Noah woke up to music flooding in from the slightly cracked window. Night had fallen and lanterns flickered softly below. He cleaned himself up best he could and began out the door when he notices a note on the dresser.

Whenever you wake up. Theo and I are doing dinner at the tavern across the street.

He stuffed the note into a pocket and out the door he went.

Outside of the tavern was a quickly growing crowd. Noah's attention was pulled to the crowd when yelling and cursing ensued. Curiosity washed over him and he just needed to see what was going on of course. Pushing through he finally saw what all the fuss was over. Two men had seemingly started a sword duel.

Both men had drawn their swords and were now taunting each other. The one was quite muscular and tall. Taller than many who were now trying to catch a glimpse of the fight. It was hard to see this guy tower above everyone else. However, his opponent was quite smaller. He could've been around Noah's height maybe a little taller but he seemed like he wasn't backing down from the giant of a man. Many were yelling for one of the men to take a swing. Neither of them paid any attention to yells but were concentrating on each other. Finally, the smaller man moved forward for the first attack. The giant wasn't fast enough to block the almost lightning-fast movements. He let out a grunt as the sword of the other sliced through his upper right arm. He clutched his arm tightly still holding onto his sword. Everyone cheered. Everyone except Noah that is. He was too caught up in the fight to cheer on the two men. The giant turned to face his opponent who was chuckling at his attack. This made the giant angry in which he lunged forward to get his own attack. He missed horribly as the opponent was much quicker on his feet. The opponent turned as the giant lunged past him now his back facing towards his opponent. The opponent took the opportunity and pulled out a hidden dagger. The crowd was too busy cheering that no one noticed except for Noah. The opponent plunged the digger into the giant man's side causing him to let out a cry and fall to the ground clutching his side. The crowd went deadly silent waiting for the next move. The opponent looked down at the man sword in hand. Noah was waiting for the final swing, but it never came. The opponent bent down and pulled out his dagger and walked away. Some rushed to the giant's side but most walked away.

Noah watched the opponent take out a cloth to clean off the blood from his dagger and sword. He seemed to ignore those that congratulated him on the win or curses him for almost killing the other man. Noah took a deep breath and started walking toward the opponent. He really didn't know what he would say or if he'd be able to say anything to this guy. As he walked closer he could see that this man couldn't be much older than himself. The opponent was a bit taller than Noah. Given the light had faded quickly, Noah really couldn't make out much of what the opponent looked like.

Noah stood there awkwardly just watching the opponent put his things away then he spoke up. "Um... that was pretty cool what you did out there."

There was no response.

Noah spoke up again. "I'm not much of a fighter myself. Never really held a sword. Well, a real sword. My brother and I used to fight with wooden ones when we were younger." The opponent was just kind of standing blankly expression. Noah went quiet.

The opponent looked up from fixing his gear. He stared at Noah who stood awkwardly in the silence. The opponent finally spoke up. "Are you finished?" It was a rather rude tone.

"Finished what," Noah asked. He hadn't really started anything.

"Talking. Are you done talking?" The opponent folded his arms across his chest. His eyes burned holes into Noah.

"Um, I guess..."

"That's the best news I've heard today." And with that, he walked off towards the tavern leaving Noah standing alone.

Dick. That pesky voice was taunting Noah at this point. He shrugged it off and headed to the tavern as well.

~~~*~~~

Noah walks into the very loud and drunk crowd singing. He laughed to himself at the sight. He quickly started squishing his way through the crowd to find an open table or even an open seat for that matter. He looked around and saw Theo and Gabriel sitting at a booth talking and laughing. He waved but they were too busy talking to notice him so he took a deep breath and pushed his way over.

However, he saw someone waving at him from the corner of his eye. It was the opponent. Noah thought it over before ultimately choosing to go over to him. He sat down at the small table finally able to get a better look at the guy.

He was young, maybe a bit older than Noah. His hair was short but was full of unkept soft brown curls that had a mind of their own. He had this sun-kissed olive skin, but his eyes were the most striking feature. They were a warm golden color that seemed to shift various colors of gold under the lights of the tavern. However, what struck Noah the most was how he resembled Gabriel.

Stolen story; please report.

"So you played sword fights with your brother," The opponent spoke first. Noah couldn't tell if he was being condescending or if that was just how he sounded.

"Um... yeah when we were younger." Noah felt like shrinking away. The man across from him held him down with just a stare.

"He reads now or..."

"Jesus Christ man! Are this blunt and condescending with everyone you meet or are you just a grade-A douche," Noah blurted out. The man locked eyes with Noah and to his surprise, the man started laughing. Noah wasn't sure if this guy was joking or just crazy.

The man continued to laugh for a few more seconds. He looked back at Noah smiling, "I like you. The name's Ciro." He held out a hand for Noah to shake.

Noah was taken aback by the shift in tone but took Ciro's hand. "Noah. I'm Noah."

Ciro narrowed his eyes as he took a good look at Noah. Noah squirmed in his seat under the rather intimidating gaze. He was trying his best to find a way out of this chair. "So," Noah's attention snapped to the low voice. Ciro leaned back in his chair and smirked. "You heading to Ifera as well?"

"Um... maybe." He hadn't thought that far ahead.

"That doesn't sound like you are." Ciro leaned forward resting his arms on the table. Noah felt his stomach drop and a sickening feeling rises in his throat. "Why are you here if you aren't passing through to Ifera? Most boys your age are."

"Well, you see..."

"You a spy?" This caught Noah completely off guard. He thought Ciro was joking at first but soon realized this definitely wasn't playing around.

Noah sighed, "No, I'm not a spy." He craned his neck to find Gabriel and Theo and pointed them out. "You see those two over there. The one on the right is my younger brother." Ciro followed where Noah was pointing. "We're from Líadain, but we aren't spies or anything."

"So why are you here?" Ciro was now half listening and more focused on Gabriel now.

"Refusal to fight for the king."

Ciro glanced over still with a harsh glare. Noah had never felt terror from a simple stare. Something about this guy wasn't right and Noah didn't want to stay around to find out. Finally, Ciro went back to staring across the room. "Who's the other guy that's with your brother?"

Noah was grateful for the topic change. "That's Gabriel. He helped us travel across the border."

"He looks awfully familiar," Ciro said as he finally sat down. He stared at his drink and shook his head. "Watch my drink." He was up and gone before Noah could protest. He watched Ciro make his way over to the other table and Noah abandoned the drink curious about what was happening.

"Can we help you," Gabriel spoke. At this time Noah had made it over.

"What the hell?" Noah looked at Ciro.

"Noah who is this," Gabriel asked. Theo was a bit worried. He didn't know if this stranger wanted to cause trouble.

Noah noticed the expression of shock written all over Ciro's face. "Just someone I met... Are you okay?" Ciro didn't acknowledge Noah standing by him. Only that who sat in front of him.

"Ahmes," Ciro whispered. Noah was more confused than ever. Both boys sitting looked at each then at Noah. Noah had no explanation for what was going on here either. Ciro looked at Noah and then at Gabriel again. "You're supposed to be dead."

"What's he talking about?" Theo spoke up now. He traded looks with Noah this time. Noah shrugged his shoulders.

Noah tried pulling Ciro away from the booth but wouldn't budge. He pulled his arm away from Noah and stood in front of Gabriel. "Where have you been all these years?"

"Look I think you have the wrong person. "Gabriel was now trying to stand up. It was challenging given Ciro was blocking his way out. He finally managed to push Ciro out of his way and motioned for Theo to follow him. He gave a concerned look to Noah before The walking past with Theo following.

Ciro turned around and yelled over the noise of the crowd. "I wouldn't forget the face of my brother."

Noah froze in his place. Gabriel and Theo were out the door. The crowd was too loud for them to hear what was said. Ciro looked frantic now. All that coolness and intimidation was long out the door. He ran to toss some coins onto the table and headed to the door. Noah didn't quite have time to process the entirety of the situation but he couldn't lose Ciro. He ran out of the tavern and into the warm night.

"Wait! Ciro wait," Noah was yelling out as Charlie had some good distance between them.

"I need to find Ahmes," He yelled back.

"Then stop running!" Noah was breathing heavily at this point, "You don't even know where they went."

They continued to run. "Oh my God," Noah said to himself, "This idiot."

"CIRO! For the love of God just stop running," Noah huffed out. This didn't stop Ciro at all. Noah needed to think of something to try and stop this guy or the only potential person who may have an idea of what was going on would be gone. Noah bent over to catch his breath before yelling, "If you would just bloody stop, I know where they are!"

Ciro looked frantic and rushed back to Noah and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Where? Where is Ahmes!"

Noah looked Ciro in the eyes. "Breathe." He remembered how Gabriel had confronted him earlier in the day and was now trying to do the same. "I'll take you to find him, but we need some questions answered okay?" Ciro nodded. They were off to the little room where a nervous Theo sat reading through his books and pacing Gabriel.

~~~*~~~

"I don't like this," Gabriel stated. He hadn't stopped pacing since they entered the room. "This guy is a complete stranger. What if he's working with the northern king?"

Theo placed his book beside him and looked up. "Noah tends to make friends with weird people." It was true. Back at home, Noah would always bring someone new around the bakery almost every day.

"It's too much of a coincidence that book you have mentioned this Ahmes God and now this guy knows whoever this person is." Theo has never seen Gabriel this nervous and upset. He had always stayed level-headed for the most part in situations like this.

"I know. It's just maybe..."

Gabriel stopped pacing a faced Theo. "Maybe what."

"Maybe we could talk to him. I mean he seemed to really think you were Ahmes and clearly this Ahmes person is his brother." Theo paused. He frantically reached for the Book of Gods and quickly started flipping through it.

"What are you doing," Gabriel asked but Theo completely ignored him, "Theo!"

"Just wait a minute. I read somewhere in here... Yes! Okay here. Ciro the God of the sun. Also brother of Ahmes God of the moon and stars." Theo looked up at Gabriel with excitement written across his face. "I knew it!"

"You care to explain then?" Gabriel hadn't really put two and two together.

"You aren't human. Gabriel, you're a fucking God."