one, he would have impaled you with his horns.”

  I couldn’t help but snicker. “Your father sounds like a bit of a brat. Did He argue with the dragons He killed too?”

  “Maybe. He’s dead, so who knows.”

  …

  The two of us approached the vacant pen, peering inside. In the light supplied by the faint crimson flames emanating from Kael’s palm, I was able to see the bloodied limbs of chickens and hens, alongside spots of blood staining the snow. Kael sniffed the air for a second.

  “This wasn’t the work of those Seraphis rogues, I tell you. The operation would have been far less… brutal.”

  Kael pointed to the bloodied remains scattered across the fenced off area. “Unless they went in stabbing everything in sight, this was most likely the work of a dangerous outside force.”

  “Do you really assume it’s that Rakkiounk creature? Unless you’ve seen it in person like a hundred years ago, I’d assume it’s some sort of animal like a wolf or a coyote. Additionally, if it was that mythical creature, wouldn't this entire town have known about it? If it’s countless feet tall and looks like a demon, that’s already something out of the ordinary. And, if the chickens had been screaming their heads off as the entire event unfolded, everyone would've woken up and gone to investigate.”

  “Notice how you said it was a mythical creature, Silas.” Kael stepped forward. “It doesn’t abide by regular laws of nature. It would have made itself invisible, it could have ripped the sound out of the air as if it were an object. There are countless ways it could have killed the chickens and hens without making any noise.”

  I kneeled down, running my hand along the snow. “What about footprints? Do you see any?”

  “I believe the Rakkiounk might possess the ability to fly. After all, a creature from the Underworld had to crawl from there and get out one way or another.”

  I scoffed. “It sounds like you’re pulling information like that out of nowhere. If you want to explore with me, just say it. I’d say let’s search the wagons and come back after if we don’t find anything useful.”

  “Well, lead the way then.” Kael stepped aside, letting me walk away from the pen and towards the massive wooden wagons.

  The wagons were barked behind a large barn, the same barn where the livestock had been stolen from. They were all lined up neatly, with ropes tied around nails that had been stabbed into the ground to prevent anyone from leaving. Inside the wagons, I could hear snoring.

  Looking back at Kael, who was leaning against the barn with a regular expression, I sighed. “The windows are too high, is there anything I could—”

  A sudden surge of energy coursed through my back as my wraith wings expanded outwards, absorbing all surrounding lights. Countless pairs of eyes emerged, radiating a malevolent blood-red hue and gazing in all directions.

  “Did you really forget about your wings? If you don’t want them, I’ll gladly take them for myself.”

  Kael took a step forward, running a hand along them. The moment a finger made contact, the inky substance of them latched on, refusing to let go until Kael burnt the illusory material latching to him.

  “These wings are unlike any I’ve ever seen. I know what you did back in Seraphis Kingdom and the Blood Moon, absorbing all of those entities, demons, wraiths and creatures. That’s a feat I don’t think any Doomweaver should have been able to do… it still confuses me to this day.”

  I slowly lifted myself into the air, floating over to the window. When I peered inside, it was pitch black. All I could hear was the rustling of nice and the snoring of the Seraphis rogues. As a portion of the crimson moonlight shone through the darkness, slicing into the clouds and shining upon the wagon's interior, I was able to peer inside.

  Seizing the opportunity, I dove inside and silently surveyed the area. I knew better than to pack a lantern, as doing so would result in chaos within the wagon, alongside groans, and curses—maybe even getting hit in the head with a pillow or god forbid getting shot by accident by a half-asleep sharpshooter.

  As far as I could see, there were no chickens or hens inside the wagons, only stacked double decker beds lining the walls.

  After ensuring there were no animals within the wagons, I swiftly dove out the window and landed in the snow with a soft crunch.

  “I saw nothing,” I reported, brushing myself off.

  Even if I had only spent a good minute within the wagon, sawdust and cobwebs were like a magnet to me.

  Kael smiled. “As I suspected.”

  He pointed down at the other wagons. “Care to look within them too, or would you say we carry out my operation?”

  I grumbled under my breath. “I suppose we could do that. But if something happens while we’re gone, it’s your fault.”

  “Don’t worry, Crylla, Cosette, and Ice Eyes have everything under control.

  “Now,” He snapped his fingers, causing a small torrent of crimson flames to shoot upwards, forming into a large leather bag which he handed to me.

  “I thought you’d need warmer attire. After all, it’s quite cold.”

  I peered inside the bag, looking upon its contents. There was a large black coat similar to the one I wore back in Seraphis Kingdom, a pair of better boots, and a pair of gloves.