[ONGOING]Crimson Heroes (Ikarishipping)

PROLOGUE

Prologue

"Johanna...."

"Johanna wake up.."

It was in the middle of the night. A cold familiar voice woke Johanna up. She flung her eyes open after recognizing the voice.

The voice was ragged, hoarse and full of dread. And the fact that it came from someone who died made it all the more worse.

"Alder!" Johanna hissed. She sat up and gathered her blanket around her defensively. She tried to locate where the sound came from.

"You're supposed to be dead ten years ago!"

"A devil emperor doesn't perish that easily." The eerie voice replied. The devil emperor's presence darkened Johanna's room even more, creating a heavy and sickening atmosphere. "But basically I'm dead. I can't do anything other than just talk to you. This is just my last remaining essence."

"Last remaining essence?" The baffled bluenette questioned.

"Don't mind it for now."

The hairs on Johanna's skin stood up as she felt something creeping up close to her, a cold eerie gust brushed past her.

"Listen." Alder continued. "The children, save them, please. Jhon is planning to dispose them by morning."

"WHAT?!"

"Ssshh..." Alder cut her off. "I've seen you take care of them and I know just how close they are to you. Please."

"But I believe father wouldn't do such a thing!" Johanna retorted. "I..I mean he may have done some nasty things to them, but he would never kill them!"

"Your father have gone crazy! Those experiments, have you even seen them yourself? How could anyone subject children to those kind of paraphernalia? Your father has gone mad, he's no longer human."

Johanna cast her blue eyes down at the memories of her father bringing the children to their isolated chambers where their cries would haunt the castle all day.

She bit the insides of her cheek.

For a voice that was coming from the king of all devils, worry and concern was glued in the echoes of his voice. Even such ruthless creatures were capable of worrying and concern.

"I've seen demons and humans in all shapes and sizes for years, and your father is the worst of your kind."

Johanna stood up from her bed and slipped her feet inside her slippers. With her sleeping gown, she wrapped her favorite red scarf around her neck and rushed outside of her room towards the basement floor of the castle where the seven children were kept.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked as she made her way downstairs with a lamp on her right hand.

"Gather them up and bring them outside."

She nodded. She heaved open the heavy steel doors of each room of the seven kids – four boys and three girls, the ten-year old half-devil septuplets.

She then gathered all of them by the stairs. She put aside her lamp, dimly illuminating their surroundings. Even with little lighting, Johanna could still see the bruises, scars and stitch marks embedded all over their bodies – the aftermath of five excruciating years of experimentation.

She tried her best not to cry at the sight before her. It was painful.

With the darkness around them, seven individual bright red irises glowed.