Ophelia had long warned the villagers of Lust's impending attack and told them all they should do if they hoped to defend.

She'd also told them when and where the attack would come from and had set up some traps of her own in advance. Traps she knew the Demon would walk right into.

She'd also taken the liberty of taking their food out of the storehouses and spreading it around the homes of the village…

The attack would occur in roughly three hours, and the battle would be short but harsh — if it played out how it was foretold.

Currently, she sat in her vacant one-story house where she, Laertes, and her parents once all lived happily together.

Their having only two children was a little odd for an inhabitant of Liora, but their small family meant their connections ran that much deeper…

Though it turned out their happiness and connection were a lie spawned by a brain-eating flower and the nefarious Vice who planted its seed.

A voice spoke from inside her room. It's malevolent whispers carrying easily through the hollow home and seeping into her ears.

"Isn't it a little harsh sending them to their deaths like that?"

It was Mias, the terrifying Demon, whom she'd met only two days ago.

Ophelia had followed Leila's future path diligently and done all of her foretold actions accordingly, and just like Leila had said, this 'boy' had been spying on her.

While Ophelia had been able to sense the boy's broken body around her because of Kindness, she'd never been able to pinpoint him, nor would she have noticed him if she weren't looking for him.

The first time she called upon him, and he appeared in front of her out of nowhere, she was given a proper scare. A scare only intensified by the emptiness of his onyx eyes juxtaposed with his pale skin, making him look like the personification of death…

The boy looked like — 'is' — a walking corpse. If only he looked more 'alive', he wouldn't be so absolutely frightening.

Ophelia, who sat at the kitchen table twirling a withered rose in her hand, looked back toward the open door.

"I walk the path of Kindness."

A plume of ashy smoke appeared in front of her, and the pale boy corporealized, speaking as he studied the wooden walls:

"You've seen the future. You've known their fate. Yet you still say your acts are born of kindness."

Ophelia gave the beautiful, treacherous boy before her a dour look.

Ever since she'd revealed what she might have known to the 'Reaper of Knowledge', the boy had instantly concluded there'd been a diviner aiding her path.

Ophelia never confirmed it, of course, but by now Mias had worked out that truth; he'd added upon his own conclusions, too.

Ophelia looked back at the dead rose in her hand and spoke solemnly

"That insidious power that Sloth sent to claim our minds still stirs deep within… It's ironic, but without repeated nourishment and replenishment of the flower's power, madness will eventually consume their minds. A madness no power can heal. A madness which runs much too deep. A madness only my mind and body can resist."

Ophelia clutched the rose until it bit into her skin and looked back at Mias, who stood before her with a curious look upon his slender face.

After her slight pause, Ophelia continued:

"So, what I present them is kindness, albeit in a different form. I'm presenting them the path to fall while fighting a deplorable enemy. A path where their sins spawned from Sloth's desire may be absolved. A path to die while still retaining echoes of humanity."

Mias laughed in Ophelia's face:

"So, killing is kindness? That's news to me."

Ophelia grimaced at his harsh words.

"It only becomes kindness when death becomes a mercy and living becomes suffering."

Ophelia looked out the open shutter behind the stove top, and continued:

"I… Even if our lives were a lie. Even if they cast me aside once, they were still all friends and family. I can't stand to see them succumb to such a terrible fate as losing what little rationalization they were allowed."

Mias walked over, studying pots and pans, as he said:

"But, I believe you told me you destroyed those flowers… Is that not contradictory? You could have stayed and regulated it. Giving them, maybe not the most unmoored life, but a life they could live out in relative peace without perpetuating the sacrificial tradition… Well, if my master were not a part of the equation."

Ophelia had spent most of the last twenty-four hours talking with Mias about her past. Telling him most everything about herself except her run-in with Diligence.

After all, according to Leila, this man hadn't even been part of Lust's Legion when her brother was killed, and was more of a neutral force.

Not to mention…

It was the first time Ophelia got to talk to someone… normal.

Well, the closest to normal anyone around her had ever gotten.

Plus, the boy, despite who his master was, seemed kind and caring. He actually wanted to hear about her past and problems. He took an actual interest in her feelings.

Sure, he was a bit of an ass who'd been poking and prodding at her mind. But that in and of itself was something that helped Ophelia stay grounded on her path. It reminded her of the thorns she had already stepped upon. The blood which would be left in her wake. As well as the crimson path that lay ahead.

Mias was possibly one of the few who could ever understand her plight; perhaps he was the sole one.

Ophelia weakly smiled as she hastened the decay of the rose, causing the petals to stiffen and crumble.

"That's the other side of kindness… you're right, I could have spent my life here. But, with my power, I have a duty to strike down the Vice. A duty that I must follow, even at the cost of a few. For it is through following my duty that I will save the many."

Mias stopped pacing around and sat across the table from Ophelia, and said:

"What if you end up sacrificing the many to save the few?"

Opehlia stared into the bottomless pit of Mias's eyes again.

Mias continued:

"If in each situation you keep sacrificing the few to save the many, eventually, those who've been sacrificed will become a majority."

Ophelia gave the pale, smoky specter a weak smile.

"Then so be it… Kindness is not good; it is the attempt and will to do good — it is the action, not the result. Whatever happens in the future will be of kindness because I decree and act so. That is the path I walk. That is the kindness I offer."

Mias's eyes narrowed, the black void within seemingly becoming deeper:

"Is that a conceived truth you came up with yourself in an attempt to cope? Or the words of another?"

Ophelia paused.

'That…'

But something within her stirred.

"It is my truth. A truth perhaps born from a lie. But a lie is kindness when the truth is harsh."

Mias leaned forward, resting his elbows on the wooden table.

"Fascinating answer…"

Ophelia weakly laughed at the boy.

"Why do you like that word so much?"

Mias raised his eyebrow as he studied Ophelia's crooked smile.

"What word?"

Ophelia stared blankly.

"You mean… It's not on purpose?"

Mias looked baffled.

"This… this is the most confused I've ever been. Pray tell, what word do I keep saying?"

Ophelia chuckled, the aloof look on the terrifying Reaper's face calming her a little.

"The word you keep saying? Whatever are you talking about? I never said you keep saying the same word."

Mias's curiosity piqued as he dragged himself forward and closer to Ophelia.

"Are you messing with me?"

Opehlia picked up her shoulders lazily, then dropped them, an awkward look on her disheveled face:

"Why would I ever do that?"

Mias's stare intensified. The boy was even prompted to get out of his chair and approached Ophelia, studying every detail of her face with insane intensity.

Even given the circumstances of her life right now, Ophelia couldn't help but blush as, despite how scary he was, he had an ominous beauty about him.

"Ah ha! You did lie. I did say something… but what did I say that I repeat often?"

Ophelia, in an attempt to spare her from the harrowing boy's beauty any longer, dropped her charade.

"Fascinating."

Mias shouted as he reeled back and the lower half of his body dissolved into a dark gray smoke.

"Yes, it is fascinating, truly fascinating! To think that one such as I would do something without realizing it. But seriously, what do I keep saying?"

'He has to be messing with me…'

"Nothing."

"'Nothing'? I don't think I've said that at all to you."

Ophelia sighed:

"Never mind."

Mias grew dazed:

"Hmm, but I haven't said that either."

'Yeah, he's doing it on purpose.'

Opehlia pulled herself out of the wooden chair and stood. When she did, she stood a whole two and a half heads taller than the 'Reaper of Knowledge'.

Mias began stroking his pale cheek as the rest of his form slowly became smoke. He spoke his thoughts aloud.

"I must get to the bottom of this."

Ophelia wryly giggled inside, but only a moment later, the grim reality set in as she heard the footsteps of villagers outside.

'I guess I should be getting ready to greet our guests as well.'

Opehlia healed the withered rose and made it bloom once more. Then, she mutated it so it would never wither, forever beautiful, and left it in the center of the wooden table.

Ophelia walked to the door and looked back into her empty home, Mias having grown invisible.

"Goodbye..."

She stepped out and shut the door behind her.

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