Meredith had never in her life felt such raw physical power coursing through her veins. Her heightened senses were sharper than ever, and she felt very nimble and agile. It was almost as if her body was weightless.
The pain that had been gripping her for the last few days was gone, and she felt almost euphoric as she sensed the touch of cold air on her skin.
"Mama..."
It was the voice of her child that snapped her out of her trance, and her head instantly, but too smoothly, shifted in her direction.
She could even see the pores on her child's skin as she stared at her, and then she was hooked by her eye patterns. It was almost as if she were examining them from up close and with a magnifying glass. Her pupils instantly dilated, nearly turning her sapphire eyes black.
Freya lunged at her mother as soon as she saw the familiar motherly warmth but regretted it slightly when Meredith wrapped her in a vice-like embrace.
Amon frowned when he saw his Honoured Sister inhale Freya's scent, and he instinctively placed his hand on her head and gently caressed it. He knew what she was about to do almost as if he could read her mind.
Meredith's body quivered at his touch, and he frowned even more when she raised her head and he saw her enchanting crimson eyes, which bore his clear reflection.
"Control yourself," he softly said. Yet his words thundered in her head, like a warning.
As the clarity returned, so did her sapphire eyes, which were the same as his. Her arms loosened around her child, allowing Freya to breathe.
"Mama..."
"Mer, where are they?" Amon didn't want to ask, but he had to. And seeing how both of them froze at his question, he knew that his brother and little nephew were no longer in this world. "Where?"
"The study," the Princess blankly answered, and Amon pulled Freya away from her arms, making it seem natural.
"Let's go. We cannot stay here for long. The Manor is safer."
At his words, Meredith shot up to her feet and stared at the door, where an unfamiliar person was standing.
"That's Remus."
"Oh..." She furrowed her brow as the butler bowed to her and then excused himself, closing the door behind him.
"Get changed."
Meredith curiously looked at him, then at her clothes, before her face contorted in disgust.
Freya was baffled as she watched her mother move almost like a blur and disappear inside the dressing room.
Only ten minutes later, she returned, wearing fitted cream pants, dark brown knee-high shoes, a grey muffler, brown leather gloves, and a brown coat.
Even her golden brown hair was styled, and she seemed to have freshly bathed.
For some reason, her mother looked even younger, almost like she was in her early twenties again.
"Fey, come, wash up and get changed."
She instinctively stepped forward and curiously looked at her Uncle, who did not let go of her hand but walked into the dressing room with her and her mother.
Amon waited until she picked up her clothes and set them on the bench, then moved and opened the top shelves, taking out three duffle bags.
"Mer, let's pack up the stuff that's important."
Her mother simply got to work with him, again with unnaturally smooth speed, and Freya entered the bath in a trance.
She returned twenty minutes later, and four duffle bags were all filled up. Thankfully, only her mother was waiting there.
Meredith helped her dry off and then helped her dress, but she never once met her eyes.
Freya noticed the abnormality and touched her cheek whilst she was helping her put on her shoes. She flinched when her mother blurred and she found her standing with the bags in her hands.
"Let's go, Fey. We will talk about it later," she softly said, and hearing these words from her mother eased her worries a lot.
Amon was waiting in the bedroom, carrying four more duffle bags. When Freya smiled, he sighed, prompting her to let out a giggle.
"Let's go," he said to them, and the door opened on its own.
Remus walked in and accepted the bags from their hands, effortlessly carrying all eight of them.
They followed Amon through corridors filled with a rotting smell, and she was very happy that her uncle was creating Psionic Steps for them so they could avoid stepping on the dried blood and remains of the monstrous creatures.
She hadn't eaten anything in three days, but she still felt like she would throw up. She wanted to hold her mother's hand, but recalling her earlier reaction, she held back.
There was a sudden rustle, followed by the marching and hammering of steps, and she heard the hungry roars of the monsters.
"Don't worry," Amon told her to relax when they saw dozens of hideous creatures charging at them from down the corridor where the study was located. But it was not easy to just relax in this situation.
Her heart started racing in anxiety, but the next moment she saw red Psionic Arrows shoot out of Amon's body and impale the monsters, pinning them to the walls or the floor.
She heard the sound of Red Rain leaving its scabbard and watched her uncle blur from his place and appear at the far end of the corridor.
Her throat tightened as she saw blood spurt out of the monsters' throats and fly toward Red Rain, which seemed to be devouring it.
It only took a couple of minutes before the corpses of the monsters dried up, and Amon dispersed the arrows.
Remus stepped forward then, and both she and her mother followed him.
By the time they came to stand in front of the study, her eyes were brimming with tears, but she wanted to go in as well.
"Stay here," Amon gently told them as he opened the door and walked in, closing it behind him. A while later, he returned, carrying two bodies in red Psionic Coffins.
Freya listlessly stared at them all the way into the crypts beneath the castle.
It was too dark for her to see there, as they did not switch on the lights, but she saw her little brother's face when her uncle rested him inside a wooden coffin.
Freya didn't want to cry, but warm tears constantly poured down her cheeks. She didn't even know when or how they arrived at the gate of the fort.
Amon carefully mounted the coffins on the roof rack of the SUV and tied them in place with the straps.
Strangely, there were no monsters outside, and even as they got into the car and set off, they did not come across a single one.
Freya sobbed uncontrollably when she sensed the safety, and even Meredith bit her lip and failed to hold back her tears.
Hours later, when they got off the expressway and took the road to the manor, Freya's tears had dried up.
The monsters attacked from all sides, but none managed to even scathe the car as Amon kept blasting them away.
Eventually, the creatures gave up the chase. After they entered the estate, the young lord got out and closed the tall gate that usually took ten people to move.
Instead of heading to the manor, Amon asked Remus to take them to the cemetery. As much as Freya wanted to ask to stay with her father and brother for a while, she kept quiet.
She watched him dig two graves with a Psionic Shovel, almost in a daze, and cried some more when she saw the names on the nearby headstones.
All of her cousins were buried there. Her grandparents. Her granduncle. Her grandaunt.
She tensed when she saw two people approaching them but relaxed once she recognised who they were.
Sylvia was only a couple of years older than her, and she could be considered a friend.
She finally had someone to hug, and the girl didn't refuse her but cried as well, happy to see her alive and sad to see her in such pain.
Amon and Meredith lowered the coffins into the graves with their hands, and the Princess stood and stared at her child's coffin for a while before her Honoured Brother pulled her away.
Her body trembled as she watched him fill the graves, and Felix, who had quickly prepared the headstones, helped them set them in the ground.
They stood there in silence, paying their respects to the deceased. But when the ceremony was disturbed by hideous creatures emerging from the woods, the rage in Meredith's heart could not be contained.
She rushed at them like a smoky blur and unleashed Psionic Explosions with her hands as she smashed their heads, killing them so brutally that Freya couldn't even bear to watch.
Felix, on the other hand, was shocked to the core at the speed the Princess had just displayed. It wasn't natural. She was even faster than the fastest monster he had seen in the last two weeks.
His daughter, however, only stared at Meredith's back with her eyes vacant.
She had witnessed something even more outrageous on the day the world had come to an end, and she subconsciously glanced at Amon, who was staring at the cloudy sky, frowning.
"Mer, let's go inside. It's going to rain."
He called out to his Honoured Sister, who was waiting for more monsters to appear from the woods.
She stood there for a few moments but then rushed to his side, wearing a blank expression.
They all climbed into the car with only Amon staying back, but by the time they reached the door of the underground garage, he was already standing there.
His brows furrowed when he saw the rain start pouring. But it wasn't water.
It was strange glowing droplets of purple energy, which exploded into silent fireworks as they touched the surface.
A few droplets fell on him, and the soothing sensation that spread across his body made him very curious.
In the distance, he sensed the monsters beginning to calm under the rain, though some screamed in agony.
He didn't stay out long and entered the garage before the door closed.
He decided he would go out and check on those monsters once the rain stopped.
Unbeknownst to him, the rain wouldn't stop for a long time. A very long time.