I woke up under the moonlight, laying on the ground confused and panting as if I had been running with all my might, muscles sore and burning. My face was still touching the cold earth and my eyes could not focus beyond the brown pebbles directly in front of me.

I pushed myself up but could only manage to reach a sitting position. I was not able to muster the physical strength for anything more.

Though I could still smell the awful stench of burning blood and hear the crackling sound of wood on fire, I wasn’t able to see anything more than blurred lights and shapes. I wiped away the dried tears from my eyes and attempted to focus my vision once more.

Countless bodies lay in pools of blood in front of burning trees and buildings. People I knew—people I talked with just yesterday—were now lifeless next to the golden bodies of angels.

I moved my eyes slowly until I spotted the bloodstained garments of my adopted mother. From where I was sitting, I wasn’t able to see her face, nor Ched’s, whose body was resting next to hers.

I gathered all my strength and ran to them, falling on my knees, not knowing if I should hug them or leave them as they were. Seeing their wounds, it took almost everything I had not to throw up.

These were my adopted parents, but their bodies had been turned into gruesome malformed piles of meat and blood.

The all too familiar experience of watching myself walk as a bystander, kicked in again. How could this happen… This was not the life-changing day we had been looking forward to. We were supposed to receive our mana and make our life’s plans according to it.

Yet here I was again, having lost everything I loved. This time I had mana, but I was still useless. I was still unable to protect anyone, my spells only serving to delay the inevitable.

I sharply pulled my hair and as I registered the pain, I felt my focus return to me. Using my boiling rage as fuel, I pushed myself harder, managing to stand up again.

I looked at my immediate surroundings and saw that a circle of bodies had been created where the edge of the mana barrier once stood. Most of the young manaless people had fallen there since they were trying to break through and run to the aid of their beloved.

I tried to check for signs of life and it seemed that they were all still alive, albeit breathing extremely slowly. The archpriestess’s spell had been able to protect us all.

The realization hit me like a punch in my chest. Priestess Cheandra! She had been wounded during the battle. I started running towards where I remembered seeing her last when I spotted Adel.

I immediately knelt and put his head on my knees. Thank The Divine, he was still breathing. The ground in front of him was charred in a half-circular pattern, indicating that the protective field his parents put up had stopped a mana blast and saved him.

I desperately ran my fingers through his hair and caressed his face trying to wake him up. When that didn’t work, I began to shake him more forcefully, but it was no use.

He was in a deep magical slumber. I gently laid his head back down and resumed walking towards the priests.

The sight was disturbing but not as gruesome as that of my adopted parents. Their white robes had been pierced many times, while the outline of the holes seemed to have been seared.

There was such a profound sadness in the image of them laying dead in each other’s embrace. I guessed that they must have known their end was coming and wanted to leave together.

I felt numb, but I still noticed a tear run down my left cheek as I thought of how much Adel would have preferred to be between them, even if it meant being dead, instead of waking up to the aftermath of this.

Losing both your parents in a matter of minutes… I knew the pain only too well. And then another thought hit me.

Kai!

He was out there somewhere and he was responsible for all this chaos.

No! Not responsible. How could an innocent manaless boy be responsible for this massacre?

Something had gone horribly wrong and Kai had been possessed by something or someone. But he, or rather whatever had taken over his body, had exited the protective barrier and killed everyone outside of it, angels and mortals alike, including the priests.

I started moving toward the piles of dead celestials and spotted his body between two angels still holding long golden spears in their hands. Their enormous wings were spread, covering his little legs and torso.

I tried to push the wings closed but they were heavy and held much more muscle than I thought they would. Seeing that I was unable to uncover him, I moved above his head, picked him up by the armpits and threw my weight back in order to drag him out.

At first, his body barely moved at all underneath the heavy angel wings but once his first leg was free of the weight, it became easier to pull him out.

I let out a gasp as I looked down at him. His skin had changed. Even though the moonlight was not bright, I could tell that it was golden, the same color that The Divine’s had been.

His characteristics and childish features were the same, but his skin color was golden. Only his messy hair and eyebrows remained the same.

I quickly recovered from my shock and took him in my lap. I moved his hair out of his face and, touching his forehead, I realized it was not cold. Warmth ran through me instantly and I soon realized that not only was he warm but he was in fact feverish.

My mind ran through the spells I had memorized. There was a minor 8-word spell that required no material components and was used against severe cases of fever.

Name : Temperature Drop

School of Magic : Restoration

Verbal Components : 8 words

Somatic Components : Simple

Material Component : None

HP Consumed : 0

MP Consumed : 0

Divine Mana Consumed : 100

Range : Touch

Casting Time : 30 seconds

Precondition : None.

Description : Upon finishing the incantation, the creature or object touched by the caster has its temperature dropped down to match that of the caster’s body. In the case the temperature of the caster is higher than that of the creature or object they are trying to affect, the spell has no effect.

The reason behind Kai’s fever would have to be a problem for the future—right now I needed to bring his temperature down before everything in his head was fried. I rested both of my hands on his forehead and whispered the 8-word incantation eight times.

Many people had told me that the first time you use your own mana feels like you are floating among puffy clouds. But it seemed to me in that moment that most people were misled.

The elation they felt while using mana for the first time was probably just a byproduct of their communing with The Divine and the great pile of expectations they have built up. Then again, most people did not cast their first spell right after watching The Divine and all of their friends and family killed in front of them.

What I felt was not satisfaction or happiness but mere practicality. It was the same feeling I got when I hammered a nail into the wall and it stayed there, doing its job.

It was good that it remained lodged in the wall, but I wasn’t emotional about it. This was how I felt about the spell that brought Kai’s temperature back to normal levels.

His breathing became easier and he now seemed to be in the same magically induced slumber that everyone was in. His skin was still golden though.

I breathed a sigh of relief and then began to wonder. Why was I the first one to wake up from that final shockwave?