Logan Ashford.
The head of the Ashford family and conglomerate died in a horrific fire accident. He perished in the violent torrent of flames that had imprisoned him.
That's what the public and media had been told. But for Andrew, it was entirely different, after all, he was there.
He saw what happened. He knew what happened. Logan Ashford's death wasn't an accident.
The truth was far darker. Andrew Ashford had to witness Logan Ashford's murder twelve years ago.
It was a moonlit night when the unthinkable occurred.
Logan, Andrew's elder brother, had been engrossed in the same paperwork that Andrew now faced, diligently working through the unfathomable piles at a pace that bordered on the supernatural. His long blonde hair was tied back in a loose knot, and his red crimson eyes behind a pair of round spectacles scanned the papers with an intensity that seemed to pierce through the very fabric of reality.
Andrew paid little attention to his brother's focused demeanor, the seven-year-old boy was content to simply bask in his presence. He whiled away the time playing on a portable game console, likely borrowed (or 'borrowed') from his younger sister's belongings earlier that day.
It was a little odd however, Andrew noticed that his game would shut off randomly, then turn back on a moment later, like an unknown force was tampering with his electronic. Regardless, it frustrated the young child.
In a sudden shift, Andrew noticed the usual lighthearted smile on Logan's face fade, replaced by a grave seriousness that sent a chill down his spine. It was as if a switch had been flipped within his brother, triggering an innate transformation.
"Andrew. Hide in the closet." Logan ordered, his voice flat and devoid of its usual warmth.
Confusion gripped Andrew as he hesitated, his typically quiet demeanor shattered by the abrupt change in his brother's tone. "Logan? What's going on?"
"Move! Now!" Logan urged, cutting off his younger sibling, his tone leaving no room for argument. Startled by the forcefulness of his brother's words, Andrew obeyed, retreating to the safety of the closet and burying himself amidst the clothes within.
An uncomfortable tense silence enveloped the room, which was momentarily broken apart by a pair of loud ominous footsteps that echoed throughout the halls from outside of Logan's office. The disturbance halted right outside of the double doors before.
BOOOOOOOM
The two doors fly off their hinges as if they were propelled by an unseen force, revealing two individuals completely cloaked in black, one tall, one short.
The only part of them visible was their eyes, eyes that were gleaming with a predatory intensity, radiating a palpable aura of bloodlust that sent shivers down the youngest one's spine. It took all of Andrew's willpower to not make a squeak, their entrance had completely startled him, like a rabbit becoming aware of an eagle that is about to swoop down on it.
Frozen with fear, Andrew watched in terror as the confrontation unfolded before him. Logan remained seated at his desk, an island of calm amidst the storm, his chin resting on his clasped hands, gazing unwaveringly as he faced his uninvited guests.
"Hello, old friend. I'm sure you know why we're here." The smaller of the two wearing black spoke, her voice laced with an unsettling mix of affection and menace.
"Today's the day, huh? Well, no matter. Do whatever you need to do." with a sigh, Logan appeared to submit to this fate of his.
Andrew struggled to comprehend the gravity of the situation, his mind racing as he grappled with the realization that his brother was in mortal danger. He wanted to intervene, to scream out in protest, but fear held him captive, rendering him powerless to act.
"You don't wish to fight back? You're strong, quite scarily so." The woman in black curiously asked, her head tilting while folding her arms.
Logan's smile was tinged with sadness as he replied. "How could I fight the one that I love? Even then, it's a futile effort, you'd kick my ass back then, and still would today," he replies as a matter of factly.
Loves? Andrew thought, confusion further taking a deeper hold of his mind.
The women's eyes soften. "Logan… please. You can come back, we don't have to do this." the woman implored, her voice betraying a hint of desperation.
"You know I can't Freya. I have them now. I love them." he responded softly, a bittersweet smile creasing his face.
There was a moment of tense silence before Freya drew her holstered pistol and aimed at Logan. His expression remained serene, even as the tear that glistened in Freya's eye contradicted her calm facade.
"I lov-"
BANG
The gunshot reverberated through the room, cutting off Logan's words as the bullet found its way to his heart. Extinguishing his life in an instant.
Andrew couldn't stifle a gasp as he recoiled, his head connecting with the closet door with a loud thud. The taller figure in black, alerted by the noise, flung the closet door open, his own sidearm trained on the small figure that tumbled out before him.
"Cease!" Freya commanded her subordinate who froze momentarily.
The three stood in limbo for a moment, before the intruder in black broke the quiet.
"My lady… our orders were to kill the deserter and any other witnesses."
"We will. But it'll be an accident. Use your 「Arcanum」, burn the building, burn it all." she instructed.
"As you command." the other intruder adhered. Turning around to the other side of the room, he began to unintelligibly chant to himself, before a large white flame spewed out all over the side of the office, quickly spreading to other parts of the whole complex.
With the subordinates back turned, Andrew watches as Freya silently approaches her accomplice, Andrew blinks for barely a second, and what meets his sight nearly causes him to pass out from shock and disgust: He sees the man wrung out like a towel, blood seeping out of his eyes, before suddenly…
POP
The man wearing black, who regarded Freya as his master, had his eyes shoot out from its sockets like a cork in a champagne bottle, splattering against the wall, before sliding down it, in a goopy bloody white mess.
Andrew, who already has fallen under a half-unconscious state, barely registers the fact that his brother's killer had just also murdered her colleague in an extensively brutal matter. One thought, one word, continued to echo in the boy's mind, however: 「Arcanum」In a sense of sudden sobriety, he knew THAT was the reason for these supernatural happenings.
The supernatural woman's figure turns around to face the young boy, before walking towards him and crouching in front of the new head of the Ashford.
"Why…?" Andrew could barely choke out, his visage too busy stifling with fear and tears.
Her light, extremely pale grey eyes had remained dull, completely void of any human life, She couldn't meet the boy's eyes with her own.
"Figure it out." These were the last three ambiguous words that Andrew comprehended before everything around him faded to black. When his eyes opened again, he found himself on a hill overlooking the burning of their family estate to cinders. His five-year-old sister, Sarah lay to his right, asleep, completely unharmed, something he is entirely thankful for.
Clasped in his left hand, was something familiar, very familiar.
A pair of round glasses.