"...two, three…" Klaus counted the houses in Boon with his fingers. "...nine? Only nine? Must be some huge houses," he thought. He was currently walking through the town with blood dripping down his left arm from the stab minutes ago.

To say the houses looked terrible would be a grotesque understatement. Moss imposed itself upon the houses, painting all of them dark green; perhaps that was a better color than the dirty brown underneath.

Cracks infested the exterior of the houses; it seemed almost as if a simple touch would cause them to come crashing down. Clearly, though, that wasn't the case, as people could be seen inside the houses living normally: kids flying with dirt-made planes, mothers and fathers crying, and teens staring at walls.

"No laws, no limits, huh?" Klaus thought as he saw a young boy on the second floor of a house, carve a letter onto his arm. The boy gritted his teeth. "G-R-A-N-D?" Klaus thought as he turned his head to read the letters. "Huh...Grandnew??" He was incredibly confused, but he continued to walk.

"Heh, this town is always so interesting; never have I seen a place more declined," Klaus whispered to Emma. She knew precisely what he meant and expressed no concern about replying to him. Whenever Klaus would refer to such things, she would ask herself, Aren't I only 10?

"Cover up your shoulder. It looks gross." Emma expressed her discomfort at Klaus's wound.

"With what?" he replied.

"I don't know, your hand or something. It makes me feel sad when I see blood."

Klaus stared at Emma momentarily then put his hand over his wound. "Right."

A few seconds passed before Klaus said, "How do you know that disgusting rat? I've never seen it before."

Emma swayed back and forth as she replied, "You know that little hole in that one tree that I said to never go near? I met her there a couple months back."

"What eloquent speech..." Klaus thought, putting his finger on his chin and shaking his head.

His hair perked up as he trembled and said, "And you've been talking to her?"

"Mhm. She's really nice Klaus. She's...just a squir-

"Rat." Klaus side-eyed Emma. "A rat."

Emma sighed annoyingly and then...

Creak...

"Alright we're here." Grandold groaned as he opened the door to his house.

"Ah! Finally! Now you can-"

Emma got on her tippy toes and covered Klaus's mouth. She muttered to him, "Come on."

Klaus turned his eyes to her and silently nodded. "He is 120…" he thought as he walked taciturnly through the door.

"Have a seat." Grandold invited the two to sit at a table in his kitchen. The kitchen was very ordinary, albeit everything looked decrepit. The sink also wasn't connected to anything. Instead, there were large metal buckets of water stored on the counters. A small light dangled back and forth above the round wooden table, flickering as the group began to discuss.

"First off, why'd we bring the jittery, flea-bitten rodent who thinks hoarding nuts is a grand achievement?" Klaus pouted and glared at Annie, who was crouched up across from him on the table. She didn't require a chair.

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As Annie was going to dispute Klaus, Grandold raised his hand to silence her. Emma sat diagonally right to Klaus, and Grandold was to his left diagonal. Perhaps Grandold had placed Annie farthest from Klaus on purpose.

Klaus realized this and thought, "This old man catches on quick."

The group waited in the awkward silence for what seemed like an eternity before Grandold spoke, "You asked about the mark correct?"

"Y-"

"That's right." Klaus interrupted Emma.

He sensed that she was going to flatter Grandold, and submitting to others, much less someone he defeated, is one thing he wasn't going to let happen.

"Very well." Grandold turned his head to the side and pointed at his mark. "This is known as a Binding Order. The patterns of the marks vary widely, so do not assume that mine is universal."

A complex assortment of thick red and blue lines covered a circular area on Grandold's neck. The pattern, which seemed simple from afar, grew more intricate the closer one looked at it. Lines upon lines, upon lines, the pattern seemed infinite. Klaus gripped his head and looked down as a headache swarmed him. As it subsided, he looked up and noticed he was the last to look away.

"You ok, boy? The deeper you look at it, the more the Reapers try to restrict you."

Klaus nodded.

"Merely focus on the simple pattern on the front, and you'll be fine." The design on the front was indeed simple; an essential T was shown, albeit twisted.

After another moment of silence, Grandold said, "I have the Binding Order of Truth. As it sounds, I am bound to only speak the truth, whether or not I genuinely know. A light shines above me whenever I say the truth. When I don't, no light appears."

"What if you don't tell the truth?" asked Emma. "What happens then?"

"If I do not speak the truth, I will be severely weakened for a short period of time. My body's immune system will fail drastically, and all my strength leaves me. It is truly a curse."

Grandold nostalgically looked at a photo positioned left of him on the kitchen counter.

The group sat in reticence, waiting for him to show the photo.

"This was my family." Grandold took the photo from a steel case and poised it up in the air with his pointer finger and thumb. "Before I came to Boon, I lived in Upoil. We lived in a secret society underneath the-"

"How old were you then, old man?" Klaus rudely interjected. "30." Grandold quickly replied without looking at Klaus. Instead, he turned the photo back and, while observing it, continued.

"Underneath Upoil, there was a secret society known as the Defiers. They defied the Royal Government's wretched ways and intended to destroy them one day. Me on the other hand, I was simply looking for a place where we could be safe. Of course I disliked them, but did I despise them? No. To me, the Reapers were undeniably superior to us commoners, leaving us with no choice but to submit to their will."

Grandold paused momentarily, seemingly to amplify the impact of his following line, "Until that day. The day the Defiers were discovered. Despite being found, the Defiers fought back the best they could; it was to a point where it seemed they had the edge."

At this point, Klaus began lightly tapping the table with his nail, signifying his immense boredom. He held his head sideways and stared only at his moving finger. Emma and Annie, however, were engaged and hunched back.

"It seemed like a miracle, until a man came."

"A man?" Annie asked. What did he look like?"

Grandold's expression dimmed. "Yes, a man."

"A man dressed in luxurious clothes, most notably a star pinned to his chest. His clothes radiated deep blue and gold, and his sleek black shoes made every footstep sound heavy. His curly hair, a golden bronze, and his eyes, crimson; no matter which way you looked, he appeared vile."

Klaus stopped his finger mid-tap as his hair perked up. "Vile?" he thought. "This might be interesting..."

The white hair on Grandold's arms stood up.

"Ah, when he raised his finger, all the soldiers floated in the air. He sneered and mocked the soldiers. He pulled his finger down and pulverized them."

The group was taken aback as Grandold put his hands on his face.

"All I saw was red. The man stood on the ground walking, using the same method on everyone he saw, soldier or not, grinning all the while. As we ran to escape, we got lifted up into the air."

Please, please don't kill them! Kill me!

"I tried to plead with the man. He looked at me and had a great laugh before giving me an offer: if I could hold the two of them up, he would let us go. He pointed his finger down again, my wife and daughter blitzing down towards the ground; I held them up, my face becoming hotter every passing second. He asked me, Do you love your daughter? I immediately said yes. *sigh*, had it not been for my reaction speed, I would have died too. My wife and daughter were reduced to mere liquid," Grandold began to crack up.

A tear slipped down his face, "I couldn't help it!" he shouted as he banged the table with his fist, startling the group and shattering the light bulb. "She had an affair with another man!"

Grandold sobbed, "I tried to love her." He trembled and sobbed louder as he said, "I truly did. I'm sorry."

The crew went mute, halting all sounds as Grandold grieved.