"What an interesting boy…"
Solister muttered a bit too loudly, walking down the hallway alongside Irvin, whose thick brown hair bobbed lightly with every step.
Glancing over, Irvin seconded the black-haired man's sentiment as a gentle breeze blew through the church.
After leaving Aaron Grimstall in the sanctum, they had exited the building, yet a familiar pulsation of mana from across the region had sparked their interest.
They had taken a long way around the church to prevent coming face to face with the blond boy again, a brief thirty minutes passing in that time.
With poor direction skills and unconventional floor plans, after another twenty minutes, they finally made their way towards a door labeled White.
Stopping to listen for a moment, they heard two people murmur something quietly behind the wooden frame.
Irvin sighed as he knocked on the entrance gently, hearing a plate crash against the ground and hurried footsteps follow.
"It's her, alright…"
The tan-skinned man beside him nodded slightly, remembering the time Palmer had once dropped a crystal chandelier of the Association ballroom onto his dinner table.
Standing in silence with their hands behind their backs, the two watched as the door opened to reveal not one, but two familiar faces.
"Oh…"
Aaron's turquoise eyes immediately clouded over, his hand instinctively reaching towards his head where beads of sweat formed in seconds.
Behind him, Alicia smiled warmly, her enthusiasm a stark contrast to the boy who looked like he was on the verge of death.
"Irvin, it's been so long!"
Waving the two men in, she ignored the horribly ill boy who made himself scarce, attempting to distance himself as much as he could from the men who bore traces of the divine.
Giving an awkward nod to Aaron, who now hid behind a stack of boxes, the commanders entered stiffly, taking a seat that the woman offered.
Handing each of them a cup, she poured in a strange black liquid that, while looking like coffee, did not smell like such.
Without waiting for them to drink, she sat down across from them, speaking joyfully.
"What brings you to the Church during this time of the season? Could it be that you've found Palmer?"
Widening her eyes in anticipation, the two men looked at each other slowly, a dark gaze passing along their faces.
In the corner, Aaron noticed the sight, a thought wedging the way into his headache-infested skull.
Bad news…
Opening his mouth to respond, Irvin spoke slowly, attempting to sound monotone and neutral regarding what he was about to say.
"It's been a while indeed, Alicia. However, I'm afraid we came here for a different reason."
Leaning over to Solister for a moment, they whispered to each other, a stern look coming upon each of their expressions.
"Of course, that would be classified information, and unfortunately, we are unable to tell you. But, there is something about your brother that we must inform you about."
Turning his gaze over to Aaron, who was pretending to work while listening through the pain, Irvin coughed gently, whispering to Alicia quietly.
"You might want privacy with what we're about to say."
Placing her finger on her pale lip, the black-haired woman thought for a moment before answering.
"No. It's fine for him to hear."
Solister furrowed his brow as he heard her response, his words careful but firm as he spoke without delay.
"Ms. White, I assure you that—"
Shaking her head, she paid no mind to the man's opinion, verbalizing her will once again.
"He is an old friend in some way. He can stay."
Looking over towards the boy who had begun to awkwardly whistle to himself, she smiled, gesturing him over.
Not quite knowing what to do under the pressure, Aaron obliged, walking over and sitting in the farthest chair he could from the men.
"Are you alright? Your complexion looks ghostly…"
Her concerned words were disregarded with a simple wave of his hand; the boy's eyes were bloodshot and tired.
Thinking for a moment, but then shifting her gaze back to the two men, she waited for their next words anxiously.
Solister looked towards Irvin, a silent agreement being forged between the two as the brown-haired man spoke.
"On September 3rd of this year, Lord Thorn made a discovery during an expedition to the Sea of Curses."
He paused, taking a short breath.
"The Ghostship wielded by Lord Cosmoti was located without any occupants aboard and no connection to its captain."
There was a heavy silence that fell upon the room, Alicia turning her eyes towards her legs, then back upward.
"W-what does that mean?"
From beside her, Aaron could tell she was trembling slightly, the information about her brother, or rather the lack of it, making her uneasy.
Instead of allowing Irvin to respond, Solister took over, a frown across his face.
"Lord Cosmoti and everyone aboard his vessel at the time of his disappearance in the Sea of Polar Storms is assumed to be dead."
Alicia's body froze, her eyes sparkling with tears that had yet to form, the shaking plaguing her only intensifying.
The blond boy next to her had his mouth agape, thoughts swirling like monsoons alongside the words that Cam had once told him.
The first wielder of the Ghostship that Orion Cosmoti might wield today… She knew that he was gone even back then…
Thousands of questions bombarded his mind, begging to be answered; however, this was not the time nor the place to ask.
It was the black-haired woman beside him who would grieve; it was she who would remember this day forever.
So as he struggled to keep his own thoughts in check, he kept to himself, only watching as her pale face changed.
Instead of a smile, there was a frown.
Where a joyful twinkle occupied her eyes before, only hot, wet tears poured down her face like waterfalls.
Irvin placed his hands over his eyes as well, his own grief over losing his closest friend still weighing on him.
And while Solister was never as close to Palmer as the others in the chamber, he still remembered the times they had spoken and trained.
The room's atmosphere had changed dramatically, with only Alicia's sobs echoing through the dark storage facility.
However, after nearly three minutes, she spoke up through her sorrow, her words striking pain across the spectators.
"H-how… H-how did he die…"
Aaron's eyes fell on the floor, the agonizing throbs that were coursing through his mind seemingly reduced as if even the deity was interested in the answer.
The brown-haired man shifted in his seat, the response coming in a slow, drawn-out tone.
"Lord Cosmoti had been ordered to inspect a seal of the greatest magnitude in the Sea of Polar Storms. There was only one transmission sent to the Association headquarters, before all contact was lost, detailing an encounter with an unknown being."
"When Lord Quinn and I arrived after receiving the alert, it was already too late. Part of the sea itself had been erased along with the island. All that remained was a bottomless pit that had been filled with water. Lord Cosmoti had discussed with Lord Quinn about large-scale Erasure magic at the Council meeting the previous day. It seems he was forced to execute it against his opponent as a final gambit."
Ending his sentence, he saw Alicia's tear-filled eyes stare back at him, her lips moving slowly.
"D-did they at least defeat the enemy?"
Irvin's eyes glazed over, his leg moving to the side and kicking Solister slightly.
Startled but not confused, the black-haired man faced the woman, his gray eyes blank and empty.
"On October 25th, the same person who fought the King of Curses was located and was engaged by Lord Droskyn. He escaped through a contract with a beast from the Abyss known as a Devil. The full force of the Association is searching for—"
Before finishing, he was cut off by the blue-eyed woman.
Her expression was different, a sense of anger and rage emanating from her body that made Aaron shift back slightly.
"Who did it. Who was the one to kill my brother?"
There was no response for almost a minute as the two commanders looked at each other.
"Azaroth Pane, a halfbreed. He's the self-proclaimed Sovereign of Chains who led the global campaign in the war six years ago. Through research done by Cauron Thorn, it has been determined that the Devil accompanying him is one of an ancient species with the power of a demigod."
It was Irvin who spoke, disregarding the direct orders that Lepaie Quinn had given him not to disclose any matters related to Pane.
Beside the woman who seethed with fury, Aaron could only stare blankly, every coincidence that had occurred throughout the past four months adding up in moments.
Not only was the Isle of Gharr itself destroyed by a single fragment of a devil's horn, but also…
He froze, the reality of the world striking him at once.
That woman at Sea Fallen had the trace of Demonic energy from a Half breed… And Adam's transformation… It couldn't be…
The boy's stomach spasmed, his expression falling into that of absolute understanding as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
Looking over at Alicia, he knew she wouldn't be responding to the men for a long while, her hair a disheveled mess, tears falling from her face in long streams.
Facing both men for the second time that day, he finally spoke about the day he had wished to forget ever since he set sail from that hellish place.
"Sea Fallen was his doing."
Irvin's brow instantly furrowed, his attention drawn away from the distraught woman and onto the boy who had refused their offer not even an hour ago.
"What?"
Hearing his confusion, Aaron continued, explaining his thinking reasonably without revealing anything incriminating.
"I was on Sea Fallen the day it was attacked by those terrorists. That same day, I fought against a woman with silver hair and crimson eyes who was oozing with Demonic energy. Therefore, I believe she, along with her winged partner, works for this Azaroth Pane."
Ending his idea cleanly, he watched as the two men's expressions fell, a glance between one another telling Aaron all he needed to know.
I'm right. That man is why Eleanor ended up witnessing 'it'.
Balling his fists until his nails broke the skin and blood dripped out, a darkness was born inside that young boy's heart.
For, until this day, he hadn't had any goal but to revive Eleanor and to enjoy life; however, now, there was something he had to do.
I will make that man bleed.