A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Having expected his question, Elora nodded, "That's true; people with an affinity for darkness need to be very careful, but they don't have to end up like Emily here. The main problem is Earth's current development phase, combined with that sigil in her room."

The fairy shrugged, "She actually used to be a kind and determined young girl. I think you would have liked her." Then, she seemed to think of something, "Should I just share her memories with you?"

Erik nodded. He wanted to see what happened to these two sisters with his own eyes.

Being familiar with the process, as they had done this before, he sat down on the ground while Elora disappeared into a cloud of light specks that merged with Erik's body. Sharing her mind with Erik was easier when she was in his soul.

Not long after that, Erik felt the familiar pull of memories that were not his own as he slowly became lost in them.

* * *

The memories started seven years ago, on the fateful day that changed the lives of everyone on Earth.

It was the fifth of September, 2023.

In the lavish living room of her parents' expansive mansion, sixteen-year-old Emily lounged on a couch. Her rebellious goth rocker attire—complete with heavy mascara, black lipstick, and purple highlights in her already black hair— clashed with the opulence around her.

While it seemed she aimed to defy her parents' affluent lifestyle, like so many of her peers, Emily didn't harbour negative feelings toward her family.

Her parents, Isabella and Oliver Ashcroft, were kind to her, after all. Her father was a little absent, but although they didn't exactly approve of her lifestyle and clothing, they didn't try to stop her either. Instead, they chose to simply love and support her while hoping this was just a phase she would grow out of.

Although they never mentioned that last part to Emily, of course.

Even her eleven-year-old sister, Emma, who embraced their parents' expectations more willingly, couldn't elicit any animosity from Emily.

She did try. Hard. For a little while, anyway. Eventually, she found it almost impossible to continue having negative feelings about Emma, as the girl's personality and looks were far too much of a cheat.

In moments when Emily was distressed for any reason, Emma's warm hugs and sparkling mismatched eyes, filled with love, had the power to dispel any darkness in Emily's day. Something that remained true even during Emily's earlier attempts to distance herself.

Currently, Emma was sitting next to Emily with a happy smile on her face as she held her big sister's hand—her outfit much more appropriate for the room, as she wore a cute little white dress that went well with her long, white hair.

Despite Emma's smile, however, Emily was scowling as she was forced to attend a meeting between her parents and a pasty, black-haired friend and business partner of theirs, Liam Astor.

The large room held three couches, set up in a triangle formation, where Liam occupied the sofa on the girls' right, and their parents were sitting on the left.

Their attendance wasn't even really required, as it was just a friendly meeting to catch up, but unfortunately, their absence would have been against etiquette, so here she was.

She especially hated her current situation because she had always hated Liam. Not because he was unfriendly but because he was always looking at her with lust, which disgusted her.

Of course, her parents never believed her, as Liam was always a perfect gentleman to both them and their daughters, making them think Liam was a decent man who wouldn't have such thoughts about the underage Emily.

Unfortunately, they were wrong, yet the truth of the matter would never be known to them.

While Isabella and Oliver were talking with Liam as the sisters simply sat quietly, everyone suddenly felt a shift in the air and a buzzing in their ears.

They all had different reactions to this. Liam and Emily suddenly felt energised and powerful, while Isabella and Oliver felt the same at first, but the feeling quickly shifted to uncomfortable. They felt like their blood was heating up.

Meanwhile, Emma looked at their various reactions with confusion. Surprisingly, she didn't seem to feel anything at all. She tugged on her big sister's sleeve, "Big Em? What's wrong with everyone?"

But Emily didn't answer, as she and Liam kept looking in wonder at their hands, marvelling at the new and strange feeling of power.

But Emily was quickly torn away from her thoughts, when her parents suddenly started screaming and grabbing their heads. But before anyone could react, under the shocked gazes of their daughters, they combusted, quickly reducing their bodies to ash.

Emily and Emma froze at the sight of their parents' sudden death, their minds failing to come to terms with what had happened as they stared at the burned patches that used to be their parents.

Meanwhile, Liam entirely ignored the death of his supposed friends as he continued to stare at his hands, his mind reeling with possibilities as he suddenly started to chuckle.

Emily and Emma had shakily made their way to where their parents used to sit as they touched the still-warm spots. Emma began to cry silent tears as her body had already realised what happened while her mind was still catching up.

Meanwhile, Emily mumbled, "W- What just happened?"

It all happened much too suddenly and quickly.

One moment, she was sitting on a couch, angry at her parents while trying to find a reason to leave; the next, a strange power was coursing through her body while her parents combusted and turned into burned patches on a couch.

When she noticed Emma was in shock and crying, however, she quickly got herself together and took Emma in her arms before turning her away from what used to be their parents, "Don't look, Em! I- I don't know what happened, but we'll figure it out, alright? Together!"

Emma was still too much in shock to respond, but while Emily was busy dealing with her little sister and the sudden death of her parents, Liam had been exploring this foreign feeling as instinct compelled him to draw a strange symbol in the air.

It appeared like concentric circles adorned with symbols that seemed to materialise from the depths of his consciousness.

The strangest thing, however, was that the lines actually appeared, if not in the air, then at least in his mind's eye as he looked with astonishment at the earthen brown lines that instinct compelled him to draw, while to anyone else, he simply looked like a lunatic waving his finger around.

The reality, however, was that more than a billion people were doing the exact same thing all across the world.

When he completed the final stroke, he felt tired, as if he had just run a few miles despite not moving from that spot. Additionally, a subtle resonance hummed through his body.

He could feel a connection, a palpable link between the runic pattern and the very essence of his being, causing a dormant power to stir within him, resonating with the runes as they seemed to slowly disappear, but instead of panicking about this, Liam started chuckling louder and louder as he felt the runes being etched into him.

He hardly even cared how or why this happened, as all he could think about was the power he felt surging through his body.

While his chuckling slowly got louder until it turned into belly-rumbling laughter, he turned his gaze towards Emily as he felt like life had just given him everything he wanted on a silver platter.

Power and women.

Still lost in thoughts and attempting to comfort Emma, Emily had completely forgotten about Liam's existence until she heard him laughing loudly.

She turned to look at him, seething with anger about this blatant disregard for his supposed friends' deaths, but before she could say anything, she was shocked by Liam's crazed and lustful expression.

His laugh had turned into mad cackling as he half-yelled, "Finally! Finally, life has given me what I deserve! True power! I don't know what god or coincidence or whatever gave me this opportunity, but I'll kiss their feet in thanks!"

Seeing his expression and hearing his words, Emily knew the situation was bad as she quickly backed away while keeping herself between Liam and Emma, "You! What are you thinking, you perverted asshole! Didn't you see what just happened to my parents? We should be figuring out what's going on!"

She did briefly consider the possibility that Liam had somehow caused this, but when she thought back on his normal behaviour before this started and how strange it all was, she quickly discarded that possibility.

Seeing her actions, Liam only laughed harder as he started closing in on the sisters, "Oh, I know what's going on. I've just been given the opportunity to finally teach you a lesson!"

His voice took on a dangerous edge, "You'll find out how much I enjoy teaching rebellious little shits like you to obey a real man! Your sister is a little young for me still, but that just gives me time to mould her into the perfect little slut!"