(Alice POV) [Village, Cross kingdom]

"And then, he told me that the current director of the Cross Kingdom Academy is a powerful nine-star spiritualist! Not only that! she has a contract with an eighth-rank spirit. Just how awesome is the academy with a director like her?! It makes me very envious."(Alice)

"I'm happy you had fun, but it's already too late. We can continue our conversation tomorrow."(mama)

How could I sleep now? Although my mama and I were in bed, my mind wasn't tired at all. In fact, all I could think was the words of the village spiritualist. Earlier in the tavern, I took advantage of the drunk spiritualist to ask more about spirits while celebrating my mama's birthday.

The village's spiritualist is known as a serious person with a pranking personality hidden beneath his seriousness. That is why, although I talked with him a lot, he usually avoided the topic of spirits because of my condition. But that changes after getting drunk as he becomes an easygoing person.

He told me many things about the academy, but it was a shame that he fell asleep before I could satisfy my curiosity. I felt a little dissatisfied that he fell asleep so soon, so I'll take revenge by teasing him tomorrow.

Mama looked at my expression with a troubled smile as if she knew what I was thinking and flicked my forehead.

"You little devil... I know how you feel, but please calm down and sleep. We need to after the file early in the morning."(mama)

I feigned not to know anything about tomorrow's work and innocently smiled at mama. Maybe she also felt a little mischievous as she pinched my cheeks with a smile. I wanted to complain, but someone knocked on the door and screamed about an emergency.

My mama immediately ran to the door and opened it while holding a light crystal. To our surprise, the neighbor was panicking on the other side of the door.

"What happened? Why--"(mama)

"There is no time! There is a monster stampede coming in this direction, and the village's defense is not enough to stop it. The chief said we need to leave the village now!!"(villager)

Hearing about the incoming stampede made me fear the worst. Stampedes are rare, but one could easily destroy entire villages; I don't know what causes them. But one thing was sure: the chaos monsters would destroy everything in their path.

Mama immediately ran into the kitchen and took two bags out of the pantry, one big and one small. After tying the small bag on her waist and the other on her shoulder, she lifted me and ran after the neighbor.

The entire village was in chaos because of the news, and everyone was afraid and panicking. Some villagers cried in despair, shouted hysterically, or fought over insignificant things. My mama and I were scared of what was happening, but to calm me down, she hugged me tightly.

"Don't worry about Alice, everything will be okay."(mama)

Hearing her words, I returned her hug as the situation escalated. Suddenly, a giant green eagle flew over our heads and landed in the arms of the village's spiritualist.

"What are you doing?! Stop wasting more time and get in the carriages! There are twenty carriages to transport everybody out of here.

You can only take the essential items with you like food or money. If you want to fight or cry, do it later after we are safe. Otherwise, I won't hesitate to tie and throw you inside the carriage. Am I clear!?"(spiritualist)

The menacing aura combined with his warning worked perfectly for the panicked villagers. Everyone stopped talking, moved into the carriages, and left behind the unnecessary stuff they wanted to bring.

With everyone inside the carriages, we left the village. As I saw the town getting smaller, I felt heartache, knowing that the house containing my memories with Mama would soon be gone.

The minutes passed, and everyone in the carriage was silent. No one talked, making the fear and anxiousness slowly creep into our hearts.

At one point, I tried to see outside the carriage to avoid the terrified faces of the villagers. Only to be greeted by a sky without a moon or stars and a forest covered in pitch-black darkness. Terrified, I hugged my mama and burrowed my head between her breasts, not wanting to see or hear anything.

Feeling my anxiety, mama looked at me, preoccupied. I didn't want her to be more anxious, so I talked with her, hoping the time would pass faster.

"Mama... how did this happen? Why now?"(Alice)

"Alice, the village is located at the borders of the kingdom. The risk of a stampede is higher because the boundaries are close to the chaos monsters' habitat. That is why the kingdom sends an extermination team to the border regularly.

By doing this, the kingdom regulates the number of monsters on the borders and lowers the probability of a stampede. They also collect elemental crystals from the monsters, but that doesn't matter to us.

This stampede is indeed unexpected. But we can consider ourselves unlucky and hope for the stampede to be exterminated."(mama)

With no other topic of conversation, I tried to fall asleep on multiple occasions. But whenever I was almost asleep, I would wake up by the sounds in the forest.

We still had a long journey ahead of us, which was getting more difficult with each passing second. A heavy rain poured down in the middle of the road, and the cold winds lowered our temperature.

Everyone took their fire crystals to warm the carriage, but it was a matter of time before we ran out of them. The spiritualist gave orders to all carriages, but thanks to the rain, I could not hear him.

"We are going...through th...untain, I ca... use my po.... much so b... eful...in yo...steps."(spiritualist)

The bits of conversation I managed to hear made me worried. To reach the nearest stronghold, we needed to travel across the mountain. I began to doubt if we could survive with rain pouring on us and a stampede behind us.

Hearing the despairing news, some villagers couldn't resist it anymore and desperately prayed. Everyone was begging the light king Agios for mercy while not daring to open their eyes.

"Alice, we need to pray to light King Agios for a safe travel."(mama)

I obeyed mama and prayed alongside everyone to the light king Agios. My prayers were filled with the only desperate wish in my mind: Please, let us survive this.

We kept praying, but the merciless rain showed no sign of stopping. The rain continued even after we ran out of fire crystals.

Without any source of heat, the cold mercilessly enveloped the carriage. Mama was shivering with her face white from the cold with little tinges of blue. I also suffered from the cold, but thanks to Mama hugging me, I wasn't faring better than her.

Feeling my life slipping out, my mind was filled with thoughts... no... hallucinations of how to improve my life with Mama if we managed to survive.

I kept hoping for the best, but tragedy fell on us, completely changing my life. As the rain intensified, a lightning bolt fell near our carriage.

Scared by the bolt of lightning, the horses went out of control. The carriage driver tried to regain control but was unable to do so. As a result, we ended up falling off the mountain.

I was in denial... I couldn't believe this was the end... As we fell, I felt time slowing down. Nothing could save us, no matter what was in my sight; there was only despair and fear around me.

But... like trying to protect me one last time, mama embraced me, covering as much of my body as she could. As I felt her warmth for what I thought could be the last time, the surroundings moved again.

As we fell from the mountain, I could feel my body screaming in pain and brutally abused. Only to end with a strong hit that left me without air.

After that hit, I felt nothing else, so I assumed we reached the ground. I couldn't believe that I managed to survive. I was so relieved that I looked around in excitement while ignoring the pain, only to realize I was the only fortunate person.

The faces I had known all my life were distorting in pain, crying, or downright going crazy. Their conditions were deplorable as they had scratches on their bodies, limbs broken, or... wouldn't open their eyes again.

I didn't know what to do; I kept crying, hoping for this to be a nightmare. It was at this moment I felt a warm liquid on my back.

I was scared to turn back, but an intrusive thought crawled into my mind. I wanted to refute that thought but felt more fearful as the warm liquid extended through my back.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to look back, hoping everything would be in my head. But what greeted me was mama's pale face and the sight of her limbs broken and twisted in strange directions.

"SOMEONE PLEASE HELP US!!! MAMA IS DYING!!!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!"(Alice)

There was only one thing in my mind, I needed to save mama. I begged for help with the last spark of hope remaining in my heart, hoping for a miracle to happen, either by god or a hero.

I hoped to receive a helping hand from someone, anyone. But instead, my plea was met with curses from the people I thought I knew.

"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE WENCH! YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO NEEDS HELP!"(Villager)

"Stop complaining!! If you are talking about help, then why didn't you die instead of my son!?!? It would be better if you died with your mother instead of shitting on us right now!!"(villager)

Every word pierced my heart without mercy, breaking my last spark of hope. Why is everyone cruel if I didn't do anything wrong? Why is this happening if mama and I aren't bad people? Why... Why has the light ruler forsaken us?

My heart was broken into pieces, I felt betrayed, and I felt something crawling into my heart, or should I say... getting out; that 'thing' was filling the spaces between the pieces of my broken heart.

The villagers didn't stop cursing me; they were using me, a child, as an outlet for their disgraces. I felt worse as the curses increased, but a howl from the forest's depths stopped the villagers.

The place fell silent, hoping that the howls were a mere illusion. A villager who couldn't endure the silence got up and tried to run to the mountain with his injured body.

"I can't do this anymore!!! I don't want to die here!!!"(Villager)

The howls in the forest became stronger. Everyone knew the scream of that idiot revealed our positions to the monsters. The panic spread like wildfire and made everyone flee like maniacs, only to meet their end from a pack of wolf monsters.

With Mama and me as the only survivors, the chaos monsters looked at us with glowing green eyes.

Strangely, this time, my heart wasn't filled with fear. It felt full of something else and like something was missing. All my life, I tried to be a good person.

I learned the light king was a god that would protect the good and punish the evil. That he would deliver justice in every corner of the world.

I thought the light king would protect us if we were good persons, but now... even he has forsaken us.

I knew this was an unjustified hatred; I knew this was irrational, but I couldn't stop myself. And if I can't stop it... then I would get along with it.

I accepted the change coming from the bottom of my heart, and I let the darkness consume me... and with the sweetest and cruelest voice I was able to make, I swore revenge against god.

"Light king... don't even let me survive this. If I survive, I swear even if you are a god, no matter the cost... I'll kill you."(Alice)

As I declared my revenge against a god, a summoning circle appeared below me. One look at it was enough to tell me this wasn't a standard summoning circle. Its silvery color and the creepy star with an eye in the middle were enough to tell me it was dangerous.

I had never heard of a silver attribute or the symbol in the middle, as that color didn't represent any known element. But for some reason, I knew this circle was meant for me. It was the missing piece I felt in my heart; this contract would complete me.

With a crazy smile, I extended my arm to cover mama and began the chant for the contract. To sign a contract, the contractor must chant a sacred oath to their spirit and element. But when I chanted my oath, all that came out was a curse for everyone who dared to go against me.

"You who aren't bound to the shackles of the world, you who make the strong fall from their throne, you who devour the divine, accept my contract and drown this rotten world in an abyss of endless despair, I summon you ■■■■!!!!!!"(Alic̵̣̝̾͠ȇ̵̯̈́)

With the contract sealed, the summoning circle shone, and the symbol changed. I could feel an overwhelming power overflowing my body. There was a scalding sensation on my back, but I guessed it was the seal of the contract.

I looked back at the trembling chaos wolves, feeling better than ever; they seemed scared of me. With a smile still on my face, I rearranged myself and declared the beginning of the hunt.

"Run, little wolves... It's your turn to be the prey."(Alić̷̦e̷̢̅̎͠)