In a village located 80 kilometres east of Lanthanor City.
Little Tammie skipped along the central road that lead to the Village Mayor"s house while happily humming a tune to herself.
As someone whose father had died in the army, she was eligible to receive a pension from the government which always came on this day.
Her mother had pa.s.sed away during a visit from a n.o.ble, the details of which had always been hidden from her. Now, it was just her and her little sister, Sally, who was currently playing in the field they owned.
Looking forward to buying a gift for the kind family who took care of their farm for them while only taking a small percentage of the profit, Tammie tried to decide just what would make their son, Jake"s eyes light up most with joy.
At 12, she had already matured to the level where she only thought about saving enough to move to the capital.
According to the Mayor, the King had opened a school there which was open to all. Both she and her sister had always been interested in studying enchanting, or at least smithing because of all the times the torch trinket left behind by their father had brought light to them during the darkest times of their lives.
Yet, before reaching the Mayor"s house, she heard a sound behind her which made her turn around.
Although it reminded her of the rustling of clothes in the wind, it had a certain odd chill to it that for some reason, made her think of her little sister.
Behind her, everything looked normal except for the fact that multiple people were running in her direction with terror on their faces.
Her first thought upon seeing this scene was that their field was also in the same direction.
Taking off at a run, Tammie ignored and dodged all those who tried to stop her before reaching a spot where the sight in front of her stunner her into halting.
The worry that had been on her face turned into full-blown fear, as the part of the village that was supposed to be in front of her eyes was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, the only house still standing looked like it was being eaten by a green skull.
Yet, after watching for a few moments, Tammie realized that it was actually some sort of green fire.
The rustling that she had heard was louder, making it clear that it was being made by this fire which was devouring an entire house without even leaving behind ash.
Just as she was about to run forward to find Sally, an invisible hand wound around her before pulling her back.
As Kellor arrived in the air above the scene to see the little girl run forward with fear on her face, he knew that there had definitely been civilians in the area that had already been devoured.
After casting a tornado spell and pulling the girl back to safety, he deployed a communication eye to transmit the scene to the King of Lanthanor who was currently in the situation room.
As the image became clear on the screen in front of him, Daneel couldn"t help but gasp and drop the cup he had been holding in his hand.
From above, it was as if some demonic ent.i.ty had taken a bite from the small village in which over 100 people lived.
Seeing the tornado be successful in stopping the fire, Daneel sighed with relief before seeing that the small girl who had been flung backward by Kellor was now running forward again.
The shock troops consisting of Elite Mages and Fighters had already arrived on the scene and notified him that the perpetrators had already fled.
After reaching a barren field in which nothing but the earth remained, the little girl frantically started searching around.
The field wasn"t very large, and she only needed 15 minutes to run around it. Yet, as if not wanting to believe it, she ran again and again on the same path while looking in all directions.
Finally, she collapsed onto the ground and clutched the dirt below her in frustration before letting out a bloodcurdling scream that even startled the battle-hardened soldiers near her.
Sally was gone. Gone forever.
First, her father had died in a war.
Next, her mother had left her alone with her little sister.
Now, the little girl whom she had carried to multiple houses in the village just to obtain enough milk to feed her was also gone.
She would never be able to see that one-sided dimple or the wide brow which was the object of her playful teasing.
She wished that she was in front of her, so that she could tell her that she was the best sister in the whole d.a.m.ned world.
Unable to bear the pain, she let out scream after scream until her voice started tearing.
Daneel had been watching on all this while without a word. Finally, he ordered Kellor to make the girl unconscious and bring her to the Palace.
The final tally was that 46 of the 103 villagers had died in the attack.
Collapsing onto the throne, Daneel remembered the events that had transpired since the morning.
During his usual training, he had been called by Kellor to the surveillance room.
On arriving, Kellor and Luther both had grave expressions on their faces.
It seemed that a small force containing 4 people had been spotted leaving the Valley of the Mist in the direction of the Lanthanor Kingdom. Of them, one wore a purple habit much like the ones worn by the priests from the Church of Rect.i.tude.
This news had chilled Daneel to the bone.
Wasn"t he supposed to have much more time?
Were they attacking already?
Was his master"s information wrong?
Controlling his panic, he realized that if the Church was going to attack, it definitely wouldn"t send such a small force unless it had a Champion Level Powerhouse.
Terrifying as this thought was, Daneel felt it was unlikely mainly due to the fact that the group had exited from the Valley of Mist.
Besides, if such a figure really did want to go up against Daneel, he would have no choice but to give up.
Thus, considering all the facts, he realized that it was probable that there was some kind of link between the Church and the Withering Leaf Sect, making them join together to send a force against him. After all, there were many ways to circ.u.mvent the oath they had sworn.
He had indeed been quite blatant in his attempts to map the area, and part of the surveillance hub"s purpose was to detect any such retaliation.
Although he still didn"t know why they didn"t just teleport out of the Valley, Daneel wasn"t one to question good things too much.
He had immediately dispatched Kellor, but they had no idea to know where they would strike.
The second the teleportation detection formation had activated, Kellor made his way over.
Yet, they had been too fast. Half the village had already been destroyed before they left, and Daneel had had to bear witness to the anguish of the little one.
What could he do?
There were too many villages, making evacuation impossible. Although Kellor a.s.sured him that they would be able to respond within seconds, it seemed that the enemy was capable of doing damage with that strange fire which he still didn"t have information about.
The only consolation was that there was mention about a particular typology of flames which had similar effects in the secret library. Known as Tenebrous Flames, these were extremely difficult and expensive to make, yet their effects of being able to eat away almost anything was matchless.
In fact, the strike force could have teleported to a different location and continued the attack even though Daneel had had his eye on them with the formation that spanned the Kingdom. Yet, they had chosen to leave.
This either signified that they were afraid to face the shock troops, or that the fire was indeed, special.
As that anguished cry still reverberated in his ears, Daneel decided that it was time to resort to drastic measures.
He needed to make a statement that would make these people shake with fear if even the thought of carrying out guerrilla attacks crossed their minds.
Earth had had its fair share of wars, yet right now, Daneel was reminded of the battle in which one of the strongest countries in the world had lost against a small force who only had a forest to call their home along with the will to fight back and win.
Although he was now on the same side of the one who had lost, he would make sure not to make the same mistakes.
They had dared to kill his people not once, but twice.
And he would have no qualms about resorting to any and all means at his disposal.