The New God's Of Avaricia

Chapter FOUR: "The Big Sister, Lilly."

With a packed bag, and his house ablaze in the background Arteus treks the snow once more.

Every step heavy.

Every step directionless.

There is no calm in his body, Bothered...

Arteus is bothered by the scenes that had just passed.

But not the ones of his mother... not yet.

Arteus' mind is preoccupied with the beast.

Solemn and inconsolable, the boy wept in his heart as he packed up things around his house.

Trying to reorganize everything best he could before something peculiar caught his eye.

The beast... the once black beast that was menacing and tore his house apart had changed.

It coloured now in its natural white, its eyes returned to their light blue.

What did this mean?

Why had it happened after the beast was felled?

Did it have anything to do with the unorthodox nature in which it acted almost... human?

The bothered boy had no rest from his troubles.

He still hadn't an idea what could have caused the devastation at Barley.

So, as he trekked the treacherous cold, it struck him as odd that his rational mind would be brought out of its trance by this.

A melt flower.

In the snow... melting the ice around it.

Crouching beside it and picking it up with gloved hands Arteus would realize that these were the flowers he picked.

And as he looked forward his suspicions were proven true.

A trail. That followed this flower in a more or less straight line, littered with steaming holes like potholes in the snow.

Had his bag been cut up from the fall?

"...Heh."

He scoffed, putting the flower back on the snow.

He had forgotten he was on a job today; he had forgotten that just this morning he had seen his mother's eyes full of life.

One quick look to the sky later and Arteus realized he couldn't tell the time.

Hannah probably knew the time, he thought...

Damnit.

Now everything was reminding him of her.

The peculiarity of the trees in this side of Barley... That his mother had always said his father was allergic to.

The unevenness of the sidewalk to his home... That his mother picked him up from countless times when he had fallen.

The scent of lemony lavender that was carried by the wind... One of the key reasons he remembers his mother say she chose their home based on....

Damnit.

"Dammit!!!"

"She's really gone... MOM!"

The boy, weak in the knees, fell to the ground as the tears began to rush forth.

"Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT!!!"

He sobbed as his chest tightened more and more with every little shudder of his body.

"WHY!!.."

"..WHY??

"...WHY MOM?!?!..."

He sobbed.