His face said it all.
Everything he embodied plastered on his angular face. The years of experience etched on his skin resulting into one deep scar stretching up his well shaved chin. His cold perceptive eyes that picked up the slightest slither in Lozo's footing. His short dark hair that no matter what never stood in the way of his vision. And finally, his voice.
It had a low deep tremor in it that travelled deep into Lozo's being and enacting the will of the man. To show his sheer dominance to all that heard it.
"Answer me." He called.
Cilia, startled, startled behind Lozo.
"Why are you here? This isn't your sect to guard."
The sparkle in his blade had gotten larger and if he wanted to, with one swift draw the short blade would be out displaying its double edges.
"We were at the correspondent's house. We were just leaving." Lozo said trying to diffuse the bomb standing in front of them.
The man gave another lingering glare. They didn't seem to be lying.
"Then why were you sneaking around? And what's in the bag?"
"We got lost and were looking for a way out." Lozo answered.
"The bag…" the man asked.
Lozo swung the bag off his back. He opened the zipper and revealed what was hidden in the bag. As he opened it the sweet tantalizing smell of the pie in it replaced the tensed air around them.
Then suddenly Cilia got hungry.
As Lozo showed the bag to the man, Cilia's hand stretched trying to fish out one of the two pieces in there. On seeing this Lozo immediately moved the bag away from Cilia.
"You already had yours." Lozo reminded her.
"But I'm still hungry."
No.
But, but.
Their talking mainly comprised of Lozo refusing to hand over the bag and Cilia, after a while, forcibly trying to take the bag away from him.
"How about this. We split in half one then give the other's one." She negotiated.
The answer was as before.
"Tch! What a bunch of children." The man murmured to himself. He groaned releasing the grip on his blade. He had gotten tired of the childish play the two were playing and also, he needed the two Harmatia off his sect.
"Enough. I'll see you out of the village." The man said prompting an end to Cilia's growing hunger escapade.
"Just follow me and stay where I can see you." He ordered.
***
The man silently led their walk out of the Normals Sect of Gart village. He was quite muscular though not as much compared to Kento's true form. Other than the scar on his chin others crawled on his skin. Like the one Lozo had absent mindedly stared at on the back of his arms. The two seemed to be placed relatively close together and possibly from the same weapon. Or from whatever it was that could make such serrated and uneven scar marks that wrapped around the man's triceps.
He was warmly protected by a gambeson armor with the sleeves ripped. A breastplate with a shiny waxy shimmer to it, shoulder pieces pauldrons and brownish padded trousers. Then there were two tightly strapped short blades hanging to the sides of his waist.
He seemed like a veteran soldier... a veteran normal soldier. His observation skills were another badge that highlighted his hard-earned life.
Earlier when the two shadows slowly revealed their true forms of the two men, Lozo and Karin had successfully escaped the detection of the two by crawling in the dark and creeping to the other side. But just as the relief of making away from their sight of the two was about to settle in, it was immediately evacuated by the sudden presence of the soldier glaring at them in the dark. His voice firm and unwavering called them out of the darkness they were hiding in.
"Okay we are here." he said stopping at the large frame that acted as the bridge to the other sect.
"Hope you've been given the guidelines for your stay here. "
Lozo nodded, still struggling to keep Cilia off the bag.
"Good. Now go." He said standing next to the large wooden frame.
"Come on let's go Cilia." Lozo said walking past the frame. Cilia followed but suddenly stopped. She turned to the man giving a questioning look to the scar on his arms.
The man looked back at her. He noticed her gaze on his scars.
"Hurry up and leave." He said before turning and walking from the frame and into the normals side. Soon he had disappeared into the dark buildings of the village and out of Cilia's sight.
"Something wrong?" Lozo asked on noticing Cilia's hesitation to follow.
"I don't know. I keep getting this weird feeling in my tummy but can't place what it is." As she said that a low grumble echoed through her stomach.
"No." Lozo said already predicting the cause of that weird feeling.
The two walked into their side of the village still debating whether to give Karin and Kento their share of the cake.
Unbeknown to them, on the second or third building of the Normal sect they had just came from, a presence watched them. His eyes peering into the dark as he observed as the two strolled down the brown path cutting across a grassy area. He watched in suspicion noticing the fire burning at the middle of the middle of the Harmatia Sect, which they called a Hearth, that the two were approaching.
Deep in his mind a single thought stuck. He had believed in it for most of his life and as the days past the more it was reinforced.
He clicked before jumping off the roof…
"What a bunch of children."
***
'If it works then we'll be able to get more land and with more land means more money. Then we can finally get out…'
Lozo and Cilia were next to a burning flame that was slowly dying. It crackled in the silence of the approaching dawn trading its purposes with the sun rays that leaked from the horizon. Other than that were two papers on the ground each weighted down by a pebble to keep from blowing away in the breeze. They were the wrappers for the pie the two were meant to give to Karin and Kento.
That thought paraded Lozo's mind. It was the thought of the two shadows and their conversation. Most of it wasn't strange but the final words they said betrayed the rest. It felt to Lozo like they were potting something. Whether it was good or bad was hard to tell. For all he knew they might have been just worried farmers trying to expand their land. But then why walk in the night pasting talismans in every house you come across. And most importantly what do farmers need talismans for?
Just like most things in the world, Lozo didn't know enough to make a decision. So he did what he normally did when he was unsure about something. Try as much as possible to forget it. Worked in the past why would it work now.
Anyway, he had another worry in his mind. It was a concern he had had ever since he was introduced to the concept of Gen arts.
…
The first morning rays greeted Lozo's eyes. he had kept watch the entire night with Cilia cozily moving in her slumber.
The morning rays also brought something else other than the sting currently in his eyes. It brought the realization of how good Cilia sensory abilities really were.
She woke up with a yawn. A wide one at that. She looked around with a tired look on her face yet she was the on who had tasted the comfort of sleep that night. She looked at Lozo's eyes with zero care for the dark circles underneath.
"Ha!" she laughed looking to the rising sun. "I win." She said with a sloppy but proud smile on her face.
Rising towards the sky was a large mesh like veil. It shimmered in fluid like motion in the first rays revealing intricate and ever-changing pattern. Then slowly as the sun rose some more the veil began to disappear. It became colorless, hidden to the eyes but not to Cilia's senses.