I had spent a considerable amount of time with the parentless youth. Time had passed quickly, and it had carried away all the memories we had gathered together. I felt an unexpected emotion after taking this path: regret.

As I walked through the tunnel once more, my breaths came out in panting gasps. I longed for the thirst-quenching and peaceful outdoor air, hoping for the cold rain to cleanse me of this guilt.

Instead, the bitter taste of mead lingered on my tongue, and beads of sweat trickled down the side of my face. I couldn't bring myself to stop walking; I didn't want to pause and reflect.

In my right hand, I held a wooden wand, its unique mythril Ebony wood feeling callous to my dirt-stained fingers. I was overwhelmed by the aftermath of killing that youth, and my entire body felt distant, as if I had lost control of my limbs.

Beyond the tunnel, a rectangular light shone against the closed wooden door.

I rushed forward, paying little attention to the pain building up in my muscles. I pushed on like a staggering bull, almost tasting the freedom that seemed to beckon with each heavy and loud step. The light grew nearer as my feet quickened, and I was just inches away from the door. Finally, I reached it and practically tore the door wide open.

I rushed into the blinding light, but what I found inside stopped me dead in my tracks. I was back in that same room with the open space. The familiar sound of water droplets falling from the roofed pipes echoed in the room. However, this time, there were no lifeless bodies; only the radio playing smooth jazz. I began to shake, and cold sweats trailed down the side of my face. Nervously, I turned around.

To my horror, the door had vanished.

I frantically glared at the spacious room, unable to fathom what was going on.

By chance, I made contact with the wand in my grasp. My heart started to thump quicker; I desperately fished into my pockets for the protective pendant. I found nothing, and now I was shivering in terror. 

Suddenly, the sounds of jaded applause filled my ears. Footsteps echoed from afar, and unearthing from the shadows into the near distance was a fellow dressed in a long dark hood. My heart sank immediately once my sight met the shadowy figure. The fellow appeared into the open light, and after removing his hood, a hairless fellow with smooth pecan-colored skin stood before me. He was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing a cold mask with dark reddishly brown eyes. Peculiarly enough, he carried a black diamond tattoo against the left side of his cheek. I couldn't move. Even my voice had run away from me presently.

The dark-skinned fellow then made an odd gesture, raising his right hand. "Onmas Fzoern," he spoke ; a red light gathered around his palm, and then the same palm started to glow like the burning sun. He clenched his fists, and the glowing light subsided into his grip, tiny fast-moving red and orange particles danced around the fist like wonderous fireflies.

He aimed his fist towards me, and unclenched. *Chiiiiii* sound screeched forth, and a surging orange light suddenly flashed forwards. I found my entire bones soaked in what felt like a burning liquid had been poured over my entire body. I would've screamed, but more grimly enough, I swiftly discovered I couldn't move a single inch of my body anymore.

Rows of sweat spread across my skin. My veins bulged cruelly against my face while blood softly trickled down both my nostrils and eyes. My rattled lizard-like gaze could do nothing but stare weakly at the shadows around me. That sound of soft applause approached again this time from my rear, and with each echoing clap, I felt my heart growing more numb. More footsteps appeared from the shadows soon enough.

Two more figures unearthed themselves into the foray, a slender male and a shorter female. 

If I could speak, of course, I would be questioning my sanity at this point.

This familiar-faced fellow, whom I had shot right in the face was standing in front of me again. I rehearsed the splattering of his bones, and the breaking of flesh as the bullet seemed to travel slowly before it found its target.

The slumped body was rigid like stone.

The scent of blood still filled my nostrils. 

'Wh-what...wh-wh-what is going...'

"Aha, it's delightful to see you again...Mr-er, what was it you said your name was?" The young-faced fellow who called himself Pax was thumbing his chin, trying to recall what the name was that he was never actually told. The girl beside him followed suit, gently removing her hood also. Violet, silky strands of hair tumbled out and sat just above her shoulders. Her skin was deftly pale like snow, the eyes dark with a peculiar grey ring circling them. She cast a cold glare towards me before handing a sealed pouch to the jovial heckling fellow by her side.

"Ahaha, I told you, didn't I? Mr. Lorne would certainly take the shot."

The girl elbowed his descending arm away from her shoulders.

"The coward was supposed to run;" her pout was almost cute if it wasn't for the white blood lust gathering within her eyes.

"It was a fair bet, Yuki. So don't you go disturbing my confidants, okay? I've exhausted all my red-taped silkworms. Unless you're willing to compensate me for a puppet, I suggest you keep that wand away from my people."

The girl called Yuki stood motionless, her head turned towards the frozen me as though she wasn't listening to the man beside her. Yet her eyes were not fixed on me. I saw a shadow approaching from my rear, with all the frantic questions circling in my thoughts. I was surprised to feel a warm arm wrapping itself around my shoulder. I still couldn't control any parts of my body, only my bloodshot eyeballs moved whilst my lips continually trembled.

Then a warm whisper fell against my face, and a voice appeared. One which sent a spiral of sickly churns throughout my stomach, the worst which was yet to happen...had finally befallen me.

"Long time no see, old friend;"

I immediately matched a face with the voice, and that face appeared in front of me. Short red curls falling wildly over a dour-freckled face. I opened my lizard-like eyes as wide as they could go, bewitched by a mixture of feelings; I was stunned into disbelieving this scene was real, h-how could it be real and yet...wh-why was that sickly-looking boy standing before me again.

"If you could talk, I'm sure you would have quite a lot of vile things to say to me?" A childlike heckle left the young fellow's lips; I was torn with myself. I saw the boy dying beneath my feet. 

I killed him? but yet...'

"I always liked you, Lorne, and I never held any grudges towards the way you treated me. After all, who else took notice of me, fed me, and clothed me? Don't be scared, as a token of thanks I have chosen you to help me with something special." His words flowed like choral music. No longer the short raspy whimpers of a frail youth. 

I was beyond stunned at this moment. The boy brought his face inches away from my frozen mask, he gave me a gentle kiss against my cheek before walking towards he trio. "Hey Kitamaru, he did try to kill you. Sure you wanna let him off so easily?" There was a devious smirk against Pax's face while he spoke that. But he quickly regretted it once he met another firm elbow to his chest. The scene made the fiery-headed youth laugh. He stood directly across the girl and rubbed her softly on the top of her head. Her cold eyes didn't change, but one could see the slight affectionate mannerisms she held towards the boy.

"Hmph, typical tsk! Kita-san only has eyes for a certain someone ay. I didn't know our leader picked favorites. Well, can't say that it isn't painful." Said Pax, feigning a look of a deeply hurt fellow.

The quietest fellow within the room snorted aloud, the bald young man with smooth brown pecan-colored skin. He had striking tattoos drawn beneath his two eyelids, tiny black stars reaching his lower cheeks.

"Can we keep this process moving, please? We have no time for useless pleasantries," he spoke in a deep voice. The rest of the robed fellows nodded in agreement. The red-headed boy appeared before me again; this time he carried no false smile nor a practice of idiocy like I had always known him to adopt before for all those years.

The young man before me, instead carried the indifferent eyes of a noble and the mysterious darkness of a murderer. I had seen many faces, and known the greatest horrors. My mind was filled with terrible thoughts, for how long had the pitiful young boy hidden his face away from me like this? How had things gotten to this point? The only thing more terrible than the excruciating pain coursing through every fiber of my body was my unstable mind trying to make sense of this. As though my thoughts were linked to a megaphone rousing the area with each poignant disastrous image I was conjuring, the familiar-faced boy looked deeply into my bloodshot eyes, almost as red as blood at this point.

"You are perhaps wondering for how long had it been this way hm? Well, the funny thing about magic is that you can never be sure what's exactly real or not. Take you and me, for example. What I perceive to be true and what you may feel can be completely different experiences, despite both of us sharing each other's company. Let me put it like this: a single month through your lens could be…I don't know, say a few hours to someone like me."

My rattling eyes revealed the deep shock within my heart. I had spent countless resources and time to understand these almost mythical fellows, and with all the old texts and fabled scriptures, and for so long...

'had one of them been beside me this entire time...b-but why t-to what end?' 

Everything was wrong, I knew that now. 

I thought about the protective pendant I purposefully carried on me because of the rumors concerning those secretive types of people. But then, I grimly recalled what I had done with the second one. Gazing into the bright green eyes of the young man in front of me, the look he placed upon me made my heart swelter in fear.

"Escaping is not an option, Mr. Lorne, because you have an important role to play. A very important one, I might add."

"So important I wasted very expensive silkworms to create that nice illusion of you killing us both," the youth who called himself Pax spoke this.

I felt a burning sensation gathering in my eyes. Swiftly afterward, the expected tears started to stream down my sallow, almost purple, puss-filled skin.

"Dear-dear don't be frightened, Mr. Lorne," the youth stroked the stiffened black strands of hair on top of my head

"You tried to kill me remember, and I understand why you had to do it. I would like to tell you that I carry no such ill intentions towards you, my old friend. So please, I beg of you, be still. For without your sacrifice, our mission cannot be completed. Trust me, old friend, trust in me, and let me take you into another world. A world filled with wonderful sights and splendors fitting for only the most deserving of beings. You will understand once it begins…we are...crossing the sphere into a new world"

The boy clicked his two fingers and walked steadily towards the trio. I suddenly noticed a ring of pale encircling around me, and once the ring formed, another was drawn against the floor and another, and many more salt circles appeared on the ground until layers of spiraling white enclosed me in its center. The trio took a few steps back; the girl among the hooded fellows turned the radio off. Then a bright smile creased against the boy with red hair, the dour-faced lad I had kept by my side for so long. This...this was his real face?

"By now it should've been accomplished...r-right Kitamaru?" 

"Indeed. The Fisherman should've already made his final sail by now...Hehehe anyway. Let's begin; shall we...let us open the door and finally cross over into the other worlds?"

A blinding white light erupted from the ground beneath me, revealing a mirage of glittering white pillars.

Soon, the ominous, silent scent of death began to envelop me.