Hidden from the moon’s gaze, in the shadows of an alley, Leor tugged on the collar of his cloak and fanned himself with musty air as he memorized the guards’ rotation. Since sundown, they had slipped from shadow to shadow around the entirety of the church, taking cover behind piss-stained walls and abandoned crates filled with vermin, and counting the number of guards and their posts. To Leor’s surprise, there were fewer guards than he anticipated. Perhaps the festival had favored them tonight. The area was mostly empty. Leor had counted eight guards, three on the surrounding roofs, two at the front gate, another guarding the back entrance, and the last two posted at each side. He paid no mind to the passing drunks and the bed-ridden Purblights; he figured the first would scarcely remember anything and the latter too sickly to care.

“What’s the plan?” Alden asked as he leaned his weight onto Leor’s shoulder. His words slumped over each other.

“I’m still thinking”. There were only thirty minutes until the next rotation and Leor had spent the last five deciding how to convince a mute to act as a distraction. Leor peeked at Ceri from the corner of his eye. Yoru slept tucked in her arms and she still avoided looking in Leor’s direction by staring at the wall. If this charade endured past the night, his sanity wouldn’t. He leaned over and whispered to Alden. “I have a plan. I need Ceri to lure the guard here.”

“Why are you telling me this? Ceri’s right here”.

Leor stared at him hard with raised brows, glanced at Ceri, and back at him.

Alden sighed, letting go of Leor’s shoulder and stretching. “Children, the both of you.” He turned to Ceri. “Please call the guard over. Leor needs you to distract him”.

“Why should I?” Ceri said with her cheek still turned. “Does he not have the manhood to do it himself?”

“Ceri, this is not how I taught you. Would you be so kind as to entertain his plan?” Alden turned around and Leor was no longer there. He searched the narrow path but there were no traces of him. “I suppose his plan is already in action. Ceri, please?”

She puffed hot air from her nostrils as she stormed past him to the open streets. She took a deep breath and mustered the strength to cry out like a damsel. “Guard, guard! Come quick! My grandpa has collapsed! Please help him!”

“Grandpa?” Alden gasped as he sank his body against the wall.

“What’s wrong with him?”, the guard said as he arrived. He eyed the collapsed elderly man covered head to toe in garbs suspiciously.

Ceri latched onto his arm. Her eyes glistened in the moonlight. “I’m not sure, sir knight. Please, you have to help my grandpa.”

The guard smiled foolishly and ballooned his chest. Any hints of doubt disappeared from his face. “Fear not, miss. I will save your grandfather”.

Before the guard could lift Alden’s hood, Leor dropped from the shadows above and coiled his arm around the guard’s neck, pulling up sharply and using his other arm to lock the hold in place. Ceri jumped back and covered her mouth before she screamed of a heart attack. The guard thrashed his body like a fish on land and dug his nails into Leor’s muscles, trying to create space for his throat, but Leor tightened the choke in increments and matched the guard’s struggle until the strength seeped from the guard’s resistance. Before long, the guard fell limp and Leor placed him against the wall, behind a pile of garbage.

“Okay, hurry. Follow me. We have five minutes to get inside the gate”. Without delay, Leor turned heel and ran with careful steps to the unguarded entrance. Ceri and Alden followed close behind, minding their sounds.

“By the Lords, what did you do!?” Ceri said in a low, rushed voice, “Is he —”

“No. I left him unconscious. He will live another day.”

Ceri frowned, but could not say more; the air in her lungs focused on her sprint.

Once they reached the unmanned gate, Leor cleaved the lock in half with Ikazuchi, then tip-toed into the garden’s shrubbery. They stood in the darkness to catch their breath. He scanned the garden, watching the flickering orange on the church’s crown, waiting to determine if they belonged to the guards or the lanterns strung along the rooftop. When they had not moved, Leor figured it was the latter.

“What in the hell were you thinking!?” Ceri whispered, jabbing her finger into Leor’s chest. “Choking a man? What kind of plan is that!?”

“Well. . . did you have a better idea?”

“N-no. . . but still, you can’t just go ahead and knock people unconscious. That’s a crime!”

Leor scoffed. “I think we’re past that point”. He took a moment to scan the area again, trying to separate human shadows from those of trees dancing in the flickering light. “See, this is why I did not mention the plan to you. I knew you’d act like this”.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Is it wrong to worry about another person?”

“No, but this was the only idea I had. No one else was being helpful. And remember, we came here for your mentor”. He stuck his finger onto Alden. “We wouldn’t be in this mess if we left the city as I had planned”.

“Enough, you two!”, Alden snapped. “Enough of this bickering. Ceri, remember what our Lord has taught us. You must learn there are things we may never understand, but we must not ridicule others for it”. He turned to Leor and glared at him with a fire that tamed his own. “And Leor, if you wish to have your bonus, drop this act now”.

The words left on Leor’s lips crawled back down his throat. When he glanced at Ceri, he found her taking a look as well. Once their eyes met, she looked away, biting her lip in a frown. Leor turned away. He would not allow something so trivial to stop him from getting his payout. The end of it couldn’t come any faster.

Then, a screech of a bird sent a chill down his back, rattling his bones and reminding him of the black hawk. Yoru perched his head up and growled into the dark. Ceri muzzled his snout with her hands and hushed him softly. Leor searched the darkness for the source. The hairs on his arms stood up and sweat inched down his neck, the air seemingly hotter. “Stay hidden,” Leor said over his shoulder as he drew Inazuma and watched the dark, keeping his eyes open as long as he could to the point of tears. Ceri and Alden scrambled behind the flora. Leor steadied Inazuma at his center and dipped his knees. A heat blazed from above, burning stronger every split second. Leor swung his blade to catch whatever it was and cleaved a solid flame into two. Though the flames touched the green, it did not burn. Was it an arrow? A Soul Arm? Leor was not sure, but he was certain his blade cut something. The weight of it was true.

A clacking and a woman’s haunting giggle came from the darkness before the church doors. A shadow strutted towards them with embers dripping from its body and leaving a trail of gentle flames on the cobblestone.

“My, my. A rarity, I see,” the woman said, “To be able to cut the Empress’ flames . . . you are no ordinary thief”. She stepped out from the shadows. The moonlight tinted her obsidian hair a slight more pale, while the growing, sentient fire on her shoulder revealed eyes of blood. “I care little for the reason you came, but it was a foolish one, no doubt. Show yourself and I, Hayashi Yui, will mercy you with a swift death, in the name of the Keeper of the Everlasting Flame, Azura.” Yui raised her hand and the flames coiled her arm, then formed a katana in her palm.

Leor unsheathed Ikazuchi and raised it overhead in silence. He felt the fiery claws of death chaining him to the ground and dragging him forth. Words were useless here. He knew he’d have to speak with his steel.

Yui swung her blade thrice from a distance, burning crescents shot from the blade’s edge. Leor twisted his body from the first two and split the last with Ikazuchi, embers flew from the erupting fire and stung his cheek. The fire’s weight was heavier than before, knocking him off balance. When he gazed up, Yui appeared from the fleeting flames and slashed her burning steel overhead. Leor dashed backward in time before the blade split his skull. But Yui did not relent, she chased his shadow and sliced across her chest. This time, Leor was ready. He scissored the strike between his blades, their steel locked in a dance. As he stared her down, Leor could see children burning in the reflection of her crimson eyes and hear their cries. It set his muscles ablaze. Perhaps she felt his hatred; her face softened and the power behind her attack loosened. Leor seized the opening and bull-rushed her, sending her through the air.

Like her performance, Yui landed on her heels without making a sound, her dress fluttering in the wind, and the fire rising around her as she stood. Her lips curled as she recentered her sword. It seemed like words were lingering on her lips but she refused to let them out, not now, at least. That damn smirk infuriated him. Dark thoughts of yearning to erase that smile forever crossed his mind and before he knew it, they made their way into his bones. Leor launched at her, swinging his swords in rapid succession. One, two. One two. Ikazuchi after Inazuma like the thunder after lightning. Yui drew back, deflecting some of his strikes while the living fire parried the others. Again, she smiled, and again, it prodded his anger. Leor slammed the ground with his boot and drove all his power into a double horizontal swing, but Yui managed to feint underneath. Before he could pull his blades back, Yui jabbed at his throat with her steel, stopping right before piercing tissue. A tiny stream of blood trickled from the puncture.

“Well done,” she said with a cool twist of her lips. The sword and the flames fizzled into the night. She offered her hand. “You are quite the swordsman”.

Leor ignored her gesture and sheathed his blade, then dabbed the open wound to find it was not life threatening. He fixed his narrow eyes at Yui. “What’s your game?”

“There is no game. It’d be a waste to end a worthy swordsman, that is all”. She took a quick glance at his swords, then back at him. “You may call upon your friends to reveal themselves”.

Leor clicked his tongue. She knew they were there too? When Ceri and Alden came out from the shrubbery, they kept their hoods on and bowed to the caller.

“A blind person could tell the three of you are not thieves, so what brings you to the church at such an hour? ”.

Leor eyed Alden and Ceri, asking them silently if they knew her. It seemed they understood and shook their heads. “It is none of your concern”.

“Adorable”, Yui chuckled, “You’re upset you lost”.

“I did not —”

“I drew the first blood, did I not?”

“. . .”

Then, the large church doors creaked open and clunked to a stop. A woman stepped out, her pearl coat draped over shoulders, riding the wind like a cape as she tromped down the steps. Her brows pinched at an angle and her arms crossed beneath her breasts. “What in the Lord’s name is all this noise?”

Alden paced towards her, waving his hand with a beaming smile. “Maria, it’s good to see you after all this time!”

Maria’s face turned sour as soon as she heard his voice. “Alden”.

“Why must you give that face whenever we meet?”

“Because my purse cries when you are near”. Looking past him, she found Ceri and ran to her, embracing her like how a mother would, sandwiching Yoru between their chests. “Ceri! Oh, how I missed you! Have you been well? Have you seen Marie yet? I’m sure she’d be glad to see you!”

“Mm mmm mmmm”. Her words were lost in Maria’s breasts until she broke free. “I’m glad to see you too, Lady Maria. And yes, we were greeted by Marie at the gate. We’ve come to say our thanks. It really has been far too long and you look as beautiful as ever”.

Maria squeaked, which Leor could only describe as a mouse, and buried Ceri into her mounds again. “Ceri, you’re too cute!” After a little more struggling, she set her free and turned to the only one she did not recognize. “And, who is this?”

“Our . . . guide. To the Lichtwerth,” Alden said.

“Alden. . . don’t tell me. . .”

Alden tittered and avoided Maria’s daggered stare. “Let’s not worry about that now.”

“How could I not worry? You are the Pontiff of the House of Ouranós, the beacon that holds Tridon together. Not to mention the tension between the seven realms withers with time, even more so with —”

Alden covered her mouth. “Enough, Maria. You’re disturbing your guest. Let’s discuss inside where there are no unwanted ears”.

As the five made their way up the stone steps, Maria and Alden whispered into each other’s ears, taking occasional glimpses at Leor and Ceri, snickering as they did. Leor squinted his eyes at them, laughing to themselves and plotting whatever scheme Alden has planned for him. It was bound to be something bothersome. When they reached the door, Alden faced him and smiled while handing him a leather pouch. A familiar, enticing jingle of metal rang as Leor grabbed it. Maria smiled at them, but she looked pained when he took it.

“What is this?”

“Gold, my friend. An extra payment to take Ceri to see the festivities. It has been a while since she’s seen it”.

So that’s what it is. “I cannot leave you be”.

“Fear not, Leor. I will stay in the church and catch up with Maria. We have many things to discuss in private. I know you are a stubborn one so think of it as an extra mission to keep it within your Guild’s code”.

Leor rolled his eyes, but before he could utter his retort, he was cut off.

“A fine idea, Lord Alden,” Yui said, “If I may suggest, they may dine at my establishment. I will cook them my famous Yojin Grilled Pork”. From the corner of Leor’s view, he could see Ceri drooling. However, he did not share her excitement. How could he when they would be served by a defiler of the dead, of children? Has hunger blinded her anger, the root of this pointless squabble between them?

“Perfect! And, if you be so kind, prepare a dish for me as well.”

“It would be my pleasure. I must take my leave now to prepare for your arrival”. Yui bowed before disappearing down the stairs.

Despite his objections, Alden forced Ceri and Leor away. As expected, Ceri refused to walk alongside him, let alone look at him. Unsure about what to do, Leor looked over his shoulder and found Alden flashing a thumbs up and mouthed something he couldn’t make out.