Silence...

Silence was all that was, and all that ever has been...

The twirling cacophony of nothing...

And yet, there was an odd tranquility to it all..

A tranquility that the boy, Filius Agni, had never once enjoyed in all his time here on this earth...

But even as the consquence of being born as something extraordinary was ever present, he could feel that the winds of fate were most certainly in his favor...

And in the violent fervor of past actions, he could now see what had been nagging at the back of his conscience...

It was freedom...

Freedom to choose, freedom to decide what he wanted to do...

Freedom was all that he wanted from this hell-hole he fell into..

As such, as time slowed to a crawl, mere moments before his demise, he pulled his head away from the slab... Looking around at his surroundings... Unsure of what happened...

Fillius took a brief moment to understand his surroundings before looking over to the corpse of Sybil; a friend who had taught him a great many things about the world and the language of which he had come to comprehend with some clarity.

He could see how everything was in a standstill. Nothing moved, nothing breathed. The world, itself, was frozen in a moment that would have spelt the end.

And yet, he tried to process what was happening, but all he could draw were blanks upon blanks.

"What is going?" He thought as his words weren't quite reaching his voice.

"This is a byproduct of our intervention." A voice that echoed around him spoke with thunderous appeal.

"Intervention? By who!?" Filius looked around, but could not place a sight to the voice.

"That is none of your concern at the moment. What is of your concern is you living. You must live. If you are to die then this effort would have been for nothing.. As such, we are intervening this one and only time to ensure your development is as we have prophesized."

Filius couldn't process what he was being told, and simply stood there; mesmerized by it all.

"Take the corpse of your mentor, and leave this place. We will handle them."

Filius looked to the corpse of Sybil and immediately scrambled to drag her body as a bag suddenly appeared next to the head.

"Do not return here until you have become powerful enough to lay waste to your enemies."

Filius fervently nodded, not even taking into account what this voice had just said. All he cared about was taking the head and the body and leaving this place at a moment's notice. And he did so.

However it wouldn't be until Filius left the town did time resume.

He was out in the fields to the south hustling towards the nearest treeline.

He wasn't sure what happened, but all he knew was that he was freed from that prison. The shackles of bureaucracy having been unclamped from his ankles. And yet this realization would not set in until he was a good ten to fifteen miles (sixteen to twenty-four kilometers) away from the town. Even more so did he see a bright light eclipse the horizon.

Seconds past and before long a strong gust of wind tore through the area, causing several trees to be knocked over and other debris to be kicked up.

"What...the...?"

He watched as a dome of white light rippled in his vision before dissipating into nothing.

After that, he sat down at a tree (who's stump remained even though the tree itself had been knocked over). He looked off in that direction as he wondered what he would do after this.. Where was he going to go? Was there anywhere to go for that matter?

The answer to this was surprisingly swift and painless as a voice emerge from behind. "A nice day to watch a city get fucking destroyed huh?"

Filius shot up with a start as he looked over his left shoulder at the figure.

The figure, who looked to be androgynous if such a term was accurate enough, leaned against the downed tree and looked over in the direction of the town. "Yeah.. It's pretty exciting to know that this world is falling into chaos all because a Methuselah was born. Heh, it's actually fucking hilarious to think that a little shit like you is that Methuselah. Honestly, I thought you'd be dead by now, but by the grace of the Goddess here you are standing before me."

"What...do...you...want?" Filius looked prepared to run at a moment's notice.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" The figure knelt to Filius. "My name is Leom, and I'm an Envoy of the Fifth Index. I'm here to specifically observe, and intervene when necessary, on the development of the fabled Methuselah. And now that the methuselah, by some fucking miracle, is here and has not died yet, I'm going to be bringing you in. Not to arrest you or some stupid fucking shit like that. No. The reason I'm bringing you in is because you've got a power that this world doesn't really find beautiful. In fact, they find it revolting. I for one say fuck them, and fuck what they stand for."

Filius was dead silent, his stance lifted softly after realizing that this person wasn't here to kill him.

"Anyway, ramblings aside, if you'll come with me," they snap their fingers and a tear in the fabric of reality appears behind them, "I'll get you acquianted the boss-man."

▨ ▨ ▨ ▨

After following the strange person, and seeing no other option at this point, Filius, with Sybil's body in toe, arrived in an extravagant foyer that looked to be gothic in construction. The foyer was relatively large, encompassing two flights of stairs on either side towards one end and a chandlier dangling over the top of the central area of the room. The colors were that of red, black, white, and some grey with various cloths varying on the shades of those four colors. There were also furniture and miscenllaneous items scattered about to create a homely feel, even though some areas were definitely decrepit.

Nevertheless, Filius was led through the foyer, up the left flight of stairs, and into a hallway that allowed for two people to walk side-by-side.

And, looking around, Filius was definitely made aware of how decrepit everything looked. Even though the art and other furniture was surprisingly well kept. He didn't really like where this was going.

But, after walking for what seemed like ages through winding halls, he arrived at double doors that were made of aged wood (with the handles being metal).

"Though here is the boss of our little troupe. So you better be on your best behavior you little shit." They gave him a slap on the back as he took Sybil's body. "I'll be taking this off your hands for the time being.. Don't worry, I won't fuck her corpse.. In fact, I'm just going to give her a pick-me-up." They give a wink that Filius couldn't tell was genuine or sadistic.

Filius, then, returned his sights to the double doors before proceeding to open them, hoping for a breakthrough on the otherside.