CHAPTER 9:
The lights flickered on in the room
Sylvia stood there in the living room, although Matthew was not there
Haru wasn't sure as to why
“Hey, Sylvia, what's going on? I thought Matthew was with you”
“Matthew is out of the picture for a moment, I sent him to get us some stuff that we need”
Haru, while listening to her, put his stuff aside on the couch
“That's strange, well why didn't you just have me do it?”
Sylvia walked towards him, grabbing him by the wrist
“Because I need to talk with you about important things”
Before the boy could even react
Sylvia teleported both of them in a strange place
Swoosh!...
The place was calm, and the sun had just risen there
The land itself was a wasteland, totally abandoned, with an old house in the end of the dirt path ahead of them, the trees were silent in the far distance
“And why did you have to bring me here?”
Quietly Sylvia was already walking toward the house
“It's my old house, I used to live in the area before I was forced to abandon it entirely”
“...”
The tension among them was rather awkward
Sylvia glanced back at him while she walked along the dirt path
“You're unusually quiet today. What's up?”
“it's nothing serious, nor is it anything of importance”
(Damn, already? This isn't good…)
Sylvia looked back at the road, her walking didn't stop, internally he wanted to wait for an opportunity to press him…
The road wasn't particularly long, so they reached the house in a few minutes
Birds were still chirping loudly, small animals like squirrels and rats roamed the place blissfully, nature had taken its course of the abandoned house
The house had cracks that run through it and the roof was destroyed, with plants and grass emerging from those cracks
A lot of dust had accumulated on the outside as well, Light was entering both through the broken roof and the broken windows
The door itself was on lying on the floor, scattered into pieces
“So this is where you used to live?, it's not fantastic, that means that you were a regular kid”
“Yeah sure you could say that, but it's hard to be regular when you're an elf”
“You suck at making jokes, you know that?”
Sylvia's cheeks flushed for a moment
“Hey, I'm working on it, ok?”
Sylvia puffed her cheeks and ignored that for now
(No shit sherlock)
Going inside the house she gestured for Haru to follow her
Reluctantly, Haru stepped inside the house, looking around in mild curiosity
As expected, everything was broken and dirty
Sylvia stopped in the middle of the then living room, she began her monologue
“I used to live with both my parents here. It was a great time, in fact probably the happiest time of my life, until they got up and left”
“Left? What do you mean? That doesn't make sense. Why would 2 loving parents leave their child like that?”
“They were forced to, with a gun at their head, they had no other choice”
Stolen novel; please report.
Haru looked horrified, a want, a desire to feel grief for her tugged at his heart strings but there was still a void left in his heart from the previous incident
“Why?”
“I don't know…they never told me”
“I used to love this place. Life is so easy when you're carefree with no responsibilities, don't you agree?”
Haru stopped thinking for a second, It was almost like she knew what had happened, which was concerning
(There's no way that she knows…)
“Yeah, it sure is, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“Oh I'm just saying, you have no reason to be so cautious”
“You can stop beating around the bush now, I'm not completely oblivious”
Sylvia sat down on a chair that was around in the middle of the living room
“The question is, are you ready for it?”
“...”
“Here's the deal, rookie, a war before the apocalypse is approaching, so we have little time to waste, I'm not pressuring you because it is that close, but there's a slim possibility that we can prevent it”
“A war, where did that come from all of a sudden?”
The elf sighed, knowing that it'd be a headache to explain
“It seems that my tribes calculations were off, there is at least one war before the apocalypse begins”
“But how, and why?”
“I'll let you connect the dots”
A look of skepticism flashed in his eyes, thinking to himself
(It's surely not John's revelation. That's supposed to be the apocalypse, not just a war…)
“At least give me a hint or something if you want me to figure it out”
“As you wish, remember how I told you that vampires can get stronger if they suck your blood? Now apply a basis like that for demons”
Haru listened to her and contemplated the answer
She said the basis and not the rule, the boy thought that she meant some kind of need to survive
(If rules are to be applied to the same species then only the criteria changes…)
“They feed off mana or something? I would presume they live in hell, which is the furthest thing away from god. They must be starving for energy”
“You're wrong, but you're at least in the right direction”
That made Haru think about it even more
(Alternative need, maybe?...)
“It's not energy that they so wish for but resources?”
“Well that's one part of it. They do not only want resources because they don't have any, but they also hate the Heavens to death, so they'd do anything to provoke them”
“By Heavens, I would assume angels, right? I mean, that checks out in tradition, but I don't think that's the only reason”
“Yeah there's one other reason, long before the age of man, there was a war in the world which split heaven and hell as we know it
“The fallen angels became demons that were casted down there for eternity with their leader, Satan/lucifer”
An odd pause came to Haru, a distant memory came to him
“I think I have heard that story before. My mother told me something similar when I was little, but I can't remember”
“There's one other thing that you must know about all this, demons are far stronger than vampires and elves so we have to train you and the others before time come”
“We have to prepare or we run the risk to lose everything”
Not exactly delightful for the boy, but he digressed
“Training you say? Am I to assume that I'm gonna learn some new things?”
“That's right, but more on that later, we have to focus on our original goal first”
The unexpected news of an incoming war scared him, not much but enough to shake him, It would be his first time seeing an all-out conflict
Seeing this, Sylvia ceased the chance to pressure him
“You've been in the mood for a bit, haven't you? Does it have to do with what happened at school?”
Fear washed over him, knowing that if he stayed silent, he suspicions would be affirmed
“Who told you that? Nobody was around”
“You're right no one was around when it happened, but there was after it, although I don't know what occurred exactly”
“Matthew told me about it, about how you were lounging around school wailing like a little boy”
(Matthew? At my school?...)
But that was the least of his worries now, a least Sylvia didn't know what exactly happened to him
“So Matthew told you? I guess I shouldn't be surprised”
“Look kid, I will be honest with you. From what I have noticed, you seem to think that you are the only one who has experienced pain”
“...”
“You either live with it or you are left behind in this world to be eaten by the vultures”
Haru stood there motionless, he understood the metaphor, but he couldn't bring himself to answer
“You have to face it, kid, I'm not gonna hold your hand anymore. You have to grow up alone if you want to learn for yourself”
Haru was now faced with a choice, he had to better himself alone without relying on others, or he could take the easy way out
(Annabelle, Matthew, the twins, Lana….)
The thought of his earlier adventures flashed before his eyes as he answered
“If this is what you wanted from me, then so be it. This is the reason that I even started this, I saw the results and know I know how I can be valuable”
In response Sylvia's lips twitched, her gut feeling told her that Haru would never give up so easily
“You catch on quick rookie”
Finally Haru could look up again without the bearings of the pain on his shoulders, for what seemed like an eternity he smiled again…
Sylvia got up from her seat and walked past him
“I will be going back to the base. Your next destination is Spain. Don't be waiting for me, just head directly there, Matthew will be waiting for you there”
Sylvia teleported away, there wasn't any sound this time…
Leaving only Haru behind in the abandoned house, he didn't think much of the house itself
(Kinda whatever…)
It was rather obvious that Sylvia was already past the missing childhood that she deserved
Haru reached out to his back and opened the blackjack box, pulling out a rune card, he teleported to Spain
It was the benefit of the doubt that it was Madrid that he needed to teleport to
It wasn't luck this time either since Haru had noticed the trend of holy beings being in capital cities
His brain was simply following a recognizable pattern, turning around he looked up at the street
Which was covered by the streetlights in the night, momentarily having forgotten that Spain had a different timezone than Greece…
Sitting on a bench nearby was Matthew, not a single other soul was around
The lakes water quelled calmly and the moonlight mixed with the streetlights, the grass blades beside the concrete path swayed slightly in the wind
Quietly Matthew was smoking a cigarette while laying back on the bench
“Hey, it's nice of you to actually wait here for me”
“Ah, and I was wondering when you'd show up?”
The boy couldn't overcome a smile, it was a short distance to cover
“You're smoking a cigar? How odd”
Taking off the cigar from his mouth Matthew looked up
“We can talk about that later”
“For now, come sit with me, and let's chat”
That was what he was gonna do anyway, he sat down besides Matthew, now looking yet again up at the night sky
“Spain is pretty, isn't she?”
“It is beautiful here in Madrid, how did you know tho?”
“Benefit of the doubt, there is a pattern that I have noticed, It's always the capital”
“Makes sense, most major agencies are located in the capitals for brandishing and attraction”
“The best ability is availability as they say”
With a cigarette between his index and ring finger Matthew gestured towards him
“Do you want a cig?”
The boy's face relaxed when he saw the cigarette, almost like he was quelled
“Sure, why not”
With a shrug Haru took the cig
Almost immediately Matthew handed him a lighter
Which Haru used to light up the cig, he took a puff and exhaled
“May I ask, what were you doing at my school?”
“Believe it or not, it was a coincidence, I just happened to pass by and notice you in that state”
(Curses Sylvia, why did your route go by Haru's school?)
There was no reason not to trust him, so he went with it
“So you immediately told Sylvia about it, you two are especially close”
Matthew's cheeks flushed ever so slightly
“Hey, she is supposed to be a good friend to us, so why not?”
“I suppose you do have a point, anyways”
An extended sigh escaped Matthew's as he looked at the concrete below(the street)
“On a serious note, how did you surpass the state you were in so easily?”
“It was like I had done with you when I stood up to face you when we battled for the first time”
But of course, the only thing he admired about Haru was his resilience, in his eyes, this kid had the guts to do anything he set his mind on
“I have a story, if you're willing to hear it”
“I'm all ears”
Then Matthew took the cig of his mouth, holding it in his fingers
“In my family, there was this tradition that a man who shared our blood must be well groomed at all times, for honor purposes, it was a symbol of our name, the Rosenbergs”
“So that's why you had the slick back when we first met. What does that tradition mean to you as a person?”
“I thought that it was an unbroken moral code, but that was until I got older and realized that not many see things the same as me, so I stopped caring at one point”
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I have no clue who I am facing here in Spain."
With an exaggerated motion Matthew spit his non-existent drink out
in shock(it would probably be beer)
“You're telling me Sylvia didn't tell you anything?”
“Nope, no clue”
“Well, it's a guy this time, color me shocked, his full name is Garcia Avierra, from what I heard he is the host of the Hebrew scrolls, so he knows about our pasts, oh and he is an incredible swordsman”
“A swordsman? I thought he'd be more like a joker type or something, but why a swordsman?”
“It's because he was naturally gifted with a sword or something. The database also says that he trained with the sword in secret ”
“How do I approach this?”
“Well, we can always do a 2v1”
An overwhelming urge came to Haru to suddenly stare at the sky
“I'm not that desperate”
“...”
Eventually Haru stood up from the bench, stretching his arms and back
“It will not take long for him to find me, speaking from experience, so I suggest you get going”
Before the boy could bring Matthew was already gone
“Jackass”
As Haru looked up at the road, sure enough a shadowy figure could be seen looming in the background clearly
The figure clearly was a male
“Damn my luck”
Haru said, already assuming the worst…
