Zorn leaned against the large boulder he'd jumped from earlier and let out a slow breath, eyes drifting shut. The wind brushed through his black hair like a gentle hand. For a moment, he just breathed. 

A bubbly, high-pitched voice shattered the silence right above his head.

"Hey~!"

His eyes snapped open and he jerked his head back, only to see the girl he'd rescued perched on top of the boulder, leaning over to peer down at him.

"Thank you for saving me! Your powers were so cool!"

He blinked, heat rushing to his ears. She was... kind of pretty. Her hair was long and white as the clouds, her eyes a beautiful amethyst purple. Her skin was so fair it seemed to glow where the sunlight touched it. 

"Oh... you're welcome," he responded sheepishly. 

He noticed she wore a decorative gold-and-red brooch on the left side of her chest. It looked... official. It didn't really fit her aesthetic. 

She jumped off the boulder and landed softly in the sand in front of him, smiling. She had on a white sundress embroidered with red flora at the hem... but no shoes.

"I can't thank you enough for earlier. You saved my life... uh..." She paused, waiting for a name.

"Zorn," he said, getting to his feet and rubbing the back of his head.

"Ah! That's a cool name! Sounds demonic! I'm Sabrina," she said, puffing out her chest like her name carried weight.

He froze, unsure if that was supposed to be a compliment. 

"That's... cool... right?" he asked, anxiety creeping into his voice.

"Very! One thing that isn't though... well..."

Her eyes gave him a quick, brutal scan of him, from the red headband half-hidden beneath his bangs, down his open red jacket and black shirt.

"Uhm." His eyes followed hers.

Her gaze finally landed on the gold, scorpion-shaped beaded necklace at his chest.

She sucked her teeth. "...It's this outfit."

He glanced down, suddenly hyper-aware of her judgment. 

"This is comfortable," he muttered, fingers twisting the hem of his shirt.

Sabrina snorted. 

"Comfortable doesn't mean fashionable."

"I didn't think fashion mattered when someone's trying to drown you," he grumbled.

She laughed again, light, airy, and teasing. 

"Fair point."

He was already growing tired of the small talk. Time to cut to the chase.

"Why was that monster trying to kill you, Sabrina?"

She blinked, slightly surprised, and maybe amused, by his bluntness. Tucking a strand of white hair behind her ear, she sighed.

"Because I'm a Red Convert."

A Red Convert?

He frowned.

"What is that?"

"It's our title once we're accepted into the Eternal Flame Court," she said, her voice swelling with pride.

"People like us are called Red Saints once we officially have our conversion ceremony; we restore order and peace throughout Varnaiya while the war wages on across this land."

She paused, her tone darkening as her fingers went to her brooch.

"But... not everyone agrees with us. Some follow corrupted star-beings and gods that break the As Above, So Below Law. Their way of retaliating... is killing Red Converts like me before we have our official ceremonies to continue the Red Saint legacy."

His eyes widened at the intense revelation. 

"That's... horrible."

"Yeah," she sighed quietly. 

He was still trying to process it all.

"Varnaiya?"

She chuckled softly.

"Yes. That's what this world is called, Varn for short."

She crossed her arms and tilted her head, a curious glint in her purple eyes.

"You say it like you aren't from here."

His gaze dropped to the ground.

"Yeah... heh."

He hesitated. Telling the truth felt too risky. Would she even believe him?

"What exactly is this 'As Above, So Below' Law? And why is there a war?" he asked, steering the conversation away from himself.

She turned and began walking along the sand, waving for him to follow.

"Come on. There's a small city beyond the forest. I'll explain everything over food. I'm starving."

He nodded in agreement. 

"Yeah, sure."

Sabrina led him down a path he hadn't noticed before, leaving the beach behind. The terrain shifted; rocks towered even higher than the trees, with bushes and flowers growing in every gap. The sand gave way to a dirt trail lined with lush grass. In the distance, he could still hear the ocean.

"It's only five minutes from here. We shouldn't be long," she said, her cheerfulness returning. 

"This feels like a fairytale," Zorn said, eyeing the scenery. 

"Fairytale?" She laughed. "Where are you from? This is common here."

He glanced at her. A crazy impulse took hold.

Maybe I could tell her.

"I fell from the sky. I opened a door, and there was an inverted world on the other side. The door shut behind me, and I fell."

Her wide, stunned eyes locked on him. The long silence stretched, making him anxious. He'd said too much.

He forced a chuckle, trying to play it off.

"Ha! You actually believed that?"

She started to laugh, the tension breaking. 

"You could be a storyteller! That sounded crazy! I was worried I was talking to a star person~! Haha!"

Star person?

The words lodged in his head, heavy as stone. He glanced down at his wrist, eyeing the glyph. 

Child of Mars Mage.

...What the hell was he?

Maybe... she wasn't the safest person to open up to after all. 

"So, where are you really from? You seem to joke about it. Is it something you don't want to share?"

Telling the truth felt too much like lying now. He was stuck. He shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets and kicking a rock as they walked.

"In a way, yes."

She hummed a sad sigh. 

"I see. I will respect that." 

She smiled, but it didn't ease the knot in his stomach. 

—CRACK!

Branches snapped in the distance. He paused instantly, his body tensing, going defensive. Sabrina stopped and glanced back at him. 

"It's okay. It isn't that monster," she said, turning forward again.

A sharp rustle overhead froze him in place. He looked up. 

A boy crouched on a branch above them, his short golden hair catching the last slant of sunlight. He was smaller than Zorn. But the way he sat; perfectly balanced, utterly still; unblinking, made him seem larger. 

Two stubborn cowlicks jutted from the sides of his head like little horns. His gaze was piercing, cutting straight through Zorn, then flicked toward Sabrina as it lingered on her brooch. 

He wore a pristine white outfit with faint accents of blue, highlighted by a hooded scarf that draped behind his shoulders like a long cape. The hood hung loose, flowing in the breeze.

A headband, much like Zorn's but a solid cool blue, marked his forehead. Was it hiding a scar; or just a fashion statement?

His long sleeves stirred with the wind; the parted folds of his robe reminded Zorn of pictures he'd seen of ancient hanfu. Despite the celestial air, the boy radiated something else entirely, scrutiny. Suspicion lingered in his gaze.

Sabrina stiffened slightly, her eyes narrowing. 

"Uh... don't mind him," she muttered, a defensive edge in her voice.

Zorn narrowed his own eyes. Something about the boy didn't feel right. Unlike Sabrina, he wasn't just cautious, he was watching. Waiting.

The boy stood upright on the branch. With a faint shimmer of light, a staff, no, a scythe made of solid light, materialized in his hands. He tapped the blade of it against the bark.

Thud!

Zorn flinched at the sound, his heartbeat spiking.

"Convert."

His voice was rough, low, carrying the sharpness of a teenager who'd seen too much.

Sabrina stopped to glare up at the boy, cursing him silently, Damn this brat. What does he want?

Zorn was overwhelmed, but he masked it with a weary, quiet tone. 

"Sabrina, what is going on?" 

His eyes darted between the boy and Sabrina as he stepped back, ready to fight.

Please... don't let this turn into another fight, he thought.

Sabrina noticed the tension coiling inside him.

"Zorn." Her voice was low.

"Up there in that tree is a demon. You should be careful."

He squinted up at him, his brows furrowing.

"A demon? But... he's wearing heavenly colors!"

The demon's eyes narrowed in offense. He cursed her silently.

The audacity in this girl.

"You spit demon out like it's a slur, while you stand there flaunting that gods-forsaken brooch. I'm not the real monster here." He pointed the bladed end of his scythe at her chest.

Zorn's eyes followed the motion.

The boy's intense look shifted over to him. A cold chill ran down Zorn's spine.

"Why are you sauntering with a Red Convert?" the boy asked, his stare unyielding. 

Zorn responded quickly, feeling he had no choice.

"She needed help. She is also the only person I... sort of know. I need her."

He saw the boy's hand tighten on his weapon.

"Where do you think these woods lead?"

Zorn hesitated. His eyes locked on the boy's hand gripping the scythe. 

"To the city. Sabrina's helping me get there." 

The boy's gaze weighed on him like stone.

"What if I told you this path only leads to death?"

Zorn froze. Sabrina bristled. A flicker of offense crossed her features, her jaw tightening briefly. The boy didn't react, his stare boring into hers.

A breeze whispered through the leaves, carrying the thick, tense silence with it.

Rustle.

Then, another sound. Crunching footsteps. Rustling bushes.

Sabrina and Zorn turned in unison.

Emerging from the foliage was another figure: a shorter man clad in a purple cloak with a rose-gold-trimmed mantle. His spiky red hair caught the sun, and a pair of emerald eyes blinked at them. A singular gold arrow earring dangled from his left ear. He held a basket overflowing with fresh berries.

"Hey, Plush," he said, glancing toward the boy in the tree. "I found some berries you and I can share—oh... uh... wow, big meeting?"

He shifted the basket. A berry tumbled to the ground, rolling slightly before stopping. The silence stretched, thick with suspicion. When his eyes met Zorn's, there was a flicker in them, a spark of recognition, like he knew far more than he should.

Zorn's heart skipped a beat. His eyes fell to the man's purple cloak, where a gold pin fastened the silky fabric, a black septagram with white intersecting knots in the center.

The tension coiled tighter, like a wire about to snap. All four of them stood frozen, caught in a perfect diamond of suspicion, curiosity, and something deeply unspoken. 

And in that moment, Zorn realized with a chilling certainty, this meeting was no accident.