Samael dropped to his knees with a loud bang as dust was stirred in the air before his body smashed down the floor with a reckoning boom, unconscious.

Mendez sighed as he massaged his necks, still feeling Samael's fingers on his throat along with the ridges it formed.

"Fucking hell," Mendez said as he cracked his neck.

Meanwhile, Ajax simply sat down as he leaned over the shattered steel walls of the training hall.

In all the time he's been with Samael, that is the first time he has seen him so angry, so... full of rage. There have been moments, yes, but never this severe. Not to mention that power...

After spending some time thinking what next, the two eventually brought Samael back to his room as they too began to treat their own wounds.

It didn't take long before another person came running inside Samael's abode.

"Took you long enough," Mendez said as he hissed at the pain of his bruised neck.

"I only heard it now," Olaf said as he entered the room.

"Who's that? A second apprentice?" Mendez asked as he pointed his finger at a young mellagun following closely behind Olaf. "I thought you weren't going to take another disciple?"

"I didn't," Olaf said as he approached Samael's bedside. "How about you introduce yourself, boy?"

"Zargot, sir," Zargot said as he too took a peek over Olaf's waist.

"What had happened?" Olaf asked as he examined Samael's wounds.

Samael had burns in his body, not just any ordinary burns—burns he has not seen in all his years on this planet. Not only that, but it seems his burns were healing him now after it had done the damage.

"Training happened, and then this," Mendez said.

"What kind of training does this...?" Olaf asked as he looked over Mendez.

"It was real training, okay?" Mendez said as he saw Olaf's glare. "We needed to conquer his emotions to finalise the second stage. But clearly, something is not wrong with this kid."

"Or you're approaching it incorrectly," Olaf said as he shifted his gaze back to the boy. "Something burdens him severely, and you force him to face it; of course it's bound to go wrong."

"That's how I did it," Mendez said, his voice melancholic. "Look how I turned out!"

"That's exactly it," Olaf said. "Look how you turned out."

"Ouch," Mendez whispered as he leaned back.

Just on time, Samael grunted as his eyes began to scrunch up. Opening them, he looked around as he saw all the people in the room.

"What...?" Samael muttered when he saw his reflection on the mirror in front of his bed.

Looking at his burnt hands, Samael could feel the traces of Void matter in them, slowly being sucked in his body.

He overdid it again.

Samael sighed as he rested his head back down on the pillow.

Although he did go overboard again, he was not frustrated or angry; in fact, he was surer than ever on what he needed to do next.

He knows what to do now, but he doesn't know if he has the strength to do it. He doesn't know if his wounds from then had already healed. Perhaps it will never heal until he faces his own origins.

Perhaps this was the only way to understand who he truly is and why everything that has happened to him did so.

It was time to return...

Home.

***

"Then you went insane and beat up Ajax!" Mendez retold Samael the events. "But of course not me; I stopped you; this bruise on my neck is my own doing."

Samael simply gave the man a nod. While Olaf shook his head at his shamelessness.

"How do you feel, boy?" Olaf asked.

"I feel fine," Samael said. "Although it may look bad right now, it didn't mean to hurt me."

"It?" Olaf asked.

"It's... complicated," Samael said.

"Well, we all have our secrets," Olaf said. "So tell us, what is on your mind?"

Samael fell silent, his gaze staring at the white blanket he's holding, unknowingly clutching them.

Mustering his courage, he spoke.

"Home."

Olaf and Ajax's brows rose as Mendez asked. "What's with all this reaction? What's wrong with his home?"

"What of it?" Olaf asked.

Samael looked at the window on his left as he began to reminisce about a past long gone in the vastness of time.

He only remembered so little. Then again, he was so little when it all happened. It had already been 11 years since he'd last seen home.

"Mendez's training revolved around controlling one's rage. But I never truly could, no matter how much I tried," Samael said. "But I know now that which I need to do."

"So you finally understood where to start," Olaf said. "So you're..."

"Yes, it is time to return home," Samael said.

"But I thought it was gone?" Ajax asked.

"Gone? Control? HOME? Can anyone please enlighten me?" Mendez said.

"It is," Samael said.

"Then why? Why not spare yourself from the memories of that days tragedy?" Ajax asked.

"What do you think I've been doing for the past 11 years of my life?" Samael asked, shutting down Ajax.

"I've been running away from it every day of my life, from every waking moment to every single time I close my eyes to sleep, hoping that I don't dream of it," Samael said. "But it never really worked that way, didn't it?"

"But when I was there, in the middle of that nightmare, a thought occurred to me," Samael said. "What if it's time to face it? Face the fact that all of that is gone and I need to get a grip."

"Is that really it?" Olaf asked as he held the boy's shoulder. "Is that really what you feel?"

Samael looked at the man.

"No."

Samael's hands began to tighten as a rip echoed in the room, causing Mendez to slowly reach for his dagger, and so did Ajax.

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"I want to rip those that took everything from me limb by limb and allow them to have a taste, even just a fragment of the pain I went through," Samael said as he slowly began to rip the blanket apart.

"I want them to suffer just as I did and make them beg for me to kill them—but I won't! I WANT THEM ALIVE TO LIVE WITH THEMSELVES AND THE AGONY I HAD LIVED WITH MY ENTIRE LIFE!" Samael roared as the entire room shook under the violence of his bloodlust. Yet, even then, Olaf remained holding him.

"That is how I feel," Samael said as a lone tear trickled down his eyes, the killing intent slowly dying down, leaving nothing but the suffocating silence.

"But?" Olaf asked as Samael's hand began to loosen.

"But then she came, and I fear once more that if I lose control, she would get hurt and I would lose the only family I have left," Samael said as another lone tear escaped his crimson eyes, falling down the ripped blanket.

"You are correct," Olaf said as he removed his hand and leaned back. "Losing control is indeed a recipient of danger... but it is also the recipient of another."

"What is that?" Samuel asked.

"Relief," Olaf said. "And freedom."

"Then I suppose it truly is time to go back," Samael said as he sighed. "Yet, I don't know if I have the courage to do it myself."

"You won't be alone," Olaf said. "I would not be your master if I did not have the ability to be there when it matters."

After another day, they would embark on a journey towards Samael's hometown. Fortunately, he still remembered the location of the place.

As they travelled towards the place, Samael shifted his gaze out the windows as he watched the trees they were passing by.

How nostalgic it was; it reminded him of the days when he and his family would ride out with their horses to have a picnic by the cliff. Oh, what he would do to have that one more time.

As the carriage went on in it's march, they eventually halted as Samael's jaw tensed.

This was it.

Yet he could not muster the power to move. He simply sat there, in silence, watching the wooden door.

It was only when Olaf held the boy by the shoulders that he broke out of his trance.

"We'll be there," Olaf said.

Samael nodded as he swallowed.

Opening the door of the carriage, it began to slowly swing open as Samael made his way out.

Turning around, wind blew over his hair as he winced at the sight of it all.

In front of him was what remained of his family's house.

Ruins.

Towering stones and burnt wood stood in the barren earth surrounding the area, with corroded blades and armour hanging around.

Yet, even amidst this destruction, he could still vividly recognise the house he lived in and the layout of the area.

A lone tear slid down Samael's cheeks as he took a step forward, then another, and so on, only stopping when he was in the middle.

Looking down at the weathered cobblestone floor, a drop of tear smacked down the floor, staining it once more.

Yes, it was here. It was here when he lost his mother. It was in this very place.

Looking ahead, Samael saw the exact body of his mother, lying on her knees with swords impaled in her back.

He blinked.

Now, there was only the destruction and that which is left.

Moving past the area, Samael's steps were heavier than the last as he stopped once more where multiple rusty swords impaled in the floor.

His father's grave.

This is where he died trying to buy them time. This was where they slaughtered him.

Kneeling down, Samael held the single blade on the floor. The engravings on its surface had now faded significantly, but Samael still remembered how much he wanted to have that sword when he was young.

Now, he has it in his palms, yet there was no happiness; there was only silence.

"I could probably fix that," Olaf said as he approached closer behind Samael. "It is severely damaged, but nothing a little work won't fix."

"Thank you, Olaf; I would appreciate that," Samael said as he rose to his feet, handing the blade to the man.

"Who did this belong to?" Olaf asked.

"My father," Samael said as he looked over the manor.

"I see," Olaf said as he looked at the blade's surface, where a single initial was written.

Blank.

"Blank," Olaf muttered.

Meanwhile, Samael approached the manor's entrance as he pushed the old doors open, dust stirring over the place as he walked in.

"This place is big," Mendez said as he looked around.

The interior of the manor was severely damaged by the fire, but it still remained intact and maintained its general structure and shapes.

As Samael walked in, memories of his childhood came flashing through his mind.

He used to run around this place, playing swordfight with his father, as his mother would scold them for causing too much mess, especially before dinner time.

Samael dragged his fingers through the dusty, long table in the centre.

His mother would always cook the most delicious meals and tell the most soothing bedtime stories. She was always there, watching with a smile as he and Samael's father bantered over the table.

Moving even further deeper into the manor, Samael found himself in a large hall as Olaf and the rest trailed behind him.

Samael's fist tightened as he made his way across the corridor, stopping before a massive painting covered in a white cloth.

Holding the dusty cloth, Samael dragged it down as a massive painting of his parents and him was revealed.

Unable to control it, Samael dropped to his knees as tears fell down the floor one by one.

He did not have the guts to see them, look then eye to eye, and feel he would be okay.

Mendez stared at the painting. It was a picture of a man, woman, and Samael in the center. The woman had dark hair like Samael did; perhaps he took it from her.

She had a warm gaze.

Meanwhile, the man had purple long hair reaching up to his neck that was tied to a ponytail. He wore a proud and strong expression.

Ajax approached Samael when Olaf held him back. Looking at the blacksmith, Olaf shook his head at the shadow Saint.

"Give him time," Olaf whispered.

Ajax nodded as he took a step back.

There, they stood in silence, simply bathing in the melancholic atmosphere of the manor.

As Samael sobbed there on the floor, his eyes opened as he felt something touch his shoulders.

Looking up, the only thing he saw was the painting with his parents.

Even now, they comfort him.

Samuel gritted his teeth as he stood up, dusted himself, and wiped the tears away. Yes, he was finally done mourning.

Now, it was time to honour them.

But before that, he wanted to first see something. His father's basement.

It was the only place he was prohibited from entering. No one had gone there, no one except him. Even my mother was not allowed.

Whenever Samael would ask him about the place, his response is always the same.

"One day, when you understand the truth of the world, you may go down and see. But for now, this place is my own little secret."

Samael blinked as he stood before a simple wooden door at the end of the stairs. Olaf and the rest stood behind him as Mendez asked.

"What is this place?"

"Father's study," Samael said as he dragged his fingers across its dusty surface.

With a gentle push, a click echoed.

Slowly, the light outside slowly pushed inside the room as the door slowly but surely opened, revealing a humble room.

Walking inside, Samael stopped for a moment as he thought he saw his father's silhouette sitting by the table.

Approaching the desk in the centre, there he saw a plethora of items. There were books scattered around along with a quill. But what truly took his attention was the box in the centre.

Gliding his fingers across its surface, Samael could almost hear his father speaking.

"This box is previous to me. One day, when you're old enough, this will belong to you. So eat a lot and grow big."

Samael bit his lip as he slowly began to undo the locks before pushing them up, revealing their contents.

It was a key along with a note.

Samael hesitantly took the note as he unfolded it open, the very first letters weakening him.

"Hello, Samael."

Samael's body trembled as he fought the tears threatening to fall down.

"If you are reading this, then that means you are ready. And I wish I was still there when you were, to witness you understand and see all the great works we've done."

Samael's eyes were blurry under the torrents of tears as droplets smashed down the yellow parchment paper.

"I have made sure to leave everything for you. To ensure that you will be able to understand as I did even without me or your mother's help. If you are reading this now, I wonder what you look like? Did you take after me? Or your mother?"

Samael grinded his teeth as he began to quietly sob.

"But enough of that; perhaps what I intend to ask is—How are you?"

Samael broke down as his fist smashed down the table.

That was all that he wanted. His family's warmth. Just a question asking him how he is. That was more than enough.

Mustering his courage, Samael continued to read.

"By now, I'm thinking you have understood the meanings of this world. You have... learnt what powers truly control it. If so, then it is time for you to understand who we are."

Samuel's brows furrowed. What were they?

"I am sorry for hiding this, son. But there are reasons why we spent our life in the woods, in hiding and away from others. There are reasons why me and your mother did not allow you to have friends. I am sorry."

I don't understand.

"Our family, the Blanks, is not a normal family. We are what some may call "Librarians."

Librarians? Samael's brows furrowed even further every passing second.

"You must be wondering, what is a librarian? We are the keepers of knowledge passed down by the Sovereign of the—"

Samael's eyes widened upon the following words.

"Void."

Samael's breathing began to pick pace as he moved forward.

"As keepers of the knowledge of the sovereign, we have been tasked with keeping it secret and away from the prying eyes of the arch enemies. Of those that wish to covet it."

Arch enemy? Knowledge?!

"This job has been passed down from me by my father and passed down to my father by his father for generations. And so, this is your job now."

Samael slowly steadied himself.

"I know this may sound confusing, and it is. I too was confused when my father first taught me of the sovereign's existence. But in time, like I, you too will understand. I simply hope there is still enough time for me to be able to personally hand it to you."

My family knew of the Void? But how? What does he mean time?!

"The key before you will help you understand. It will help you know the level of our devotion and the importance of our work here."

Samael shifted his gaze at the key in the box.

"And know this, Samael. No matter how many and grand all of this may be, the one and my only greatest creation—"

"is You."

Samael stared at the letter for a long time as he held the key in his hand. For a while, he simply stood there in silence.

Putting down the letter, Samael began to approach the steel door in front of him as he inserted the key. Olaf and the rest simply watched Samael as the steel door began to open.

Then they all heard a click.

Slowly, the metal door creaked as it began to swing open.

Without hesitation, Samael pushed forth as he swiftly felt the encompassing warmth of the Void. As though he was in the abyss.

Meanwhile, Olaf and the rest felt a chill unlike before, as if they were in the presence of a mighty king.

Now, it was time to reveal the truth.