“A backpack?”

The person who put into words what Aaron had in his thoughts came from a short-haired young man. At first glance, he wasn’t too tall to instill fear in others, but as if genetics were trying to compensate him because he was short, he was quite wide of bones.

This boy's name was Don.

“And not just any backpack. It's one of those modern ones that open with recognition code.”

The recent comment came from the last person to complete the group of three individuals who were attributed the robbery of belongings in the Oyogue Path. He was also young like the other; but unlike his companion, his coarse face gave him a more adult appearance than he actually had. In addition, he was tall, but thin on physical build.

His name was Ryder.

“Really? I preferred when only a lock was needed to take care of your belongings.”

Aaron's comment brought with it a remarkable regret of previous experiences.

The travelers who crossed the path didn't usually use security devices in their backpacks and if they needed to protect their belongings, they did it with a simple padlock. These devices were easy to open with a tool as simple as a pincer. But lately, to his discomfort, the backpacks protected with recognition code became popular, which meant having to ask their frightened owners for the password.

What a nuisance, seriously.

It was a headache to have to force the owners to say the password when, on the other hand, with the padlocked models, it was enough to surprise the victims and deprive them of their luggage.

Aaron shook his head in denial.

The memory of travelers who choked on their words or said nothing because of the fear of losing their belongings was part of the accumulation of bad memories that he preferred not to remember in particular in front of this old man. Shouting and asking his victims for the key only added pressure and stress to his already risky work.

This backpack was part of the headaches that he preferred to avoid:

If weren't the owners, were the backpacks, and if weren’t the owners, were the backpacks.

But, beyond his security system, the backpack would go through any other he had seen had it not been for what one of his comrades noted.

“And it has a very particular shape as well. It almost doesn't even look like luggage if we take that into account.”

For Aaron, what Don said was quite right.

This strangely bulky backpack gave the appearance of having been designed for an unusually large person. Aaron, after stealing more than one hundred backpacks in this path, could say without reserves that he had never seen such unusual luggage.

“Leaving that aside. Look how heavy it is!”

“It's true. I can't lift it,” said Ryder rubbing his hands after the failed attempt. “What's wrong with this backpack?”

Aaron, approaching the boy who had just spoken, instructed him to watch over the old man, who remained motionless and with no strength to try to escape from his captors. It's not that he was suspicious of the boy's strength, but he also wanted to confirm it. In addition, among the three, Ryder was the weakest.

Putting his hands on the straps, Aaron pulled with all his might.

And as it happened moments before, the backpack didn't move an inch, leaving Aaron perplexed and with a slight pain in his hands.

“Surely the valuables inside are of high quality to be protected like that.”

“Or it's just clothes,” Aaron said, suggesting a more real possibility.

“Valuable clothes,” Don replied, resisting that his illusion was destroyed.

Aaron didn't answer back. Instead, he exchanged glances with the two young men.

“How did this get here?”

The question that the group forgot to ask because of the surprise of the discovery was accompanied by a current of cold air that froze their bones at the first contact with the skin.

In the blink of an eye, as if everyone had had a brief mental connection, Aaron ordered what was evident to the group.

“Bring that person here.”

The two boys nodded in unison. With the strength of their feet to the maximum, both hurried to climb the slope in search of the intruder. Soon, they were out of sight, leaving the elderly man in the hands of Aaron.

Someone was careless while watching from above.

He was very sure of his reasoning.

Whoever was on the slope dropped his backpack in an oversight from the surprise of witnessing an assault or because the weight was too much. Knowing the reason for this presence would be revealed once his two companions brought the one involved.

“Now.”

Taking out a rope that he kept between his clothes, Aaron advanced towards the person who remained next to him. The old man with the blue eyes.

Every step he took towards the perplexed old man; he couldn't help but worry a little about how frail his health was. Its structure resembled that of a branch of a tree, sick and about to break. Anyone who saw him for the first time would agree that the old man had to put an incredibly effort to walk this far. Without any doubt, he wouldn’t be able to reach Boggio.

And I don't expect that you can't even get to the bridge halfway down this path.

As much as he thought it, he couldn't understand how this person wasn’t resting in his house or in a home for the elderly. Public policies or programs for older adults should have him as one of their beneficiaries ... Or at least his family or assigned nurses should take care of him. Not here, on this dangerous path.

“A few more knots and...”

With ropes covering the entire torso area, the old man had been tied almost completely to a nearby tree that Aaron chose for its robustness. Because this man's body was weak from the ravages of age, he had no problem advancing with his task.

After immobilizing the captive, Aaron couldn't help but think that the rope around him gave him a more helpless appearance than the one he already had.

However, after a moment of fleeting doubt, that thought wouldn't stop him.

“Old man... Have I not seen you elsewhere?”

The question that Aaron was asking had to do with the reason why his group decided to intercept the old man. Without knowing exactly why, he felt a certain sense of familiarity with him. He was sure he had never seen him in his life, but at the same time he felt that he knew him. It was a feeling like suddenly meeting a childhood friend who you saw after a long time, and yet, it was difficult to remember about that person no matter how much you wanted to.

That's how Aaron felt.

Those blue eyes are strangely familiar to me. They are extremely crystalline as I am sure I remember... But that person should have died a long time ago.

With doubt in his mind, he continued with his task.

“This will be enough.”

He didn't say it out loud, but he felt that, if he kept pressing the old man with the ropes, his body wouldn't resist the pressure and would break.

“Old man?”

By the time Aaron realized it, the man's head was resting on his chest. It was there that he realized another detail.

“With that weak mooring did he faint?”

The old man no longer listened to him. He didn’t move nor react to Aaron's attempts to awaken him. He simply stopped listening to his words.

I think that from the beginning I didn’t need the ropes.

Immediately, he looked for a sign of life in his chest. Paused sounds indicated to him that fortunately the old man hadn’t left this world.

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Finished checking his condition, Aaron still didn’t understand it. He left enough space for the old man to breathe, but without untying him too much to allow an escape.

“... For how long I have not dealt with senior citizens.”

Knowing that he had nothing more to do until his two comrades returned, Aaron lay down on the ground, near a tree to the right of the old man. They were one of the few trees that were in this first section of the Oyogue Path. Putting his arms above his head, he prepared to enjoy the momentary tranquility that he could afford if no one observed him. The situation was controlled for the moment.

Leaning on a tree, the cold wind blew over him with enough force to move his hair a little. It was a pleasant weather. However, now he had to wait until the old man regained consciousness to calmly ask him.

I was too focused on verifying if he was the old man from that occasion, that I foolishly distracted my attention in case someone was watching us... But once he wakes up, he will tell me what I want to know... If he is that same person who witnessed my first crime in that alley.

Aaron remembered the feeling of having to point a gun at his victim's neck. The despair of this person, whose face he long ago forgot, was immediately transmitted to him who had no experience in this world of crime.

It was an action he had carried out on countless previous occasions against his enemies; however, that time...

... his hand shook.

He remembered it vividly: The conflict of pointing his gun for a different reason than the reason he liked his job. Not toward an enemy, but toward a victim.

That was the first time he directed his will for a different reason that wasn't to protect.

Finally, when he released his victim, he quickly ran away.

Horrified by what he could have done, he noticed a presence watching him.

He remembered it as if it was happening again.

Two blue eyes were staring at him and at his recent action.

It wasn't an accusing or fearful look.

They were only a few seconds, but were enough to disconnect him from reality.

That eyes of disappointment he would never forget them.

“Ah!”

Showing that same defeated expression didn't favor him.

As he struggled to forget his past, Aaron realized that his companions hadn't return.

The two of them do take my orders too seriously.

Don and Ryder.

The names of his two companions.

They had been following him for three seasons.

From the winter of last year, through spring at the end of the year to the glorious summer in the first three months of the calendar. In his opinion, the best season for those who were dedicated to stealing.

The reason was very simple.

Many people would take their vacations in the summer, which consequently led to an increase in the number of visitors to the city of Boggio. That is when Aaron saw an opportunity without taking too many risks. A path was becoming famous for its landscapes and ecological environment ideal for those who enjoyed walking. All this at the foot of the North Highway and with the sea just a few meters away.

With this in mind, the three decided to settle on the trail as they saw the growing influx of visitors.

At first, they operated covered under the anonymity of masks. But as they spent more time on the path, they learned to sense and predict the passage of the fog. After a month, they abandoned the masks and took refuge in the safety of the fog. With the weather in their favor, the dexterity, speed, and calm which they acquired as a group allowed them to continue operating in this place without any difficulty. Beyond the occasional encounter with the Forces of Order, Aaron was sure to say that after almost four months, the three of them became the lords of the path.

Thus, at the same time arose a source of frustration impossible to silence.

The Dark Heralds.

The name with which the inhabitants began to mention them.

Due to the secrecy with which they stole the belongings of their victims, a part of the population, the minority, acclaimed them as “The Ghosts of the Fog”. Another part, and rightly so, rejected them by calling them “The Damned of the Oyogue Path”. Needless to say that the latter group represented the majority.

However, because they were so skilled at hiding on the trail and stealing quickly, to the point that no one had seen their faces, before the eyes of citizens it did nothing but reaffirm the mastery with which they performed these actions to the point of being public knowledge that they never used violence to commit their crimes. Therefore, the name that the citizens gave them had to do with the “chivalry” with which they acted, serving a dark purpose such as taking away belongings.

Obviously, neither Aaron nor his companions chose such a name to refer to their small group. The least they wanted was that unnecessary attention from the population since their life was based on the incognito.

“The Dark Heralds.”

It was a powerful name.

At first, he disliked the fact that the people of Boggio mentioned him and his comrades like that. Carrying a name implied that people recognized their existence as a group and linked them to the crimes reported on the Oyogue Path. But for a reason that he wanted to believe was unknown, he couldn't stop repeating the name in his head.

When he repeated it in his mind, he liked how it sounded like elegance and dexterity.

Even so, before his eyes, his group should not bear a name and both Don and Ryder were still two people with youth blood running through their veins. A thought that didn't change easily in spite of the fact that he recognized the experience that both of them had acquired throughout the time they had known each other.

“Old man. It seems that there is an individual who came to rescue you ... Or maybe he is an unsuspecting traveler like you. What do you think. What do you think about this?”

Immobile in the face of the question, the person referred to as old man remained as immobile as before. It wasn't due to the rope. Aaron confirmed that at this point there was no difference whether or not the old man was tied up.

“Come on, don't leave me talking alone.”

Again, there was no answer.

Now that he noticed it, before the old man fainted, he hadn’t heard him say a word. Not a single reaction came from him. Nothing. Just like a puppet whose strings were cut.

But if he had any reaction, he wouldn’t blame him for feeling afraid. Being assaulted in a desolate area usually left sequels in the victim's mind that took longer to recover than the stolen belongings.

With those thoughts hanging over his head, Aaron desisted from continuing his one-sided conversation.

“Just above us.”

Looking up at the small but steep slope, the irritated voice with which he spoke didn't hide his displeasure at his recent carelessness.

Allowing a third party to get involved in the middle of an assault was an alteration to an action between two parties: perpetrator and victim. Those who steal didn't need their victims to be rescued by some sort of vigilante hero. In the worst case, to their displeasure, the police force was the force that came forward to prevent the assaults. A feeling of discomfort invaded him every time that that happened. It happened once or twice a year, but that intervention of the third party happened.

Today, unfortunately, was one of those days.

For a reason he didn't know, the forces responsible for preventing and avoiding crime acted earlier than usual. So on those unfortunate occasions (like today), they had to be more selective with their theft targets and settle for what they could get so as not to call the day a loss.

It was then that they saw the old man wandering around. As if it were a plea heard from heaven, this person was walking alone without going in any particular direction. Among his doubts as to whether a person with death on his back had anything of value, a detail of his appearance caught his attention even in the fog that covered the place.

Two blue orbs distinguished themselves between the twilight of the day and the density of the fog.

That aspect of his physique was enough for Aaron to decide to intercept him, but this time with a resolution different from stealing possessions to which he was now accustomed. All he had to do was to be vigilant so that when the old man regained consciousness, he could confirm his suspicions.

No matter what, he had to remain vigilant.

Having to keep an eye on everyone…

A job so familiar that it was difficult for him not to sigh when he remembered his experience in that field of work.

If he hadn’t been fired, he would continue to work to protect visitors in those tourist sites where he now exposed those same people to danger. Finishing from traveling the Oyogue Path, the city of Boggio and its port awaited the travelers. It was on that marine coast where he worked for a while.

At Boggio Castle.

A residential with hundreds of rooms and full of vestiges of old cultures that centuries ago were settled in those same territories where the city of Boggio was now built. Visitors and residents of the area described it as a palace and Aaron couldn't agree more. Every time he walked through the grounds and towers of the castle, the majesty of the construction and the environment distracted him from his surveillance work.

However, one particular aspect of the castle made it so visited all year round.

The sea.

The castle was built a few meters from the coast, on the edge of the cliff. This privileged position on the coastal strip offered a majestic view of the ocean. In his memories, no other job was compared to that. The experience of observing the horizon from one of the rooms set in another era transmitted enough peace and serenity to avoid feeling unhappy.

And among those sensations, a very famous legend told by the inhabitants of the city of Boggio and which aroused the intrigue of visitors, was the existence of a treasure sunk in the sea.

In the era of explorations on the discovered continents of the world, a ship full of gold extracted from the country's mines was headed to the North Continent as a tribute. However, the ship was soon attacked by pirates. The crew at the time made the decision to sink the vessel to face this looting. Setting fire to the ship, and finally, after being on fire for ten minutes, the ship sank off the coast of Boggio. Thus, the lives of all the crew members were lost, as well as the treasure.

The legend itself wasn't a lie.

The ship existed and from the highest tower of the castle it was possible to distinguish the remains of the ship using binoculars of space enlargement.

About the treasure... was never found, but the security members of the castle say that, at dawn, and at times, one can see golden flashes from where the ship sank.

“How long ago I stopped being part of all that.”

Aaron's head was filled with happy memories of that stage of his life. The best one that he'd lived.

He couldn't help but smile a little.

“Ah...”

He had shown a shameful expression again. More importantly, he stayed too long engulfed in his thoughts.

Immediately, he looked to the sides in an attempt to avoid the taunts that only he could hear.

Without any surprise, the old man remained as immovable as before. Behind him, in addition to a few birds that pecked the ground looking for bugs to feed, there was nothing of importance. The same thing happened in front of him. And finally, on the right, the backpack moved.

“What?”

Aaron had realized that the backpack, from which his attention had been diverted, began to shake.

“What's going on?!”

The wind blew regularly due to the proximity to the sea, but it turned out that it wasn't strong enough to move a heavy object like a backpack and less one that he himself tried unsuccessfully to lift with all his strength. That idea was quickly dismissed by another one farther from reality.

“Don't tell me that...”

What happened next left him in absolute confusion. Not because what he thought was wrong.

Quite the opposite.

“It's not possible.”

A boy emerged from the backpack.

...

His idea away from reality was happening before his eyes.