Aurelius stared at the text in his room, illuminated by a faint blue light above his palm.

Again.

Aurelius—Son of Ares—I find that we have a common enemy. You see, we both think the world better off without Numen, and in order to bring about such a reality, the leader of Numen has to die.

His name, if you were not already aware, is Gadreel. Among the highest echelons of the criminal world, he is referred to as the Ruler of Mircrest. He is a cunning and immoral presence that plagues mankind. He resides in the former Royal Castle in Acelot.

During the next year, you are to eliminate him. Of course, you will be rewarded for your service. The prize is 100,000 gold. Should you refuse my offer, I will be forced to conclude you are against me.

Before you make your choice, I warn you that I am a man willing to do anything to reach the world I envision. And as I found you now, I can find your family—or what remains of it—in the Thropes. Unlike Gadreel, my resources span over the entire world.

I have great respect for your father. He was a man who knew to serve the lesser evil in the war. I hope you take after him and do what is right.

From the Supreme of Nexus, Orpheus

He couldn't take his eyes off it. His family, meaning his mother. She was involved in this now too?

100 000 gold. With that sum, you could create your own world. That's why even though he had made it out of Mircrest, there were still people dying simply because they looked a bit like him in the greedy minds of the desperate.

Cade stepped into the room. If she was sorry for his swollen face, she hid it well. "You got a letter? We should leave right now."

'We?' Aurelius thought with his stomach tied in a knot. He outstretched a hand. Cade took the letter and read through it. Her expression changed gradually into something severe.

"This means..." Cade's words faded.

Then both aired their thoughts with one word each.

"Death," Aurelius said.

"Revenge," Cade said.

Both looked at the other, Aurelius wondering how or why that was what came out of her mouth.

"We can kill the one responsible for Balgair's death and be rewarded for it." Cade's expression almost resembled one of disgust. "Do you know what we could do with that money?"

"You want to kill the one responsible? I'm right here," Aurelius responded.

"Enough!" Cade shook her head. "Tch. You think self-pity is gonna make the problems go away. It won't. You're just fucking pathetic."

"Well, what do you want me to do, huh?! Be all happy about being an accomplice to an overtaking? What do you think that will happen if we kill this Gadreel?" Aurelius pressed his finger into the side of his skull. "Think! Does this Supreme of Nexus want to get rid of him to make the world better? He wants to take over Numen."

"Numen. Nexus. What's the difference?" Cade snarled.

"There is no difference. That's the damn point, you moron!" Aurelius spread his arms. "We crawl through hell to kill a man we've never even met, only for another to replace him?"

"You heard that man. Gadreel orchestrated everything. He is the reason Balgair is in the ground. He is the reason you're the most wanted man in probably the whole world. Besides, you have to do it!"

'You,' Aurelius repeated in his head. 'Ah, right. I'm truly alone in this now. She is only here for Balgair.'

Cade continued, "What else can you even do? Wait around and see if the leader of Nexus is a man of his word? Go back home and lead them right to your mother?"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Aurelius looked down at his interlocked hands before aiming his cold gaze at Cade. "I can kill Orpheus. Go to Arkryk and rip his head from his body for threatening my mother. How about that?"

"You're an idiot. What if Gadreel takes over Nexus?"

"Gadreel didn't threaten my mother."

"No, he didn't threaten anyone. That's because he actually killed someone close to you!" Cade's lips drew a straight line. "Or is it that you just didn't care about Balgair that much?"

Aurelius breathed deeper. "Get out."

"Oh, that's it, isn't it? The thought of your mother getting hurt is more horrible to you than your friend being stabbed to death right in front of you."

"That's not true."

"Oh, but I think it is."

Aurelius stood up and walked over to her. He looked into those eyes he once cherished. At the person whom he once felt inseparable from. But now it had all fallen apart. All of it in mere moments. It was his fault. In the depths of his mind, he had wanted this. He had made it happen.

"I'm sorry, Cade. It seems you never really knew me."

She put a hand on his chest, breaking the tension or raising it. Maybe both in some way.

"It feels like that same heart's still there." She looked at the hand and then up at him. "Odd."

***

Aurelius woke up in his room... In his room.

He thought he blinked a few times before getting out of bed. Wondering what was happening, he stepped out of bed and descended the stairs.

'A dream?' he thought. For a moment he hoped it was. Then he looked down and saw his naked, scarred body, and his hopes were crushed.

The stairs creaked. He heard laughter. Giggling children. Once he got down, he became even more confused. It was home. Through and through. And at the back door, stood a woman he hadn't seen in years.

"Mother?" Aurelius asked, reaching out.

She didn't notice. He walked closer, but nothing happened. Then he followed her smiling gaze out of the door and saw a boy with golden hair and blue eyes running around with a pair of girls and another boy.

It was an irregular foggy day. One that Aurelius remembered details of despite having pushed it back into his mind for as long as he'd lived.

He looked back at her mother who still smiled. It wouldn't last.

Aurelius stepped out, his mind empty. He ought to stop it. But before he could get more than a few steps from the kids running around the yard, it happened. The eldest of the children, a spirited girl, grabbed the golden-haired boy, her nails digging into his skin. Her arms wrapped up in his. Then something happened like a skip in time.

The golden-haired boy was sobbing as he knelt over the screaming girl whose other arms was bent unnaturally at the elbow.

That arm never worked the same again.

Aurelius stopped in his tracks and forgot to breathe as a furious man in farmer's clothes rushed onto the scene. The girl passed out from the pain and the man looked at the golden-haired boy. Then with hatred in his eyes, he kicked the boy in the chest.

Aurelius touched his stomach. He had no memory of pain more traumatic than that one. But where was his mother? She was supposed to be there. Aurelius remembered her wails as she tried to claw her brother's eyes out, and how her small nose broke from his fist.

He looked back. She was still inside. But in place of the door was a pitch-black hole. He furrowed his brows and walked forward, entering the void.

The scenery changed. Black and crimson. Her mother saw him now. She stood in the kitchen. He walked towards her, her silent gaze following him.

He was unsure what to say until he got around the corner and saw what was behind her.

"Mo—"

"Why did you come back," she asked, her voice calm but her eyes furious. "You should've stayed where you ran away to."

"I didn't—" he swallowed. "Mom, there's something behind you. Please..." He gestured for her to come towards him.

She stepped back with indifferent eyes. A faint blue ball of streaks grew in the hand of the figure behind her. Aurelius wanted to run, but his feet were too heavy.

The ball of compression pushed into her. She exploded, painting the walls. Aurelius' eyes flew open as his body lost all movement. Blood flowed down his face.

The figure looked at him.

He barely managed not to slip as he scrambled to get outside. But they were already dead. His uncle and his three children, all corpses now. He looked down and stumbled, a blade through his stomach.

He screamed.

***

He sat at the side of his bed, with his hands on his notebook. He could barely see to read in the dark. It was still the middle of the night, but he couldn't sleep. He would not even try.

And despite trashing his notebook in his mind, it was what he eventually turned to. Every. Time. Nothing had changed. He knew more now, but he was still the same person he was at the beginning.

It couldn't go on. He flipped through the book. It wouldn't go on. He had to change. He hit his forehead with the firm notebook. He couldn't anymore. Not like this.

He had to gather his stuff. He would need to organize and move.

After an hour of repeating the same idea in agony to convince himself, he did exactly so, and then he walked out of the house. He walked through the village in a clear direction before stopping to look into a cottage with one sleeping person inside.

He stayed there for a while. Observing her figure, sleeping in a fetal position. Her hands lay loosely in front of her. Her delicate fingers were almost in fists. Her thin lips were parted slightly to let the air in and her chest went slowly in and out. Lastly, to complete the image, her eyes were closed gently.

Aurelius dragged a hand from his forehead to his mouth and kept it there to block sound as tears built up in his eyes that started to grow redder each minute he stood there. At that moment, she was perfect. But he couldn't stay forever.

It took all his strength to rip himself away from the sight. As he finalized the decision, he raised himself into the starry night sky on a faint blue platform. There, he gazed around and below. Then he inhaled and raised his shoulders before moving.

One step closer to Arkryk.