Blaze was sitting on a bench in the backyard, staring up at the countless gleaming jewels in the sky. Chief Jacob came up and took a seat next to him.

“You being stubborn is nothing new, but I feel like today’s charade is a bit much.” He said as he too turned to gaze at the stars.

“Sorry Grandpa, but I have no plans of listening to whatever Eugen wants to tell me,” Blaze said.

Jacob thought for a bit.

“You know most of us refer to him as the king.”

“Sorry, it's a force of habit,” Blaze said sweat dropping, after now just realizing he had been making a major suspicion-raising mistake so casually.

But Jacob merely smiled and asked, “So I can presume you two are acquainted then?”

“Well - it’s complicated but yeah, something like that.” Blaze sighed before he got up.

“It might sound like an excuse, but I don’t want to leave this place,” Blaze went on, “The life I’ve built here… it’s more than enough, I’m satisfied, I want nothing else apart from this.”

“Yet it is not the one fated for you, is it?”

Blaze turned to look at the chief, his face showing a hint of seriousness, “I will choose my fate, how I decide to live my life will be up to me.”

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“Fate is fickle, it is never ours to choose nor control. I’m sorry to tell you this my boy but, we can never escape the binds of fate.”

Blaze sighed and looked away, in a way, he knew Jacob's words had a hint of truth to them. Because as much as he ran, his fate would always find a way to get its hold of him, as it was with his current predicament.

“But you know what, I believe like all things, fate is merely an agent of God. And I believe God always has good plans for his children, no matter how disastrous the package might seem.” Jacob laughed a bit.

Blaze glanced over to Jacob and sighed before turning back to the night sky.

“But still…” He shook his head.

“This will always be your home, Blaze. No matter how much time passes, no matter what happens, that much will not change.” Jacob said as he got up and walked towards Blaze placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

Blaze looked down.

“Home, huh?” He tightened his fist as he slowly gritted his teeth.

“That’s right, Blaze my boy. This will always be your home.” Jacob smiled.

Blaze finally regained his cool and gave several nods before Jacob returned his hand. Blaze then stood up and began to head back towards the house.

“I’ll think about it, but I don't think I’ll be changing my mind.” He said waving at the chief.

“That’s good enough for me,” Jacob spoke, “Good night, Blaze.”

Afterward, Blaze headed straight to bed, skipping his usual goodnight to Milka and Anna. Later on, in the dead of night, after all the lights in the house were out and the people were all asleep in their rooms, the door to Blaze’s slowly creaked open. From the darkness of the night emerged a large figure, shrouded in a shadow. The figure silently approached and stood beside the boy’s bed.

“You sure know how to make my work difficult, you little punk.” Kalius spoke in a low but spiteful tone, “Well, let’s just see how well you can keep barking, you mongrel!”