Lucifer was running, his lungs burning, his wound in the side pulsing with every stride. The blood was already soaking the fabric he had tightened around his waist, and the pain was a blade he drove deeper with each step.
But it was not the physical pain that made him stumble.
It was the scream of his mother. He had heard it. That heart-wrenching scream that had pierced the night, followed by the laughter of the Sidest. And then the silence.
Lucifer stopped dead, his hands pressed against a tree trunk. His breathing was ragged, and his tears flowed without him being able to control them.
" What am I doing ? " he murmured, his voice broken. " What am I doing, mother ? "
He closed his eyes. He saw her face. He heard her caress his cheek. " You are my light-bearer. "
But a light-bearer did not let his mother be slaughtered by rabid dogs.
" I cannot ", he said, his fists clenching on the wood of the sword. " I cannot leave her. I cannot. "
