Chapter 1: Prologue
The silence was the only thing that filled an empty field littered with corpses from a drawn-out battle. Not even the animals that saw an easy meal didn't dare fly down. This was the scene of a massive war that went wrong in every possibility and only left three survivors: a man, a woman, and a newborn baby.
While clad in his nation's armor, the man was covered from head to toe in the blood of both enemies and the ones he called his brothers. He had seen battle time and time again to the point he was already used to seeing the same scenario over again. Yet this battle was different. This battle had shaken him from his core and now stood tall while holding his sword at the woman and child.
His hand began to shake while his mind began to race faster than the horse that brought him to this hellish scene. The choices in his mind fought for control over which choice he should choose. Yet, his main three options made it even more difficult. They were either to strike down the woman and child, try to speak with the woman to calm her down, or walk away as if he blind to the events that transpired.
These thoughts plagued his mind as the newborn suddenly began to cry. This caused the man's thoughts to become stationary as if the child made what he was thinking so insignificant.
The woman tiredly looked down at the child as if her only concern was calming her baby's cries. She was not concerned about the man. Nor did she appear phased by the sword that pointed at her care. Her focus was on her little flower that cried. In her world, this was her only focus, while the man in front of her was just an annoying fly.
Her blood-red hand moved towards the infant's face. At first, she gently caresses her soft cheeks before gently moving her hand upward. Using her index finger, the woman gently and carefully created a pattern on her daughter's forehead. It was two lines right above her tiny eyebrows and a single red dot in the center. She was blessing her child with the symbol of her people.
After the symbol was created and finished, she moved her hand away and began cradle the child closer to her heart. She then began to take in slow deep breaths and hum to her child a soft lullaby that her mother once sang to her when she was her age. At this moment, even with the landscape around her, the world seemed to fade away. It was only her and her daughter and nothing else. She felt so close to her daughter as if they were one. Separate yet connected.
The man didn't realize it, but his sword was violently shaking to the point. It was making a rattling sound nearly in tone to the woman's lullaby. His body, mind, and soul were so conflicted on what to do in this scenario that it hurt.
With his own eyes, he saw a helpless woman with unnaturally long hair cradling her child while in a bed of red, white, and pink flowers. The sight was so gorgeous for him to behold, and he should have been so proud at this moment. It felt as if he was staring into a beautiful painting that came to life. A possible future that could have been. For that moment, he wished it was a painting and not the horrible truth.
The reality was that this beautiful woman with unnaturally long hair was a monster. He saw her slaughter the opposing army and even their own allies with her own bare hands. With all the blood she spilled over this land, she didn't even have a single scratch or wound on her. The only blood on her was all over her hands.
This mortified the man and made him realize that he was still standing so close to her with a weapon because she allowed him to do so. He then looked at the child as the reality set in more. The red marking on her tiny forehead, along with a small patch of white hair, made it hard to believe she was this woman's child.
"How could something so evil and monstrous give birth to something so pure and innocent?" This thought ran in the back of his head as a single tear fell from his eye and anger pumped through his blood. His thoughts finally became clear. He knew exactly what needed to be done. She needed to be stopped, and he was the only one able to do so.
While mostly fixated on her child, the woman never forgot about the man in front of her and kept her ears on the sword's rattling. She knew he had an internal crisis but wanted to give her child her full attention. When the sword stopped moving, so did her hums. A small gust of energy left from where the woman sat and seemly flowed throughout the field. The area became unnervingly quiet as the air around them became thick and still. Even the child became silent as if she could feel what was about to come next.
The woman with tired hopeful eyes broke her connection with her new bundle of joy and stared daggers at the man with her now cold, lifeless eyes that held no shred of humanity behind them. A chill went down his spine as if her cold dark red eyes pierced through his soul. He knew he had her full attention now.
Her glare was so intimidating that it made him take one step back, yet it didn't stop him from pointing his sword at her chest. The woman never took her eyes off the man but slightly moved them to look at his weapon pointing towards her heart.
Slowly, she began to stand with the baby in her left hand while her right pointed towards the blood-soaked ground. Her hair seemly began to come to life as it snaked and danced around her and in the air. Some of the hair moved around the child and created a barrier to keep herself. The blood that trickled down from her free hand began to move in reverse as the blood from the battlefield began to flow and pull towards her like a magnet.
The man nervously began to sweat, knowing there was no backing down nor running away for this now. Even if he tried, she was not going to allow him to escape. Death was certain for one of them.
Before he could say anything, he watched as the woman mouthed something to him and made a single tear come from the man's eye.
"Please. Give me the child, my love. " He said, putting on a brave face with a small indication of fear in his voice as he stood his ground. He gripped his sword tightly with both hands and readied himself for the assuring battle.