The Ethermal Chronicles-Chapter 6: Where Are You Alex

Shock and fear were written all over Chloe's face. Blood was everywhere—broken chairs, a bloodstained bed, and a bloodstained, broken baby cradle.

Her heart began pounding with fear of what might have happened to her child.

Chloe left the doorway and made her way to the baby cot, hoping somehow to see her healthy baby still sleeping.

When Chloe looked into the baby cot, all she saw was blood—no sight of her baby.

Various thoughts went through her mind, each worse than the last, until the thought of her child being dead kept appearing in her mind.

She went on her knees and began to cry.

Inferno, not too far away, noticed Chloe. He toned down the temperature of his flame, walked up to Chloe, and pulled her up, trying to comfort her.

"He might have been saved. Let's hope for the best," said Inferno.

Chloe wiped her tears, a glimmer of hope now in her tear-filled eyes.

"Where do you think he could be? Should we search the whole house?" Chloe began to barrage Inferno with questions.

"Hold up. Where do we start?" asked Inferno.

"I don't know. Anywhere is fine," said Chloe.

Chloe left the room and began to make her way to the next room.

Upon entering, she saw no signs of battle.

Inferno, right behind, said, "Guess not here."

So they kept going through each room until they reached the last room in the hallway.

"I guess they're not in any of the rooms here," said Inferno.

"Does that mean he's dead?" asked Chloe.

"Isn't it too early to say that? There are still places we could search," said Inferno.

Chloe, having only Alex on her mind, forgot the other places in the estate she could check.

They then left the last room and made their way to the other wing of the estate, where the elders and all combat-ready individuals stayed.

"I hope he's somewhere here," said Chloe.

"Don't worry. He would be," said Inferno, trying to assure her.

They made their way towards the other wing. Along the way, they came across nobody—everywhere was silent.

"I have a bad feeling about this," thought Inferno, feeling uneasy.

"Why haven't we come across anyone since?" said Inferno to Chloe.

"We can figure that out once I have found my baby. I have no intentions for anything else," said Chloe.

Inferno raised his guard as the intensity of the feeling kept building up.

They then came across a room, and Chloe rushed towards it.

When Chloe was about to open the door, she felt a presence and paused.

"Someone is here," she turned towards Inferno and said.

"Yeah, I can feel their presence. And they are not weak—they are not trying to hide," said Inferno.

"How strong would you say the person is?" asked Chloe.

Inferno faced the door and tried to gauge the person's strength.

"As strong as your husband," replied Inferno.

"How many are there?" asked Chloe.

"I can only sense one, but it might be a trap," said Inferno.

"Get ready, Inferno. My baby might be there," said Chloe.

Bang! The door was forcefully pushed open.

In a seat stood a man with horns, seated in the center with corpses of different family members around him.

When Chloe saw the man, she saw a bloody, half-eaten baby arm in his hands.

Like a shock, she paused. All her body movements ceased.

"My son!" said Chloe, trying to process what she was seeing.

Chloe sprinted toward the man but was stopped by Inferno.

"I don't think that's a good idea," said Inferno.

"He has my baby! What are you talking about? He has to pay!" said Chloe.

"Well, he is a demon who is at the Lord realm. I wonder how you're going to make him pay," said Inferno.

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"Well, I have you, and you're at the Lord realm," said Chloe.

"Ah, could you calm down and think?" sighed Inferno.

"What's there to think? Just go over and beat him up!" said Chloe in urgency.

"Well, if I go over to fight, I won't be able to protect you," said Inferno.

"I don't need your protection! If you were not here, I would have ripped him to pieces," said Chloe.

"Well, let's monitor the situation first," said Inferno.

The man raised his head and looked at the two new visitors.

A hint of recognition flashed in his eyes, and he smirked.

"Welcome to the feast," said the man, surrounded by corpses.

"This baby arm is especially delicious," said the man while looking at Chloe.

He then tossed the arm to Chloe, which fell at her feet.

"Well, you came late. You could have met your son in complete form," said the man, grinning.

Chloe ignored the stranger's rambling and bent down to pick up her son's arm.

She began to cry while looking at the arm.

Inferno, beside Chloe, watched all this play out and felt sad about his master's dead son.

"Such a bad day to come out," sighed Inferno.

"Well, we would be on our way, kind sir," said Inferno, trying to avoid a fight and protect Chloe.

The man looked at Inferno like a fool.

"I have not seen a feast where the guests don't eat," said the demon, smirking while eyeing Chloe.

"Well, we ate not too long ago. Thanks for the generosity," said Inferno, eager to escape with Chloe.

The man just smiled and looked at both Chloe and Inferno.

Inferno, noticing the man's subtle change in demeanor, shouted, "Chloe, I don't think now is the time to be crying!"

But Chloe was stuck in her own world.

Inferno, trying not to take his eyes off the man, moved closer to Chloe, shook her, and yelled, "Snap out of it, Chloe!"

When Inferno decided to take a quick second to look at Chloe, that's when he felt it.

"Danger."

The man, noticing Inferno's subtle shift of attention from him to Chloe, made his move and approached Inferno because he was the bigger threat.

Inferno, though on guard, was a bit too late to respond when a punch came moving fast toward his face.

Boom! A shockwave was generated, and Inferno was thrown out of the room.

The shockwave also pushed Chloe out of the room and a couple of steps back, leaving the baby arm where she was previously.

Chloe, upon losing the baby arm, regained some clarity.

"Where is my baby?" she began to search.

Inferno, not too far, was getting himself out of the wall.

Then he heard the man speak.

Holding the arm Chloe was looking for, he said, "Here it is. Come and get it."

Chloe stopped searching, faced the man's direction, and began to walk toward him.

Inferno saw all this, began to get anxious, and started pulling himself out of the wall.

Chloe, only thinking about the baby arm, was very close to the man.

The man began to smile, all his saw-like, razor-sharp teeth on display.

When Chloe got to the man and stretched out her hand to collect the baby arm, the man was overjoyed that he would at least get to kill a high-ranking member of the family.

"I wonder how much stronger and higher I would rank when I get back to the demon world," thought the man.

The man opened his mouth wide, ready to take a bite out of Chloe, when he suddenly noticed the increase in temperature.

The next thing he saw was fiery red heading for his face.

It was too late to close his mouth, so he took the hit full-on, making the man fly back into the room and into the mess of corpses.

"Chloe, are you okay?" asked Inferno.

"I'm fine," said Chloe, regaining some clarity.

Inferno shook Chloe to make her regain some level of sanity.

"You need to snap out of it! Now's not the time to be crying or mourning your lost son—you might die too," said Inferno.

"Die?" Chloe laughed and said, "What's the point of living if my baby was killed?" said Chloe in distress.

"You dying won't change anything. At least fight to give the remaining part of your baby a proper burial," said Inferno.

"Just try to live, Chloe. I beg you. Aron would be devastated, losing both his son and his wife," said Inferno.

The man with horns stood up and dusted the pieces of corpses off him.

"Ouch, that hurts!" exclaimed the man.

"I think I lost a couple of teeth," he muttered.

He looked at Inferno, who was outside, comforting Chloe.

I guess I'll have to get rid of you first, thought the man.

The man moved towards Inferno, but this time Inferno was ready and blocked the punch.

"Can't you just let us go? We don't necessarily have to fight," said Inferno.

"Oh, we do. You don't know the bounty on high-ranking members' heads like hers," said the man.

"I could finally get the title of a demon lord," said the man, lost in bliss for a moment.