Fionn was returning to the inn after spying on Illusion and whoever Number Five was. His mind was racing to come up with strategies to counteract their plans. There’s no telling who or what the rest of the servants were if the masked man was ranked fifth out of them all. If everything goes as planned, Yoshi could keep Catastrophe out of the picture and prevent further escalation. Julius could most certainly keep the blue-skinned boy away from the fight–that thought Fionn didn’t dwell much on. But it was Shakti that concerned him the most. That vision still horrified him. He could still imagine Shakti fighting with everything she had left and still perishing against that Tree Anomaly. “Damn it…,” he muttered silently under his breath. “The future really doesn’t hold back. At the very least, I’ll change the outcome.”

  As he turned the corner towards the inn, he saw a group of “heroes” standing in front of the inn in protest. Their voices were anything but heroic–commanding, angry, and far from humble

  “Come out peacefully, Creation Anomaly!” a swordsman barked, clutching his cutlass sword so tightly that his knuckles turned white

  A woman beside him adjusted her witch hat, stepping forward with a raise of her casting staff in a threatening manner. “Surrender now, and we promise to comply if you listen to us!” she added

  Fionn, from where he was standing, narrowed his eyes in disgust. “Who actually believes that?”

  The front doors of the inn cracked open slowly as the receptionist peeks out with a startled breath. “U-uhm… may I help you all?” she asked nervously, her legs slightly quaking in fear

  A large man covered in bits of scarred silver armor and animal hide marched forward through the crowd. “Give us the Anomaly,” he ordered, his tone leaving no room for negotiation

  The receptionist’s throat tightened as she tried to reply. “H-he’s out right now…,” she stammered, a small squeak leaving her throat. “W-want me to leave him a message?”

  The crowd narrowed their eyes as they shifted closer with hostile intent. She flinched slightly as the gladiator stepped closer. “You dare withhold justice?” he snarled. “Anyone who aids a criminal and refuses to inform officials on their whereabouts is an accomplice to their crimes.” He raises his blade, glaring enraged daggers at her small frame. “For that, the punishment is–”

  The receptionist was snatched into the air by radiant golden chains of light. She lets out a startled yelp of surprise, swinging in the air with confusion. “I-I’m floating?” she stammered, startled by the sudden predicament. She glances to her left, gasping as she sees Fionn floating upside down in the air alongside her. “So what’s the punishment for telling the truth?” he asked from above, his gaze looking directly at each heroes’ eyes. “Is it death too? Or do you pathetic capes of nothing get a kick out of faking it as knights?”

  The heroes went stiff, their faces twitching with anger. “The Creation Anomaly!” another hero shouted. They all readied themselves to take him by force

  A grin slides across Fionn’s face as he twists in the air to float upright. “Took you long enough. I was starting to get bored again,” he quipped

  A female cleric snapped at him. “You dare mock heroes of justice, you jester?!” she screamed, clenching her teeth

  Fionn descends down, his grin shrinking to a cocky smirk. “You call this justice? Really?” He gently settles onto the street, crossing his arms over his chest. “If you really want a shot at beating me, your best bet is bringing a few berserkers next time,” he taunted. “I want to have fun with opponents who can take a punch.”

  The tension between them shattered after his taunt. A male mage in the back lets out a growl of anger as yellow light sparks from the tip of his wand. “Thunderbolt!”

  Lightning cracked toward Fionn. A bladed gust of wind splits through the spell midair, forcing the group of heroes to think quickly on their feet and evade. The gladiator took his chance and sprints forward, aiming to take a swing at Fionn in close-quarters

  “Getting close to me isn’t a good thing,” he warned. He vanished in a blink–reappearing behind the gladiator and clamps his hand against the gladiator’s back. A stinging surge of electricity rattled his spinal cord. The gladiator’s eyes widened in shock as his muscles tightened, making him fall over and black out with a heavy thump. “Hope that didn’t cause too much damage,” he thought, glancing all over at the remaining heroes

  “Get him!” someone shouted

  A swordsman lunged forward, aiming to skewer Fionn’s abdomen. He sidestepped to the left and iced the ground under the swordsman’s feet. The blade misses pathetically and the swordsman slips hard against the ice. An incoming fireball–directed to engulf him whole–smashed against a wall of reinforced concrete he materialized just in time. “Weak,” he quipped. An axe wielder sprints in next, dragging his axe upwards and taking a swing at Fionn’s skull. His head jerked out of range, bringing his leg up simultaneously to kick the axe man’s arm out of the way. He bounced off of his feet and flips to his hands, ducking low just as an air blade tries to split him in half from behind. “They copied that?” he thought. He stands upright, narrowing his eyes and analyzing the attack. “No… just an imitation of it.”

  In his left hand, a pulse of gravity sparked in his hand. He tossed it upwards just as the axe wielder was about to swing down. The axe wielder’s whole arm froze in place. “W-what the hell?!” he gasped, his eyes darting all over at the distortion

  “Time dilations are pretty unique, don’t you think?” he quipped, slamming his foot against the man’s head. “A pain to explain, but really fun to use.” The axe wielder body bounces off the ground, landing with a hard thud. He couldn’t stand properly as the effects of the distortion jumbled his vision–everything was in triples. From above, yellow and blue shards of lightning rained down, only to be ineffective as they splattered against a steel barrier that materialized midair. “Sneak attacks?” he thought, glancing around again. “I’ll at least give them an E for effort.”

  He evaluated the remaining heroes: a swordsman, mage, female cleric, witch, male bard, female samurai, and a male brawler. A golden flash sparked in his palm as his twin steel daggers with a bronze clover guard materialized. “I don’t plan on dragging this on longer than necessary,” he said evenly. “So you have two options.”

  He tossed a dagger lazily in the air, letting it spin. “You either just give up and leave me alone,” he said, his tone dipping into a full threat. “Or I give some low scrubs a promotion. Your choice ‘heroes’.” he taunted

  Before they could respond to him, a voice ripped through the air from a window from above them

  “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” Shakti shouted

  Fionn tilted his head up to see that sleep still had a hold of her body–her bed hair was clinging to her face like a wet mop. “Are you just now waking up?” he asked, a small smirk forming on his face. “It’s nearly evening.”

  “It’s been one day, Fionn! One damn day, and you’re already getting into a fight in front of the inn! she exclaimed. “Do you need a babysitter at all times?!”

  He shrugs, his smirk growing. “Technically, they started it first,” he said innocently

  “Technically,” she started, narrowing dead at his eyes, “I’m going to shove my foot so far up your ass, you'll be throwing up bits of my knee cap!”

  The silence from each participating fighter stretched like a rubber band. Fionn lets out a heavy sigh. “Loud and clear,” he muttered under his breath

  “You would be in this situation too when one of these parasites nearly killed a blacksmith worker in front of you,” he said aloud, glancing at every heroes’ eyes. “Or do you glorified mascots only listen to what gives you fame?”

  The brawler narrowed his eyes in annoyance, stepping forward in protest. “We were informed that a Creation Anomaly was hiding within our city,” he stated, cracking his knuckles. “And you attacked a hero of ours. King Brennen is one of our best heroes. You better have a damn good excuse!”

  “Are you deaf or something?” Fionn snapped, tightening his grip on his dagger. “Or are you pretenders so stuck up that you just disregard mistreatment?”

  The female cleric grits her teeth, stepping forward as well. “That woman can only create cursed blades! Her bloodline has killed thousands!” the cleric shouted. “And you decide to–”

  He cuts her off, biting back from instinctively yelling at her. “Did she kill anyone? Anyone at all?”

  Each heroes’ face twisted in disgust, but none dared to speak. The silence was enough to make a feather hitting carpet seem loud. No one had the nerve to answer him. No one. Even Shakti couldn’t hide the slight grin that stretched from the corners of her lips.

  “What’s wrong? Don’t got the answer for me?” he continued, taunting them now. “Hurry up, I asked a question, or is it because you pathetic crownless phonies can’t control me?”

  His blades faded away with the flare of a bright blue light. The chain holding the receptionist began to gently float her down with a steady pace. “Clean up your act,” he said bluntly, glaring directly at the cleric. “It makes me sick.”

  Once she safely settled down on her feet, he vanished in a heartbeat. The inn doors burst open as the mother rushed out, tears already falling from her eyes. “My baby!” she screamed,throwing her arms around the receptionist. “My baby, are you hurt?!”

  “I’m okay, Mom, I promise…,” the receptionist assured, exhaling shakily as she hugged her mother. “He saved me.” The mother was breathing slightly heavy from her earlier panic, wet tears streaming down her cheek as she started to sob into her daughter’s hair. “Thank the heavens… thank the heavens…”

  The “heroes” began to disperse into their routes silently, having to live with the feeling of shame and being humiliated by a Pseudo. From the doorway, Julius, adjusting his blindfold, stepped outside, hearing the mother’s quiet sobbing into her daughter’s head, sniffling and whimpering with relief. His calm voice cuts in, trying not to startle them. “Are you alright, ma’am?” he asked softly

  She tilts her head up to him, tears still racing down her cheeks as a blissful smile slowly crept onto her face. “You… are you with that young man? The one with blonde hair and green eyes?” she asked

  “I am,” Julius replied. “His name’s Fionn or Finn.”

  The mother and her daughter exchanged glances, then pressed their hands like they were about to pray. “Please tell him to come see us!” the mother pleaded, bowing her head. “We’d like to give him a proper thank you!” Julius nods his head and lets out a calm breath, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’ll make sure to let him know,” he assured, then muttered quietly to himself as he spun on his heel. “Knowing him, he’ll try to act casual.”

  Elsewhere, Fionn was sitting by a riverbank again, leaning back on his hands as he watched the current race itself downstream. The encounter from earlier solidified how he saw these egotistical heroes–they were anything but. It was more of an insult to the real saviors with the fakers running around. “I just made a bounty on my head,” he muttered to himself, letting out a dry, bitter laugh. “Of course I did.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  A few moments later, a familiar black figure stepped out from the shadows beneath the trees. By the figure and aura they emitted, he could tell they were a woman. She wore the same black cloak he saw just yesterday. She steps without a sound, even while being so close to him. Certain areas still stuck out to Fionn’s eyes–the 5’5 height for example. It was still difficult to get an exact image of her face–he never could on their first meeting either–but that wasn’t a concern to him anymore. She lowers herself beside him in a formal seiza. “We meet again, boy,” she whispered, her voice cutting through the warm air. “Do not let your pervy eyes wander over my body again.” She said that with a sharp tone, making her remark clear

  “I’m not,” he assured, letting out a quiet breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “I didn’t want to anyway.”

  “Hmph,” she scoffed, her tone still sharp. “I suppose you’re a Creation Anomaly, yes?”

  “And? What about it?” he snapped defensively, narrowing his eyes slightly. “Are you going to tell me how to use my own body?”

  A faint smirk walks along her lips. “What a chivalrous act to protect that receptionist earlier,” she started, glancing at the stream passing by. “Had you not, she would’ve been in pieces by now.”

  “I don’t get why people sit and wait until someone dies before doing something,” he said bluntly, shrugging his shoulders. “If you see someone needing to be saved, just do it.”

  “Not everyone has the luxury to be as strong as you, boy,” she shot back, her voice losing its warmth immediately. “Your bloodline makes it nearly impossible for anyone to match you, so it’s only plausible that you don’t see why people stand back instead of act. Spare my ears of your self-righteous speech–I’m not interested.”

  He clenched his jaw as bites back a retort. She wasn’t wrong after all–hearing it aloud from this mysterious woman didn’t make it any better. “Yeah, I know,” he mutters under his breath

  “You better,” she responded, the scolding tone slowly fading away into a teasing tone “My students would love to shatter that ego of yours.”

  Fionn didn’t respond for what seemed like four minutes, maybe nine. Her tone, her remarks, everything about her really started to piss him off. The quiet stream did its best to fill the silence, until Fionn exhaled through his nose with frustration. “Do you hate me or something?” he blurted out, looking at the back of her hooded head

  That question caught her off guard–she didn’t expect him to ask her straight up. She finally didn’t have an immediate reply for once. She took nearly double the time he did to respond. When she did, she responded just as flat. “Well, I hate Pseudos,” she answered simply, not allowing him to interrupt. “Call it whatever you want, Pseudos are so irrational and always cause problems. They’re reckless, unpredictable, and just shouldn’t exist.”

  Fionn’s eyes narrowed into slithers. He asked her for her problem with him, not her view of Anomalies. “This stupid b–” his thought halted as she cuts in

  “But,” she interrupted, pausing just long enough for the wind to howl faintly, “I do have faith in some of you. You, especially.”

  Even though she barely eased what her previous statement was, he glared at the back of her head again. “Thanks… I guess,” he muttered, not seeing how he should reply to that. “If that wasn’t a backhanded compliment, I don’t know what is.”

  Beneath her cloak, her face scrunches up from discomfort. “Ugh, complimenting people like you feels wrong,” she exclaimed, pure disgust filling her voice. “Even if you’re a Creation Anomaly, I–!”

  The trees rustled loudly in the distance–too loud to be considered an animal. “Oh dear…,” she muttered slowly, almost like she was worried. “It seems my dear boy is coming back home.”

  Fionn’s face twisted with confusion, his eyebrows shooting up. “Wait, what the hell does she mean?!” he thought

  A voice In the distance roared with rage. “MOTHER!!” a monster boomed, directed towards them. “IT SPEAKS ENGLISH?!” Fionn panicked, his chest going stiff

  The woman scowled–well, from what it looked like–at him with a foul twist of her face. “You will address him as Gi, boy,” she snapped, sharpening her tone. “My baby boy is not an ‘it’.”

  “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!” Fionn barked. Trees crashed against the grass as they were knocked down in the distance. He narrows his eyes, seeing a white tree-like Anomaly giant sprinting towards them. He could identify parts of him: its whole body featured blood red slashes that looked like tattoos. Its skin was as white as the inside of a coconut with the texture of tree bark. A tree root-like guard masked his face. Other than the specifics, Fionn took note of his height–7’1. All ten of his fingers and the back of his hands were black, while his palms were crimson red. His toes were sharp black thorns as they stomped into the ground with each step. “It looks… like a Tree Anomaly. But why does it have symbols?” Fionn thought. His guard was down, paying attention to the hostile Anomaly making its way to them more than the mysterious woman right next to him

  “DIE!” it howled, digging its enlarged fingers into the ground and conjured a boulder of dirt, hurling it at the two like a baseball. Fionn instinctively wrapped his arms around the woman’s body and swept her out of the way, landing a few feet away. Before he could even process what he was about to fight, a stinging slap lands on Fionn’s cheek, causing him to nearly drop her

  “HANDS OFF!” she shouted, trying to kick him

  “Ow! What the hell?!” he said in pain, holding his cheek as he sets her down

  “Don’t you ever put your Pseudo hands around me again!” she spat, the disgust in her tone coming forward. The Tree Anomaly finally stopped running, his stomps rumbling the ground slightly. Up close, Fionn could see his eyes were glowing a very light shade of baby blue

  His face twisted in disgust. “Up close, you’re uglier than I thought,” he quipped, a grin starting to form on his face. “Creation Anomaly…,” he started, glancing down at Fionn. “No… you’re not him.” He raised his fist, crashing it downwards in an attempt to make Fionn a stain on the grass. There was a pause. It stretched longer than a normal moment would before the woman had to inform her son. “You didn’t hit him, honey,” the woman cooed. His eyes darted to the woman. “You shut your mouth,” he snapped. All of a sudden, the Tree Anomaly’s stomach caved in as the wind seemed to punch him in the gut

  “Gah!”

  “Baby?” the woman worried, rushing to his aid

  Fionn flipped down from the tree, landing gracefully on his feet. “You must be a musclehead,” he taunted. “There’s no way you thought I’d die that quickly.” A grimoire fades with a swish of the woman’s staff. “How insulting…,” she scoffed. “Why must I waste my mana on the son of a Creation Anomaly? Ugh…”

  The sun was starting to go to sleep. “Damn it,” he muttered to himself. His eyes kept his focus on his two enemies. “What’s with her hatred over me? I didn’t even do anything.” The air ripples as she charges a green glow from her book. “Aero’s Scythe!” she shouted, firing the slash diagonally. Fionn was forced to duck the spell, playing in the time kick from the Tree Anomaly. He sends Fionn soaring into a tree, although he softened his crash landing by cushioning his feet. “What is your issue?!” he shouted in anger

  “I told you, boy,” she said, her voice turning serious. She took off her hood, letting curly caramel brown hair flow in the wind. She had flawless skin–no pimples or even cuts–and beautiful silver eyes, except there were four sets–eight total. “I am not going to tolerate my children being hurt! You Creation Anomalies are to blame for my world being infested with elves, fairies, and disgusting, vile creatures known as humanoids!” she snapped, continuing with her rant. “Once I find the Trial Code, I will purge this whole city and rid it from you Anomalies! My son Gi will start with you, boy!”

  Fionn grits his teeth with annoyance. “I should’ve told Shakti and Julius about this instead of running off. Wait a minute…,” he muttered. An idea sparked in his head. It was a simple thought, but it never crossed his mind until now. “If I take this bastard out now, Shakti will just have to handle Catastrophe.”

  His daggers flashed into his hands, ready to tear Gi apart. A small smirk twitched from the corner of his lips. His eyes narrowed in on him, the tension cracking between them. “Alright, I see how it is,” he said, stomping forward with determination. He raises a blade at Gi, directing it to his chest. “No pesticide is needed to cut a simple weed–just scissors. You and that spider-faced “woman” are going to compost.”

  Gi plants his feet into the ground, leaning forward like he was going to rush in. “The Creation Anomalies… always a pest to deal with,” he stated, glaring into Fionn’s soul. “I’m going to kill you, boy, then use your body to recreate this world.” His arm twists into a thorn as sharp as a rose is beautiful, then thrusts it forward to pierce through Fionn’s body. He blocks with the flat side of his left dagger. The thorn’s tip hits, trying to drill through it. Fionn deflects it upwards then slashed down with the other dagger. The woman’s face twisted in disgust as a Pseudo harmed her son. She sprints to Fionn’s left of view, shooting projectiles of condensed air at his distracted stance. His pupils darted at the incoming attack, bracing his body instead of taking his focus off Gi. It hits his body, feeling like the wind physically shot bullets. “Damn it, that hurts!” he thought

  He jumped backward in an attempt to gain distance from him, but Gi raised his leg and sent Fionn flying backwards with a bone breaking kick. His back crashed through parts of trees, making them fall. “OW!” he pained, stabbing his daggers into a broken tree to stabilize his legs. He hadn’t anticipated Gi to be this strong. “This woman… she’s the reason why Shakti was originally going to be killed,” he finally realized, craning his neck to look up as Gi was walking towards him

  “SHOW ME!” Gi roared, stomping his feet now. “SHOW ME THE POWER OF BEING A CREATOR!”

  Fionn yanked his dagger out of the tree, standing straight now. “Bow to your prince,” he snapped. He idly twirls a dagger in one hand, pointing to himself with the thumb of his other. “Unlike another prince full of ego, I’m not losing this fight.”

  “You better keep to that promise, boy,” Gi said, transforming his thorn into an axe made from rock, raising it over his head. “Now prove it.”

  The axe came crashing down, it only slashed through the tree he was leaning against. “Hm?” Gi muttered, confused about where he disappeared off to. “HONEY! BEH–” the woman’s sentence was cut short as Gi’s head slammed against the bark of a tree from seemingly out of nowhere. He moved to look around, but stopped short as his whole body was blasted backwards, crashing into other trees.

  “HAHAHAHAHA!” someone laughed, dashing around him. Taunting him

  “Is this… the Cre–” Gi stopped as a vicious punch flung his head backwards, giving him no time to recover as something made his body bounce off the ground with some kind of force. In the sky, his eyes widened. He could finally see Fionn, but it wasn’t the Demi-Anomaly

  In the air, he saw a man with spiky black hair grinning from ear to ear with razor sharp teeth. Gi’s eyes visibly shrunk. “A demon?!” Gi exclaimed. His body came crashing into the ground when the demon dropped both knees into his gut. “GRG!” Gi shrieked in pain. He struggled so much as to stand up right. His body was tightening all over, the muscles cramping after the cruel attacks. “Oh? What’s wrong now, sapling?” the demon taunted, crouching over him. “Did that hurt ya? Oh, suck it up. I wasn’t even trying.”

  Gi started to breathe heavily, still attempting to at least sit up. “Don’t worry, take your time,” he quipped. “I hope your mother is just as strong.” In the distance, the woman was rushing towards him, the panic weighing heavier with each pant. The demon held a finger up. “Freeze,” he joked, firing a mini pellet of fire at the ground just as she took another step. “Do you even have a real reason to hate Anomalies? That same old “you’re a disgrace” act really isn’t convincing.”

  All of the woman’s eyes widened in shock, seeing the demon

  It wasn’t Fionn–technically. This demon was taller than him, standing at 6’5. He had coral red skin, spiky black hair, asphalt gray eyes with white skull pupils, and visible fangs that gave sharks a run for their money. Goat horns were sticking out of his forehead, appearing like the color of his flesh at the base that shifted into a pitch black color towards the point. Unlike the normal Fionn, this demon was shirtless, showing a sun tattoo on his stomach printed in gold, and a giant agneyastra tattoo on his back printed in black. He wore black arm sleeves with gold cuffs around his wrists and had sharpened black nails. He wore baggy white pants wrapped by black cloth like a belt. He didn’t wear shoes but instead wore black stir-ups to complete his outfit

  “The name’s Helio. Don’t expect me to cool down anytime soon,” he introduced with a dramatic bow. “Although, I prefer my women with two or one eye instead of looking like the freak accident of a spider bite.”

  The woman was perplexed. Was… was this an extension of being a Demi-Anomaly? And who the hell was Helio?! “Y-you dare slander my–” she stopped, interrupted by his obnoxious laughter

  “Damn, so nobody told you look like an ugly spider?” he taunted, clutching his stomach. “Sorry, you should totally keep that hood over your face. You look better with it.”

  The woman’s nostrils flared with enrage. “So help me, I’ll smite–”

  Helio’s fist crashed against the back of her skull, smashing her face against the ground. The sound would make anyone’s stomach twist with uneasiness. “You were saying?” he taunted

  Gi’s body finally allowed him to stand up straight, seeing his mother face first in the dirt. Helio stood over her without a care for what he had done. “YOU PIG!” he roared, bawling his fists. Thorns spike out of his back, elbows, and knees

  Helio snickers loudly. “Did this woman actually mean something to you?” he teased, lifting the unconscious woman up by her hair. “Don’t worry, she’ll be safe in Hell.”

  Gi’s mask broke, revealing monstrous teeth. “PUT HER DOWN!” he snapped. Helio’s grin faltered, his face twisting in annoyance. “Shut up, jeez,” he muttered. “I just said she’s going to Hell. You can too, but you’ll burn fast.”

  Gi lunged forward, shooting an elbow spike from his elbow. Helio’s face shifts back to his cruel grin, tossing the mother into the attack. He was forced to redirect, making himself open. That was all Helio needed to secure the win. “You’re weak,” he quipped

  He propels himself forward like a rocket with condensed sun fire, slamming his forehead against Gi’s jaw with a sickening crack, flipping forward to hover above him, and driving his heel to the back of his skull. Gi blacks out instantly from the impact, dropping with a thud. Helio slammed his foot into his spine then twisted it, making his fire burn through the skin. “Get out of my sight,” he snapped, setting his foot ablaze and engulfing Gi’s knocked out body with a cruel green flame

  When it was nothing but charred remains, Helio dusts his feet off. “That’s one down,” he muttered to himself. He looked over at the unconscious mother. “If I let her go, she’ll just remake one stronger than me,” he thought. “But if I do kill her, I lose important information… wait, was she even useful?”

  He nudged the woman with his foot, then slammed his foot against her hip. “Wake up!” he yelled

  She lets out a shriek of pain, clutching her hip after forcefully being awakened from unconsciousness. “Ow!” she said in pain. Her eyes open to look around, seeing Helio staring down at her

  “P-Pseudo?” she muttered

  “If you call me that again,” he snapped, gripping her jaw tightly, “I’ll treat your ugly ass like an Arachnid and just roast you.”

  Her eyes narrow on him in protest. Then it hits her–where’s Gi? Her eyes open wider as the panic sets in. Her son would’ve taken care of him by now, right? …Right? Helio lets out a wide grin, stretching from ear to ear. “I know that look,” he taunted, releasing her jaw. “The look of a mother knowing her son isn’t coming home.”

  Once she was released, she scrambled to get away and search. But it didn’t take long. Just in front of her was a giant black stain of dust…

  “Damn it,” Helio muttered, crossing his arms. “I should’ve made charcoal out of him.”

  “GI!” she screamed, stumbling to get up from the grass. Tears streamed down her cheeks, the horror of not protecting her child biting at her very soul. Helio, gazing over her distressed figure, stopped smiling. The guilt settled in quickly in his core, especially after the child’s life–even though he didn’t look like one–was taken away in front of their mother. “Huh… you know, it’s not that funny,” he muttered, thinking through Fionn’s memories of Rosie. He remembers a time when Rosie was clutching Fionn close to her body as there was a shootout going on just outside the club. She was hiding in one of the private rooms, crying endlessly into his hair with the fear of the situation escalating. She covered his ears to not hear the noise, and in return, he rubbed her cheeks in a small attempt to comfort his mother–at least, the one he considers as his. Helio could see a similar expression on the woman’s face–true despair. “That woman would have considered killing someone if it meant to protect him… and they aren’t even blood related.” he mutters quietly to himself

  He raises a palm, aiming at the woman. With his other hand, he held it up as if he was praying. “I hope you’re reborn as someone good,” he mutters, fire igniting from his palm, “in a new life.”

  “Rest easy.” he mutters quietly