Prologue

Dusk. Perhaps the most perfect moments of the day are experienced during the blanket that is dusk. It is fascinating yet mystifying at the same time, for it retains the light gifted to it from the day, but allows the darkness of the impending night to share its space as well. With the coming of dusk, the entirety of life seems to slow down, as if silently acknowledging its presence. Time, too, slows down showing its respect in turn to the rest of the world, allowing it the few precious moments required to absorb the tranquility of dusk before it concedes to the blackness, and the peace is gone. The perfectness.. gone.
Night. A star winked in the sky drawing him out of his trance, reminding him of the hard ground upon which he lay, and the stone digging into his shoulder blade. Sighing, he sat himself upright, bringing his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them, dirt removing itself from his bare back as he did so. Looking around himself, it was hard to decipher his surroundings.. night had fallen, and without mercy. Even the moon was absent tonight, unwilling to offer its help in illuminating the small desert town. The town itself had long since gone to sleep, the last candle already snuffed, and its residents withdrawn to their homes in preparation for a new day. Not everyone respects the night though, as they do dusk.. for those, like him, lived in it. He wasn't the only one still awake, and he had much to do.
"Hey, Vinny.. that you?" Came a voice directly from where he was staring. It was a soft voice, a girl's voice.. he was sure he knew who it belonged to. "Yeah," he replied, "it's me." Still looking into the darkness, he waited for a response. After only a moment his response came, in the form of a young girl, probably no older than 13, who greeted him with a smile and sat down next to him, hugging her knees to her chest as he was. She looked over her shoulder at him, still smiling, and said, "hi."
Having never taken his eyes off her he returned the smile and the greeting.
"Hey." "How'd you find me here? It's pitch black."
She looked around her and shrugged. "You're not hard to find, always staring at the sky, lost in your own world." She looked back at him, her smile gone. "What do you find so fascinating about it anyways, huh?"
He turned his head upwards and answered her question, "It's peaceful. Nothing can touch you up there.. nothing."
With a small giggle she teased, "Well why not go up there then?"
He tore his gaze from the heavens and returned it to her, and said in a serious tone, "I would if I could."
The look on her face turned from amusement to astonishment as she said, "Well, what about me? And the brothers? I guess you'd just leave us behind in this stupid desert?"
He smiled, "Of course not. You'd all come with me."
She smiled back. "Tonight's the night.. isn't it?"
His smile faded as he nodded. "Yeah. Tonight.. soon. Are we ready?"
"Yeah, the other two are waiting for us by The Rock." She looked concerned now, as she asked, "are you sure about this? We don't have to if you don't want to.."
He shook his head, "No, I'm sure. I need to.. we need to. You know how important this is. They need our help, even if they won't tell us.. they need it."
She knew who he meant by 'they'. "Okay. We're with you, then. All the way."
He nodded. "Good, let's go."
She smiled softly as she stood up and turned around, walking back towards the darkness.
Vinny stood up as well, and followed. He stopped after only a few feet, though. "Stephy." He said quietly. She turned around at the sound of her name. "Yeah?" she responded. He looked at her for just a second longer before he said, "Thanks." She smiled again and contuned walking.
As they walked towards "The Rock", where the other two.. the brothers.. awaited their arrival, Vinny's mind began to wander again. He didn't stray too far this time though, he kept his thoughts focused on what they were about to do. About if it was, indeed, the right thing to do.. if it were safe.. if it would work.. he went back over the facts once more with himself. They were about to sneak into Garon Ramos' house. Garon was the local community's tax collector, working for The Church.. if a church is what one could call it. Once a month The Church sent their tax collectors, filthy rich relatives of church clergy, to round up the citizen's tithe. Every citizen of every city, state or town worked for, in some way, shape, or form, The Church. And thus, every citizen paid a tithe in return for it's 'generosity'. If a payment could not be made then it was taken in a different form; such as clothes; food; or other possetions. Or blood. Such was the case with Vinny's mother during the last collection.. an experience he would rather not think about. Tonight, they were going to take back from Ramos' recently collected taxes. How safe of an idea this was, he wasn't sure.. but he had to do it. They weren't going to take much, though.. just enough to get them through the next few collections, enough so they won't have to give up their food again, and enough to keep his mother out of Ramos' hands. Not enough to be noticeable. He hoped.
Thump. Still thinking hard, he hadn't realized where they were, or that Stephy has stopped. She giggled as he ran right into her. That's what he liked about her.. she could laugh at anything, her spirits never seemed down. He grinned sheepishly and looked up, noticing they had arrived at their destination: and as Stephy said, here were the two, not very identical, brothers, Donny and Lerik. Donny had brown hair and matching eyes, in comparison to Lerik's green eyes and blonde hair. Donny was the eldest of the two, by a bit more than two years, yet he was a few inches shorter than Lerik, who stood above all four of them.
"Hey guys." Vinny greeted them.
They both waved at him in turn. They never said much, between the two of them, though never parting sides, they didn't need to say much.
"Are you guys ready?" They both nodded again.
"Born ready, Vinny." Lerik grinned, he'd been waiting to do this for longer than Vinny had; it was his idea in the first place. Vinny just hadn't agreed to it until his Mother.. "You better be too."
Vinny looked at both of them, "I sure hope I am."
Stephy clapped her hands together, "Let's get a move on then." All three of them nodded in agreement and began the walk to Garon Ramos' house, which was only a few hundred yards away. It was built near the Eastern edge of the village.. closest to where the Church lay, miles to the East. Their meeting spot was just south of Ramos' house, this way they could all go together as a group without wandering past too many houses, and risk getting caught.. children weren't supposed to be out at this time of night.
They crept silently along the outskirts of the village, their footsteps silenced by the sand. The sand, which, since the day they were born has filled their world.. every nook and crannie of it. None of them said a word to each other as they trodded through it, for they were all too nervous to produce words. What they were about to do was a deed, although more selfish, was something more suited to the heroes written about in the stories of old. Though, there existed no heroes any more, no one they could count on but themselves. And so they arrived, by Garon Ramos' estate.. the largest building in the village. Built from a sturdier substance than their own modest homes, and set apart from them as well.. as if to keep itself clean.
"Now what?" Stephy inquired as they all stood outside the house, a small breeze blowing amongst them, bringing with it loose sand and the heat of midnight.
"Just like we planned," Vinny walked towards the house and turned to face them all, "there's 3 floors in this place; the main floor; upstairs; and the basement. Two of us," he pointed to the brothers, "search upstairs," he pointed to Stephy "you take the main floor," he pointed to himself, "and I'll take the basement. "Just remember to be as quiet as you can, we don't want to wake Ramos up." He reminded them.
"What if we do?" Stephy looked a little worried.
"Run." Vinny replied, "get out of here and run back to your house. Don't worry about the others, we'll all run in a separate direction just in case." He added, to her questioning look. "So.. are we ready?"
They all nodded.
"Okay, let's do it quick." The 4 of them walked towards the back of the house, where a small patio had been built. A door leading into the house from the patio was their point of entry, as they had learned that Ramos never locked it. The two brothers, walking side by side and ahead of the other two rounded a corner onto the patio. Stephy grabbed Vinny's arm and whispered, "wait a sec."
Vinny stopped and turned to look at her. She looked more worried than he had ever seen her. "What's wrong?"
"I'm scared," she said, "what if something happens to you? Or the others? Or me? I don't know what I'd do."
Vinny sighed, "I don't know.. I don't want to think about it. Let's just go quick, and get it over with." As he tried to turn around she tightened her grip on his arm.
"Promise me.. promise me you'll be okay." She pleaded, a tear in her eye.
Vinny looked her in the eyes and promised. "I'll be okay." Stephy smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Wiping the tear from her eye she released his arm and they walked around the corner, joining Donny and Lerik on the pack patio.
Donny raised an eyebrow. "You guys okay?" He said in a whisper.
Stephy nodded. "Yeah, we're fine.. let's get this thing goin'."
Without another word Donny turned around and nodded at Lerik who, closest to the door, grabbed the handle and pushed. Without a sound the door swung inwards, and the four of them peered in. It was time.
Donny and Lerik entered first, moving slowly, so as not to make any noise. The first room they entered was the kitchen; the door was positioned near the back of it, in an out of the way location. There wasn't much they could see, for it was dark so they moved with caution. There were two ways out of the kitchen, straight ahead and to the right. Trying to find the stairs they moved forward, into what should be the living room, based on what they had seen by peeking through windows when Ramos was out. As they disappeared into the darkness of the house, Stephy and Vinny entered. They took the right route, finding the stairs to the basement almost immediately. They were in a small hallway, that shot off to their left, more than likely connecting to the living room, where Donny and Lerik were. The front door was at the end of the hall. Vinny noted this in his head. The stairs to the basement were immediately to his right, with the door left open, inviting him down. He looked over at Stephy and gave her a half-smile. "I'll be back." When she nodded he turned away and headed down the stairs.
He hadn't been thinking about how dark the basement would be, with almost no light outside in the first place, nothing even remotely touched this place. He walked down a few steps and stopped, not knowing if he could do it in the darkness. He looked back up the stairs behind him for Stephy, but she had already gone on. 'I have to find a way, the others are.' he thought to himself. Looking back downstairs he put a hand to the wall for guidance and continued down. When he felt the transition from wood to stone beneath his feet he knew he had reached the bottom. The stairwell ended in a small alcove, the only way into the basement being to his left. From that direction, straight ahead was a small window near the ceiling, allowing what faint light from the night sky to venture in, illuminating at least that small portion of the wall and floor. Walking towards it, he was careful with his steps, making sure he didn't step on anything that would make noise. Underneath the window was a fairly large wooden floor chest with several glass-made decorations sitting on top of it.
He bent down to examine it a little closer and noticed that there was a lock on it, yet it was unlocked with the key still in it. His heart jumped a little, if he had found it so soon he they could leave almost as quickly as they had gotten there. He picked up one of the glass decorations, which he noticed was sculpted into the shape of a tree, and set it down to the side of the chest. The next he grabbed wasn't as pleasant as the previous, this one crafted into the decapitated head of a person. With a slight shiver he set that one down next to the other one. He reached for the third, and just as soon as his fingers touched it he heard a shrill scream come from behind him.
Vinny's hand froze. There was only a moment of silence before he heard a low thud followed by the sound of many fast paced footsteps. He spun around without another moment of hesitation and ran back towards the stairs, sprinting up them two at a time. As he reached the top of the stairs he halted. Before him, in the shadow of the small light entering through the pane in the door at the end of the hall he saw a large figure, most likely that of Garon Ramos standing right in the middle, nearly touching both walls with his wide girth. At his feet lay another figure, unmoving. And in his hands he held two more, by the neck, one in each fist. They seemed limp, as they weren't struggling.
There was a brief pause before the large figure dropped both bodies and stepped over the other, moving towards Vinny. Quickly he ran into the kitchen on his left and looked around frantically for something to defend himself with. As his eyes scanned about he noticed the door.. still open; they had forgotten to close it. The warmth of the night blowing in on a slight breeze, welcoming him. He didn't even dare think about leaving.. not with his friends in danger. At his expense. Looking to his right he saw a knife lying on a bloody cutting board. Without a second thought he picked it up and turned around.. just in time come face-to-belly with Garon Ramos. Ramos lashed out and grabbed him by the face with a huge palm. Instinctively, he flailed at his attacker with the knife, catching his arm. A bit of blood landed on Vinny's hand. Looking down he saw his bloody hand, holding a stained knife. Shocked, all he could do was stare at the blood.. he had never hurt someone before. Ramos, howling in rage, took Vinny out of his trace, just a second before Ramos' giant fist connected with his skull, above his right eye. The blow took him off his feet and sent him sprawling backwards.
Scrambling to his feet he ran through the kitchen, into the living room trying to escape. As he crossed into the living room, due to the darkness, he wasn't able to see a small table placed beside a wooden chair. He ran into the table wide his side, causing him to fall on the hard floor, knocking the wind out of him. As he lay there regaining his breath, Ramos lumbered around the corner. Noticing him lying there on the floor he bent down and grabbed Vinny by the neck. Immediately, Vinny could feel his air passage being blocked by the tight squeezing grip Ramos had on him. As he began to struggle for air, Vinny tried hard to think of something to do, his mind becoming sluggish quickly as he was already having a hard time finding air after his fall. He felt his tense muscles beginning to loosen, and as his balled up hands started to open he remembered the knife he still held in his right hand. Somehow he had managed to keep ahold of it despite being knocked down twice. Without waiting another second he tightened his grip and jabbed foreward. He felt the knife penetrate deep into Ramos' stomach, which instantly caused his grip to loosen. Dropping to the ground, Vinny looked up to see Ramos' mouth wide open and his hands clutching his abdomen, blood freely flowing through his fingers and down his belly. His eyes held a look of shock as he stumbled backwards a step or two before his knees faltered and gave way, sending him crashing backwards onto the wooden floor of his own home. He breathed heavily for a moment, gasping for breath before going still.
Vinny sat there and stared for a moment. What had just happened? He could hardly believe it was real.. he had killed a man. The reality of it hit him hard, taking the breath from his lungs once again. He gasped a few times, trying to get it back, but it wouldn't come. He felt sick to his stomach.. this couldn't be real. He got on his hands and knees and leaned to the side, retching near the top of the table that now lay on it's side after he had run into it. He sat there on his hands and knees for a moment as his breath returned to him. Weakly standing up, shaking the whole way he walked to the right side of the living room, near the front door. He had to help his friends.
Walking over to where they were he found Donny and Lerik first. They were both breathing, which relieved him.. they had only just passed out from being choked. Moving to the right he went to where Stephy lay. Kneeling down he saw that she, too, was still breathing, at which he nearly smiled. In the light coming from the door he saw something glistening on the back of her head. Touching it with a finger he realized it was blood. His heart jumped again. He looked up at the wall, and saw blood there as well. Ramos must have threw her into it when Donny and Lerik came running down the strairs. Almost frantic now, he told himself to calm down.. he had to think, they needed to get out of there. With all the commotion someone was bound to have heard. What he needed to do was wake Lerik and Donny up so the three of them could get Stephy to a safe place.
He had barely stood up and walked over to where the brtohers lay, than the door had burst open, two of the village's Clergy Guards standing there, holding pikes and dressed in their desert combat garb.. consisting of black greaves and a tight black shirt. Vinny froze, knowing that there was nothing he could do. The two guys looked at Vinny first, then at the other three bodies lying on the ground. They surveyed the scene with emotionless faces, knowing the situation was already in their control, until one of them looked over into the living room and noticed the large figure lying sprawled on the ground, with a knife in it's stomach. His eyes widened as he nudged the guard next to him. "Hey.. over there"
The other guard followed his gaze to where the dead Garon Ramos lie. "Is that.."
The first guard nodded. "I think so.." Both guards returned their gaze to Vinny, their previously unemotional features now looked in a rage. Vinny stared back, not knowing how to explain what they, without a doubt, knew to be the dead body of the church's tax collector.. the one who, with few exceptions, was the local leader of these two men. Without saying a word, the guard who had originally spotted the dead body lifted his pike and thrust forward with the butt end, striking Vinny square between the eyes. The world fell into instant blackness.
***
One eye open. Whiteness. Pain. Burning. Blackness.
There was a door, there at the end of the dark hallway. He walked towards it, the hallway seeming to darken around him. When he reached the door he glanced behind him. Nothing. Emptiness. He returned to the door, now floating in the dark. His hand grasped the handle without his command. He knew what was behind it. His heart started to beat as he pushed down on the handle. The door cracked open releasing a blindingly painful white light, causing him to scream.
His scream jolted him out of his own sleep, forcing him to sit up straight, his heart still beating hard and his breaths coming frequently. As his his surroundings came in to focus around him, he slowly realized where he was. Calming his breathing, and in turn his heart rate, he took in the slate grey room that encompassed him. It was a cell. A cell for prisoners. He sat on a hard stone bench facing a large iron gate, with the bars close enough together that it was apparent his cell was meant for a child. The cell stank, as well. Aside from the bench the only other presence in the room was a small bowl-shaped depression in one of the back corners, from which old feces emitted a horrid smell. Aside from that all that accompanied him was enough sand to almost nearly cover the entire floor. That sand.. it never left him.
Turning his attention to himself he realized his head was throbbing in pain still. Looking down he realized he had several cuts and bruises scattered across his body. His nose was in bad shape also, not allowing air to properly flow in and out of it.. he reached a finger up to touch it, and in doing so he nearly passed out again from the pain that shot through his already hurting head. Closing his eyes again in an attempt to clear the pain he thought back to what had happened after he was struck in the head, though he couldn't remember a single bit of it. Opening his eyes again he reexamined himself. It was obvious he had been beaten, and recently; some of his wounds, though not too major, still ached and bled.
Testing his strength, he put some weight on his legs. They weren't too bad off and allowed him to stand up. Though he ached, he could move around and for that he was grateful. Though he was confined, moving around helped.. got his blood flowing. He tried again to think back, hoping to remember something.. anything.
BA-BOOM. A loud noise assaulted his ears from outside, breaking the silence so hard it made his ears ring. Drums? He turned his head and looked behind him. Up above where he was sitting on the bench was a small window, with two thick bars running down the middle of it. The drum's boom issued once again, causing his heart to jump with it. He had heard this before. Moving over to the bench he placed a foot on it and painfully boosted himself up, so he could see out of the window. Gripping the bars, he was barely tall enough and had to stand on his toes to see. He was below ground, that much became apparent immediately as he was eye level with the earth, which would explain all the sand in his cell. BA-BOOM. The drums sounded again. Again, his heart jumped. 3 drum bangs. If this is what he thought it was.. no. He didn't even want the thought in his head. Though it was inevitable, as soon as the echo from the drums faded a loud voice began to talk.
"Citizens! Followers! Nobles! Peasants!" There was a pause. "And our glorious Bishop." At the mention of "bishop" a large cheer erupted.
'No.. no..' he thought to himself, 'No.. please no.. this can't be happening.' He tried to look sideways out of the mirror, towards the direction of the voice, to confirm his fears, but couldn't see anything. 'No, please.. please..' "No." He said quietly.
"On behalf of our Bishop, with command from our Pope.." he continued. Vinny tried harder to see, to no avail. This couldn't be happening.. It couldn't. Why? It doesn't make any sense.
"..we are brought here today.."
'This is wrong.'
"..to witness, what his holiness deems necessary.."
'It's all wrong! We're just kids.. they don't deserve this.'
"..for the betterment of the Church. Today.."
'The betterment of the Church?'
"..has gifted us with the capture of the worst.."
'How is this better for the Church!?'
"..spawn of treachery that exists. Thieves.."
'Kids! We can't truely be considered Thieves!"
"..thieves which attempted a robbery on our very Church!!.."
'The Church wouldn't have lost anything! It's nothing to the Church! A few pennies..'
"..For this they are charged! And for the murder.." At the sound of the word "murder" a large collective gasp could be heard all the way to Vinny's cell, in which he still peered out the window at that which he could not see, but knew to be what he dredded.
'It was an accident..'
"..of one of our very own Church officials.. collector Garon Ramos.."
'It wasn't supposed to turn out this way..'
"..in light of the transgressions of these thieves.."
'We're not thieves..'
"..murderers.."
'No!'
"..criminals.."
'We're kids!!'
"..they are to be hereby.."
'Please no.'
"..executed." The crowd jeered again. Vinny's world went silent.
"No!!" Vinny shouted as loud as he could. It stopped nothing.
"Executioner." There was a pause. 'Forgive me..' "Release your blade."
"NOOOO!!!!" He shouted again. His voice was heard.. by Stephy. For the last time.
"VIIIINNNN-" The sound of the blade ending it's journey cut her cry short. Vinny, his muscles releasing on their own, let go of the bars on the window to which he had held so tight, and fell backwards. His head striking the hard stone below, his world plunged, once again, into darkness.

**Mankind's purpose, in this existence, is to reproduce. To grow. To survive. But it is in mankind's nature.. to destroy.**