Inder Sephtis [2]
A deathly silence blanketed the area, broken only by the occasional caw of a vulture and the distant howling of the wind.
Dark silhouettes dotted the sky, circling ominously over the thousands of lifeless forms scattered across the ground.
Buildings collapsed with civilians still inside, the rumbling echoing before they fell in on themselves.
Screams of horror and utter terror echoed from time to time from those who survived the massacre.
Their physical features—slightly elongated ears, pale skin, and long horns adorning their heads—a far cry from what a human should look like.
But their screams died down quickly as death came upon them as well...
Some of those who wanted to live at any cost fell to their knees, begging for their lives from the Gods they worshiped....
But their prayers remained unheard as no God sent help for them....
All they got was a gentle rustle of mana around them before their heads and bodies rolled separately....
And...
The culprit behind the massacre...
The one responsible for this chaos sat on a pile of dead bodies taller than most houses, made from the corpses of the royal guards....
His long hair a blend of black, highlighted with dark purple at the ends, skillfully braided with strands of white that intertwined seamlessly with his own....
A necklace made of a mix of purple and blue chain with a heart-shaped pendant adorned his neck....
His face, that could rival even the deities themselves, bore a look of detached....
His dull dark blue eyes stared at his hand, which clasped a broken phone....
He scrolled through the list of songs from only one person—[Echo].
"... I miss her voice..." he muttered under his breath, regret evident in his voice. "...Too bad I had to kill her."
"Sigh..."
Letting out another tired sigh...
He looked up at the glumly dark sky above...
Where once a beautiful moon was, now turned to nothing but ruins....
"... Inarhia ...are you there?" He muttered under his breath before he waited for a reply."...I am still waiting."
...but no reply came back to his mind...
"...You truly are useless."
He muttered again with a light chuckle, as if trying to provoke her....but still, he got no answer.
"Sigh..."
Letting out another sigh, he looked down at the massacre he did....
".... Isn't that what you wanted, Christy?" He questioned, reaching for his necklace, squeezing it, "...For me to become who I am right now."
His dull eyes scanned the surroundings filled with thousands of corpses—men, women, children... all of them dead.
He mumbled without any emotion, "Look... what have I become."
"...What were 'her' last words, again?" he questioned, reaching out and touching his emotionless heart.
"Yeah... I am the same as my mother."
But his eyes quickly shifted as he looked towards his left....
sensing an abnormal amount of mana gathering in a single place thousands of meters away from him...
"...Is it Tiffy and saintess?" He mused, squinting his eyes as he noticed the familiar mana signature, "....they both really became monsters."
The ground trembled as an orb of burning purple flames of destruction erupted from there, rushing towards him at an uncanny speed...
The orb burned everything in its path...trees, buildings, houses, burning them into ashes...
But he remained calm with no sense of uneasiness, panic, or fear on his face...
The orb of Destruction reflected in his eyes as he slowly mumbled, "....Igul."
A beautiful sun disk emerged behind his back, slowly illuminating the surroundings in the red hue.
He flicked his hand, and as if the sun disk acknowledged his command, it levitated in front of him....
Boom!!
The orb of flames collided with the small sun disk...
but the next instant, the sun disk started to absorb the orb within it....
until the orb completely vanished while the disk glowed brightly....
He willed the levitating sun disk, it flipped upside down, and the next instant....
BOOOOM!!!
A beam of red light erupted from the sun disk with twice the power and speed, rushing back towards the source, erasing everything in its path....
"...Sigh, that shouldn't be enough to stop them."
Mumbling, he stood up on the pile of corpses as he took a step forward...
"...mother will be here soon."
A 'Mark' made up of mesmerizing red interwoven symbols started to appear on his forehead, covering it entirely...
Pitch black wings emerged from his back, cascading down a shadow of three meters on the ground below....
The wings flickered slowly, making him levitate in the air as an obsidian-colored crown adorned his head....
But before he could even move...
He abruptly stopped sensing someone before they could arrive, making him gently close his eyes...
Fear, sadness, happiness, despair, guilt... A bombardment of emotions hit him like a boulder....
As a figure teleported right beside him the next instant...
Shuddering, she called him... with the voice he was all too familiar with....
"Az—I-inder."
The world around him broke, shattering into pieces...
...
...
...
RING!! RING!!
"Huff..Huff.."
A boy with black hair woke up in his bed abruptly, gasping for breath.
His heartbeat echoed in his mind as his eyelids twitched open.
Cold sweat pouring from his body soaked his back and the pillow he slept on...
The unpleasant feeling of the dream remained vivid as he let out a sigh...
"Inder, wake up!!"
A mature feminine voice came from downstairs, calming his restless heart.
"I am awake!!"
Exclaiming, he took a deep breath, raising his torso before getting down from bed.
Navigating from his medium sized room, he moved towards the bathroom, cleaning his face and removing the aftershock of the dream...
"...What was that?"
He mumbled to himself, his blue eyes staring back at him as he looked at the mirror....
"...What a weird dream to have."
He mumbled, shrugging it off before taking a shower and getting ready for school.
Wearing the school uniform, he moved downstairs, where the appetizing smell of food engulfed him...
"Good morning, sloth."
And as soon as he arrived at the dining hall, a woman complained, arranging the dishes on the table.
Wearing an apron over her normal clothes, her hair tied in a bun while her beautiful blue eyes looked at her son.
"...Good morning, sloth's mom."
Inder greeted her back as he took a seat right beside the middle-aged man with black hair and eyes reading a newspaper.
"...Good morning, son." His father greeted him, and he nodded in response.
"...Eat quickly, or you will miss the bus." Ruffling his hair, she said, making him groan.
"...I just set them." He grumbled, combing his hair with his hand.
"...You still look handsome, my boy." His father replied with a smile.
"...Of course! He is my son." His mother smiled proudly, messing his hair again.
"...He is my son as wel—."
"Hmm?"
"...He is your son."
"Good."
Inder just shook his head, continuing his breakfast.
"...Bring Senara here after school." His mother instructed, sitting in front of him.
"...Why?"
"...She wanted to learn how to make cupcakes from me."
"...I will bring her home." Finishing his food, Inder replied, standing up.
"...Hmm? Are you forgetting something?" Picking up his bag, he walked out but was stopped by his mother's words.
"...Come on, mom, I am eleven now, can't we stop it—."
"...You can be a hundred years old; I don't care." His mother interjected, stretching her arms wide, "..Now come here."
"...Mom—."
"Inder, I know you are a lot smarter than a boy your age, but you are still my son." His mother replied firmly.
"...Give up, boy, you can't win against her." His father remarked.
"...Not like you can." Inder rebuked, making his father shut his mouth.
"..Are you coming, or should I throw your game consoles away."
"...That's cheating, mom!"
"...Everything is fair in love and war." Grinning, she replied.
"...Argh, fine."
Groaning, he walked closer to her, hugging her, and she did the same, embracing him tightly.
"Always remember, Inder, no matter how bad situations get—"
"—mom will always love me." Inder completed her words, making her smile brightly.
"Dad too."
"No thanks, dad."
"....Now go, or you will be late." Kissing his forehead once, she whispered, smiling gently at him.
"...Bye, mom. Yeah, dad too!!"
"Dad too!?"
"Have a good day!"
His mother exclaimed, waving back at him as he walked out of the house.
Walking out, he looked at the neighboring house, noticing no one standing outside...
"...Maybe she is already at the bus stop." Mumbling, he walked on the side of the empty road, slowly looking around the place.
"..Hmm?"
His curiosity piqued as he looked at the lone car parked at the side of the road.
Walking slowly, he arrived beside it, sneakily glancing inside from the window...
Step.
But his steps halted in place as soon as his gaze fell on the girl same age as him.
With long straight black hair, she sat straight, her face and expression that of a doll as she glanced towards Inder.
Her crimson eyes stared at him.... and immediately, a beautiful smile graced her lips...
She waved her hand, and instinctively Inder waved back....
The car moved, taking her away, but Inder stood in his place...
Placing his hand on his chest, he clenched it tightly, trying to calm his restless heart that felt like bursting...
"...Why did she feel so familiar?" He questioned, taking deep breaths...
Nothing made sense to him, and before he could ponder more about it, a pair of hands closed his eyes from behind....
"Guess my name, and you will earn a kiss."