It lasted only a brief moment.
A powerful flash that vanished almost instantly. It destroyed everything in its path and left nothing behind. The clouds split apart, the rain abruptly ceased, and the waters calmed after the cannon of light had finished its work.
The one responsible for it all, Midas, remained staring into nothingness, his hands stained gold all the way up to his elbows. The gold covering his hands had spread that far across his body, like a serpent devouring its prey. His feet touched the floor again and a wave of pain flooded through his system.
Despite the agony, the expression on his face—a face that showed nothing but emptiness—did not change at all. His hair, once tied into a ponytail, had come loose and now covered part of his face. His skin had lost all color, leaving him as pale as a ghost.
Midas simply stood there, doing nothing in particular.
The others stared at him, confused, frightened, impressed, but above all, relieved.
They had escaped certain death.
This man had saved them.
All the chaos that had cornered them moments ago faded away, leaving behind only the soft sound of the waves and the dim moonlight illuminating the night…
"Amazing…" Briar whispered, mesmerized by the immense, radiant beam of light that had wiped out every enemy.
She was kneeling on the floor, exhausted like the others, and Midas was the only one still standing.
No one had anything to say.
Midas' actions had left them speechless.
The wind blew softly, as though something beyond this world wished to calm the situation. The captain rose from the floor and extended a hand toward Tiana. After that, the others slowly stood up as well—injured, exhausted, but in the end, strangely happy to still be alive.
"Everything is red…" Midas whispered as he took a trembling step forward, his hair covering his face while a strange weakness overtook him. "Pain… There's so much pain…" he murmured again, weakly enough to alarm everyone present.
Tiana looked at Midas and immediately noticed something strange about him. The man had his back turned toward everyone, since moments ago he had stood at the front to protect them, so no one had been able to see what was happening to him.
When Midas took another step, several drops of blood splattered onto the floor.
"Boy…?"
Even the captain noticed it.
Something was wrong with Midas.
Midas took another step, painfully whispering, "Everything is red…" before collapsing face-first onto the deck.
Briar, who moments ago had been staring at Midas with excitement, wanting to ask him about his magic, felt confused when she saw him fall.
"Midas?"
That moment felt strange.
Briar did not fully understand what had happened. Her mind, in a way, refused to process it.
The instant Midas hit the floor, Tiana sprinted toward him. She grabbed his head and turned him over to get a better look at him. The moment she did, everyone saw blood dripping from Midas' nose, ears, and eyes.
Tiana immediately began shouting something at one of her crewmates, while Briar watched the scene as though every voice had become blurred inside her head.
As if everything were moving in slow motion, Briar slowly rose from the floor and approached Midas. Up close, she noticed Midas' half-open eyes—empty and lifeless—with dilated pupils and bloodshot sclera.
'He smells delicious…'
The blood still running down the sides of Midas' face… that brilliant blood sliding across his depressed expression.
That beautiful crimson blood ignited her hunger.
It made her stomach growl ferociously, made her mouth impatient to sink her teeth into that pale neck, but…
"He's dying, Rober! Give me the damn knife!"
Tiana's voice suddenly became clear again, snapping Briar back to reality. Her eyes had briefly glowed with that demonic shine, but it had faded seconds ago.
Now all she could do was watch what was happening while silently listening to Tiana shouting at her companions.
After Rober, one of the men handling the cannons, handed Tiana the knife, she quickly flipped Midas over and tore his shirt apart. As she did so, she cursed nonstop.
"What kind of idiot mage uses his own life force to cast magic?! This makes no damn sense! You're going to kill yourself if you do that! Were you trying to die, you damn moron?! Which bastard taught you how to use magic?! Let me beat the hell out of that son of a bitch!"
While insulting everyone and everything around her, Tiana removed Midas' shirt, but froze the moment she saw his back.
Her eyes filled with horror.
"What the hell… Dad…" She looked at the captain with that same horrified expression, and the man closed his eyes while shaking his head.
"Hm… If this boy escaped from somewhere in Noxus, then it makes sense why he ran away."
The captain reached that conclusion immediately after seeing him, combining it with the reaction Midas had before using magic.
On Midas' back were seven small runes embedded in a precise order, forming a heptagram. Each rune glowed with a different color, representing different elements and manipulations of magical nature. Golden veins extended outward from every rune, like tattoos spreading across Midas' back, crawling down his arms and ending at the tips of his fingers.
Aside from that, the scar on Midas' chest had become even smaller, while the gray discoloration had spread to cover his entire chest.
"Whatever this is, save the boy, Tiana."
The girl hesitated, but upon seeing Midas in that state, she remembered someone she had lost long ago for a similar reason.
"I will."
The captain smiled faintly.
There was no doubt this girl had inherited her mother's nature, helping wounded men out at sea.
Tiana placed her hands against Midas' back, and they glowed with a faint green light.
Midas' body was not nearly as deteriorated as she had expected. Apparently, Midas was far more resilient than any human or mage should be.
That was strange, but it was not the time for reckless conclusions.
She shared some of her energy with Midas so he could heal.
The process was quick and ended within seconds, when Midas finally began breathing again despite still being unconscious.
***
He was sinking somewhere deep.
Although he felt like he was drowning, after several seconds he could breathe again.
Everything was red.
His entire body and mind ached; deep, unbearable suffering pulsed endlessly within him.
"It hurts…"
It felt as though his mind could disappear at any moment.
"Everything is red…"
And there was something else Midas could feel, though he had no idea how to describe it.
"Mai…"
That feeling did not matter right now.
"Help me…"
***
Briar felt disappointed.
Even though Midas was her friend, she had felt the urge to devour his blood, to kill him and tear him apart, just as she usually did with everything that crossed her path.
But Midas was a friend.
Her first friend.
'If I'm capable of thinking like that… then what exactly am I?'
There is a mindless monster screaming in the past.
It is surrounded by corpses and blood, laughing as though everything is fun.
To her, it absolutely is.
But when the fun ended, all that remained was an empty battlefield—silent and lonely.
There was nothing there for her.
That monster, of course, was Briar.
She was the restrained hunger of a beast created for the sole purpose of taking lives.
At first, everything was red.
Everything was painful.
But also satisfying.
She was only a monster without awareness, yet at some point, she…
"Midas…"
The moment she thought his name, the monster calmed down.
"For now, this guy's gonna be fine. He just needs to rest," Tiana said tiredly. She smiled faintly at the captain.
The captain nodded.
Afterward, two men grabbed Midas by the arms and legs and carried him into one of the ship's rooms.
For some reason, none of the people touching Midas turned into gold.
"Hey, Cap." Approaching the man, Kalika placed her hat back on her head. "What are we supposed to do with all this gold that appeared out of nowhere?"
Some of the crew still had small golden stains on their bodies.
That made the captain grin.
"Well, we're gonna need money for repairs and for our boys' funerals. Might as well use it to our advantage."
"Fair enough, but considering how greedy you are, I thought you'd ask about that strange power Midas has. It looked like he can turn things into gold. We almost turned into gold ourselves, you know?"
"Hahaha!" the captain laughed vigorously. "Did you already forget about that terrifying death beam, woman? I don't want to know a damn thing about it." He lifted his hammer from the floor. "I value my daughter's life and my own more than money. Money comes and goes all the time—we're people of the sea, after all—but protecting my crew matters more than filthy gold."
Kalika raised her eyebrows in surprise.
In ten years, she had just heard something truly shocking.
"I never thought those words would come out of your mouth." She turned around to leave, but before walking away, she added, "Though you're still gonna charge the client extra coins for the inconvenience."
"I'm not a damn scammer, woman!"
Nearby, exhausted and weak after protecting the ship and saving Midas from death, Tiana limped toward her room, but spotted Briar standing alone.
The girl was staring blankly at the dark waves stretching before her, with a lost expression on her face.
Briar looked thoughtful, a side of her completely different from the one Tiana had seen earlier.
"Hey, girl. What's wrong? You tired too?"
Briar reacted instantly, and her cheerful, innocent expression returned.
"Oh. Friend. I was just waiting for Midas to wake up. The shiny destruction beam was cool, super cool, but I didn't know Midas could die if he used that magic. It's… bizarre, really bizarre…"
"Huh. That makes two of us. I didn't know either." Leaning against a crate, Tiana looked out toward the ocean. "It's pretty strange."
"You're right," Briar nodded enthusiastically. "What about you? You don't look good at all. You look like you're gonna die any second too. If that happens, give me your blood."
"Hahaha. Yeah. I'll do that. When I die, my blood's yours."
"Really?! This is the first time someone's ever given me their blood!" Briar said while jumping excitedly. "I have to tell Midas!"
"Hold it right there, girl. Midas is, you know, resting after saving all our asses. Let him sleep tonight. Though honestly, it'll probably take him quite a while to wake up."
"Awww… That's no fun."
Tiana closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she sighed and looked more relaxed.
"I know. It's not fun. A lot of things aren't fun. My dad always says that the older you get, the harder it becomes to find something fun. Then you see that stupid old man laughing like a lunatic while fighting sea monsters or drunks at a bar."
"Hahaha. Your dad sounds funny."
"Yeah…" She smiled beneath her hood. "That old man's hilarious." Then she straightened herself up again. "Anyway, I'm not getting sentimental tonight. You'll need a few more emotional moments with me before you earn that."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Briar asked. She truly understood nothing about human emotions.
"It means we're going to keep being friends."
With that, Tiana headed toward her room, leaving Briar behind in silence.
The girl stared into nothingness, as though something inside her brain had short-circuited.
She remained there, repeating the word "friend" over and over in her mind.
"We're friends…"
She smiled faintly, her lips curling into a small awkward grin.
Around her, the rest of the crew worked to repair the damage, but she could neither see nor hear them. She was too focused on the friends she had made.
On the story she was writing together with them.
That night years ago, when she first became aware of herself, Briar never imagined she would make it this far, though she had always hoped she would.
Yet that ravenous hunger still lurked inside her, patiently waiting to ruin everything she had achieved.
This was not her fault.
She had been created for that purpose.
In the end, who would win?
The uncontrollable hunger?
Or the innocent girl trying to make friends?
'The world is really, really big. I'm going to meet more people and make them my friends.'
The most innocent wish a person could have, but…
'That way, I'll finally be able to find my place.'
This was her search for the meaning of her own existence.
Briar was not merely a killing machine.
She was more than that.
She could feel it in her heart.
Someday, she would achieve it…
***
The next morning, Tiana woke up early to check on Midas' condition.
It was important to know whether the client had died or not.
"Let's see if this goes the way I want."
As soon as she stepped out of her room, she frowned immediately upon seeing that the door to Midas' room had changed color.
It was bright gold.
Even part of the doorframe had become golden as well.
Confused, she approached carefully and touched the door.
Nothing strange happened, so she pushed it open slightly and peered through the narrow gap into the darkness inside.
Her eyes focused on a single spot.
Midas sat in the corner of the room, hugging his knees.
"Hey… Good morning."
A little sunlight entered the room, revealing that the entire interior had turned to gold.
"Are you feeling better?" She tried to remain calm after seeing this, because Midas had already proven he was not someone who liked hurting others. So there was no way he would try using magic against someone right now.
Midas took a while to answer.
He slowly lifted his head, revealing his amber-colored eyes through his thin, disheveled black hair.
Tiana could not clearly see the expression on his face, but she felt as though the room itself had become sadder than usual.
"Go away… Stay away from me… Please…" he said while curling himself tighter into the corner.