A young woman in her early twenties stood by the window and stared out.

 

She had fiery red hair and had heterochromia, with her left eye green and her right eye purple. She had three horns on her forehead, the central horn was twice as long as the horns half right and half left. On her head were two rabbit ears that fell back behind her head. She had a thick overcoat that covered the rest of her clothes.¹I think you should know her name by now.

 

*Sigh*

 

She sighed loudly once and looked away from the window.

 

"You don't have to hide."

 

She spoke into the empty room. At first, nothing happened, but then quiet footsteps came from the hallway.

 

A little boy of just five years strolled into the room. He had the same ears hanging from his head. His eyes were yellow-gold, and on his back were two wings with white feathers.

 

"Isn't dad coming back today?"

 

"Oh! Naz, you're not worried, he'll be back by tonight.”

 

"You always say this to me, mom, but..."

 

"I know, but his work is important."

 

"And we are not?"

 

Tears rose in the corners of his eyes. The boy's name is Nazil or Naz for short.

 

"Tch! It is not true, and you know it! Think about what gifts your father will bring you every time he comes back from his travels.”

 

“I don't care about these presents! I want dad to come back home!”

 

"I also want him here with us, but he works for the Republic and the citizens that live here."

 

She approached her son and carefully hugged him. She slowly lifted him.

 

“How about we go down into the city? The year's end festival is currently taking place.”

 

"Juhu."

 

"Was that a yes?"

 

"Yes!"

 

Still close to tears, Naz struggled to answer.

 

"Good!"

 

She laughed and put him down again.

 

"Go and put on your coat, and we'll fly down."

 

Naz nodded and ran out of the room.

 

It didn't take 2 minutes for Naz to come back fully dressed.

 

"Finished!"

 

She just smiled.

 

"Then let's go."

 

She took his hand and went through the hallway to a massive entrance gate. With a snap of her finger, the gates swung open all by themselves.

 

There was a small garden in front of the gate. The garden was covered with a layer of frost, and at the end of the garden were a cliff.

 

"Do you want to fly alone, or should I take you with me."

 

"With mom!"

 

He reached for her with his free hand.

 

"Well then, Naz."

 

She lifted him into her arms.

 

At the same moment, three pairs of different sizes grew from her back. The upper pair of wings were medium in size and was covered with black scales. The pair of wings in the middle was the largest, with feathers flickering in fire colors. The bottom pair were the smallest wings, and they were white like her son's.

 

"And let's go!"

 

She fell over the cliff and fell vertically towards the ground.

 

Instead of screaming in fear, Naz laughed with joy because since he was little, she did that with him. Alternatively, both could have taken a teleporter to the temple down in the city.

 

At first, she passed a blanket of clouds, but when she pierced the clouds, a view of the entire city opened up.

 

The city was built on a mountain slope, at the top were a temple and the consulate building of the Republic. Between the two ran a broad river that plummeted hundreds of meters after passing both buildings.

 

The waterfall ends at the bottom of the city, and the water was split through many channels through the entire lower city.

 

At the foot where the canals split, many lights could be seen from the air.

 

It was the lights of the various festival stands.

 

"I'm going to land now!"

 

She landed on a small ledge near the waterfall. Her wings vanished from her back and hopped on a nearby path.

 

"Remember, never let go of my hand!"

 

She warned Naz and put him down, still holding his left hand.

 

They strolled through the various rows, while Naz's eyes were shining of what kind of new things he could see.

 

"Why are you so curious? We are here every year, and the stands hardly change.”

 

"But, I like it!"

 

She smiled at him.

 

"Mom, what is this?"

 

He pointed to a stand not far from them.

 

"This is cotton candy."

 

"Cotton candy?"

 

"It's been popular since last year because someone invented it around that time."

 

"Does it taste good?"

 

"Do you want to try?"

 

"Yes, please!"

 

They approached the Cotton Candy booth.

 

"Hello, what can I do for you?"

 

"One cotton candy."

 

"With pleasure. A preferred flavor?”

 

"What kind exist?"

 

"Grape, Strawberry, and Barri."

 

"Naz, which do you want?"

 

"I'll take Barri flavor!"

 

"With pleasure!"

 

The seller turned around and prepared the cotton candy.

 

A moment later, he turned back to us and handed over the cotton candy.

 

"Here you go, that's ¼ silver drachma."

 

She handed him the ¼ drachma and gave her son the cotton candy.

 

"Thank you very much."

 

The seller thanked him and turned to the next customer.

 

"Come on, Naz, there's room to sit."

 

She pointed to some empty benches.

 

Both sat down, watching her son struggle to eat the cotton candy.

 

Suddenly (Presence Sense) alarmed her.

 

She looked around as a few men approached her from every direction. They wore silver masks, and her bodies were covered with brown capes.

 

“Naz, please sit here and don't follow someone unknown. Mom has to get rid of some cockroaches.”

 

"Huh? OK!"

 

Naz already knew the situation and what his mother was trying to suggest.

 

In a split second, she disappeared from his view.

 

The next time she appeared next to the nearest person with a mask.

 

“The king's fanatics again?”

 

If she said bored and before the man could react, she only pierced the man's chest with her hand.

 

"Gah!"

 

He just made a scratch. She threw the man over her shoulder and jumped to the next victim.

 

The second target had already pulled his dagger and tried to stab her. She stopped the blades with her thumb and forefinger.

 

"How!?"

 

"Same lyre every year."

 

She rolled her eyes and broke the blade with her two fingers. At the same moment, she struck the victim's larynx with her free hand.

 

He fell to the floor without making another peep.

 

Confused and irritated, turned she around.

 

She hastily threw the second man on her shoulder and teleported back to the benches.

 

Nazil was gone.

 

"Fuck! These filthy bastards!”

 

She hadn't expected one to be strong enough to hide his presence from her.

 

Furious, she followed the trail into a small alley.

 

Four men stood around Naz, one of the middle two hold Naz in one hand and a dagger in his other hand. He pointed the dagger at Naz throat.

 

"Bastards!"

 

She dropped the dead men she was holding to the ground.

 

"Yes, Yes."

 

Answered the man.

 

"What do you want this time?"

 

"We want the President to reintroduce the monarchy with King Vartus²King Vartus and the fall of his Kingdom won't take place in my story, it's an after main story event. as our ruler!"

 

"And why are you coming to my son and me?"

 

"Because your husband is the president!"

 

“So, blackmailing? That's not going well in the Republic, am I right? Sweetheart?"

 

"Huh?"

 

The man was confused in the last two parts of the sentence.

 

"Bye Bye."

 

A deep male voice came from behind the kidnapper. A moment later, the man's head rolled on the floor.

 

"Darling, the quacks are yours."

 

The figure in a black cloak took Naz, and both backed away.

 

She pounced on the remaining three men.

 

"Monarchy is shit!"

 

She screamed. Her right arm was on fire, and she speared the first of the three men with her hand, who not only started to burn through the flames but crumbled to ashes within seconds.

 

Another man tried to attack her, but she only raised her left hand in his direction. In front of her hand appeared a jet black wall in the middle of the air.

 

The man thought that he could pierce it, but he didn't expect that this wall wasn't to repeal attacks, it only looked like a wall, but in truth, it was a black hole.

 

When the dagger and his hand disappeared into the hole, he noticed his mistake, but it was already too late. His entire body was gradually sucked into the hole.

 

"Wah! Waaah!"

 

The last man panicked and screamed in fear. He tried to run away, but she had already reached him and was holding his shoulder.

 

"*Psst* Just a little secret between the two of us, Vartus is already dead, I killed him a few years ago."

 

"Li-"

 

He couldn't answer anymore, she set him on fire and watched him crumble to ashes.

 

"Mommy!"

 

Naz ran to her, and she turned to him and lifted him into her arms.

 

"Everything's fine with you!? Good that you came, honey.”

 

The man standing a short distance away, still had his face covered with a hood.

 

"You can rely on me, darling."

 

He came to her, and without taking off the hood, he leaned his head over to her. He tried to kiss her, but...

 

"Mommy! Daddy! It's snowing!"

 

Nazil grabbed both of them and shook them as he saw how the first flakes of snow fell to the ground.

 

Both looked at Naz and then at each other and laughed.