To refrain from startling anyone, Cairo kept most details about himself out of the big picture. He kept his introduction short, detail-free and to the point; quick and painless. Something he was very well known for.

After bellyfuls of eggs and early beverages, another man stumbled himself into the tavern. He had golden blonde hair hanging right above his eyes like a princess in dismay. He was clean-shaven, showing no blemishes or any sort of disproportion around his ivory symmetrical face. His eyes were as blue as the sky, and his physique was as skinny as a longsword, barely holding onto the orange-stained robe fastened around his waist. He didn’t seem like someone who came off as threatening, but the moment Cairo saw him, he could feel yet another unrecognizable knot turning in his stomach.

Kalvin wrapped his arm around the man’s shoulder, smiling as bright as the sun. “Cairo, Mooks.” He turned his head, “This is Leonidas. Leonidas, this is Cairo and Mooks. They’ll be joining us on our journey across the Black Sea.”

Leonidas struggled to escape Kalvin’s grip, bowing like a servant with the utmost respect. “It’s a pleasure to meet the two of you. I hope we can work well with each other on this nightmarish trip.”

“Leonidas here owns a ship that can travel across any waters, break through any sort of barriers, and conquer any sort of obstacle that might stand in our way.” Kalvin’s tone was ecstatic as if he just witnessed a miracle of some sort. “And guess what? He’s doing this for free! Only, on the contrary, we take him with us.” Kalvin gave another chuckle, leaving Leonidas a little embarrassed by it.

“I’m terribly afraid of traveling alone,” Leonidas scratched the roof of his shoulder, innocence drawing on his face.

“Rin!” Kalvin called out to Rina, “Whip up another plate will ya? We got a lot of mouths to feed in here!”

“Comin’ right up!” She gave a salute-like gesture and headed over to the kitchen in the back, tucking a white cloth into the back pocket of her bar-stained pants.

“Please, take a seat.” Kalvin led the way for Leonidas, hooking him inside his devious grip again. “Ain’t nothing but delicious meals and pointless arguments here. Ya get used to it quick.”

Leonidas nodded in an awkward manner, fixing his attention onto the scarred man and the white wolf. A smile tucked itself beneath his lips, and his eyes glimmered in the sunlight.

…

The remainder of the morning was filled with cheerful laughs and momentary pieces of silence that followed after taking a bite. Cairo remained quiet for most of the encounter, while Mooks tried his best to adapt to everyone’s sense of humor and personality. It wasn’t easy, but he managed to keep himself in place from crossing the line of taking a joke too far.

“Cairo,” Kalvin called, “Mind joining me outside for a moment? Don’t get worked up now, my curiosity cannot restrain itself before the journey.”

“I don’t mind. Mooks, tag along.” Cairo ordered, not allowing Kalvin to say otherwise.

With a firm nod from both, they stepped outside, following a dusty cobble pathway to the forest.

The three of them met in a secluded part of the woods where Cairo and Mooks usually spent their days wandering and observing. Trees occupied most of the space around the steep forest trail, chimneys and rooftops piquing in the distance, parallel to the morning rays of sun. The ground was sturdy like it’s been deprived of any sort of grain or vegetation. However, that sweet smell of pine and maple gave a good enough distraction where everything else didn’t matter.

Kalvin dropped the friendly expression he wore in the tavern, along with his innocent smirk. “I have nothing against you traveling with us, or being a part of our Guild. However, when you’re with us, I’m afraid you must announce your intentions and background. As you can guess, a stranger wearing bandages and a face like yours isn’t common around these parts. This is of course, for safety purposes as well. I can’t risk putting my friends in danger again...”

“You first,” Cairo answered, his tone as flat as a block of ice. “We’re both men with secrets. Secrets that could lead to our demise. Isn’t that right, Kalvin.”

Kalvin loosened the tension building in his knees, preparing himself for a possible fight he might not recover from. “I put my life on the line for these kids. Don’t you dare speak like you know anything about me.” His voice became deeper, angrier, and more frightening.

“If you get a hold of that Jewel,” Cairo's voice remained as stale as a loaf of bread. “What is it that you’d wish for?”

Kalvin exhaled a quick burst of air, catching the edge of his mouth curling upwards again. “I would wish the war never happened. What else-”

“Don’t lie.” Cairo cut him off.

Kalvin relaxed his posture again, but the tension in the air rose with every second that passed. It’s as if one of them was about to outdraw the other, but neither wanted to initiate a fight, or admit defeat. “I wouldn’t make a wish. No wish can change what has already happened. One wish is only good for one thing. I’d need a bucketful of wishes to satisfy me.”

“He’s not lying,” Mooks spoke to Cairo, but kept his gaze on Kalvin like an eagle.

“Now tell me,” Kalvin stuck his finger towards Cairo’s neck. “How did you get that scar? Is it true you’re the one who...” He stopped, letting his words trail off into the distance.

Cairo reached for his neck again, memories popping and bursting with his touch. The scar planted on his neck was the most important one to him, and perhaps the only one anyone could recognize. Nevertheless, he took another deep breath of the nature around him and cleared his throat. “I got it during my first attempt to escape from the Gulag. As you can see,” He pulled back his cloak to reveal the full wound from his collarbone all the way up to his chin, “I didn’t succeed.”

“No…” Kalvin’s voice became hollow, sounding like any life that remained was just stolen out of his throat. He began approaching Cairo—gave him a manly stare—then hugged him. Hugged him like he’s been wanting to for a very long time. “You did. You did more than you could’ve imagined.”

Cairo’s face stood still, for this wasn’t the first time an unexpected outcome approached him. But the longer Kalvin hugged him, the more he began to understand. “You were one of the wardens… One of the people I can never trust.” Cairo pushed him back.

Kalvin stumbled back a few steps by the sudden onslaught of emotions. “I’m not asking you to give me your trust. I ask that you forgive me… Anything I’ve ever done to you-”

“Stop.” Cairo cut him off. “Begging for forgiveness has proved nothing, nor will it ever prove anything. You did the right thing, Kalvin Pride. Embrace that feeling, that prideful memory of doing the right thing. Because you will never know the feeling of true regret. Regret that drives you to do unspeakable things.” Cairo turned around, heading back to the tavern with Mooks by his side. “We’re done here.”

Kalvin however, didn’t move. He became lost in his thoughts, like a lonely soul searching for something it’s never going to find. “Regret…” He whispered to himself, looking up at the clouds rolling by above him. “What did they do to you Cairo? What evil did they embark upon you? How... did you survive?”

…

Night fell rather quickly that day. The sun only came out in the morning, crawling back behind the thick clouds that spruced throughout the afternoon. The air felt heavy as if there was a feeling of pressure weighing down everyone’s souls. It wasn’t something one would notice so easily, but for the small few who had an extra sense in them, it didn’t feel right. Almost like a sixth sense, and a foul one at that.

During the deep hours of the night, Cairo found himself sitting alone by the bar, just like he always did. Even Mooks was asleep in his room, meaning the owls and the darkness was fully awakened beyond the tavern doors.

There were very few lights left out on the tavern floor, as taking any customers at this hour would be fanatic and irrational. Cairo sat like an old man without legs, staring at the candle placed in front of him. The tip of the flame flickered and spun in random directions, moving and twisting the shadows around his shallow breaths.

A sudden gasp broke Cairo from his concentration, and with the silence broken, his eyes turned from the candle onto the dirty blonde bartender on the stairs. “You scared the hell right out of me!” She startled, trying to calm her breath, “What are you doing being up this late?”

Cairo reverted his attention back to the flame, “Same as you. Can’t sleep.”

Rina gave another gasp, relieving her body of the fear it previously had. She then took a seat beside him, locking her gaze onto the flame reflecting from his eyes.

“You know,” She said, silently. “I was there. Inside the outer walls of the Gulag.”

The scarred man didn’t say anything.

“They made us watch...”

Cairo’s mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out. He was frozen. Frozen with nothing to say, yet his face was the same, unchanging. He closed his eyes for a moment, opening them slowly seconds after—smelling the sweet scent of lavender and amaiberries radiating off Rina’s collar—carefully watching as the wax melted down the sides of the candlestick.

Rina scooched her way a little closer, the warmth of the candle touching the tip of her lips. “I’ve lived the past seven years trying to run away from the memories inside that horrid place. I always hide from them, afraid to embrace them. Yet everywhere I go, those memories come back and haunt me—I don’t want them too—I just want them to be a part of me…”

Cairo stayed silent, Rina’s voice flowing through his ears.

“Us girls,” she started. “They made us sweep the floors more times than I took steps during a single day. They forced us to forget our families, beating us to hammer it in. They made us watch from the floor above yours, they made us watch every single fight. Every death. Every beating.” Her voice began to tremble, yet she tried her best to hide her feelings under a fake smile. “That’s when I saw you. The first boy to refuse to fight. The first one to take the punishment.”

Cairo’s memories suddenly became more vivid in his head, the heat from the flame brushing past his emotionless face. “Five days without food or water, and a proper beating from one of the wardens. That was my punishment.”

It doesn’t sound like much when saying, but going through a beating with no food or water for five days as a ten-year-old boy was the gateway to hell’s front door. Even Cairo himself didn’t know how he survived. Although, if he knew what awaited him after the punishment, he wished he hadn’t.

“Three years I refused to fight,” He added. “The three years I regret the most out of anything else.”

Rina didn’t respond, for nothing could escape her throat that would make the tension loosen. Her mind wandered with loose questions she never received any answers too, and her heart felt trapped inside a never-ending realm of darkness. “Why do you regret it?”

Cairo thought for a moment, “Because. That wasn’t the only punishment. There was another. One they didn’t tell you about it.” Cairo sighed, keeping his face still and focused on the flame. “At first. I thought my friends had lost their lives inside the chambers of the Gulag. I thought they met unfortunate endings due to an unfair matchup… But no, it was far worse than that.” He paused, gliding one of his fingers back and forth like a sailboat across the candle flame. “They spied on me. Found out who my dearest friends were. And killed them… Killed them like they were nothing but rabid dogs off their leash. Like they were objects.”

“It took me three years to find out the truth. The truth that… Forget it. Afterwards, I tried to escape.” Cairo picked up the candle, bringing it close to his neck and revealing the scar. “For the first time.”

A sudden feeling shot through Rina’s heart, as if the pain burning inside Cairo showered her with years of memories. Memories that no soul can ever hope to escape from. And For the next moments to come, they both shared a silence, letting the small candle flame whistle a melody in the warm tavern air.

…

Outside the tavern, where no ordinary travelers dared to walk the abandoned trails of the forest, Leonidas kept his steps faint and shallow, his presence the same. He stopped beside a tree, giving one last look around him before pulling out a small blue orb from the confinement of his ripped bag.

The orb wasn’t bigger than a melon, being just outside the size of a coconut or a large snowball. It had a faint glow of navy blue circling inside it like clouds on a clear day. Leonidas chanted something under his breath and the orb awakened to its true colors of white and grey.

“Hello?” Leonidas spoke to it, letting his golden locks cover the dim light emitting from the sphere. “Father, can you hear me?”

A muffled voice replied, sounding far too staticky and disrupted to understand. “Hepgdf… Leoghsias… Hellifhs… Hello?” Finally, the voice became clear. “Leonidas? Can you hear me alright?” A man spoke with a low, tired voice. “I hope you bring me good news.”

“Oh, father!” Leonidas laughed, “You won’t believe the faces I’ve seen today!”

“Do tell, boy.”

Leonidas drew a malicious smile on his face, “It seems like we not only found escapees from the Gulag. But a warden who betrayed your majesty, and the boy with the scar who stole your most trusted aid. Years have passed father! Years that are finally going to pay off!”

Leonidas’s father drew a grin on his face, beginning to cough and laugh as the hatred in his stomach burst open. “Very well done my boy... Bring them to me, dead or alive. Whichever you prefer. I wish to place their bodies on display as traitors to the kingdom, and traitors of the people. No time like the present to regain this shit kingdom under my rule.”

“Do you believe the people will still remember?”

“You dare question me boy?”

“No! Your majesty. Consider it done.”

The king shut the orb off, gesturing to the slave that held it up for him to take it out of his sight. He then sat for a moment, looking at his throne like a masterpiece.

He sighed, grinning like a man who’s about to have his wish come true. “Oh dear Cairo, how I wish you were here with me,” He laughed to himself. “How I wish you were in my grasp once more.” He stopped, looking at the carved wood holstered to his forearms. He remembered how he lost his hands in the first place, and that hatred inside him made him laugh even more.

“Cairo, Cairo, Cairo,” He hummed, tapping one of his wooden fingers against the armrest of his throne. “What will you do now?...”