It was darker than most days. Abysmal, grey, cumulonimbus clouds stained the once blue skies, threatening to shower the earth in a barrage of earth-shattering rain. Everyone was in all-black. Black tunics, black sandals, black hats, black pants. Almost anything black they could find. The church atmosphere was almost as bleak as it’s colour. It was almost as if some God had taken his hands and sapped all colour from the earth. There were much more people than Elijah had expected. A group of people adorned in black shirts and trousers had occupied the back of the church hall.

In the midst of the dark and gloomy atmosphere, Elijah lowered himself onto the hard wooden pew, his movements slow and deliberate. He thought he would feel some sort of pain or grief, but he simply felt numb. He had anticipated waves of grief to crash over him, but instead he was enveloped in a profound emptiness. It almost didn’t feel like it was real… like it even happened. Elijah pinched himself multiple times during the day to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming. It was to the point that he had left crescent shaped marks on his backhand. But it was to no avail. This was real. It was as real as the cold wind that rushed in through the church doors every time someone entered. Agatha had died. Suicide they said. That’s what the priest was saying right now anyways.

“…They say God doesn’t forgive those who commit suicide. But I believe God could find it in his merciful heart to forgive this young lady. May God let admit her into his palace in heaven and forgive her of this heinous sin. May Agatha’s soul rest in peace.” The priest spat out every word as if he had spite for Elijah’s sister.

Elijah was sat on the seat at the very front. They called it the mourners resting seat. It was meant for only those who were family of the deceased and no one else. However, at the beginning of the prayer service, Elijah had begged for Kayam to be allowed to sit next to him. Kayam sat next to him, placing his arm around his shoulders. Kayam's gaze flickered toward Elijah, his heart twisting painfully at the sight of his friend's clenched fists, the tendons standing out in stark relief against his pale skin. Kayam understood too, just how ignorant the priest was being. The night before, about ten priests had swarmed Elijah’s bungalow and taken Agatha to the church. Elijah had passed out and couldn’t argue against it. Kayam could only watch as they raided the home and declared the death as suicide.

Elijah whispered something to Kayam before he passed out, and so he watched the priests carefully, for any strange behaviour. Unfortunately, after some time, Kayam was ushered out of the home as it was being locked down for “prayer”. Suspiciously, not one of the ten priests who had raided his home was present in the church.

“… As the closest relative of the deceased has refused to give a speech, this is the end of the procession. You may now kiss the casket of the deceased.”

The prayer service was simple. Agatha was taken in by nuns to be cleaned and placed into a coffin. Then some people who were close to her before she passed away would deliver a speech. Then the priest would deliver his sermon. Then relatives would speak their last about their loved one. And finally, to end the service, you had to kiss the coffin of the person who passed away. For the beginning of the procession, Mr. Hart, Kayam, and a strange man named Oudah spoke about her. Elijah had never heard about Oudah before. He introduced himself as someone who worked with Agatha before she had passed. And he mentioned how ‘valiant’ and kind she was. Elijah found it strange that he would use the word valiant, but his speech was cut short after he noticed someone in the crowded seats.

Elijah tapped Kayam’s hand to call for him as people walked past him to kiss the casket. “Who are all of these people Kayam? I thought your father only called a few people. Agatha doesn’t like being crowded places.”

“I don’t know, Elijah. My father didn’t call all of these people. They just appeared out of no where. No one called them.”

"But then who-"

Kayam's dad lifted Elijah up and hugged him so tightly that he thought that he might have squeezed the life out of him. "Ya should see her off."

Kayam went first, leading Elijah to the coffin. Each step was exaggerated and devoid of life. Every move forward was duller than the last until he reached the coffin with the thud of his boots.

Shuttle coffins. Tin coffins, so small that they practically hugged the body, and a small space left open near the face of the departed. Elijah kneeled and kissed the golden inscription of Agatha’s name on the coffin. Elijah's gaze drifted reluctantly to Agatha's still form, her pallid features bathed in an ethereal glow that seemed to transcend the earthly confines of the room. Her eyes rested shut, and all the expression lines from her constant worrying had disappeared. She seemed at peace. His blue eyes stayed fixated on her lifeless body as he lingered at the coffin. Elijah felt as if his mind had hit a writer’s block of sorts, except for all of his thoughts. His mind never felt so silent.

“Hey, isn’t it time for you to move?” Elijah looked behind himself with tired eyes to find a man with blue hair and a fancy black suit standing there.

“Charvaz, are you really that stupid? That’s her younger brother,” An older man said as he grabbed the blue haired man’s wrist. “I apologise for my younger brother’s antics, Elijah.”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” he replied tiredly. “I’ll get going then.”

“Take this first,” he said as he shuffled through his suit pockets. “It’s my contact card. I’m sure it will be helpful in the future.” He passed Elijah a black card.

Elijah grew flustered as he looked down at the card for a moment. “O-oh thank you. Why would I need to contact you?”

He looked up to realise that they had disappeared from sight. Confused, he looked from side to side to find them, but they were nowhere to be seen.

“Elijah, what on earth just happened?” Kayam asked as Elijah stood dazed in front of his sister’s coffin.

“You tell me. They just disappeared right?”

“…Yeah, I’m just as confused as you are. What did he hand to you?”

“A card…”

“…And? What does it say?”

“Wait, let’s get out of this church. It’s suffocating.”

Kayam paused hesitantly unsure of how Elijah was behaving. A day had barely passed, and Elijah seemed almost indifferent to his sister’s death. Except for when he first found out that Agatha had died, Elijah had been carrying himself with a monotone expression. Kayam couldn’t figure out whether he simply did not care or if he was suffering in silence. He believed in the latter, but a part of him thought that Elijah was unaffected by the death. He shrugged his thoughts away and quietly followed Elijah through the church doors.

“So? What did he give to you?”

“Some type of business card. For a bank. It says he’s called… Pa- Pavilon Cherken? Never heard of that name before. Hmmm. Executive Vice President of Corporate Banking.”

“And that’s where you lost me. I don’t know what that complicated thing means.” He shifted around uncomfortably as he walked. This entire situation seemed unnatural and strange. Elijah had attended the funeral, almost as if it were for someone who he had not spent his entire life with. It was as if… it was a normal occurrence.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“What’s wrong, Kayam? Why are you staring at me like that?” asked Elijah while raising a suspicious eyebrow.

Business Card [https://i.imgur.com/r27Hblo.jpg]

Kayam shook his head and decided to take the card from Elijah. “East Central Mienn Bank huh. E.C.M.B.? Never heard of it if I’m being honest. Rocky Grove Path? Seems like some bank in Central Mienn. Why did he randomly give it to you? Quite a tacky card too, to be honest. Why the random sword?”

Elijah’s eyes widened as Kayam pointed out the sword. “A sword? Wait show me that.” He snapped the card out of Kayam’s hand rudely and looked at the sword. “I’ve seen this sword before. You don’t recognise it, Kayam?”

“Should I?” Kayam was confused by the sword drawing.

“It’s the sword that I drew when I was a kid. I called it the farmer’s sword. Tacky really. I added some straw binding on the hilt of the sword to make it look poor. And then there’s the straw hanging loosely from the hilt.”

“Okay, that’s creepy as hell.”

“I gave it to Agatha as a gift. Back when dad left… I mean she was sad, so I gave it to her, I guess. She ripped it up asking why that would make her feel any better.”

Kayam fidgeted restlessly as he heard Agatha’s name. Kayam couldn't shake the unsettling feeling that Agatha's memory was slipping away faster than it should. Kayam sensed a profound disconnection, as if his friend was burying not just his grief, but also the memories of his sister beneath layers of indifference.

“Are you listening, Kayam? Regardless. I have a hunch that this guy didn’t give me this card for no reason. Now that I think about it. He even knew my name. Come home with me. There’s something I want to check.”

Kayam followed silently as they left Saint Biskmus’s Church and trekked towards Elijah’s home. The journey home was silent. Kayam periodically glanced at his mien, trying to figure out his thoughts and feelings. After some time, Kayam gave up and decided that if something was happening outside of his knowledge, Elijah would tell him eventually. He was his best friend after all.

After they reached his home, Elijah began to falter. “Actually, Kayam, I don’t think I can go inside after all. I think I might hurl.”

Kayam disguised his emotions, but he felt disappointed in himself. Even if for a moment, he felt a small delight at the fact that Elijah really was bothered by his sister’s death. It wasn’t that it would be heartless of him to not care, but something about that, was quite contrary to Elijah’s usual reactions. But he was dismayed by his own satisfaction of the fact.

“Y-yeah of course. What do you need?”

“You’ve been in my home quite a few times, so I want you to check for me. My dad’s room. There should be a pile of paintings and drawings. The top of the pile should be a painting of my family… Could you bring me the entire stack, but leave out the ones with drawings of my family and me? …Please?” He asked, almost as if he was pleading. He seemed vulnerable, and for the first time since, Kayam could notice small changes in his appearance. The dark circles under his eyes, the dullness in the colour of his eyes, his continuous pursed lips, and the almost vacant expression. It was as if he wasn’t there. He was suffering in silence. Kayam cursed himself internally.

“Just give me a moment. I promise I’ll be quick. Just wait right here. Here sit down,” he said as he beckoned to the small stub of an oak tree. As he walked through the creaking floorboards, he noticed the eery still air and he shivered in response. Walking through the house of someone who had recently just passed away felt wrong. Although the bigger reason was that he was terribly afraid of ghosts, and Elijah’s story about hearing voices didn’t help any bit more or less.

He braved himself and opened the door to Elijah’s dad’s room. He yelped as a storm dust exploded in his face. As his nerves calmed, he realised that there were no ghosts in the room and breathed a sigh of relief. “But woah, this is quite a sight,” he exclaimed seeing the dust filled room. “It looks like it hasn’t been touched in years. This room is filled with dust, even on the ground. Except for these footprints,” he said while frowning. It must have been the priests. They were looking for something. Although he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Was it the box that Elijah had mentioned? The one that his dad had found? Or was his father hiding even more? He could never know, and he felt apprehensive about asking Elijah when he was in this state.

The footprints surprisingly lead to the very paintings that Elijah talked about. He spent a couple of minutes separating the family pictures. “Poor guy… he must want to avoid thinking about his family and situation right now.” After separating all the pictures, he held them to his chest and rushed out of the bungalow towards Elijah. “Here, these are the paintings and drawings.”

“Thanks Kayam…” it looked as if he was about to say something, but he stopped himself. He began to shuffle through the drawings one by one. His eyebrows furrowed as he passed by some of them. “Hey look,” he said laughing. “This is the painting my mom made.” He passed a painting to Kayam.

“This. Oh wow, she’s a really good artist. A dog?”

Elijah laughed. “That’s the funny thing. It’s meant to be a cow.”

“A… cow?” Kayam said with a confused face.

“And, and this painting. It’s supposed to be a bird.”

“It looks like chicken though?”

“Haha, I know right? My mom wasn’t really good at art.”

Kayam smiled slightly seeing his friend’s better mood. Finally, Elijah reached the middle of the stack where he found a page that was stuck together by glue.

His face brightened up as he saw the sword that he recognised in the business card. He pulled out the card and compared them, side to side. “See! I wasn’t crazy. It’s my drawing after all. I guess she never threw it away. Looks like she patched it up too.” He held up the drawing to the sky. “I wonder why they have this as their business card. These guys. You said you didn’t call them, right?”

Kayam nodded in response. “We never called them. And these guys were weird as hell. What were their names again? Oudah, Charvaz, and Pavilon? And they’re part of some kind of bank? Why would your sister even know people from a bank.”

“Well, that’s what we have to find out then, right?” Elijah said with a smirk.

Kayam picked up something from the ground that had fallen from the stack of drawings. A small little card, almost the same size as the business card. Elijah’s eyes widened as he looked at the contents of the card.

Kayam began to read it out as Elijah stayed stunned. “Agatha Velvetorn was killed by Father Biskmus. If you hold any spite or contempt for him, it would do you good to talk to us and find out more. Tomorrow noon.”

Kayam threw the card at the ground. “Okay, I don’t know what that was, but forget it. Look, let’s go to my home for a bi-”

“No.” His reply was short and quick.

“Elijah… what’s going on. You got to tell me.”

A heavy silence hung in the air as Elijah's resolve wavered, his inner turmoil laid bare for a fleeting moment before he finally capitulated. “My sister… wrote a message… with her blood before she died.” He breathe heavily as he began to reveal the message to Kayam. “Father Biskmus. That’s all she wrote.”

“Okay, so she was killed by Father Biskmus. Wait, my heads spinning from all this information.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m going there alone.”

Kayam grabbed Elijah’s shoulders roughly and brought his face close to his. “You must be out of your mind. Did you really think I was going to just say yes? Where would you even go?”

“It’s not that difficult, they couldn’t have made it easier, if I asked. This remember?” he said as he waved the business card. “This bank is where I start.”

“Okay, and why do you think it’s a good idea to go alone? Are you cutting me out or something?”

“Hey, I never said anything like, did I?”

“No, but you sure are implying it.”

“I need you to stay here and keep your eye on the church.” He shrugged off Kayam’s hands and held his shoulders instead. “I’m giving you this crystal. I want you to figure something out. And those voices and the blue lights. Try and find something out for me. We’re going to do this as soon as possible, without anyone noticing, so we should split up to do this quicker.”

“…alright. If you say so, Elijah.” He said as he resigned himself by shrugging his shoulders.

“Let’s rest up for now. Tomorrows going to be a long day. I’m sorry for dragging you into this.”

“Shut up. It’s the least I could do. Now, I’m sure you don’t want to sleep here, so let’s head home.”

This time, the walk back to Frieta’s Farm was filled with much talk. Although it was mostly, Kayam, listening to Elijah talk about the past. Eventually they reached home and retired to bed. The room was filled with pitch black darkness and the air resounded with a certain stillness.

“Elijah, can you please stay safe tomorrow?”

He didn’t respond for a few minutes, almost as if he planned to cause trouble the day after. But then he cackled.

“Sure, if that keeps you happy. But it’s only a trip to a bank. What could go wrong?”

“Like… many things?” Kayam said while rolling his eyes. “I still don’t know how you’re so calm about all this. Maybe you’re crazy.”

“Me? Crazy? Pffft, more like you. Why would you even help me when there’s nothing to gain from this.”

“Look at you. Talking like a true businessman. Maybe you might want to look into working at the bank while you’re there tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

“Hey, don’t actually do that.”

“I was messing stupid.”

“Not that they would hire someone with your ugly face in the first place.”

“Me? Ugly? Would be you actually, with your carrot hair.”

“It’s beautiful actually. Plus, it feels like us. Unlike your hair. Which reminds me of the nobles.”

“Nobles, huh,” Elijah said giggling. “Maybe, they would make me a noble because of my looks alone.”

“Don’t get too excited now, I wouldn’t be so hopeful.”

The rest of the night was filled with a similar back and forth of chatter. Despite Elijah’s crestfallen feeling, he along with Kayam, laughed the night away.