warnings for : implified domestic abuse, gore, graphic details of murder.

Davian felt like he was out of it.

The body over the pool of blood near him was as real as it can be, yet he didn't really process the things he saw, heard nor smell.

Davian thought that everything was over.

No, he knew.

This, he continued while staring down the cooling body in front of where he kneeled and another body, long drained from any blood it contained, completely limp a few steps behind him.

This must be the end of his world.

His mom in front of him, the person called father, behind.

He glanced back and forth a few times. He then slowly got up, patting on his knees like his mother used to when he played too long with the dirt. He bent down and hugged his mom.

"Mom, I am going to lay you down okay? I think it will help if you rest a little."

His mom didn't reply. Davian pulled his beloved mom with as much power as he could gather with his malnourished six years old body.

"Dad is sleeping." He said while dragging the lifeless body with his whole might, leaving a bloody trail on the old moulded wooden floor. "So he won't hurt you. You can lay down as much as you want. You will be healthy in no time, mom."

✶

"And you know what that child asked me? He asked me why we didn't include the frictional force between the mana-made surface and air around us while calculating the firing force! This is genius, I tell you— that child is a prodigy!" The woman in black robes adorned with shiny garments talked frivolously, hands going in different directions, matching with the excitement she displayed on her face.

"That's… That's actually true. Why didn't we think about that?!" agreed another man with tanned skin in the same robes. Jumping from his seat in front of a desk, he hurriedly passed by the woman murmuring something about the calculations and scribbling numbers on air in front of him with mana. He went out of the room with an increasing speed and his figure gradually reduced to a humanoid-like blob at the end of the corridor seen by the open door.

"Where did you encounter the child? Wasn't it slums? It will be difficult to bring him into the academy even though he is a genius. We need royal sponsorship for the commoners and the last commoner that got sponsored was about a hundred years ago." A man in a suit rather than a robe like others talked while rubbing his chin with a white gloved hand. His long lashes created a shadow over his yellow eyes, a brief sparkle went past those eyes for a moment. Woman who recommended the child could see the man was intrigued. Nice, she thought. If the aide showed interest, the master should be also curious. She eyed the man who was sitting in front of where the aide stood, behind a huge desk filled with papers and research materials scattered between them. A man with medium black hair and red eyes were sitting, swirling a fountain pen between his fingers.

"I think… Firstly, I have to assess the child with my own eyes. After that, according to the result, I will figure something out." He said stopping the movement of his hand holding the pen. He had a little curve at the end of his mouth, and the woman knew.

He will support him, the child will be a brilliant mage. That is if he can show his potential one more time, and she knew from the moment she saw the child, that master will be delighted by his soon-to-be disciple.

✶

The slums were as they were, just like everyone knew. Filthy and smelling of hunger. Hunger for food, money and blood. Woman swiftly moved between the streets, remembering the house she saw the child enter last time. It was an old wooden house with a crushed down roof, no lights or warmth emitting from it. Just how everywhere around it is.

"I saw his mother last time, of course they didn't know I was there but she was also a nice lady. I am sure she will be so happy when she hears her son's potential." she said almost melodically, fidgeting in her place from excitement.

"You have to be patient, Dame Vivian. First confirmation, then the rest. Master still didn't see the child." countered the aide, lowering his cape's hood.

"Yes, yes, Sir Jonathan. I will, but believe in me. This one is nothing like you see before." she giggled in excitement and knocked on the door, "Davian! I am Miss Mage, remember me?" shouted while doing so.

There was a short silence and then a thud. They heard the noise of small feets, running on the old floor causing it to creak. The door opened in a brutal way, causing it to slam to the wall inside. Soon a small hand appeared from the pitch black, gripping the woman's cape instantly, pulling it towards the small body she can somewhat distinguish from the dark.

"Please," echoed a small child's voice, sounding broken yet also hollow. "please-" he urged the woman inside causing Vivan to falter towards him, not really processing what was happening. Jonathan, instantly felt that something was terribly wrong, raised his hand with a quick light spell, a few balls of mana emitting light scattered around the pitch black where the child stood.

Gasps were heard from Vivian and Jonathan when they saw the child, Davian, Vivian called a few minutes ago in a cheerful voice.

A small boy with a supposingly white hair, now more akin to dark red in some places and the eyes— terribly empty, unfit to be a child's eyes, big red pupils devoid from any emotion.

His clothes were dirty from dried blood and dirt, his arms, legs and feet filled with bruises, burn marks and scars.

Vivian knew this was the child she talked to three weeks ago. But she also couldn't see that child now. He was gone, but also here, urging Vivian so desperately, to something— somewhere, and Vivian wasn't sure if she could handle it.

Master took a step forward, contradictory to his subordinates' shock. He knelt down, dropping on one knee and getting to the child's level of eyes.

"I—" he said while putting one of his hands on his chest, while the other is on his knee, where the child can see. He was moving cautiously, every movement is slow and calculated so the child won't see him as a threat. "—am Ethan, a friend of Miss Mage. I can help you." he said, never breaking his eye contact with the red eyes tracking his movements.

Such a small child, he thought. Are these really the eyes befitting of a child?

He got lost in those eyes a bit, pity leaving a burning feeling in his throat as he observed them. Just as he was trying to control his emotions, the child moved. Releasing Vivian's cape from his hand, letting it fall back to its place. He looked at Ethan last time and turned his back, walking inside a bit. Then he stopped midway, just like waiting for something. Ethan understood immediately, got up and hastily followed the child's small figure that was barely reaching his knees. Vivan and Jonathan snapped out of it when they saw their master moving forward and trailed behind them.

Child walked past the rooms reeking rotten, Ethan saw a figure of a man, a corpse, decomposed for a while it seemed. Vivian stifled a pained moan, while Jonathan covered his mouth with a handkerchief to prevent him from vomiting. Child didn't even bat an eye, Ethan could see some resemblance between the corpse and Davian, but didn't head that way, following the child instead. He could see the signs of struggle everywhere, blade laying near the corpse, a trail of blood where they headed. Finally, they reached a closed door, Davian reached his hand to the door knob and shivered. Ethan furrowed his brows to this and then his face hardened completely in an instant.

It was such a big wave of mana, coming from the room. The only person in this continent who could perform magic on this scale was only him, so he feared what to find behind the door. He instinctively reached out to the child to protect but Davian was faster, he opened the door. It was a freezing air slammed on their face with a big force, Vivian and Jonathan instantly covering their faces with their robes to lessen the impact while Ethan looked at the view in front of himself speechless.

Beautiful, he absentmindedly thought. Such an immense mana utilised in such a mesmerising way.

Child stopped in the middle of the room, in front of some kind of ridge and Ethan snapped out when he realised it was more like a bed made from snow and ice inside the room.

"I don't know how to hold a funeral." the child said while looking towards the body on the bed. "Mom liked praying, I don't have any memorised prayers." he continued while tracing the face of the lady who was laying down on the ice bed— his mom, it seemed— with red empty eyes.

Ethan felt a huge lump on his throat. He wanted to know the child's potential Vivian complimented so much about but not in this way. He could hear Vivian's soft mewls behind Jonathan's tries of consoling her too. He opened and closed his mouth a few times and then took a deep breath to ground himself, cold air burning its way into his lungs.

"It's okay," he somewhat managed to say. "I know how to. I can help if you would like."

"I am glad," said the child while his shoulders relaxed visibly and that made something in Ethan snap, his eyes filled with tears. "Do you also know how to pray? Mom liked to pray, she did every night."

"I do, I even memorised all kinds of ceremonial prayers the temple recommended." Ethan replied his voice is a bit heavier and wetter now with the unspilled tears in his eyes. He heard Jonathan sob at it from behind while Vivian was already for a while now.

"That's nice…" Child stopped a bit and raised his head while his eyes leaving his mother's body for the first time since entering the room. He looked at Ethan's face contracted from pain and his eyes opened a little, he seemed genuinely surprised. Ethan's tears started to go down when he once more realised just how small the child is.

"You are crying, why?" said Davian. He didn't understand this stranger at all, but also he didn't want to be rude because he said he would help him with his mom's funeral he couldn't hold due to his incompetence for almost two weeks now.

"Because you aren't, Davian. That's why." Ethan managed to spit out while doing his best not to frighten the child, he just wanted to hug Davian but this might scare the child, so he dug his nails in his palms, hands fisted.

"Father said men shouldn't cry." replied back Davian, unable to hide his shock and confusion away while watching Ethan, a tall fine man with expensive garnements and long robes cry his red, similar to Davian's, eyes out. He just couldn't wrap his head how. Ethan dropped on his knees in despair, seeing through the child's face and realising his innermost thoughts.

"Then it seems father is incapable of human emotion." said Ethan was more akin to begging, remembering the rotten corpse on the way to this room. He reached out his hands to the child, he was hesitating before but the child's words made him realise that he was indeed wrong.

Davian was a child, what he needed was warmth.

"You are a child, cry if you feel like it." Ethan whispered while hugging Davian tightly. And soon he felt the little body start to warm up, and heard a sniffing sound, followed by a loud wail, just like a child would.