Heart of Darkness

Rayven already knew he would get this visit before the woman came with her son to the backyard. She was angry because of what had happened to her son's face. His face was blue from the bruises, his lips cracked and his nose broken.

Rayven was sure that William had as many bruises on his body as the boy he beat had on his face. He should have stopped him sooner, but he had been curious to see for how long William would be able to go on since punching must have hurt his fists as well. He let his curiosity ruin the boy's face.

One thing Rayven had told them was to avoid the face when training and William had defied him.

Where did he and his sister get the courage from?

"Lord Rayven, I want to know who hit my son like this?" she demanded.

Rayven noticed that the only time people dared talk to him was when a loved one was hurt or in trouble.

"A younger boy." Rayven replied.

She frowned. "Are younger boys training here?"

"We choose strength over age and the younger boy was strong enough to beat your son." He said simply.

The boy looked down, embarrassed. From his thoughts, he knew the boy hated that his mother came with him to the training. He wanted to handle his own problems, but his mother had insisted.

"You are their teacher. You should…"

"My Lady. You should teach your son to stand up for himself at this age. If you keep fighting his battles, he will never become a man." He cut her off.

The woman became quiet, not knowing what to say. The son looked at her pleadingly, hoping that she would leave.

"Well…" She swallowed, becoming nervous now that all the other boys had gathered to see what was going on.

When she regained her courage again, she spoke. "I wish my son to grow and become strong, but it hurts a mother to see her child hurt. "This..." she pointed at his face, "don't look like a part of a training."

Rayven wasn't in the mood to argue with her and he didn't care if someone got hurt or died. He was tired of these humans and their petty emotions.

Turning away from her, he went to instruct the boys on how to start their training. He could hear the woman's thoughts, thinking that he was disrespectful and if she could hear his thoughts, she would know that he didn't care what she thought about him.

When she left, the boy came to him, "My Lord, I did not wish to bring my mother, but she insisted." He explained himself.

What a tiring day with all these talks. "Take your sword." He told him.

The boy went ahead and began to train with the others. William was training with a boy his size this time, even if they weren't the same age. But he kept dropping his sword, probably from the pain he inflicted upon himself from the punches he threw yesterday.

Rayven went ahead to sit under the shade of a large tree and watch the boys now and then while reading his book. But he got so lost in it, so lost in the suffering of the man who saw himself as a monster that he didn't notice the boys had now gathered around him.

"Yes...you can go home now," he said, reading their thoughts since he missed hearing what they said.

Saying their goodbyes, they hurried away. As usual, William stayed a little longer, training on his own when Lazarus and Acheron came to the backyard. Those two spend the most time together. They were closest to each other in the group, even though they were very different from one another. Lazarus was sarcastic, looking at the world mockingly with his silver eyes. He lived his life on his terms even with the punishment and acted all nonchalantly. Acheron was the calm and sensible one. Well, most of the time, when he was well fed.

William stopped swinging his sword and bowed. "Good evening, Lord Quintus and Lord Valos."

"Good evening, William." Acheron smiled at him.

"Are you being hard on the boy, Rayven?" Lazarus called.

Acheron began to examine William's hands. "What have you done?" He asked him.

"I punched a boy," William replied, embarrassed.

"That is a lot of punching." Lazarus said, before turning to Rayven. "What are you doing reading a book while letting the boys kill each other? We can do many things but we can't revive the dead."

Rayven gave him a bored look before ignoring him.

"You are a little tough one," Acheron said.

"Thank you, my Lord."

Both smiled at his politeness. "Well, I think you should go home now and take care of your body." Acheron told him.

William nodded and obeyed. He wished them all goodbye before leaving.

"What is wrong?" Rayven asked, knowing that they came to the backyard and sent William away for a reason.

"The Arch are on their way, and Skender is not here. Yet." Lazarus said.

Rayven sighed. He didn't long to see the Arch, especially that woman.

"Where is Skender?" He asked.

"With the lovely fiery lady." Acheron smirked.

Angelica?

"He is smitten." Lazarus said.

"Yes, which means trouble for us. Now the Arch are here." Acheron spoke of trouble, but didn't look troubled at all.

The real trouble awaited Skender since he hesitated to kill Lord Davis. It was the least he could do. If he didn't kill him, the man would expose himself as a traitor, which would be worse for Angelica and her brother.

"Well, if he wants to be with her, I can understand his hesitance. She would never look at him the same way if she knew and if he lied, then he would have to carry that secret forever. The man is already full of guilt." Lazarus said.

"We could let Blayze kill him." Acheron suggested.

"It doesn't matter. There isn't much difference between the one who kills and the one who stands by and watches. Blayze can't do anything without Skender's permission. He will be the one to make the decision," Rayven said.

There was no escaping for Skender. Being a leader wasn't easy. His leadership was part of his punishment.

"I hope he says a good farewell, then. Maybe a kiss." Lazarus smirked.

A kiss? Rayven felt a strange burning in his veins and something moved inside his chest.

What was that?