The chirping of the birds and the gushing of the river played sweetly like a harmony ca from heavens.
In the shallow corner of the river there was a big rock enough for two people.
Lidien was there, sitting, playing the cold water with his tiny feet. He was looking at the sky, his innocent smile was planted on his face, away from any disturbances.
"Lidien!" shouted a young girl, who was slowly walking towards him.
"Kanaz... what are you doing here... if Uncle Tom saw you again..."
"It’s okay! I’m a Village Madman now like you... rember?"
Lidien looked at Kanaz... then a sudden thought ca to his mind.
’Yeah, I taught her the prayer my grandfather taught ’ like it all ca naturally.
"Say Lidien... can we leave this village now? and travel the world?"
Then Lidien looked again at Kanaz... surprisingly... the face of Kanaz slowly matured, until her wrinkles numbered and she beca old.
"Yeah... we can leave now... I’ll be with you forever."
Lidien touched Kanaz’s face, his hands now also had full of wrinkles.
Then suddenly the forest changed. It beca darker and darker...
The sweet smile of Kanaz slowly beca sinister; her teeth transford into fangs; her eyes turned crimson; the hand that held the hand of Lidien that was on her face decayed and turned skinless.
"Then be with in the afterlife too Lidien."
Lidien got a shiver down his spine. This was not Kanaz... he frantically stood up.
And then ran towards his village.
The forest was dark, yet his village was surprisingly bright.
Then in the middle, where the large bonfire was placed, he saw a large stake with a silhouette of a man.
His tribesn were kneeling; all of them had crimson marks on their bodies the sa as his mark when he conducted his prayer before his sacrifice, the Mark of Death.
All of their eyes were crimson tearing with blood. They prostrated on the ground towards the stake where the man was chained.
"Let death be the start of a new beginning."
"Let death be the start of a new beginning."
Then he walked slowly towards the stake.
Only to see his Father... smile at him while being burned.
"Live..."
Lidien’s eyes were wide open; his heart skipped a beat.
"No!"
He ran towards the bonfire.
"No!!"
But every step that he took made him move far away instead of getting closer.
"NO!!!"
Until all he could see was darkness.
’A dream... no, nightmare mix with shattered mories.’
Then a crack.
And shattered...
Showing a luminescent ocean suspended in a cosmic void. As Lidien got hold of his consciousness, he tried to float towards the ocean.
"Is this the Dreamflow?"
In the center of it was a large bright red crystal; it was bleeding continuously, dyeing the center of the starry ocean with crimson, but it didn’t spread, and maintained like a fountain of blood.
Surrounding the bright red crystal were shattered fragnts, dark and hazy, orbiting slowly like a satellite.
Lidien touched one of the orbiting crystals, and it flooded him with mories of the old Lidien without a warning.
"Urgh!"
Even ethereal, Lidien felt his head burning. He kneeled and felt his Dreamflow getting smaller...
Though Dreamflow could naturally go back to its original state upon restoring the lost energy called Verve, Lidien’s Demonic Rank required a full day for it to restore the lost Verve.
When suddenly, the blood gushing out from the bright red crystal imdiately filled up the lost Verve and restored it to its normal state.
Lidien heaved a sigh of relief. Witnessing what happened inside his Dreamflow made him realize how powerful the bright red crystal was.
"This body... was unnatural."
His inherited mories told him a Soul Shard could only be whole or fractured... yet he possessed two distinct shards...
Lidien smiled, then laughed softly.
"So, I didn’t reincarnate just to be a normal demon... the problem now, is I don’t know what kind of Essence this one holds..."
Overco with curiosity, he reached for the bright red crystal itself... he felt another pain, much more agonizing than the first one he experienced.
"I-I... shouldn’t have touched anything!" he said, gritting his teeth from the agony.
***
The carriage continued to rattle in the darkness of the night. Soldiers held their torches along with swords, were alert for sudden ambushes and attacks, either from magical beasts, or Hungers that were still lurking, waiting for the right ti to attack them.
Tap... tap...
The door gently opened. Mad Dog went inside the carriage, making it creak from his weight while he stood behind the curtain.
"Sshh..." Lily put a finger on her mouth, stopping Mad Dog from approaching.
"Ma’am Lily, we need to stop for the night... the Bone Orchards are dangerous during this ti..." Mad Dog whispered.
"Go do your thing... Just don’t disturb my little brother’s sleep."
Mad Dog silently went out and commanded all the soldiers to stop their procession.
Lily then caressed Lidien’s face, full of beading sweat while murmuring incomprehensibly in his dream.
"I hope this will give you a good night’s sleep..." then she kissed his forehead.
However, right after Lily removed her lips from his forehead, Lidien’s eyes opened, turning wide from the realization of what happened.
Lidien imdiately rolled to the side of the small bed, staring at and pointing to Lily, who was only wearing a thin fabric.
If Lidien was a Demon, which he was, Lily was willing to sell her soul for him.
"S-stop... why the hell are you wearing like that?!"
Lily giggled. On all fours, she crawled towards Lidien as the thin fabric slipped lower, revealing more of her flawless skin.
Gulping...
Lidien was paralyzed from Lily’s actions, unsure if it was the ability of the Demon of Lust, or just him being innocent in front of a succubus.
"S-stop..."
Yet Lily didn’t. She put her face on Lidien’s side and whispered,
"I know you want it too..." while tracing his chest with her index finger, gently.
Boom!
A loud explosion killed Lily’s montum, making her eyes crimson as her nails grew longer.
Yet she smiled at Lidien and stood smoothly and slowly, her back glowed a tribal tattoo, that was moving and flowing like a river of lava.
She put on her black cloak covering her body then gazed out of the window and said,
"I’ll kill everyone who disturbs our brother-sisterly bonding..."
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