Sunset

Lunas felt more prepared for something than he ever had in his short life. His blood was pumping, and at a temperature he had not yet gotten used to.

'It's been hours since the guard was here, was it not night when he came?'

It had not been night when it guard came, but Lunas was essentially guessing how much time had passed anyways.

The wooden door to the basement of the cathedral creaked open, the sound almost reaching Lunas' ears. He kept his eyes glued to the left side of his cell gate where it came from.

Before his heart could exit his chest, the guard finally reached his abode and turned to face him.

"Good evening, rat. You have dues to pay before your sentence can be carried out, but the Saint has deemed you worthy of public execution. Sorry, 'community service' as she likes to call it. Hands on the wall."

The guard fumbled with a ring of keys he fished from his pocket before grumbling and pulling back the thin visor of his armor.

Lunas felt his racing heart begin to calm as he recognized his chance.

The armor encasing the guard was less than intricate, despite having excellent mobility, and provided very few openings. Before the bastard couldn't see keys that is.

After holding them up to his eyes to find the right key, he unlatched and opened the door. His steps echoed much less in the cell but they were just as terrifying.

Before he could come too close, Lunas spat at the guards feet, earning a swift steel-incased backhand.

"Be grateful the Saint doesn't like blood boy, or I'd break bones you'll never hear the name of."

Before the guard could grab him and drag him out, Lunas spit blood and a tooth at his eyes! The backhand had knocked one tooth out and spread plenty of blood for him to ignite.

He tried to circulate his ether and activate his ability, but the strange force the guard had used previously pulled him off the ground.

"Good attempt rat, but you're slow. In the head as well perhaps," the guard said before flicking Lunas in the forehead, knocking him out.

A scraping pain on Lunas's heels awoke him, and he opened his eyes to an unfamiliar stone hall, lined with armored statues and towering arches. If it weren't for their size matching the hall in grandeur, he would have thought they were like the guard that was dragging him through the hall.

Stone scraped against stone as a thin but ever expanding line of orange sunlight broke through from behind Lunas and crashed against the far wall he must have come from. He watched it grow as his silhouette appeared and with it, his hope faded.

It wasn't enough. He had broken a seal and even gotten a hint of his ability from it, but he had failed. He was going to die an exile, broken and alone, barely allowed to keep his family name.

The cool air from outside the cathedral finally hit his skin, soothing the hopelessness into an apathy towards his death. He was already dead to his brothers, was he not? He may as well let it be by a Saint's hand, regardless of how twisted she may be.

He could hear the cheers of the crowd assembled beside the gate to the cathedral settle as he approached. When the guard lifted him from the ground and faced him towards them and the setting sun, their whispers turned to unsettled murmuring.

The same thought was passing through all of their heads, at least the heads of those untaken by the Saint. 'He's just a kid, how could the Saint go this far?' But, the people weren't aware of how deeply her corruption ran.

A gentle voice that sounded like it was right next to him began it's telling of the story,

"It's a beautiful evening, is it not?" The voice was nothing like that of the entities in the cells Lunas had been in, but he felt a weight accompanying it. It was doused in ether, but it couldn't prevent the spark of fear from being born in the hearts of both Lunas and the crowd alike.

"There is no place in the night for thieves. No place for murderers either, and this boy bears the stolen insignia of the Blackstone Family. No heir would abandon their name before death could take it from them, and this mere 'horse thief' took it."

The Saint continued on and on but Lunas could barely hear it anymore. The sun was mere seconds from the horizon, and Lunas was unwilling to miss its departure.

Saint Lorraine's hand brushed his cheek, pulling his face from the horizon but his gaze didn't break from it.

It was good he watched, or he would have missed what came as the sunlight went.

Dusk broke into night far faster than it should have as a blur of black and silver fell from above and wreathed around Lunas.

He felt the guards strange power try to incase him, but a tearing of steel cut through the veil around Lunas and he felt the guards hand fall from his neck and he stood on his own again.

A scream of pure rage rose from the Saint as his feet felt air beneath them again, and everything Lunas saw disappeared.

After a moment in a black and red space he couldn't identify, the energy wreathing him coalesced in front of him. Lilac eyes, black and silver clothing, and the gaze piercing through him reminded him of someone but he couldn't quite place it.

The man did not make him wonder for long.

"You are safe child. The Saint cannot reach here."

Lunas hadn't said a word to the guard earlier due to the dryness of his throat, but the blood he spat had wet it enough to rasp out a single question, "Who are you?"

The man's gaze fell momentarily before returning to his, breaking the silence with a flash of bright red.

"I am Bai'el, born of Lilith's blood."