Blood-soaked footprints continued onward.
They marked the road that crossed the corpse of the monster who had once been my teacher and led to the orphanage yard. The hour seemed close to late afternoon. The sun displayed its reddish presence while submerged in a sea of orange clouds.
Yes. What day had it been?
I had certainly witnessed this scenery before.
With every step, the glass fragments embedded throughout my chest burned. My limbs were heavy as lead, and my consciousness teetered as though its power might fail at any moment.
Even so, I did not stop.
Why in the world?
At the end of that winding chain of questions, a woman pleaded with me desperately.
“Ian, please……”
Silver hair that seemed woven from threads carrying the first light of creation, and pale-pink eyes that stirred humanity’s most secret desires.
Her beauty ensured she was always mentioned in any discussion of the ‘Most Beautiful Woman on the Continent.’ If so lovely a woman begged with tearful eyes, even a demon would have no choice but to waver.
But no ripple disturbed my panting breath. I merely listened in silence to the…