Marcus woke up to an uncomfortable feeling. His surroundings is shaking as if there is an ongoing earthquake and he feels the built up of pee begging to get out.
When he opened his eyes it already got out.
His eyes were sensitive to the light from all the sleeping so he squinted his eyes to the ceiling and noticed the roof. “So we’re back at the hideout”, he thought as he scanned the room. Beside the bed was a cabinet, a table, and a chair. He was not sure why but everything is still shaking.
When he tried to get up something was preventing him and by the time his blurry vision cleared, Eliza was the first person he sees, panting and tired.
“What are you doing?”, Marcus calmly said.
“Oh you’re awake”, Eliza smiled before getting up taking the blanket with her. “He’s awake old man!”, she yelled as she sprinted outside the room.
Knocks came to the door as Marcus got up.
“I see, she’s not lying”, Nero uttered as he entered the door.
“What in the world is she doing here, are princesses supposed to act like that?”, Marcus replied while looking for his clothes.
“Well she’s too entitled. She just does what she wants”, Nero explained pulling the chair, sat, and crossed his legs. “We can’t actually control her. She wanted to do some killing but that was risky so…”
“So you gave her something to do and donated me as her toy while I’m out”, Marcus replied upon finding his garments under the bed.
“To be fair, you’re pretty useless when you’re asleep but your junior is always eager to wake up with just ‘slight touches’. At least that’s what Elizalina herself said”, Nero can’t contain is laughter.
“Very funny”, he replied finally putting his clothes on.
“What? Are you somewhat angry loosing something that shallow? It’s not like you lost your soul”
“I don’t actually care. This body is only a vessel and I’m soon out of it”
“Yes, I figured you would say that. Plus I did you a favor”, Nero grinned as he snapped his fingers. “If this plan succeeds, you can at least call yourself a man before you expire and if you are lucky enough you’ll be leaving something behind”, he laughed.
“Uh huh, how thoughtful of you considering all you think about is world domination”, Marcus looked at him straight in the eye, unamused.
“Despite you lacking the ability to show emotions you can clearly express annoyance don’t you, 16 is the legal age of this reality right? You have nothing to be ashamed off, and to correct you, not world domination but all the plains of reality”, Nero again laughed.
“Whatever you say”, Marcus stood up ready to get out when his stomach grumbled.
“Here, eat this”, Nero said throwing him some bread.
It was as hard as a brick and if Marcus was right it might have been two day old.
“I wonder if father is still in there”, he thought as he stared at Nero again.
“What? You have a problem with the bread?”, Nero asked.
Marcus just shrugged his head, sat at the table then ate the bread as if it was a delicious meal. But since he was asleep for two days, he’s just happy to have something to eat.
Another knock came to the door. “Master”, Fine reported. “They found us”.
“Already?”, Marcus uttered ingesting the last piece of the bread.
“No, that’s just on schedule, it’s been two days after all, that can’t be helped”, Nero explained.
“So, what was the plan?”
“We’ll give them the surprise of their lives”
Not too far from the hideout was Alvor giving his command.
“Listen everyone; this is the best and only time that we might be able to pull this off. If somehow we messed this up, doing it the second time will be far from easy”, he exclaimed at everyone under his command including the Knights of Aquilos.
Anton himself has no objections being under his command. Alvor was the one everyone looks up to, even him.
“We can’t mess this up, especially you”, he said pertaining to Nicolas. “You are our greatest asset so it would be bad for you to space out”.
“Nicolas”, Alisa whispered shaking him as he read the letter his father had written. “Nicolas…”, she repeated.
“Yeah yeah I’m listening”, he replied hiding it on his pocket with a bittersweet smile.
“We will proceed as planned. The mixture of our men and the knights led by Knight Leader Anton and Donnor will start the attack at the right while I and the remaining will do it from the left. All in the sound of an explosion the operation will commence. Did I make that clear?”
“Yes sir!”, all of them yelled with utmost pride.
Truly with the sound of an explosion they launched the surprise attack on seizing the single mansion by the sea side. All was going according to plan, everyone was prepared not only physically but mentally but the silence of the surroundings sounded a bit eerie.
“How can they sleep as quiet as this during these times”, Nicolas uttered as he felt a bit of a doubt.
“Let’s just hope, because that would favor us”, Alvor whispered back but uncertainty is already at the back of his mind too.
They slowly went closer and closer and when they are on a sprinting distance surrounding the mansion, Alvor yelled.
“Charge!”.
All of them rushed to take control of the mansion. Unlike any buildings, it is still new or at least well maintained. The doors are still sturdy with functional locks. Large vases containing flowers that already shriveled.
Paintings can be seen on the walls but is starting to accumulate dust.
But even the sturdiest doors would not be able to withstand a slice from a sword that does not obey reality itself. The plan is going smoothly, in fact too smoothly.
“Commander”, one of the men holding a luminous sword reported. “We found no one, there are evidences that they’ve been here but it looks like they already left”.
“Same on our end”, Anton also reported closing in to regroup as he put back his sword into its sheath. “Could someone from your end might have leaked some information to the enemy?, he stared seriously at Alvor.
“Are you implying that we have a traitor on our side?”, Alvor replied not liking what Anton said.
“How can you be so sure that the traitor is not from your end”, he threw the accusation back as they both looked at the large but poorly painted words on the wall.
“The early bird gets the worm as they say, but we are no worm and the raven is on our side”
“To whom Lander supposed to be grouped with?”, Alisa asked looking anxious and guilty.
“Aren’t he supposed to be with you? He and I are the only shield bearers here so we took separate groups in case we are on a tight spot”, Donnor explained as he was followed by the men he and Anton is leading.
“Come to think of it, I don’t think I saw him today”, Nicolas added scanning everyone’s faces.
“I knew I should have talked about it last night. I should have not trusted him!”, Alisa exclaimed in frustration as she fell to her knees. She thinks that her incompetence might have been the cause of their plan being unsuccessful.
“Why?”, Nicolas asked patting her back.
“I should have told you what I saw last night, I’m sorry”, she apologized.
“What did you saw?”, Anton also asked looking frustrated.
“I saw him venturing the woods last night. He met with a man wearing a cloak, I should have spoken sooner”, she explained as she was eaten by guilt.
“Well would you look at that, the traitor was on your end after all”, Alvor glared at Anton that’s now looking even more frustrated, his eyes are full of doubt.
“No, that can’t be right Alisa”, Nicolas uttered. “He’s a coward but he was no traitor at least what I know of”.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s been trying so hard just to make up for what he did, plus I am the one who talked to him last night”, Nicolas added looking at Alisa’s confused eyes.
“Enough with your chatter youngsters”, Donnor stared outside the window.
“I don’t know what to believe right now but I think we have a problem even bigger than that”, he said watching a man riding a horse. He was blood stained and came from the direction of Drasyl where smokes are brimming over.
“Commander!”, the man came shouting as he entered the Mansion and he rushed for Alvor. He fell to his knees looking terrified, tired, and disoriented.
“You are from the ones I tasked on watching over the town right?”, Alvor asked.
“The enemy is causing havoc at the town. We tried all we can but their number is far greater than us, many have already died”, he came into tears.
“We tried surprising them, but they surprised us with literal explosions”, Donnor worriedly whispered as the sun tried shinning through the already cloudy sky.
Nicolas who’s still fixated at the window suddenly fell to his knees, breathing heavily, sweating, and trembling. His hands were clasping his head from both sides covering his ears.
“No”, he uttered taking everyone’s attention.
“What’s wrong Nicolas?”, Alisa assisted him.
“The citizens… souls… harvested”
“What’s going on?”, Anton and Alvor also queried.
Nicolas just looked both of them terrified and stuttering, “So… someone is… forcefully harvesting souls, they are all screaming!”, he exclaimed.
With all the commotion that’s going on and the news coming directly from Nicolas, all of them rushed for the town. It was a bit far and by the time they arrived, the sun must have already been up in the sky but thanks to the smoke and what looks like a brewing storm, it did not came into view.
“Scatter!”, Anton mandated to his knights. “We can figure out the traitor if we survived this but let’s focus on the immediate problem first!”, he ordered as thunder almost ripped everyone’s ear drum open.
“What are you waiting for, Move!”, Alvor also said giving his orders. “Re-group with our men here. Protect everyone you see that needs help with your life!”
“Saving life as much as we can is our top priority!”, both of them mandated in agreement.

Despite the morale raising speech of the two Nicolas can’t bring himself to act. He was already hesitant on entering the down earlier because what he’s hearing is already dreadful. And now that he’s inside, it turned out to be an absolute horror.
The rain as it hits the ground and the cold breeze, whether it’s from a storm or not calms he’s nerves down immediately, but not this time. He can hear the screaming souls as they are forcibly taken out of their bodies through the wind while at the same time feeling their distress through the droplets as it went down him.
“Nicolas?”, Alisa called him as the others began to move out and carry out the orders, but he was stiff as a statue. “Nicolas!”, Alisa repeated standing in front of him.
Nicolas looked at her plainly and pale. He was trembling, not from the breeze but from the agony in his surroundings. The clock tower snapped him back to reality when it sounded horribly adding horror to the ongoing carnage.
“Uncle”, he uttered changing his attention to the clock tower.
“Uncle who?”, Alisa asked.
“I’m sorry Alisa but I need to look for someone”, he said already running away.
“Wait”, Alisa exclaimed catching the end of his cloak. “Let me help you!”.
“No, it might be better if we split up. With that, we can help more people”, he said facing back at Alisa and hugged her. “I’m putting my faith in you, please be safe”, he whispered to her before stepping away and started running.
“Be safe too!”, Alisa shouted but the thunder covered her voice, then she too had carry on.
The town is already dark except for the occasional flashes of lighting that illuminates everything as bright as day light for mere seconds. The wind is also mad and howling taking any lightweight object with it and poorly tied tarps and shade while the thunder is ear ripping.
The market was trashed and blood can be seen flowing from somewhere. Nicolas was uncertain if it’s from the bodies that are lying around or the meat from the butchers, no matter, it looked gruesome as it mixed with the mud.
Nicolas rushed to the top of the clock tower’s spiral staircase. It’s like thousand of horses are climbing due to the echo. If what he’s thinking is correct, the man he called “Uncle”, would be up here early in the morning fixing the clock every Saturday.
To his surprise no one was there, not a body nor a distress soul. Just the parts of the clock going haywire due to lack of maintenance, its sound did not stop and it kept going. Nicolas peeked through the window to check the state of the town.
The flash of lighting revealed everything to him. The burning buildings and debris while the rain is desperately trying to extinguish it was not new to him anymore, but it still gave him chills and he thinks that it might really be his fault.
“August 1st, happy birthday, looks like agony was your gift for every lifetime”, he uttered before running back down and headed for the tiny shack of “Uncle” and his granddaughter at the other end of town.
The smell of burning wood, smoke and the collapsed buildings made him compare it to the past, but this time it was grimmer. Dead bodies everywhere, children, woman, elderly, none was spared, some are bleeding some are not and he suspects that those are made by Marcus himself swinging his scythe at anyone he sees.
“Please, at least let those two survive”, he prayed as he reached the hut.
He convinced himself that he did not want to feel concerned for those two but it looks like he failed. As far as he can tell, it looks like the chaos has not impacted this part of town that much or so he thought.
“Who are you!, what are you doing here!”, he heard a weak old man’s voice as he draw closer.
Nicolas peeked through the window.
Two men with black swords were already there. Uncle and the little girl were on the left corner of the shack with a table between them while two men were at other side. Behind the intruders was the broken window where they have likely entered.
“Run!”, exclaimed Uncle pushing his granddaughter away as blades plunged into his back exiting to his chest.
“Grandpa!”, the little girl cried.
Nicolas’s eyes went wide and out of impulse he kicked the door and slashed the men, getting an instant victory.
“Nick?”, the old man uttered coughing blood.
“No, don’t talk, you can still do this”, Nicolas assured while cushioning him on his lap.
“Are you kidding, you knew I am dying, stabbed or not”, Uncle smiled.
“But how about your granddaughter, she still needs you!”
“About that…”, he said again coughing, “Can you do me a favor?”
“If that’s the last thing I’d do, I would do it”
“Good, take my little girl with you. I don’t know what’s going on but I have a friend that works at the town’s bibliotheca”, he said holding Nicolas by his shoulder.
“Madam Veronica…”, Nicolas uttered.
“I see, you know her, that’s good. Sorry for the burden Nick”, he said coughing blood even more as his pool of blood began to spread.
“No, I should apologize for being so late”, Nicolas cried feeling guilty.
“My sweet child, always remember that grandpa loves you alright?”, he said blindly reaching out for the roof, smiled, and as the rain started to pour even harder, he passed.
Nicolas laid him down properly to the floor, took the blanket on the bed, and covered him up.
“Rest in peace uncle, may you have a better life on the next one”. He stood back up and comforted the little girl who’s sobbing beside the broken door.
“Do you still remember me little girl?”, Nicolas patted her on the head. The girl just stared at him and nodded. “What’s your name?”.
“Mae”
“Let’s get out of here Mae”, he suggested standing up and reaching out his hand for her, wiped his tears with the other and tried to smile.
“What about grandpa?”, Mae asked as she get on a piggy back.
“Don’t worry, he’s on a better place now, and the best you could do for him is smile”, Nicolas kindly explained before they ran off headed for the Library.
“Library…”, he thought, “Let’s hope that it still stands”.
The town library was still far, and considering he has someone to protect, he needed to be cautious and not slip on the wet road or the mud.
They are only two blocks away from the goal when he heard a familiar giggle.
“Alisa!, Nice seeing you again!”, he did not find the need to check who it was for he knows it’s Elizalina.
“You again”, Alisa replied but her voice was far from confident for a fight.
They are on what looks like a yard behind the buildings of the tailor and some other stores. Though the buildings are mostly empty of people, on a closer look, there they are lying on the floor, cold and lifeless.
Alisa was on a tight spot and looks like defending someone at her back. Nicolas as quietly as possible sneaked behind the boxes at the alley before the yard and recognized the lady Alisa was protecting.
“The vegetable lady”, he thought.
He was torn between getting Mae into safety first and leave Alisa with the prayers of safety to the now absent God or help her and risk the little girl getting into trouble.
“Fuck!”, he thought before deciding to safeguard the girl first.