29TH

Carvin marks an early end to our training and leaves me the rest of the approaching late afternoon to prepare for tonight's upcoming expedition. But before I do that, I instead decide to head to the Council's lair to check up on my mother. She wasn't there, but one of the guards gave directions to where she was staying. It wasn't hard to follow and I get there soon. Just like my inn, she resides in an isolated shelter. A tree hut, specifically. It's built with a tiny porch where I find her sitting as she peels what I can see are seeds on a winnowing basket.

As soon as I reach the vicinity of her peripheral, she immediately halts the activity and descends the tree.

"Hey, Mom," I greet as we exchange warm hugs.

"I made tea," She asks after beckoning me up to her shelter.

Upon ascent, I take the seat adjacent to hers then hear her ask, "So where's your Wolf-breed friend? I haven't seen him around lately."

That makes me visibly hitch my breath. I thought I'd be able to go through the rest of the day not talking about him. But I guess I can't escape it. "He left. Had other places to be."

"Well, when's he coming back?"

I only shrug. My face, however, can't resist but be taken over by the upset emotion. As I take the tea-filled mug, I sense her maternal instincts kicking in and immediately reading me. I'm not even directly looking at her; she already knows what could be up. And she only lets it go, gladly.

After taking a sip, I voluntarily grab the tiny knife she's scraping the seeds with to share her work. I resist her attempts to stop me as I reason, "We used to do this back in the day. I'm not new to this anymore."

"Not anymore, sure. But, you're not a farmer either anymore." She then attempts to fetch the tool from my hand, but I don't relent.

"Come on, Mom," I plea. "I miss doing this with you."

There, she sighs not only as a sign of surrender but also of agreement. All she can do is retrieve another resembling tool inside her hut. Can't seize the lost days of a mother-and-son bonding after being away to pursue a career and downgrading home into a deficient vacation getaway, aside from the sudden recent twists and turns that who knows might have permanently parted us forever. This is only one of the other things we used to do before my days in the academy aside from farming wheat and crops.

"I can tell you've gone training. How was it?" She asks.

"Training to regain my combat skills? Doing good," I say, following her. "Training with the swords? Well, you can guess."

"Well, I never expect you to get a hold of everything as soon as possible, sweety. None of us do," She adds, retrieving a mug to pour some steaming brewed tea that she had made. "Moreover, you shouldn't either."

"Well, Ordinal Twenty-One did expect me to be able to read what this says about the armaments already," I say as I pull the journal from my pocket and place it on the corner of the table. "Theoretically."

"Well, his theories do make a lot of sense when he told us about that. But I warned them not to pressure you with it, knowing that you never asked any of it in the first place."

"I just want everything to get back to normal as soon as possible," I add, even though it's far from likely anymore. "Grace and Kyla shouldn't even be here in the first place. Sure, the Ordinal vouched to have Kyla here, but she can't be here forever. She's got family, too."

She's silent, but it makes me notice the concern on her face from the corner of my eyes as I continue scraping seeds. No, it's more than concern. It's guilt. Poor choice of words from my mouth. But, gladly, my mind quickly retaliates.

"Not even you should have ever been involved," I add.

"I was one of the very roots of all this," That stops my seed scraping and my eyes turn to her. "I take responsibility. In fact, it's you who should never have been here in the first place. You should be at the Barrier and living what you've always dreamed to be." She sighs again, resting the tool back on the table. "Or maybe, your godfather would still be alive today."

"I thought we were very clear with this, Mom—"

"It's why I've also been thinking lately that, given now you're here, and you have your father's weapons, and the journal, we could expose his murder. I know it's too much to ask, and far from likely to have us return to our normal lives, but—"

"Finnobair," I finish for her and she only nods disdainfully. Given the fact that the elf played a part in the act of bringing my father to his demise, he won't be an exception. But not just that. The council's predictable stand about this as well. "You want me to convince the council."

"That's the first step, sure," She adds. "I don't want to be unfair to them. But much more, as a mother, I don't want to be unfair to you," She reasons. "If it ever works, and we get to have a fair trial in court, we cannot only have the justice your father deserves. But we might also have more allies and help you."

I think for a moment, then say, "About the part of having a fair trial, we can't be sure yet, Mom, given our number compared to theirs and the years of secrecy of this plan. It'll be like us going against the whole world. We might just end up biting our own tails, especially the people who live here unaware."

She bites her lips, restraining the emotions manifesting. I take her hand in mine.

"For now, our viable option is to let me train more, and find a way."

She grips my hand tighter, adding her other palm to it. "I'll help in any way I can."

"You've done more than enough," I beam lightly.

The sky flashes with a faint rumble. There aren't any clouds, so the only clear indication is the elf Ordinal's arrival. That marks the beginning of my supposed preparation and I proceed back to my inn.

A quick warm bath cleanses all the dirt I obtained from the earlier training. After that, I pick an appropriate set of clothes that would keep my body comfortable enough with the Barrier's usual climate and keep me low. Sure, my identity may still be hidden and we're to skip warping far within the deserts. But anyone who witnesses me — Front Soldier, or worse, another Ordinal — is still a potential risk.

I partner a long sleeve and plain jeans with the sleeves tucked into the supple boots that I happen to find in a closet in the living room, and then finish the touch is a new robe. They really have kept this place neat and complete with necessities. It's only a shame that Mom doesn't find comfort in even staying here. Can't blame her, though.

As for the stuff to bring along, it's nothing else but just the journal. I decide to leave the inn and head to the council's lair where Ordinal Twenty-One is assumingly waiting, but I rather find myself conflicted, or rather feeling that I'm missing something. Should I be bringing the armaments along? I'm staring intently at them on the wall they're mounted in, the black blade left unsheathed and cold. My brain might be playing tricks on me, but I somehow hear the same noise it used to call me back at the cave. It's faint. Or maybe it's coming from the outside.

I slowly make my way out to be sure, and my heart sinks as it confirms that it's my ears' mistake. I rush back inside to retrieve the black blade then bolt back out fast. I don't want to believe my assumption about who it might be, but it is most likely. Or them. They found me.

Arriving on the grounds, the chaos before my eyes elevates the speed of the rushing blood in my veins, people are all around places panicking as they carry along the children and the things that they can save. The trees may be high, but I see the rising smoke above them. The Ravenbirds…

Ahead, one man with a fawn girl in his arms trips and I rush along to help them up. "Where's the council? Have you seen any of them?" I ask with hopes of him bringing up my mother, but the panic overwhelming him only makes him continue escaping the chaos, leaving the question unanswered. I push through the streaming crowd in the direction of the smoke while also spitting the same question to almost every person I come into contact with, and I still fail to get answers.

"Kyvin!" It's Mikael's voice, and I find him dashing in my direction, armed with a sword and a handgun in each grasp. I run to him.

"Have you seen, Mom?" I shout through the discordant noises from the environment.

"I'm looking for her, too! But we don't have time. You have to get out of here—"

"No! I'm not leaving!" I contest, immediately turning my heels and continuing slithering through the rushing crowd. He doesn't argue further and only follows behind. At this point, I'm overwhelmed with anxiety with his words confirming the Ordinals' presence here.

I attempt calling out my friends and mother despite knowing how useless it is. As I approach, the dense smoke from the scorching trees imbues the cold atmosphere, but my inherent hellion vision immediately adjusts. Surprisingly, it's not stinging my nasal either.

Soon enough, I'm in the area that now has dispersed most of the people. I watch trees and man-made wooden buildings collapse to the ground, exploding lightly upon contact. The purple waves radiating everywhere in my vicinity caused by my vision find a burning tree that still has two Ravenbirds in it.

"Up there," I point up to Mikael. "Two. One injured."

It's not that high, and the bark has dents so it's no trouble for me to immediately climb up. The younger child weeps in fear in the older one's arms, the latter hissing in pain due to her wing being disfigured and burnt. Mikael is right behind me, now with a ripped fabric covering his nose and mouth. He stashes his melee weapon and obliges carrying the injured girl, leaving me the younger one.

I've only taken two steps away from the tree, and the girl's warning scream in my arms immediately makes me react. Only that it leads to no success in avoiding an object impaling the back of my left thigh. At least, the girl remains unharmed. I'm forcing myself to get back up, but the object seems to have gone almost bone deep. Mikael runs back to me pointing his handgun in directions, now with two-less ammunition, while I situate next to a rock.

"Take her," I suggest and I don't give him a second to argue. "It's me who they want. And I'll keep it like that so they won't have time to go after you."

"No. They're going to kill you."

"I won't let them. I'm not just a Hellion, remember?"

He looks at me, wordless while I'm clueless as to where this pretentious confidence will lead me to. But I don't care, so long as he and the girls are safe. He then looks around the now empty environment hoping to see another person passing by to help. But soon enough, without no more choices, he obliges with my demand. "I'll be back for you." He says as he slithers his gun into my hand before continuing his escape with both the young Ravenbirds in his arms.

Now, it's just me and whoever ordinal it is. No. She's not alone, not to my surprise. Of course, they're now aware of who and what they're dealing with and they're no longer holding back in numbers just as they did to my father.

With my other hand, I carefully pull out the impaled object from my thigh, wincing a little. Even though covered in my blood, it still emits its natural silver gleam. That's enough to define who one of them is. At first, I think of how beneficial it will be to be able to stealth now, but given the dense smoke, I'll still be an obvious prey. Staying in one place is not an option either. I need to find my mother and my friends. My sword lays unhanded on the dirt from where I've gone, and I'm able to pick it up unnoticed as I make my move. An unscathed hut becomes another hiding spot for me, which gives me a window to make myself familiar with where I am while forming assumptions as to where my allies could be. The initial assumption is that the Ordinals might have them already, or worse…

My chance of an attempt to jump to another hiding spot is taken by the sudden implosion of the brittle wooden walls, and the whole hut collapses on me. Thanks to the hellion instinct in me, I only obtained extra cuts from the steel feathers that caused me to be under these rubbles. Keeping the rest of the weighing debris from crushing me is the thin layer of purple-glowing dome around me, kept steady by the tendrils of purple energy flowing out of my fist hovered on my face.

My weapon is off my fingers again. It should be somewhere under this mess as well. I have no second to spare before my foes make their next move. I force myself up to my knees and spend only two seconds finding my armament and gun just below my feet. But before I even lay my finger, I register the delayed gust brushing my back with the sound of heavy and forceful flapping above me. And before I know it, steel claws shove me back on my stomach. My temple hitting first immediately turns all sounds into a high-pitched ringing, even obscuring the excruciating yelp I make with the tip of the razor-sharp wing of Ordinal Thirteen impaling my shoulder. But, she doesn't finish me here. None of them do, yet. I can only guess the obvious why.

Now, for the second time, I'm in the presence of the man who is looked up to by millions; the man who secretly killed two of his fellow legionnaires; who took my father's life, here in the open area of the settlement, where we arrived to after coming to the temple. Only this time, hung on a tree, angled forward almost on my stomach, mouth clasped by a piece of metal, my ankles and hands bound to my back by these seemingly familiar chains, preventing the subtlest movements I can even involuntarily make, pointed ends of spears at my face. From what I can discern, it's not imbued with any form of enchantment, otherwise, I would be secretly undoing the locks myself already.

My eyes are the only ones free of constraint but still limited to only how far I can turn them to see the environment and the dozens of settlers of Astanor who failed to escape, and the perimeter surrounded by dozens of Vanguards, who surely are more in the settlement. I don't see any other of the councils there, which means that they have escaped, including my mother and Ordinal Twenty-One. I guess it's why Ordinal Thirteen left soon after securing me here, to track them. But Alek is there, the two Ravenbirds we rescued still clung to him with fear on their faces sharing the rest, oblivious as to what they might have done wrong. But surely, given the view of me in these chains, some of them are given the idea.

"You don't seem bothered by those chains around you," The Third Ordinal speaks, carrying his ever-solid aura that, now, I no longer find menacing like the first time. "Familiar with them?"

I rest my resentful gaze on him as he adjusts his back to get a closer look into my face. I ignore his question.

"We can't waste such fragments of what once belonged to your Ordinal Tenth. Since it cannot go under any further mending, we rather put it to a different use. With our confirmed knowledge of your extraordinary immunity to any form of magic, we excluded the option to tamper with it again with the means. It took a lot of hours for my fellow elite mech-smith friends from my homeland to do the favor."

So, it's tampered with Kalvarian technology.

"Surely, you won't be able to do any of your hellion tricks."

So they really did come prepared. Of course, with enough intel that he gathered, he made every countermeasure in his pockets coming here to predict what I was capable of. Not to mention, my second encounter with Ordinal Ten. Still, I expected more Ordinals to be here, but it's rather mostly the same faces, with Ordinal Thirteen being the only one new to my sight. Well, having every remaining Ordinal here would only make the world suspicious, or more so, elevate the suspicion of another war coming, which happens to be partially real.

Speaking of Ordinal Ten, I see her amongst the Citadel Vanguards who are guarding the captured, with just the same weapon as theirs. But something about her, aside from her chains, seems to be missing.

Two vanguards, with my father's armaments weighing over their palms, approach the Third Legionairre. They took the time to scurry the very corners of the settlement to find the black blade's twin at my cabin.

The vampire traces his fingers on each blade as if reminiscing that only elicits a parsable hatred. "So it is true. You indeed inherited his blood not just as a hellion-being, but also of ours." He gazes back at me. "You sure have heard in your academy days about being one of us; Endless age is granted to us Legionairre, but death awaits once familial kinship is made. And your father was able to surpass that… curse and got to experience a mortal life. Unfortunately, he didn't get to have that for long."

The mockery in the tone of his voice is starting to aggravate me. He's shredded every bit of respect I have, no longer see him as a man with power and authority.

"You may wonder how we're able to find you," The Kalvarian Ordinal continues. I share his statement. And I wait for him to continue. But before that, he signs at one of the Citadel Vanguard. But before I can guess, I feel my godfather's ring be snatched from my annulary by one of the Citadel Vanguards. "I have to admit my impression of your hellion powers, not that we haven't undergone the same case as your father. It was quite tricky for any magic to have you on the radar using whatever you left at the citadel other than your blood."

I remember Ordinal Twenty-One telling me that when he found me at the cave.

"So we used something that is instead, not of yours." He then receives the ring and hovers it in between his two fingers to me.

Of course… How could I have never thought of that? But what exactly did they use to track the ring? Certainly, not Alice when she's still unaware of it… No…

"It's not very wise to bother a peaceful soldier's body already resting six feet under. But if it's meant for pursuing that is threatening the world, considerations are overlooked."

I'm writhing painfully, only that it's trapped within my sealed mouth. My muscles are shaking, desperate to break free. I want the rage to take over if it weren't for these chains. They dug Alek's grave just to find me. How cruel… I've already failed to save him from death. And now, I killed him again. I don't break eye contact with the Ordinal in front of me despite my sight being clouded with tears.

"Don't worry, you'll join him soon," He adds, returning the ring to the Thirteenth Legionnaire. "And so will he." Then emerges out of nowhere is Ordinal Five dragging a severely weakened Finnobair in plain chains. Half of his face is smeared with his own blood from the wounds sustained. It's as if he didn't even get the chance to defend himself. Or maybe he didn't consider the choice of fighting.

"The ones who are still out there are being pursued by Ethea's battalion," Ordinal Five informs the vampire legionnaire, dropping the injured elf on the soil.

"Good. We can't spare any of them. I've already sent Thirteen to assist with that."

Just how merciless can he be?

He then turns back to the feeble Ordinal Twenty-One, now with plain chains holding him up to his knees. "We'll start with the traitor."

"Why do you want to do this the hard way, Arthur?"

"I don't, Finn. It's your actions that are making this the hard way. You, following Samara's footsteps conspiring behind the legion only further set the world's fate closer to its doom because of this soldier."

"You'd rather keep sacrificing thousands of soldiers than end it now with him as the solution." Finnobair manages. "If you just had more faith."

"How can you be sure that he won't also be the cause of our destruction? You can't even keep this place hidden with your runes." The vampire adds as he levels his sight with the elf, folding his legs down. "I made you the oracle after Samara. So you should understand better that two truths of the prophecy are at play. We don't know which of the two becomes the outcome. And it's still a risk."

"Even if you kill him now, how can you be sure that the Otherrealm will stop from coming? You're only sparing the rest of the world more time to waste."

"So long as the Ordinals live, you know that's not going to happen."

"Live? Or are you really that afraid to lose the Legion's purpose once it all ends?"

"You and I both well know that this isn't about us."

"Is it? Yet almost every day since you built that citadel from the ground, you've let those under your command do the job for you while you keep seeking unseekable answers on how to break this curse of ours behind bookshelves."

That statement obtains looks from the other remaining Legionnaires and Vanguards around. What is he talking about?

"When you found out about Tenebris, I sensed how much anger you had of him. You wanted what Tenebris had."

"What Tenebris committed was a betrayal to us. He took that for granted."

"I will never forget that very moment that you took his life filled with so much resentment and envy." He raises his voice more as he turns his head to the other legionnaires. "And the rest of you took part in it! The prophecy was a mask to your desperations. And you still carry that even now, against his child."

Why didn't he tell me this sooner? Or back in the temple? Does anyone else even know about this?

"You're no different than us, Finn," The Bowlady Ordinal Five utters, keeping her grip around the chains holding the elf below her steady. "You were there, too."

Of course… But they don't know how he never wanted to do it, how much he wanted to dread it, even though it was the only way. Neither he nor my father had any other choice.

"And that's one of the biggest shame I'll carry to my death," The elf shoots his gaze back to Ordinal Three. "The Ordinal Legion is nothing but full of cowards."

"That leaves no exception for Tenebris. Not even you."

"Then that's where you're wrong, Arthur. He didn't only sacrifice himself for his family, but also for the world despite not knowing how will it affect the prophecy. He will always be the bravest man that I've ever known. Braver than any of us could ever be — than you could ever be." From here I can see the memory from his eyes flashing as he looks up to the Third Ordinal, the memory of every brave thing my father did for him, for my mother, and me. "There's nothing braver than a man who sacrificed his life for his family, than a man who had carelessly sacrificed thousands of soldiers in a war that was never theirs."

I'm watching the rest of the other Legionnaires who have their faces down as the elf spits those words. I don't get to have the time to further ponder those words as I watch the vampire reveal a polearm weapon out of thin air with his hand and have it meet the elf Ordinal's chest, the blade bursting throughout his back.

The other Ordinal holding the elf stumbles back, dropping the shackles out of shock. Everything else is silent except the last breath leaving the bloody lips of the last Rune Writer as he falls to the ground.