Across the Border

Two pairs of eyes stared back at each other.

There was an awkward silence between them for a while, the kind that was difficult to break.

The chapel smelled of burnt wood, a faint but perceivable scent.

Noah and Valentine stood in the pale sunlight, as the calm wind brushed past them, coldly.

“Quite chilly today isn't it?” Noah looked up at the cloud-covered sky.

But Valentine kept staring into his eyes, trying to pierce him with his hollow gaze.

His face twisted.

“I'll kill you.”

Noah looked down.

“That's quite a harsh thing to say, Valentine.”

“Fuck you.”

“I can give you a spare pair if you’d like.”

Without saying a word, Valentine stretched out his hand.

A small smile grew on Noah’s face as his hand went behind his back and returned with a folded pair of pants.

“How the hell do you keep doing this…” Valentine muttered, to which the knight shrugged.

“Special artifacts, all knights get something to store equipment in. It tends to get quite heavy, you see.”

Valentine sneered. “Must be convenient.” He sat on a nearby bench.

“It is, I don't know what I would do without it.”

Valentine eyed the grey pants he was given before hesitantly putting them on, the slick material sliding over his skin.

As he was finished, he took a couple steps to test how it would feel on him.

It was great, fitting both the color of his coat and his slender build.

Better than he could have ever hoped for.

“They're fine, I guess.” He mumbled in his direction.

“I'm glad.”

Valentine looked up at Noah who was leaning on the door, already gazing into something outside.

He turned to the boy with his arms still crossed.

“Did you hear,” his tone brightened. “They're going to start construction here soon, on the outskirts.”

“What for?” Valentine shrugged.

“Houses, or so I've heard.”

He looked over his shoulder.

“Then let them build more places for people to live, who cares.”

“Right.”

Noah looked down.

There was something distant in his eyes, a flicker of emotion that Valentine could not discern even with his sharp senses. Perhaps today was not his greatest morning.

Valentine grabbed the book from a bench nearby, hugging it under his arm tight.

“Preceptory again?” He asked.

“Probably not.”

Noah held the door open for him, his scarlet eyes shining.

“Today we go out.”

‘what?’

The book almost dropped.

***

“How much longer do we have to wait for those two~”

“Quit nagging and wait, if you’re that bored then go alone.” Martin shrugged with a cigar in his hand.

For the author's published version, look to NovelPhoenix; this page presents a copy made without consent.

“Noisy much.”

Lilith let out a sigh as she looked out the gates, her eyes tracing the wide forest outside.

The buildings around were scarce, barely any for a shadow to cover them.

That was how it’s always been in the lower level, a desert would be a compliment.

Even as they stood there all dressed and well-fed, their vibrant shades could not mask the foul stench of rot and sweat that littered the place for years. The colors of muddy green and moldy blue could never truly be hidden under a cleat of rotten planks.

One thing that could separate this world of filth was the very exit from it, a twenty-meter tall wall made of bluff stone and a veil of bulky glass that glistened brightly at the edges, reflecting whatever was left of the sunlight in the place.

“I hate coming to this place.” She said, looking at the group. “How are yall holding up? Ready to gag?”

While her words might have sounded like an exaggeration, half the people’s faces were already turning pale, Carina, Livia and mostly Matthew’s as he held his stomach with an exaggerated posture.

“T-this trash! Don’t you dare talk to me like this!”

Lilith leaned on her palm, her expression already exhausted from it all.

She seemed to have stopped caring about honorifics as soon as it was confirmed that the people in front of her were truly the lowest of the low, at least in the aspect of Ignis and Pyra.

She couldn’t care less about them, but her assignment remains active.

“You want me to bash your face in?” She voiced her thoughts mid yawn, looking at Matthew with a glint of playfulness in her tone.

“No surprise that the ghost boy did it~ Must have felt real good.”

“What did you-!”

“Knock it off Matt.” Vesper held onto his shoulder, his gaze firm.

Matthew tried to move away but Vesper pulled him back, leaning into his ear.

“Stop trying to get yourself killed, they’re knights, someone in a league of their own.” He gestured for him to look at the ground, more particularly on a passed out drunk who still smelled like his own waste.

Matthew’s nose scrunched up at the smell alone.

Vesper leaned in closer, enough for his brown hair to fall over Matthew’s shoulder and spill.

“If you plan to get your guts smeared across the sidewalk, go ahead. But at least don’t drag us down with you.”

The youth could only swallow his words as he yanked his arm away and leaned back on a nearby building, his hand holding his mouth shut.

Lilith suddenly shot up, scaring everyone who wasn’t looking.

“Noah!” She called, voice overflowing with joy.

Before she could even wave her hand, her arm froze midair.

“Oh, and you too.” Her laughter died down, but not for long as she looked him up and down.

Same clothes, same books, but different set of pants.

The boy’s hair was ruffled at the edges and a pair of faint eyebags grew beneath his eyelids, perhaps he didn’t sleep well.

“What happened to you? You seem rough.” She said with a smirk, hopping over to Noah like a dog.

Even after all this, she acted the same way. Not a hint of remorse.

Valentine clenched his fists, saliva boiling at the corners of his mouth.

“YOU DAMN BI—” Thunk! A metal glove hit him square in the face as his body flopped on the ground, falling in the mud like a dead fish getting thrown over the shore.

Noah grimaced slightly, but hid it well enough that no one noticed, at least except her.

“He’s had a bit of an accident you see.” He sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

“Uhuh…” Nodding along, Lilith looked at the Oddballs already getting ready to go.

“Everyone’s here then, let’s go, no wasting time.” She led the way, and everyone followed. Especially Matthew.

“Guh-dammit!”

A creaky groan escaped Valentine as he stood up from the ground, holding his face like it was about to fall off.

Noah tried to help him but he did it without him, he didn’t need his help.

Valentine’s glare could be felt from miles away.

'Snake Bastard, I thought you were on my side.'

What else could he have expected from someone he’d barely known for a week? Friendship? Camaraderie? If he were looking for something like this, then he wouldn’t have stayed with this godforsaken handful of outcasts.

Valentine rubbed his eyes, washing away the lingering sting of metal from his brows and looked up at the gigantic wall in front of him.

'I take it this is the entrance? Or, one of them at least.'

While looking far enough into the distance, one could notice similar shapes appear along the endless wall of glass and stone. He could have expected it honestly, a couple lousy doors wouldn’t be enough for a place that looked like it could hold hundreds of thousands inside.

Hell, he might not even have explored half a percent of the Cradle, who knew what this place really was?

But right now, he had to focus on the exit.

The giant round gate carved into the wall that seemed to be over five meters tall. On each side was, surprisingly, smaller metal square boxes with people inside. Kind of like border patrol if he could have really thought about it.

There was nothing that was stopping people from entering the cradle, the exit was just a hollow hole in the wall that led into a wide path through a forest.

And the workers themselves were not many, just about four people in leather armour stitched into their uniforms, with two of them inside inside those scrawny scrap boxes.

'I wonder if this one’s similar to the Preceptory, is it going to mark me?'

Valentine came to a stop as Lillith spoke with one of the workers, talking about the purpose for leaving the cradle.

Surprisingly, there weren’t many people who wanted to leave. They were the only ones lining up for the exit.

The entrance side was empty as well, almost as if no one had wanted to come into this dirty wasteland full of broke and starved.

“Let’s go!” Lilith’s voice echoed, and everyone moved right behind.

As the shadow of the stone wall passed above their heads, Valentine watched the ground beneath his feet change. The mud became stone, the stone became dirt.

A single stride that didn’t feel out of the ordinary.

'Huh.'

Well that was anticlimactic.