The history of The Three Worlds was embedded in every being upon birth. It was like the very spell whispered to a womb that gave life to the child inside. Seungcheol rubbed his aching temples as he wondered why he was forced to listen to it again. It wasn't as if he hated it, he knew every word by heart, but he thought that now was hardly the time for a history lesson. He looked at the Bard, old and wizened like the rest of the Council of Elders,through his fingers. He felt a warm hand on his left shoulder, he looked at the man to whom it belongs, the only young face in the room aside from him, Jihoon. "Fix yourself. You look like a kid about to throw a tantrum" he said to the Overseer.

"You're the one who looks like a kid" Seungcheol snapped back but composed himself nonetheless when Jihoon glared at him. Jihoon, being his Second In Command sat at his left, a place that was meant for Jeonghan. A horrible image of bloody wings and ripped skin crossed Seungcheol's mind at the thought of his name. He had been having nightmares about torn wings and broken hearts ever since he heard about what Jeonghan did. He glanced at Jihoon once more feeling an odd sense of peace. He had known him way before he knew Jeonghan and no one could calm him down better than him. Where Jeonghan was the rush of the waves to the shore, Jihoon was the calm of it as it retreats back to the sea. 

"Forgive me Grand Elder but I thought this was supposed to be an emergency meeting?" Seungcheol whispered to the old man sitting at his right, the Overseer he succeeded. 

"This is a part of every new Overseer's first meeting with the Council. I know you are troubled but the Law must be followed" The old man replied, every word spoken with great effort.

Lex ab aeterno esto perpetua. The law ever be permanent. Seungcheol thought.

"Stories yet to be told, Truth yet to unfold" the Bard sang with a final tone. Seungcheol knew that the last line pertains to him, stories yet to be told, truth yet to unfold. It sounded like a start of an amazing adventure but recent events made him feel otherwise. The Bard went down from his pedestal and the Council of the Elders rose from their seats, as well as the Overseer.

"The meeting will now begin" the Grand Elder announced and everyone sat down except for Seungcheol.

He took a deep breath before stating the matter about Jeonghan. He expected everyone to be alerted when he was done, but the room was silent. One of the Council members stood and said "So, you mean to say that this is all about a renegade Son of Sirius?" he looked as if he was about to mock the Overseer but his face showed concern — like how a father would look at a child who scratched his knee but acted like he was about to die. "We always have a case of Andromedans leaving us to live in the shadows of The Void, how is he different from the others?"

"He wasn't just a renegade. I believe he's about to start a war" Seungcheol realized Jihoon was right. He did want to throw a tantrum. 

"Do you have proof, sir? As far as we know everything is still the way as it should be." the council member asked. 

"I only have my instincts telling me what needs to be done, and that is to prepare ourselves for what is about to come. I know Jeonghan, he will not endure a great deal of pain for nothing." Seungcheol said. His hands were balled into fists.

The room was filled with murmurs as the council members discussed the matter by themselves. Some whispered agreement to their fellow council member, others shared their own dread with the Overseer.

After much consideration, the Council of Elders decided that this was only a minor disturbance and only resolved to send more Watchers to keep ward and observe.

Seungcheol was not pleased but he thought, Lex ab aeterno esto perpetua.

--

"Natus ex cineribus, et iterum in cineres," three boys chant in unison as they scraped a portion of their food to the blazing fire in front of them. The sky was already blanketed with clusters of stars when they finally had something to eat.

"I never understand the purpose of this I mean," one of the boys started, pausing to swallow his food, "why do we still have to make an offering when we barely eat anything?"

"Soonyoung!" Seungkwan said in a warning tone. He may not be a religious person, for even religion is a luxury they can't afford, but he certainly knew that there's a divine force who created and presided them all. He stared at the eldest of the three of them. Soonyoung, who took care of them when they all escaped from the orphanage, who protected them and loved them as if he was their real oldest brother. Surely he was sent by the divine force, a blessing to their otherwise miserable lives. 

They all continued to eat in silence. Soonyoung chose to ignore Seungkwan rather than make matters worse. He knew how much the younger would stand for his beliefs and he doesn't want to start an argument now. He already had a rough day and he knew that the other two had as well. He also does not want Seungkwan to start questioning him about the food. 

"This is really good! I haven't tasted anything like this" Chan remarked between mouthfuls. Their meal was perhaps below average for normal Gaians, but it was already a feast for the unfortunates. Soonyoung somehow managed to bring home a whole chicken and some fresh vegetables which they roasted over the fire. "Where did you manage to get this?" the youngest one asked him over a chicken leg.

"Yeah ... " Seungkwan said, eyes squinting at Soonyoung, "where did you get this?"

Soonyoung gulped loudly before saying "uhm, from the market?"

Seungkwan did not reply, he just continued to stare at his older brother, waiting for him to expound his answer. Even Chan, Soonyoung noticed, stopped munching a piece of carrot and looked up at him expectantly.

"how did you pay for it?" 

"You know just the usual bits of labor" 

"Soonyoung!" Seungkwan demanded. "Did you steal these?" he looked at him with wide disbelieving eyes. He caught Soonyoung stealing once and begged him to not do it again. He'd rather starve than do evil things he said.

"They did not belong to anybody! Someone left it on a basket, I waited for hours for anyone to get it but there was no one so I took it. That's not stealing!" 

"It's still not yours, you should've handed it to someone" Seungkwan put his food down and glared at Chan who was about to take another bite of the chicken. 

"What's your problem? If I haven't done that all of us will be starving. Would you rather I do something 'good' or I do something for us to survive? If you haven't realized it yet we are called Unfortunates and we don't have a choice between good and bad we can only choose to live or die so stop your nonsense" Soonyoung did not know why he yelled at his brother. Maybe it was exhaustion, maybe it was the tinge of guilt he felt, or maybe he just had enough of being thrown out of places, denied of food, shelter and love that a young boy needs. He's not even an adult yet, but he took the responsibility of taking care of them without a second thought. It pained him to watch Seungkwan ran away from them.

--

The night air was cold against Seungkwan's skin but he didn't mind. He ran as fast as he could towards the lake. His chest ached both from running and trying to fight back his tears. As much as he hated arguing with any of his brothers, he hated seeing them do bad things because he knew where that would lead them. 

He finally let his tears flow as he settled himself on a huge rock beside the lake. He's the kind of person who would put up a fight with anyone but can never handle a fight with those whom he loved. The pain for him was a hundred times worse. Unbearable.

After a few tearful seconds, Seungkwan decided that that was enough crying. He's no longer a child and if Soonyoung can't be a good influence to Chan, maybe he could be one. He took a deep breath and did the thing that always calmed him down — singing. The night air was filled with a beautiful melody and as if on cue, the fireflies started to come out of their hiding places and illuminated the trees around him. He was so deep in his own emotions that he did not notice the water of the lake start to ripple, and a figure came out of the waters.

Seungkwan can't believe his eyes when he saw it. The body of a young man was rising out of the lake, water droplets rolling down his glowing body like a thousand falling stars. His majestic wings opened at his sides and folded back again. His glow dimmed a little, except for the burning mark on his forehead, which lit up his face that transformed from confusion to recognition within a split second.

"Ahh, Seungkwan, we meet again." said he, and his voice was heavenly.

---------------------------------------------------------------------A/N-------------------------------------------------------------------

And so here I am again, updating after a loooooong time. I hope you guys would like it. Thank you so much ♥