Book One – Interlude – Part Three – The Twins’ Lamentations

Unfortunately, I ran into a situation. My brother and I were talking when I saw a little girl trip and fall in the street. Her tail and ears were orange, so she wasn’t a human but a Singi. It looked like she tried to put some weight on one of her ankles, but she cried out and went back to the dirty concrete. Some of the people walking by made rude and crude remarks because she blocked the path.  I noticed tears welling up in her eyes as she dragged herself out of the way. Her pretty clothes got torn and dirtied in the process.

“Hey, let me go heal that girl right quick,” I told my brother.

“You got a license for that? Besides, most people are totally on edge. They might mistake healing for entirely something else.”

“Screw that rule that requires a license. I don’t care, ” I retorted.

“Whatever you say.”

I started walking but stopped, then I looked back. “It’s not like you’re going to report me, are you?”

“Not in a million years. In fact, I’d be disappointed and angry if you just ignored that little rascal.” Claus smiled, and I felt my heart flutter for but a fleeting moment.

I smiled back and ran over to the girl, passing by a woman leaning against a nearby wall.

She looked to be a member of Warden. Leather armor, pouches, that kind of stuff. But one thing was different and stood out to me. An evil shield, black and red, was attached to her arm. An eye was painted on the front, and it was the kind of shield a villain would use. But I ignored that and made my way to the girl.

I told her that I’ll make it all better, and I used a skill called Deus Lux. It was the highest level healing skill, and it required that its user reach Rank 1 in Warden. That restriction didn’t apply to me because my Goddess, Yoneia, had blessed me with Earth and Light skills. That meant that the only limit for me learning those skills was the knowledge and the theory behind them.

It was different from how one would learn skills by the Warden system. For example, if I were to learn Deus Lux through Warden, then the chant I needed to invoke appeared in my mind the moment I bought it using Potential. In theory, I could use Deus Lux the moment I learned that Yoneia was my God. The only problem would be the knowledge and understanding, and I didn't have that as a ten-year-old girl.

It was a combination of my brother and I learning powerful skills earlier than if we had used Warden that allowed us to rise through the ranks. By our tenth year, we defeated a rampaging dragon in a little-known country to the far east and were promoted to Rank 1 as a result.

But enough of that.

I healed the little Singi, and she thanked me, but then I heard someone yell for a girl named Aie. Looking up, a woman with the same orange hair and ears but a longer tail frantically searched the streets.

“Momma, I’m right here,” the Singi I healed said.

She ran over and embraced her daughter, then she thanked me but said not to do it again.

The fee… The stupid tariff the church demanded to be paid when a person received healing. More than once, rebels went around to the impoverished villages and towns to cure those stricken with wounds and injuries. I even thought about doing it too, but then I heard rumors of an elite squad hidden deep within the church's bowels. Needless to say, the ones who do heal without permission or a license have all gone missing. It’s actually pretty scary when I think about it, and I just healed that girl’s foot.

Should I be afraid? I mean, I should be okay as long as this didn't get out. And it really shouldn’t.

Regardless, the girl’s mom said something about not paying the stupid church’s fee and grabbed her daughter's hand before running off.

Not able to do anything, I just stood there and sighed while staring at my hands. A second or two later, I heard a voice that said not to take it the wrong way. I turned to face it and saw that girl with the evil-looking shield. She had black hair, but it was her eyes that stood out to me the most. Red. Bright red. Red like the infernal domes of fire that plagued this city.

She told me not to feel down about it. I asked about her, and she said she came out to see if she could help. Not knowing any healing skills, she said that she tried to find out rumors, and my brother and I asked her about them when he walked over. The girl said that she knew the slave markets got hit. She said her idea was that a group of people against slavery were behind the attacks, and that's what my brother and I agreed upon earlier.

We talked for a bit, and she asked me about using Deus Lux without chanting. I told her that it was a skill I was blessed with by my God, but I didn’t tell her my God’s name. It’s not something that should be hidden, but most people agree that you shouldn’t tell strangers something like that. And I concurred with them.

The girl with the red eyes told me that she wasn’t blessed, and she was just curious.

She did, however, ask me something that immediately made me tense up. The girl mentioned that she thought it was illegal to heal without a license. I immediately thought she was someone from the church and used my peripheral vision to scan the area without breaking eye contact. How in the world did she know I didn’t have a license?

I assume my brother did the same, and I told the girl to keep this a secret. She said she would, and she’d forget it. I didn’t know if I could trust her, so I kept an attacking skill on the tip of my tongue just in case.

My brother tapped me on the shoulder and said we should go. We shook hands, and I introduced myself and my brother using our fake names, Eina and Blasé. The girl mentioned her name was Flyneria, a name that I had never heard of before.  I won't be the first to lie and say I knew the vernacular behind every name. Claus and I have been to many countries and met many people, but there was just something odd about that word 'Flyneria.'

We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. My brother and I were going towards the remains of the mansion, and Flyneria was going somewhere else, though a part of me believed we would meet again.

“Tell me your thoughts on this, ‘Flyneria,’” my brother said once we were far enough. I looked behind my shoulder.  I wanted to make sure she was gone.

“For supposedly being scared, she didn’t look too frightened to me. And did you see that shield?”

“Yeah. It looked like something a criminal would have. But seriously, it didn’t even look like Flyneria was scared at all. I didn’t feel anything from her.”

“Same here. Usually, we can look at a person and gauge their strength, but I got nothing. When she asked about a  license, I thought she was from the church,” I sighed in relief.

“Same here. I started scanning around. I know it was good for you to heal that little girl, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“I know, but you heard the rumors. Do you think the church really has a secret squad?”

“It’s not impossible.” He said after thinking for a few. We stopped talking after that and walked under the moonlight through crowded streets until we arrived at a place I was dreading to go.

We were currently at the main gate that led to the driveway that led to the mansion proper, but something was missing.

“What happened to the gate?” my brother asked. Right between two very tall stone decorative pillars stood nothing.

“Ignore that. Let’s hurry!” I told him, and we both ran. Even though we were on a mission, fright, panic, and other negative emotions started swelling in my heart. I had to fight it off. I had to. Imperial Guard rules dictate that members couldn’t show any kind of weak emotions while on a mission. We were trained to ignore hatred or love and kindness, or really anything that could get in the way.

The pillar of smoke in front of us continued to rise, getting bigger and monstrous as we got closer and closer. A few guards stopped us as we made our way up the driveway, but my brother flashed the pass we got from Fisher.

“It’s just like the other three…”

“Like someone took a marker to this entire area and blacked it out.”

Like the other three, the ground where the mansion once stood was scorched black. Not even a single trace of it remained. We didn't see any fragmented piece of lumber or a scrap of paper escaped via the backdraft  when the windows busted. It was just nothing at all. It defied everything! No matter how hot the flames were, there had to be something that escaped their wrath. The entire area smelled like smoke, and I’d imagine the smell would remain for weeks or even months to come.

“Eina, I never heard of fire ever becoming this hot. It’s one thing to burn the ground, but this…”

“I know. I couldn’t even imagine anything surviving even a moment in that. Even now, I’m about to burn up just from the residual heat.”

“I guess there’s no hope of finding survivors, huh?”

“No, there isn’t. Shit…” I had to face it. Parrel Keywater, my big brother, was dead. He had to be. If we were right and this was a small specialized group of people who produced such a hellish fire, then he was dead.

My big brother, who was ordered to come here by our father as a political prisoner, was dead. His wife always looked so shy, but I remember seeing the love she had for him. Their child, my future niece or nephew, who I never had a chance to meet, had died. They would’ve been ten or nine, depending on his date of birth, but hell, my brother and I didn’t know when that was. Due to our training with Trerk and Veris, and our commitment to Warden, we never had a chance to send letters. I never had the opportunity to spoil and play with him or her.

It’s unfair. So fucking unfair.....but I had to keep this poker face.

“Blasé, what now?” I asked my brother. I noticed that his fists were balled up, and he’s shaking with anger, but only a little bit. Such a tiny movement would go unnoticed by everyone else but me.

He looked up at the smoke rising. I did the same and realized I couldn't even see the stars. It was that thick and black.

“We go back to Fisher. Didn’t he say he had something to tell us?”

I raced back through my memory. “Yeah... Fisher mentioned some of his men went missing a few days ago.”

“I thought so. It’s a small chance, but it might be connected with this. Come on!” we both turned around.

My brother started jogging, and I followed right behind him. His broad back in my sight, we dodged and jumped over people and walls as we made our back to the city entrance with the storage building serving as a temporary headquarters.

“Fisher, we’re back,” my brother said as we open it. Fisher, still in his back armor, had a cup to his mouth and a piece of paper in his free hand.

“So how was it?” he asked.  Even with how hot it was with, Fisher didn't have a bead of sweat on him. Unlike me, who was nearly drenched wet with salty liquid... What I wouldn't give for a shower and a soft bed... I just wanted to sleep the night away and put an end to this nightmare.

“Everything was black and burnt. It was like someone took black paint and covered the entire area. There’s no way there would be any survivors,” I said with a heavy heart. If there were no survivors, then that’s the same as me saying my brother is dead. And I refuse to believe it, but I know well enough that I can’t act like a brat. I had to accept the facts as they came to me.