Ty couldn't believe his eyes.

Yet the endless screams in the distance, the heat on his cheeks was more than enough of a proof for what he was seeing before him. There was fire everywhere: buildings, barracks, stalls. Nothing was spared from the flames burning deep red and amber, almost livid purple the longer he stared.

The air smelled of pungent heated soldering irons and heady smoked wood. He briefly wondered how he had missed this from inside the prison cell. How in the world had he slept through all of this?

'W-what is happening—'

'Move.' Byron shoved from behind and Ty tripped in haste, his bounded hands doing little to cushion the fall.

'We don't have time for this, Byron!' The redhead barked up ahead. Byron only grumbled in response before pulling Ty back onto his feet, not caring that the rough treatment chafed his hands and knees. Ty hissed through gritted teeth at the pain, but already the man was dragging him along like a one did a fettered prisoner.

The lower district wasn't the only one in chaos it seemed. Everywhere he looked, left and right, both citizens and traders in the middle district were packing and fleeing from their homes or taverns. There were sentries around trying to control the disarray, but no one seemed to give a crap. Each time someone of security halted a man down, they were brushed aside or straight-up ignored. Regardless, Ty noticed that his captors took precautions in distancing themselves from every guard that came into view. Byron would tighten his grip on Ty's shoulder. Even the redhead guy would turn around to check on him every now and again. It was clear these people were not part of the city militia.

They had arrived at a well-lit clearing with a fountain in the middle – likely the district centre, judging by the stores and stalls that were shut down or cleared out – when the earth shook, throwing many people, including Ty himself, onto the ground. Several squeals of terror followed and the calm came right before something large and spiky burst from the fountain. Like a mallet, it started swinging at the people nearest around it. One man was stabbed in the leg by the spikes protruding at the end of the tentacle.

'Move!' Redhead shouted. Ty scrambled to his feet, anxious and terrified.

The three of them turned down onto the street next to the district centre. More people were bursting out of their homes, filtering into the crowd until he was squashed amongst the group and could only catch the sight of a woman's backside before him. The redhead guy shuffled in and out of view, and Byron's hold on him slackened with the push and pull of the crowd. It was a few seconds afterward that Ty realised the grip on his shoulder was the residing remnants of phantom pressure. Byron was gone.

Someone clutched onto his sleeve. Suddenly he was dragged through the crowd, plucked out of the street only to be chucked into a narrower, emptier strip adjoining to the street they were on before. The perpetrator was determined despite his thrashing, latching on even when Ty was certain he had elbowed the guy in the face.

'Oof —! For God's sake, stop it's me!'

Ty was in mid-throw of a punch when the muffled voice was registered. He stopped and recognised the hazel green eyes glaring at him from beneath a large leather hood.

'Tobias!' He gasped, relieved.

'Yes, me. The person whose eyes you were trying to scratch off for saving your sorry arse.' Tobias pulled down his neck gaiter but kept his hood on as he peeked around the corner. His clothes were different from the usual attire of tunic, pants and apron. Instead, underneath the hooded jacket was an outfit of a dark vested linen collared shirt and cotton breeches. In his right hand was a copper baton.

The screamings got were getting louder. Another large crash sounded not too far away and people rushed faster down the street.

'What the hell is happening? What was that thing?' But once again, Ty's questions were ignored. Tobias grabbed his arm and cut through his bindings. Then, he was tugged further down the strip and farther away from the commotion outside.

'You have to get changed now. We're on a time crunch. I'll explain everything on the way.'

The look on Tobias' face had him swallowing down his frustrations like a pill. He expected answers soon, but for now, it seemed best to follow the boy's decision. They hastened down the alleyway. As if in response to his decision, a screeching roar sounded in the distance.

***

Every district had a burial ground. There were at least two in the lower district, one up north and the other down south. That was where you would be buried whence you die, regardless of where or how you kicked the bucket.

Ty had only ever been to the cemetery on the southside twice. The first time was to scavenge for food. People tended to leave offerings for their deceased love ones; fruits, bread, even meat. This was before Alexi had taken him in. The second time was when old man Benson passed. A beloved baker of the district that died of a heart attack on the streets. He had been thrown out of his home due to bankruptcy, twice fined by the city guards for an absurd amount all because he was drinking on the streets the day after his wife passed. Almost everyone had shown up at the funeral to pay their respects.

At the time Ty had been too young to understand the eulogies, but he remembered turning his attention to the stone statues of Titans – the first wielders of God's power – that was weathering away in the middle of the yard. There were five: Erudite, Vereor and Animus – knowledge, fear and will – and Anima and Obitus; life and death, the two that looked over the spirit and the underworld. He had wondered which world Benson and his wife would head to when Captain Falk and his lackeys crashed the funeral, demanding people to head back to work before they were penalised for loitering. That was the first time he understood the corruption they were forced to live with. He was only nine then.

For the briefest moment, Ty wanted a better life outside of the mistreatment. It wasn't that hard to imagine. The churchyard they were currently in was a cut above the cemetery he had seen, gilded with flowers and carefully trimmed shrubberies in between graves. The church itself was beautifully designed, with long coloured windows that decorated the walls. The Titan statues – also in the centre of the yard – polished marble instead of stone.

They weren't too far off from the district centre, yet not a soul was in sight. In the time of getting there, Ty learned of the city's ailing demise. Somehow, sometime around the nineth bell, the grounds on Main Street caved in and a gateway opened up. It had led to demons storming the lower district. The fire spreading across the city was only one amongst the plethora of problems the militia was facing.

'And the summoners?' Ty asked. His mind flickered to the two men that had broken him out of prison and couldn't help but wonder if they were the summoners. They certainly weren't with the militia despite the uniforms they donned. If so, what did they wanted him for?

Tobias grimaced, shrugging before tossing over a rucksack that had him staggering back; the weight of the bag an unexpected surprise. A hasty glance inside revealed packed food, water, some knives and clothes.

'No sign of any when the demons showed, MIA as far as the militia are concerned,' he scoffed. 'As if demons can magically appear on their own in Gilleran.'

Ty nodded in tandem to Tobias' thoughts. It was common knowledge that demons and summoners come hand in hand, right there next to 'each year consisted of four seasons' and 'drinking bleach will kill you'. He couldn't understand the militia's sole focus on the demons and wondered if Captain Falk had anything to do with the lack of teams rooting out the problem. Surely a captain wouldn't let his hatred for the lower district stand in the way of keeping the safety of the city.

Either way it was out of Ty's hands. His main focus was to get dressed and get going. Quickly, he shuffled into clothes that were akin in style to what Tobias had on, eager to get out of the disgusting red and yellow shirt and pants for trader's week. The outfit came with a snooty ascot tie he was more than willing to chuck away, and a dark peaked hood jacket that had practically stole his breath. The material was a beautiful walnut brown leather, hardy and unblemished, lined with sheep wool that would certainly keep him warm through cold and unforgiving nights.

'This must have costed a small fortune,' Ty whispered, his hand ghosting over the leather. Tobias' jacket was of something similar. He wondered how Alexi had managed to get his hands on them.

Silence pressed down on him. Ty glanced up to see a hard look over Tobias' face.

'Yeah. Turns out Alexi had been keeping some things from us for quite awhile.' His rough voice bit into the dark night and Ty found himself drawing a look at the boy's use of their adoptive father's name.

'What do you mean?'

Tobias rubbed his face, a sign that was accustomed to frustration, and clenched his fist where they swung at his sides.

'Have you ever wondered why he picked us?'

Ty shook his head hesitantly, though in actual fact, he did. The thought would come and haunt him each time he came upon a kid that sat by the streets begging for food or coins. He'd always assumed he was one of the lucky ones.

'Same age, both survivors from the war. We weren't adopted because he suddenly felt like he wanted kids. He picked us out from the bunch of survivors for a reason.' Tobias spat, his expression stormy as he turned to him, thrusting a navy-coloured neck gaiter into his hands. Ty felt his brow wrinkled in confusion as his eyes traced over the item in his hands.

'Look at our clothes, Ty! Think about the fact that he had prepared something for us to just up and go with,' Tobias snapped, shaking the bag as he did so. 'You didn't see him, didn't hear what he said. When he woke me up, he was rushing around the house, muttering all sorts of wild things and giving me instructions. How to navigate, to– to leave the city safely if the gate entrances were closed!' He shook his head in anger. 'He never told me why or what he was doing, just forced me out the door and yelled for me to get you after nightfall. I picked up what's happening about the city through word of mouth, and well– seeing the demons myself.'

By this time, Ty's mind was swimming with uncertainties. With the way Tobias was going at, he was having trouble processing all of the information thrown at him.

'What had confused me at first was seeing the demons storming every single household in the lower district. They didn't even bother for the middle or higher district until almost all of the lower district was overran. It didn't make sense because they would have just gone for the other districts if they wanted to take over the council.' He paused for a second as if to let that sink in. 'Unless the demons' appearances had something to do with how Alexi acted.'

The two men from the jail block came to mind.

'Are you saying...' Ty started lowly, only to be cut off by Tobias' final, more definite conclusion.

'The summoners are probably here for us.' 

There was a moment of pause as a look of expectancy fell upon him.

Ty ruffled his hair. He wanted to scoff in disbelief. No, he wanted to consider it. He wanted to look at it from the boy's point of view. The men in crimson that showed up certainly proved a point in the theory. But... there was a small part of Ty reminding himself of the family he once had, the family of a poor farmhand and a merchant's daughter. Unlike Tobias, who was clearly eccentric since the young age of eight, Ty was normal. Boring. Dull. Hell, he could barely do well selling their wares on a good day. Alexi wouldn't disagree if he were here.

If anything, it was more likely that those two men – and whoever Volkens was – had him confused with Tobias. After all, side from the fact that they were of the same age coming into the city under similar circumstances, physically they could be brothers.

Ty turned his head. Had he heard a branch crack?

He heard it again. Louder this time. He wasn't the only one. Together, the two of them slowly turned and stared into the darkness. More movement, shuffling between the shrubs, so close they could hear the footsteps on the ground. A person... or a creature?

It happened so fast, he couldn't react in time. One second they spotted the outline of a barrel coming out from behind one of the bushes, the next Ty turned and saw Tobias getting hit in the chest, shouting as he was thrown backward from the force of it all. Blood scattered the air like dust, followed by the delayed registration of a gunshot.

He remembered the buzzing in his ears, the smell of sulphur and burnt charcoal that hindered his breathing, the dizziness and shock.

But as soon as it happened, it disappeared just like that.

With a blink of his eyes, Ty was back to staring at Tobias standing before him, a look of fury upon the boy's expression.

'Look at our clothes, Ty! Think about the fact that he had prepared something for us to just up and go with,' Tobias snapped, shaking the bag as he did so, just like he had done a minute ago... as if nothing had happened, as if Ty hadn't just witnessed him getting shot.

What. The. Effing. Hell?