The Goddess Of Salvation

Chapter VI

The Town of Kirk was not what I expected it to be. Somehow, I've imagined a place in ruins and rubble but it wasn't like that at all. But saying the place was comfortable and peaceful wouldn't make the cut either. The area is poor but at least the houses here are barely enough to accommodate a living. But it seems like the humans here exceed the number of houses available.

Concealing my horns and changing my eye colour, I walk out of a deserted alley with Rill, I begin to find my prey. Someone who smells good but not too good. As Freysha advised, I wouldn't want to take someone who is quite notorious. That might raise unnecessary trouble. After all, time is essence.

"Hey demon, what about her?" Rill suggested, pointing his finger at a woman in tattered clothes with her back to us.

What did this boy just call me? That rude intonation! And he's smirking! I wanted to tell him off for that but decided against it since the woman he suggested was perfect. Her soul that I could sense is filled with warm feelings but also dark. I wonder what causes such contrasting conditions.

I approached the woman, with the plan of talking her into the alley we came out and harvesting her soul. But as soon as I lightly tapped her shoulder and she turned, revealing her face, I stumbled back. The woman's eyes revealed shock at my sight.

"May–Maylea. You're Maylea aren't you?" The woman cries out, grabbing my arm tight. Her eyes went wide.

Shit. What is she doing here?

Her eyes that were filled with shock started to pool with tears.

"I...I..." No words are coming out of my mouth. I could feel the feelings I've long shut started to surge up. Maybe because she saw my discomfort, she soon released her grab. But the words that came after...

"Our Erika was so happy when you girls were playing. Do you still remember? You're the same age as her, she would have grown beautiful like you too." The soft smile on her face that appears every time she looks or talks about Erika was no longer there.

"It was you... it was you wasn't it? The one who killed her! You were there standing by her body! And your father... he thinks he could manipulate me to forget?! I'll kill you... I'll stab you the way you did to her!" She took out a knife hidden under her cloth and pointed it at me. "And then I'll kill your father too.. he was standing there, just watching. No...he ordered you. Yes...it was all him!" She continued.

"Oh my.." a voice interrupted us. Rill touched the hem of her skirt and my leg, and teleported us to the deserted alley. "What are you doing? Just get on with it. Or should I do it for you?" He said, looking at me with deep red eyes. Now he's showing his true self, huh?

I looked at the woman, freaked by how her surroundings suddenly changed. Almost as if her last remaining sane finally snaps. "Lorayn..." I finally voiced out. The woman looked at me with hatred. Her hand steeled on the knife.

"Stab me if that will set your soul free. Stab me! Because... that's right. I killed her. I killed Erika. Father ordered me to, but that doesn't excuse the fact I put that hole on her chest. So stab me!" As soon as I said that, Lorayn launched forward and the feeling of my flesh being torn open by a knife–it hurts. It wasn't supposed to hurt that much but it does for me. Lorayn hands trembled when she realised what she had finally done. She lets go of the handle and falls down on her knees to the ground.

"She was my only daughter. She was... All I ever wanted was to see her smiling happily. But... but..." Lorayn cries out. I knelt down next to her. I pulled out the knife and it fell clanking on the ground. With a tear falling down my cheek, I hugged her and whispered "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. Erika was my precious friend. I'm sorry."