The Legate's Axiom

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2: Childhood Recollections

Aur and I trekked the path back leading to the city of Amarie on foot in the dark after we heard the toll of the bells. Crickets resounded their song as the dark and ominous night sent chills to my body.   

Aur was about to take a flashlight out under all of that clothing he was wearing when he saw me stiffen.

"Don't take that flashlight out Aur," I quietly spoke, almost whisper-like, as I continued to follow the forest path.

"Oh please, Persephone. I pity you seeing you scared like this again. I'm clueless on how the hell you managed to pick up a phobia for the darkness. We work mostly in the dark when we’re on a job for the Order and you never freak out while you’re on the job! So if you’re going to freak out right now, let me light up the goddamned path with the flashlight!” he retorted angrily as he took out his flashlight to light up where we’re going.

"I just manage to focus on the task at hand during those jobs, brother. Plus, some people know what we do for the Order. People from the Insurgence won't hesitate to kill us if they ever found us unprepared," I snappily replied as the cold draft cooled my exposed shivering legs.

"You don't think we can take them on?"

"Well, I know we can but I'd rather not risk any unnecessary bloodshed. So can you please turn off the flashlight?"

"Screw that Seph! We're supposedly the best the Order has to offer. We kill Insurgent baddies for a living. We trained under Father Sam, one of the best fighters back in the day of the war!"

Father Sam, better known as Grand Bishop Samael to the general public, is the leader of the Church of Light and the harbinger of the Order of Dominion, the political branch of the church which we work for. From what he told us, he "took care" of enemy army officials as they happened to visit the country. I still remember the stories well.

Aside from that, he's also the one that took us in when Aur and I got orphaned at the early age of eight.  He basically took Aur and me under his care when my mother, father, and older brother died in a shooting done by the Insurgence, or at least that's what we were told. It's been ten years after that unfortunate event and, well, Aur and I have hazy memories about it.

All I do remember are the sounds of gunshots bursting and echoing as they hit their marks, as I felt blazing and searing heat reach my skin. Father Sam took us to safety away from the gunfire as he ordered the Order's soldiers to subdue the situation. The next thing I know, Father Sam tells us that our family is dead as he frowned and embraced us tightly. Traumatized, we cried our eyes out from the emotional hurt of losing a family at eight years old.

~-‘'..'’~~

My heart raged with pain and as my eyes tinted pinkish red, the bishop made small circles on my back with his index finger as he softly said, "It'll be alright. I'm here for both of you. I'll be there for you both in their place. I'll be a father to you two."

My screams turned into cries as I muttered, "R-Really?"

My brother was still in hysterics as he replied, "Of course, my sweet. Your father and mother would have wanted me to."

My tubby arms hugged him back harder as my crying faintly degenerated into sniffling onto his priestly vestments.  After I let go of my grip on the bishop, I took my brother into my small arms and hugged his thin frame to stop his hysterics. As my brother and I calmed, we were whisked away to the cathedral under the care of Father Sam.

~-‘'..'’~~

Well, enough of nostalgia. Aur continued his ridiculously arrogant rant about how we could take on anything, deafening me, and condemning me to a headache. He just kept going on and on about how good we are at what we do, citing bloody and gory events that I barely even remember. I'm pretty sure he exaggerated a lot of the details but I wasn't really listening. I just kept agreeing to what he said.