Union's Reply

After exiting the Relic Department, Vine finally heaved a sigh of relief. 'I'm finally done for the day.' The night was already starting to fall down. He headed towards his room with heavy footsteps, still thinking about work the whole way.

When he finally reached his room, he locked the door behind him, took off his boots and plopped on his bed. After resting for some time, he propped himself up and crossed his legs, sitting in a meditating pose. Under the light of the room, if one looked closely, Vine's shadow was casted much dimmer than that of other objects. It was the same before in Thorn's office. Thorn's shadow was much darker than Vines.

Meditating for a bit, Vine suddenly started clenching his teeth and opened his eyes, He took of his long jacket and put it to the side. Then he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, revealing his bandaged arms. When he took off the bandage, his arm was riddled with stab wounds. Taking out a knife and a roll of cloth from under his pillow, he put the cloth on his mouth and clenched first. Then, without any hesitation, he stabbed his own arm.

"Ughhhh" His muffled scream echoed through the silent room as he clenched on the roll of cloth harder and veins popped on his forehead. After some time, Vine dropped the knife and spit out the cloth from his mouth, and he started breathing heavily. He plopped down on his sweat drenched back once again and closed his eyes to rest.

With his shadow essence missing, Vine had to constantly keep his mind sharp and fight against lunacy. His every attempt to meditate and recover essence, he got so close to lunacy he had to resort to hurting himself just to not turn into a beast.

'I have to recover my essence quickly...There is not much time left...' He thought and stood up. Approaching the table, he sat down on the chair and began dressing his wounds. After he was done dressing his wounds, he pulled open a drawer of the table and pulled out some new bandages.

After bandaging his arm and disposing the old bandages, he laid down on his bed once again. Covering his eyes with his bandaged arm, he dozed off.

*Knock Knock*

It hadn't even been half an hour since Vine dozed off, but the door to his room was already being knocked by someone. Vine jolted up from his sleep and looked towards the door. 'Tch..' He clicked his tongue and put on his jacket and boots.

When he opened the door, the knight who knocked saluted him and spoke in a hurry. "Night Leader Vine, we just received a reply from the Union!" He handed Vine a letter delivered by the Union. Taking a look at the sealed envelope, Vine widened his eyes, quickly left his room and headed towards the office building with the letter in his hand.

Vine rushed straight towards Thorn's office and opened the door without even knocking. "Thorn!-" He was about to tell him that they got a reply from the Union, but looking at Thorn and Edana's condition, he lost his words for a moment.

"Huh?" Thorn, who was resting on the desk, raised his head up and looked at Vine. He looked like someone who had risen from the dead. Edana was no better, slouched on the chair, her head hanging behind from the back of the chair.

"We finally got a reply from the Union..." Vine shook the envelope on his hand. Hearing the news, Thorn and Edana both jumped up in shock. They looked at Vine with excitement in their eyes.

"Really? Are they sending backup?" Thorn got up from his chair and walked towards Vine. Edana also followed Thorn and walked towards Vine.

Breaking the golden seal with the symbol of the Union, Vine showed the contents of the letter to the two with a smile, but the expression of the two turned weird. "That's it?" Edana blurted out. Both her and Thorn looked at Vine for an explanation.

"Haha.. Were you expecting more from the Union when we're the ones requesting?" Vine shrugged.

[We'll be arriving shortly.]

Although it was written with an elegant handwriting, the letter had only one line written on it. "What's more important than the content is this seal and stamp." Vine pointed to the golden colored seal from the envelope and the stamp in the letter. A sky with a bright sun and clouds on the top, a vast ocean in the middle and a calm crescent moon on the bottom. They could feel a strong aura coming off of them.

"The golden colored stamp and seal means that this letter was personally written by someone from the top brass in the Union." Vine explained. "Probably someone from our Church huh..." Thorn put his hand on his chin.

Vine nodded his head. "Yes. Maybe they replied late because they were getting held up by the other churches..."

"Haah..." Thorn sighed. "They really have it out for us."

"No matter. Just..." He looked at the letter once again. "How much time is shortly? Couldn't they have specified?"

Vine let out a defeated smile. "Maybe they'll be here in a day or two. Let's just be patient."

"Patience is the one luxury I can't have right now brother.." Thorn shook his head. "Well, as long as they come here within a week, before the Saint does."

Vine nodded his head. "Right.." He looked at the tired Thorn and smiled. "Speaking of luxuries, there are many luxuries you don't have right now, not just one right?" He laughed as he patted Thorn's right shoulder. "Like the luxury to sleep on a bed! Hahaha"

"Haha, you don't have to remind me brother... I'm already sad enough as it is." Thorn chuckled.

"Well, I won't pull your leg any further then, I'm going back for a rest." Vine waved his hand. He looked at Thorn's depressed face and let out a smug smile. "In my bed." Without waiting for a reply, Vine took an exit from Thorn's office while laughing.

Shaking his head once more, Thorn returned back to his seat and plopped down. Although he was teased by his brother, he had a grin on his face. Hearing a giggle, he raised his head and looked at Edana. "You're laughing too? You've been sleeping in your office too Edana." Thorn teased her, the grin still on his face.

Edana stopped giggling and puffed her face. "Haha, It's okay. We're on the same boat." Thorn consoled her.

"It's not that Sir." Edana explained. "I was just amused by this side of Sir Vine. He seems serious at all times."

"Haha. He loves making fun of me. He's been like that since we were kids." Thorn laughed.

"It seems you two are quite close." Edana stated. 

"Yes, we were inseparable when we were kids. We even joined the academy together." He started reminiscing about the past. "We both failed quite a lot..."

"No way.." Edana was shocked.

"Yeah, we really did." Thorn laughed. "We failed so many times that we lost count. But we never gave up and we were always there to teach each other. Eventually we passed and became knights." He looked happy thinking about the past.

"Wow, I could never imagine you and Sir Vine failing that much." Edana smiled when she saw how happy Thorn was. "I'm glad Sir Vine is back."

Thorn nodded slowly. "Yeah, me too..."