Evil and good were concepts made to make the world easier to understand.

Instead, they made it more complicated.

In the end, there is only desire.

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The classroom was half empty as the teacher came in.

No one spoke or shuffled in their seats as the teacher simply started to write on the chalkboard.

I looked to the side, at Ray, my friend who’s father joined the church. He was looking at his finger, as he slowly ripped a tiny bit of skin from it, only for it to draw blood.

For a couple of seconds he looked at his finger, only to slowly turn his head towards me.

I quickly snapped my head to the board trying not to look at him. Ray hasn’t been the same for the last six months, and the way he had been looking at me only got worse lately.

“So who can answer this question?” The teacher joyfully asked the class, pointing at a written equation.

She waited for a moment looking between each and every one of us.

“Tom, why won’t you come and try? I know you got it in you.” She cheered as the boy slowly got up and slumped to the board.

As the teacher turned to the board, a crumpled paper was thrown on my desk, I turned to see who threw it and saw Ray, giving me a side look only to turn his back on me and look through the window.

I turned to look at the paper and started to unfold it, only to feel a small wet red mark on my fingers.

It was blood, Ray’s blood.

I scrunched up my face as I started to rub my fingers on the desk, leaving small red smears.

At the end of the day, stay in the classroom. was written by a pen on the paper.

“Well done Tom!” The teacher congratulated the boy as he solved the question.

For a split moment I remembered the hot thin lines of pain on my hands from the last time I had paper with a massage, I quickly and gently cusped the paper in my hands making sure it doesn’t make much noise.

With a small look to the side, I looked at Ray and continued to listen to the teacher.

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At the end of the day, I stayed in my seat as everyone got out of the classroom.

Silence took over the room as me and Ray sat silently, looking at each other.

Not knowing what to say, I gave him a small smile “Hey, R-Ray” I stuttered a bit. Ray didn’t do anything but stare at me.

He got up, his hands were clenched, and his eyes were narrowly staring at me. “What are you so happy about?” He growled, almost making me jump out of my seat.

I looked at him with wide eyes “I-i’m just happy to talk with you again!” I squeaked out, “you stopped talking with me after Mr Jameson made me read the latter!”

Ray’s angry expression didn’t fade, he got closer, grabbed my shirt, and gave me a punch.

We both instantly held on to each other’s clothes, as we started to scratch, and pull each other's hair all the while screaming our lungs out.

With a strong pull, he got me up from the chair and pushed, making me fall on the floor.

Rey didn’t waste a moment, he sat on my waist and started punching my face again.

For a couple of seconds I tried to stretch my hands out, to grab his hair or to punch him back, but after a couple of punches to my face, I put my hands over my face in defense.

“Wait, stop!” I pleaded right before Ray gave me one last punch to my face.

My eyes started to get warmer and my vision became a bit blurry. Rey got up and spat on me.

“You got what you deserve!” he spat out between heavy breaths, “It’s your fault everyone looks at me like something is wrong with me! your! fault!”

I wiped the forming tears from my eyes and looked at him. “I didn’t mean to! Mr Jameson would have told my parents! If I didn’t read it he would have broken my hands!” I wailed back at him.

Rey looked down at me, his hands clenching and unclenching several times, “then maybe you should have let him break them.” He quietly said.

I wiped my eyes again, and by the time I was done, I was left alone in the classroom, with Rey nowhere to be found.

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After I left the school, I started walking towards home.

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I walked through a bustling market square, all the while keeping my head down and going over what Rey said.

Then maybe you should have let him break them. Ray’s words echoed in my head.

It wasn’t my fault. I thought, tightly gripping my leather bag, and glaring at the ground.

I saw a couple of people start to walk forward faster and screams broke out from ahead. “You are surrounded! stop!”

I looked up to see what was going on, but the huge crowds in the square obscured the source of the screams.

Tilting my head between the mass of people, I saw a kid run into someone nearby who grunted in return.

“Hey, watch it!” He yelled after the kid as he ran off into the masses, only for him to rummage through his pocket and lose all color from his face.

“Stop that kid!” He screamed at the bulking crowd, “he stole my purse!”

I slowly bypassed person after person as I kept on walking towards the screaming.

Things had changed ever since what happened six months ago, there have been a lot more stealing kids roaming the streets, the streets are less cleaner, the dark corners are much darker. Even mom and dad had changed ever since.

After passing through the giant bulk of people, I saw where the screams were coming from.

The masses were surrounding five people, four of them had the gray officer uniforms with batons in their hands, and the fifth looked erratically around himself, his rags flapping in the wind with every twitch of his body.

“Another one of those crazy bastards can use Sul.” I heard people quietly talk from the crowd.

“It won't be long until the police won't be able to handle them.”

“Daddy what’s going on?”

“It takes four cops to take one thief, I hate this city.”

The crowd murmured and murmured, all the while the five people stayed right where they were, none of them tried to do anything.

“Just return what you stole and come with us.” One of the cops said. “Don’t make any trouble, an inquisitor of Ashur is already on his way.”

The thief froze like a stone when the word ‘Inquisitor’ came out of the cops mouth and the four cops started to move as one, towards him.

Just as one of the cops placed his hand on the thief to cuff him, the frozen thief melted into action, he moved in a blur, grabbing the cop and throwing him onto another cop.

The two cops flew together into the crowd, making every person in the large square move from their place and scream.

The two remaining cops surrounded him from his front and back, and lounged at him together to no avail, the thief moved again in a blur, he kicked the cop behind him and grabbed the baton of the second in mid swing, out of his hand.

The cop looked with a gaped mouth from his empty hand to the thief who was holding his baton. With a swift push from the thief, the cop fell on the ground, only to put his hands on his head as the thief raised his new weapons above his head ready to strike.

But before he could swing the baton, a white masked man with a white robe detailed with scripture writings appeared from nowhere.

He grabbed the thief's hand, turned his back on him, lifted him up like a sack and dropped him with force on the ground. Making him lose his grip on the baton.

All in the span of a second.

The crowd gasped and cheered, but the fight wasn’t over.

From the ground, the thief lashed out with a kick, which he missed, and got up to his legs.

By that point, the cops on the ground went to the far corners of the cricling crowd, watching, as the inquisitor kept fluidly dodging the thief’s blurry strikes.

“Only operatives of the church may be able to use Aerten Suleyk in public.” The inquisitor calmly said as he kept dodging the thief blows.

Just as the thief was about to throw a wide swing, the inquisitor stepped to the side and stretched his foot ward, making the thief trip.

“If they were not permitted to learn or use Aerten Suleyk, the user will be put on trial.” The inquisitor continued talking, as if quoting from a book.

Laying on the ground, the thief breathed heavily and looked at the inquisitor towering over him.

“Stop!” A cry broke out from the crowd and a little girl ran over to the thief’s side escaping a cop that tried to pull her back. She came to a stop in front of the inquisitor with her arms to her sides and tears rolling down her muddy cheeks.

“Please stop! My brother just wanted to feed me!” The girl cried out before the towering inquisitor.

For a moment everyone stood still, until the inquisitor slowly knelt on one knee and took off his mask, revealing a ruined face full of scars and missing an eye.

I felt a chill running down my spine as I saw his face. It wasn’t inhuman, it was simply too ruined.

“If you need food or a home, child, you can always come to the church, there is no need to steal or hurt others.” The man calmly said.

The girl didn’t nod back or speak, instead, she stood in her place looking at the man’s ruined face with wide eyes as some kind of fluid ran down between her legs.

I realized that she pissed herself.

“The three of you,” the man pointed at three of the cops while putting his mask on, “cuff the thief, and take him to jail. And you,” the inquisitor pointed to the last cop, “I need you to escort this child with me to one of the churches”

After the cops sprang into action, each one taking out their own heavy looking cuffs, the inquisitor looked out to the crowd. “There is nothing more to see here! Go on with your business!” He shouted.

With the crowd slowly dissipating, I blinked a couple of times and got on my way, sending one final look at the inquisitor holding the crying girl, which sent a shiver down my spine.

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When I finally got home, my mind already felt pretty distant. It often brought Rey’s or the inquisitor’s faces up.

I quickly ran to my room and tossed myself on my bed, gently touching one of my swollen eyes. I punched the bed a couple of times until I grew tired.

I knew that mom and dad won’t be home for a while, so I took out my notebook from my leather bag and started doing homeworks on my bed.

As I worked, I could hear the sound of a door bang open, making me jump out of the bed and out of the room to see Dad with a bottle in his hand.

My breath got caught in my throat as the smell of alcohol entered my nose.

“Welcome home, father.” I looked at a nearby clock.

He must have gotten out of work early. I thought as I looked at the clock.

Dad looked at me, blinked and nodded, “I’m going to sleep.” he slowly said, tilting side to side as he walked to his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Leaving me alone.

Unmoving, I looked at the door for a couple of seconds until I felt small stings on my cheeks, I gently massaged my face as I stood silently in the quiet room.