With a gasp, I bolted upright, cracking my eyes open as I awoke. Instantly, I regretted my decision, as I was once more greeted with the awful, reddish hell that had haunted me the previous day. The moonlight streaked in through the window, tinged a deep, malevolent crimson. The floor was spattered with gore, bits of bone and viscera carpeting the entire room.

I was hallucinating again.

"No… No!" I gasped, shaking my head. Closing my eyes, I tried desperately to keep panic from overtaking me, like a man desperately fighting off a terrible disease. I knew it wasn't real. I knew that! But my stomach didn't seem to care. It rumbled desperately, crying out with a deep, primal hunger. My throat dried up, almost choking me with a horrific thirst.

Unfortunately for me, the mind didn't care if my eyes were closed or not. The visions actually got worse, since there were no limits in the black void of space beneath my eyelids. It went buckwild, and in the 5 or so seconds that my eyes were closed, I saw elves and other monsters splayed open, entrails coiling down from their slashed stomachs. Missing eyeballs, noses, and other assorted horrors were all that filled my vision. What finally made me open them back up was the sight of Yuri, her severed head hanging from a pole.

With a strangled cry, I opened my eyes back up, flinging myself out of bed in an instinctive effort to escape this waking nightmare. But that wasn't possible. The most I could do was just make it less bad by staring at the ground.

"F-Fuck… Fuck fuck fuck FUCK!" I cursed, running a hand through my hair, on the verge of tears. I'd thought this had gone away! I thought Micaela fixed me! How the hell was I supposed to deal with this?! It was the middle of the night! I couldn't just walk outside in the dark!

Shakily, I stepped out into the hallway, walking over towards the kitchen. Grabbing a chair, I sat down in it, staring down at the table (which currently appeared to have a the skinned face of an elf sitting on it.). I tried to keep myself from screaming, but the dam which held that tidal wave back had already begun to crack and splinter. Still, I resisted, hoping against hope that I'd somehow be able to wait this crisis out.

But that was a futile thought. My heart was beating out of my chest, and I could feel a cold sweat forming on my brow. The desire to consume, to fill my belly full of bleeding, oozing flesh, had begun to rise almost to the level of the fear and disgust which held it back. I wasn't sure how long I sat there, feeling the increasingly-fragile bits of sanity wither away and die as the synapses in my brain continued to torment me with a hell of flesh.

I couldn't take much more of this.

Before I even realized I was on my feet, I was already halfway out the door. Closing it quietly (well, as quietly as I could in my panicked state), I then found myself running towards Micaela's house at top speed. The soft grass I felt on the soles of my feet contrasted sharply with the puddles of blood and guts that my mind conjured up for me. This clear contradiction, combined with my continued self-reminders that this wasn't real, is perhaps the only thing that kept me from screaming.

I'd made it about 80% of the way there when I slammed into someone's legs. Of course, in such a battle, my short frame was the one to budge. I bounced backwards, my back landing on the soft grass. For half a second, my vision flickered back to normal, and I beheld the person I'd slammed into.

The woman was another dark elf. Her skin was a sickly purple, and her eyes were a dark red. Her hair, long and blonde, was tied into a ponytail that stopped just below her shoulders. She was wearing a black dress that, strangely, looked somewhat flesh-like near the bottom. But then again, that might have just been part of my hallucinations.

It briefly occurred to me that this woman looked rather familiar. As if I'd seen her in the game somewhere. But before I could ponder more deeply on that, my vision changed again, and suddenly it appeared as if her head was hanging by a mere thread of flesh.

"You're not supposed to be out here so late." She said, her tone neutral. "Where's your mother, boy?"

Shaking my head, I tried not to look at her. It probably made me look guilty, but I really didn't care at that moment. In fact, the only thing I cared about was getting to Micaela so she could fix me again.

"M-Move, please. I need to see Micaela. I-It's urgent!" I gasped, trying to step by her. She stepped in front of me, however, blocking the way forwards.

"You know… I was friends with Layla." The woman said darkly, glaring at me. Well, at least, I think she was glaring. Her face flickered in and out of existence, being periodically replaced with the sight of a bloody, cracked skull. "What your mother did to her wasn't right."

I'm sure that if I weren't literally losing my mind already, what she'd said would have sent me into a rage. Perhaps she'd been a bit too violent in the matter which she carried out the execution, but killing that disgusting pedophile had been entirely justified.

"I-If you have a problem, take it up with her. N-Now please, move along! I just need to see Micaela-" I began, before she suddenly grabbed me by the shoulder, and pulled me close.

"And why shouldn't I just rape you right here and now, hmm? Your mother's not here right now. And I'll skip town long before she finds your dried up husk of a body~!" She declared, her dress beginning to writhe as purple, lewd tentacles exploded outward. Except, in my view, they looked more like bloody, shredded intestines.

Her tentacles pulled me taut against her, pressing my face into her breasts. She smelled like lavender, something that, in literally any other situation, would've been a nice, innocent smell. But being so deeply pressed into her breasts, the smell must've been nothing short of arousing.

But I didn't feel aroused. Not one bit. Now, whether that was because my body was still 6 and wouldn't be physically capable of such things for another few years, or because I was too busy suffering hallucinations, I couldn't tell you. What I can tell you, however, is that this smell made me hungry.

Very hungry.

Feeling my head begin to shake with a horrible intensity, I let out a keening whine, struggling in her grip. She let out an amused, spiteful laugh, unaware of the danger she was in.

"L-Let me go! I'm… I'm fucking warning you!" I gasped, feeling my jaw shake with the urge to clamp my teeth down into her flesh. "S-Seriously, you need to-"

"What I need is for you to shut up, boy." She cut me off, grabbing me by the back of the head and slamming my face deeper into her breasts. "Just relax for a second… I'll make you feel really good…"

I continued to writhe against her, cursing as her tentacles tightened against me. My stomach growled with hunger, demanding to be sated. My throat burned like it was on fire, desperately seeking the sinful yet delicious red.

"L-LET ME GO!" I screeched, clenching my eyes shut tightly. A terrible, pounding headache split my skull down the middle, making my brain feel as if it was simultaneously being squished flat and immolated. My ears began to ring, blocking out all noise except the rapid beating of my heart.

My jaw quivered as I felt the overwhelming urge to clamp my jaws down on her neck. To tear her flesh to ribbons and devour her delectable form. 'She deserves it, anyways…' Part of my mind reasoned, betraying my desire to not fucking lose it. 'She's trying to rape me, after all…'

I could not win in the face of this onslaught of agony. Every second I resisted my instincts felt like 1000 years of torment. By the time the woman had begun to fiddle with my pants, my resolve shattered like glass.

She never even saw it coming.

Micaela was horrified. Actually, that was a vile understatement. Micaela was currently so deeply shocked and appalled by what she was currently seeing, that she had to make a conscious effort to not puke.

Now, the fallen angel considered herself to be a relatively hardened woman. After all, she'd served in the Great Monster Wars, and cut down scores of enemies. She'd seen the brutality of war up close and personal, and she hadn't been impressed. So what could possibly make her so upset?

Well, that would be the sight of a child, gleefully consuming the twitching remains of a former guard. He didn't even seem to notice that he was spattered with viscera. Nor did he notice the disguised seraph standing less than ten feet from him. He was entirely absorbed by the body in front of him, tearing away chunks with his teeth and gulping them down like some kind of animal.

And the violence itself wasn't even the issue. No, that part was honestly fine. Micaela had seen a lot of blood and guts in her time under Ilias. The issue was seeing a child so gleefully eating a corpse. Children were supposed to be innocent. This was… wrong. Something about it made fallen angel sick to her stomach.

Clearly, she couldn't let this continue. The fact that she'd been standing around for like 10 seconds was already enough of an issue. So, she did the first thing that came to mind. Wrapping her arms around him, she pinned his arms to his sides, and pulled him away. He was slick with blood and viscera, which made it rather difficult to keep ahold of him. Thankfully, he didn't fight too much. Just a bit of struggling and a half-hearted groan of discontent.

"Alex, what on earth were you just doing?" Micaela muttered into his ear, as she quickly carried him into her house. She didn't want others to see him like this. He may have been a child, but he clearly just killed one of the guards. She wasn't entirely sure how the villagers would react to this.

He didn't answer, of course. He just stared off into space, mouth agape. He didn't seem to react to her words whatsoever. It was as if he didn't even hear them. Shaking her hand in front of his eyes, the disguised seraph sighed when Alex didn't even twitch.

"Well, this is certainly a problem…" Micaela muttered to herself. She shook Alex a little bit just make sure, but it was no use. He was deep into some kind of trance. His eyes appeared almost foggy, and there was a serene smile on his face. Which… that smile was a little disconcerting, considering all the caked-on blood that ran down his face and chest. There was even a little bit of what appeared to be intestine sticking out from between his lips. Part of her wanted to pull it away from him, but she wasn't really looking to stick her fingers anywhere near his mouth.

Micaela's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of frantic knocking at her door. Before she could even get up to answer it, it was flung open, revealing the panicked figure of Yuri. "Micaela, I went to check on Alex and he wasn't in his room!" She screamed, nearly on the verge of tears. "I need help looking for him-"
Micaela cut her off by gesturing towards the bloody form of Alex, while giving the frantic mother a deadpan look.

Yuri paused for a fraction of a second, before rushing forwards and scooping her son up in her arms. Hugging him tightly, she immediately set about wiping the blood from his face, pulling a rag from one of her pockets and scrubbing the muck away. Part of Micaela wanted to ask just why she carried a rag around in the first place, but decided that was a question for later.

"Alex, sweetie, you had me worried." The mother said to the boy, a sad frown on her face. "What if one of those skanks in town got ahold of you? I don't know what I'd do…"

The woman paused for a moment when Alex didn't respond, her frown deepening further. Idly, she waved her hand in front of his eyes, but he didn't seem to notice.

"He seems like he's in some kind of trance." Micaela informed quickly, trying to keep Yuri from panicking a second time. "He's not hurt from what I can tell. But I'm not sure what caused this."

Yuri hummed, inspecting her boy for any sign of injury. Suddenly, she drew her hand back, and slapped him roughly across the face, hard enough to snap his head to the side and leave a bright-red welt across his face.

Immediately, the boy yelped, cursing up a storm as he was violently ripped out of the trance. "Gah, what the fuck, Yuri?!" He asked, rubbing his cheek. He made to say more, but paused suddenly. "...Why are we in Micaela's house?"

Micaela paused, feeling a sudden sense of alarm spark through her entire being. "You… You don't remember?" She asked, her heart already sinking with dread as she imagined the conversation to come. She didn't want even want to think about how he'd react when she told him how she found him.

"S-Should I?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. "Last thing I can think of, I was…" He paused for a moment, looking down at himself with a frown. "Wait… why is there blood on my shirt?"

...Yeah, the impending conversation was definitely not going to be fun.

Silently, I stared at the wall, looking and feeling as haggard as an old man that was lost in some faraway memory. One that no living being other than himself had any access to. My mouth was dry, as was my throat. But it was that sticky kind of dry, where it felt like your tongue was melting to the top of your mouth. Unconsciously, I moved it around, trying to bring forth some semblance of moisture.

'I killed someone.'

I shook my head, squinting my eyes shut with all the force I could muster. The crickets were chirping outside, a sign that it still wouldn't be daytime for a while. The beautiful rays of the sun wouldn't warm the earth for quite some time.

But even when it did come, it wouldn't warm the aching cold in my bones. A frigid, rasping wave that went so deep, it penetrated my very soul.

'I killed someone.'

Once again that thought dared to breach the silence of the night. Not that that the night was silent. In the physical, material sense, it was quite loud. It featured sounds such as bugs, wind, and the distant, barely audible conversations happening outside the house. No, the silence this errant thought dared to intrude on was more spiritual. The silence of the soul.

'I killed her. Oh god, I fucking killed her!'

The thought grew more urgent, and I shook my head angrily, biting down hard on my lip until I drew blood. These thoughts would do nothing for me. Yes, I killed that woman. I tore her apart. My memories had come back to me when Micaela explained how she found me.

Which meant I remembered what that woman tried to do. I remembered her lewd threats, and her vile expression. I remembered how she planned to take me in the most lascivious sense of the word. By all accounts, I was justified in ending that wretch.

So why did I feel so awful about it?! Why did it feel as if some kind of iron-hot claw had torn its way into my stomach, grasping and pulling at my intestines? Why did my hands shake every time I thought of it? Why did I care?! The only thing I could think of was that it was technically my first kill. That man in the forest didn't count-

I slammed my hand against the table yet again, feeling a sudden and violent spike of rage at the memory of that particular incident. Every time I thought of that, I found myself outraged at what Yuri had done. And yet that rage was quelled at the mere thought of her smile. Her warm, innocent, loving embrace as she hugged me tightly against her. I couldn't possibly hold onto any anger against the woman who'd adopted me.

And that just made me even angrier.

I didn't know why I was like this. I'd only known her for a number of months at this point. I should hate her for what she's done! But I couldn't bring myself to, no matter what I did! Every time I thought I'd reached that point, it'd all come crashing down upon me. She'd hug me, and I'd forget why I even thought about hating her.

Tonight was the closest I'd come. Not because of the killing itself. She had nothing to do with that. It would be completely asinine to attribute the slaughter of that dark elf to her. No, my anger stemmed from a far different place. But that anger was mingled and twisted, tainted with the feeling of affection and familial love.

It had been just after Micaela explained what happened. I began to sob as soon as she explained to me how she'd found me. My memories had come back, assaulting me with a force of emotions that shook me to my very core. I wept, harshly and loudly, heaving in great gasps of air as my entire body shook from the force of my grief and horror.

But then, Yuri took me into her arms. So pure and loving a smile she gave me, that it was like a shock of cold water. My cries ceased immediately, and that warm, fuzzy feeling of affection budded in my heart again.

"I'm so proud of you, Alex." She'd said, no trace of deception on her face. "Not even 8 years old, and you've already put some vile bitch in the dirt where she belongs."

The contrast between the emotion in her voice and what she was actually speaking about was immense, and it sent a spark of fury barreling through my heart, briefly overtaking the familial love I felt for her. She… She congratulated me?! I killed someone! Even if it was self-defense, she shouldn't be encouraging it! What kind of mother did that?!

From a quick glance, I could tell that Micaela was similarly infuriated. We locked eyes, and for a moment, a silent understanding passed between us. We both knew that this was wrong. How Yuri was treating the event… it was insane.

But, that feeling eventually lost, and I was once again just happy to be in her arms. Logic could not win.

Yuri and I quickly retired back to our house, though the two adults continued to speak on the porch. Micaela was complaining angrily about what Yuri had just pulled, and my adoptive mother didn't particularly seem to care. It was as if she knew that the disguised seraph wouldn't understand. But maybe she didn't account for the fact that I didn't understand either. Or, worse… maybe she didn't care.

I slammed my fist onto the table once again, only to pause as I heard a dry crack echo throughout the room. Slowly, I removed my hand from view, allowing me to see what kind of damage I'd caused.

With a little wonder, I looked at the small crevice that had appeared in the wood. It was a rather big crack. Definitely noticeable. But that part wasn't important. What was, was how I'd managed such a thing in the first place. The table was solid wood, and of fine quality. At my age and size, I shouldn't have been able to damage it no matter how hard I hit it. And yet I'd almost completely cracked through it.

"What the hell…?" I found myself muttering, staring at what I'd done. Raising my hand in front of my face, I slowly opened and closed it, checking for any feeling of pain or soreness. After being satisfied that there was none, I began to search instead for any kind of redness or irritation from all the vicious table-slamming. None of that appeared to spot the appendage, either.

But that didn't make any sense! I was in the body of a small child! I was supposed to be fragile! Hitting the table hard enough to crack it like that should've broken my hand! Or, at the very least, there should be some evidence of injury! But there was none! My hands were completely and utterly fine!

It was at that moment where Yuri stepped in, slamming the door behind her in a huff. Quickly, she turned to me, replacing her expression with a warm—if somewhat tired—smile. "Hey, sorry about that, Alex." She said, walking over to me. "Me and Micaela just had to talk-" She paused suddenly, staring at the crack which nearly split the table in two. "Did… Did you break the table?"

Despite the fact that she sounded more confused than angry, I still winced, feeling a small amount of shame spring up in the back of my head. Gingerly, I nodded, looking down at the floor to avoid her gaze.

"...How?" She asked eventually, her voice baffled enough that it was almost funny. "You… You shouldn't be able to do that. A grown man would struggle to do damage to this thing without a weapon."

I shrugged, and gestured to the crevice in the wood. "I… I'm not sure. I just hit it a few times…" I winced again upon saying that, only realizing how childish it sounded after the words had already left my mouth. "I uh… I'm sorry?"

Yuri shook her head, and quickly pulled me into a hug. Yet again, all my thoughts against her were swept away, and I melted into her embrace.

"Oh… sweetie. I'm not mad at you." She paused. "Well… maybe a little annoyed. Don't break stuff. But I'm just more impressed that you managed to even do that. You shouldn't be that strong…"

Her eyes narrowed briefly, but the expression was gone less than a second later. Normally I would've thought that suspicious, but I was too busy being hugged to care.

The rest of the night passed on in relative silence. After some time, Yuri decided I needed to go to bed. I didn't protest, because I was starting to feel pretty tired. I'd had barely any sleep, after all.

So, Yuri tucked me into bed, ruffling my hair as she pulled the covers over my body. "Get some sleep, Alex." She said, still smiling. "We've got training tomorrow…"

With that, she closed the door, bathing me in darkness once more.

...For a moment, I laid there, pondering if I could just forget about everything that had happened. If, by some miracle, I could bring myself to fall asleep after tearing into that woman.

Then my exhaustion kicked in and affirmed that, yes, I in fact could.

Yuri closed the door behind her with a sigh, stepping into her kitchen and staring down at that crack once more. No matter how hard she racked her brain, she just couldn't figure out how Alex had gained the strength to crack that table. It was solid wood. Good wood, too. It hadn't exactly been cheap. But that was fine. She'd known Alex didn't mean to. And how could she be angry at him when he looked so sheepish? It had hurt her heart a little when he wilted under her gaze.

But no matter. The point is, Alex had somehow gotten really strong for his age, really quickly. The last time they sparred together, he definitely hadn't hit that hard. Really, the only thing that had happened between then and now was him tearing into that whore of a guard...

She paused for a moment, mentally looking back on that last thought. Had… Had he gotten stronger from eating part of that woman? It seemed preposterous to even think about. But then again, her son was already quite the outlandish individual. His cravings for blood and flesh were already bizarre on their own. Gaining strength from eating others wasn't too much of a leap.

Maybe that's why he craved it? Perhaps on some instinctual, biological level, his body knew what it needed to grow stronger? Yuri didn't really know. Stuff like that was beyond her paygrade.

But there was an easy way she could test this. If she just started slipping a bit of monster meat into his meals every day, maybe he'd keep getting stronger and stronger? And even if he didn't, Yuri was sure Alex would at least enjoy the taste.

Grabbing her sword from the wall, she stepped out of her home, glancing up at the sky. The sun was going to rise soon. That meant she had to be quick. But that was perfectly fine. She'd worked with worse odds.

And she'd needed to work off some steam anyways. Her conversation with Micaela had left the elf feeling rather annoyed. She respected the blonde woman, she really did. But when that woman was telling her how to be a parent, it made Yuri want to stab her in the fucking eye. Obviously she couldn't really do that, but the urge was still there.

That was fine. After all, someone was going to die that night anyways. By morning, Yuri would surely banish this bad mood that had befallen her. All for the price of one stupid little skank. Nothing wrong with that. Honestly, she figured she was doing the world a favor. Any one of those hussies around the town would be looking at her son with lust when he got older. That was unacceptable. In her mind, killing any of them would be justified.

A sudden opportunity arose as Yuri spotted a blonde, pony-tailed guard walking steadily towards the outside of town. She must have been posted on the roads, likely to ward off travelers. That meant she'd be far removed from any kind of backup.

Yuri felt a small smile stretch across her face, slowly following behind. She was careful not to be spotted, darting into the tree line and watching from a distance. Her quarry had no idea she was there. And why would she? The guard probably didn't even think about danger coming from inside the town.

Unfortunately for her, she wouldn't be able to learn from that mistake.

I awoke to Yuri's gentle hand on my shoulder, softly shaking me awake. Cracking my eyes open, I looked up at her worried but loving expression, and couldn't help but feel touched by how much this woman cared for me.

"Time to get up, sleepyhead. It's past noon." She stated, a small smile on her face. "Come on, I made you some breakfast."

The prospect of food caused my stomach to let out a ravenous growl, which made Yuri chuckle slightly. Rolling her eyes, she stepped out of the room, gesturing for me to follow. Which I did, sluggishly. Getting out of bed was always a struggle. But I managed, flopping onto the floor before slowly rising to my feet.

As I passed through the doorway, I was immediately hit with the lovely smell of cooked meat. My stomach growled again, more appreciatively. Some instinctual side of me may have began to prefer the raw stuff, but I refused to make that my entire diet. I would go insane if I was just eating the raw carcasses of dead animals all the time. So, cooked meat was necessary. As were vegetables, as much as my stomach twisted at the mere thought of them.

Sitting down at the table, I paused as I once more noticed the crack from my earlier tantrum. Looking at it more closely, it appeared almost like a tiny crevice, splitting apart a vast desert made entirely of wood. It was definitely big enough to fit my fingernail into. Perhaps two, if I were feeling adventurous.

My ponderings on the crack in the wood were abruptly interrupted as Yuri placed a bowl of stew down in front of me. It was hearty, with carrots, onions, potatoes, and plenty of meat. Instantly, I could feel myself begin to salivate as I stared at it. It smelled so good. Better than Yuri's cooking normally did, even. Which wasn't a slight against the woman, mind you. Her cooking was great anyways. But this? Somehow this seemed like the best thing she'd made so far.

"It's an old recipe." She explained, seemingly noticing my excitement. "I can tell by the look on your face that you're interested already. Well, don't let me stop you. We have plenty."

I dug in immediately, shuddering as the taste of the meat hit me. It was so fucking good. Not the best I'd ever had before, but certainly the best for something cooked. My stomach roared in approval, and I began to shovel more and more of it into my mouth, nearly biting the end of my wooden spoon off in my haste.

Yuri smiled again, letting out another chuckle at how quickly I wolfed it down. "You really like it, huh?" She muttered, shaking her head. "Guess I'll have to make this more often…"

Looking up from my meal for half a second, I nodded enthusiastically at her idea, before immediately going back to shoveling food into my mouth.

I didn't even notice the feral grin that split upon my mother's face.

It was late in the evening, somewhere between dusk and nightfall. The last glimmers of the sun had just disappeared behind the distant mountains, but the sky wasn't quite dark enough to reveal the countless twinkling stars that splashed across the cosmos. For a human, it would've been difficult to see well in the darkness. For a monster, it was nothing.

Which is why Lucretia was unbothered by the darkness of her study. To her, it was about as bright as a typical cloudy day. She could perfectly see the various bookshelves and cabinets that lined the walls of her magnificent tree house. At the center of it all was her throne, which wasn't really all that magnificent. She'd never been one for extravagance, and her tenuous position as the leader of a dying race made it so that she didn't have the resources necessary for such vices either. But despite the lack of any semblance of opulence, it was a rather comfortable chair. Currently, it had a desk pulled in front of it. The desk wasn't supposed to be there, but there weren't many visitors coming around to see her anyways. And she never bothered to be all that formal with the other harpies.

Like every other night, she was sat behind her desk, doing paperwork to the best of her ability. It was a difficult task for a harpy, seeing as they had no hands or opposable thumbs. But with some training, they could make do with their talons. It might have been a comical sight, seeing a harpy leaned halfway back, clutching an inked quill with their sharp feet. But it was the only way she could write. Part of her was just happy that she could write at all. Some monsters, like earthworm girls, weren't so fortunate.

She'd been working on different bits of paperwork for about half an hour when she was mercifully interrupted by one of her subjects. Reina, her secretary, flew in silently, placing a single, unopened letter on the desk. "It's from Enrika, ma'am." She explained, before quickly flying back out to attend to her other duties.

Tilting her head, Lucretia let out an inquisitive hum, slowly opening the letter with one talon. She almost never got any letters from Enrika. Even though it was considered a friendly village, the people there tended to keep to themselves. What was even more surprising was the fact that it was signed by Micaela, the leader of the village.

Delicately unfolding the letter, Lucretia set it down on her desk, and began to read. As her eyes scanned the document, her face grew more and more grave.

'To Lucretia, Queen of the Harpies.'

'I have come to realize that an infamous criminal has been living freely in my village for some time now. A woman by the name of Yuri Aera.'

By the founder, just reading that name made Lucretia's skin break out into goosebumps. Yuri's actions had been legendary. Tales of her bloody, sadistic exploits were still spoken about in hushed tones, even decades after her initial disappearance. To find out that she was alive? And not only alive, but on the very continent the harpy called home? Well, this wouldn't do at all.

Shaking her head, Lucretia banished those thoughts for the moment. As pleasing as the idea of bringing that vile bitch to justice was, she couldn't just rush in. Besides, she hadn't even finished reading the letter yet.

'I would like to ask your assistance in dealing with her. There are complicating factors that would make a direct approach rather difficult. One of those being that she has a young child with her. A boy, named Alex.'

The letter went on to detail Yuri's less-than-stellar parenting methods, and how she was essentially molding him to become a killer himself. Descriptions of her rough "training" was sickening enough, but it didn't even compare to the horror Lucretia felt when she read about how the boy was forced to kill someone. Forcing that burden on such a young child… despicable!

Standing up abruptly, the Harpy Queen tossed the letter aside, and stepped out into the cold night air. She'd read more than enough to be convinced. Something had to be done.

With a rage so incandescent that it'd make the previous queen jealous, Lucretia took to the skies, soaring among the clouds in the inky black expanse of the night. As fast as she could, she soared towards the direction of Enrika, ready to tear that wretch of an elf asunder.

As she passed out of the village she called home, a distant, thunderous crack echoed throughout the entire woods.

She had broken the sound barrier.

A/N: My writing style is all over the place in this chapter. Not sure why. I kind of like some of it, to be honest.

Anyways, Happy thanksgiving to those of y'all who celebrate it.