Boiling Isles: The Next Generation - Act I.

Chapter XLVI. - Battle of Brothers

Although thanks to the quick and decisive intervention of the Armaros couple, little Azura did not suffer any lasting damage, the events were so debilitating that the brown-haired girl had to spend two long weeks in hospital before she fully recovered. And each day she spent there only deepened the guilt and pain in Charna.

The mother of the red-skinned demon girl was also completely freaked out by what had happened. One moment Maiwenn held her daughter close to her, relieved that she hadn't been hurt, the next she was angry at her for putting herself and Azura in such great danger.

Rajani, on the other hand, reacted differently. He didn't shout, he didn't rage, he just looked at Charna in silence. But there was more in his gaze than words could express: deep disappointment. And this silent look from her father hurt Charna much more than any scolding or punishment.

Charna had only dared to visit Azura in the hospital once, and only then, when she was sure that the brown-haired girl was fast asleep. She entered the sterile, dimly lit ward quietly, almost silently, and stood by the bed for long minutes, motionless, watching the human girl's calm, even breathing.

Finally, with slightly trembling fingers, Charna pulled a carefully folded letter from her pocket, which she placed next to the sleeping girl's pillow.

In the letter, she sincerely apologized to Azura for her thoughtless act and described how sorry she was for all the pain she had caused her. At the same time, she informed Azura that for her own safety, she was breaking off all contact with her. She also asked her not to look for her anymore or try to contact her, because she would not respond to her anyway. Finally, she thanked her for allowing her to call herself her friend, even if only for a short while.

After that, Charna looked at the girl once more, then silently left the room. And by the time Azura could wake up, she was long gone.

As expected, Azura could not accept this decision. She persistently tried to reach Charna, leaving messages, looking for her in every possible way. However, the red-skinned demon girl remained true to her words: she immediately rejected all approaches and kept her distance. Finally, after a long time, Azura was forced to accept that she had truly lost Charna... and she stopped approaching her...

The red-skinned demon girl was deeply hurt by this, yet she knew it was best for Azura. After the accident, a terrible secret surrounding the Armaros family came to light, a secret that could have permanently affected Azura's life if she had continued to befriend her. It turned out that the members of the Armaros family had served as hosts for centuries to Nue, the Grandmaster of Curses, the entity that legends considered the wildest and craziest of the four ancient gods.

Charna knew of the four ancient gods, of course, having read about them in various dusty books and obscure records, but she never thought that all this was more than mere myths. After all, if they had really existed, there would certainly have been tangible traces of them, more than a few worn paragraphs on the pages of a forgotten tome.

But they did exist. And Charna was forced to see this with her own eyes. There, in that nightmarish place where she had drifted after the accident, she met Nue himself. Only later did she understand that the terrible land where she had seen him was actually the deepest, repressed layer of her own subconscious. Nue resided in this place and did not want to reveal himself until Charna was eighteen, but the sight of the unconscious Azura caused such trauma for Charna that she involuntarily pulled herself into her subconscious and brought Nue to the surface.

When Charna first met Nue, she was completely paralyzed by the sight of him. However, the ancient god seemed to be fully aware of this, because after introducing himself in a calm, deep voice, he asked Charna to immediately inform Rajani of what had happened, since he would know what to do in such a situation. After saying these words, he slowly leaned towards the little demon girl, a sinister gentleness glinting in his eyes, and then he blew air gently on her. The next moment, Charna found herself back in the courtyard, as if nothing had happened.