The house was still and silent in the mid of night, punctuated occasionally by the howling of the autumn wind which brushed against the stone walls. The moon shone a faint, white light through the silhouetted clouds of the blackened sky, casting itself onto the house and bleakly into the glass windows. The rest of the room was illuminated by the fiery, orange glow of the lanterns at each corner. Haruka looked up at Albeo, wearing a face of worry, her hands placed over her chest, clasped together. Albeo stood at the bottom steps and glanced questionably at the three men who had gathered in his dining room before setting his eyes directly onto the counselor, his hand placed firmly onto the wooden chair that faced him, as though the empty, cushioned seat was strangely inviting him to sit.

“Professor Sapphire, why are you here?” Albeo asked, looking directly into his hazy, gray eyes.

“All will be explained, Mr. Baryk,” the counselor vaguely answered, staring back into Albeo’s eyes with a warm smile. “Please, take a seat before we do so. It may be a while.”

Albeo glanced over the three men once more. Gai with his slightly long, emerald hair; Professor Sapphire with his neat, dark azure hair; and the third man, whose hair was much longer than Gai’s and much more unkempt than the counselor’s. It was black and riffled with vertical streaks of white running down their length. He had a worn, thin face that displayed spiteful, silver eyes. He wore a long, black cloak with tattered and slightly torn ends that matched his face. Albeo, after looking over the three men, looked to his mother, then the counselor, and then finally walked over to the chair and, with slight reluctance in his expression, took a seat.

“There we are,” the counselor said pleasantly. He took his hand off of the chair and slipped it into the large pocket on the left of his formal, brown coat, taking out a light-brown, wooden rod. Albeo looked at the rod and instantly recognized it as a wand. The counselor held it up to his face, stroking it with the tip of his index finger, and spoke to him, “Have you ever been interested in the art of spellcasting, Albeo?”

“Er, no, sir,” he said in response. “I’ve never really ever been interested in learning magic myself, although I think Fuyu—er, Lord Gai’s daughter may be interested in taking it up.” He recalled that moment after school in which she was tempted to ignite Feodore’s pants.

“I don’t think so,” Gai contradicted, shaking his head slightly. “Magic is a very delicate thing, and my daughter…well…isn’t.”

“But I understand that your mother here has given you your father’s wand as a gift?” the counselor nodded towards Haruka, who stood against the wall at the bottom of the staircase, still looking concerned and a bit weary.

“Yes, but I don’t practice any magic,” Albeo said, shifting his eyes briefly to look at his mother. “My father did. I’m just interested in him, that’s all.” He looked at the wand held in the man’s fingers, its tip pointed unlike his father’s rather dull-ended wand. “Is that your wand sir? Are you a spellcaster?”

“I’ve been known to cast a charm or two,” the counselor replied, not looking away from his own wand which he whisked through the air casually. “Your father was the impressive one. He could conjure the most incredible sorcery, and at such a young age, too.”

“You…you knew my father?” Albeo asked, his face now kindling with interest and a touch of surprise.

“Yes, long before you were born Albeo. Your father, Cane, and I were comrades, so to speak,” he answered, gesturing to the thin, black and white haired man that stood across from him, beside Gai. “We fought together in the Great War. Did your mother never tell you this?”

“No,” he looked to his mother for a moment. “She didn’t.”

“He was a grand recruit for Bruma, your father,” the counselor went on. “He was a skilled warrior, a brilliant military strategist, and a quite masterful spellcaster. Almost the perfect soldier, really.” He withdrew his wand, tucking it back into his pocket as he spoke. “He was always a favorite of Basilias…probably why he was accepted into the Martial Council at such a young age.”

“Don’t speak too highly of him, Lividus,” the thin, fierce-looking man spoke in a grim voice, looking over to Albeo’s counselor sharply. “Neo had his faults just like every other man: seeking revenge and chasing after that dead fiancée of his.”

“My father was engaged to someone?” Albeo asked Lividus, his counselor, who did not give so much as a glance at the man.

“Yes, he was betrothed to a woman that he had known since…childhood, as I understand it,” Lividus answered, his smile slipping from his face.

“What happened?” he asked, looking, for a moment, at his mother, who was clutching the heart-shaped charm that hung from her necklace.

“She was murdered,” Lividus said darkly. His warm smile had vanished. “by the very man who had raised your father and taught him the arts of spellcasting—Mavros.

Haruka shivered at the sound of his name, grasping the charm of her necklace even tighter. Albeo both confused and quite aghast. He had never known much about his father, and only now was he being told of all these things. His mind was now racing with even more questions than he had ever had. Not only about his father, but his mother as well, wondering why she had never told him about all of this before, and why he was now finally beginning to have some of his questions answered, and it was by the student counselor of his school.

“The man who raised my father,” he began, picking one of the numerous questions popping up in his mind. “…murdered his fiancée?”

“They were foolish men, the both of them,” Cane commented before Lividus could answer. “One of them constantly complaining and sulking, and the other seeking revenge and chasing after impossible dreams. It’s no wonder when they finally killed each other.”

“Killed each other?” Albeo asked, speaking to Lividus rather than the vicious looking man at his other side.

“It was more of a murder-suicide,” Gai spoke gravely, looking down to him. “Your father killed Mavros five years after the death of his fiancée for revenge. It was only then that he realized it was simply impossible for him to revive her, and, believing for it to be the only way to be reunited with her, killed himself.”

“R-Revive her?” Albeo questioned him, puzzled. “I don’t understand.”

Gai began to explain everything. He recounted his travels with Neo. He told him about Neo’s dark and unforgiving past. He told Albeo about the Autumn Solstice, the Voro, Griffon blood, and Mavros’ relation to it all. When Gai had finished, Albeo looked completely lost for words. He was stunned to learn all of this about his father, and in a single night, after being in the dark for the past fifteen years. His eyes unfocused and staring off into space in serious thought, trying to absorb the shock of it all, he turned back to Gai.

“So…he tried to revive her…” Albeo began, his voice trembling slightly. “…but couldn’t?”

“That’s correct, Neo,” Lividus answered. “The human is composed of two halves, both with their own physical and metaphysical sides. The mind is made up by both gray matter and the consciousness. The self is made up by the body and the soul. When the physical entity has lost its use, its intangible counterpart detaches, and can never be reattached. Neo failed to realize this, sadly, and paid the price for his ignorance with his life.”

“Why didn’t you stop him?” he questioned, turning back to Gai with accusation. “Why did you let him kill himself??”

“I tried to stop him. Honestly I did,” Gai defended himself. “You must understand this. Your father was a very brave, great man, Albeo. But he was just far too stubborn. By the time I had come to assist, the situation was beyond help. I could do nothing but watch…” Gai’s trailed off as he stared into space, his face overcome with grief.

Albeo withdrew. He was now somewhat regretting that he had said anything. He then looked back to Lividus, who was looking down at his black, leather shoes.

“You only knew my father from before all…all of that stuff happened, right?” Albeo asked. He felt a bit discomfited referring to the dark events in his father’s life as “that stuff.” He went on, “So why are you two here now, telling me all of this?”

“Actually, we knew your father quite some time after the incident,” Lividus admitted, looking up from his feet, “We had been tagging along with your father and Lord Gai ever since that regretful event. We were the only two who had survived the attack, other than Neo, of course.”

“You never told me about that,” said Albeo, turning to Gai once more.

“I didn’t know,” Gai responded in defense once more. “They had apparently been following us from not too far behind in all of our journeys. Your father had never told me. I didn’t find out until this one hammered on my door earlier this evening, demanding information from me.” He used his thumb to point to Cane, who stood at his side. Cane gave him a scowl.

“We were helping your father search for Mavros,” Lividus began to explain. “But not for revenge. Cane and I knew that Mavros had collected himself quite a bit of power, and with his intentions in mind, we knew that he would be quick to take action. We surely thought that we would start hearing things about him, considering all of the things he had spoken of, but it was surprisingly difficult to track him down.”

“That’s because he didn’t do anything but take over a tiny, little village,” Cane added. “He gave a load of rubbish to this one here,” He briefly glanced at Gai with knifelike eyes. “There may be some truth behind the misleading reasoning he gave for settling for such a lesser place like this, but we think the main reason he didn’t set out for bigger things was because he didn’t have enough power to do it. He plan backfired on him, and he suffered for it. The fool.”

“But…he’s dead now, right?” Albeo asked the three. “My father killed him, didn’t he?”

It was at this moment that the room filled with an ominous, awkward silence which made Albeo feel quite uneasy, as though he had asked a pivotal question.

“Funny thing, evil,” said Lividus, looking down to his shoes once again. He then heaved a deep sigh. “No matter how many times you kill it, it just never seems to die.”

“What are you saying?” Albeo asked, his voice shuddering. “H-he is dead…isn’t he?”

Lividus looked up, not to Albeo, but to Cane, with a meaningful stare. Cane looked back with an expression that seemed to say “Now?” Lividus nodded his head, and Cane took out a wand from under his black coat. It was nearly black, showing a faint, dark brown when held in the lantern light. He walked across the room, the bottom of his robes sweeping over the wooden floor, and stopped before Albeo, holding his wand firmly between the fingers and extending his arm, placing the pointed tip of his wand directly at the center of Albeo’s forehead.

“If you experience any discomfort or pain,” he spoke in a foreboding voice, closing his eyes. “…bear with it.”

“What are you—” Albeo tried to ask, but was interrupted by Cane, who uttered,

“Aspicio Mens Mentis”

Albeo saw Cane fade away, as did the dining room and the light that filled it. Before he knew it, the chair had vanished from beneath him, and he was now twirling through nothingness. Multiple, streaming colors flashed by his eyes, entangling with each other and whipping through the empty space. Images started flying towards and past him, moving too quickly for him to see what or who they were of. They came at him, one after another at mind boggling speeds. Albeo hadn’t the slightest clue as to what was going on, but he was too amazed by it all to really ponder over it. Then, the images suddenly ceased in midair, and he had a split second to glance over them: they were all foggy pictures of his mother, and of Gai, and of Fuyuka—but none were of him. And, as soon as he had looked at them, they dissolved into the surrounding light. Suddenly, the colors vanished and the void was consumed by darkness. He then heard a loud “snap” and the darkness pulled away from him like a vacuum. Albeo felt the chair rematerialize from under him. Cane, the room, and the orange lantern light faded back into vision. He was back, from wherever it was he had been.

He looked up at Cane, whose eyelids were still shut. He then forced his eyes open, and suddenly jerked his arm back from Albeo’s forehead, staggering backwards across the room as though he had been given a swift punch. He rubbed his forehead with his free hand, as though he had a terrible headache.

“It’s just as we suspected,” Cane muttered, his voice distinctive in the awkward silence. “There’s no doubt about it.”

“I see,” Lividus said intensely, looking at Cane who was now inches away from the far wall, standing beside Haruka, hunched over slightly as he stroked his head.

“So, you’re the woman who made her way with Neo?” Cane said, turning around to get a good look at Haruka, giving her a sweeping glance that showed apparent disapproval. Haruka avoided looking at him, clutching her necklace firmly and staring down at the floor with a face of embarrassment mixed with worriment.
“That’s quite enough, Cane,” Lividus spoke sternly. Cane gave Haruka one last look and then turned away. Albeo heard him click his tongue and mumble something as he walked back to the other side of the room and took back his place by Gai.

“Are you saying…” said Albeo, his voice shaking with nervousness. “…that you think he’s going to…come back?”

Lividus only gave him an unreadable look.

“But…but that’s impossible, isn’t it?” Albeo started again, receiving no reply from any of the three. “To bring back the dead…You said yourself it isn’t possible.”

“I said that it was impossible to reattach a soul to a body that has lost its use,” Lividus corrected. Albeo now looked more worried than ever. Cold sweat began to run down his cheek.

“But…I thought you said that it was eaten?” Albeo said, uncertain if he wished to trek further into his own could of questions, afraid of what the answers might be. “…Mavros’s body, I mean; and his soul. They’re both gone, aren’t they?”

Nobody answered. There was a dead, long silence. Albeo was growing more and more fearful with each passing moment that he still received no response. He wondered again why nobody had told him any of this before. Why were they hiding it from him? Were they afraid of how he would react? What made them tell him this now, in the middle of the night? And what was it that the other spellcaster had done, placing Albeo in such a strange place for such a brief moment? All of these questions raced through his head, but, unfortunately, he received no answers. This all did very little good to the discernable tension in the air.

“I’m afraid,” Lividus spoke at last. “that we cannot reveal everything to you at this time.”

“What?” Albeo responded, caught a bit off guard. “Why not?”

“I’m afraid I can’t reveal that either,” Lividus explained, looking a bit regretful. His then lowered his head to meet Albeo’s eyes and began to speak in a much darker voice, “But I will say this: we, especially you, are all in grave, grave danger. There is a great impending threat to all of us that we cannot ignore.”

“E-especially…me?” Albeo gulped as an even greater fear setting into his cold flesh.

“It is because of this that you must accompany us in our journey to delay, and hopefully, destroy this threat,” Lividus continued.

“Journey?” Albeo questioned, now, more than ever, desiring answers to his burning questions. “A journey to where?”

Lividus stood there, hunched over slightly, in silence. After but a moment, Albeo understood perfectly: he could not know this either. Lividus erected himself to his full height and fixed up his coat.

“We will return for you in about one…perhaps two months. I suggest you be prepared for some long travels by then,” said Lividus, straightening his collar.

“But…why do I have to go?” Albeo asked, his mind still swimming in a sea of confusing questions and even more confusing answers. “I don’t understand, sir. I’m almost certain that I won’t be of any help against this threat that you speak of. And I’m sure that you could find some other people to help you. Gai—Lord Gai—has warriors stationed at the Tower. There’s the village’s Head Spellcaster, too. I know…well, I’ve been acquainted with his son. I’m sure if he’d agree if we would just give him some reasoning as to why he…”

“No,” Lividus spoke with finality rooted unyieldingly in his voice. “It must be you. You are the only one who can help us.”

“But surely—” Albeo started, but Lividus interjected.

“Be ready in two months,” he said, ignoring Albeo almost entirely now.

Albeo could not believe his ears. He looked to Gai for help, but he gave no word of assistance. He looked to Cane, but he merely scowled. What was happening? Why is it happening? What could he do to stop it, and let his life return to the way it had once been, dealing with problems like school, and making friends, and Fuyuka…

Albeo was struck by a terrifying thought.

“How long will this journey be?” Albeo asked Lividus, who now looked as though he was ready to leave their house, checking a watch that he held in his hand and fiddling with his fingers. “When will I return?”

“You’ll be lucky if you do return,” Cane answered for him.

Albeo was quite startled. The words Cane had just spoken to him did not help him ease his stress, rather almost pushing Albeo onto the brink of panic. Lividus put his watch back into his large coat pocket and looked to Haruka, who was standing silently by the staircase, loosely grasping her necklace and staring off at the floor, as though in deep and painful thought.

“Thank you for letting us into your abode,” Lividus spoke to her with a smile and a gentle bow. Haruka took a few moments to snap back to reality. She then gave him a small nod without smiling and then looked to Albeo, who was also staring off into space, distressing thoughts also swirling in his head like violent whirlpools. As Lividus, Cane, and Gai stepped over to the doorway, Lividus turned back and looked at Albeo, who sat unmoving in the wooden chair.

“Albeo, I would like for you to attend appointments with me everyday at the start of lunch until we depart for our journey, starting tomorrow,” Lividus spoke, his hand on the doorknob. Albeo looked back at him slowly. "Don't worry about your lunch. You'll be fine."

He then gave a nod to Albeo and Haruka and stepped out the door, Cane following closely behind, looking back at Haruka briefly with a frown. Gai lingered in the middle of the doorway for a moment, looking back at the two as though he was about to say something. But he didn’t. He simply gave a nod to the two and stepped out of their house, closing the door behind him. A few moments after they left, Albeo slowly got up to his feet and weakly made his way across the room. Passing his mother, she looked at him with deeply concerned, blue eyes, but he did not look back. He climbed up the stairs and entered his room, shutting the door. Haruka stood there beside the steps, and dwelled on her thoughts. Albeo walked directly to his bed and lay down, pulling the covers over him. He tried to forget about all that he had heard so that he could sleep, praying not to be plagued with anymore nightmares tonight. The wind howled and the leaves carried through the air, scraping against his window in the black sky. Never before had he experienced a night as cold or dark as this one.