The beginning

"A gentleman wouldn't admit he has intentions of misbehaving," Cala sighed.

"Beautiful, powerful, classy, feisty," Aelius listed aloud while hopping over a gap between two buildings. "You're after my heart, Cala. Don't tempt me." He smiled lopsided while offering his hand.

Cala's face flushed slightly. "That's enough," she demanded, her voice faltering. Intentionally ignoring his hand, she jumped passed Aelius and walked ahead quickly.

Aelius brought his hand back in slowly, smiling wider. "You're too easy to tease, Cala, my dear." He stopped and looked towards the camp, then started watching the streets. "We're being followed by a couple friends," he whispered gleefully.

"Oooh his name is Aelius," the miser giggled to Tira. "He looks like the Lost.

Grinning, Five hopped onto a pile of rubble and looked over the open, dusty field. "Humor me, magic man. What's it like?"

"WHAT?!" Tira nearly screamed silently. She growled nervously while sitting behind an abandoned truck bed. "Uuuurrrgh...I'm sending backup. You try to get her while he's distracted. Do not kill her. I mean it!" She spotted William in the marketplace and limped over to him, using her transmuting weapon as a cane. She mentally sent some nearby Misers to Moa's location before speaking in a feeble voice. "Excuse me, young man," she quavered.

"What do you mean?" Soren asked, leaning against the splintered remains of a telephone pole.

"You're a couple thousand years old. What kinda new ages have you seen?" Five inquired.

"I have seen enough to fill a thousand libraries from ceiling to floor with information," Soren replied. "The rise and fall of civilizations, cultures, countries. War and famine, tyranny and pestilence. Birth and death. Ages come and go; this one we are in now is possibly the most threatening one I have witnessed."

Squatting on the pile, Five inhaled deeply on a fresh cigarette. "Ever come face to face with the Dark Lord?" he asked.

William turned slowly, looking around. "Me?"

Not firsthand, no," Soren replied. "I honestly know little about him, besides his murdering spree years ago."

"Yes, of course, child!" Tira replied in her rickety old woman's voice. "I need some help, you see. My son never returned from scavenging outside the camp barriers, and I've been fretting so long for him. I'm scared he may be lost...could you escort me to the edge of the camp so I can search for him?"

"When you see him, then you've seen the end of a world," Five mumbled. "It's like watching the devil himself delivering hell to earth."

Bion freely approached Aelius, smiling carefree. "You're good, but it has to end here."

"Absolutely. I agree. I can't have you following a woman around like a stalker." Aelius flexed his hand. "Then let's do this."

"You have seen him?" Soren asked.

"Sure have." Five exhaled a cloud of smoke. "More than once."

Soren nodded to himself. "How do you come about seeing this Dark Lord more than once?"

"When you live in dangerous places, you see a lot of dangerous things." Five smirked and tilted his head. "You lived in safe places, didn't you?"

"Misers have lived among us for many years prior to the war," Soren said. "They remained relatively hidden until then. I have spent these thousands of years exorcising them. Not safe work, but I have experienced 'safe' before." He dug his staff into the scorched earth and checked his pocketwatch. "Safe is peaceful, but boring," he added.

Kallias opened the doors to the temple, pushing with all his strength. The doors creaked and groaned, showering the two with dust.
"It would seem Asterianna hasn't had visitors in a long time," he whispered to Anna while swatting the dust from his hair.

Asterianna slid back from the alter she was kneeling at, listening to the voices above. She crawled to the bottom of the stairs and felt for the rail. She slowly stepped onto the bottom step and called to Kallias. "Kallias? Is that you?"

"It is," Kallias called back. He followed her voice and looked down the dark stairs at the woman. "I came because we discovered a set of dual souls. Cala Thorn and Seth Devitt. Cala was kidnapped and we need to know why."