A figure dressed in a black hooded cloak moved cautiously through a poorly lit hallway. The flickering candles cast shadows as they walked, causing the violet-eyed figure to pause and frantically glance around their surroundings. They reached out and touched the stone wall gliding their hand as they walked, searching for something until finally they stopped they found the hidden switch, a loose stone.With another glance around they pressed the loose stone and a door opened, revealing a well-lit room. They entered and sat in a corner on a cushioned seat. After some time, three other hooded figures entered the room and sat in silence, waiting for someone to speak.
“We need to get the child before something happens to him.” said a deep voice from under the black hood.
The other three in the room looked at this figure that finally spoke, slowly nodding thinking the same thing.
“I agree,” said a woman with long braided blond hair whose face hid behind a silver mask, her violet eyes watching her hands play with her red cloak that sat perfectly folded in her lap.
“But only Aon knows where he hid his youngest son.” a lazy voice said from a green hooded figure.
“Does your family’s Thadius not know of the child’s location? Did he not spend four years living in that same estate with the child? Performing some sort of research?” said the voice from the black hood.
“Yes, Thadius did live there… but Aon was the one who brought him there, and only took him away after his research was finished. But even if we ask him he speaks nothing of what happened there, not of the location, or the research he did, nor the child who he spent time with. He is absolutely silent about it, almost like he does not remember it at all” said the figure under the green hood.
“Bah, this gets us nowhere. By the time we find the child, Brother Bahattar might also find him. We can not trust that Brother Aon’s measures are enough to protect this child. So the best option is to directly ask and make our concerns known.” spoke a figure hidden behind a golden mask, his bald head glistened from the candlelight just like his golden cloak draped around his shoulders.
To this, the others began to nod once more.
“It is annoying to admit, but with how Bahattar fooled Aon into destroying the sacred site. If he could do this, then…” The figure in black paused to think of their next words, frustration clear in their voice, “We need to take our own measures to ensure our families' are safe throughout this whole endeavor, and that whoever comes out winning will not damage us to an irreparable state.” finished the figure under the black hood.
“I agree, this mess that has been created is unfortunate, and the fact that it pits us siblings against one another is saddening. We also had no choice in the side that we picked… because out of all of our siblings' families, we are the only few who decided to side with Aon because of our history with him and his family.” said the woman behind the silver mask with a deep sigh.
“It would have been great if there were more than five of us, though. I mean, how are we going to fight against the others? Is it even possible for us five families to challenge all the others?” said the man in the golden mask
“From what I have heard there are only three families that have decided to join Bahattar, but I do not know which three. I assume they are the families most close to him, while the others are playing a wait-and-see strategy. According to Silrose, Brother Aon seems to care very little about who joins what side, and from my spy in Bahattar’s family Bahattar’s mentality is the same.” said the black-hooded figure.
“So it seems that both are confident in their strategies to win, so neither side is backing down.” said the woman in the silver mask, her violet eyes squinted in thought.
“Yes, we are both confident. Although I was fooled by that fake golden seal and his words, it will not work a second time, now that I know what he is capable of.” Said a voice under a white hood who just walked into the room.
“Aon!” the figures stood in shock.
“Did you think a meeting like this could be hidden from me?” Aon spoke, his eyes turning into crescents.
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“It was never a plan to hide the meeting, that is why we did it in a vacant room inside your own home, but we were not expecting you to be here so soon.” said the lazy voice from the green hood, “The reason we kept it a secret is that it is hard to tell who is on whose side at the moment. So this is how we decided to get around it.”
“I see, anyway I have listened to most of the conversation?” Aon paused looking at the four figures, “And I agree there needs to be other measures to ensure that your families are safe. I hate to admit it, but we need something to do about my youngest as well. So I have sent both his older brothers to protect him from a distance, for now at least.”
A small figure hid under a torn and tattered blanket, their violet eyes stared deeply at the dancing flame of a small candle in front of them, mesmerized by the flicker of the flame and the little warmth that it gave them. Shadows danced wildly around the dimly lit flame of the small candle, showing the dusty and abandoned room around the tiny figure. They shivered under the tattered blanket as a small gust of air wafted in from a cracked window not far from them, their breath seemed to freeze, causing them to shiver once again. The figure's eyes slowly darted around the lonely room before reaching out and grabbing the base of the lit candle.
Two figures in white robes watched silently as the small figure walked around the large manor.
“I hate it here, it’s too cold.” said one of the figures
“Yeah, it is cold, so why did you make the manor like that? Now the youngest is going to freeze.” said the other
“He has a candle which is more than I have.” the other rebuked, their arms crossed looking at the other as they shivered.
“Fushin, it doesn’t matter he is still our brother, we are supposed to protect him.”
“Oh, like you protected them, Aleister?”
Aleister's violet eyes glared at Fushin who glared back in response.
“Enough,” Aleister said with grinding teeth, “Father gave us a task, let's complete it and then go back to the way things were.”
“Right, go back and crawl to Mother big brother whine about how mean I am to you,” mocked Fushin
“Oh and why don’t you go back and try to impress Father then, I am so sure you can do it this time,” Aleister said sarcasm in every word
“You…”
“Quiet, do you hear footsteps?” said Alister glancing around.
“There on the third floor, several shadows just walked by the window, and there more trying to go to the front door,” Fushin screamed, already running to the manor.
“You go and distract them I will get the youngest,” Aleister screamed, already making his way to the last place he saw his youngest brother.
While all this happened the youngest of the brothers wandered mindlessly around his manor unaware of what was happening.
“Sigh, why did all the fires go out, it’s so hard to see with just this little candle.” said the figure covered by the tattered blanket.
“There!”
The figure turned and looked at where the sound came from, but could not see anything because of the darkness. Suddenly, they felt their feet lift off the ground and be thrown over what they assumed was someone’s shoulder.
“Sorry little one, but we need to leave and fast.”
“Ah, my candle,” the youngest said, reaching for the falling candle.
“Leave it, you will not be returning here, so it doesn’t matter, instead we are going to go to some other place, how does that sound?”
Suddenly a figure draped in white robes burst through a wall he knelt over coughing, and with a grunt, they started to hit the ground.
“I hate this, they are just fighting with their fist. They refuse to even use weapons on me, am I so useless.” Screamed Fushin
“Did you figure out what families they are from?” Asked Aleister
“NO! They won’t use any abilities or weapons.”
“And they brought you to this state, Father will be so impressed by you.”
“Quiet, Aleister!”
“Enough Fushin, I have the youngest, so we can leave, just try to keep up,” said Aleister, throwing Fushin out of a nearby window to aid in their escape.
“You, I’ll get you for that Aleister,” Screamed Fushin getting back to his feet while chasing his older brother.
“You’ll have to survive for that,” Aleister said, laughing
“Uh, what is happening,” said the youngest of the brothers.
“Sorry for the late introduction, I am Aleister and this is Fushin, we are your older brothers. It really is nice to finally meet you after all these years.” Aleister said, excitement clear in his voice.