Willem was walking through the corridor leading to the room of Headmaster Judas Serapio. His steps were relaxed and his lips were smiling. He already had an idea why the Headmaster had called him. He was surprised when he learned that the Headmaster had come back sooner than expected but didn’t put much thought into it. He soon ended up at the door which he knocked softly.

“Come in.” A gentle voice, slightly hoarse with age, greeted Willem from the other side of the door.

Willem entered the door, approached the desk where Judas was sitting and sat down opposite to him. He looked at the neatly arranged documents on the table and glanced at Judas’ old face skimming through them.

“I heard you sent the first-years on a mission.” Judas kept the leaf of paper down and looked up at Willem. “You realise who those children are, don’t you?”

Willem was going to giggle in his familiar style but didn’t for some reason. He kept looking in the eyes of the Headmaster and cocked his head to the side. There was a storm of thoughts inside his head at the moment, elation filling his heart but his expression remained still.

“How was Leklenia, Headmaster?” Willem diverted the topic, his eyes still fixated on Judas.

“Don’t change the topic, Willem. Even though the Academy isn’t partial to High Nobles, we still need to take utmost care of their lives. Even more so when three of the Great Houses are involved in your little joke mission, and the House Frye too. I do not wish to make an enemy of them, especially Erwin Frye. Make sure the children come back alive.” Judas frowned at Willem, who didn’t seem to be taking anything seriously.

Willem didn’t answer for a moment. He kept looking at the Headmaster and giggled after a while.

“Of course, Headmaster. The children will come back alive. However, do tell me about this new King of Leklenia.” Willem said.

Judas nodded after Willem answered affirmatively. “Dexter Corvus is still a bit young but he’ll be able to get the High Nobles of Leklenia within his grasp soon.”

“Oh? He seems quite capable.” Willem nodded as if pondering something. “So, was it the Cult who killed Lexus Corvus?”

“No. The aide was not controlled by the Cult.” Judas said.

Willem’s eyes were looking straight into Judas’ eyes, with no change in his expression.

‘Not a lie.’ A thought popped up into Willem’s head but he suppressed it quickly.

“But you should have found the Cult’s traces in the Court of Leklenia,” Willem said.

“There were some but they eluded me perfectly. As far as the Cult is concerned, the situation in Leklenia seems safe for now.” Judas said.

‘A lie.’ Another thought popped up in Willem’s mind but was suppressed even faster than before. A smile was tugging on his lips, threatening to show itself at any time.

“That is good.” Willem stood up from his seat, getting ready to leave. “Alas, if I was powerful enough, I would have wiped those degenerate spawns of monstrosities myself. Those filths are ruining a perfect world, hiding like cowards.”

Willem reached the door while stating his opinion. He turned around and bowed half-heartedly to Judas. “I’ll be going to keep those children safe.”

“I heard you chased out Acacia.” Judas said in a soft tone.

“That was just a little trick, Headmaster. You know I’m pretty decent with illusions, don’t you?” Willem giggled and left the room, humming a familiar little song.

Judas kept watching the back of Willem as he left the room. His eyes homed on the figure of Willem even through the walls and kept looking at the plump man walking down the corridor. He gradually receded his eyes and picked up the documents to continue skimming at them.

*********

“Have some food,” Sirius uttered, struggling to hold back his sorrow as he looked at the malnourished children in front of him. The little children were now wearing clothes. Nora and Sirius took turns to use their healing arts to help mend the injuries visible on the bodies of the children. However, the injuries within their hearts, the ones not visible could not be healed so easily. The children were still somewhat scared of Sirius and Nora.

“Please,” Sirius said again while holding a spoon-full of porridge in front of a child’s mouth. The child hesitated for a bit before opening his mouth and gulping down the warm food instantly. His cheeks flushed with the excitement of eating warm food, his eyes slightly watering.

Nora was also feeding the children. Unlike Sirius though, she was creating a gentle wind that would carry the bowl of the porridge to the children eyeing the food. The children looked at the fantastical scene of their food flying to them and the fear in their hearts slowly subsided. Some gasped in surprise, while some tried to catch the flying bowls.

Sirius looked at the scene and also tried to make the bowls fly. Sadly, it only ended up with him being drenched by the porridge he had wanted to lift up. Nora, who was slightly better at elements than him, had to focus really hard to do a simple task of flying the bowls. However, Sirius failed to do even that. His failure, though, ended up bringing some joy to the children watching him bumbling around, as he scratched the back of his head.

Sirius also beamed with joy when he watched the kids smiling at him. His heart melted as the light shined on the downtrodden faces. He was happy that the children were slowly opening up their hearts to Nora and him.

“Mehr has been gone for a while. What do you think he’s doing?” Sirius asked Nora.

The mission and the reward of the High-Grade treasure had already left their minds. The current scenario was more important to them than a mere treasure. Nora didn’t turn around, busy concentrating on the wind and creating more tricks to make the kids happy.

“I believe he must have gone to the other officials,” Nora said in a heavy tone.

Sirius’ hand stopped, the spoon hovering right in front of a child’s mouth. Uncomfortable thoughts were swirling in his mind, making him convulse. Just then, he felt something tugging at his hand. He looked at the child who was grabbing his hand with his little arms, trying to direct the spoon towards his little mouth. Sirius’ thoughts stopped and his heart calmed down as he gently pushed the spoon into the child’s mouth.

“I hope he doesn’t find anything of this sort,” Sirius said while wiping the sides of the child’s mouth.

Nora and Sirius became busy taking care of the children when they heard the knock on the door.

“Yes?” Nora asked as she opened the door. She noticed one of the guards was standing outside, with a platter filled with food. It smelled so good, in fact, that the children also peeked at the platter he was holding. Sirius smiled when he looked at their reaction.

“Let him in, Nora,” Sirius said, “Leave the platter and leave.” He instructed the guard.

“Yes, My Lord.” The guard bowed politely to the back of Sirius.

Sirius didn’t turn around, his eyes fixated at the few children whose expressions had changed drastically. They turned their eyes and hid behind the ones sitting next to them as if scared of being found out.

The guard set down the platter and got back up to leave when Sirius’ voice entered his ears. “Wait.”

The guard turned around and stood with his head hung low, but still peeked at the child of High Noble who had called him out.

Nora didn’t understand what was happening, but she still stood to the side looking at Sirius who was getting up from the floor where he had been sitting so far. He slowly moved to the nearest child who had gotten scared when the guard had entered the room. He moved his hand gently through the child’s hair, trying to calm him down and showing that he was safe.

“What happened? Did that man do something to you?” Sirius asked in a soft voice that gave shudders to the guard. He looked at the child, threatening him with his cold eyes. It was then…

A crushing force dropped down on him. He trembled by the sheer force as he struggled to stand on his two legs. His knees buckled under the weight that kept on increasing rapidly, making him fall down on his abdomen. He gasped and panted, fighting for every breath while struggling to crawl out of the room. The open door seemed like the only escape right now but even that was being shut by the High Noble girl with a white lily in her hair.

“It is fine. You can tell me.” Sirius said to the child.

Ambivalence was apparent in the child’s eyes as his gaze moved from Sirius to the guard and back. He hesitated for a moment before he looked into the eyes of Sirius that seemed unafraid and valiant. He steeled his heart and slowly opened his mouth to tell Sirius about the times he didn’t want to remember.

With every word that came after the one from before, Sirius’ eyes grew colder and colder. The actions of the man behind him and the pain that the child had gone through struck like thorns in his mind. The words from the child had gone muffled and another voice was ringing in his head; a voice as old as the ages, one that contained dignity and grandeur. The female voice that he hadn’t heard for a long time.

“You’re the one who shall bring order to this world. You shall choose your responsibilities with utmost care. Do you understand, Sirius Frye?”

He never understood what the female voice meant by choosing responsibilities but now he did. There was only silence around him as he closed his eyes. The voice of the child that was mixed in with the female voice gradually quietened down, leaving only emptiness in his heart. He repeated the words that had just formed in that emptiness again and again as if engraving them in the walls of his heart.

‘No cry of an aggrieved soul, anywhere in the world, shall go unanswered as long as I have hands to hold a sword.’

Sirius opened his eyes as the voice of the child and pleading of the guard entered his ears again. His hand was already moving to the sword, unsheathing it in a swift motion.

“Was he the only one who hurt you? Sirius asked the children who were scared of the guard.

The children shook their heads, implying that there were more. Before they could speak further, Sirius had already turned around and started walking towards the guard.

“Sirius, we should put all of them in the basement and decide their punishment with the higher authorities,” Nora said. Her eyes were also cold, threatening to strike down the guard after listening to the child’s words but she forced her heart to remain still. “Let Mehr come back and we’ll discuss it with him.”

“Mehr has always said, ‘do not leave a threat for the future no matter how insignificant you might find it’ and he was right. The beasts always came back to hunt us. The ones who ruled over this building were also the authority here. So, how can you believe the ones above them? The only way to prevent such things from repeating themselves is to eradicate such evil. And that is my responsibility.” Sirius kept moving through the children, towards the guard. His face was devoid of any emotion; the kindness and innocence leaving his eyes like a lie.

“Sirius, the man in front of you is not a beast.” Nora wanted to stop Sirius from killing a human. She knew that it was a path of no return. If Sirius killed the guard, the kindness in his heart would forever be lost. She had seen such scenes many times on the battlefields when she accompanied her mother. New soldiers would come back with lifeless eyes and ashen faces. She didn’t want Sirius to be like that. And so, she moved.

However, Sirius was a beat faster than her.

“I see no human in front of me, only a beast deserving of death.” With his words, the sword in his hand roared violently, swinging down at the guard.