Facing the assault of the cold winter breeze, Elyas ran through cramped alleys. Each step, twice as heavy because of the snow. He ran, scraping and cutting himself on crude edges of the alley's walls in the process.

  He reached the park. It was lined up with dead trees, metal benches installed on the crosswalk, and a single, grand frozen fountain in the middle.

  He thought he might come late. But there was no one. Not in the stone street covered in snow. Not near or in the light of any of the lamps swaying with the wind.

  ‘Guess I came in early.’

  Sighing, he chose a bench and sat after pushing off the snow. The cold metal brushing against his back sharpened his mind, heightening his senses.

  In that silent moment, he came to a grim realization.

  ‘How am I supposed to explain myself? That I killed his brother…’

  Elyas was sitting with his arms crossed, waiting. He considered how the interaction could go. As he was thinking of many ways to apologize or explain, something fell on his nose. Touching his now wet nose, he locked around.

  It was snowing.

  …

  On the fourth floor of the Protocol. In a darkly lit, damp room.

  Cid was sitting on a metallic chair, positioned near a bench of the same material. In front of him, illuminated by a single flickering lightbulb, was a man wearing a white and yellow uniform with intricate golden patterns.

  “When did you use your wish?” The Enforcer asked again.

  “I…I told you already! I had no other choice!” Cid answered, sounding clearly distressed and irritated.

  “Yes. In your recounting, You have stated that you were lost in the Green sea, attacked by a figment and had to use it to survive.”

  “So why am I still here?!” Cid spoke, letting a bit of fear and uncertainty seep into his frustrated tone.

  The man sighed softly, clearing his throat, he spoke with an amiable tone. “Look kid, I don't want to deal with you either. If you tell us why you've been hiding your wish as an outsider, you'd be free to go.”

  Cid answered without hesitation. “Isn't it obvious!? Look at me. Do you know how many days it has been since I've seen someone's face? I didn't want this to happen. But it was inevitable. I knew it would happen ever since I made my wish…”

  He paused before adding. “I tried to hide it, to buy some time… but… I couldn't watch one of my classmates die in front of me.”

  Finished, he calmed down. Staying completely still, hiccuping occasionally before tears ran down his chin, falling on the table with a metallic tap. The Enforcer watched for a bit, and then got up and left the room.

  As soon as the man left, Cid looked up for a moment, before his sobbing worsened. Letting go of all restraints. The sound of him sniffing before continuing to cry even louder than before filled the observation room in the wall.

  “...Sir, I think the kid is telling the truth. If he was working with the rouges or had harboured ill intent, he wouldn't have saved one of his classmates. Revealing his identity and getting eyes on himself in the process.”

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  The Enforcer, responsible for questioning Cid, reported to his captain.

  His captain had a long white beard and bushy eyebrows. Despite his old age, not a single strand of hair was missing from the man's scalp. Unlike most members of the Protocol, he refused to wear the Protocols signature golden hat. Unintentionally showing off his hairline.

  “I still have my doubts.” The captain spoke, his raspy and aged voice echoing in the dark room.

  “But he's just a child…” The Enforcer was about to argue in place of the kid, when his captain spoke.

  “Let him go…But send a few Defenders to keep an eye on him.”

  “Yes captain!” The Enforcer ran out of the room, happy to be the bearer of good news.

  Captain stayed put, engulfed in shadows he kept his eyes focused. He was looking at everything. Mainly, Cid, trying to find any flaw or mistake in his actions or any hint that this was an act.

  He found none.

  …

  At the same time, Elyas was enjoying the view of the midnight moons.

  The ring was as beautiful as ever.

  On top was a moon as blue as the ocean depths. To its bottom right, another lush green. Under that textureless yellow orb.

  At the bottom, was a purple moon shrouded in pink mist. To its left, an orange moon. On top of that, the moon had a face. It wore a colorless stone mask that would vanish at the break of dawn. Tonight, it looked quite happy.

  Under the top, was a mismatch of all the moons. Some nights it would make a disgusted yellow face, another night, a cold uncaring face with a shade of purple.

  In the centre of it all, was the original. Still spinning in all its cheesy glory. The first or the eight moon. Some people deduced it, not considering it part of the moons. Regardless, uncaring to how others perceived it, It looked down at the land beneath. Like an ever present eye. Now, it was Elyas who was staring.

  Surprisingly, the cold didn't bother him that much. Maybe it was the distraction of the pain in his shoulders and arm, showing themselves every time he moved as little as a hair's breadth.

  He wasn't sure. And that is what he was trying so desperately to fix.

  Fix His ignorance.

  Everyone looked at him like a god among men. “A True Legacy.” But that god didn't even know basic information. He lacked common sense. How can he survive, let alone find his son in a world like this…

  Elyas grimaced. He had heard that great people emerge in the worst of times. Elyas didn't want to be great. He just wanted a calm life for himself and his family.

  But others didn't care for his wishes.

  Even before all of this, he was looked at as a great, capable man. Someone who can do no wrong. Someone with all the answers, and the ability to act on them. And he believed it. Fooled himself into buying it. Elyas believed the lies. But the truth, it was laid bare for everyone to see including himself.

  On that fateful day.

  On one the last days of autumn. All that this great, just and wise man could do…was run. Run from Figments, Nightmares, run from the temptations and Whispers that would turn him into one.

  Run, and cower in fear. From the nightmares his kind had created.

  That's why he needed to understand. To even start to move forward he needed to know where he stood.

  Elyas, noticing his rapidly plummeting mood, chased away his thoughts.

  A few more minutes passed like that. In silence. As he was turning impatient, he heard footsteps coming from the main North Street. The trampling of snow on such a quiet night was easy to notice.

  Under the downpour of snow, pressing his red cap and resisting against the wind, Joshua came into view.

  He still wore his work clothes. Red, white and yellow. A set of clothes right out of a twenty-first century fast food chain. His hands, covered by cheap transparent gloves, were shaking from the cold by his waist.

  Elyas got up from his bench and walked towards him, standing apart by only a few steps.

  “Nice to see you Elyas.” Joshua started the conversation.

  Elyas glanced at Josh. All he saw was the man he left behind that day. The man whose cries were ignored by his friend. The memory of his pleading eyes burned in Elyas's mind.

  Joshua, noticing his silence, sighed. Hot air lingering between them before getting washed away by the cold breeze.

  “It's not your fault…Ralf's in a better place now. I'm sure of it.”

  “I'm…I'm sorry. I couldn't save him, I was too weak.” Elyas couldn't bring himself to look at the man. He just spoke without raising his head.

  Josh smiled. “I know. We all were. There's no True Legacy who hasn't lost someone they cared about…That is the price we pay.”

  “Cost. Price.… Why do we have to pay anything? I didn't want to—”

  Joshua cut him off. “Why do you think humans rule over animals, Elyas?”

  The wind blew by, making the hanging lamps sway and shadows dance among the men's feet.

  Elyas was silent for a moment before he answered: “Because we adapt.”

  Joshua with his puffy eyes, still holding onto his cap nodded. “Yes. Some believe it's strength. But if that was the case, then tigers and lions would rule over us.”

  Josh paused before adding.

  “When the Whispers came, we lost our only advantage. Imagine a world, where someone can just change the entire region with a thought. Imagine, someone wishing for everything in his favourite novel or movie to become real. Imagine…anything. You can't adapt to a world that hasn't grown yet.”

  “That is why we lost. And that is why we have to pay. Some of us tried to adapt, but it was all in vain. We True Legacies, adapted to modern civilization, can only dream of true comfort. We are lucky, Elyas. We only pay with pain or sorrow. Some gave their lives, their humanity.”

  Elyas nodded in silence. His mood became more somber as he listened. A question formed in his mind.

  ‘I wonder what price they had to pay…”

  He was thinking of Noah and Julius. People that like him, were True Legacies. Here from the start. Although they looked and acted unbothered, they had nightmares of their own.

  The only difference between them and Elyas, was that he hoped, he could only hope. That he was alive.

  Elyas looked towards the tired man, asking a question he needed the answer to the most.

  “Josh… do you know where Michael is?”