Their story together begins early in life, and it might haven been the turning point in humanity's history, without it, humans would probably have perished. I observed them for quite some time, and as someone who has lived long enough for their origin to have turned into a distant dream, being envied for my power by many, I envy their bonds, human relationships are a complex system that drives them to achieve many things, some small and simple, others great and challenging.

Of course relationships are not exclusive to them, some beings would make humans look primitive in comparison, but there is something about them that just feels... special. I too have reasons for what I am doing that involve others, in a way, despite my mission being a lonely one, or precisely because I am alone in it. I would not abandon my quest to have what they have, that would be irresponsible of me, being one of the rare few that can actually change things in the greater scale of existence. And the only one willing to act.

Not that I could stop now, even if I wanted to, things are set in motion for quite a while and my role now is mostly merely observational, though, I still have one last resource that I am not quite sure on how to use it.

I recon that that was enough of an introduction to this report, maybe a bit confusing to anyone but me, do not try looking into it too hard, I merely felt it would be interesting to tell my thoughts before each of these reports. Hopefully, whoever reads it will forgive me if I make any mistakes, given this is my first time making something like this. Hopefully, there will be someone to read it.

Like any other story, I think it's only proper to start this one at the beginning, if there is one, and go on to tell the most interesting parts, so that is what I will do.

They were young, both twenty less of wick in the human age system, very young indeed, but old enough to understand more about life than most adults. Their story begins at a Family, a simple wooden structure built to shelter and raise abandoned children, it had almost no furniture, no windows, no floor—besides the cave's—and no ceiling, just wooden walls connected together, and it was one of many in the human kingdom of Arness.

"You have a book?!" asked Setros. A slightly overweight child, he had never spoken to anyone in his time at the Family, until then.

Drak turned, startled that there was someone else in the room at that time, and surprised to be spoken to by anyone in the Family, specially by someone quiet like Setros. He tried to uselessly hide the book behind his back, but Setros had obviously already seen it. Drak jumped on the chubby boy and pinned him down on the rough floor, it was not hard, Drak was taller than Setros, who was only wider.

"Don't tell anyone," he said, trying to sound intimidating, despite his fears of what might happen if someone else found out.

The boy just stared at him.

"Please," he added.

"I won't," said Setros, who did not seem afraid of the other boy, despite his aggressive actions. Perhaps he could sense Drak's fear and concern, like I did.

They both sat down on their beds, almost identical rectangular elevations carved out of the ground and covered with brown, dry stalks. All the children went to play outside of the main Family building at that time, so they were alone, and would probably be for a while.

"Where did you get one?" asked Setros

"The Mother in my first Family was kind... she gave it to me, she said it was from my bearer," said Drak.

"You can read?"

"No," answered Drak, "but I can read this."

"I don't ge it."

"I can't read anything else besides this book."

"Why?" asked Setros, very interested, if confused.

Drak shrugged, saying, "I don't know, after a while I just could."

"Can I see it?"

Drak seemed reluctant but handed the book over to Setros, it was a thin book with a thick and firm cover, it had the human silhouette in reflective silver against a deep black background.

"What is it called?" asked Setros, flipping through the pages.

"I don't know," said Drak.

"Didn't you say you could read it?" asked Setros, dubious.

"I can! But there isn't a title anywhere, look at the cover! There are no words," said Drak.

"Oh, it's true," said Setros, "What is the story about, then?"

"I'm not sure..." admitted Drak.

"So you can read it, but you can't understand it? Isn't that just as useless?"

"I can understand it!" said Drak, taking the book back from Setros, "It's just hard to explain. There isn't a story, it's like... like, forget it, you wouldn't get it."

"Em."

"What are you guys talking about?" asked a feminine voice.

It was Nasha, she was one of the few older girls that remained in the Family, she too did not talk much with the others, despite her curious nature, though, in her case it was not for a lack of trying, the boys just refused to interact with her because they believed they would be cursed if they did so. She was taller than both of them, had golden brown iris and wavy red hair, both rare characteristics among humans, even more so when found in the same individual.

"He can read," said Setros.

"No, I—"

"Really?! That's amazing! I always wanted to learn how to read, can you teach me?" asked Nasha, excited.

"Em..." said Drak, despite not knowing how to read, himself, but he would go on to try learning it just so he could teach the cheery girl.

Events like those are probably what makes some believe in something like destiny, on that particular occasion, the extremely reserved Setros was interested enough to socialize, the usually overly angry Drak felt strangely comfortable, and the excluded Nasha found people who she could fit in with, and from that, friendship blossomed.

Several cleansings passed without much change, as they got older, they started to often go work at farms or mines along with the other children of age. Their bond got stronger, but as far as I could tell, simply due to the passage of time, not any event in particular, thus I deemed uninteresting and unnecessary to report any of it here. As I said previously, I am only going to tell the sections I found to be interesting, so don't mind the time skips, it just means nothing to note happened in that interval, at least nothing that I could notice.

On this second part, they were twenty eight less of wick, and four more members were added to their close group, three boys and one girl. The first to enter was a boy named Yain, who was the smallest of them, despite being the oldest; Horin was the second, with long dreadlocks and black skin; Harn, the third, was the most charismatic and skilled of the seven—or at least he thought so—with a combination of blond hair and blue eyes; and the last to enter, a girl named Umna, she had light brown skin and short curly hair, and as you'll find out, was the most audacious of them. And it is after Umna's entering that interesting things start to happen again.

The Family was built close to the cave walll in a semicircle, there were around two hundred children living in that unit, and it was not very big, so the seven of them chose to gather on the corner of the vertex where the building touched the cave wall, other children and workers could see them, but they were far enough that people would not hear their conversation.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Yain.

"Yes, I was close to her room when she opened the door and I saw it," answered Umna.

"No... I mean, isn't this a bad idea?"

"Come on, Yain, don't be a coward, aren't you curious to know the taste?" said Umna, "You might never get another chance to know, they say it's so sweet and flavorful that you could buy one hundred slaves with a canteen's worth of nectar! Increase the wick's length by ten!"

"But... if we get caught..."

"Do you want to eat alms all your life? Bland root with plant water?" asked Umna.

"I don't mind..."

"Fine! Then do that!"

"Lets calm down," said Nasha, "no one needs to go if they don't want to."

"It's okay, Yain," said Horin, putting a hand on top of Yain's head, "I'll get some for you."

"Em," said Yain, meekly.

"How do you even know it's nectar? I mean, I've never seen it before, and I doubt any of you have either, so how can you know?" asked Setros.

"Well... I mean, it looked like it, from what I heard," said Umni, "you know, a weird brownish yellow, it definitely looked expensive."

"Right... what do you think, Drak?" asked Setros.

"I think," said Drak, glancing at Nasha," it's worth the try."

With a sigh and a smile, Setros nodded, "Then we'll stay awake, we have to do it just before the Light."

A few molten had passed when they put their plan in motion. All the adults and most of the children were asleep by then, the only locked doors were the ones leading out of the main building, the girls' and Mother's. And every door faced the open area between the building and the cave wall.

Drak was the first one to get up, quietly sliding out of his bed and slowly crawling to the other three boys, who followed him out of the room, into the open area.

The layout of the building was fairly simple, all the rooms were connected in an arc, Mother's room touched the cave's wall on the left, then to the right came the girl's room where Nasha and Umni were, nine other cubicles for the boys and two more at the other end that were exclusive for the infants and for the workers. Drak, Setros Yain and Horin were all in the fifth room starting from Mother's side, two rooms away from the girls.

"If anything happens, everyone runs to the closest room and hide," said Drak, "let's go, quietly."

They passed the fourth room then stopped at the third.

"Horin" whispered Drak, "keep watching this room and signal us if anyone wakes up."

"Em."

"Setros, go to Mother's door and warn us if you hear anything, I'll keep watch on all the other doors while Harn tries to open the girl's room," said Drak, stopping at the second room.

They nodded and went to their respective positions, Harn pulled a stick he had carved to be similar to Mother's key, and put it in the lock, trying to open it. He could probably have had only a few glances at the original key, which made the fact that his copy was so alike quite impressive.

"Can you do it?" asked Setros.

"I've opened metal locks before, this is nothing," said Harn.

After fiddling with the stick for a while, and making some adjustments on the key with his knife—which he had managed to keep hidden from Mother, somehow—he paused, looking at them with a smile.

"I said I could do it," he said, pulling the door open.

The girls were both waiting behind it.

"What took you so long?" asked Umni.

"You're welcome," said Harn.

"Even I coul—"

"Not now," said Drak, walking towards them, "let's get the nectar first, then you can flirt all you want."

"I'm not—"

"—shh, they'll hear us."

"Fine," said Umni, embarrassed, "let's just go."

"Right," said Drak, smiling at Nasha, who smiled back, "but it's better if we go two at a time, one enters while the other stays at the door, the rest stays close to one of the other doors and keep watch, in case someone shows up. First is Harn with someone else, since he's the one that can open the door."

"I'll go," said Umni.

They agreed and kept their position.

Harn managed to open Mother's room, wich had the same type of lock, Umni hesitantly went inside, then came back out after a while, the same for Harn

"How was it?" asked Nasha.

"The sweetest thing I've ever tasted, I can't explain it properly," said Harn.

"I can, it tasted like victory and no regrets!" said Umni.

They all went in pairs and came back safely, that is, until Nasha and Drak's turn. Nasha went in, opened the jar and put her finger iin the nectar, tasting it, savoring it, then coming back with a smile.

"Your turn" said Nasha, "try not to take too much, or she might notice."

"That good, uh?"

Drak went in, and he walked slowly, more because he was contemplating the room than because he was trying to be silent. He never saw such a well furnished room, and quite bigger than their own. There were paintings on the walls, there was an actual bed, made out of wood and with some white, soft looking material above it, there were also shelves with more books than the average human read in their entire lives, and a giant gray wooden desk in front of him.

He remembered his original goal and went to the jar, but before he could open it, something made a clattering sound to his right. I could feel his heartbeat raising, he quickly looked at the direction of the sound and saw the origin, a metal pin on top of the plate where the candle was. A time alarm.

He frantically waved for Nasha to close the door and went to hide behind the desk. Suddenly it all seemed stupid, their plan, their reasons, he had heard the rumors, how some children disappeared for breaking Mother's rules, he figured he was doomed if she found him.

He was half right, children were indeed slowly disappearing from the Family before reaching adulthood, when they should either be assigned a permanent job outside or become a soldier. But the ones going missing were mostly females, and it was not for angering Mother.

Mother got up from her bed and walked towards the desk, Drak closed his eyes as if that would make him invisible, and pressed his chest, trying to make his heart beat quieter.

She paused, opened the jar and drank a little bit of the nectar, after a few drops, she opened one of the drawers on the desk and got a key and a small tube filled with a white liquid, then walked towards the door.

Drak gathered his courage and peeked at her from behind the desk, there was a lightkeeper hanging from a nail beside the door, it was almost fading, she got it and went out. Drak knew why, she was going to wait for the Light, to change the lightkeeper's essence and match the time with the kingdom's. But how did knowing that helped him? He was probably wondering if the Light would be strong enough to blind her while he ran.

He clenched his fists and decided to act instead of thinking, he rushed to the side of the door as quietly as he could and saw mother standing not very far away from him, looking towards the cave's wall. That was it, the Light would last for about five drops, he would only get one chance.

The Light came, a drop passed and he was frozen, then another, and it was only on the third that he managed to run, but it was too late, he would not reach a room in time, panic overcame him and mother was about to turn when he felt a hand grab and pull him.

It was Nasha.

"That was a close one," said Umni.

"Em," said Drak, sighing.

"Let's wait her go back to her room," said Nasha.

"Did you manage to taste the nectar?" asked Umni.

Drak shook his head.

"Maybe next time," she said.

"No, thank you," he said, smiling with them.

Mother went back to her room and the wooden door could be heard closing.

"Now, go before she comes back," said Nasha.

"See you in a while," he said, going out.

He was almost to his room when he felt a hand on his shoulder, making him freeze in despair, but it was only Nasha again.

"What are you doing?" he asked, "go back before she comes!"

"I know, I just..."

She reached for his hand and held it, caressing it like they had all the time they wanted. Drak was surprised, but her hand back. She slowly got closer to his face, kissing him.

"I wanted you to know too," she said.

"Know what?" he asked, seemingly dazed.

"The taste. That you were right," she said, looking down, softly, "it was worth the try."

Their time went on rather uneventful before this third part I'm about to tell, they were thirty two less of week, the older males were having combat training to become soldiers, while the older females were gradually disappearing from the Family, to the point that only eight remained from the same batch as Nasha and Umni, and they stayed within the building at all times.

I'm sure you are curious to know why they were disappearing and where they went, and I do know the answer to those questions—I followed one of the girls that "disappeared"—but I would rather not report the details about it, in part because it's not pertinent to this report, but specially because it dove me into disgust and dispair, making me doubt my faith in humanity and consequently at my mission.

"Did you see Nasha anywhere?" asked Drak, he had acquired an impressive amount of muscle, despite not having completely reached adulthood.

"No, not since last Light," said Horin, his voice was quite deep for someone with so little wick burned, his beard had started to grow, too, making him look older.

They had just finished spear training and were eating at the refectory. Usually Nasha, along with the other older females who couldn't go work outside anymore, would watch the males then train, despite how much Drak expressed he disliked that, especially since after he noticed the others gazing at her.

Recently Nasha had been given a room all for herself. Drak didn't know why, and that concerned him, mother never treats anyone in a special way. And when she stopped appearing at the male's training, he was not as happy as he tought he would be.

"They're getting less free time," said Horin.

They were all sitting on the same table, Horin, Yain, Drak and Setros, all on one corner of the refectory.

"You think they'll disappear too?" asked Drak.

"I don't know, I hope not."

"I think they took Umni," said Harn, sitting beside them.

"She's probably in her room, we were just talking about that," said Horin.

"No. We were meeting before, every Light, after everybody went to sleep I would go to the girl's room and meet with her, but last fade she wasn't there."

They knew that if she was not there anymore, there was nothing they could do.

"I'll go look for her, outside," he continued, "if anybody wants to join me, I would like the help."

"You know this is considered deserting, right? You'll become a Red, they'll banish you from Arness," said Setros, he was sitting to Drak's right.

"I have to go, I... I'm, I love her, and wherever they took her, I don't think it's a good place."

"It isn't," said Setros.

"What?" asked Harn and Drak at the same time.

"You know who's taking them?" asked Drak, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, it's only a guess, and until now I didn't have a reason to," said Setros, "but hopefully it'll make Harn give up on this foolish Idea."

"Tell me," said Harn.

"It isn't really any deep mystery, you just have to pay attention. The Family receives only four types of visit, from people bringing food, new children coming in, soldiers looking to take the older men, and sometimes a different kind of person altogether, they are more ostentatious in their clothing and possessions than most people, and their visit usually coincides with the disappearance of girls."

"...you think they are buying the girls?" asked Horin.

"Not only the girls, some of the boys that don't show any battle capabilities also disappear," said Setros, looking at Yain. "When was the last time you guys saw Nuan?"

No one answered, so he continued, "Exactly, and no soldier came by to recruit in a while."

"I'm still going," said Harn, "I have to."

"You don't. The only way for orphans like us to thrive in Arness is by being born a male and climbing the ranks as a soldier, if you want to get her back that's the only way."

"It will be too late, I don't know what these people are doing to her."

I don't know if Setros chose to hide this fact, or he simply didn't know, but the fade newborns came to the Family almost always—with a few others in-between—lasted five hundred and forty fades from the time any girl disappeared.The time the average human pregnancy lasted.

"We're going," said Horin, holding Yain's hand above the table.

"Horin... you don—"

"—Stop, I'm not going to let you get taken, we're going," he continued, gripping Yain's hand harder. "Just trust me."

"Em..." nodded Yain.

"What about you, Drak?" asked Harn, "Aren't you worried about Nasha?"

"I..."

"Just think about it, I have some things to prepare, so I'll be going on Mother's next fade out. You have until then."

"If you want to go, that's fine, but you shouldn't put others in danger for no reason," said Setros.

"I'm just asking, I'm not forcing anyone to do anything," said Harn, "and it might not be for you, but Umni's safety is reason enough for me."

"Do you even have a plan? Leaving is the easy part, the problem is once you're outside."

"I know some people outside, they'll help me until I can figure something out."

"You're being naive, Harn," said Setros.

"I've been on the outside longer than you," said Harn, " If you knew, what it feels like to be in love, worried about someone more than yourself. If you knew, you would understand."

Setros kept eating, no expression on his face, "I'll just tell you this, you might know more about the outside than I do, but I know people better, people are weak, and their weakness makes them do cruel things, vicious things. I might have lived in a Family the past twenty six wicks burned, but I remember everything before it. Know who to trust, Harn."

"Harn," said Drak, "can you do me a favor?"

On that fade, with Harn's help on opening the door, Drak managed to meet Nasha.

"No one should come by at this time, don't forget to lock when you leave," said Harn.

"Thanks," said Drak, as Harn walked away.

He slowly pulled the door open, his heart was beating extremely fast, but it abruptly slowed down at her sight, it was relief comparable to avoiding death's grasp. She was sitting on a bed much like Mother's, she was wearing a white dress and had her red hair trailing behind her.

"Drak," she said.

"Hi," he said, closing the door behind him.

"Come, sit! It's been a while."

He walked towards her and sat on the other end of the bed.

"I brought you something," he said, giving her the book, the message.

"Your book!" she said, opening it, feeling the pages. "You never got to teach me, uh, always dodging me when I asked you."

"Em... the truth is I actually didn't know how to, back then. I just didn't want to disappoint you, so I lied. But I managed to learn during the time we still worked outside the Family, an old man named Lyrin taught me."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know, I guess I just couldn't find the right time."

"Well, maybe another time," she said, handing him the book.

"Keep it, I'm giving it to you," he said.

"No, I-I can't, I mean, wasn't it from your bearer? Isn't it precious to you?"

"It is."

"Then—"

"—It's okay, I've read it so much that I already memorized it anyway."

They kept in silence for a while before Nasha slowly moved closer to Drak on the bed, stopping only when their shoulders were touching.

"Do you know why mother locked you here?" he asked.

"No," she said, "but, sometimes, a man comes here."

"Did he—" he started, abruptly standing.

"He didn't do anything, he comes with Mother and just watches me," she said.

He sighed with relief.

"I'm scared, Drak," she said, gently reaching for his hand, holding it.

"Harn is planning to escape," he said.

"Harn? Why?"

Drak paused, before answering, "You don't know."

"Know what?"

"Umna disappeared," he said, "he's going to look for her."

"I see... when?" she asked.

"Mother's next fade out, the fade after the next," he said "we should go with him, Horin and Yain are also going."

Nasha slowly caressed the book cover, tracing the human silhouette with her fingers, "Do you have a dream, Drak? Something you want to do."

"A dream?"

"Anything," she said.

"Well, I guess I do have one, but it's stupid," he said, "you'll laugh."

"I would never do that," she said, in a serious tone.

"I... I always wanted to look for Tamir, I know it's just a children's story but I can't help but believe it's out there, somewhere," he said.

"That's... a really wonderful dream," she said, smiling. "We can't run, I also have a dream, and spending the rest of my life running isn't part of it."

"But what if they take you too?"

"Drak..."

"Setros thinks the girls are being sold, it makes sense, doesn't it? That's what that guy was here for, to buy you and—"

"Drak!" she said, turning his head towards her, "promise you'll show me."

"What?"

"Tamir, find it and bring me with you."

"I..."

"Promise me."

He nodded, "I promise."

"Good," she said. "Come."

He hesitated at first, his heart was beating faster than ever this time. She laid back on the bed and he followed, with his hands between her head and his legs between her torso.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you can do it, you'll find a way."

The fade of Harn's escape came, but Drak remained at the Family.

Mother was a stern looking woman, slender and quite tall for the average female human, she never displayed any affection towards any of the children, but she didn't seem to hate them either, just indifferent. She was talking with a man, one the other type of visitors Setros had mentioned, and had called Drak and Setros into her room.

"Have any of you talked to Nasha recently?" she asked.

Drak looked to Setros, confused and concerned, and said "No, Mother."

"Are you lying to me, boy?" she said, looking at them intently

Fear was a common means of control used by humans, it was efficient, people would do anything if they were afraid enough of something, and Mother made sure to use that in her favor.

"No," said Setros, unwavering.

"Me neither," said Drak.

A few more drops of silence while looking at both of them, before she finally said, "Em, go back to your affairs," she said, a concerned looked on her face.

As I followed them, I could still hear Mother and the man discussing, and I'm sure Drak and Setros could hear it too, but I could not tell how they felt about it. Maybe a mixture of relief and concern in Setro's case, Drak was harder to read, he could have felt betrayed by Nasha, who left without him, or regret for not noticing her intentions. Maybe both

"If you don't find her, I'll have you pay me back all the fades of food I've given to this place," said the male voice, angrily.

"I'll find her," said Mother, "and if I don't, she'll be back soon enough, she has to."

Many cleansings passed after that, but Nasha was never found nor came back, I even tried looking for her but I was already very weak to properly search. Drak and Setros, along with the older males, were each assigned to one of the many positions soldiers could get, Setros went to watch duty on the gate they called "Mouth" and Drak became a town soldier, mostly responsible for avoiding people from hurting themselves too much.

I decided to observe Drak, for the most part, he was one of those who read my message, after all, which made him the most likely to do something promising.

All the soldiers slept in the same establishment, they were given uniforms and wooden armour, along with a spear. Drak's routine consisted of patrolling the streets, going back to the dormitory to eat and sleep then do all over again.

He worked in the outskirts of the capital, the place closest to the Mouth, the slums. Where crime rates where the highest in all the kingdom.

"Drak, Sain! Patrolling shift on Death's Breath," shouted their superior, during work assignment.

Drak sighed. Understandably so, Death's Breath was the closest place near the Mouth, it was not only one of the worst parts of the slums, where violence, theft and filth gathered the most, but also the first place the sectioned would reach if they were to ever invade Arness.

"Any complaints, soldier?" asked his commander.

"No, sir."

"Then stop wasting the air in my office, leave,"

"Yes. sir," said Drak, leaving the room with the same dull expression he entered with.

"Oh?" said Sain, "What was that, Drak? A few cleansings ago and you'd be itching to help all the poor souls in Death's Breath, perhaps you finally understand how things work?"

Drak didn't answer.

"Come on, don't be mad, it is what it is, it doesn't matter if we arrest or reprehend a few criminals, there's always going to be more, we soldiers are merely nobles' pawns, not that I'm complaining, the pay is good enough, and it definitely beats working at the mouth or with resource gathering. Did you hear what happened with the members of the last resouce expedition? Boy am I glad I'm not one of them, of course I—"

"Sain!" shouted Drak, "Please, can you just... shut up for a while?"

Sains voice was less friendly when he spoke next, "You should be grateful for what you have, Drak, it could be a lot worse."

They kept walking in silent after that, not much happened for the most part of their shift, until near the end, Sain spotted something.

"Wait," said Sain

"What?" asked Drak.

"There," he pointed.

There was a body laying on one of the many darker and narrower parts of the landscape. It was not uncommon, town soldiers always carried small shovels for this kind of situation, one of their jobs was to bury those bodies or carry them to the Farm, for political, religious and health reasons.

Sain walked up to it and immediately started digging, but Drak did not move for a few moments, then slowly walked towards it and reached out to check if there was any sign of life. There was none.

He retrieved something the body was holding and stood there, staring at the corpse. It was recent, so thin that you could see the shape of the bones, yet, there was a protuberance in the stomach, pregnant.

"Drak?" said Sain, from beind.

He looked at the book on his hand, expressionless, tears slowly rolling down his face.

"Are you gonna help me or what?"

He hid the book under his clothes, grabbed his shovel and helped dig. When they finished, Sain kicked the body in the hole, and Drak gave one last look at her, before filling the grave.

Against the pale skin, her red hair was even more striking.