Winter (Erityian Tribes Novella, #4)

06 : Loyalty

"Fire attribute?" I asked, unsure if I heard that right but Farah nodded. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Lady," she said. "Riyo is already waiting for you."

"I'll be there in a minute."

I breathed deeply and braced myself. After I ordered a lot of missions for every faction, some managed to save and persuade former allies to be on our side. But what caught my attention was what happened during Dalan's, a wind attribute user, mission in the South Black Division.

Treading through the training grounds, I saw some warrior throwing curious looks at the elder's shack. The word about apprehended fire attribute users must have spread through the village. They parted when they saw me coming, silently bowing and saluting as I passed by.

Lady Winter is here," one of the guards announced and the door swung open.

With careful steps, I approached the shack's center and my fingers twinged upon seeing flames on their daggers, casting eerie shadows on the wall.

"Halt, Winter," Riyo ordered, his tone quite dangerous. That was when I realized I had already frozen half of the shack's interior.

With difficulty, I calmed myself, thinking about the elders' words as they were training me. It took me at least several minutes before I completely controlled my rage.

Just then, a gentle breeze blew. Emerging from the shadows was Dalan himself, his dark hair loosely tied into a bun, and a permanent scowl on his face. His clothes still singeing but he didn't seem to be hurt. The rings on his fingers, his veinas, glinted in the dark. For a 24-year old guy, he looked older than his age.

Dalan served as the leader of the wind attribute users in the village. They respect and listen to him. He was here before Isaz brought me here but he wasn't the type to associate himself to others. He liked working alone in missions but this time, I appointed him to be the head of a group.

I told their group to quell the disturbance after gangs started pillaging some villages in the South Black. The White government didn't care about the Black Division anyway and gangs kept rising in numbers as the years passed by.

"They ran away," he said while glancing at the two woman who were currently in a water prison.

"What do you mean?"

"They were running away from Flame Spectre."

My gaze darted to the water prison housing the fire attribute users. Slowly, I approached them and that was when I saw their eyes—there was fear in their eyes.

"Speak," I demanded and Riyo opened a portion of the water prison, just in front of their faces.

The girl on the right, shorter and slimmer than the other one, trembled. She looked at their weapons lying beside Riyo's feet and drew a shaky breath.

"They are wrong," she muttered. "I . . . I d-don't want to see that anymore."

Riyo and I exchanged looks as we tried to understand what she meant. I was about to ask another question when the taller girl started telling everything after the other one whimpered.

"O-our eldest sister . . . s-she pleaded Allen to stop burning villages in the South . . . but that monster," she choked back her tears, trying not to sound shaken but it was quite evident, "h-he burned her to crisp."

My throat felt dry, as if someone just poured a flaming drink in my mouth, after hearing her story. She continued, telling us that the Flame Spectre used gangs all over Black Division to threaten those who dared oppose the White government, but my mind drifted away.