It was quite the surprise to see Gren in Raze’s room. There was no reason for him to be there. What he was worried about more upon seeing him, was whether or not he had found the crystals. They hadn’t been hidden in the best place after all, but he didn’t plan to keep them for long either.
‘What is Safa doing? Shouldn’t she have gotten here before me?’ Raze thought.
For some reason, there was an uneasy look on Gren’s face; he still hadn’t said a word, and had slight sweaty forehead.
Taking a peek past his shoulder, Raze’s eyes locked onto the state of the room. His heart thumped slightly stronger. His eyes started to follow around the room, and he noticed the mattress torn to shreds. Once again, his heart was beat even stronger than before, and his lips started to quiver.
However, there was soon an odd smell that had entered his nose, a smell that he had become familiar with, the smell of blood. Parts of red could be seen on the side of the wall and on the floor, and the faint sound of wheezing was heard. Finally, his eyes landed on Safa.
She was lying there on the floor, blood falling out from the side of her mouth, her lips cut. Her arm was bent out of shape in one way, and her face was swollen in more areas than one.
Raze’s heart started to not only beat stronger than before but faster. It felt like it was going to jump out of his throat.
The fact that Raze hadn’t said anything, was giving Gren chills.
‘This guy, I’ve had an odd feeling since day one when I saw him. He’s not going to suddenly care about his sister, is he? Ah, sh*t, what am I talking about, anyone would do after putting her in that situation. If he tries to hit me then, I’ll just have to fight back. I already decided to leave this place anyway!’
In the middle of his thoughts, Raze had walked straight past him, seemingly ignoring him. He then knelt down by his sister’s side, getting a closer look at the wounds on her body.
In that moment, Gren took this opportunity to get out of there. Sliding the door open, he fled out of the room, not turning back.
On the ground, Safa was still conscious. She felt a presence next to her and looked at Raze. The moment she did, her eyes were filling up with tears. She had failed him, failed to protect the crystals.
“Hey, idiot,” Raze said. “Did you try and fight back?”
Out of all the things that Raze could have said, she was shocked by these words. Why was that important right now?
“I saw the bite mark on his hands and him holding onto something,” Raze continued, turning his head at the mattress before going back to look at Safa. “Just answer my question, did you fight back?”
Hearing a little annoyance in Raze’s tone, Safa had decided to give a nod, although it was painful for her to do so.
Letting out a big sigh, Raze sunk his head into his chest and looked at the ground.
“I heard our family has no name,” Raze explained. “I’ve never felt like I’ve had a family before, but I did have a name once, a second one. Given to me by my family, but they weren’t family; they were just demons in human skin.
“You listened to me, you are the second person who has ever tried to help me. You did well, and right now there’s this great pain in my chest. So I want to ask you a question. In the end, I decided to give myself the family name of Cromwell. So…Safa!” Raze said, looking deep into her eyes. “As a reward for you listening to me, I ask you. Do you accept the family name Cromwell?”
Safa didn’t know what Raze was talking about, or his random mumblings, but she could feel a great pain in his words and strength behind them. Her tears had completely blurred her vision and were rolling down the side of her cheek. A connection, with the same name as each other, the two would have a connection and feel like a real family.
Slowly once again, Safa gave a nod.
“You are a Cromwell now,” Raze stated. “Don’t ever forget it.”
Walking outside, Kron had finished his talk with Sonny, and as he was heading to his office, he had noticed that Raze’s room had their door open, and immediately the scene caught his eyes.
Kron ran across and burst into the room. “What happened to her…what is this?” Kron asked.
“She needs to go see a doctor, straight away, there’s no time,” Raze said, staying in his knelt down position.
“The Physician!” Mr. Kron thought. “But the closest one is in town. I’ll have to carry her on my back.”
Not hesitating, Kron picked up Safa; he tried to do so carefully, but she was still grunting in pain. Wasting no time, he quickly ran out of the temple and headed down the long staircase that led into the town.
‘These wounds…they look like physical wounds. Why was she in a state like this?’ Mr. Kron thought. ‘It couldn’t have been Raze; he doesn’t even have the skills to do something like this. Could it be?” 𝒪𝑽𝓁xt.𝒸𝑜𝐦
An image of Gren and the mushroom incident had flashed into his mind. “It appears I have made a grave mistake. If that kid managed to go this far, then there is no saving him. He will no longer be allowed in the temple, but first I have to save her!”
Back in the room, Raze was still on the floor on his knees; he was looking at the state of the room and the blood on the ground. His heart was still thumping loudly. Why would such a person go far, just because he asked them to do a simple thing? She was truly an idiot.
“This feeling, I didn’t know it would be so soon that I would feel it again,” Raze slowly got up off the floor and looked at the mattress again.
“It looks like, for the first time, you and me are in agreement.” Raze could feel his body reacting more and more as he thought about his sister. This dark, deep feeling that was rising to the surface wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling for Raze.
“He who dared to steal crystals from me! And he who harmed your sister!” Dark magic had activated out of Raze’s body and was swirling around his hands, running up his arm. A few objects on the floor around him were starting to move, reacting to the mana flow in the air.
“Where is this little f*ck Gren? He’s dead!”