In the Past

  In the Last Ten Years

  Through Viat?'s Own Eyes

  The focus turns to the chaos in the hometown of young Viat?, where, at ten years old, she was running alongside her injured parents.

  While the entire city was caught in a terrifying chaos, with numerous deaths occurring around her, screams and cries for help echoed in every direction.

  That city, once so peaceful and untouched by battle for nearly 500 years since its founding, had now fallen into ruin.

  Viat?, her father, and many others were forced—like the majority of the population—to flee from the city, especially away from its center.

  As she ran, tightly gripping her father's hand, she witnessed again and again many other families around her.

  Amid the chaos, these families were being rescued by the forces of the Raginae faction, whose main goal was to save the population from the surrounding devastation. But as they did so—

  They indirectly instilled even more panic and despair, as their presence evoked greater fear among those not chosen to be saved from among the many families.

  Viat?'s family was one of those who could only watch as others beside them were rescued, while they themselves were left behind—even though her parents had severe leg injuries.

  They walked with difficulty beside her, desperately trying to flee the city, more concerned for their daughter's safety than their own.

  Because of the Raginae forces' negligence, a chain of events was set in motion—one that the young Viat?, at only ten years of age,

  Would come to experience with her own eyes. A trauma that would take years to heal, and even then, only partially.

  It began when, following her parents' orders, she was sent down an alleyway instead of continuing through the main road, where the masses of people were chaotically running.

  After this instruction, the breathless young Viat? let go of her father's hand and ran toward the alley.

  Her parents knew that it would offer a shorter path to the city's exit, which was still many kilometers away.

  But this alley would provide a swifter route by avoiding the crowded streets and avenues, filled with panicked families running in all directions.

  Meanwhile, the Raginae forces battled with the blades formed from their vital essences, combining these with their Oculi abilities for combat.

  They fought against those responsible for unleashing so much destruction upon that once-beautiful city, now increasingly consumed by flames—

  And by the corpses of innocent families crushed beneath the ruins of homes and businesses, all while desperately seeking refuge or evacuation from the city.

  At the very moment when young Viat? entered the alley, gasping for breath, she realized that only a few people had chosen the same path.

  She turned back toward the entrance of the alley to look for her parents, hoping to encourage them to move faster, unaware that their legs had been injured.

  They continued to walk, even attempted to run, though both limped among the masses fleeing through the streets filled with debris and pockets of fire.

  But little did she know that as she turned to look behind her, in the direction of her parents, she would witness a horrifying scene— One of the many massive concrete towers—

  Amidst the chaos of battle engulfing the entire city, a tower ended up being struck by an attack and came crashing down upon the street where she had been just moments before.

  And where her family was just about to reach the entrance of the alleyway, where young Viat? stood at that moment, eyes wide in shock.

  In less than five seconds, she saw her parents looking at her, smiling breathlessly—trying to convey, in that fleeting glance, that everything would be all right.

  They were nearly at the entrance of the alleyway, unaware that the tower was collapsing upon them—and upon many other families and people around them.

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  All of whom were crushed entirely in less than five seconds, before the horrified eyes of young Viat?.

  And in the moment of their crushing, she instinctively stretched out her arm and hand toward her parents—while simultaneously, a shockwave sent her body flying backward.

  Pushing her deeper into the alleyway, further away from the entrance, until she lost consciousness after hitting her head on the ground, spinning a few times as she fell.

  Meanwhile, a thick cloud of dust and smoke spread across the street now buried in the tower's rubble, carrying debris and ash into the narrow alley.

  After this event, a time skip of two years unfolds—through the still-innocent, youthful eyes of Viat?, who had managed to escape her now-destroyed hometown.

  She wandered for countless kilometers among the ruins of what once had been her home, until she finally ended up living in a cave nestled deep within a vast and dense forest.

  A forest teeming with danger, due to its savage animals, located almost fifty kilometers away from her birthplace—now utterly ruined and abandoned.

  The young Viat?, now twelve years old, had been forced to live in a dark and filthy cave, which she had come to call her new—and only—home.

  It offered her protection from the rain that often poured relentlessly upon the forest, but it gave her no comfort when the bright flashes of lightning cut across the sky outside.

  She had always feared lightning since childhood, but now there were no parents to soothe her, no warm embrace to cradle her until sleep came.

  Now, in the present, all she had were her own legs to hug tightly in those moments—crying silently, pleading for help in whispers swallowed by the shadows.

  The cold grew fiercer with each passing week, as storms became more frequent and terrifying through the frightened perspective of twelve-year-old Viat?.

  And it was on the night of the most terrifying storm she had ever lived through that her life would be changed forever—when she met the boy named Lucian.

  He was also twelve years old, yet he wore black clothes with a cleaner appearance—beneath them, what appeared to be a simple yet sturdy combat suit.

  Over his clothing, he wore a long cloak that reached down to his legs—intended to shield him from the rain.

  He had entered the cave seeking shelter from the storm, but what he found was young Viat? in a moment of pure despair and anguish.

  And he recognized her instantly—from the physical features of her face, from the breathtaking beauty in her expression, even in her suffering.

  The young Lucian understood that she, too, had once been a resident and survivor of the same hometown where he had been born—and had become one of its hundreds of victims.

  Victims who, like him, had ended up losing those they loved the most. In Lucian's case, he had seen his parents and younger sister trampled to death amid the chaos and despair of everyone around them.

  That day, now remembered two years later as the "Twelve-Day War," marked a brutal conflict in which the Reginae faction had fought bravely against the assaults of the Inanis faction across the entire city.

  This war inevitably led to the fall of the city of Luskrusca—once the second-largest city in the Oculi world, surpassed only by the grand Oculi capital in size and stature.

  And so, within the cavern, during the first encounter between young Lucian and the frail girl Viat?—whose body showed signs of weakness and anemia—

  From going days without eating properly and surviving only on scraps of raw meat left behind by forest animals, still wearing the same clothes from two years ago—

  From the day her parents had died amid the chaos that preceded the total collapse of Luskrusca. Those same clothes were now tattered and filthy.

  Despite her weakness, the young Viat? lay on the ground and attempted to crawl closer to Lucian, who watched her with profound sorrow—

  And at the same time, with a complete empathy for her pain, whether it be physical or mental. He listened as she tried to cry out with a trembling, tearful, and broken voice—

  Begging him to accept her as his loyal follower. For in her blurred vision, as she gazed at him, she could perceive a light that had once extinguished—

  Back when their hometown fell, two years ago, when she had been only ten years old, the same age as Lucian during that moment of chaos and countless losses.

  This vision, though trembling and feeble, compelled her to stretch out her dirty arm and hand toward Lucian.

  And he, without hesitation, gently took her hand—unbothered by the dirt—and looked deep into her eyes.

  There, upon his lips, seemed to form a genuinely kind and comforting smile, for she had survived until this very moment when he could find her and save her life.

  This gesture caused Viat?'s eyes to widen in astonishment, and through them she saw Lucian embracing her, even while wearing such clean and dark garments.

  The moment struck her so deeply and emotionally that, with a trembling smile forming on her lips, she collapsed—

  Weeping for the first time in two years. She had finally found someone who understood her pain and showed no feeling other than total empathy.

  Even in the midst of such a tragic and painful situation, where so many had lost everyone they loved, their homes, and all who had ever known them, even in the slightest.

  At the mouth of the cave, where flashes of lightning lit the sky outside, revealing the storm that ravaged the entire region—

  One could see the emotional and comforting expression of Viat?, crying as she clung with all the strength she had left to Lucian's body.

  At the same time, he embraced her as well, with tender and genuine care, gazing into the depths of the dark cave.

  And in those brief moments of silence between the flashes of lightning and roars of thunder, a merciless look appeared on Lucian's face—

  Revealing a soul wholly consumed by the desire for justice against everything that both Inanis and Reginae had caused in their shared hometown, Luskrusca.

  Both opposing factions had been directly or indirectly responsible for the searing pain and silence now endured by a girl so beautiful in essence and purity—

  As Viat? revealed herself to be in that moment, crying as her heart ached, her long white hair tangled and dirty like the rest of her body and garments.

  And so, from the mouth of that cave was born the seed of what would become the Duodecim Relicti, a group that would pursue justice against both existing factions.

  A group whose future members would all be survivors of Luskrusca—the same city where the group's founder, Lucian, and his future vice-leader, the very girl Viat?—

  Would come to establish, within the abandoned city's underground, the place where the heart of Duodecim Relicti would one day beat, spreading its "veins" through the rubble— Ten years after the fall of the city.