Flames roared around her, crackling and hissing as they devoured the wooden walls, licking at the air like ravenous serpents. The heat surged in waves, thick smoke clawing at Angeleva's lungs. She coughed violently, her hand trembling as she clutched her swollen belly, the heat searing her skin.
If I wasn't pregnant... this would've been over already... she thought bitterly.
She had powerâenough to obliterate the cabin in a burst of lightâbut not now. Not with the twins. After breaking the chains with Fairy Radiance, the backlash of power already stressed her body. She knew even one more powerful attack could risk harming the delicate life growing within her. Her children were her priority.
The flames closed in. The wooden beams above her creaked and splintered. She dropped to her knees.
"Fairy Barrier..." she whispered through grit teeth, her wings fluttering weakly.
A pink dome shimmered around her, enclosing her and her unborn twins in a protective sphere of light. The fire slammed into it, sparks bouncing off the surface, but each hit drained her further. Sweat poured down her face. Her magic flickered.
The fire wasn't going out. If anything, it was growing stronger.
Meanwhile, back at the hut, Safari burst through the door.
"Angeleva?" he shouted, his eyes scanning every corner.
Empty.
He turned to the nearby villagers, grabbing a passerby. "Where is my wife?!"
They shrugged, avoiding eye contact. Some looked uncomfortable, others just indifferent.
But thenâa tug on his cloak.
Safari turned to see a small boy, no older than six.
"I saw two women take her," the boy said quietly. "They went toward the forest. They said an elder was gonna give her advice for the babies..."
Safari froze.
His expression darkened.
"Are you sure?" he asked, kneeling.
The boy nodded. "I swear! I didn't tell anyone... I was scared..."
Safari's hands tightened into fists. His heart pounded. They tricked her.
"Thank you," he said, before vanishing in a blur of speed, kicking up a whirlwind of dust as he tore toward the forest.
Inside the flaming cabin, Angeleva's knees buckled.
Her Fairy Barrier flickered again.
Fifteen minutes. That's how long she'd been holding it. The fire refused to die. Her vision blurred. Her limbs ached. Her breath came in wheezes.
Her tears fell onto the charred floor beneath her as she clutched her belly tighter.
"Is this... really the end?"
Her thoughts spiraled.
If I die here... the twins die...
And if Safari finds our bodiesâhe won't forgive this world.
She imagined his faceâthe fury, the agony, the heartbreak.
A devil born of vengeance...
He wouldn't stop. He would burn everything down. And in that rage, they would label him a monsterâand they would be right.
Her tears intensified.
"I have to survive... not just for me. For him. For them. Please... someone..."
Outside the inferno, those who had set the trap stood watching from a distance, their expressions twisted with scorn.
"She's still not dead?" one muttered noticing her light.
"Damn fairies and devils...?"
"She's giving birth to monsters. We're doing this planet a favor."
Their laughter was cold, cruel, and heartless.
Back inside, Angeleva screamed through the smoke, not from fearâbut from grief.
"How could you do this?!" she sobbed, her voice hoarse. "They're not even bornâand you call them monsters?! You... you're the monsters!"
The barrier wavered again.
Angeleva clenched her teeth and forced her hand up once more. Through sheer will, she summoned another Fairy Barrier, the pink light barely forming in the thick black smoke. Her entire body trembled, her skin burned from the scorching heat, her eyes stung with sweat and ash.
But stillâshe held on.
One arm wrapped tightly around her belly, shielding the life within. Her breath came in choked sobs.
"Hold on... just a little longer... please..."
Tears spilled down her cheeks as she hunched forward, curling her body around her children.
"I'm sorry..." she whispered to them. "I'm trying. I want you to live. I want you to see the sky. I want you to feel your father's hand in yours."
But the fire wouldn't stop.
It was as if the flames knew she was weakeningâclosing in, surrounding the barrier like a predator circling its prey.
Her vision was blurring. The crackle of fire roared in her ears. Her magic was dimming.
And then her thoughts turned fully to him.
Safari.
What would he do if he found them here? If he saw her broken body, if he saw their children lifeless in her arms?
He wasn't a fairy like her. He wasn't trained to suppress emotion. He was a warrior of rage, of instinct, of powerâborn of Sappy, forged in blood.
If I die here... if they die with me... he'll lose everything.
He'd burn this world to ash. He'd tear through the stars, mindless, grief-stricken. He'd become the thing the universe feared most: a devil with nothing left to protect.
"He'll be hunted. Killed. Forgotten. A beast... That's what they'll call him."
Her voice cracked as she cried harder, her sobs echoing through the inferno.
"But I know him... I know he's not that. I know his heart. I know his pain..."
The barrier pulsed weakly, flickering like a dying ember.
"Don't... please... don't let this be the end..."
In that moment, she didn't pray to gods.
She didn't call for fate.
She whispered only one wordâover and over, a trembling repetition of words:
"Safari... Safari... Safari..."
Her light wavered. Her limbs fell limp.