She had forgotten how many people were on her side. The room was small so she could only see the crowd through the small underground door.

The things she heard made something grow inside her. Disgust came to her stomach and made her want to vomit her organs.

"Finally!"

"I've been waiting for this!"

"I got my knives all sharp and ready."

She was not only disgusted with the way so many people cheered for death. But also how deep inside her hurt heart, she once cheered too.

“Teodora, please-"

Whilst her companions left to a path in front of the small room. Teodora stayed. She only paid attention to her knife.

“Fine, what's the excuse?”

“Excuse?”

“Oh you know. "I couldn't heal him because he didn't deserve it. I couldn't do it because he was a peasant." Spill it.

Alice didn't like her tone at all. Those "excuses" made her grit her teeth. And remembering what her said, his "excuse" only tightened her jaw. She held her mouth to make sure her teeth wouldn't shatter.

“He told me it was too late."

"Too late?" while Alice tried to remember what he said, Teodora had used a piece of cloth to clean her knife. She would have to do it again, now that the knife was next to Alice, stuck inside the walls behind the cage.

"He dare say that after everything!?" She laughed as tears poured down her face, "Juliet!"

"...Yes ma'am?"

"Bring her somewhere safe. We don't know what that guy is planning with her."

"Roger that."

After cleaning her face, Teodora left, only leaving the stuck knife behind.

"Pull it off." Juliet told her.

Once she did she recognized it almost immediately. The knife Juliet gave her. They were identical.

"Wait, where's-"

"Here." Juliet threw it at her, "Now you have two."

"Two-don't throw knives at people!"

"Follow me."

Alice stayed in the room.

"Why aren't you listening to me? Follow-"

"He didn't tell me."

"...Go on."

"He knows you, and he must know Teodora as well. So why? Why didn't he tell me that you're-"

"Wow!" Juliet raised her hands, "Wow! That's-I-I guess a person can go as low as they want."

"What do you mean?"

Juliet, her hands on her stomach, looked her straight in the eyes, "You told us this right? Some guys and that dragon were there and one of them killed grandpa. What did exactly Nexus do?"

"He," she couldn't recall many details of that night. Especially the names. She accepted her memory as her new enemy, but now she wish she hadn't.

"He approached Mi-your grandpa, and he shoved him away."

"Shoved him away? He didn't recognize him at all? Did he grow sick or something?"

"I...can't say that he didn't have health problems. But no doctor treated us, so no one tried to figure out what happened to him."

"Was the shove a new thing or-"

"No, he acted strangely when I found his locket one day as well."

"...So he didn't recognize him."

Juliet stepped away. Making gestures with her hands instead of shouting. She came back, her steps heavy and her gaze tired.

"Why didn't you tell us that earlier?"

"I...I forgot."

She looked appalled, "Forgot!? Did someone curse your mind or what? You said everything else in perfect detail how did you forget that?"

"I...I don't know. I think you're right. My mind might be cursed. I first forgot how Rue called your mom Teodora, then the events before he died, and now I can't recall how Nexus helped! Did he help? Maybe he didn't? Maybe I discovered the name Teodora all on my own. But I also killed-"

"Wait," Juliet grabbed her arm, "He never mentioned us even once?"

Alice didn't want to say it, "Never."

Juliet let her go and sat down, "Take a seat on the mud. We have a long story ahead."

"A story? You mean-"

"What happened between them? Correct. And not only that, how he hurt my brother, Jakob, too."

-

Let's make this easy and pretend you’re stupid and don’t know anything.

It started quite simple, there was a random village on a random field with random people.

Among those people was one family. A mother, a father, a grandfather, a son and a daughter.

The grandfather was a proud blacksmith. The parents took care of some chicken. And the son was a polite boy. The daughter was like two or three or whatever.

They lived a happy life. A simple one that was too short.

When those "knights" arrived in the village, and demanded all the men and boys to join their army, we refused. Dad especially and he lost his life because of it.

The daughter was too young to remember him, so she could only grieve as a stranger passing a graveyard would.

Anyway, back then the mother and grandfather made a deal with the knights. If their sons are being taken away then their families should come as well.

They agreed, and the tiny village turned to dust.

The son, mother and grandfather never learned to like the city, before or after it started flying. The daughter was again different, for she didn't know a different life.

Still, they managed just fine. Okay house, okay meals, decent training. Nothing was too hard for them to handle for they were still together.

And then Jack brought Nexus home.

-

He never told us how he met that kid. Nor why he liked him that much, but mom and grandpa accepted him with open arms. They told me Jack barely had any friends, which, made sense. Spend more than one day with him and watch how annoying he gets.

Anyway, I remember how scary he was at first. His gray hair and quiet demeanor made me think he was a ghost instead of a man. But overtime he started to talk more, help around chores and even play with the two us. Mom even called him her "third child" which made Jack the middle child and I loved that. But as you see, things seemed too fine? A close family got another member and they still stuck together? Nothing could have gone wrong.

Then one day grandpa discovered something. Something that no one should have known.

Jack and Nexus were with him too when they discovered them. 29 bodies of children burried near the castle grounds.

He showed this to other people and rage defined the city for a while.

They wanted to know what happened? Who were these children? Why did so many die? Why didn't the emperor say anything? Protest showcased our people united in rage.

One day, the emperor said that he'd tell us everything about those children. Not only that, he also mentioned something called project aurora.

The people were at peace for a night. Once they realized they could bring these kids the justice they deserved.

Then someone killed a man.

With a knife my grandpa made.

They didn't have any other clues as to how he died, so he became the number one suspect. Many people defended him. For he was the face of the rebellion. Still, the mother and son couldn't lie when they were asked what he did the night during the murder. That he was away the entire night.

People got concerned but they still decided to trust him. A trial begun to see if he had done it or not.

This wasn't any other trial, fort he emperor required a small group of Hasatan. Who got paid to see if anyone lied or not.

The trial began and things went in favor for grandpa at first.

But things got worse fast.

When the Hasatan questioned him, he avoided explaining what exactly he did that night.

That was suspicious but people still trusted him.

Then Nexus came and ruined everything.

“Because of Miroslav Blazeheart that man died!"

That threw everyone off, for he wasn't the famous miracle or whatever that he is today. But then the Hasatan heard him. What he said was true,

And just like that. Grandpa was never seen again.

I wish it ended there but there’s always more to the truth. Jack throughout the trial, looked at Nexus with confusion. At first I thought it was because of his sudden appearance.

But then I overheard their conversation after the case.

He called him out for lying, for the night my grandpa “supposedly” murdered that guy, he was at our place resting.

And Nexus said something neither of us will ever forget or heal from.

“Choose the perfect words and no one can say you lied.”

We were just outside the courtroom when he said that, and many adults heard it as well. Still, when they begged the emperor for justice he simply said "Too late now. The carriage already left."

Jack couldn't do anything about the emperor, so he tackled Nexus in an instant. No matter how many times he punched him, Nexus didn’t stop laughing. All the adults came and grabbed Jack away.

His outburst changed a lot. Knights are now forbidden to meet up with their families until they graduate. And the emperor decided that because of this incident trials became "old-fashioned." And well, you should at least remember what happened to those pura lux mages.

-

I'M BACK! And with one of my favorite chapters at that LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! But yeah, if your opinion on Nexus has shifted juuuuuust a tiny bit leave a comment below! Thanks for reading and goodbye!