I have grossly underestimated the depravity of the Enforcers, or perhaps the Reds as a whole in the kingdom. It must have started with the royalty itself.

This is much worse than RedDwarf. I could attribute the carnage and destruction he curated to one man’s insanity. Even if it may have been brought on by the Demon.

To take a step back, the “turning ritual” I overheard was an event to force the king’s eldest son to bind to the Red. He was still Unbound and, as he was growing older, the king wanted no risk that he turn to the White instead.

The Enforcers collected the son after the Red had set, presumably as a carryover from when a setting sun actually welcomed the darkness. I would have assumed five hundred years would have changed common sense, but traditions carry on.

We trekked out to the middle of the tundra, near a small town, with the child carried in a wagon. He slept most of the way, once the stress of being taken away had died down. Some of the Enforcers woke him and force him from the wagon. Presumably they were more or less his honor guard, as they participated little in the ensuing chaos.

Once given the sign the child was ready, a group of Enforcers used their various aspects to light the outer sections of the town on fire. Everything was quiet at first, the silence only broken by the occasional snicker from the watching Enforcers – other newly trained recruits. Within a few minutes, the first screams came, bursting the damn that had been building. Those that weren’t directly attached to the child went wild.

And Alys.

Alys watched the carnage with an unchanging expression. I might assume it was apathy, but I felt something stirring beneath her calm façade. She cared… about something.

The child was brought closer to the burning town, and forced to watch – and likely participate – in murdering the Whites that called the area home. I would like to say that I heard his panicked, fearful screams over everything else, but I know that’s just a lie I tell myself. I want to believe that there was some humanity left.

I’m thankful that I was aide to Alys, as she kept her distance from the massacre. But it does mean that I was not able to see the specifics of what happened to the child. As the town turned to ash, and a few small groups fled – chased by Enforcers – Alys moved toward the center of the rubble.

The child was there, surrounded by his honor guard, in the fetal position. The characteristic brown tint of the Unbound had faded, and was getting lighter. Shortly, he would be fully White.

The leader of the Enforcer group reported that the child had not willingly participated in the assault and seemed horrified at the death surrounding him. He attempted to flee, and when he finally managed to escape his captors, he began to bind. Some of the Enforcers attempt to stun him out of it, but they knew that it was too late.

Alys stoically turned to the child. I felt a stirring of some feeling deep within her, different from before, as she pulled his eyes to her own. And as his face softened with what I can only assume was a flicker of hope, he burst into flame.

The Enforcers didn’t make a move for a few moments, seemingly just as stunned as I was. That cost them two of their number as they likewise burst into flame. Another three quickly took their weapons and trained them on Alys, shouting at her to explain herself. Her face shifted into the first expression I’d seen her make, aside from a flat stare. A smile overtook her as the three that remained burst into flame as they charged.

The last two members of the contingent did not stay as their comrades took up arms. They fled into the wilderness. Perhaps things may have been different if they had decided to run toward one of the other groups, but perhaps not. I do not know how many people were aware of this contingency, or whether it was Alys’s responsibility alone. Or whether it was her own choice, unrelated to her position as First Fist.

Alys turned to me and motioned to the charred corpses. She told me to take care of them before turning to the fleeing Enforcers and following.