Ari could smell the ocean and hear the waves crashing into rocks. He opened his mouth and tasted the saltiness of it from the air. As he ventured out into the forest, he saw the houses and fortresses made by the Khaeo out in the distance. There was a bitter taste left in his mouth for deciding to go to a place that thought to use and deceive him. However, no matter the reason, they had raised him and taken care of him. He had met Freir who was very much like a father to him. For him, the final decision was made. Ari could not think to leave him without saying goodbye.

Although he thought that way, Ari could not help but feel the distance set between Auovin and him. There was an emptiness filling the pits of his stomach now. He wanted to go with them, but Cyrus only stressed for him to leave. Ari was chewing on his lip when he heard the sounds of swords crashing into one another. They were followed by shouts and gruff laughter. He did not know the Khaeo had been so near demon country. He was having second thoughts about returning. He did not know he would arrive so early, but he wanted to see Freir.

Their voices grew closer. The gate was nearing causing him to stop and look around. He fixed his shirt and hair in a way that covered the bite marks littering his neck.

"Name," a man opened a latch and peered out at him through the slit.

"Ari."

"Why are you so near demon country? What mission had you been on?"

"I had a mission in Assania near the border of Vermur, but we had gotten in some trouble causing many complications. We missed the meeting, as a result. I do not know the code."

The man's eyes narrowed at him. Ari could tell he did not believe in his words. Still, Ari's eyes never left his. Soon the door opened, letting him inside.

"The church a week or so walk from here... You had been there?"

Ari looked up at the man. Scars and scratches littered his arms and face. His left eye was permanently closed with a nasty gash going across it. It looked fresh. It smelled fresh which made Ari's nose scrunch and turn his head away.

"I had... "

"It was a slaughter," another man approaching him said. He stood a couple steps away from him and towered above him like a massive tree. His dark eyes peered into his before he shook his head and looked towards the man who opened the door.

It was because of Auovin, Ari would have liked to say, but he knew that was not the truth. It was his fault. The reason why those men and women lost their lives that day. What was really hard to admit was the lack of sadness or remorse he had. It was because they had treated him so poorly; that was his excuse, but he knew it was something else.

"But they would not dare to attack any cities so deep inside Assania without a reason." He touched his sword hanging casually off the side of himself before outstretching his hand to Ari.

"I am Einar." He pointed to the man who let him inside. "That there is Berit. You are?"

"Ari." Ari ducked his head and lowered his eyes in respect to his uppers.

"Who was accompanying you there?" Berit asked.

"Freir and Rein," Ari said.

The two men gave each other look before they laughed.

"Probably went and left you to fuck or do some other—"

"Berit, not so loud. Do you want one of the priests to hear us?" Einar hissed.

Berit continued to laugh and hit his thigh with his meaty hand. It was as if they knew of their relationship already. Did everyone know, aside from him?

"Damn those priests. They serve no purpose other than acting as figureheads to our order." Berit spat and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "There are no gods. There has not been for a very long time now."

A man in a hooded robe stopped with his hands clasped together and looked up at the three of them. It made Ari's stomach knot up and his throat to become dry. He despised the priests and their punishments ever since he was very young. Ari balled his hands into fists as the man approached them, lifting his head up to reveal a smile full of blackened teeth and a pale unmarred face. His eyes were reddened and set with deep, dark circles around them. More than hate, Ari feared them more; more than demons, more than anything.

Ari quickly took to one knee and bowed his head along with Berit and Einar.

"Children of Oliya... Ylana...Clius" he said as he looked from Berit to Einar and him. "What you speak of is sin."

"We speak of nothing, Priest Reynol," Berit mumbled.

"Traitorous words do not ever go unpunished, Berit," the priest said. He took his eyes off him and looked at Einar. "What are the other two names?"

"Names... Your Holiness?" Einar said.

"The names you had spoken o..." The man trailed off and walked closer to Ari.

Ari swallowed dryly. So many thoughts sifted through Ari's head. He had chosen wrong. He should have stayed with Cyrus and Auovin. He should have never had left. He did not belong there. His heart was beating fast and he was beginning to palpitate.

Priest Eyrk was of a lesser status than most priests. He sinned with woman and drank the liquid of darkness that caused all men to go mad and move away from the gods. Eyrk was punished and demoted, but he was never stripped of his status as a priest. But this priest, this priest was one of the three that made Ari's life in the Khaeo a hard one many, many times.

Ari closed his eyes as the priest leaned down to take a look at him. It made Ari flinch away. Even without looking, Ari could see his smile as well as he could feel the coldness of his fingertips on his chin.

"Why does it not surprise me that you would be indulging yourself in such nonsense?"

"He had only arrived here," Einar said, taking some of the attention away from him which Ari was thankful for.

Ari finally released the breath he had been holding before Priest Reynol moved away from him and back towards the two of them.

"Punishments will be given later tonight. I will pass the word onto your commanding officers." His eyes raked over the three of them before they stopped at Ari. "Shall I give you one as a welcoming back?" Priest Reynol smiled and left, leaving the threat hanging in the air like a foul odor.

"Damn you to hell, Berit!" Einar spat.

"Who would have thought that devil would pass by when I spoke of that?"

"Enough. Not another word," Einar said, annoyed.

"Lashings, whippings. What does it matter? Your back will be sore, but it will not stop you with whatever you do once the sun goes down and the moon rises, now does it?"

"As if you do not."

"I heard a rumor around here that you quite like whips and chains and other things... "

Einar pushed Berit to the ground as he laughed more.

"Come away with me. You must be famished and tired," Einar said to Ari.

Ari swallowed down the rest of his fear and sighed.

"Tell me when Freir and Rein arrive here. Will you?"

"Of course."

Ari had never been around such brothers as they. Even Freir and Rein acted as though they upheld the rules and values of the Khaeo. These men did not. It seemed as though they were always being punished.

"Forgive us. We did not mean to get you or our other brothers into the sights of that thing lurking around as a human."

"You know them?"

"Who does not know of them?" Einar asked.

"And their... "

"Of course."

"And no one has told... "

"Correct."

Ari's eyes furrowed in confusion. It was considered a sin worthy of punishment to not report such things.

"... Why?"

"They are our brothers."

"You owe them nothing... And now you are taking punishments in their place."

"Because we are human, Ari. No matter the many times we are whipped for sexual desires or for drinking mead and ale or lusting or wanting material things, we are human. There are some things we cannot help. It is a condition we all share."

"So you... "

"Of course. It is something I cannot help. What kind of love can a god give me when he does not speak? When he does not listen? When the world is burning with the flesh of man and raining with our blood and does nothing? Tell me what these gods do for me when I watch my brothers dying each day trying to protect something that is becoming lost to us and found by demons?"

Ari could not answer him.

"The only thing I find solace in is in the touch of another person. Out of all the maddening land, it is not such a wrong thing to want?"

"... I suppose it is not."

"Despite my words, I still believe in our gods and I love them."

Ari could not have become more confused then.

"I get angry and I get upset. I blame them. But you feel it, do you not? When gnashing teeth barely miss your throat or when you are dangling from a high ledge thinking you will die at any moment? That moment when the impossible happens... It is like they are there, watching."

"... I am confused... "

"You do not believe in them?"

"I do not."

Einar smiled and ruffled his hair as Freir had done so many times. "Do not worry for Priest Reynol. Father Nolan will be here soon. You have nothing to worry for."

Ari looked at Einar. His black hair was pushed into a ponytail and he had a face that had not seen the worst of the demons. He took long strides to the barracks causing Ari to walk faster in order to keep up with him.

The barracks were bustling with men and a tiny amount of women. Roasted chicken was laid out on each table filled with people along with jugs and cups of ale. When he saw the alcohol, Ari could not help but think of Freir. He missed him dearly then.

"Einar!" a woman's voice said as she lifted up a jug and a cup. Einar nodded his head towards her, beckoning for Ari to follow.

"And who is the cute thing you have tagging along?" She said, pouring each of them a drink.

"A present." Einar smiled. "For you."

The woman laughed, too into her cups to give much thought to how loud she was being.

"Einar, I am many things, but I do not go after men half my age... or size, for the matter." She threw her head back and laughed some more before slamming her cup onto the table.

"Priest Reynol is lurking around tonight. Order the men to put away the drinks."

"Why must you be like this? Do you not believe in fun? Where is Berit?"

Einar looked at her, unamused.

"Not enough time in bed, I see. There are fetching men around town. Go find you one. And you—"She turned her attention to Ari as she reached over the table and moved Ari's shirt revealing the bite marks. "Seems to me like you found yourself something else, altogether."

She leaned back into her chair and sighed downing another drink. "Nolan will not be too pleased."

Einar looked at her before looking back at Ari with a look between shock and confusion.

"He's... "Einar mumbled.

The woman nodded.

"He's Nolan's favored pupil."

Einar pressed his thumb down on his chin, but Ari smacked it away and pushed him off his chair causing him to fall onto the ground.

The woman laughed and clapped. "Checking for fangs will do you no good. Nolan is quite neat in his work. Is he not?" She looked at Ari as his stomach turned.

"You had a chance to leave and you came back. I do not know whether to commend you or berate you, Ari."

The woman was sending chills down his spine. He did not like the way she was looking at him or speaking to him, for the matter. It was the same way Rein would look at him, and he hated it.

Ari looked around checking for others who may have overheard them, but they were all too into their cups to care.

"You know... You are the very thing in which we despise, so why did you come back?" The woman rose from her seat, but Einar was quick to regain his footing and stepped in between the two of them.

"Alia, enough. He is a boy."

Alia scoffed. "A boy? Einar, do not be fooled."

"So you know what I am and you despise me because of it? I do not feel belittled or filled with fear if that is what you thought would happen." Ari looked at his hands and back up to her. "You mock me and try to make feel like something lesser than you, but that is not the case. It is the opposite, is it not?"

"You think I fear you?" she asked.

"No, I do not think you fear me. You fear what I am and what I am capable of... So you do this thinking I will lower myself to you in which I will not."

"The demons had gotten to you and filled you with so much pride, it seems."

"It is people like you that make me believe I am on the wrong side of things. That I should not be here right now. But then there are people like Freir that make me think differently."

"Ari, forgive her rudeness. She has been into her cups too much lately," Einar said.

"It is how she truly feels," Ari said.

"Ari—"

"It is how everyone feels and I realize that now."

Einar took a deep breath before pushing Alia back into her chair.

"But for Freir... I will stay however long he wants me to... " Ari mumbled low enough for just Einar to hear, but Ari saw a smirk appear on the woman's face.

"And I wonder how long that will last?" she mocked. "You are a damned demon. That is all you will ever be. Soon he will see that as well. When that pretty, little mask of yours is ripped from your face. Then he will see, you will see, we will all see what you truly are.