The Absolute: Humanity's Second Chance

*** Juliette Silver ***

I could not believe what I was laying my eyes upon. It was just unbelievable. My big brother Damien, my idol, my superhero...

Happens to not be so heroical.

It's hard to believe, yet not impossible.

We grew up under gore. And the young men grew up fighting at the young early age of seven or nine years old.

They grow up under bloody circumstances.

Their views would of course be twisted. Especially so, when some of them are taught to be nothing but war machines that only know how to fight for their race.

Damien Gray, being one of the most perfect specimen of that subject.

So big brother being like this, is not much of a surprise? Yes, it is not. I, myself, was just caught off guard. Just a bit.

That was all.

I just could not believe that my idol, happens to be completely different to what I always dreamed about. I felt betrayed.

But... once again, I understand. I am not disgusted at his behavior. Okay, I am. But I am trying to adjust my mentality to better suit his.

To better become a strong woman.

One worthy of being by his side. Unfortunately, I am not born a warrior, and could not join him. I am frail bodied, and afraid of too much blood.

I did get used to blood as I grew up, and am no more as disgusted as before. But maybe, I was not completely over that irrational fear just yet.

For I could feel my stomach twist and turn the more I watched the gory scene before me eyes. I vomited more than once, as I saw big brother Damien crush the eyes of that... demon thing.

I was even shaken when I saw him twist its hand. I felt my hand tingle.

Especially at my shoulder. I felt even more so, when he dared to stab it with its own bladed hands. How ruthless.

My body just involuntarily shook, wondering how would I fare if I was the one being pinned down. And no, I do not mean it like that. This is a serious matter.

But I was more shaken when I saw how he was willing to bash its head with a stone.

I was not sure how I would fare if I actually saw him bash its head repeatedly just to kill it. Such a scene was utterly... gruesome. And inhumane. Even upon demons.

Maybe if he did it once, which I was begging God that he did, I would not feel so disgusted or repulsed? Perhaps. Maybe. I can never be sure.

But if it fails, and he has to do it repeatedly...

I was, truly not sure how I was going to take that and digest it. I might even be traumatized.

At the end of the day, I am just a house girl, taught a few self defense hand to hand combat techniques, and assassination techniques. Nothing else.

And overally, I took over my mother's trait of being a hard worker. I was never a fighter. I was a coward. I knew that. I was even afraid of blood at some point.

How pathetic, right?

I know. Real pathetic. But I am trying. And at some point, I will get used to it. And I will surprise... surprise...? Wait, what is that?

I turned my head from big brother Damien and his actions. I know I should watch him do it.

I mean, what him bash that demon's skull, I had to, if I genuinely wanted to get used to it. If I wanted to sharpen my mentality.

But I felt my senses tingle. My womanly intuition was warning me about danger. Yes, I might be going crazy, but I felt it like that.

I don't believe I have survival instincts, so it was definitely my womanly instincts.

And I was spot on. I saw the lava from the nearby river churn silently. It churned and twisted slightly, forming a small whirlpool.

It was beautiful to look at.

But that was all.

"..."

I watched intently as from the center of the whirlpool, a flicker of flames blazed out and grew into something resembling a human-like child.

"...!!!"

The child was human-like, with a thin physique. Unlike a baby with its baby fat, it had a well trained physique.

It had long ears, and adorable facial features that rivaled the cutest babies I've ever seen. A body seemingly that a child-god. It was angelic.

And was around thirty centimeters tall. It's mouth was silently laughing mischievously. Or was chuckling to itself, while staring at big brother Damien intently.

It then felt my gaze and turned to look at me. I was surprised, and of course fearful. But I could not help but stare as it stared back at me.

The little thing laughed at me, then stretched out it's hand. The whirlpool spat our another flicker of flames, which gathered above its hand, forming a small twirling fireball.

It's gaze was still on me.

I was more than fearful at this point.

And I honestly thought it was aiming for my life. My breathe stopped, and my heart paused. I felt the world go silent as everything was more than clear to me.

I was in a trance, yet also in a state of absolute fear. Hence I was frozen on the spot like a rooted tree, without knowing what to do.

I was even afraid of calling out to big brother Damien. Fearful that it would attack him instead. How was he going to fight this thing? It was literally made up of flames.

And fires... still haunt me even to this day. My parents, died to flame-spitting creatures after all. I was not about to lose yet another loved one to flames again.

Never. Not again!!

But... A humanoid creature made out of fire. How do we fight that? How do we even damage fire to begin with?! It was even scarier than the flarizards!!

"..."

The thing ignored me and my thoughts, and stared towards big brother Damien again. He was about to bash the demon's head right at this moment.

And as if this thing knew it too. As if it knew he was invulnerable right now, and that I was much weaker, and could be left for last as dessert, it attacked him.

...!!!

Even within my state of fear, I knew that I had to scream. Anything. Even it did not make any sense at all. I had to alert big brother Damien of the coming danger.

Right now!!

"Damien!!!"

Hence I found myself calling him directly with his name. Funny, really.

Who knew that the first thought, that would come to my mind during my despair, was his name? Damien.

Okay, maybe everyone knew that.

Including myself as well.

Unfortunately, even then, my cry was a little bit too late. The fire ball struck him directly and exploded out into a powerful explosion.

...!!!

I don't know how many times I was shaken to the core today, but it did not matter. I was terrified again. The explosion made even the ground tremble slightly.

One could already imagine it's power.

Right now, I found myself rushing towards big brother Damien with all my speed. I was worried. I was shaken. I was terrified. I was not thinking straight!!

I did not even know how I was breathing, but I swear my heart stopped beating throughout my sprint. I could hardly even hear my own breathe.

My focus was on him, and only him.

He was my world now.

*** Narrative ***

Damien hurriedly stood up from the impact. He briefly gazed at the rock that he protected himself with, and realized it was completely black.

He threw it away and it shattered into debris.

That explosion was powerful. It gave him damage for once. His body was acting inside out, but he ignored it and manually suppressed the intense pain.

'Shit. That hurt. And where's Juliette?' Damien cussed and hurriedly stared at Juliette running towards him. His will was strong enough to disregard his pain.

And thus, with inhuman speed, he also ran towards her, and tackled her with a frontal sweep push, then rolling aside using the generated momentum.

Because, right then, another fireball was headed towards her. And it exploded right where she was about to step.

"...!!!"

Juliette was frightened more than ever now. She was useless, and felt it herself. But right now, it was not a time to blame herself. Nor beat herself down.

She instinctively held onto Damien tightly. Damien himself did not mind, and hurriedly ran away with her in his embrace.

He was fast enough to appear as a blur, the spirit not being able to react in time. He then ran behind the nearest large rock he could see, and hid there with her.

"..."

"..."

Both held their breathes, afraid to let up at all.

Juliette was fearful, and was thinking about how dangerous this situation was. She was wondering why they were even here to begin with.

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