Adino crossed the room towards me. He was wearing his entire suit of black armor that consisted of a mixture of chain mail, plate, and some leather. He looked not only awesome but very intimidating. However, something about him made me feel a lot safer. Perhaps it was his friendly smile or just the energy that he put out into the world.

He sat down beside me on the bed, his chain mail rattling softly. He looked down and I saw that he noticed the angled dagger laying on the carpet. His face scrunched up in a questioning look as he bent down to grab it.

“Deborah brought it,” I said, breaking the silence. “I don’t even want to look at it.”

Adino sat there, twisting the blade in front of his vision as he examined every nook and cranny of it. Would he be able to gain any information from this dagger on the people who had tried to do this most heinous of crimes? I didn’t care about the political plot itself, but murder was one of the worsts sins in the eyes of the Almighty. One that was almost unforgivable, no matter the circumstances.

“It took me so long to get my hands on this dagger,” Adino said, bringing the blade to his nose to smell it.

“Yeah, I don’t know how Deborah got a hold of it,” I said. “She seems the sneaky type. Don’t really think she likes me much.”

“You don’t understand,” Adino replied, dropping the blade to his lap. He looked into my eyes, trying to somehow register information into my brain through our eyes alone.

“What do you mean?”

“You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find poorly crafted weapons in Auracle.”

“Yeah, well, we are known for our steel, I-“ the words stopped in my throat as the puzzle pieces started to form.

Adino wasn’t smiling and he no longer had that warm energy to him that I had felt when he’d first entered the room. What replaced it was cold. Something I would define as dread.

I shut my eyes, drooped my head, and shook it. “No… It can’t be… you didn’t….”

“I’m not here to answers your questions, you little shit. You’ve just come into this world. You know nothing! Nothing! Nagheed has no reason to rule. His lack of experience on the field will only bring us down.”

“I don’t know what you’re saying,” I said. “Why not just leave me out of it! I just want to get out of here…”

Adino played with the dagger in his hands, flipping it over but no longer looking at it. His gaze was on the wall, but he wasn’t looking specifically at anything.

“How did you know?” he asked. “How? Does it have to do what that fucking arm of yours? Tell me… how…”

I stood up and Adino grabbed my wrist tightly. My only option was to run for the door but wasn’t that too obvious? This man would get to me and probably kill me within half a second if I even tried. Gauss was scary enough and he looked up to this man! So, how powerful was he?

“How. Did. You. Know?” he asked me again, his eyes still focusing forward.

“I didn’t,” I said. “I’ve told you people a million times, it was an accident.”

“How could it have been an accident? You killed our assassin. You did it all at exactly the perfect timing and the perfect positioning. The only person you killed was the assassin and no one else. No,” Adino said, shaking his head. “This was planned… It was planned!”

He threw me onto the bed and the blade was yet again placed at my neck. No matter how many times I’d prayed to the Almighty, he did not answer my prayers. Now, I knew, he had turned his back to me. After all those years of preaching his word, he had forsaken. All because of this arm…

“I didn’t have anything to do with anything! I don’t want to be here! Just fucking kill me! I’m done… You hear me? I’m done! Hell would be a better alternative than this place.” Tears fell from the corners of my eyes. “No more… No more of this place…”

Adino looked into my eyes, his lids half closed. There was something seriously wrong with this person who now held a blade to my throat. Whether it was the hunger of power or he was mentally unstable, he was in a position in this organization that could end up being very dangerous.

“You know what? I actually believe you… You’re nothing more than a fool aren’t you? A fool who really brought a red alchemical sphere to the table…”

“I didn’t know!” I screamed at him, some of my spit hitting his face. “Now either kill me or get off!”

Adino laughed. “You know, I think that’s exactly what I’ll do. You see, I know people. Our society will make it look like you’ve used your newly found knowledge of spheres to escape this place. Yeah…” He shook his head to himself as if he had just come up with an amazing plan. “Then, with your pesky fucking self out of the way, the Blades of the Night can finally take over and complete the word of the Almighty! I’ll take leadership and lead us to victory against the devil himself!”

He slapped me across the face and a sudden energy came into my body. A sense of confidence. A feeling of power that could only be described as bliss. I felt… strong… as if I had just been bathed in a blessing from the Almighty. My actual purpose of being here in the Refuge wasn’t clear, but what was clear was that my destiny was the Refuge. And Adino… He had to go.

The man who had, at first, held all control of the situation, pulled back, his eyebrows coming together as if he could see what I felt. I didn’t slap the man back, but decided on a right cross with my black arm. As my fist connected in a flash, his head ripped off his shoulders, the skin tearing at his collar.

At just that exact moment, Samuel reentered the room using a blue orb. He must have been out there, watching the entire scenario.

“I’ve heard everything, Adino! You’re under arrest-“

Adino’s lifeless body toppled to the side as I pushed it off of me, his head and half his spinal cord resting in the corner of the room. Blood was splattered all over my face and all I could think about was the deviance I had seen in his eyes just before his head left his body. Something in them hadn’t been human, and even more abominable then my demonic hand.

“What… the…” said Gauss, entering the room beside Samuel whose mouth hung open.

Adino’s body still held the rusty dagger as it slid off the bed and onto the ground. I stood up and wiped some of the blood from my mouth.

“He’s part of some group called the Blades of the Night,” I said, breaking the silence. “From what it sounded like, he isn’t the only one, either. Lord Nagheed needs more protection. However, I doubt this secret society will try anything for some time but why chance it?”

“Now, listen here, Ira!” said Gauss, raising a finger. “You are in no position to-“

“Gauss, he’s right,” said Samuel, bringing the big man’s arm down. “The Almighty has finally entered this young boy. Ira’s seen everything he needs to and now the real training can begin.”

“Is this what the ancient prophecy declares?” Gauss asked him, keeping his eyes cautiously on Ira.

“Not exactly, but when has it ever been word for word?”

“I need a new room,” I said, ignoring all of them. “And Master Gauss,” I said, taking a knee before him. “Please, I ask that you take me as your apprentice. Teach me everything it is I need to know…”

No one moved and no one talked. The room was covered in a traitor’s blood and more voices could be heard outside the room as black armored guards entered through the jiggling walls. After a few moments, Gauss extended his hand and placed it on top of my head.

“First thing tomorrow morning. I’ll have your armor and weapon waiting for you...”

To my left was a rectangular mirror that sat on the floor behind the door. It held my reflection and I wasn’t in the least surprised to find that, radiating around my dark grey horns, was a halo of light energy. If anyone else could see it, I wasn’t sure.

The Almighty never left me. He had been by my side the entire time, showing me what needed to be seen. Forcing me to experience what needed to be experienced. And now, the real training began. Evil was coming and not just from the outside walls of the Refuge. But something more.

“We don’t have much time left,” I said, standing. “The devil has infiltrated the Refuge and it’s only a matter of time.”