For once in my life, I have someone who needs me. Someone I’ve needed so long. For once I can touch what my heart used to dream of. I won’t let sorrow hurt me, like it has hurt me before. But now, I’m not alone anymore. She is mine, you can’t take her. As long as I have her, I know I can make it.

The Central Synod was bustling with nightlife. All walks of life traveled through the streets, from the highest ranked nobles in their flashy and colorful attire to the lowest of the low, watching from the shadows, alleyways, and street corners with looks of envy. Despite being the most holy of settlements, the Central Synod was home to its fair share of taverns, gambling dens, and all sorts of unholy establishments. Josephine understood the need for them but it still made her feel uncomfortable to walk at night.

She felt unclean, tainted in a way. It was as if all the sin was in the air and she was breathing it in. She kept her head forward, ignoring the calls of beggars and vendors alike. The Central Fountain was in the center of the settlement, serving as a beacon and landmark to assist in navigating the settlement’s many streets. It depicted the Goddess of Smoke herself, surrounded by angels as they poured water out of jugs. People surrounded the fountain, throwing coins in to make wishes.

Among them was a clergyman. He was dressed in the standard brown robes with a beige rope wrapped around the waist. Josephine cocked her head in confusion. He was young, no older than 13 by the look of it. Clergymen that young were new recruits that followed a strict schedule. Being out at night shouldn’t have been allowed. The back of his head faced Josephine, letting her only see his short black hair. Josephine got alongside him, looking into the fountain. There was a full moon, making the water partially illuminate the area.

“Did you leave me that letter?” Josephine asked in a whisper.

“Straight and to the point are we?” the boy replied.

He looked at her with tan eyes.

“You seem tense ma’am. Maybe you should get a drink. Lots of drinking is happening tonight.”

Josephine frowned.

“I’m not here to play games, especially with some child. You have five seconds to explain yourself before I’ve had enough.”

“Woah woah woah,” the kid said. “I was just trying to lighten the mood. You Apostles, so serious all the time. Did the Central Synod ever teach you what fun is?”

“Three seconds.”

“Ok!”

The boy backed away, his hands before Josephine like she was a predator about to leap at him.

“No need to be so violent! Then again, I guess that’s what they turned you all into, a bunch of violent psychopaths. I’m Richard, and in case you couldn’t guess, I’m not exactly a newly devout clergyman.”

“Separatist spy?”

Josephine held her hand out, ready to summon her Smokeblade.

“Wait, don't do that!” the boy begged. “A-at least hear me out first. I bear you no ill will.”

“You are the enemy of the Church, having inserted yourself into our ranks. You were the one with Sir Duke when he came here weren’t you? You corrupted him.”

“Yes but all I did was tell him what you’re already starting to figure out yourself. You saw the book didn’t you? The missing pages? Clever work huh? Almost made you think nothing was missing but they were sloppy.”

“The book could be a fake. You could’ve switched out the real one with what I saw.”

The boy sighed.

“Now is not the time to be in denial. If we switched books, wouldn’t we have been noticed? That building is one of the most guarded places in the world. Even we know no thief could sneak their way in to perform such a feat. Place is more heavily guarded than palaces, perhaps only the quarters of the Holy Priest are more heavily monitored.”

“There could be other explanations. I-”

“Is it easy to lie to yourself like that? Or have you done it so much that it comes to you naturally?”

Josephine frowned and put her arm out.

“I summon you-”

“Ok ok!” the boy interrupted. “I’m sorry. But listen, we have the rest of the prophecy. The Central Synod sought to destroy it, but we were able to put it back together. It took years, decades of putting together the smallest of scraps together but we finally did it. The truth will be revealed, whether you accept it or not.”

Josephine was concerned. The Separatist spy was a strange one. He had the demeanor of an adult, carrying himself like he was beyond his years. The boy sounded so sure of himself too.

“Why not release it for the world to see if you’re right?”

“Well ma’am, that’s the plan. The repercussions of which will be great. The world is already against the Central Synod but most of the other races have refrained, viewing it as solely a human conflict. They thought it was none of their business. Of course that’s changing. You yourself saw how the elves are slowly but surely getting involved. Once the truth is revealed, the other races will realize the Central Synod for what it is. It’s a organization of pure terror. They’ve abandoned any semblance of morality long ago.”

The boy pointed at all the sin around him. Ladies of the night walked the streets, gambling dens were heard. Clergymen walked among them unabated. It was disgusting.

“Would the center of religion and piety allow all this?” Richard asked.

“It’s for morale,” Josephine immediately answered. “We are at war. Have been for a long time, long before you and I were born. This is how things are, it is not our place to question.”

“Just because this is the state of things does not make it right. You know something is wrong about the Central Synod. You’re the least indoctrinated since you’re the 12th Apostle. Being the most junior member, you aren’t blinded to reality, not yet.”

“You know nothing about me.”

The boy sat at the fountain. He reached into a pocket and took out a small coin. It glistened in the night as he stared at it.

“I know a lot. We’ve been watching you for a long time ma’am. I know you more than you know yourself.”

Josephine picked the boy up, meeting his eyes. There was nothing but malice in her gaze. Richard trembled in her grip. People began to watch but did nothing, half of them being drunk and the other half knowing they could do nothing to an Apostle.

“What could you possibly know?” Josephine angrily questioned.

“Your past. Everyone outside of the Central Synod knows how they recruit new Apostles. They-”

“Take orphans and give them a purpose. Instead of dying in the streets like all these mendicants around you, they are given a chance to be something” Josephine interrupted.

The boy solemnly shook his head. His fear had been replaced by a look of pity. It only made Josephine angrier.

“You think they just take kids off the streets? No, they make the orphans. They take children who have magical talent and they take them from their parents!”

Josephine was moments away from striking the boy. She was with the enemy. He was a Separatist spy, spouting complete nonsense like those who came before. Yet she didn’t. Something held her back. It was like an inner voice told her that this boy’s confidence was too great to brush aside.

“And how would you know?” she softly asked.

“Because I’ve seen it!”

Josephine let the boy go. He tried to recompose himself but his legs shook, and his eyes became teary. His grown up facade had disappeared.

“The Central Synod takes the children, kills their families, then wipes out any records of their existence. They use spells on the neighborhood to make it as if they never lived at all.”

The anger subsided. The boy was distressed, on the verge of tears. He remembered something, something bad.

“Why tell me this? What do you gain if you Separatists have everything planned out? Seems you all have your plan to end this war.”

“No. not yet,” the boy denied. “We need you. You’re the final piece.”

“I’m no traitor!”

“Please, we’re asking you to be our salvation. You haven’t seen the full prophecy, you don’t understand what the Central Synod’s true goal is. That hero you speak of-if you do summon him- will be the end of us all.”

“How?”

“With him, the Central Synod will be unstoppable. Anything that opposes them will fall.”

“Sounds like victory to me.”

“You don’t understand. Not just the Separatist kingdoms will fall. There will be death for all outside of the church’s control. Genocide on an unimaginable scale. Is that victory? All land will become waste. Where there is life, there will be nothing but death. Corpses as far as the eye can see. Your Goddess committed the Deicide. Is it hard to believe she’ll not do it to the rest of us simply because we don’t wish to praise her?”

Josephine was quiet. Her imagination ran wild, imagining the scenario described. She fought to end the war, but was that how she wanted to end it? She simply thought the Separatists would capitulate, then humanity would live in harmony. The death of the rest of the world? Could she condone that if it meant peace? The fact she took the proposal seriously disturbed her.

“We’re asking you to stop it. Only you have the opportunity to prevent this. Only the Central Synod is capable of going to the other world. You must not allow him to come here,” the boy requested.

“You’re asking me to go against everything I believe in.”

“No, because you don’t believe it. You know something’s wrong. You’re not completely blinded by zeal. The other Apostles will ignore the truth once it comes out, but not you. We can see it.”

“I never said I’m joining you. I’m still half-inclined to kill you. Just because you’re young means nothing to me.”

The boy shivered.

“B-but you won’t,” he claimed.

“Why not?”

“Because you’re a good person.”

The boy nervously looked around, then took out a watch from his pocket.

“I don’t have any more time. I have to end this conversation here,” he said after giving the watch a quick glance.

He turned around and after giving one last look at the coin in his hand, threw it in the fountain.

“I had us meet here so you can see what my wish is.”

He whipped back around.

“I wish for you to do the right thing.”

A portal opened beneath him and he fell through in the blink of an eye. Josephine was alone, the streets having become barren. She stared into the fountain, seeing the coin shimmering beneath the water. With a thousand thoughts going through her head, she turned around and left.