Edgar felt the cold rain falling on his face, he felt the pain of multiple wounds throughout his body, he realized he was moving, with his vision becoming more and more blurred, he could vaguely see the form of his traveling companion, Kas, carrying him, “Edgar, stay awake.”, he said between labored breaths, “Stay with me…”.

“You two, this way,” a voice sounded beyond the heavy rain, with extreme difficulty, Edgar tried to look for the source of the voice, but he could only discern a silhouette in contrast with a strong but comforting light, somehow, the last thing Edgar felt before losing consciousness was Kas going towards the light.

-x-

Edgar's consciousness was slowly returning, along with small twinges of pain, when he tried to sit up, he felt the back of Kas's hand gently touching his chest, “Don't you dare…” he said, preventing him from sitting up; “Where are we?”, Edgar asked, slowly lying down again. Kas looked around, moving as much as his bandages would allow. They were in a circular room, lit by a yellow light coming from above, right above them, a second floor with multiple shelves crammed with books. In the background, he could hear a whispered conversation between two people, one of them the man who saved them, and the other coming from someone he hadn’t seen yet, who sounded angry and panicked, but Kas couldn’t make out the words.

“I have no idea.”, Kas said, slowly leaning his back against the couch where Edgar was lying.

A man enters the room from the inside of the house, quickly glancing at the two boys, with an angry expression on his face, and leaned against the wall next to the window, looking cautiously outside. The atmosphere in the room became heavy with the presence of this third person. Kas and Edgar looked at each other, and Edgar tried to talk to the stranger, but before he had the chance to speak, the stranger interrupted him, “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.” - “Salazar, don’t be rude to my guests.”, said the gentle voice, the stranger, apparently Salazar, widened his eyes and looked in the direction of the second voice, “DON’T REVEAL MY NAME TO CRIMINALS!”, Salazar shouted angrily, “Oh, sorry,” the voice said, “You can say mine is Melchior, then we’ll be even.”

-x-

Salazar looked dumbfounded at Melchior, who entered the living room from some inner room of the house, carrying a tray with 3 steaming mugs, placing it on the coffee table, “Are you really going to serve tea to criminals?”, asked Salazar, “They are injured and tired, besides, they don't seem like bad people.”, said Melchior, placing a cup in each of their hands, Kas thanked him with a slight nod, “You don't get such a high reward by being a good person.”, Salazar said, as Kas helped Edgar to sit down, “In this state, they wouldn't be able to do anything to us.”, he pointed at Edgar, having difficulty bringing the cup of tea to his lips, grimacing in pain with the effort, “Anyway…”, continued Melchior, “What happened to you two?”, before either of them could answer, someone knocked on the door.

-x-

Salazar leaned on the window, peering outside, where a man was standing, taking off his rain-soaked hood. After realizing he was being watched, he smiled and waved kindly to Salazar. “Your companion?” Salazar asked. “We travel alone.” Edgar replied, having finally managed to drink his tea, and with that, his expression improved considerably.

Salazar looked at Melchior, as if asking if it was a good idea to open the door, and Melchior, sitting opposite the two boys sitting on the sofa, looked at them for confirmation. Kas raised his hand, and a small flame danced on his palm; Melchior looked back at Salazar and nodded.

Salazar cautiously opens the door, and standing on the porch of the house was a beautiful man, beautiful is not enough to describe him, he was absolutely stunning, an aura of pure beauty exuded from him, carrying an intense floral scent, but not in a sickening way, the man looked inside the house, where 2 injured men stared at him, with anger and caution in their eyes, on the opposite side, a boy looked at him curiously, behind the door, another boy looked at him with a little fear; "I feel like I'm not welcome here.", he said in a silky smooth voice.

-x-

Before the handsome man could enter the house, Salazar raised his hand, stopping him, “I’m terribly sorry, where are my manners…”, the handsome young man took off his muddy boots and placed them next to the door, outside, “I’m so sorry for my lack of manners, now may I come in?”, Salazar continued to stare at the man, but slowly lowered his hand, as soon as the boy entered fully, Kas created a ball of fire in the palm of his hand, and threw it violently in the direction of the stranger, who apparently blocked it with his arm, however, when the flame seemed to be consuming his arm, he shook his arm and the flames fell in petals to the ground. Melchior sipped his tea, clearly entertained by the whole situation, “Excuse me, I forgot to introduce myself.”, the stranger bowed slightly, “I am Ajax, a simple historiographer.”, “Who sent you?” asked Edgar, trying hard to hide his pain, “I swear that nothing, nor anyone, but my own curiosity.”, said Ajax, slowly rising from his bow, “All I want, is to ask you two a few questions…”; Edgar and Kas looked at each other, communicating entire sentences in a few seconds, and then looked at Ajax, and they nodded.

-x-

“First of all, what happened to you?” Ajax asked, taking a small notebook out of his pocket; “We were ambushed at the tavern, some people were after our rewards, and they were waiting for us in the room.”, Kas replied; Salazar continued to look closely outside, and noticed a small movement in the poorly lit parts of the street. “And how did you two get such big rewards?”, Ajax asked with a glint of curiosity in his eyes, Kas became visibly apprehensive, Edgar noticed this and quickly began to speak, “I lived my life easily, a few robberies here and there, sometimes defiance of authority, but what really raised my reward was saving him.”, he shook his head in Kas’ direction, “He was going to be executed for what he did, and I did the favor of stopping it.”; The commotion outside quickly turned into a crowd. Salazar noticed that people were glancing at the house, as if they were planning something. “And what was this crime?” Ajax asked, quickly writing down everything he had been told so far, but when Melchior stretched his neck to try to read, all he saw on the page were scribbles. Edgar seemed intent on starting to speak, but Kas put a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t believe that a historian doesn’t know what happened. What are your intentions?” Ajax smiled, perhaps a little mischievously. “I like to get information straight from the source. Forgive me for not making that clear.”, he said, lowering his head slightly. Salazar called Melchior with a gesture. Melchior quickly got up to go to the window. He looked at his brother, with a frightened expression, handed him his cup, and opened the door.

-x-

There was a small crowd outside. Some were holding torches, others were armed, some were holding ropes. Melchior apprehensively intertwined his fingers in front of his body and tried to speak confidently. “H-how can I help you?, “HAND OVER THE CRIMINALS.” Most of the choir shouted, others shouted insults at the criminals, and a small portion shouted to offend Melchior, calling him an accomplice. “Help me here,” Edgar asked Kas, struggling to get up, “You’re not in shape for that”, warned Kas “But it’s not fair that he has to go through this because of us.” Kas supported his friend on his shoulder and slowly led him to the door. “Guys, please calm down…” Melchior tried to calm the crowd, without much success. Salazar remained behind the window, holding the cup with both hands, preparing for anything that might happen. Ajax remained sitting on the floor, stunned by the whole situation. Seeing the two wanted men leave the house, the cacophony of voices grew louder, Edgar held onto the doorframe, signaling for Kas and Melchior to come back in, “I can't leave you alone here.”, Melchior said, refusing to go in, “I'll be fine”, Edgar assured, Melchior looked at Kas, who just closed his eyes and nodded slowly, confirming his companion's words, and apprehensive, Melchior went back in.

-x-

Edgar tried to hide the immense pain he was feeling, leaning on the balcony's railing; the crowd was a mix of shocked and confused, people didn't expect Edgar to give in so easily, the first people to recover from the shock tried to grab him. What happened next left everyone scared, a chill ran down the spines of everyone present, a black aura emanated from Edgar, the heat from the torches cooled, the hands holding weapons lost their strength, and slowly lowered; Edgar was only a foot away, but he seemed so far away..., some people fell to the ground, others started to cry.

Inside the house, 3 of the 4 young people looked curiously outside, "I recommend that you don't stare", warned Kas, "If you stare too much, it might end up affecting you too.", "And what exactly can affect us?", asked Salazar, slightly widening his eyes, "His ability, Fear...", replied Kas. The crowd, once angry, was now frightened, some fell on their butts, others moved away, at different speeds, those weaker in mind, who had let themselves be carried away by the crowd, were on their knees, asking for forgiveness from Edgar, who for them, was standing imposingly on that little terrace; with a slow movement he turned his back and went back inside.

-x-

Edgar re-entered the house, his face contorted in pain, he put his hand to the bandages on his chest, which were soaked in blood. Kas positioned himself next to his companion, placing his arm behind him and supporting him on his own body, “Please tell me where the bathroom is, and take new bandages there, and if it's not too much to ask, could we spend the night there?”, “Second door on the left, I will, and of course you can.”, Melchior replied, while Salazar gestured erratically, trying to convey his indignation with the whole situation, “I believe that is my cue, good evening, gentlemen.”, Ajax stood up, made a mini-bow, and made to leave through the door, when Melchior put his hand on his shoulder and said in a voice that conveyed seriousness, “You sleep on the couch.” Ajax widened his eyes at Salazar, who responded with the same expression, directed at Melchior. Edgar was laid down in the bathtub, and after Kas changed the bandages, he sat on the floor, and for the first time that night, he allowed himself to rest, the last things he heard were quick footsteps through the house, before falling into a well-deserved sleep.