Sara, Voren, and Sedna gathered in a room beneath the cathedral, strategizing ways to cleanse the city of the dark sorcerer who had been polluting it. The sorcerer used the city as a cauldron, harvesting negative emotions and children's essence. The trio studied a projection of the café Voren and Sara had visited just hours earlier.
In the projection, Mister Rice, the café owner, paced frantically in the kitchen. He suddenly produced a rusty old key and approached what they assumed was the cellar door. However, instead of unlocking a door, the key activated a crucifix-shaped symbol, which emitted a faint red glow before dimming. A young boy emerged, clad in robes similar to those of Buddhist monks, holding beads in his hands.
"F'ARLIM." Mister Rice knelt down in front of the boy that had just stepped out of the symbolic crucifix. The boy looked slightly annoyed at being summoned so hastily.
"What's wrong Bulahim?" He asked.
"I am sorry for summoning you without passing on a message first but this was urgent. I believe that the Black Guard Avenger is currently in this city. So I believe we must make haste with our plans, F'ARLIM."
The boy's eyes opened wide. "What did you say Bulahim?" He asked again, trembling slightly.
Mister Rice spoke quickly. "Uh..."
The boy raised his hand to his temple and slowly massaged it. As he began pacing around the small kitchen space:
"This is not good Bulahim. What the hell is going on? Why so many people, so many strong people are coming into this town? For a person as strong as the Black Guard Avenger, he must have surely noticed the spell that I had cast on this place. Damn it. Only the strong can resist the power."
"Let me head back. Bulahim, I'll come back and I'll tell you what the council had said. But I believe that there's going to be a lot of problems."
With that, the boy turned around and the crucifix symbol appeared again, and he stepped inside and disappeared. Unknown to them, on the corner of the room, a small spider was sitting there observing everything.
Voren studied the projection with a pissed-off expression. Sara was the first one to notice it and asked, "What's wrong, mentor?" Her voice was laced with concern.
Deacon Sedna asked, "What? Do you recognize one of them?"
Voren said, "Of course, I recognize Mister Rice from earlier, but it's not him that I'm worried about. It's the one he was with. The one he called F'Arlim. That is the one that I'm most worried about."
"What do you mean? That boy? You're worried about a boy?" Sara asked. Voren could only scrunch up his eyebrows more. His expression tense. "That is no boy. That person over there is over four hundred years old. So, no, that is no boy."
The revelation took both Sara and Deacon Sedna by surprise. Deacon Sadna was the first one to regain his composure followed by Sara. "F'Arlim. I think I've heard that name somewhere before," Deacon Sadna said.
"Well, it doesn't matter where you know him from, friend. We have to find a way to stop him. This matter just got a lot more complicated if that person is involved, but I believe we can stop it," Voren thought out loud. "Now that I think of it, that's why when I entered this city, there were dozens of people returning back here with ugly smiles on their faces. I thought nothing of it at that time, but it does seem like a stunt that he would pull. But what for? Does he plan to sacrifice the whole of this city for his advancement ritual or what?"
Voren's words left Sara looking a little confused. She turned to look at her father, Deacon Sedna, who waited for Voren to continue.
"We need to do something about this. It would have been very fortunate if we had those two as our allies," Voren said.
"What do you mean?" Sedna asked.
Voren didn't elaborate. Instead, he turned to Sara. "And what about you, young lady? The Moonlight Festival is fast approaching, and we have to save the city by then and also leave. And you've already promised that young gentleman by the cafe that you'll go with him, knowing very well that you won't be present at the Moonlight Festival."
At Voren's words, Sedna's eyes grew wide with surprise. "And when were you planning to tell me this, huh?" he asked his daughter.
"Dad, it wasn't anything serious. I didn't think I'd trouble you with it. Honestly, it's Ian. You know how he's been after me for all these years," Sara explained.
Sedna nodded, his expression thoughtful. "Yes, Ian really does come from a good and prominent family. I do wonder why you're so obsessed with that Mesa boy."
"It is not obsession, Dad. I love Timothy. And I know that he loves me too. He's just...it's all the situations he's gone through, losing his sister and now losing his grandmother. He grew distant with each and every situation," Sarah spoke. "But I have to be there because it's something that I promised myself and I promised him too. Back when Evelyn was still alive, I did promise that I would take care of him. And it's up to me to take care of him. Even though I also have to find my way in this world without him, but I'll watch over him from the shadows. Because that's how far my love for him is willing to go. I hope you understand that, Dad."
The deacon could only exhale deeply. "I guess if you put it that way, then I will not stop you or ask you any longer. I can see that your love for this boy is true and pure. So, I will give you my blessings to pursue him," Sadna said.
After that, there was a silence in the room, and that's when Voren spoke up, "Well, now I believe we should get to work, don't we?" And just after he said that, as if it was on cue, two of the guards that were following Sarah around entered the room. One of the guards approached the deacon and began whispering some things to him. The deacon's expression changed with each passing moment. And Sarah and Voren could only wait for them to be done before they could ask anything.