Filip approached them one step at a time, an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face as he looked at the prince.

“I'm also lodged at St. Raphael's Tower, as I said. If it pleases you, Your Highness, I can show you your quarters.”

The prince frowned, staring at Joseph for a few moments, unmoving.

“Someone has already been assigned as my mentor.”

Joseph noticed the prince had stopped leaning against the column and stood facing Filip in front of him, becoming like a wall between them.

"Ha! Don't worry about that! It's just some stupid formality from the old men! It would be good for your social status, Your Highness, if you were seen with the prominent figures here."

Prince Tariq remained silent.

"Come on, let's take a tour, shall we?" Filip continued, motioning with his left hand.

Why are they acting as if I'm not here?

Right away, the young doctor got his answer. The prince, still refusing to look at Joseph, walked a few steps away, staying side-by-side with Filip Svoboda. Still smirking, Filip looked back at Joseph over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed as his lips mouthed one word: loser.

The doctor was left standing there, just like one of the smaller columns in the Hall. The environment became silent, for all the other students had already made their ways to their rooms.

The boy swallowed hard, trying to push down the knot that was growing in his throat. He looked down at his feet when the prince and Svoboda disappeared behind a corridor, grabbed his backpack strap, and suddenly became conscious again of the pain in his hands.

***

"May I see your timetable?"

Svoboda and the prince were standing at the entrance of the Common Hall of St. Raphael's tower. A four-and-a-half metre tall door made of walnut wood, engraved with a depiction of their patron angel, and surrounded by two ionic columns in an ogival arc, stood in front of the boys.

Tariq, eyes fixed on the other boy, pulled out his paper, showing it to the other lad.

When Svoboda reached out to grab the paper, the prince moved his arm away, almost knocking into him.

"Right, right, just let me read it, yes?" Filip forced a smile, raising his hands in a sign of surrender.

The pavilion leading to the dorms consisted of a circular patio with a white marble floor, painted with mosaics portraying the battle of the archangels against Lucifer. There were four huge towers, each of them reaching around 60 to 80 metres, topped by orthodox crosses. At the base of each of them, there was a large ogival door, each with a depiction of an archangel. The building formed a cross when viewed from above.

Around the main doors of the towers, there were a few minor wings, which were a bit too dark for it being around midday, but they seemed far more interesting to Tariq. The rest of the complex was surrounded by mainly purple, red, and turquoise stained glass of soldier saints and the archangels, each topped with a rose window. They were just a little shorter than the towers, circling around with arches sustained by ionic columns at every wing, as if they were the veins and arteries of the building.

The midday light entered through the rose windows, remarkably illuminating the swords and crowns of the archangels depicted in the mosaics on the ground.

The young prince continued looking up, the cross shape of the building holding most of his attention. Then he looked down at the ground and noticed the warrior archangels were also arranged in a cross.

To all the boys sitting on couches and benches, waiting for the announcement for lunch, it was merely sunlight on the ground. If they paid more attention and noted the cross layout of the building, they might say it's because it is Christian; Jesus died on a cross, hence the cross shape.

However, Tariq could truly see it for what it was: the cross shape was a foundation of protection. Each point of it corresponded to a cardinal point, and each of these points was protected by an archangel. East was Raphael, west was Gabriel, south was Michael, and North was Auriel. This layout created a sacred "safe" space, where evil energies and evil astral beings couldn't penetrate. It was a magickal wall against the Mother Church's foes... Such as Tariq.

It's occult in the eyes of the cattle, but the priests know it very well...

He brought his hand to his abdomen, a little above his navel, and felt his talisman of protection. It was a powerful egregore, but there was still a lot of work for him to do.

As a matter of fact, Tariq thought the towers must have been intended to be a complex of four churches to the archangels. The architects, or the priests who commissioned them, decided to make them into quarters for the boys, for some reason. There was a lot of wasted space, with more than enough to accomodate all the boys.

Let's discover what they're up to then...

"Hey! Are you alright?"

Tariq remembered the existence of Filip Svoboda, who was smiling at him, his eyebrows in an ascendant arc, giving him a contrasting expression of happy and sad, comedy and tragedy.

"I apologise."

"As I was saying...you're assigned to the same dorm as me. We're roommates."

***

Joseph was in town at Mr. Brenner's residence. The man's gout had worsened to the point that he couldn't leave his bed, even in a wheelchair. However, the worst part was that he seemed to be entering kidney failure.

"I'm sorry to say this, Mrs. Brenner, but... I'd...estimate he has about a week..."

The woman nodded, her expression stony and resigned.

Then Joseph noticed a hint of a smile.

Is she relieved? Truly?

In the last few weeks, Joseph had seen less and less of the man's relatives, even his children, particularly after he had confirmed that Mr. Brenner's condition was terminal. His wife, who was apparently 20 years younger than him, always had a grumpy, bitter expression on her face, due to the fact Mr. Brenner was urinating around 20 times a day and she had to help the servants to clean him up.

Joseph did his best to stay by the man's side and help, but college was back in session and he needed to show up.

The boy ate a quick lunch that had been offered by Mr. Brenner's wife, then bathed the man and changed his bandages. His skin was grey, and his mouth was cracked due to dehydration. He was staring out the window.

"Mother...c-came to me...and said it's time to...join...them..."

The young doctor nodded.

"No one...shows up...anymore... B-but...you're always here. You'll b-be...well-paid."

The boy smiled, thanking the man, his eyes burning.

He left the house, lighting his lamp when he neared the limits of the town and entering the woods. The only noise was the metallic sound of the lamp swinging by its handle in front of the boy.

With the sun just setting, Joseph went down the dirt path which would take him to the hill where his shack waited. He soon found himself at a crossroad, with a stone crucifix in the middle with a few names written on its foundation. They were the names of three people, all from the same family, who were murdered by robbers a few years ago at that exact site.

The doctor sat under an old yew, resting his back under the knots of one of its roots. To the north, there was a cliff from which the river came. In that position, Joseph could see the peaks of the alps, covered in snow, and painted orange and pink by the crepuscule.

It was late, but he needed to digest everything that had happened that day. His eyes got lost in the clouds floating above the alps.

He always did everything and more for his family... And now that he's about to sail away on his last adventure...there is no one there for him. Is this all life's about? Work until you grow ill, accumulate wealth, do everything for other people… Then in the end, you find yourself abandoned by these vultures who share your blood, eager to plunder all you've built?

The doctor took in the 200-year-old yews around him, the snow on the mountains, and the cross in the middle of the road. How great was the insignificance of humanity against Mother Gaia and Father Chronos!

The prince's face came to his mind. The way he had smiled and thanked him... How he had defended him...

And how he had literally turned his back on Joseph when a better breed of dog showed up.

Joseph shrugged. In the end, he had done what he promised to do: he paid Joseph back. Now it was time for both of them to move on.

"Why would a prince want to hang around some lower class foreigner, eh?" He jumped up. "He's too violent anyway. I have nothing to offer people like that, nor do I desire to."

The young doctor resumed his journey, leaving the crucifix and the alps behind. The yew trees kept their shadows over him.

Right as he was turning past one of the trees to get the south path, something leapt out at him, covering his mouth and throwing him against a yew root. His lungs burned, and it was difficult to breathe. The world spun, the leaves above him becoming like ink stains on a red paper sky. Some of the stains appeared to be moving around the sky... Crows?

Then he saw who did this… Or rather...what did this...

Its shape was that of a human, but it was too tall, almost 3 metres high. The limbs were long, ending in claws the size of a fishmonger's knife. Maybe it was the faint light of the afternoon, or his senses being weakened by the hit, but the figure looked completely dark to Joseph, like a shadow…except for a pair of ocre green eyes. It smelled like a two-week-old unburied corpse.

The doctor gasped, urging his body to move, but the creature grabbed him again by his lapels, beating his head against the same tree. It grabbed the doctor's shoulder, holding him against the ground. The boy struggled, weakened from the pain, trying to fight back against that...thing, until his arms withered, losing their strength.

The last things Joseph heard before losing consciousness were the clacks of horseshoes and a "Caw!"