Night had fallen, and the four boys were back in the city, As usual it was busy with practically every bar and club full, as the streets were also full, and very lively with all manner of people, the four boys made their way through the crowded streets, they entered through the doors of a bar, inside was filled with all different types of characters, some looked shady, while others were engaged in all forms of debauchery, the warm yellow lighting did very little to hide any of it, while the air was thick with the scent of alcohol, smoke and sweat,

The boys walked past all of it, as though it weren’t even there, as they passed the bar counter, the man behind it was tall and lanky and dark skinned, his head was bald, with a single wide scar running down to his ear and his short beard was mixed with black and white hairs, he wore a black dress shirt, with a red bowtie, all tied together with a pair of rectangular shaped glasses on his face, he had looked to be in his late forties,

“hey Uncle Kyn”, Aster said,

“hey Aster, I take it you boys are heading up stairs”, he stated towards Aster,

“oh, yeah unc we’re gonna be up on the roof for a while”, Aster replied to his uncle,

“okay, well you boys just be careful, there’s a lot of shady shit happening in this city, just over a week ago an abandoned building was burnt to the ground with several bodies inside scorched, Lev wouldn’t happen to know anything about that”, he replied to Aster,

“I doubt he does, and yeah sure, we’ll try our best to be safe”, Aster answered putting his foot on the staircase to go to the roof,

“oh yeah, by the way, I heard, that there was some trouble at home, anything note worthy ?”, he asked,

“nope, not at all”, Aster answered, looking away from his uncle and heading up the stairs,

“well just to be sure I’ll pop by, maybe have a talk with Canaan”, Kyn said,

Aster just glanced back from the side of his eye, looking not at his uncle but the large Red long sword partially covered by the red circular shield that held a blood colored ruby in the center, that hung off of the wall as a center piece for the bar, reflecting the warm yellow light,

“that boy” Kyn said, watching his nephew walk up the stairs, as he cleaned the glass in his hand,

“ahh I remember when those four were little runts running amok around the village”, A stranger said, dropping three deep purple gems on the bar counter,

“oh Rath, you’re back”, Kyn said,

“yup, three Ghost emeralds just like you asked”, Rath said,

Rath pulled out a bar stool that stood in front of Kyn, as the two began to engage in conversation,

“you’re a life saver Rath, don’t get why you stopped working as a merchant back home”, Kyn said,

“what can I say, Canaan is a snake and a prick”, Rath replied taking up the glass that kyn placed in front of him,

“speaking of him, were gonna have to go have a chat with him, one of my guys told me he had Aster locked up for a week, and that Zaraar had Polaris locked away also”, Kyn said, his eyes going from calm to serious, you could see the anger in his eyes,

“canaan should be no problem to handle, but you’re brother on the other hand, he’s way to self righteous to think he did anything wrong, if you had kept control over the enforcers none of this would have happened”, Rath said finshing off his drink,

“ohh shut up, I could have said the same to you, if you didn’t leave you would be in canaan’s position right now”, kyn said with a slight chuckle,

a bit later

"Oh, she looks nice" Levant said to barak,

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"You wanna go and see what she's about", Barak said back to Levant smirking,

"Barak don't you already have a woman ?" aster asked Barak

"Dont sweat the small stuff, aster, I have it handled, plus that’s just how our relationship is", Barak responded without even looking in aster's direction,

“he’s just pissed off because he’s been single for a while”, Levant said,

“it’s not like you’re any better Lev”, Aster said,

“hey, I have a few girls”, Levant said,

“really where are these magically invisible women then ?”, Aster asked, putting his hands to his eyes, and scanning around,

“yeah yeah joke all you want, mr cant-get-over-serene”, Levant said,

“ohhh, he went there”, Barak said,

“fuck off man, whatever”, Aster said, walking over to Polaris,

“well as much fun as it is watching you two bicker, those girls that we saw are going to be gone by the time you guys are done”, Barak said,

“yeah you’re right”, Levant answered,

Levant and Barak took off downstairs to pursue some women, leaving aster and Polaris, on the rooftop, aster was at the edge of the roof watching Levant and Barak, move from girl to girl, Polaris came and leaned on the ledge next to aster,

"So....you wanna talk about what's really going on in your head cause I know that being locked up and tortured is really playing on your mind" aster asked polaris,

"Hmph... at this point I don't know if it's this time that broke something in me or the last time or the time before that or if..."Polaris paused as he gripped the ledge so hard it began to crack,

His voice started to waver, "Or if I've just been fucked in my mind from the start, if it wasn't for you guys, if it wasn't for you guys I would've just ended it a long time ago" Polaris lamented as he held down his head and started to walk away,

"Polaris", aster said as he rested his hand on polaris' shoulder,

"Its okay to feel that way, all of this power we have, the four of us, doesn't make it an excuse for us to have to act tough twenty four seven, you were just tortured, by someone who helped raised you, so if you have to cry to let it out do that, if you have to go blow off some steam by fighting go ahead, if you wanna vent by having meaningless one night stands, go ahead but do not let the voices inside your head eat you alive" aster told him while looking at him directly in his eyes,

A few streaks of tears began to flow down Polaris’ cheeks, as he stood there silently,

"Thanks, I needed to hear that", Polaris said with a slight smile on his face,

"I'm not sure if it's for you or for me at this point to be fair", aster said putting his hands in his jacket pockets and looking away,

"Well I'm gonna take your advice, so I'll see you later cause right now I'm going with the other two" polaris said as he jumped off the rooftop and onto the fire escape and made his way down,

After stood on top of the building alone, about 10 minutes had passed by when, someone else found his company,

"Well, well, well, isn't it the person who is responsible for all of my problems in life" A very familiar voice said to aster,

Aster turned around with a sour expression on his face,

"Oh great, serene, to what do I owe this unfortunate pleasure" aster asked as he took his hands from his pockets,

"I just came to make your life as miserable as you made mine, it's because of you that I did this" serene said as she rolled up her sleeve and took off her glove, she stepped into the light showing her hand it was covered in scars,

"Sigh, so you started cutting again and this time it's way worse", aster said clenching his fist together as his blood started to boil,

"I wouldn't have done it if we were Still together, you fucking filth", serene said, making sure that her words hit him like blades,

"It was you who decided to end it...You ENDED it all", aster said, now filled with rage,

"Yes...yes I did, and it hurt....it hurt because you made me care, but I'm still grateful somewhat, because I could see that when i ended things between us, it broke you, it mentally fucked you", serene said as she started laughing,

Aster stood there, taking her verbal abuse, until something inside him broke, his anger reached its apex and then everything inside him went quiet, his mind had become a peaceful calamity, his blood boiling so hot with rage he couldn't feel it anymore,

Let me show you who you have been replaced with, a figure jumped onto the rooftop and stood beside her, he wasn't larger than aster, but he seemed terrifying,

“is this him”, the shadowy figure asked,

“yes”, serene said,

"now babe, let's kill him, cause I've broken him so much, he isn't of much use any more", serene said to her friend that had joined in,

“ this is him, the one that causes you pain ?, well I’m sure if I kill him it should please you right ?”, her partner asked,

“yes it would, so let’s get to it”, she replied.

Somewhere Unkown

The sky was dark and cloudy, the air was cold but crisp, the entire area was awash in a thick cloud of fog, The unknown stranger walked through the thick fog, at his feet laid, limp disfigured hands, as he took another step, a loud crunch could be heard, but his eyes remained glued forward, unbothered by the human limbs at his feet,

“what are we to do with the bodies ?”, another strange figure asked,

“I don’t care if you throw them in a hole, just get rid of them”, the first figure said,

Stopping at the end of the path on the sand, he could hear the gentle crashing of the waves amidst the thick cloud of fog, he stepped off towards the water, Stepping onto what seemed like a wooden boat, he took a seat, his arm propping on the side of the boat as he placed his hand under his chin,

“pix hurry up, and lets get a move”, the figure said,