Birth of a villain - Before the Extinction (1)

She gazed into the abyss, and the abyss gazed back at her.

"Wake up."

She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. Where was she? Who was she? She couldn't remember a thing, all her memories before the death of Alein had been supposedly wiped away temporarily.

"You're awake!" A high childish voice exclaimed as she looked at the little boy coming through the door with a large beam on his face, she nodded slowly as she stared at the kid in front of her. He was average looking; with short, scruffy brown hair and brown eyes, his clothes were clean but old and tattered.

"What's your name big sis?" he asked as he brought her a cup of water. It was a plain wooden cup, nothing fancy like she was used too but she wasn't going to complain.

"I.... don't remember," she said as she drank the water quickly suddenly realizing she was thirsty.

"Then can I call you Shiro? because of your white hair?" She nodded without thinking, she finally felt fully awake, where was she?

"Kid, where am I?" she asked with a slightly shaky voice.

"Don't you know? we're in the south."

That would explain the heat and her abnormal thirst. How long had she been asleep? She stared at the little boy again, he reminded her of someone she knew, but who?

"What's your name? are you alone here? which town is this? are we in the capital?"

"My name is Peter, I'm twelve so technically it's fine if I live alone, we are currently in bethel, the capital is a few days journey on foot," he said as he brought her an old brown cloth. "You've been asleep for a week, I found you unconscious floating down the river, it's a miracle you survived," he said again. "Follow me, you can wash near the river, you must feel filthy."

She only nodded and followed him, upon emerging from the house she noticed that they were really close to the forest, she kept asking herself how a little boy could live here, exposed to wild animals and probably thugs too. She, however, kept silent and followed the young boy unsure of if he was trustworthy or not.

He led her through the forest at a relatively steady pace so she could easily follow him, she looked like a noble, how could she follow him around easily? Then her body must be used to it. Does she have a soul weapon? If she was a threat to him he would just kill her easily, after all, he had a secret weapon.

She looked around, she couldn't find a single animal, normally she would have heard birds chirping in the sky or leaves being rustled, but there was nothing.

Something was wrong. The animals were scared away, there was something dangerous here, and this young boy resided in the area, was he really just a kid?

They came to a clearing with a lake, the water was pure and translucent but desolate.

The boy excused himself smiling allowing her to have a bath, the lake had been poisoned by him, she wouldn't survive this bath.

She would definitely die.

Dipping herself into the water, a sensation of overwhelming pain dowsed her from head to toe, slowly her consciousness slipped away.

[Wake up. don't sleep for too long, or you'll be left behind by humanity.]

Her eyes shot open, she was laying in the lake, lying still, refusing to believe this reality. Memories rushed to her answering all her questions. Her name- Regina Regilor? no she was LiuLian, her age -sixteen no she wasn't 16, her background - duchess, leader of the white star alliance, no she wasn't any of those things!

She felt her eyes sting. as tears poured down her eyes excessively, rising slowly from her place, a layer of white silk surrounded her and dressed her. Her eyes were opened to the truth, she knew everything, she was ready to fight for the world.

Alone.

Alein told her she wasn't alone, but where was he now? She cleaned her eyes with the back of her hand and began to find her way down back to the little house she started from. That boy had the third horn, that little boy also tried to kill her.

Her mind wandered as she swiftly walked between the trees, she would have to get back before sunset to avoid confronting any wild beasts, or worst, salamander spiders. She approached the quiet hut, she can't resume her old name, her old title. Shiro didn't seem like a bad idea. She was determined to win this war; a battle based on intelligence, she lost the battle when she let Alein's life slip through her fingers, but she was unwilling to admit defeat.