Chapter 66: Remembering Something
["Well little one, once you see it you’ll know. The flames of those damn immortals rise up like a mountain of hell."]
Perhaps it was the flames.
Flames that didn’t discriminate between mortals. Flames that ate everything whole.
Yet at that moment, Dimitri could only see a living, untamed demon currently devouring his family, his home, his people, and his memories.
He wanted to run in.
The kids, Miss Pat, the other adults who never spared a coin if it meant helping and providing for him.
Drip. Drip.
He raised his trembling hands toward his face.
’Why the hell am I crying? Who the hell said they were dead?!’
This was...
He had already accepted that everyone in the village was dead even before checking.
What a load of bullshit!
He tilted his head back slightly, only to see an expression he never wanted to see on her face.
Dimitri clenched his fist, loosened it, then exhaled. With steady steps he walked over to Amy and pulled her into a hug. "Everything will be alright, Amy."
Dimitri’s gaze darkened, his expression turning hard.
Although he never showed it, the question of what type of person his mother was, and what type of cultivator she had been, had gnawed at him for a while.
He was born with an awakened spiritual root, and by five he could control it perfectly. Unlike what Miss Pat’s stories portrayed, he could control not just one, but every spiritual energy around him, though only at a mediocre level.
Dimitri steadied himself, refusing to collapse, at least not while he was still comforting Amy.
He patted Amy’s back gently, and the pain that had once lived in his eyes vanished completely.
’I’ll kill them,’ he promised himself. ’I’ll kill every single one of them!’
Mortal or immortal, whoever stood in his path toward revenge would die by his hands. Even if he failed. Even if he was struck down midway, he would keep cutting until he appeased all their souls.
Amy, standing close to him, caught those words, and her sobs grew sharper, as though the full weight of everything was crashing down on her all over again.
Once the flames died down and the ground grew warmer, Amy wanted to build graves for the dead, but Dimitri advised against it. After all, no one knew what the cultivators would do if they discovered there were survivors.
It was the first time they had gone so far beyond the borders of their village, yet neither of them paused to admire the scenery.
Dimitri glanced back at the exhausted Amy.
It wasn’t as though he could simply stop, though. Stopping was the same as asking for something, or someone, to find and kill them.
He turned around and lowered himself down for her. "Climb aboard, my lady."
Dimitri smirked. "Yeah, I guess you are..." He pretended to stand back up, only for Amy to shove him back down.
Dimitri rose to his feet, then wobbled as though he were about to lose his balance, drawing a frightened squeak out of Amy. The next moment he straightened up and giggled softly. "What was that?"
"Oh, when did you learn such naughty words."
Dimitri skidded to a halt. "Huh? I thought you knew where we were going?"
’Oh shit,’ he thought, his gaze sweeping across the stretch of bushes and tall trees.
After some deliberation, the two of them managed to find a path out of the forest.
Dimitri couldn’t understand how that was possible, nor could he shake the feeling that the two of them had done something like this before.
What was he about to say?
Dimitri’s feet froze as a splitting headache tore through him.
Amy turned toward him at once, her expression shifting to worry. "Is something wrong?"
His face tightened. A thought he couldn’t quite grasp surfaced in his mind.
It was a stupid thing to ask at a moment like this.
He was a high schooler, yes?
He shook the thoughts off and focused on Amy. The moment he did, everything churning in his head stilled, leaving his mind calm again.
A beat passed before he sighed. ’Perhaps I haven’t gotten over the villagers’ deaths yet.’
He shook his head. "Nothing. I think it’s better if we leave here soon."
Dimitri’s eyes shone with a faint purple light, causing Amy to take a small step back. He tilted his head to one side, then pointed toward the northeast. "There," he said, the wind rushing past him. "Our path is there."
Dimitri frowned, unable to understand why he suddenly felt drawn toward the northeast.
No.
He couldn’t help but wonder what this power was, or where exactly his mother had come from, and perhaps even where his own soul had.
A/N: Sorry for the rough update, everyone. The story hasn’t been performing well since the first feature, so mass-releasing Chapters right now wouldn’t make much sense unless it gains traction again. That said, I’m not dropping it. From now on, I’ll be posting one Chapter (around 1,500+ words) daily.