The robed figure knelt before a crying boy who had dropped a sugared tart on the pavement, patting him on the head. He looked confused when the boy did not stop crying and then there was a flash of silver as he pulled out a silver coin.Â<br/><br/>He pressed the coin into the boy's palm, and rose to his feet, the voice was muffled but the words were clear, "You can buy your candy with that." He turned and left.Â<br/><br/>******<br/><br/>"Vaenier, Vaenier, careless burglary, foolish heresy..." Sang the Soothsayer as she looked through the scrolls. "The Devourer is such an obscure creature... It is said..." The white-haired girl fell asleep.Â<br/><br/>"Oi, OI! Ceres!" Vaenier slapped the wooden table, causing her to jerk awake.Â<br/><br/>Ceres looked at the scrolls lazily, "Hmmm... The Devourer can spawn creatures to drain mana to feed it. Now<span style="font-style: italic">that</span>is interesting, but I don't think you have been to visit the city's poster boards anytime recently?"<br/><br/>"No, why? Did you?"<br/><br/>Ceres laughed, causing everyone else to jerk with a start. "I did not visit the boards but my friend," She pointed to her shoulder, "Visited it. Should we check it out?"<br/><br/>"I did not know you were the type to leave your hut unless it was burning down."<br/><br/>"Oh, I don't, only my friend does."<br/><br/>Shrugging, Vaenier stepped out of the hut, ducking under the low doorframe. When he looked back, his men were there but Ceres was replaced by a raven haired girl. He looked at his men, "Where is the Soothsayer?" They shrugged stupidly and glanced inside the hut and shrugged<span style="font-style: italic">again</span>.Â<br/><br/>"Oh, by Soothsayer you mean Ceres? I'm surprised she did not tell you that we are the same person." Said the raven-haired girl, "She refers to me a her friend."<br/><br/>"Okay, right." Vaenier gave her a dismissive wave. "Wait. What? You are her?"<br/><br/>"I'm her split personality, moron."<br/><br/>One of the men gaped at her, no one had ever insulted Vaenier in such a way an managed to leave unscathed. Vaenier drew a sword from its sheath, pointing it at the girl. "Apologize."<br/><br/>There was a flash of steel and the girl batted his sword to the side, grinning cheekily. She stood at his shoulder, but the way positioned herself, it made hairs rise on the back of his neck.Â<br/><br/>She hid her sword from view, hiding its true length<span style="font-style: italic">still</span>grinning.Â<br/><br/>A bruised knee later, Vaenier gave up on the assault and asked while attempting to stand properly, "And Your name is..?"<br/><br/>"Vestas is my name. I like to-"<br/><br/>"Right, so let's go see this message board of yours."<br/><br/>******<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Your mission is simple. Get the mana stone to feed me. The magical defenses are nothing to you, once past, paint the castle in the red of the ones who bar your way and bring me the stone.</span><br/><br/>The Child stripped from its cloak allowing the wind to deal with the fabric. Its fingers were bloody from the corpse which lay at its feet. It belonged to the boy from three days earlier, the same one who he had passed a silver coin to.Â<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Today I killed,<br/>He was just a boy.<br/>Eight before him,<br/>I knew them all.Â <br/>In the fields,<br/>A dying oath.Â <br/>I'll kill them all to save my own.</span><br/><br/>The boy had been tailing him, making the job easier to find another source of mana. It pained part of him, but, it was necessary.Â<br/><br/>It waded out of the wheat field, on the lookout for watchmen. He climbed to the roofs and once there, it was an easy matter to cover distance with stealth. The moon hung overhead, slightly orange, egging him on to his goal.<br/><br/>******<br/><br/>Apparently, there were an abnormal increase in killings, prompting an increase in watches and an advisory for the people to stay indoors once the sun has set.Â<br/><br/>Vaenier stared at the notice, scrutinizing it, "Probably... do you think that it could be the Devourer's doing?"<br/><br/>"It is probably related to it." Ceres/Vestas laughed to herself, ignoring the the scowl that Vaenier threw her way. "My prediction tells me-" She licked the symbol on the back of her hand, "That the next kill will be tonight, in the field." She pointed at the field near the outskirts of the city.Â<br/><br/>"Let's check it out then-"<br/><br/>"Uh boss? I think it's to presumptive to even go into the fields..." A wavering voice called out.Â<br/><br/>******<br/><br/>The sun was setting as they sat in a circle, facing the fields, constantly checking their backs out of fear that they may be the victim to be killed in the fields. Vestas had tied her hair up in a ponytail to prevent it from blocking her vision, and was tapping her sword on the tip of her boot.Â<br/><br/>Time caused them to drop their guard until, a cry for help jerked them back to alertness and to their feet. Vaenier breathed a spell even as he got to his feet and swung his fist, hurling an orb of red into the night sky, bathing the landscape in scarlet. "Over there! Get him!" They sprinted towards the only figure standing in the field.Â<br/><br/>Without even looking at them the man, well, it looked like a man, took off in a sprint. It was hard to see in the glaring light but the suspect was definitely wearing black tight-fitting clothes.Â<br/><br/>They had nearly lost him in the mad chase across the rooftops and alleys, if not for Ceres's multitude of spells and Vesta's sharp senses, chasing him would be a very hard thing indeed.Â<br/><br/>******<br/><br/>The Child had entered the castle grounds, and was wandering aimlessly around the castle when he saw it. The mana stone. It was glowing with a soft blue light, in the middle of a plaza riddled with flower beds. A hum in the air whispered of magical defenses, which prompted him to scoop a handful of gravel from the ground.Â<br/><br/>He flicked a thumb, the stone ricocheted in the maze of mana walls, ripples of red were formed where the stone had struck. It drove its boots into the ground, leaping into the air. The flowers, the plants were the source of the mana, providing a steady flow of mana to the artifact. The mana stone would not be used for petty defenses but to nullify devastating attacks from outside. So- his eyes swept the garden, even as his ascent slowed. The pedestals in the middle of the flower beds would be a perfect place for the artifacts. He flicked his thumb again and again, knocking the enchanted rubies from their holders, deactivating parts of the defense in the garden.Â<br/><br/>He landed lightly on a pedestal, allowing himself but a second to accustom himself with the lack of movement before wading out of the flower bed onto the pavement towards the mana stone.Â