The sounds of hooting owls in the distance filled the foggy forest as the night approached leading to the shadows darkening as they got longer, and longer.

Depending on the person, some would find walking through the forest at night to be a relaxing peaceful time, but others might disagree wanting nothing to do with the creepy atmosphere. After all, there are many hidden things in the woods, and the sinister runes carved by equally as sinister spellcasters usually deterred people from going there.

Especially those who could understand what the runes are telling them.

There were so many paths in the woods that lead to so many places, and Aubrey found himself walking through one of those paths to an unknown destination as he held on to a shovel.

For some reason, Agnes had been upset when he came, and she handed him this worn-out shovel he was holding telling him that it was about time he knew how to look for ingredients that actually mattered. Not that he minded going out to look for them, but she didn't exactly specify what she wanted.

And it seems like her helper, the liar who is totally not called Kevin, was forced to come along with him to show him what he needed to do.

In all honesty, Aubrey was not excited at all about the whole thing. The idea of being alone with this strange and infuriating person was unappealing. He made Aubrey feel very uncomfortable by just being there. It was awful.

In fact, walking into this creepy forest all alone not knowing where he is and what dangers lurked in the dark with the knowledge that he couldn't defend himself with spells sounded better than having the lying Kevin accompany him.

Aubrey was sure he could find whatever mushrooms, roots, or whatever plants Agnes was looking for, but why did he need a shovel?

Well, his question was answered when he snapped out of his reverie and found himself in the middle of a graveyard.

A disbelieving laugh escaped him.

"You're not serious about this, are you?"

The liar, whose name is totally not Kevin, looked back at him and arched his eyebrow. "What?"

"This- This whole thing. The graves, the dead people. We're not doing what I think we're doing, right?"

But totally-not-Kevin merely reached out for the shovel without saying a word back, and Aubrey hugged it closer to him in his repulsion at the thought of what it'll be used to. Nobody told him that they were going to dig up graves, and he was not happy with that at all.

"No." He defiantly pulled the shovel away when not-Kevin tried to grab it, and it only made the latter sigh before he yanked it forcefully from Aubrey's hands.

"You better get used to this, otherwise I suggest you leave."

He wanted to, badly, but there was one little problem. "I don't know the way back..."

Not-Kevin let out a snort before turning around surveying the place for something. Aubrey didn't know if he was just looking for a grave he liked, or a specific one, but he finally settled on one before he stepped on the shovel and started to casually dig completely ignoring Aubrey.

Bemused, Aubrey stood there watching the dirt fly in the air for a few moments before realizing that this wasn't the first time not-Kevin had done that.

That's when the gears started turning in Aubrey's head.

"Agnes uses human parts." He voiced out his realization as he watched his companion dig a grave. They're robbing graves now, and it was absurd.

This was not what he had expected when he asked to be taught alchemy. They kidnapped him to begin with, just what did he expect...

Aubrey knew it wasn't wise to stay with his kidnappers like this, but he was helplessly intrigued by Agnes and her alchemy. However, not-Kevin seemed amused at the expressions that were appearing on Aubrey's face, and he decided to amuse himself even more with his next words, referring to the human parts. "Sometimes they're fresh, too."

Aubrey croaked. "Oh."

Definitely-not-Kevin stared at him for a moment before he went back to digging.

"Clearly a rich snob like you isn't cut out for this, so why don't you leave? It's already too crowded with that idiot around."

Not pleased about the rudeness, Aubrey knew it was just how not-Kevin talked to most people as he approached the grave that was being dug, and found a nice spot for him to sit as he watched the liar with a bitter look on his face. "I plan to stick around out of spite."

"That's okay." Not-Kevin shrugged nonchalantly still not sounding tired after making a decent amount of progress with his digging. "You're spiteful and I am stubborn."

It was Aubrey's turn to scoff. "You plan on chasing me away?"

"Yes."

"I'm still here even after all your past efforts," Not-Kevin gave him an unamused look that Aubrey returned with an equally unamused smile. "You'll have to do a lot worse than just dig up dead bodies."

Those were brave words that he said, and he hoped he wouldn't regret them in the future. Something told him that he might, but all he cared about at the moment was annoying the grave-digging liar.

And that's when he decided to finally confront him about it.

"Your name is not Kevin, is it? I heard Agnes call you Kel."

A heavy sigh escaped him, and he stopped digging for a moment to rest his chin unhappily on the shovel. "She loves to ruin my fun, but yes. You heard me wrong. It is Kelvin. I just didn't bother to correct you."

Frustrated, Aubrey threw a tuft of grass his way. "You're lying again."

"Surprised you actually noticed. Not so brainless, are we?" The irritating thing was that he sounded impressed as if he thought Aubrey was actually that gullible. Still, he did get an admittance of the lie.

"I know it is Kel-something." He muttered trying his best to guess. "Kelton?"

A shake of the head was his response. "Nope."

"Kel- Kelly?"

"Call me that and you'll find yourself buried here with Samantha." Kel-something told him in a mock cheery tone, and Aubrey couldn't help but peer at the headstone to see that Samantha was indeed buried there. "You're so bad at guessing."

Aubrey scowled and huffed already tired of this guessing game.

"You know what? I don't want to know. Not like it'll make you any less insufferable."

"You really don't care?"

"No." Aubrey answered him flatly and he was being completely honest. "I'll just call you Kel."

"Suits me just fine." Kel shrugged before he gave him a grin that made his blood boil, but he made sure not to show how annoyed he was by it. "It's Kellen by the way."

And finally, Aubrey had a name that fit that annoying person.

Kellen.

"It was not nice meeting you, Kellen. I really hated it."

For some reason that elicited a genuine smile. "The displeasure is all mine."

And that's when Aubrey let out a shrieked when a skeletal hand was thrown his way. Soon, the sound of rattling bones was heard when more parts followed and Aubrey watched in a fascinated disgust when he reached for Samantha's ankle bone.

At least, what he thought was her ankle.

"Whoever Samantha was, I bet she's super mad about this."

"She's dead, she doesn't have a say in any of this." Kellen told him unfeelingly, and Aubrey couldn't help but look down at the bones with some guilt, but he still gathered them around before realizing they needed a container. They couldn't just walk with a pile of human bones in their hands.

"We can't just carry these bones like this."

"Hm," Kellen looked down at them thoughtfully considering his options. He knew he forgot something when they came here, and that something was a stupid box. It occurred to him that there's one already when he casted a silent spell. "We'll just used this."

Aubrey watched as Samantha's old coffin rose from the grave as pieces of dirt fell off of it and Aubrey didn't say anything as he watched it move in the air knowing exactly where it would land.

"Fucking ow!"

Right on Kellen's head.

He didn't deserve a warning.

And the loud sound that echoed all over the graveyard due to the impact was like music to Aubrey's ears.