The footsteps from around the corner echoed along the walls. They could tell the footsteps belonged to someone with great power. Phylo was the first to grab his broadsword.

  As the shadow of the person stopped in front of them, Phylo charged at him.

  The moment Phylo made contact with the mysterious person who was walking toward him, his blade collided with another blade.

  As the man came into view, Shane and Elena finally recognised him.

  “Hello, there, Phylo, it seems like your hospitality hasn’t changed.”

  “Well, Arthur, it seems like your reaction time has slowed down. You weren’t even able to unscabbard your katana all the way.”

  As Arthur looked at the bodies in the alley, he looked a little mortified.

  “Well, Phylo, it looks like you're busier than ever,” Arthur said, still looking at the mess in front of him. “I’ve heard that you've done this around the city. But why did you show yourself to them?”

  “Well, you should know why I saved them,” Phylo said as he began to scabbard his sword again.

  As Shane looked at the conversation in front of them, he wondered how these two knew each other.

  “How do you two know each other?”

  The person who asked the question wasn’t Shane, but it was Elena, as she walked in front of Shane.

  “Well, we tried to kill each other a couple of times, but we always ended in a stalemate,” Arthur said as he looked at Phylo.

  Phylo didn’t seem to be pleased by the question he was just asked. It seemed like he didn’t even know how answer the question.

  “We were also part of the peace treaty that was made under the former demon queen and angel king.”

  Shane looked confused that two generals had been sent to broker a peace treaty rather than the demon queen and angel king themselves.

  “Why were you two chosen to broker a peace treaty?”

  “Before the war ended, I was the 2nd general of the angel king, and Phylo was the 1st general of the demon queen.”

  When Phylo heard Arthur's response, he looked confused. He knew that Arthur was trying to keep something hidden from Shane and Elena.

  “Yeah, after that, we both retired from our armies, and we haven’t seen each other since that day 22 years ago.”

  When Shane heard both their responses, he seemed pleased. They knew each other well enough to keep themselves in check.

  “I know you still have a lot of questions about this, Shane and Elena, but we should really get out of here. Who knows when someone will walk down here?” Arthur said, looking back to make sure they were in the clear.

  The street leading to the alley no longer seemed crowded, most likely because people had to go to work or out of fear that the army would pass by again.

  “I have a place nearby where we would be safe, it's the place where I’ve been hiding out for a while.”

  As Phylo finished speaking, he began to walk toward the street. Before stepping out of the alley, he made sure that no one else was watching. When he believed they were entirely safe, he signalled to them all to follow him.

  “Just where are we heading?” Arthur asked as he walked beside Phylo.

  Shane and Elena were behind the two, with Elena holding Shane's hand to make sure that they didn’t get separated.

  “It’s a tavern that belongs to one of my former students. It’s the only safe place for me in this city. He is the only person I can trust in this city.” Phylo said, remaining vigilant to make sure no one recognised him.

  “So that's how you kept hidden all this time.”

  “Well, it is a safe place, so I been able to leave and go as I please. If I’m not there, I always make sure I’m on the move.”

  Since Shane and Elena were behind them, they couldn’t hear anything that Phylo and Arthur said.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Thank you for protecting me back there,” Elena said, looking at Shane.

  “Why, I didn’t do anything. Phylo was the one who stopped them all.”

  “That’s not true, you put yourself in front of me to make sure that I wouldn’t get hurt, and I know that you could have taken them all on.”

  “Who knows if I would have been able to defeat them. I know that if Phylo didn’t show up, I would have to kill them with my own blades, and I don’t know if I would even be able to kill them. I mean, even though they have demons, they still have a life, and we would be taking that away from them.”

  “Yeah, I get what you're saying. I’m just a couple of days ago we were going to school, and look at us now, we’re in a demon that we had no idea existed a month ago.”

  “Yeah, it is crazy when you say it out loud. I wonder what the other think since we didn’t go to school on Friday. I’m especially worried about Mona because she doesn’t know about any of this. I hope she believes that I didn’t just abandon her as our father did.”

  “Hey, don’t worry about that. You will see her again when we return home, and I know that she will be happy to see you. Our friends, on the other hand, might kill us for leaving without them.”

  “Yeah, well, I mean, 3 of them are supernatural beings. So they definitely have the power to kill us. I hope Mona is having fun with Alicia and her mom.”

  “You know she's strong, so she will be able to understand that you will come back.”

  “Yeah, she is tough, so she will be fine without me for a couple of days.”

  As Shane stopped talking, he began to remember Mona. She was the reason he was doing any of this. He only wanted her to be happy, so he knew that he had to get back home as fast as possible. They were the only family they had left, with their father disappearing and them never knowing who their mother was.

  After 10 minutes of walking, they finally reached the tavern where Phylo stayed. It was run-down and had very few customers, making it a perfect place to hide out. The tavern smelled like alcohol all over, and there were people passed out on the ground.

  Shane and Elena seemed worried about the dangerous environment, but they knew they would be safe as long as they stayed with Arthur and Phylo.

  “Well, this place does have character,” Arthur said as he looked around the bar in the tavern.

  “Well, sorry if it’s not fancy. You don’t have many choices when you're the number 1 criminal in the city.”

  As they walked towards the bartender, Phylo seemed to give a signal. The moment Phylo gave the signal, the bartender turned two knobs under the bar.

  As he did, the floor beneath him began to open. Under the floor was a hidden room that no one seems to know about except Phylo and the bartender.

  The underground room seemed makeshift, with cracks spiderwebbing the walls. The room held only a mattress and a board with names scrawled across it. Some of the names were crossed out.

  “Well, this place really suits you, Phylo,” Arthur said as he entered the room.

  “Can’t you stop with that taunting tone?”

  “Alright, didn’t mean to get under your skin.”

  After they stopped talking, they all entered the room. Before they could speak about their next move, Phylo picked up a couple of drinks from the bar and closed the trapdoor that led to his room. As the trapdoor closed, the lamps around the room lit up. The lamps weren’t like the modern lamps Shane and Elena were used to; they were like old medieval lanterns with flames in the middle.

  “So, what's our next move, Arthur?” Phylo asked as he passed out water to Shane and Elena and a drink to Arthur.

  “Well, first we need more allies. We might be strong, but we need more people if we're taking on an entire army.”

  “I have some people in mind. But who knows if they’ll agree peacefully. I did kill some of their men, so they are not too fond of me.”

  “Well, I’ll go with you to convince them to join us. I’m pretty sure we can persuade them one way or another.”

  “What about us?” Elena asked, looking at Arthur and Phylo.

  “Yeah, it seems like we have nothing to do,” Shane said as he looked at Arthur and Phylo, confused that they didn’t give them anything to do.

  “Well, we need you two to stay hidden for now. If they knew that we had someone with as much power as you, they would be on guard even more than they are now,” Arthur said as he looked at Shane.

  “What are these names on this board, Phylo?” Elena asked, pointing at the board beside them.

  “These are names of the general's strongest men. I’ve been taking them out to weaken the general’s army.”

  “Well, it seems like you taken care of a decent amount of men,” Arthur said, looking at the number of names crossed out.

  “Well, I have been very busy over this year.”

  “Alright, so while you two get more allies, what are we going to do?” Shane asked, looking back at Phylo.

  “Well, you two rest for now, we will give a signal when it's time to strike,” Phylo said as he went to cross out more names on his board.

  “How will we know the signal?” Elena asked as she fixed her glasses.

  “Trust me, you’ll know,” Phylo said as he smiled at what he was plotting.

  After 10 minutes of planning, Shane and Elena left the tavern first. They decide to walk around Eilos for a while before heading back to their inn.

  Arthur and Phylo decided to go to the tavern's roof so no one would see them.

  Before they headed to convince the men they needed, Phylo had a question he had to ask Arthur.

  “So, why are you lying to Shane?” Phylo asked, suddenly grabbing Arthur.

  “I don’t know what you're talking about. What could I be lying about?”

  “Cut the crap. I know he doesn’t know the truth about his family. So, why are you lying to him?” Phylo asked, looking Arthur in the eye to make sure he told him the truth.

  “His father told me not to tell him until he found out for himself, and we both know he will find out everything in just a couple of days. Even if he doesn’t, I've decided I will tell him when we get home.”

  As Phylo looked at the city, he said, “Alright, but tell me one thing."

  “What is it?”

  “Is he the child of…”