The week of rain had stopped, the clouds dispersing to give way to a brilliant sun, which shone like a glorious king in the sky. But for Philos and his friends, the darkness was still very real.
Philos stood alone before a small gravestone. The noontime sun sat at the zenith of the sky, its golden rays piercing the surrounding forest and falling upon the name inscribed upon the tomb:
Philiae...
"I'm sorry," Philos said into the air. "Mother...I just-"
The sound of footsteps stopped him mid-sentence. Philos turned to see Sir Smith approaching.
"Why are you here?" Philos asked.
"I wanted to see her," the Angel began, stopping beside the young man and placing a flower upon the grave.
Philos raised an eyebrow. "You knew my mother?"
The Angel looked upward, saying nothing. Silence filled the forest. Philos watched the strange glow of the halo above the other's head.
"I know what happened to you," Sir Smith said finally.
"That I was a slave?" Philos replied.
"I can imagine what they did to you, too."
"They took a lot of blood..." The young man's voice began to shake. He could feel his throat tensing.
As he trailed off, the Angel remained silent.
Moments passed until Philos finally spoke again. "Why are you helping me save my friends? Isn't it counterproductive to your goals?"
Once more, the Angel remained silent. He turned and began to walk away. "I'm..." he finally said, "I'm repaying a debt..."
Philos felt his mind swarm with questions. "A debt—?"
But it was too late. Sir Smith had gone into the forest.
"Ha!" Alphonso exclaimed as he slammed a hand of poker cards onto the table. "Full house! Time to pay up, ya filthy dog!"
"I'm a cat," Joseph pointing to the empty empty space in front of the kitchen door. "That guy's trying to enter the kitchen!"
"What?!" Alphonso quickly turned around.
Joseph smirked as he pulled a hand of cards from his sleeve.
"I don't see anybody?" the Alphonso said as he turned back around.
"Oh, maybe I was just seeing things..." Joseph slammed his cards on the table. "Royal flush! Time to pay up, fatso!"
"No way!" the muscular Alphonso raged. "You cheated! Bad dog!"
"I'm a cat!" the other shot back. "And don't blame me for being luckier than you!"
"We'll see how lucky you are when I ring your neck!"
Pal stood behind the bar, watching the two bicker back and forth. He had to admit, their dysfunction brought him some amusement, but he couldn't shake his worry for Vylet.
"Sir Smith..." he said under his breath. "You really are going to help them, aren't you? You're really going to fulfill your promise?"
"Grandfather?" Uri's voice broke the old man's concentration. He turned to see the young boy standing before him. "I'm going for a walk." Uri began. "I need to...go somewhere..."
I see... Pal smiled a small smile. You're going there, aren't you?
"Alright, Uri. When you get back, we need to stock the store." Pal said.
Uri nodded, then walked toward the doorway. As the young boy passed the two playing poker, Alphonso watched Joseph's eyes follow Uri.
"You wanna follow him, don'cha?" Alphonso said as he combed his stylish hair.
"Yeah," Joseph said, standing. "I sense trouble."
Uri walked through the streets, oblivious to the commerce and commotion around him. He walked forward, his mind swimming with the things that had occurred since the return of his older brother. He was happy that Philos had reunited with their family, but he found himself sad that, just as his family seemed to have returned to normal, the loss of Vylet had made everything broken again.
Uri took several turns until he came to the ruins of the Old City. Five years ago, there was a terrible fire that burned one third of the city.
Inexplicably. He clenched his fists. I know what happened...we all do...
This fire had ravaged the city, leaving this entire area uninhabitable, and so the city had moved on and expanded elsewhere.
The city had moved on, but Uri didn't think he'd ever be able to do the same.
Eventually, Uri moved through the newer part of the city and into the old, which had now become a sort of cursed memory. Large trees, draped in moss, twisted into strange and gnarled forms. To the citizens of the city, the area was almost cursed, but for what reason no one really knew.
No one but Uri. He saw what happened that night. He alone knew the truth.
That fire was started by them. That inferno was revenge, and had the citizens known what and who started that blaze, they'd all consider themselves the luckiest men alive. Because Angels started the flames; and that fire had one sole purpose.
The fire was started to kill his mother.
The forest was dense, but the young boy persisted. Nothing stood here anymore, nothing but the most painful memories. Uri stopped. Before him, the charred remains of a house stood, its shape less a house and more just a few beams that stuck out of the ground.
Mama! The memories of being carried from the fire flooded his mind.
We gotta go, Uri! He could hear Alphonso's voice from when he carried him away. It's too dangerous.
No! Let me go! Mama and Philos are still in there!
There's nothing we can do, Uri!
"Retrospect is cruel, no?" a deep voice said. "Time breeds both regret and pride equally, but only regret still finds a way to linger in our hearts."
Uri turned to see Captain Emerson approach.
"I knew I'd find you here, Uri. You know it's dangerous for a fourteen-year-old boy to wander these woods alone. Bad people hang out here."
Uri was silent. "There was nothing I could do..." he said finally, his voice cracking slightly.
The young boy walked away from the charred wood, taking a seat beside the captain.
"I'm going to leave the city, aren't I?" Uri began, his head falling into his hands. "I'm going to have to leave everything I know and go with an Angel?"
"Probably so," Emerson said as he lit a cigarette. "You could always stay, I assume. But Philos is going, and I'm not going to stop him."
Uri raised his head. "You're probably glad he's leaving..."
The captain blew out a large cloud of smoke.
"Not really," he said. "You may not believe it, Uri, but I actually liked your brother. Yeah, he was always breaking the rules. But...it was always for the right reasons."
Silence filled the forest.
"You know, Uri..." the captain finally said. "Sometimes it's okay to break the rules."
"Captain Emerson..."
The captain frowned. "But you didn't hear that from me, got it?"
Uri smiled. "Of course!"
Suddenly, a click caused the two to swing around.
"You!" the captain exclaimed.
Both Uri and Captain Emerson's eyes opened wide. Before them, the guardsman stood, a gun held pointing directly at the captain's head.
"Good thing I found you, Captain!" he laughed, brandishing the pistol. "And I found little Vesper, too?! Must be my lucky day!"
"Captain!" Uri said, his voice shaking as visibly as his hands.
"Just do what he says, Uri!"
The young boy clenched his teeth to keep from shaking, but it was to no avail. It did not stop his violent tremors.
"I'm gonna finally get you back for firing me, Captain!" the guard laughed. "And I'll kill the kid too! And since you both did me the favor of coming all the way out into this cursed forest in the Old City, no one will ever know where you died. No one will find your bodies!" He smiled and shoved the gun into the captain's face. "I think it's about time for a change in command anyway, don'cha think?"
"Captain, no!" Uri exclaimed.
"Shut up, kid! Get on the ground while you're at it because you're next!"
Click! Another click echoed through the forest.
"Wanna say that again." A new voice said.
The guardsman froze as he felt the barrel of a pistol touch the back of his head.
"What?!" the guardsman blurted.
"Joseph! Alphonso!" Uri trilled. Behind the assailant, Joseph stood, his black pistol pointed directly at the man's head.
"When did you!?" the guardsman said. "Who are you?!"
Joseph smiled. "I'm just the family cat."
"You really messed up, bud." Alphonso said as he pulled out his comb.
"Ha!" the gunman laughed. "I'll just put a bullet in the guard captain's head!"
Joseph took a puff of his cigarette with his free hand and blew out the smoke. "Be my guest." He smiled darkly. "I never liked the guy anyways..."
Emerson smirked. You risky bastard...
Joseph nudged the guard's head with the barrel of his gun. Uri looked at the man. His disposition had changed drastically. No longer was he the cocky murderer from before. No. Now he stood still, an obvious gloss of sweat permeated upon his face, visible even in the faint light of the forest.
"Go ahead and admit it," Joseph's voice was half-way a laugh as he blew out smoke. "You aren't getting out of this one alive."
The guard was tense, the gun in his hand now shaking visibly. "Why you!" he suddenly whipped around. "I'll kill—"
BANG!
Joseph fired once.
BANG!
Joseph fired once more as the man hit the ground.
"Joseph!" Uri shrieked.
"Got company!" Alphonso exclaimed.
From within the darkness of the forest, three men, knives waving, shot from out of the trees. "Get him!" one man shouted.
"Man, you guys are unlucky!" Alphonso said as he combed his hair. Suddenly, the men surrounded him, their knives thrusting forward. Alphonso raised his hand as the first dagger closed in, his body shifting to the side as his fist collided with the ruffian's face.
"I'll kill you!" another bandit yelled as his knife rained down, held backwards in his hand.
"Too easy!" Alphonso swiftly caught the man's wrist and, sweeping the legs, used the strength of his large muscles to slam the bandit upon the ground.
"Y-you!" the final attacker stammered as he looked at both of his companions upon the ground. "I give! I give!" he cried as he began to run away.
BANG!
A final gunshot exploded through the forest, the power of the bullet sending the man forward onto the ground, dead within a puddle of his own blood.
Uri looked around in horror at the scene before him. His eyes drifted from the dead guardsman to the unconscious and bleeding henchmen.
"J-Joseph..." His voice was quiet and shaking. "A-Alphonso...what have you done?!" he cried out.
"It was you or him, Uri."
"You shot him dead!"
"Uri!" The Beastfolk's voice was coarse. "This world will eat you alive if you let it. So, tell me...will you?!"
Uri stood, his fists clenched.
"Uri..." Emerson said under his breath.
Without a word, the young Uri exhaled and bolted, running into the forest. The three watched as the boy disappeared into the trees.
"Bit harsh, don'cha think?" Alphonso said.
"Eh," Joseph said, shrugging and tossing his cigarette upon the ground. "Better than sugar-coating it."
"So," Emerson said, beginning to laugh, "that's how you really feel about me, huh?"
"Nah," Joseph laughed as well. "But it sure worked, didn't it?"
The captain smirked. "You clever cat."
The forest of the Old City had long been forgotten, the souls of the dead within it now a mere whisper upon the wind. Uri stopped running, his body tired. Now at a simple walking pace, he found himself deep within the forest. But he was not worried, nor was he lost.
No. He knew exactly where he was going. And he knew exactly who he was going to see.
He was nervously aware of this visitation, mainly because of the emotions it conjured within him. He ventured a bit farther, pushing the thick brush away from his face as he traveled deeper into the woods, then stopped.
Before him, Philos stood at a grave.
"I didn't know you'd be here..." Uri said in a low voice, almost a whimper. "I didn't know if you would even know this was here..."
"Pal told me." Philos replied, his eyes still stuck upon the name engraved in the tombstone.
The words read, in large letters: Philos.
"There's an empty coffin at the bottom," Uri said, walking to his brother's side to look upon the stone as well. "There was no body, of course, because..."
"Because I never died..." Philos' voice was solemn and wistful, as if filled with a deep, wrenching regret.
Uri said nothing. What could he say to his older brother? What could he possibly say that wouldn't sound awful? What? Would he talk about all the sorrow he felt? All the pain he endured? Philos was a slave—a slave! What could Uri have endured that could possibly amount to that?
"Uri." Philos finally said.
"Ph-Philos?" the boy stuttered at the sudden hardness in his brother's voice.
"I just wanted to say"—his voice shook—"that I'm sorry...for leaving you...for making you endure all of this pain alone. I just..."
Uri looked up at his brother. Glossy streams of flowing tears glistened in the spears of evening light that pierced the thick forest canopy above.
"I promise," he began. In his reddish-brown eyes, the other boy could no longer see sadness, but rather deep determination. "I promise; I'll never leave you again."
"Philos..." Uri's voice was small and soft, almost a whisper.
"Let's do this, Uri. Let's save the world together!"
Suddenly, the young boy jumped and rushed forward, his arms wrapping around his older brother in a teary embrace.
"Philos!" he choked, now weeping and pulling away. "Together! We'll do it together!"
"Right!" the other said. He turned to the gravestone, then back to his little brother, outstretching his hand. "Let's leave this grave in the past, what do you say?"
The other nodded. "Yes."
"Now," Philos began. "Let's find that Angel and save Astrid and Vylet!"
"So you've made your decision?" Joseph said, standing at the doorway to the coffee house, Alphonso beside him.
"We have." Philos looked at Uri, who nodded assertively in return.
"We're going to do this!" the young boy said. "We're going to save Vylet and Astrid."
"Good," Alphonso said, peering through the glass into the inside of the shop. "He's waiting.
Philos looked at Joseph and Alphonso.
"Let's go." Philos said.
Inside, Sir Smith sat at a table in the back of the abandoned shop. It had been empty for some time, but that was to be expected, as no one would be crazy enough to dine with an Angel. That honor was reserved for the insane or the foolhardy. These four young men, entering and directly approaching the haloed man, were perhaps the former.
Sir Smith smirked as he stood. "Just in time," he said. "I assume you're ready to go?"
"That we are," Philos said, his voice adamant.
"Tell me, will you forgo everything for your friends, and go even further for the world?"
"I think you already knew that answer," Joseph laughed, lighting a cigarette.
Alphonso pulled out his comb to spike his hair. "You really think we were just gonna sit still?"
"I'm ready!" Uri nodded. "I lost my family once before, but"—he clenched his fist—"never again! I swear it!"
Philos smiled and looked the Angel in the eyes. "We're gonna take you up on your strange quest! Maybe me and my brother are these mysterious Starborn. Maybe not. But either way..." A fire set in his reddish eyes. "We're gonna give it our all!"
Sir Smith stared at the boys for a moment, his cold eyes studying them. Suddenly, he began to laugh, hard.
"You really don't disappoint, do you?" He smiled a wolfish grin. "Very well. Let us go!"