"I have spoken with the others, and they agreed with me. That is why we have pooled together our money, and would like to offer you a chance to send your daughter to reach her full potential, like the village did for me. We would like to send her to Remheart."
Aria’s didn’t blink. She didn’t visibly react. But she felt her heart stop for what felt like a full minute. The Capital? If someone found out that Melas was her daughter, she would surely be killed!
The Rem Republic tried to stay neutral as a country that mostly dealt in trade. Yet, they still had their obligations to one of their biggest trading partners— the Holy Xan Empire. Perhaps Rem itself would only throw Melas into a prison cell for her relation to Aria. But the Church would surely demand to take her, and Rem would not face any consequences if they obeyed.
And if they took Melas to Soli… Aria felt her lips quiver as the scenarios played out in her head. They would crucify her, hang her, then burn her at the stake.
And yet, Walden was right. Melas was gifted, talented, and full of potential. She deserved the opportunity to fully realize that. But Aria knew that her daughter would not want to do that if it meant separating from her. That left Aria between a rock and a hard place, and Walden seemed to notice.
"Don’t worry, Aria. I know you’re worried about the idea of your daughter living alone, but I wouldn’t have brought it up if I didn’t genuinely believe that Melas could handle herself. I also have friends there who could help her. However, the decision comes down to what you and Melas think. Discuss it with her and consider it. Take a few days if you must."
Walden gave Aria a sincere, reassuring smile that extended to the crows feet by his eyes. Aria was about to respond in kind, before she was interrupted by a young boy who burst in through the door.
"Is something the matter?"
"What’s wrong?"
"Ms Aria! Melas and Adrian were attacked!"
Aria’s eyes widened upon hearing that. She did not wait for the boy to explain what happened, instead making him lead them to her daughter.
It was a quick run. It took no more than ten minutes before they arrived at the scene, but there was already a crowd gathered.
Aria and Walden pushed their way through the crowd to see what happened, and what they saw was horrible.
To Aria’s left, laid Adrian who was bleeding from a deep gash on his chest. He was barely conscious, listening to his parents who were holding him and trying to keep him awake.
To her right, laid the bloodied and mangled body of what looked to be a large lion. It was missing its head and mane, which seemed to have exploded, and it’s two front legs were lying a few feet beyond the rest of its body.
And finally, to Aria’s front, was the body of a girl. Her face was heavily disfigured from a mana explosion, and she was losing a lot of blood from a large wound buried on her chest. Her legs were covered in severe burns that went up to her inner thighs, and her right arm laid detached from the rest of her body a dozen feet behind her.
As Aria took in this image, she let out only one shaky word.
"Melas..."
***
I’m alive.
I tried opening one eye, only for it to promptly clamp shut due to the sudden influx of light.
How the heck am I alive?!
I was pretty sure I died. Everything went dark, and I was bleeding from literally everywhere. I mean, I was missing my right arm for God’s sake!
I felt my right arm twitch as I had that thought. Um, what? Slowly, I tried to clench my right hand. It still felt very numb, but it did clench, though just barely. Definitely there. But how?
Whatever happened to me had to be nothing short of a miracle; my entire body was numb, but it was all still in one piece, which made the numbness feel like nothing in comparison. Carefully this time, I tried to open my eyes once again.
It took me a moment to adjust to being able to see once again. But eventually I managed to find my bearings, and was met with the familiar view of my bedroom when I looked around. Was what happened a dream? Did I imagine everything that happened? It looks only to be around noon, so maybe?
I tried to sit up, and felt a sharp pain coming from my ribs. I made a soft whimpering sound at that, immediately laying back down; the noise seemed to have attracted my mom’s attention, as she came rushing in with a worried look on her face.
"M-mommy?" I asked, still slightly bewildered.
"Melas, you’re awake. How are you feeling, my dear?" my mom cooed in such a gentle voice, the numbing sensation all over my body was immediately soothed over.
"I’m… alive?"
I was not even sure if that was meant to be a question or statement, because I was both glad for, and confused about, the fact that I was still alive. My mom let out a breath I didn’t even know she was holding, walked over to me, and kneeled by my bed.
"Yes, dear. Yes you are." She said, delicately stroking my hair.
It felt so good to be pampered like this, especially after what happened. I let it happen for the next ten minutes, savoring every single second of it, before I decided to finally break the silence.
"What happened, mom?"
My mom continued caressing me for a
