(Date: The Fourth Day of the First Month — Erlinnux)

  Sachi stirred awake as a muffled thud rocked his home. Something was off. Their bedroom was freezing. It was like someone left a window wide open, but as he peered around it was clear the room was sealed. Sachi hopped out of bed and nudged Mira.

  Mira shot up as Sachi jostled his blanket. "Huh!? Wha-"

  Sachi put a finger up to Mira's face, signaling for him to be quiet.

  "Downstairs." Sachi whispered with an unusual intensity. "I heard something."

  Mira looked over to the door as he too began to notice the draft. "Is a window open?" he whispered back loudly.

  Sachi stopped lowering his volume too. "I don't know, Mira. Let's get my father and check it out."

  The brothers crept on their old hardwood floors and slowly opened their door. The threshold to Wilhelm's room, which was across the hall from their own, was still wide open with no sign that he had made it to bed. Sachi felt a knot growing in his stomach, he turned to the staircase and led Mira down ever so slowly.

  Why are the candles still lit? thought Sachi.

  The boys crouched down as best as they could as they crawled down the staircase. The old thing creaked and whined as they made their descent. When they reached the living room, they saw the front door was wide open, and beside it lay Wilhelm.

  Sachi's father was still, the bald Elv's face soaked in a pool of fresh blood. The puddle continued to grow, flowing slowly toward the stairs from a bullet wound between Wilhelm's eyes. Above Sachi's father stood horror in the form of a tattered purple cloak.

  What is this?

  Sachi's heart sank as he saw his caring father lying motionless on the hardwood floor. When he saw the cloaked man from the bridge, he froze in place. "Fa-... Fa-..." He tried to cry out for his father, but the words refused to come. A ball welled up in the young Elv's throat, and tears started to fall from his eyes.

  No... No! This is a dream! A dream!

  Sachi's world spun as he stared at the lake of blood growing ever larger around his father's head.

  The stranger spotted the children spying from the staircase and grimaced cruelly at them. "Well, well, well..." His voice was amused. "You must be his mutts." The man looked down to Wilhelm's body. "I had no idea you had two children... congratulations on such a beautiful family."

  This isn't a dream!

  Sachi grit his teeth, his voice returning suddenly. "Fath-!" A streak of blue lightning beside his head interrupted the call. Mira roared at the cloaked man, charging forward as quickly as he could. Mira's lightning ripped through air as he sailed through it, cutting the room's silence with a deafeningly sharp buzz. Sachi could barely make out his brother in the blur as Mira dove across the room, but the cloaked man saw past all the static.

  The stranger raised a hand, catching Mira by his throat with ease. He cocked his head and spoke mockingly to the blue-haired child as his grasp tightened. "Oooooh! Well, aren't you a speedy little kha." Then, in a swift motion that Sachi couldn't fully keep up with, the Elv sank his knee into Mira's belly. The child gasped for air and glared viciously, clawing at the man holding his neck. The grip was like a vice. The man had forearms bigger than most men's thighs. He was taller than Sachi's father by a good deal too.

  Realizing speech wasn't an option with the hand on his throat, Mira spat in stranger's face. But to the boy's dismay, the Elv merely laughed the defiant gesture off and wiped the saliva off his cheek with the back of his free hand. He smiled and released his grip on Mira. As the child fell, he thrusted his boot into Mira's stomach. To Sachi's uninitiated eyes, this attack looked like nothing more than another blur. All he could really keep up with was the fleeting sight of Mira's blue hair flying across the room, blowing a hole clean through the wall opposite their couch. He whizzed through the cold air weightlessly, slamming into one of the unfallen oak trees to the east. His spine wrapped around the trunk like putty, and he gagged as his back snapped and contorted like a horseshoe around the oak—he was already done. Mira's eyes went white and he slinked to the ground; completely unconscious.

  "Mira!" Sachi screamed. His jaw hung in awe at the empty space in the wall his brother's body had just created. The rage of the night's air encroached into their home again, and the cloaked man sauntered towards the remaining child at the bottom of the staircase; cracking his neck and knuckles from one side to the other in a manner that complemented every menacing step.

  The cruel Elv's voice presented itself to Sachi, a pitch he would never unhear. "He was pretty quick... So, what can you do?"

  Sachi clenched his fists are ran toward the man, desperate to get past him and save his father. The Elv seemed unbothered by the attempt at vengeance, and he effortlessly thumped Sachi over the back of the head midway into the wild charge. Sachi's face hit the hardwood before he knew he'd been touched; no bully had ever hit him that hard before. He looked around, unable to find his breath, only to meet with his father's eyes only a few paces away. They were cold and seemed to have no life left in them, but they were staring right into his own; locked. Sachi was able to smell it now, the metallic grime in his father's blood that had soaked his shirt and neck; he was thankful to have not tasted it when he was dropped to the floor. The red-haired child's lower lip quivered in agony as he did his best to keep his mouth shut. Through the fear, he managed to squeak out a plea from of the corner of his lips. "No... please, no..."

  The large Elv picked up Sachi by the scruff of his neck like a rowdy pup, and eyed him up and down. "Is this really all the strength you can muster, mutt?" Sachi squirmed, his feet dangling just off the ground. Tears poured down his cheeks as a wave of helplessness consumed him. The Elv in purple continued to watch as Sachi collapsed further into despair. "Pity." he mocked. The cloaked man cocked back his arm, ready to send Sachi flying into the night as he had just done to Mira, but the motion halted as a hand fell on the stranger's shoulder.

  The intruder glanced behind him to see who had interrupted his attack, only to be stilled by the emerald stare of Wilhelm Van'Heatah. A brilliant green flash came from the hole in Wilhelm's bald head, and the bullet he was shot with moments prior wormed its way out of him, allowing the full illumination of his Radiance to seal the wound. The bullet dropped to the floor, ringing as it landed on the uneven floorboards.

  "How... dare you..." Wilhelm panted animalistically.

  "Father!" Sachi cried harder. The cloaked man dropped the child and turned his attention back to Wilhelm.

  "You're up!" The grime-stained Elv nearly snickered as he saw the fury in Wilhelm's glare. "Good. I knew that gun wouldn't kill you, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't feel good to shoot a Heathen between the eyes." Wilhelm stared at the intruder coldly. He glanced down at Sachi briefly to make sure his son was okay, then turned his attention right back to the Elv in the purple cloak. "You know, to leave Camelot is the greatest crime a follower of Samael could-"

  Wilhelm cut him off with a steely bark. "You come to my house... and you lay your hands on my boys..." The air bent and swelled within their home as Sachi's father spoke, and the dark green shine of Wilhelm's Light grew to encase his entire being. Sachi looked into his father's eyes for comfort, but they were unfamiliar in every sense of the word; he never dreamed those warm eyes could be so full of hate. Wilhelm growled at the intruder, "I'll have your head for this!"

  The Elv in purple smiled gleefully at the snarls of his prey, and from his body, a similar brightness grew. The Radiance of the stranger's Light had a more sinister, darker hue to it, but it shined just as strongly as Wilhelm's. The Van'Heatah's shabby home trembled from deep in the foundation up to the shingles on the roof. The weight and pressure of the Light these two Elves released into the world was violent enough to rumble everything around Sachi, including his own organs.

  Sachi felt a discomforting sweat down his neck, cold as ice, and found it hard to catch his breath in the presence of the two men. In a blur of brilliant greens, the two Elves dashed at one another with their fists extended, and before Sachi could blink, they had both been sent flying out of the house. The battling Elves bounced off one another, crashed through the roof, and were knocked away in opposite directions. They each created their own door on the way out, too. Wilhelm's body crashed by the woods he had cut down that afternoon, while the Elvish stranger was sent hurtling off to the north.

  Sachi sat on the floor of his crumbling home. He stared up at the two man-shaped holes in his roof, dazed and in a state of disbelief. Sachi was brought back to his world by the sound of a support beam crashing down on the floor behind him. The roof had started to sink in on itself, and slowly the wreckage was dropping into the living room. A thought came to Sachi's head in the chaos, one that felt like a distant memory in his current mental state: the sight of Mira getting booted through a wall. Sachi turned around and rushed out of their home before being buried alive by the falling debris. He stumbled into the cold night and towards Mira's general direction, searching for any way to make it until help arrived in the morning.

  That dark hour was so filled with winter's chill that the grass felt glassy on his bare feet, and every hurried step Sachi took was met with a shatter that screamed endlessly into the silence surrounding the property. His legs were exhausted. He found himself caught in a standing-dream where he had a horse to carry him away from this nightmare, not that he knew how to ride; nor could his family afford one. The daze of terror from the attack was clouding his thoughts, even his perception of rationality. The purple cloaks had landed in the Kingdom of crows, and Smith of Fate had forged another link in its cruel chain.

  What does he want from us?

  Through the darkness and chaos that clouded his thoughts, Sachi was able to make out the distinct hue of Mira's hair on the ground in the distance. He was still out cold when the half-Elv reached his brother, drooling face down in the icy grass. Sachi fell to his knees at Mira's side. "Mira!" Sachi called to his brother, pulling at one of his thin arms. "We gotta-!"

  A shadow crept over Mira's face as Sachi tried to wake him, causing the child's voice to freeze up once more. The mysterious shadow vanished in a black flash, attempting to get behind Sachi and finish the two boys off before they could put up a fight. Attacking from behind was a style of dirty boxing that Sachi was familiar with, for it had been used against him far more times than he cared to admit. He turned over his shoulder to identify the shadow's owner and spotted the tatters of another, less-weathered purple cloak. As Sachi continued to turn his gaze backwards, he could tell that this was not the same person who had attacked his father; but there was no doubt this stranger was Elvish too.

  This must be his accomplice.

  The newest attacker was younger than the first by many years, appearing by first glance to be the apprentice of the home-invader; more of a purple-cloaked boy, really. His face was youthful, and he had chestnut eyes that stared in a way that made Sachi feel like cattle. His skin was in worse shape than that of the older Elv, though it was possible this sickly skin tone was the result of skin abnormalities. His nose was small, yet still pointed upwardly like the larger attacker, and his hair was the same glossy black; the cut was hideously medium in length in all the wrong places; slicked and parted dramatically to one side. On his left ear, the smaller assailant wore the same Qia'Dāv as Sachi.

  The purple-cloaked boy's palm was able to touch the back of Sachi's head before he had time to get back to his feet.

  "It's time to die... worm." The new enemy's voice was nowhere near as commanding, bordering on childish and squeeky, but he spoke the words with a casualness that struck dread into Sachi's core. A dark mist flowed from the top of Sachi's head, blinding his vision with a blackness he feared would never go away. The sensation burned, not just at the point where the attacker made contact with Sachi's skull, but in every cell of his body. Calm words from the purple cloaked boy crept into Sachi's ear. "Give me your life, mutt."

  Sachi roared in pain as the dark mist of almost black-colored Radiance continued to flow out of the top of his head and into his assailant, but he didn't surrender. From the corner of his eye, Sachi was able to make out a sharp branch fragment leftover from his father's lumberjacking escapades earlier that day. It wasn't large, only about seven inches long, but it had a jagged end that Sachi knew to be useful in this moment. He reached out with all his fleeting strength and was able to graze the stick with the tips of his fingers. Sachi scraped at the tool tirelessly to get something, anything, into his hand to fight back. Once he was able to gain traction, rolling the wood up into his palm was an almost too natural process. Once the stick was secured in his grip, Sachi frantically swung his arm back at the leg of his attacker, sinking it deep into the calf of the purple-cloaked boy.

  The Elv winced in pain and released his grip on Sachi's head, giving the half-Elv just enough time to slip away from the life-draining touch of his opponent. Sachi turned and dropped heavily onto his back. He kicked forward with both legs at his assailant as hard as he could in a desperate attempt to stave off another attack. To his relief, both feet landed square in the boy's chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him to the ground.

  "You son of a bitch!" cried out the boy in the cloak. He reached down to his leg and ripped the stick from his bleeding calf. He picked himself off the ground and began to hobble over to Sachi. At first the boy limped, but after a few paces his approach became leisurely as a new shade of green Light began to drip from the wound.

  Damn it! thought Sachi. He can heal too.

  The boy reached into his purple cloak and brought out a sharply angled dagger from his side. "You kick hard, mutt." The dagger's handle was rusted iron, with a worn leather wrap around it. The blade was forged so long ago that the silver gleamed more like copper in the moonlight from too much rust. Over the boy's shoulder, Sachi could see a glow of orange in the distance, and he smelled smoke on the cold air. One of the lit candles in his living room had rolled into the debris of the battle, and while Sachi had been running to find Mira, his home had been engulfed by flames.

  Sachi ignored the blaze and protectively crawled backwards onto his brother's unconscious body. "St- Stay away!" He looked down at Mira with hope quickly fading from his eyes.

  Seeing where Sachi's gaze had landed, the dark-haired boy frowned. "Fine. We can do him first." He brought the dagger high over his head and stabbed down at Mira's head.

  Sachi's body reacted before his mouth could. His hand shot out to protect Mira's face, and the dagger sank clean through his palm.

  Sachi howled in pain. "No!" Frustrated, the psychopath in purple tore the blade from Sachi's hand. He adjusted his grip as he refocused his attention back to Sachi.

  "Get out of my way, mutt." He cocked back his leg and kicked Sachi in the teeth before giving the crimson-haired child a chance to respond. A titanium-toed boot struck Sachi's face, and his head smacked on the ground against his will. Vision blurred again, and his lip split open on impact, but the tenacious half-Elv quickly sat back up to protect Mira. Before Sachi could sit up straight another kick landed in his gut. All the wind in his lungs rushed from his mouth as his body lifted into the air. In that moment Sachi felt lucky to have vomited his dinner out already.

  Sachi collided against the ground again after coasting for a few feet through a chilled breeze that felt comforting in the heat of his desperate battle. He gasped for air, but it just wasn't coming in time. The shadow of the purple-cloaked boy fell over Sachi again as he writhed in the dirt. Sachi felt something cold slip into his stomach. He didn't have the strength to look down, but he knew the dagger was inside him. The weather had made the dagger's blade ice cold, and Sachi felt every inch of that frosty rust in his guts. Suddenly the cold was gone. Sachi tried to gasp for air again, but his relief was short-lived. The cold blade sank back into him, this time in another spot on his right side. It didn't stop. The purple cloaked boy stabbed into Sachi over, and over and over again—until all Sachi felt was cold and a horrid leaking sensation.

  When the cloaked maniac was done, and Sachi lay unmoving, he straightened his back and turned his attention back to Mira; not giving the boy he had just stabbed another glance. Through Sachi's faded vision, he watched as the tattered cloak drifted closer to Mira's bright blue hair. He wanted more than anything to save his brother, but it was too late. The cold had taken him. Sachi was gone.

  As the boy prowled over to Mira's body, a chill willed its way down his spine that made every hair on his body stand at attention. He stopped in his tracks. Something wasn't right. The air around him began to pulse, sizzling with an electrifying Radiance. He arched his neck skyward, and his gaze was overtaken with fear. Dark clouds had gathered above the Van'Heatah property, and the call of holy thunder was about to rumble through the Meadows.

  From the clouds, a streak of blonde static split the night, the bolt touching down between Mira and the purple-cloaked boy. From the lightning, a woman emerged. The stranger had long golden hair held up in a tight ponytail by a blue ribbon—tied into an all-too-perfect bow. Her chest plate was of Gold-grade material, yet had been dyed into a sparkling silver with only a delicate trim of pure gold still visible. The stranger adorned forearm braces of the same fashion, fastened tight by brown leather straps that gripped tight at her ivory skin. Her boots were forged of the same Gold-quality plate, reaching up just abover the woman's knees, sporting the same trim as the rest of the ensemble. From her waist fell an armored kilt that reached just before the knee, each linkage forged and dyed into the shape of a golden feather; a matching capelette of the same metallic feathers hung over her right shoulder. Her eyes glistened like jade in the suddenly bright eve.

  In many ways, the warrior was beautiful: tall with blemish-free skin and conventionally attractive proportions. However, these good looks were undercut by a single imperfection that couldn't be ignored—a set of scars running down the left side of the pale woman's face. They looked more like claw marks than any war injury, five vertical slashes that crept down from brow to jaw. The marks covered the entirety of her left side, eyelid as well, making her look vicious whether staring or sleeping.

  The boy in the purple cloak quivered as he lay eyes upon the warrior. "You! No, no... why would you be here?" He stepped back nervously, every instinct screaming to run from the predator before him. "W-... why is the 'Hero of Corvus' here—in the Green Edge—now of all-?"

  "Drop the knife."

  The voice of the Corvus Kingdom's hero was soft, but stern. There was no bite to her words, but they were cold enough to draw in the Elvish assassin's full attention.

  "Last time I'll say it. Drop the knife... or you die." The woman's unblinking stare pierced through the boy, and he felt the dagger's hilt slide out of his hand.

  The static that filled the air after the woman's entrance still danced about, and a spark awoke Mira. He first saw the warrior's golden hair dancing through the wind and static in an uncontrolled pattern. Sparks of gold jumped from her skin and armor and into a black sky, a sight that mesmerized the blue-haired child like he was waking from one dream into another. She looked strong, much stronger than himself, with a glow to her Radiance that was capable of illuminating a twilight in a way only a few could. Mira's back felt stiff when he attempted to sit up, and panic fell upon his entire being when he realized he couldn't move in the slightest. He was crippled, numb to everything below his neck. His eyes continued to wander as he stirred from forced unconsciousness, knowing this couldn't be a dream. Tears welled up in his eyes as they fell on Sachi's mutilated body, riddled with more stab wounds than he cared to count.

  The woman in silver and gold had not noticed Mira's recovery yet, preoccupied with disarming the boy in the purple cloak. "Good." She said after watching the knife fall, "Now, turn around slowly, and put your hands over your head where I can see-"

  "Sachi!!!" Mira's wail was guttural, forcing the attention of any being with ears to his call's direction instantly.

  The woman turned back to the crying child, letting her gaze slip away from the assailant. It was a rookie mistake. The type of mistake that an inexperienced Private or Officer would make, not a seasoned Captain such as herself; but The Hero of Corvus was not a being without flaw, regardless of what many historical texts may have said of her service record. On this night, she made a grave error, for the screams of children would always pull her attention. Realizing her mistake right away, she shot her gaze back to the cloaked Elv that stood before her, but the assassin had vanished before her neck could snap back around. The only trace of Sachi's attacker was the rusted dagger he dropped out of instinct.

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  The Hero muttered, "Shit." She turned back to Mira, frustrated that she let the boy get away so easily. "I can't chase him with you two out here..." Frustration drowned her stare. "He knew that." She looked young for a Captain, seeming in her late twenties, but her voice's tone carried the experience of a soldier far beyond her face. After shaking off the self-disappointment, the warrior's hardened glare fell on Mira. "You, boy! Can you move?"

  Mira was still bawling his eyes out at the sight of Sachi's corpse. He huffed between every word. "Sachi! No...! Please, no! No... no... no-"

  "Boy! Can you or can you not?" The woman was harsh, uncaring even in her tone, but this situation left no time for tears.

  "I-..." he sniffled, unable to turn his eyes away from the remains of his mangled brother. "No..." He wailed, barely managing to hold back tears. "I... I can't move..." The woman knelt over beside him and placed her hands on his side. From her hands, a familiar green glow radiated onto Mira; it was the same light that Wilhelm had used to heal him on the beach many years ago. It was warm; so warm. Mira felt sensation return to his waist first, then the rest of his legs came back as his spine realigned fully. There was still a sharp pain running through him from head-to-toe, but at least he could move again.

  "That's the best I can do for now," said the woman as she got to her feet. She looked over to Sachi's body. "I need to at least try with him." She walked over to Sachi and placed her hands over the many stab wounds around his stomach. She knelt, dirtying her armored boots and kilt of bright feathers in the bloody grass. She put the same Light on him, but the rips in Sachi's flesh refused to mend, and his breath failed to return. She tried for several minutes, but nothing was happening. Eventually, her Light subsided.

  "Damn it... he's gone."

  Mira's heart shattered. After being healed by the mysterious woman he had so much hope that everything would be okay, but her icy words in the already cold air pierced him. He was speechless. What should he do? What could he do?

  "Please... please keep trying... he's..." Mira could barely fight off the tears in his eyes. He wanted to weep again, but Sachi still needed him. He shunned away his sorrow and spoke with all the conviction he could muster. "He's my brother! You have to save him, please! He's strong—I know he can make it. Just... just please... please try just a little more!"

  The hero walked up to Mira, who was now sitting upright on the ground. There was sorrow in her eyes, but they were still full of strength. "He's dead. I'm sorry." Her words were straightforward, but it was clear to Mira that she didn't enjoy being the bearer of this news. "I wish I could have done more to save him, but he was gone before I got here." She paused. "But you're alive... and I'm thankful for that." She stared deep into Mira's golden eyes and placed her hand on his shoulder. Her touch was warm too; it made Mira feel safe; like the hands of his elder sister, Nova. "I swear on my life, I will protect you."

  Mira's voice was weak. "He's... he's really gone?"

  "I know..." There was a hint of pain in the woman's voice this time. "But we need to move, now." Mira began to stand up slowly, accepting that his only friend was gone. The Kingdom's Hero helped him get to his feet, but Mira still ached all over.

  "Hey?" asked Mira weakly. "Who are you?"

  The woman looked down to Mira once the boy was able to stand on his own. "My name is-" A rustling in the trees behind Mira cut her off abruptly. "Shit!" She grabbed Mira's shoulder and shoved him behind her back. "Stay behind me." The Captain's fighting stance was perfect, leading with her left leg slightly and squaring her hips away. Her arms were close to her center and ready to strike with either physical force or a blast of some Radiant Art. Sparks of blonde lightning began to emit from her again, her Radiance lighting up their dark patch of the Van'Heatah woods. A shadow grew taller on the ground before them as the rustling of the trees grew louder and louder. The culprit behind the disturbance revealed himself.

  "Stop! Stop!" Mira tugged at the armored skirt of the woman protecting him. He called out to the shadowy figure, "Willy!" Mira felt relieved when he set eyes on his adoptive father's head shining brightly under moonlight. Wilhelm was unharmed, except for his clothes. His overalls had been torn up badly and his pant legs were ripped. One of his shoulder straps had snapped while crashing through the roof and trees, but he seemed okay all things considered. His face was without a scratch, just a few spots of dirt on his cheeks. Mr. Van'Heatah didn't seem tired either, but his expression showed that he had been searching for his boys in a panic for quite some time.

  "Mira? Mira, there you are! Where is Sachi? That man... He's gone for now, but we need to find Sachi and leave this..." His voice trailed off as he looked out past Mira and spotted his son's hair. Sure enough, Sachi was there in the grass, mangled and torn apart by some madman's blade. Mira ran up to Wilhelm and hugged him hard, his face plunged into Wilhelm's chest.

  "I... I couldn't do anything! I... I didn't even see it happen! He-... I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Mira screamed with sorrow into Wilhelm's stomach. He couldn't help it. Then he felt the tears falling down his cheeks again. Some of Mira's words were muffled, but it didn't matter; Sachi's body was in plain sight. "I wasn't strong enough!" Mira finished screaming and wept over his failure. Wilhelm only let one tear fall from his right eye, but he quickly wiped it as it reached his jawline. He stared at his son's corpse with a look of deep pain; a pain Mira was incapable of understanding at this point in his life. He knew just from looking at Sachi that he was dead. Wilhelm balled his fists at his sides, unable to hug Mira back.

  Mira continued screaming his apologies into Wilhelm's chest. "You did so much for me and I... I couldn't do anything to stop them! I'm sorry! I'm weak! I'm so weak! Sachi was always brave and- and I... I let him die!" The woman who saved Mira let her eyes fall to the ground. She couldn't stand watching this boy's desperate cries of pain. They needed to leave before the cloaked assailant came back, and even though she understood his sorrow, there was no time for all this show. But still, Mira continued to scream into Wilhelm's chest. "You guys saved me! And I... I-"

  "Don't you blame yourself for one second, Mira Van'Heatah!" Mira was shocked. Wilhelm rarely spoke with any anger in his voice, and he had never referred to Mira with their family name before. It was a commanding tone, more of a direct order than words of comfort.

  Mira continued to sniffle, "But... but you took care of me for all these years and I-"

  Wilhelm wrapped his arms around his son, silencing his foolish words of self-deprecation. "It's not your fault! I know you. You tried your best... just like you always do for Sachi." He stooped down to Mira's eye level and held onto his arms tightly. "And about you living with us for the last five years..." Wilhelm smiled proudly, he squinted his eyes hard as more tears rolled down his face. "It's been an honor to call you 'my son'." Wilhelm hugged Mira tight, leaving the boy without any more words of self-pity. The grass crunched as Wilhelm started walking over to the blonde woman. He shot her a stern but friendly look. "I take it you're the one who saved my eldest, Mira. You have my thanks." His face turned sideways as he took a closer look at the woman's face. "You're-"

  She cut him off. "My name is Captain Helen ?thena of the Corvus Royal Military. I apologize that my arrival was untimely, and I understand that the two of you have grieving to do—but we need to get out of these woods. I have no idea if that young man in the purple cloak is still watching us, or if he has any accomplices. I'll be escorting you to our closest base. We will need to go over a few questions I have regarding this incident."

  "I see... Helen, huh? I should have known you from the stories about town. I'd say those scars make you a recognizable woman." Wilhelm sounded amused to be meeting an urban legend. He walked past her, unfazed by the Captain's no-nonsense tone. "If it's answers you're looking for, I've got 'em..." He looked back toward Mira sadly before continuing to Sachi's body. "I came here from the Kingdom of Camelot many years ago looking for a fresh start, but that act was a crime. In fact, for an Elv to leave the Kingdom of Camelot is one of the highest crimes in the land—a crime that is immediately met with a sentence of death. I never thought they'd come after me all the way out here..." He knelt in the grass next to Sachi. "But they came for me all the same..." He stroked his son's cold cheek and smiled with pride. "I'll be bringing him back now, so please, get my boys to safety."

  Captain ?thena was stunned. "Bring him back? But he's-"

  "Aye. He's dead... but I can bring him back." He looked back at Helen, making note of her pointed ears. "Our people buried many secrets over the Ages, and this one is particularly foul. I have lived a long, long life, but I still have years to spare. Not the lifespan of an Elv, but maybe a Human one." He looked back down at his dead child and rustled the boy's spiky red hair lovingly one final time.

  "You... No! You can't be serious!" Helen stuttered, stunned this smith from the Meadows could have knowledge of forbidden Elvish techniques. "That's impossible! How could you know of such a Radiant Art?"

  "It won't be free. I'm going to give him what life I have left." He looked back at Mira one last time with his smile full of resolve, tears welling in his eyes as he said goodbye. "Would you do me one last favor, son? Please, look after your little brother. I know he acts like he doesn't need help, but Sachi's really gonna need you after this." He turned to Helen and nodded at the soldier with respect. "I'm glad we got to meet one another, Hero of Corvus. I beg you to see these boys make it someplace safer than here—for Light is a gift, and each life touched by its glow is irreplaceable." The soldier raised a brow after hearing the odd statement, knowing she had heard it something like it before. With his farewells in order, Wilhelm Van'Heatah turned back to his son, Sachi. He placed blood-soaked hands over his son's mangled body and let his Light flow out of him. Powerful words of High-Etherial came from his lips as the Light consumed him: "Lat-Schaan: An'nii Zand'an!"

  Holy Technique: Mortal Rebirth!

  The shine of Wilhelm's Radiance was blinding, a neon glow with traces of golden dust that wrapped itself around Wilhelm and Sachi. The boy's wounds began to close, and life quickly returned to him. As Sachi took his first breath, his father took his last. When the burst of green energy subsided, Wilhelm Van'Heatah's body fell lifelessly. His body never landed in the cold grass.

  Helen rushed behind the big Elv in another flash of lightning, catching the corpse delicately. She spoke softly to him in the same Elvish tongue.

  I am glad to have been met...

  Her words were soft and carried through the night. The soldier's gaze fell down to Sachi, who started breathing weakly, slowly. A miracle had happened before her very eyes, and she was still processing it.

  Mira walked over to them and grabbed onto Wilhelm's hand. "I promise." He looked up to Helen for guidance, but she would not take her gaze off Sachi. Her eyes widened suddenly and fixated on the boy's right hand. On the side of Sachi's thumb, strange marks that Mira had never seen began to form.

  Mira had never been able to read or write—not in any tongue of Battle. Whenever he tried the letters would jumble in his mind, creating nonsensical smudges of ink that he was unable to process. But even Mira knew those burning marks of gold on his brother's hand were not of the common vernacular; nor the language of Wilhelm's homeland; not like any language he'd ever seen.

  The golden glow of those marks faded, and Sachi's skin returned to its normal, dark shade once more. Mira looked back up at Helen in confusion, but she would not take her eyes off the spot where the marks had been. Finally, she let her gaze fall from Sachi's hand and back to Wilhelm, her eyes soaked in awe. Mira tugged at the skirt of her armor, snapping the woman back to reality. She lifted Wilhelm's body, cradling the old man as she rose back to her feet.

  "Are you strong enough to carry your brother?" she asked Mira, peering down at the reborn child. Mira nodded and scooped him up. Sachi was much taller than Mira, but it didn't matter; he made a promise he had no intention of breaking. He set his brother over his shoulder and followed Helen onward, knowing his peaceful life in the Green Edge had just ended.

  The next morning, Sachi woke up in a room he did not recognize. The walls around him were built from large stone blocks; below him a large red carpet stitched with an intricate pattern of black spirals. His eyes stung as sunlight from a window on his right side took him by surprise. He stared out the window in a haze of confusion, desperately trying to piece together how he had ended up in Palos. The last thing he remembered was the feeling of cold steel in his stomach. He looked down to his belly and noticed he was wearing a blue hospital gown, which he lifted in a hurry to feel his belly. But to his surprise, when he touched it no holes were there. No scars. Nothing but his dark flesh. He looked down to the cobblestone roads already bustling with life in the early morning, confused as to how he was sitting in this place, and bothered by the strange dream he had. A familiar voice from the doorway knocked Sachi back into his senses.

  "You're up!" Mira stood at the threshold, leaning against the entrance with the door open. Next to him stood an angry-looking woman he had never met. "How do you feel?" asked Mira, a strange combination of enthusiasm and sorrow in his voice.

  "I feel... normal—I think." Sachi looked to his brother with lost eyes. "Where are we?"

  "This is a Royal Military base in north Palos," said the woman next to Mira. "I brought you here last night." It took Sachi a few seconds to put it all together, but as he took a closer look at the woman's face it was clear who she was.

  "You- you're..." He pointed at the scar-faced woman in the doorway. "You're Helen... the He-"

  "I was in the skies last night when I saw the blaze." She interrupted with patented coldness. "I never expected to see something like this in the Green Edge of all places."

  A fire? thought Sachi. Then the memories of the night before crashed back into him. The purple-cloaked man; his young accomplice; the cold steel in his gut; even his own death. All of it came rushing back to Sachi in a whirlwind of chaos that rattled his brain. He leaned over his lap, feeling queasy.

  Mira was glad to see Sachi awake, but he knew they still had a lot of explaining to do. "Your father... He-"

  "I know..." Sachi interrupted, hating that his memories were accurate. He managed to shake his uneasy stomach and face Mira. "I thought it was a dream... but if we're here, then-..." He turned back to window in some subconscious attempt to ground himself to the Mortals around him. The streets looked lively, not one of them had any clue what nightmares had befallen on their community last night. "It really did happen. Didn't it?"

  Mira fell silent, Sachi's awareness of the situation surprised him. He had thought that there would be some denial, or that his brother would be weeping, but instead he just stared out listlessly to those hurried city streets.

  Sachi went on, "He said goodbye to me. It was all... I don't know... it just felt unreal. I was in this cold shadow—just falling. I was only there for a short while, but Father reached out to me and grabbed my hand." His reminiscing began slowly, as if the half-Elv was still processing it all as he spoke. Then he found himself again. "He pulled me out of all that, but he fell in before I could thank him—I could hear his voice though. He sounded..." Sachi paused for a moment, and when he continued a tinge of angst seeped from his tongue. "He was sad... very sad. All he said was, 'Sorry, this was my fault.'"

  Mira approached his brother and planted himself beside the hospital bed. He tried to speak with confidence to give his younger brother some comfort. "Sounds about right. He was saying something like that to me too before leaving." A frown took over Mira's expression. "We can bury him tonight if you'd want. Helen brought him here and had him cleaned up—she even paid for a casket too. It's a real nice one."

  Sachi turned to his blue-haired brother with a raised brow. He leaned in close to Mira and whispered hot air into his ear. "So, that's Helen? Like, the Helen? Like, Helen? Captain of the Corvus Royal Military, Helen? Helen, 'The Hero' of our Kingdom?"

  "You know I can hear you, right?" called the woman from the doorway with an unamused stare.

  Mira nodded with a smile, knowing Sachi must've felt starstruck. "That's her. She dropped down in a flash of lightning to save us from that creep with the knife. It was wild! Oh, that reminds me..." Mira fumbled around his waist for something. "Here." He motioned with his head back to their Kingdom's hero. "She told me to give this to you." On Sachi's lap, Mira placed a rusted dagger with a wrapped hilt. Sachi's eyes widened with terror as he saw the blade again.

  "This..."

  "Aye." said Helen plainly. "That's the dagger that killed you."

  Sachi looked down at the weapon. It had been cleaned professionally by one of Helen's underlings since the incident at their home. There wasn't a single drop of his blood to be seen on hilt or blade, and it was clear to even a soldier-of-daydreams such as Sachi that a substance had been used to destroy some of the more prominent bits of rust. It wasn't all gone, but the difference was like night and day compared to what the boy had originally seen. It was only at this moment that Sachi noticed the quality of the weapon's build—at least that of Silver-grade ore by the Corvus Royal Military's standards—revealed by the intense clean. It was still clearly a dagger older than Sachi himself, but the artifact was now able to gleam again with a fragment of its original glory.

  Sachi peered at every molecule of the knife with a combination of horror and awe that he had never felt before. "But... why?" asked the crimson-headed boy.

  The Hero of his homeland stayed leaning at the doorway as she answered. "You saw it, right? That black on the other side?" It took Sachi a moment to understand what the soldier was speaking of, but eventually the words clicked into place. He nodded, stilled by thoughts of the cold void he was trapped in until his father had traded places. "That cold, unfeeling darkness..." continued Helen, the faintest of grins trying its best to hide on her scarred face. "No pain, no joy—just nothingness. For most, that is the very definition of fear... but you've seen it, just as I have." That grin grew on her face, somehow gleeful despite the grim subject matter. "The other side's not so bad, right?"

  Sachi didn't know what to make of the soldier's question. He heard Helen's words, even the almost cheerful tone in which she asked, but there was something off that he couldn't quite articulate. Her smile was beautiful, with somehow-perfect teeth despite that number of battles she'd endured. Yet there was an uncanny quality to that grin, something artificial. Though the smile was kind, there seemed to be a forced nature behind it, a practiced skill she'd honed to produce it. And her eyes, that intense jade gaze was without emotion.

  "That blade..." she continued. "It bears your own death upon it. It is Mortal fear itself. Wield that fear, child." Helen's voice toughened up. "Make sure no one ever sends you to that darkness again unless it's on your own terms." With that, she gave the two boys a sharp glare and walked away from the door. Her armored boots clanged against the stone floors as she made her exit. Silence took the room once more.

  Wielding my own death, huh?

  A coldness came back to Sachi when he started thinking about the night prior. "So..." he looked back to Mira. "What now?"

  Mira yawned loudly and stretched his arms at the question. "Sorry, but they kept me in a room all night asking me about what happened. I haven't slept a bit." His demeanor became relaxed now that Sachi was speaking like himself again. "That 'Helen-lady' she said they have some leads on who the purple cloaks were." He huffed the next bit out. "It didn't seem like they knew anything for sure."

  "Well... what do you think?" Sachi asked as he peered back down to the busy streets of Palos.

  "Honestly, I think we can find them better ourselves." Mira said, still rubbing the dust from his eyes. He added, "I don't know. That's probably a stupid idea."

  Sachi thought back to his last conversation with his father. The Elves of Camelot. Artur Pel'Dregan. The God of Wrath. They were all tales of the past, and Sachi only wanted to move forward; to be true himself as his father told him to be. But a rage started to burn within the young half-Human as he thought about what those old legends had stolen from him. "My father's gone... it's all..." He shook his head in an unwilling exposure of the rage that burned within him. "None of this is fair. Where are we supposed to go from here?"

  Mira shrugged at his brother with a sympathetic smile, quick to turn his golden eyes back to the floor. "Helen said she would find us a place to live in Posidon if we want it. She seems to call the shots around here, so with a sponsorship from her we'll be allowed to leave the Green Edge. But other than that, you know me... I go with the flow." He found the strength to look up to his grieving brother. "I'll follow your lead on this one."

  Sachi took a long pause to think over his options. He wanted vengeance on the purple cloaks, he wanted his home and father back more than anything. But in Sachi's heart, Wilhelm's dream stood front and center.

  "We'll join the Royal Military." Sachi finally said. "My father... he came to this Kingdom for a reason, Mira. I wanna make his dream come true..." As he saw a group of Human children rushing through the street without care, his path only became clearer. "The Council of Palos would never have me, they don't let in anyone who isn't a full-blooded Human. I've even heard they conduct blood tests to be sure of it. But as long as I can fight, the Corvus Royal Military will take me." he turned to Mira, pulling confidence from his core. "I'm gonna do it! I'll rise to the top and I'll change this Kingdom from the inside. We'll become powerful and hunt down the people who did this to our family. I'll avenge Father and make his dream come true!"

  "Ummm..." Mira raised a hand. "Slight problem with that—you're not old enough." Sachi's confidence shattered. He slumped over in his bed, ashamed of his bad idea. Mira noticed his brother's broken will and continued with empathy in his voice. "I mean... you need to be at least sixteen to join up. I only know cause they kept asking me to join this morning while Helen wasn't in the room. I don't know why, but she didn't seem very happy about the idea of us enlisting."

  "Wait! They already asked you?!"

  Mira scratched his head and smiled nervously. "Yeah... they think I'm 'speedy'. I said no at first, but I'll sign up if that's what you wanna do."

  "Hmmm." Sachi scratched his chin, confidence was starting to come back to him. After all, his birthday wasn't too far off. If he waited, he could join in the fall. "Well, then... for the next few months, we train. And then, after my sixteenth birthday, we'll join the Corvus Royal Military."

  Mira's eyes lit up. "Does that mean you'll let me train you?"

  Sachi grinned and peered out the window again. "That's the only way I can get stronger, right?"

  That afternoon, the Van'Heatah brothers returned to their property to bury Wilhelm. Helen went ahead and purchased a small apartment in the city of Posidon for the boys, so this would be their last time being home for the foreseeable future. Sachi thought it odd how much she was giving to them. They were strangers, and people seldom did kind deeds without expectations. But he appreciated all she gave, nonetheless. Maybe she was simply a hero, just like everyone called her.

  They dug Wilhelm's grave together in the woods he had felled the day prior. It was a beautiful clearing after a few additional hours of stump clearing efforts. It would take many years for the oaks around the burial site to retake the section of wooded area. This particular spot also held a personal significance to Sachi. It was where he learned the secrets of his father's Clan, and more importantly, the place where he first heard of his father's dream for a better future; and now it was the place his father would rest eternally. Mira and Sachi both kept their speeches brief, for they were the only people in attendance for Wilhelm's funeral besides the two guards assigned by Helen to escort them out of the Green Edge.

  Mira spoke about how appreciative he was of Wilhelm for taking him in when he arrived in the Corvus Kingdom; how he would honor his promise until his final breath. Sachi decided to speak of completing his father's dream and vowed to always be an accepting man in a world all too quick to condemn others for their differences. Neither of the boys cried; they knew Wilhelm wouldn't want that. After a few moments of respectful silence overlooking the grave, they walked to the front of their home to take one last look at it. Mira had fetched his only real possession from their bedroom; a broken compass given to him by his elder sister before falling to the Corvus Kingdom. Sachi brought nothing other than the blade Helen had given him. He carried the dream of his father in his heart, and that was enough for him.

  A putrid stench of gasoline filled the air. The rubble of the Van'Heatah home had been soaked in it from the kitchen to the bedrooms as the boys took their final tour through the still-creaking property. Their home had been wounded by the attack of the purple cloaks and fires that followed, but they would be the ones to put the ruined farmhouse out of her misery. They were joining the Royal Military soon and had no need for a comforting temptation such as this place. They had nothing to want from here. Not ever again.

  "You ready?" asked Mira. The boys stood in front of their home for the last time, trying to only think of pleasant memories before departing. Between them was a puddle of gas leading to the front porch of the home's wreckage.

  Sachi closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, trying to absorb everything about this moment. "Yeah. I'm ready." He lit a match and tossed it to the ground between him and Mira. The puddle ignited with an orange flame that crawled down to their home, growing all too quickly into a roaring blaze. First it was their century-old porch that started to burn like kindling, then the door, then the unmendable walls that had been infested with termites for decades. It wasn't too long before the whole house was aflame with a boiling heat that danced out of the already mangled roof. It was an old, wood house in the first place, so it was practically built for this moment.

  Again, the old adage of his Kingdom's soldiers whispered in his ear as Sachi watched the flames consume his childhood home.

  To live is to burn.

  Within the inferno set to purify the half-destroyed house, a certain photograph remained forgotten in the wreckage; a sacrifice to the new lives the boys were about to step into. The stilled face of Sachi's mother cried with tears of sizzling ink before being consumed by her son's flames, just like her smiling lover. Thankfully, it wouldn't be the last time Sachi saw her face.

  When all was said and done, and long before any folk from the East Meadow would arrive at the site, the home was reduced to nothing but charred rubble. From that moment on, the Van'Heatah boys vanished from the Green Edge. Then, in six months, two monsters would arrive at the capital gates; hungry to devour the entrance exams of the Royal Military.

  (To Be Continued...)

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