Sincir stares the Archangel’s statue above the chapel’s alter as he contemptes how he wishes to approach this conversation.

  Curiously, he has never found himself alone at the orphanage’s chapel before, and he has to admit the pce has a certain charm to it.

  He can see how one might feel they’re safe from the dangers of the world in here… Like a child hiding their head under the bnket, naively believing it’ll keep the bad things from noticing them.

  “…What do you want?”

  Sincir gnces over his shoulder upon the sound of light footsteps approaching him, spotting Eleanor as she stops a couple of steps away, with a frown on her face.

  Her eyes carry dark circles underneath them, and her posture is defensive… However, after what happened this morning, Sincir doesn’t bme her for being careful around him. If anything, the ignorance of the humans is what makes them so comfortable around his current form. Had them know the truth…

  “What do you think?” Sincir asks, gesturing toward the empty chapel around the both of them, “About this pce?”

  “It’s just a building. No real angel has ever stepped foot in it.”

  “You can tell?”

  “Of course. The radiance of Heaven lives within me… Blinding, always out of reach, as a reminder of what I am not,” Eleanor says.

  Sincir smiles at her. “My condolences.”

  Eleanor shrugs. “It makes it hard to sleep... But I don’t believe you’ve called me here to make small talk.”

  “Aren’t you curious? I thought you’d ask me about what happened with the demon contractor.”

  “A demon wouldn’t have gone down quietly,” Eleanor murmurs darkly, “So I assumed you failed to find traces of them.”

  Sincir sighs. “I see now what Father means by too smart for one’s good. Every time I see that gloomy look on your face, it makes me want to punch something. It is quite annoying, I assure you.”

  Far from looking amused, Eleanor shakes her head. “Would you stop wasting time? It is plenty clear we don’t like each other, so I’d appreciate it if you’d get to the point.”

  He doesn’t like her? No, that’s not right. She’s undoubtedly a pain in the ass, but what really has so he wished to stay away from her is that…

  “You remind me of home,” Sincir tells her, “And I guess I’ve grown used to this peaceful life.”

  Like a child hiding their head under the bnket, naively believing it’ll keep the bad things from noticing them… Yes, that’s right; He was never a child, in this life, or the past, and it is about time he was reminded of it.

  Ena will have to forgive him.

  “Eleanor… You have potential,” Sincir says, causing her to narrow her eyes, “You’re intelligent, and determined. You could be much more than a church dog, chasing after children to be burned at the stake. Is that really what you want for your life?”

  “…What I want is of no consequence.”

  “Is the church a means to an end, then…? Strength? Protection?”

  “I’m not afraid of death...”

  Eleanor suddenly grimaces, perhaps reminded of the fact she was crying at the orphanage’s ceiling earlier, when she thought he was a demon about to kill her.

  “…That wasn’t because I was afraid,” she adds quietly, “I was… Reminded of something unpleasant.”

  “I see. And I suppose you’ve answered my question… But if strength is what you seek, you should reconsider joining the church.”

  Eleanor narrows her eyes at him again. “Why?”

  “Because their strength will come at a price. You’ll have no freedom to decide who to kill, or who to save, or where to go, and, even were you to find word of the demon you wish to kill, you might find yourself ordered to stand back… I know you’re smart enough to understand what I’m saying.”

  Eleanor clenches her teeth, pressing her lips together as she averts her gaze briefly before meeting his eyes again. “How do you know I’m after a specific demon?”

  “You’re a nephilim orphan, you hate demons and demi-humans… Even before what happened this morning, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together.”

  “…And? You’re saying I should just give up? Live my life in hiding?”

  Sincir clicks his tongue. “I never said anything about hiding. Father Anders asked me a favor, and so here I am, against my better judgment, to offer you a chance at a better life.”

  Eleanor pauses, her gaze moving across his body, from head to bare feet. “…You?”

  Sincir rolls his eyes. “Want another demonstration?”

  She scowls, hand moving up for a moment, before she catches herself, and lowers it again.

  “…I can give you what you want, Eleanor. Power, and revenge.”

  “And I assume you’ll do it from the goodness of your heart?” she retorts drily.

  Sincir snorts. “Of course not. But I’m confident the price for which I ask is far cheaper than the competition.”

  For a long moment, Eleanor simply stares at him, blue eyes showcasing nothing. Then, she shakes her head.

  “Whoever, or whatever you are, I’m not interested,” she says, turning away as she begins to walk toward the chapel’s doors.

  “Even if I told you as long as you have the name of the demon you seek, I’ll be able to find them?” Sincir calls after her, causing her steps to come to a halt.

  “…I’ll find them on my own, no matter how long it takes.”

  “You’re being naive. With the church in control of your life, you’ll hardly have a chance to look, and even if you somehow manage to escape their clutches one day, the demon you seek might have already returned to Hell, by then. I can track them… Even summon them back from Hell, if needed. And by your reaction, I know you have a name for me.”

  Eleanor’s shoulder tense, but she does not turn to stare at him as she asks, “What do you want?”

  “Me? You could say I’ve denied both sides of a particurly boring war, and I now wish to find a pce where my people may live in peace, away from the repercussions of said war… However, in order to accomplish as much, I’ll need more than personal strength.”

  “Your people…?” Eleanor repeats, finally gncing over her shoulder to look at him again.

  “Yes. And I suspect finding worthy allies on this side might prove difficult, so I have decided to start early... What do you say? I’ll train you, find the demon you seek, and allow you a chance to defeat them… And in return, I ask that you help me with my own objective. In order words, I’m asking for your loyalty, given in exchange of my help.”

  Sincir faces Eleanor’s gaze firmly, producing his best innocent smile as he does so.

  “Your offer sounds too good to be true.”

  “Perhaps. But still, I ask that you think about it. In three days, I’ll be leaving this pce with Ena… If you want to come with us, wait for us near the orphanage’s gate, an hour before dawn. Think about it, Eleanor; A life spent putting on an act, never experiencing pleasure or leisure. Is that really what you want? I know you have no reason to trust me, but I also know you have no love for the church... No matter how much you might try to pretend otherwise.”

  Rather than answering, Eleanor sustains his gaze for another moment, then averts her eyes as she continues on her way, soon walking through the chapel’s entrance and disappearing under the sunlight.

  Sincir’s smile slowly disappears as he watches her go. As promised, he gave his best shot at convincing her to come with; Even if Father Anders could not have imagined what it’d mean for him to do so.

  As for what he promised Eleanor, he meant what he said; In exchange for her loyalty, he’ll do his best to help her, which, in a way, isn’t any different from what he’s doing for Ena, really.

  Now, if she’ll accept his offer or not, only time will tell…

  The rest of his day goes by without much happening. Although he missed css in the morning, he still didn’t escape his lunch shift at the kitchen, which is then followed by afternoon shores, into another shift at the kitchen.

  Seriously, there should be ws against this amount of child bor somewhere…

  Being exhausted by the time he reaches his room, Sincir considers going through his mana training, but then thinks better of it. After all, their demon contractor friend might still be lurking around, and he’d rather be in top form if they decide to attack the orphanage this night.

  His sleep is restless, but he is gd to find that nothing happened once he wakes up for his training with Ena.

  Since he still thinks there’s a good chance she won’t accept his offer, Sincir doesn’t tell Ena about trying to convince Eleanor for real. Other than that, his st days at the orphanage are spent in preparation for the moment of their escape, including another trip outside to confirm the exact time and date of the ship’s departure, steal a change of clothes for the three of them (three in case Eleanor decides on coming, after all), and some money.

  Since he’s pnning on grabbing the food by making a trip to the kitchen on the day of their departure, and his magic is capable of handling the water, Sincir figures they’re all set to go, having hidden the backpack (also stolen) with the supplies for their escape near the orphanage’s gate with an earth spell.

  The orphanage’s atmosphere is tense because of what happened at the lunch hall, a couple of days prior, with many of the kids throwing him gnces as he walks by, but Sincir pays them little mind. More importantly, the bullies have left him and Ena alone for the moment, which is all he cares about; Though, of course, had he pnned to stay, he’d have looked for a more permanent solution for the problem, and these kids can consider themselves lucky it won’t come to that.

  Well, he’d have at least tried to talk to them first, before taking extreme measures… If they still refused to see reason then, he cannot be bmed for what would follow.

  And, at long st, the day of their departure finally arrives. Having woken up about an hour earlier than the agreed time for meeting the girls, Sincir waits near the orphanage’s gate, sitting on the ground as he stares toward the sky in contemption.

  This is it. After today, he’ll probably never see this pce again, or any of the people who helped to raise him. Father Anders knows he is leaving, but they haven’t exactly said goodbye to one another… And perhaps it is better this way.

  Also, this is his st chance to look for the man who helped with his birth, whom Sincir assumes still lives somewhere in Stormbay.

  Although he doesn’t feel any strong urges to meet his mother, a part of him wonders what it’d be like to have a blood link with another being. Since eight years have passed, it is possible she has given birth to a sibling or two by now; And wouldn’t that be something?

  Sincir shakes his head, reminding himself they’d be Sincir’s siblings, somebody who never truly existed. The truth is that, in a way, he robbed that woman of a child by having his Soul possess this body, while retaining its old personality.

  He guesses he still feels a little guilty about it, even if she herself cast away her child, at the first opportunity to do so… Though Sincir would be lying if he said he’s not curious as to why she left him here.

  Who knows, maybe they’ll have the opportunity to meet one day; At least, he still remembers her face and voice.

  “Sorry! We weren’t waiting for long, were you?!”

  Sincir lowers his gaze from the sky as Ena’s whispered voice reaches him.

  After gncing at their surroundings anxiously, Ena stops in front of him and smiles.

  Taking a look at the obvious bags under her eyes, Sincir grimaces. “Didn’t I tell you to sleep?”

  “I was afraid to miss it,” she says, “I kept thinking you’d leave me here if I didn’t show up on time, so I couldn’t sleep at all.”

  Sincir rolls his eyes. “Had you not shown up, I’d have gone looking for you. There,” he says, pointing over his shoulders, “There’s a change of clothes for you in the backpack. With luck, we can pass for siblings who have lost our homes in some sort of disaster, rather than runaway orphans.”

  Ena nods, heading toward the backpack without compint.

  “Is there a difference?” she asks, as he turns away to give her the minimum of privacy.

  “Of course. If people think we have no pce to return, and that it wasn’t our fault, they’re more likely to give us shelter and work… In this case, the truth would make them suspicious of us.”

  “Ironic,” Ena murmurs, “And by the way, are these stolen?”

  “No, I crafted them myself in between kitchen shifts… What do you think?”

  She ughs softly. “I can tell you didn’t like having to steal them, Sincir.”

  “It’s pathetic, and, all going according to pn, the first and st time we’ll have to rely on it.”

  “You have a pn?” Ena asks, stepping in front of him as she inspects her new clothes with a slow swirl, “This feels so strange… Wearing normal clothes.”

  “You’ll get used to it,” Sincir tells her, “And yes, I do have a pn. Pn A is to beg for shelter and work at whichever town we first end up at; If we manage to find something decent, we’ll then begin saving money, continue to strengthen ourselves, and gather as much information about the outside world as we can… And then decide where to start from there.”

  “And if pn A fails?” Ena asks him, meeting his gaze.

  Sincir grimaces. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but don’t worry; You won’t starve, that much I can promise.”

  Ena nods. “Does that mean we’re ready to go? I saw you already… ‘gathered’ the food we’ll need.”

  “I stole it, Ena, no reason to dance around the truth. Though, if it makes you feel better, think of it as a small advancement of the food we’d have eaten had we stayed.”

  Ena averts her gaze thoughtfully toward the dark buildings surrounding them. “I guess they’ll save some money, once we’ve left. Two kids worth, at least... You think we should leave our clothes behind, for the other kids to use?”

  Clothes in the orphanage are usually passed down from the older kids to younger ones until they become nearly unusable, but Sincir hadn’t thought of that, so he was going to have them take their old clothes as backup for an emergency…

  Realizing they’d be much more useful in the hands of the orphanage, he sighs.

  “Yeah, I guess so. Just drop them near the gate. It’ll also serve as a clear sign we’ve run away on our own.”

  Ena nods. “We could leave notes,” she suggests, while walking toward their backpack once more, presumably to remove their old clothes from it.

  “Too te for that. And besides, Father Anders already knows we’re leaving.”

  Ena chuckles. “Sister Leona we’ll be heartbroken.”

  “It’ll be the happiest morning of her life,” Sincir counters, “Though, now that I think about it, Sister Gracie might be lonely without us... I suspect we were the only ones to ever visit the library.”

  “You think she’ll be worried?” Ena asks, her tone of voice having become decidedly sadder.

  “Maybe.”

  Shit. He wishes he had thought of Sister Graice a couple of days prior, but since having started working double shifts at the kitchen as punishment for having beaten those boys, he hasn’t had a chance to visit the library at all.

  Well, they’ll have to hope she doesn’t assume the worst...

  Sorry, Sister.

  “…I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Sincir lies.

  Having returned, Ena throws him a gnce which makes it clear she wasn’t fooled, then shakes her head. “Sincir… You’re still sitting. What are we waiting for?”

  “You know what,” he tells her.

  Ena grimaces. “Please don’t tell me-”

  “I told her we’d wait until an hour before down, and there’s still some time left.”

  Ena shakes her head again, then sits cross-legged nearby, pressing her hands together and closing her eyes, expression pleading.

  “What are doing?” he asks.

  “Praying. I know you told me it’s worthless for demi-humans to do it, but I’m desperate… Please, Creator, anybody, just this once!”

  Sincir chuckles. “I don’t think she’ll come, Ena. You can rex.”

  Ena grimaces while opening one eye to stare at him. “You don’t know her. I’m sure she is thinking how fun it’d be to ruin this for me. If for no other reason, she’d want to come just for that.”

  Sincir shakes his head. “I know she doesn’t like you, but you’re exaggerating. I don’t think she takes particur pleasure in causing you pain… I don’t think she takes particur pleasure in much of anything, actually.”

  Ena snickers humorlessly, though she doesn’t comment further.

  Looking up at the sky again, Sincir sighs.

  Will Eleanor come? He doubts it. Something tells him she is the type to arrive early, rather than te, for a meeting.

  Still, he waits another ten minutes or so before finally rising and patting his butt to clean from dust, then gives a relived looking Ena a nod.

  “I guess she isn’t coming. Let’s go, before people start to wake up.”

  He ignores Ena’s rge smile of triumph.

  Before leaving, however, he decides to do one st sweep of the orphanage with his Mind Magic, just in the off-chance Eleanor overslept and is currently on her way to meet them… In which case he’ll know she is coming by the position of her Mind Shield.

  Taking a deep breath, Sincir waves his hand as he casts the spell, quickly expanding his mind sense to occupy the entirety of the orphanage’s ground… Only to then stop, shocked to find that neither Father Anders’ Mind Shield, nor Eleanor’s, are anywhere to be found. More importantly, he isn’t able to locate their minds either, even after several moments of searching throughout their rooms.

  Releasing the spell, Sincir frowns. Could they’ve gone somewhere outside, at this time of the morning?

  Unlikely.

  “Sincir? What happened?” Ena asks, most likely having noticed his sudden silence and worried expression.

  Sincir hesitates, but only for a brief moment.

  “Sorry, Ena, but we’ll have to change our pns. For now, grab the backpack and follow me.”

  Making sure Ena is sticking near him, Sincir ignores her questions as he runs toward the orphanage’s chapel.

  He could’ve told her to stay behind, of course, but in the case of an enemy having infiltrated the orphanage, it is better to have her stay near him, rather than risk having her meet them on her own…

  Sincir spots the first sign of something wrong immediately as they arrive at the chapel by finding its doors closed, and, upon closer scrutiny, a shadow spell to have been cast throughout the surface of the building, most likely having been used to contain sound and mind signatures from within.

  Stopping just at the edge of the spell, Sincir curses.

  “Ena, listen to me,” he tells her, who stares at the moving shadows before them with a scared, shocked look on her face. He has to call her again once she doesn’t immediately turn to face him.

  “W-what… Sincir, what is happening? Is that magic?” she murmurs warily.

  “Yes. Look, there are enemies inside, but I don’t know how many, or how strong they are.”

  “Then let’s run! W-why would you-”

  “Father Anders and Eleanor are probably inside, as well.”

  If she was awake at this time, it is possible she might have been on her way to meet them when she noticed something amiss within the chapel...

  Regardless, even had she decided to refuse his offer, he wouldn’t abandon them to their fate at the hand of some demon when he might have the power to save them…

  Damn it, he’s being soft again, isn’t he?

  To hell with it.

  “Listen, Ena, I don’t what is happening inside, so a second wasted in hesitation could mean the difference between saving them, or not. Do you understand me?”

  Ena nods, leaf-green eyes wide.

  “Good. Look, it’ll be dangerous for you to come with me, but it’ll also be dangerous for you to stay, in case they decide to run in this direction, so I need you to decide. Are you ready?”

  “O-of course I’m not ready! But you’ve said they might be dying, so let’s go already!”

  Sincir smiles at her. “Good girl. Stay behind me, but remember; Freezing up means death. Be ready to dodge or run at a moment’s notice.”

  Having said as much, Sincir immediately runs toward the chapel’s closed door, crossing through the threshold of the spell surrounding it without hesitation… And considering whoever cast it is likely to have noticed his arrival in virtue of this, Sincir decides there is little point in attempting a stealthy approach, pointing his hand toward the barred gateway before him as he sends forward a gust of wind strong enough to burst the wood from its hinges.

  As the chapel’s interior is revealed amidst the loud noise caused by his arrival, Sincir spots a masked, hooded person near its altar, Father Anders's bloodied body fallen at their feet, and Eleanor’s wide-eyed figure shrinking away from the hooded person’s extended hand as she presses her back against the chapel’s altar.

  The doors he blew through have yet to reach the ground by the time Sincir casts his first spell, a wind bde which would’ve beheaded the hooded figure had they not jumped out of the way immediately.

  His second spell is a gust of wind which has Eleanor and Father Anders sliding through the ground in the opposite direction their assaint ran, and his third, a fireball sent after said assaint, which causes an explosion strong enough to burst every window in their immediate vicinity.

  “Sincir!”

  Ena’s shout is faintly perceivable throughout the commotion, and Sincir doesn’t wait to find out what she means before raising a Mana Shield which encompasses the both of them-

  Or he’d have, had something not crashed against his back and interrupted his spell-casting by pushing him forward.

  Cursing, he already has another spell prepared by the time he turns around, but it is not enough; By the time his eyes meet hers, Ena has already been struck in the back by a bck, rge, and scaled creature who fell from the ceiling on top of them, blocking their exit.