"Ah. I got blood on my clothes again," a young boy muttered. He shivered in the frigid cold of Noxio's endless winter, wearing far too little for the weather.
His frail, malnourished body didn't help his case either, so he stripped the dead man's puffer jacket and wore it as a blanket.
Luciel wanted to leave this place, but the snowstorm was more severe than he expected.
"Sleeping with a corpse again?" He sighed.
He didn't like sleeping near someone he just killed. That didn't sit right with him. Besides, the man was mutilated. Intestines were laid out on the snow. His face was gnawed beyond recognition, as if a starving bear had been at him.
Well, that man deserved it. He committed so many bad deeds. He'd stolen from the elderly, beaten children, abused women, without remorse—his sins were endless. Luciel decided to kill the man as brutally as possible. That was the way of the slums. He'd bury him tomorrow.
How did he kill him? Luciel lured the man in a dark alleyway using a beer can. Alcoholics like him could smell booze from a mile away. The man crawled on all fours—pathetic, desperate. When he finally reached the bait prepared for him, Luciel jumped out from the shadows and stabbed him in the neck. Dead immediately.
He'd wanted to make him suffer by torturing him, but he was just a nine-year-old child. He was too small to overpower anyone. One strike, one kill. That's all he could manage. It had been this way for 1749 days.
Killing kept him sane. A bloodied string he grasped was better than nothing. Life was fragile in the slums. The careless died. The weak killed. The good-willed oppressed. Here, you either chose to kill or be killed. There was no such thing as mercy. Mercy was a myth.
'Anyway, I should get some sleep.'
Corpse cleanup was due tomorrow. The snow would preserve the corpse so burying wasn't an option. Finding a device to burn was a priority the moment he woke up.
His mouth opening wide, releasing a big yawn. His eyes teary. That night, Luciel wished he could dream a different life. He wanted a house. He wanted warmth and love.
And so he drifted off, submerging into the deep sea of consciousness when he suddenly heard someone.
"Dear." The voice soft and soothing.
Luciel's expression hardened. Wait... did he even have a body in here? Was it outside or in his dream? He wanted to speak but couldn't. He slapped himself in his mind to wake up but couldn't. Then he heard the strange noise again.
"Dear... I'm here."
Confused, he looked around for what seemed like a vast sea, then noticed an ethereal light shaped like a woman. It was all light and no other features.
Instead of being scared, Luciel was curious and wanted to talk to it. Perhaps an angel descended to make his wish come true! But his mouth wouldn't budge.
"You can see me, right?" the angel asked, her voice sounded like a lullaby.
Unable to do anything, Luciel nodded and raised his arms. He ached to touch the light. Maybe this was salvation he long desired.
"Aw. Trying to touch me? Well, it has been a long time."
Stupefied, Luciel retracted his arms and stared at the light.
"Anyway, I finally managed to meet you again." Somehow, Luciel felt a strange emotion. A gulf of melancholy. He could feel the guilt so deep and unbearable that it hurt his heart.
The angel came closer, picked him up, and hugged him. "I'm sorry I couldn't even give you a proper life in this life even though you have gone through so much," the angel's voice quivered.
"I want to tell you everything, but I should leave you be. I want you to live your own life and have your own choices. I won't restrain your destiny no more... No. Our destiny. I decided to cleanse my soul and live this life with you, so if you could somehow find me, then it is fate that we are together."
Luciel couldn't decipher her words and what it meant, yet he could understand her bare and raw emotions. And for the first time in his life, he felt loved and cared for. The desire to be in her embrace forever grew.
"If you were meant to walk the old path again, the God of Life will come and help you. I... have made some arrangements."
Suddenly, Luciel levitated off the ground, released from the angel's embrace. The angel extended her hand to him.
"Here. Take this."
Her index finger touched his. Scarlet flame started coursing through the angel's veins toward Luciel's. A foreign energy flowed into him—warm, comforting, like a fireplace in winter.
"This is my scarlet flame. You may not remember, but you have always loved it. I was the happiest girl when you complimented my flames, so this is my farewell gift."
Luciel widened his eyes, finally realizing what was going on. Did he have a past life he couldn't remember? Was this his life partner of the past? The sudden realization caused a wave of emotions to overwhelm him. Soulfully connected, he found himself in tears, though they'd only just met.
The emotions were so deep and profound as if condensed for thousands of years. He wanted to remember everything.
"My dear Luciel, don't try to remember anything. I'll disappear and live a new life too. You wanted this to relieve of our suffering, so if this life allows us to be together again, then it must be the string of fate."
Why was he crying like a baby? He'd never cried in his life, not even on the brink of death. Survival meant never looking back. His emotions had all but frozen. Yet now, tears flowed—sorrow, anguish, guilt—all the things he'd never let himself feel.
Slowly, the light revealed itself. Particles like fireflies drifted from the angel, revealing the soul within. One fragment to another, Luciel was able to see what was hidden inside such a radiant glow.
"Am I beautiful?" the woman asked. Her doe blue eyes were clearer than the ocean, her silky silver hair flowing like the river, her fair skin so smooth and luminous as if kissed by the heavens.
Luciel could only nod. He thought he could never see anything more beautiful than her ever again. Was his past life was really this wonderful?
"Truthfully, I've lived here as long as you, thanks to the God of Life. This is the last fragment of my soul imparted to you—so spend your time with me wisely," she said, teasing. Her voice was so heavenly it could melt Luciel if he wasn't careful.
"It's unfortunate that you can't speak, but your presence is enough for me to truly depart from this world as me without any regrets." She then gave Luciel the prettiest smile graced upon this land— a smile he would treasure in his heart forever and ever.
Luciel stepped forward and embraced her tightly. He wanted to say something, anything. He didn't want to let her go, but he could already feel her slipping away.
"I guess time is running out. I'm sorry that I couldn't stay longer, dear."
Suddenly, a single tear fell onto Luciel's pale white hair— a tear so small yet it seemed to carry the weight of a universe.
"You won't remember this dream when you wake up. I don't want to chain you with regret or anything related to us. You understand, right, dear?"
'No. I want to remember you forever.'
He wanted to say it. He wanted to say how much he loved her, how deeply he cherished her. Why did she sound so sad, even as she spoke of having no regrets? He didn't believe her at all. He knew she wanted to stay for eternity, but fate wouldn't allow her.
As if she knew what he was thinking about, she tearfully patted Luciel's head.
"It took me a lot of courage to walk this path. To forget myself, and you, seems unbearable. But even if there is regret, I'm happier letting us begin a new chapter in our lives. Letting go is never easy. Don't worry about me."
The light began to dim, swallowed by the encroaching darkness. Luciel panicked, screaming into the void. He was desperate for another miracle, but all he could see was her disappear, until nothing remained but her voice.
"I love you, Luciel. Live on. Fate will bring us together again, I promise..."
And then the world turned dark.
Luciel woke up in the middle of the storm. He'd just had the strangest dream. Tears dripped into the snow. Mysterious feelings that he'd never felt before.
Confused, he stood up and felt a sharp pain on his wrist. He took off the puffer jacket and pulled the sleeve up, only to see that the strange mark on his wrist he'd had since birth had become more pronounced.
A strange sensation then bloomed inside him. Despite the frigid cold, warmth spread through his body—so much that he felt he could conjure fire. Luciel focused on the feeling, and to his surprise, a small scarlet fire flickered and danced in his palm.
'Beautiful... I love it.'
He didn't question it. He just accepted the scarlet flame as his own.
He then turned to the corpse and burned it to ash. Even the bloodied snow melted, leaving no trace of the dead man. Just like that, the man completely disappeared into the unknown.
Luciel turned back and kept walking. If only he could dream more, would he be able to feel more? Would life be more meaningful? He wanted to find out.