Lioran was suddenly lifted from the ground. His feet hung in the air as his body was pulled forward with a cold, indifferent force toward the city of Orestal. The wind whipped his crimson hair backward and made his clothes flutter violently.
As he moved farther away, the massive flames behind him grew smaller and more distant, until the fire became nothing more than a trembling point in the heart of the darkness.
Time seemed to stretch.
Nearly two hours of flight had passed, and Lioran continued moving calmly through the sky toward Everstal, his cold eyes fixed ahead.
Then suddenly, a harsh sound tore through the silence of the sky.
Crying.
Wailing.
Several childish voices mixed together—filled with fear and pain.
Lioran stopped abruptly in midair. The wind still struck his red hair, but he himself remained perfectly still. His eyes narrowed as he listened.
In a low, serious voice, he asked Anahita,
"Did you hear that too?"
"Yeah… it sounds like someone's beating little kids."
Anahita's voice was calm, but a hidden anger stirred beneath it.
Without hesitation, Lioran changed his course. His body turned in the air and flew toward the voices.
"Then let's go see what's going on…"
As he drew closer, the sounds became clearer—broken cries of children, sobs trembling with pain. Among them rose the harsh laughter of several men, laughter that cut deeper into the heart than the screams themselves.
Lioran reached the source of the noise and stopped in midair.
Below, in a dusty clearing, a man stood holding a leather whip. Each time his arm rose and fell, the sharp crack of the whip sliced through the air.
In front of him, several small children with dark skin were huddled together on the ground. Some had fallen to their knees; others raised their hands in front of their faces, trying desperately to shield themselves.
The whip came down.
The cries grew louder.
"Pleeease… let us go…"
"We didn't do anything to you…Please… let us go"
Their small bodies trembled in pain. Tears and dust were smeared across their faces.
But the man only laughed, raising the whip once again. Beside him, three soldiers laughed as well, amused by the cries and sobs of the small children.
Inside Lioran's inner world, Anahita clenched her teeth in anger as she watched the scene.
"Those bastards… how could they beat little kids like that?"
Lioran watched silently and slowly descended, landing on a thick branch of a nearby tree. The branch let out a faint creak under his weight, but he remained perfectly still. His cold gaze moved from the man holding the whip to the trembling children below.
Anahita's furious voice echoed inside his mind.
"Hey, idiot! What are you doing? Go save them already! Can't you see how they're crying?"
Lioran didn't even turn his head. In a cold, short voice he replied,
"Shut up… it's not time yet. Let me see what's going on first."
Anahita paused.
She knew Lioran well. Continuing the argument would only ignite his anger further—and then none of them might survive.
So she stayed silent.
Her gaze returned to the children—their small trembling bodies, their cries growing weaker with every moment.
Then she whispered softly to herself.
'Please… save them… before something worse happens to them…'
All four children had fallen to the ground—three boys and one girl. Their small bodies trembled in pain as they lay curled together on the cold forest soil.
The boys wore nothing but a simple piece of cream-colored cloth loosely wrapped around their waists—thin, worn fabric full of creases.
Their knees and arms were smeared with dirt, marked with red lines left by the whip.
The little girl lay a short distance away from them. Her clothes were made of two simple pieces of cloth—one tied around her waist and the other covering her chest. The fabric trembled over her frail body, and her short, broken breaths were lost between muffled sobs.
One of the children, who seemed slightly older than the others—perhaps around ten years old—dragged himself forward with a groan. He knelt before the man holding the whip, pressed his head firmly to the ground, and pleaded through tears.
"Please, sir… take me with you. Let my sister and my friends go. I'm stronger than them—I'll do whatever you say. You can sell me, beat me, or even kill me… just please let them go."
As soon as he finished speaking, the man with the whip let out an angry shout and drove a hard kick into the boy's side.
With a loud cry, the boy was thrown violently against the trunk of a nearby tree, the sound of the impact echoing through the clearing. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
The man stood over him, breathing heavily, and shouted with a voice filled with rage.
"You damned slave brats—what do you know about family… that you'd try to sacrifice yourself for the others?"
The other two little boys, who looked like twins, and the small girl became even more terrified when they saw the boy being kicked.
The girl—who was clearly his sister—dragged herself toward him in fear and cried out,
"Big brother… big brother!"
She collapsed beside him and wrapped her arms around him. Her tears fell endlessly onto her brother's wounded body as she sobbed.
"Big brother, are you okay?… I'm sorry… it's all my fault. If I hadn't asked for sweet, clean water for my birthday, none of this would have happened… you wouldn't have gotten hurt… it's all my fault… please forgive me…"
Anahita clenched her fists in anger—hands that no longer emitted the powerful golden light they once had.
'Those damned slave traders…'
Then her furious voice echoed inside Lioran's mind.
"Lioran, go already! Why are you still waiting? Can't you see the state they're in?"
Without taking his eyes off the scene, Lioran replied in a cold voice.
"I told you—it's not time yet. If you can't stand their crying, then close your eyes… cover your ears… and keep your mouth shut too."
In the darkness of that inner world, Anahita shut her eyes tightly. She pressed her hands against her ears and clenched her teeth.
"You damned devil… don't you have a heart, you bastard?"
But she couldn't endure it for long. Slowly, she opened her eyes just a little, wanting to see what would happen to them.
Lioran was a boy who had buried his own mother with his own hands only a few hours ago—and he hadn't shed a single tear.
For someone like him, showing compassion now for a few children he had only just seen would have been truly strange.
The two twin boys clung to each other, trembling with fear and crying softly. The little girl still held her brother in her arms, sobbing without stopping.
Seeing this scene, the slave trader curled his lips into a crooked smile and said,
"I'm taking you with me… I'll give you a roof over your heads, food to eat, clean water to drink… and this is how you repay my kindness? You filthy, ungrateful creatures…"
The three soldiers standing beside him burst into laughter at his words.
"They don't understand kindness, master."
"If they did, their skin wouldn't be the color of the Devil."
Hearing that, the trader let out a loud laugh.
"Well said."
And the three soldiers laughed loudly along with him.
Another middle-aged man stood leaning against the trunk of a tree, watching the scene with cold eyes. There was no sign of enjoyment in his gaze; on the contrary, it was clear that this whole display disgusted him.
In a dry, impatient voice, he said,
"Cut this nonsense out… I didn't come here to listen to children crying."
One of the soldiers turned his head toward him and gave a crooked grin.
"Unlike us, you were paid well for this mission, Commander Zobi… so let us at least enjoy ourselves a little."
The man—now revealed to be named Zobi—clenched his jaw tightly when he heard the soldier's words. A vein pulsed at his temple as he cursed him inwardly.
You damned bastard…
The slave trader raised his whip with a venomous laugh and said,
"He's right… I paid you as much as Jinef gives you for a whole month's salary. So you shouldn't be complaining and just let us do our job."
He swung the whip toward the little girl who was still holding her brother in her arms.
Crack!
The whip struck hard across the girl's back. A sharp, painful scream filled the forest.
Without hesitation, the trader raised the whip again and brought it down on her back once more.
The girl let out a piercing cry.
Seeing and hearing his sister's screams, the boy suddenly forced himself up with a groan. He rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her from behind, using his frail body as a shield.
Tears streamed down his face, but his voice, though trembling, was determined.
"None of this is your fault… everything will be okay… don't be scared, I'm here… I'll protect you… your big brother is here with you…"