The trio of Knights-to-be stood over the man on the altar. He was crying. Although Hevarian’s aren’t known to express sympathy to outsiders, Stella comforted him, there was something special about him.

“Who are you?” She asked.

“Quid est? Quid est medium?" He replied.

Aria laughs.

“Oh fuck, he doesn’t speak Hevarian.” Alia giggled.

“He-var-ian?” The man in black spoke.

His face shifted to a more serious look. As he stared directly at Aria, she met his gaze and felt something powerful in his eyes. This silenced her.

He kept trying to speak to them in an unknown language. After a few moments, Alexander had an idea.

“Wait, when we decoded the enchantment on the door, we made a letter key for an unknown language. He could be speaking it right now.” Alexander said.

He grabs his notebook from his satchel and begins to try to formulate a sentence.

“qu-od no-men ti-bi est?" Alexander tried his best to say.

The unnamed mans eyes widen, and he sits up on the altar.

“Drusus nero nomen meum. Quis tu es hominum? Quid ego hic? Ego sum mortuus est? Non memini me aliquid." He says rapidly.

Stella and Aria turn to Alexander, waiting for him to translate.

“Uhmm, what?” Alexander said dumbfounded.

The unknown man sees the confusion, and puts his hand on his own chest.

“Nero.” He speaks.

He then points his finger at the three. He is asking for their names. Stella is the first to speak.

“Stella Solare.”

She then points to her friends and introduces them.

“Aria De Sempre, Alexander Erikson.”

Nero begins to notice how Stella and Aria look completely different than Alexander. The two girls have tan skin, and noticible golden eyes and hair. However, the man has fair skin, with brown hair and blue eyes. None of them have pointed ears either. He points at the two girls and says:

“Hevarians.”

He then points at Alexander, and awaits a response from him. He is clearly very intellegent.

“Human.” Alexander says in wonder.

Nero then points to himself, awaiting a response from the trio.

“We don’t know.” Stella said.

Although he couldn’t understand her words, Nero clearly got the message.

“Give him the letter key Alex, He can use it to translate his words to ours.” Stella says to him.

“Not sure if that will work, but let’s try.” Alex says as he hands Nero his notebook.

However, Nero looks at the key for only a moment. He then begins going through the rest of the notebook very quickly. Alexander was about to protest but Stella stopped him. Nero was analyzing every page incredibly fast. The trio of friends were astonished. It took only a moment, but Nero had gone through the entire thing. He chuckled and looked up at them.

“Can you understand this?” he said with a proud smirk.

“Okay, what the fuck? Aria said in amazement.

“What is ‘fuck’? That wasn’t in this book.” Nero asked.

The three looked at each other for a moment, then began laughing.

“It’s a ‘bad word’.” Alexander chuckled.

“My apologies, I won’t say it again.” Nero said embarrased.

“Just don’t say it as often as Alia does.” Stella laughed.

Nero gives Alexander his notebook back.

“Alexander Erikson, this book... it is very detailed. It mentions a library... yes? Where one learns? Can you take me there, and is it dangerous?”

“Oh yeah, the library is filled with unspeakable horrors. Only the foolish enter that place.” Aria said while holding back her laughter.

“Ah, this is your famous ‘sarcasm’ mentioned in Alexander Erikson’s book.” Nero said with a smile.

Aria was surprised he had grasped the complex idea of sarcasm, it appears she has met a worthy foe in comedy. However, she did deliver a blow to Alexanders shoulder for writing that in his notebook.

“Just call me Alex, and yes, there is a very good library at the Knights academy. That is where the three of us train and study.” He replied.

“I don’t remember anything that happened before I awakened, could you take me there? It could help me figure out who I am.” Nero said as he stood up.

The group follows Alexander out of the room, and into the giant hall where the once alive gargoyle still stands as a statue. Aria tells Nero about their battle with it, and he was amazed to know that Stella had defeated it in pitch blackness with ease. They continue onward, out of the hall and back to the surface. The group stops at the exit of a tunnel, sunlight now bathing the outside in it’s warmth.

“Before we go outside, you should put on your hood Nero. If we don’t recognize your species, none of the people here will either. Let’s not draw attention to ourselves. Let’s get him to the library.” Stella said while taking the lead.

Nero follows them closely, and puts his hood up. As they exit the tunnel, the daylight burns his eyes. He’s never seen it before, but it beats the cold, damp air of the catacombs. The sky has an orange hue to it, and the air is filled with a nice breeze that smells slightly salty. A group of seagulls glides overhead. He is in an unknown place, but it’s undeniably beautiful. The group leads Nero to a large wall that seals their location off from the rest of the city. Nero notices they are about to climb it. When the trio of friends begin digging their boots and fingers into the cracks of the wall, they see a black flash go upwards. Nero had jumped to the top in just a second, and was waving down at them playfully.

“That has to be three stories up...” Alexander said.

“He’s fast.” Aria added.

Stella just smiled up at him, she could tell something amazing was unfolding right before their very eyes.