"Run, Xeraphine! Take your Mom with you!" A Man who shapeshifted into a great wolf howled at a little girl who was stunned at her place, watching the battle happen before her eyes.
She circulated her views confusedly, looking for her mother, whose whereabouts she didn't know.
The thing she saw was flame and chaos, which stunned her still, not knowing what to do until something hit her hard. She was blown far away in the dark from where she was, and was trying to get up, but something else came back to hit her mercilessly.
She slumped to the ground, only able to blink her eyes until she lost consciousness.
The sound of clinking metal objects against each other, the roar of the wind against the flames, the screams and howls, could be heard clearly in the ears of a child lying with her eyes closed, like an alarm that woke her up in the morning.
It didn't take long for those eyes with irises as bright as diamonds to open. She just stayed where she was, for a moment, as if she was making sure she was still on earth.
Or... was she in heaven now?
The voices she had only heard for a few minutes had disappeared slowly. The frail little body tried to get up while occasionally a light shriek escaped from her lips due to the wounds in several parts of the body that throbbed with pain. She didn't care. Her feet treaded carefully, step by step, stepping on the wet ground.
Not far away, she arrived in front of a magnificent building that had been left in ruins, with blackish stains and puffs of smoke choking her chest. The smell of grilled meat mixed with other strange odors wafted into her nasal cavity, and she rubbed it occasionally.
She forced her way in, even though she didn't have as much guts as she wanted. The only thing she had was the desire to make sure her mother and father were safe. She wanted to make sure that a few minutes or even hours ago, she was just asleep and dreaming. However, looking around, she was convinced that this was a nightmare.
"Mom, Dad," she called hoarsely, barely audible. Her hand briefly clutched at her throat, painful as if she had just shouted incessantly like she was playing with her friends, but she didn't remember doing that.
She didn't remember anything.
Her small steps stopped. A body lay on the discolored white floor. Blackish red with a rancid smell that made her shudder. She crouched down, shaking the stiff body before her.
"Mommy, wake up. What happened?" the little girl asked. The one she called did not answer. She stroked her mother's head. The liquid, which she wasn't sure what color it was, felt sticky on her hands. She rubbed it on her clothes.
Her eyeballs roamed wildly, looking for other members who might have survived. Her sobs were almost breaking, but she couldn't stop until she found at least one person who could explain what had happened.
She got up when she found another figure. A few steps away from where she was, his condition was not much different from her mother's. It was a wolf with several arrows stuck in its body. The girl approached. She still sensed life in the creature.
"Daddy," she called with tears already in her eyes. "Don't go, please."
"Xeraphine," The creature called the little girl's name in a hoarse, barely audible voice.
Soon, however, the pair of golden eyes no longer signaled life. The girl looked down, her tears breaking. She no longer had anyone to tell her what she had missed tonight.
"Daddy, please don't go. It's my fault. I've abandoned you guys. I'm sorry, Dad. Don't leave me. Come back. Please bring Mommy back, Dad."
No one answered her call, only the wind, whom she could never be friends with.
She was now alone. Her father and mother were dead, and she couldn't remember why. She felt guilty that she was not by her parents' side when the unfortunate incident occurred. Otherwise, she would have fought, or at least died with them.
It was only natural that she felt so guilty. She should have been the one to protect her father and mother—she, who would later become the strongest warrior in the pack and be the only successor to his father's leadership, because there was no son.
She was the only one—the strong daughter who was now alone.
With a trail of tears on her cheeks, the girl got up and grabbed the small dagger from her mother's hand. She found something there. A note that she recognized as her mother's handwriting. She had no time to read it, but kept it in the pocket of her clothes.
She raised her hand to hold the dagger, just in case the bastards who had wiped out her family and pack members were still there. With her guts forced and anger burning in her chest, the little girl was ready for battle.
She should have died with honor instead of living with nothing, not even pride. She just lay there as her parents protected the pack.
Crack!
The little girl turned her head quickly, staring intently at the source of the sound that had alerted her. Her breath caught, and trepidation mixed with anger, which turned into forced courage.
"Who is that? Come out if you dare, don't just scare!" Xeraphine screeched, no longer thinking about her own safety.
She should have run as far as possible to get help, not brave the danger. However, her brain could not compromise. All she wanted now was to kill her parents' killer.
"Get out! Don't be a coward by attacking when your opponent is off guard! I'm here! The Ecliptic Pack hasn't been wiped out, so if you want to know, there's still me! Fight me!" she shouted crazily as she remembered how her parents were lying lifeless.
However, there was no response, and no one showed up to fight her. If necessary, she would have faced even a herd, but to no avail. She just looked like an insane child who was babbling.
Xeraphine stepped closer to the bush, where strange voices could be heard. However, the moment she brushed past the shrubbery, a pair of arms grabbed her and gagged her mouth to prevent her from screaming.
Her pupils dilated when she saw who was holding her. She couldn't resist and couldn't do anything when the figure injected something into her body, and soon, she was unconscious.