Chapter 64. Grief, guilt and a vow.
The room fell silent. No, the crackling of thunder digging through stone still reverberated, yet to Alaric, it was eerily silent.
Heavy, deafening silence.
He didn’t bother to wipe his tears, looking absentmindedly at the little girl, at the mother impaled by an earth spike.
This wasn’t his world.
He had put them in danger, yes.
But he had also made sure they were safe.
Or at least according to the common sense of his old world.
"Where is Philip?" he wondered, a question he knew the answer to.
He had told him to gather information from the town, to look for any suspicious activities, and thus Philip had left the manor almost immediately.
He was a non-combatant after all; there was little he could do in actual danger.
"Ah, yes..." He remembered where he should be, the little distraction he had given himself fleeting.
His gaze fell on Lilly’s peaceful face, her last words echoing in his ears.
"Please, take care of her..."
Words that tugged at his chest.
"Take care of her..." he echoed, his voice barely a whisper.
"I... I am the reason... I caused this..." His knees gave in as he found himself kneeling before the two.
He was a Navy SEAL, his hands stained with blood, the wicked and innocent alike.
Yet one mistake had taken the lives of the very people he was meant to protect.
To him, he had died to redeem himself, yet in this world, barely a decade in, he had once again reaped the lives of the innocent.
He let out a steady breath, his brows relaxing, expression hardening.
"I promise, I swear upon my name and existence, I will protect her till my demise..." He resolved himself.
Falling into despair wouldn’t solve anything.
He had to prepare himself for the aftermath of the incident.
Calmed, the sounds of crackling lightning made their way into his ears.
It was there all along, but only now could he truly hear it.
He turned, only to see the unconscious Crow, the tiles a few metres from him melted, a large crater dug underground, connected to the broken walls.
Debris fell, charred black.
"Come out!" Raika’s voice boomed from outside, the rain of lightning pursuing Turtle.
But the earth was his domain.
Her eyes glowed subtly.
"Caught you..." Raika noticed his silhouette below ground.
Bolts of lightning, woven into spears, dug through the earth.
Turtle dived through the softened soil as one would through water.
He made a sharp turn, the lightning missing him by a hair’s breadth.
"Ar..." Raika gritted her teeth in irritation, the onslaught raging on, trees lit up, shrubs reduced to ashes, grass overturned.
Yet Turtle proved his escape skills were superior.
Not to mention, most of the lightning’s charge was dispersed by the earth.
Entire sections of the Count’s garden had disappeared beneath smoking craters.
Raika didn’t let up. She wasn’t going to let Turtle go.
Alaric walked through the broken wall, the destruction laid before him.
The manor seemed to have been struck by a thunderstorm, its elegance lost beneath debris and dust.
The servants and guards could only stand and watch, each afraid to get too close.
"Mother..." Alaric called out, yet she ignored him.
"Mother..."
Lightning spears fell, her bloodshot eyes fixed on Turtle.
"...Enough!" Alaric’s voice boomed, momentarily cutting through the thunderstorm.
"Huh..." Raika halted, they skies cleared, she turned to her son with raised eyebrows.
"What do you..." Her words caught in her throat. Alaric wasn’t looking at her, his solemn gaze fixed on Lilly.
"Please close her wound..."
Raika frowned at his words.
"What..."
"I don’t want Kai to see her mother like this..." He paused, his gaze settling on the sleeping Kai. Her complexion, though pale, seemed better than before.
"I don’t want her to see her mother in this state..."
Raika looked toward Lilly.
The blood crept down the spike, her lifeless body lying limp upon it, a peaceful expression on her face.
Raika gritted her teeth in frustration, her glowing eyes turning to the ground below. Turtle had already made a break for it.
He couldn’t be seen even with her thermal vision.
Raika, her steps heavy, walked into the room.
Carefully, she pulled Lilly off the spike, lightning crackling at her fingertips as she sealed the wound. Blood no longer flowed, though the gaping hole remained.
"I am sorry. I swear I will protect her with my life. She will be the reason for my existence..." Alaric knelt, gently closing her eyes.
Alaric dispersed the steam, leaving a few wisps hovering around his body, a few enveloping Lilly’s form.
He didn’t know how, but the steam condensed into water, then into ice, solidifying around her figure, encasing her in a crystal coffin.
"What happened..." Aodh and the Count entered the room, their eyes widening in shock.
They had assumed the Thunder Princess was throwing a tantrum. Never would they have guessed such devastation.
The thunderstorm was surely not one of simple irritation, but unrestrained rage.
This was far more than they had imagined.
Their gazes fell upon the aftermath.
Kai, covered in blood, a gruesome wound on her shoulder.
Her mother in a crystal coffin, her pale complexion one belonging only to the dead.
And a strange man lying unconscious at the side.
A blood-covered spike.
The stench of blood stronger than that of the herbs.
It dawned on them.
An assassination attempt had been made.
Their eyes wide, mouths agape, they froze at the sight before them.
The count unconsciously taking a step back.
Silence loomed.
Then the air exploded, thunder reverberating through the room, Raika now mere inches from their faces.
"You call yourself a Count..." Raika’s eyes glowed with murderous intent, the Count buckling under the pressure of her gaze.
The servants standing outside understood what had happened.
They fell to their knees, their mouths trembling in fear.
This county was a fairly peaceful one, most conflicts ending in nothing more than verbal arguments.
Now they had witnessed bloody devastation.
And the worst part...
They had never tried to help, assuming it was merely the Thunder Princess throwing a tantrum.
But now...
"Mother..."