The Kind of Evil

"Day by day we walk on..." Aristoria hummed a melody as she stared at the campfire. "Our feet pressing on the same ground as our ancestors and the ancestors before us. The same ground we are walking on..." She sang and fed the fire with branches.

"Oh, little ones. Don't tell the mother we love her yet..." Aristoria continued to sing and watched the fire devour the branches. "We will sleep in her soon enough, but for now we will keep on walking..." She hummed the harmonic and glanced at Erglade who slowly fluttered his eyes open.

Erglade blinked his eyes a few times while his focus was on Aristoria. He had just realized that he hadn't asked about her name, not knowing who she was, and why she had saved him. However, the song that she sung earlier, it rejuvinated his soul as if it was being touched that he never knew it was possible. He was enchanted by her voice, her beauty, and her mind, a perfect combination in a woman he would like to meet.

"You should be able to sit now since your body has recovered, mostly," Aristoria said as she pointed at the meat that was being grilled with the stick in her hand. "Eat it while it's still hot," she suggested and continued to hum the melody.

Erglade slowly sat up and his body was no longer in pain, but his body was still numb. He reached for the meat, not realizing he had burned his hand since he couldn't feel it. Aristoria didn't stop him and sat there on the log, watching him without saying a word or showing any expression.

"That song that you sang..." Erglade looked at his hand and saw the burn on his palm. He couldn't feel the pain at all, and he wasn't bothered by it. "That song is beautiful. Is that the song that of Orthias?" He asked as he took a bite of the meat, not knowing what kind of meat it was or if he cared enough to ask as long as he could eat it and it tasted good enough.

"No, it was from the previous civilization, before humans," Aristoria answered, resting her elbows on her knees and resting her chin on her palms.

"You mentioned that before, about previous civilizations, before humans. What were they like?" Erglade asked, looking up at Aristoria.

"I can't tell you that," Aristoria shook her head, cupping her cheek with her palm. "That's the rule that we Orthias have to follow, and nothing can change that. We used to tell about the previous civilizations to the civilization before them, and what happened was a complete chaos," she explained, staring into Erglade's eyes.

Erglade didn't expect a simple information like that would bring chaos to the whole civilization. He wondered if it was a forbidden knowledge, and why it could affect a civilization that deeply.

"Why did you help me?" Erglade asked, finding it weird that an Orthias helped a human even after humans hunted and killed a lot of them.

"Because you might have something that we Orthias need. Your knowledge about the current situation of this current civilization. We Orthias has been hiding for centuries, and we don't know much about what has been happening in this world, and how far humans have destroyed and ruined this world," Aristoria answered, reaching her hand to the fire and the fire seemed to avoid her hand.

Erglade furrowed his brows, sensing that the woman in front of him had an ulterior motive. He didn't know much about Orthias, but he knew well enough when strangers who were indulging themselves in conversation might have an ulterior motive. After he heard that Aristoria wanted something from him, his knowledge of the current human civilization, he thought if he could dig even deeper.

"I don't know your name, Lady. May I ask for your name?" Erglade asked as he chewed the juicy meat slowly.

"I don't have a name. Aristoria is what my people call me, the highest and the strongest breed in Orthias race. However, I would prefer if you called me Aris instead of Aristoria because Aristoria isn't a name but rather my whole existence," Aristoria introduced herself as she sat straight and rested her hands on her thighs.

"If I may ask, how old are you, Lady Aris?" Erglade asked, his throat becoming dry the moment he asked such a question of her.

Aristoria tilted her head, her blue eyes stared right into Erglade's with such intensity that he felt every hair on his body rise. He didn't know why, but he felt like his instinct told him to run or to apologize, nothing in between.

"If I told you my age, wouldn't that information be enough for you to calculate how old the previous civilizations were and before them? Would you really want to know how short or long a single civilization last in this world?" Aristoria asked with her brows raised.

Erglade never thought that far, and the moment he thought about it, he felt another chill down his spine. He slowly shook his head, realizing that he might not want to know since her existence could be used as a measurement, a calendar of the rise and fall of civilizations. The moment he saw her smile at him, it looked like she was praising him for his restraint and not being stupid.

"Thank you for saving my life, Lady Aris. I owe you my life, and I'll give you everything you need," Erglade said as he lowered his head. He remembered what Aristoria had said to him before, about his lifespan, about the time he had left was short, and perhaps shorter than he could guess.

"Good, because I want you to bring me back to your home," Aristoria answered without hesitation.

Erglade blinked his eyes a few times before he could understand what she was saying.

"You want me to bring you back to my home? You want to enter the human civilization?" Erglade asked with his brows furrowed. "Can I ask why? Aren't you afraid that humans might hunt you down?" He added.

"Current humans are so weak compared to centuries ago," Aristoria answered with confidence. "No humans in this world that can kill me, not in my current state," she smiled as she crossed her legs and rested her chin on her palm.

"To answer your question, maybe because we want the same thing, Erglade of Blackheart. You want bloodbath, I also want to make humankind bleed. You want to seek revenge, I want to prevent the danger that will come to this world. That's all I can say to you, Erglade of Blackheart," Aristoria explained, staring blankly at the firepit. "I want to learn about this thing you call demons, and I believe it's connected to the danger that will befall to this world that might bring this whole world into extinction," she muttered and her brows raised, her gaze distant when she kept staring at the fire.

Erglade listened to Aristoria's explanation, and it was a perfect opportunity for him to have her on his side. He knew that he wouldn't be able to seek revenge against those people, especially people like Antonius. He then remembered Antonius's family name, Zevrathi, a family name that he had never heard before.

"Lady Aris, do you know anything about the Zevrathi family?" Erglade asked.

Aristoria's expression was unchanged when Erglade spoke Zevrathi's name, however her eyes said otherwise. She seemed to be hiding something in those bright blue eyes.

"Zevrathi was the one who instigated and the one who led humans in hunting Orthias. They were the ones who held power to overpower us Orthias with their power called divine power, the power that their God given to them," Aristoria answered as she tapped her fingers on her knee. "They were the first Saint, they were capable of bringing back the dead, giving them power every time they brought those humans back to life. What you saw back there, the walking corpses? They were similar to that, but more powerful, and they weren't walking corpses," she explained.

Erglade was both shocked and confused by the revelation.

"Wait, they were the first Saint? If they were Saint and used Divine power, how did Antonius used demonic energy?" Erglade asked with his brows furrowed.

"The Zevrathi family once ruled over the whole of mankind, and they reigned over them for decades. However, there was an incident where a certain people found out that they could gain the power of the Saints if they killed them, inheriting the power that belonged to the Saints. That was when humankind revealed their true color, schemeing and plotting against the Zevrathi family, hunting them down for their power," Aristoria said as she stood up and looked up at the morning sky. "Long story short, they disappeared without a trace, causing chaos and bloodbath everywhere here, and beyond the Blackcliffs," she continued.

It was too much for Erglade's brain to process, and there were too many questions that he wanted to ask. Before he could open his mouth, Aristoria suddenly offered her hand to him, and he looked at it for a moment with a confused look.

"You can ask me everything you want to know, but for now, let's leave. Take me to your home, Erglade of Blackheart," Aristoria said and put out the flame on the firepit with a mere thought.

Erglade held Aristoria's hand, and immediately she pulled him up before he was ready. He was about to collapse again, but Aristoria held his chest and kept him steady.

"You humans are all so fragile," Aristoria smiled at Erglade.

"Yes, I believe we are fragile in your eyes," Erglade said with a smile on his face. "And yes, let's go back to my place. It might take a while," he warned as he stared into Aristoria's eyes.

"That's fine. I don't mind checking every human village and town on our way to your home. I heard humans food are the best, so I want to try them as well," Aristoria chuckled with a huge smile on her face.