“The what!?” they both asked at the same time.

Daphne sighed again. She also hated that name.

“The Divine Resistance Army. I know. It’s corny… but we are a legitimate organization. If possible we would like to have a word with you about the Horde attack on the Divine House.”

Valentina squinted her eyes in suspicion.

“My family members were just slaughtered by an unknown group of Descendants, much like yourselves” she said aggressively, holding back the tears “So forgive me if I don’t trust you and your organization.”

“We are sorry for your loss” answered Daphne, respectfully. The two men behind her nodded in agreement. “Truly. But we are not the same as those who attacked you. Think about it. Wasn’t there something off about them?”

This time, Albert spoke up:

“Yes, they had this lifeless aura, as if they were zombies.”

A loud sob interrupted the conversation and everyone’s attention shifted to Anyesse, who stood against the wall with her hands covering her mouth. She had an expression of total shock and tears streamed down her face.

“Your family was killed?” she asked Valentina, dumbfounded.

Valentina couldn’t help but open a huge smile. With all the things Anyesse had seen and heard, from the invaders in her home, to the impossible fight at her door, what she worried about the most was still her best friend.

“Oh, I don’t deserve you.” said Valentina taking her friend in a warm embrace and nursing her like a baby. She started walking her upstairs, to her room. But before leaving she said:

“Hey, you lot!” her voice sounding as menacing as a tiger’s roar “You better stay where you fucking are until I come back!”

Nobody seemed eager to oppose her.

And so, Albert and the three Divinity Army members were left alone on the entryway. Without much to go on Albert tried to strike up a conversation.

“So, you are all Descendants. Correct?” he asked.

“Yes, I go by the name Yoel and I possess the blessing of the Mountain God.” answered the scary eye-patched man.

His friend followed suit and tipped his sky blue hat, saying:

“As I said, I use the same Jingo and I am a Descendant with the Cloud God blessing.”

The woman didn’t say anything, and Albert decided to not force the issue. Instead he jumped to another subject.

“What do you mean ‘use the name’? These are not your real names?”

“Yes, everyone in the army chooses a code name when they enlist and that’s what people call you. I’m not sure why myself…” said Jingo, sounding genuinely curious. He looked at Daphne with a raised eyebrow. She did not bother to answer.

“But you guys used Valentina’s real name when you spoke at the door.” Albert fired back.

“Well, she didn’t enlist yet. It’s not like we hide our identities or anything…” Yoel was interrupted by Valentina’s footsteps as she came back down the stairs. Her stare still carried an unwavering anger.

“Now, give me a good reason why I shouldn’t throw you out on the street.” she said, her eyes blazing with Ruach.

“Because you are not the only one who lost family today” answered Daphne with sorrow.

“What do you mean?” asked Valentina, stopping dead in her tracks.

“We visited the scene of the attack and checked the security cameras on the SUVs. I believe it was you who we saw, burying my sister.”

After the initial tension everyone was happy to relax on the couches. Valentina, however, was anxious to continue the conversation.

“I heard rumors that director Amelia had a sister, but she never told me about you.” she said.

“That might have been my fault.” said Daphne “I was a very stubborn young girl, and all I wanted was to escape my sister’s shadow. I moved from the Highlands to the Faera Kingdom, to try to make my own story. You know how it is. Escaping her name while living here is… was impossible.”

Valentina nodded. She knew very well. When she began her work as a fully fledged Emissary, during the first 3 years she was introduced by her superiors as “Amelia Heart’s disciple”.

“So she kept quiet to respect your wishes.” she concluded.

“Yes.” continued Daphne solemnly “Still, it’s funny how these things are… when I joined the Divine Army, I ended up choosing the name of a flower. I don’t know why. I thought it would bring me luck.”

Valentina took a brief pause to absorb that information. Her heart broke a little, knowing the director kept such a secret from her. But she understood Daphne’s ambition. It wasn’t much different from her own.

“Excuse me, I know literally nothing about the Descendants, or this weird society you guys live in… but what I really want to know is: What were those people who attacked us?” asked Albert.

“You know nothing?” exclaimed Jingo, surprised “Why were you in the mansion then?”

Albert looked at Valentina with uncertainty. Despite the sudden revelation of Daphne, they still had no confirmation that these people were who they said they were. After three days of insanity and violence, he was starting to have trust issues.

“How about this?” interrupted Yoel “We’ll tell you what we know first, and then you can decide what to do.”

Valentina raised an eyebrow at Albert, asking an unspoken question. He nodded in agreement.

“Very well. We don’t have much concrete evidence on this, but the theory is that those men and women were being controlled by someone. Using Ruach to take over their bodies and minds.” explained Yoel.

“What!? Is that possible?” blurted out Albert in disbelief.

But when he looked at Valentina’s face, she was equally astonished.

“It’s not. Unless...” she said.

“Unless their commander is the only creature who can transfer Ruach into someone’s body. A God.” concluded Daphne.

The silence fell heavy in the room. One could mistake it for the astonishment of the two young teenagers who just heard something unbelievable. However, their eyes were wide and erratic, knowing that what they had heard was not true. There was another creature who was capable of transferring Ruach. And that creature was in that very room.

Once again, Valentina looked at Albert, and in his eyes she saw a desperate plea. She had to decide quickly.

“Why would a God attack the Highlands Divine House? Gods defend their territory against humans who try to take them over. It’s never been the other way around.” said Valentina, giving them an expected response. She would keep his secret for now.

“That’s the thing. This is not the first attack by the Horde. Other countries, Faera, Tropicalia, have been under fire for months now.” continued Yoel.

This was also news to Valentina, who seemed to be about to burst with questions.

“How did I not hear about this?” she exclaimed.

“It’s to be expected.” said Daphne “Communication between the countries is already monitored. There’s no way the government was going to let out the news that their Descendants were attacked on their own turf. It would be a scandal, a sign of weakness.”

Valentina smashed her hand against the table, infuriated. The beautiful mahogany piece broke in two.

“What about us then!?” she asked, practically shouting “You couldn’t bother to give us a warning to save our fucking lives?”

“That’s the reality we live in. When the chips are down, the government doesn’t give a shit about us! We tried, but they blocked our every attempt to warn the others...” said Yoel. His anger seemed equally great.

“That’s how the army was started. We decided to organize ourselves. Look out for our own. To hell with their borders!” said Jingo in his excited tone.

“And that’s why we came to see you.” said Daphne, her softer voice joining in their speech, almost as if it was rehearsed “We want you to become a part of the Divine Resistance Army.”

Valentina waited, but once they had said their piece all three of them remained in silence, expecting her response. Her head was in a turmoil of rage and confusion. It could have been prevented, lives could have been saved, Amelia could have been there, with them.

She pressed her hands on her temples trying to calm down her thoughts. That’s when Albert put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up to him, and his calm gray eyes relaxed her a bit.

“What do you want?” he asked, sensing her disturbance “That’s the only question you need to answer. You can do whatever you want now, so… what do you want?”

The answer came to her easily. Revenge. That’s all she wanted. Of course she could not tell that to the pure-hearted boy in front of her. So she went for the next best thing.

“Answers. I want answers.” Valentina turned to the DRA members “If I join will I be able to investigate this ‘Horde’?”

“Yes, that is our biggest priority right now. They are our biggest threat.” said Daphne.

“And what about Albert?” Valentina asked “He accidentally found a Relic, dropped by someone who I believe was the Lightning God, and ended up getting entangled in our world. Along with his family.”

Daphne analyzed him from head to toe before speaking.

“I see. We also have Human disciples in our ranks. They have always fought alongside us, Descendants, and so we fight for their lives as well. I extend my invitation to you too, then, Albert. Would like to join the Divine Resistance Army?”

Albert reflected carefully on his decision. It had only been 4 days since he stumbled onto a God and got involved in this mess. In this short while, he saw people die for the first time, discovered the existence of nature Gods and risked his life consistently. And not only that, but he was told by Amelia that he was not human.

Valentina was a wild card. She had been very rude to him, but also risked her life to save him. She killed a man in cold-blood, but also lied to her new allies for his sake. And there was the promise to Anyesse. Albert didn’t know her very well, but he didn’t like going back on his word.

He thought about his parents, who were probably worried sick at this point, wondering where their kid had gone. He also wondered whether they were his real parents. After all he’d seen, he didn’t feel confident in anything.

The only thing he was certain of, was that his best friend, his brother, Linus, was with him every step of the way. From the rooftop, to Valentina’s assault, to their mansion escape, never leaving his side.

And now his friend was missing, and the orphanage would not look for him.

After considering all that, the decision became easy.

“I accept”

Albert sat down to write a letter to his parents while Valentina went to speak to Anyesse again. There were many things he couldn’t say to them, so he had to use Linus as an excuse… a lot. He said his friend got into some trouble and he wanted to help. Albert just hoped they would forgive him for allegedly making their precious son disappear.

When Anyesse came down, she had red swollen eyes, probably due to crying. Valentina introduced her to the members of the DRA and her fear quickly changed into amusement.

They gave her a simplified explanation about their powers, without actually mentioning the Gods. There was no need to involve her that much. Yoel also explained that she would need to lay low for a while.

They had tracked Valentina down by using her cellphone and the SUV parked outside of the building, and if they had done it, others could too. Therefore, staying in the apartment would not be so safe for a while.

Anyesse dismissed their worries with a gesture:

“Don’t worry. Daddy’s got a bunch of places I can crash in.”

The nonchalance of the rich is amazing… thought Albert.

He also asked her to deliver the letter to his home. She accepted it, with a smile and a demand:

“You better deliver on your promise too.” she said with a wink.

After giving Valentina a bag with clothes and some supplies, Anyesse bid farewell to her best friend with a long hug. Even Albert, on this sole occasion, was awarded his own embrace.

Then with a nervous look on his face he followed the DRA members and his newfound friend, Valentina, towards their unknown destination.