Rhodeia College stands tall amid brisk winds. Across the sprawling landscape, the trees rustled with the fresh air, welcoming the arrival of winter. Clouds filled the skies like a sea of cotton with not a ray of sunlight to be seen.
Atop one of the many towering buildings in the first-year campus, a woman stood with her arms crossed. Her cloak fluttered heavily in the wind as she looked down.
"Where there is peace, strife will inevitably follow," she said.
Below, the first-year students of Rhodeia had just finished up their first class of the day. Like ants, they scurried out and filled the campus, though some weren't prepared for the chilly weather.
Some were eagerly making their way to the commons for lunch. Some were setting out to the city to make full use of their hour-long break. Some lounged in the grass and on benches while others were trailing the stone paths, chatting, laughing, or even arguing.
"But, we'd be remiss to disregard times like these," she scoffed. "Sure, strife will follow sooner or later, but at the very least... shouldn't we enjoy the peace while it lasts? Mephisto?"
From behind her, a mass of pitch black formed, and from its seemingly endless depth came a tall man in a suit. His long, brown hair swayed the moment he stepped out.
"Such a concept is native only to humans," he said with that casual yet deep voice. "What your kind calls peace is what we call the calm before the storm. What that storm entails, we can only find out once it happens."
"Hah. Is that so? But Vellum seemed quite peaceful during my five-year stay."
"It was just a façade. You know that just as well as I, Celine. One day... This era will come to an end, and we will be the herald."
Celine's eyes softened as her mind trailed elsewhere.
"Speaking of Lord Arkus... How is he?"
"Holding on."
"By a thread, you mean."
For a moment, Mephisto didn't answer.
"...It's none of your concern, Celine."
"My ass, it isn't," she growled, stepping over to meet him toe-to-toe. "Day by day, the Ego of Strife is consuming his mind, calling out to him to obey its will. You're right. He's holding on, but his strength will eventually slip, and when that time comes... strife will befall this land as it did five years ago. And as the Malevolence, the apostles of Strife... you guys will fall with him."
Mephisto's eyes narrowed.
"How did you learn such a thing?"
"Didn't you know by now? I'm a rather tenacious woman when it comes to the things I want."
Her brows furrowed, but not out of anger or resentment. Instead, it displayed nothing short of genuine worry.
"Mephisto... Can nothing truly be done?"
"Why should you care? We are demons, Celine. The enemy of your kind. Lord Arkus himself beheaded your father and stole your future from you, and yet... you've chosen to extend your compassion to us. Why?"
"Because on top of everything else, you guys are the reason my brother is still alive. Sure, I lost my father. I lost everything, but right now — somewhere down there... Caelus is smiling. That's all I care about. More than you, more than anything. But... that doesn't mean I'll disregard the people who made it possible."
"Hah. People..." he scoffed. "What a simplistic yet utterly disingenuous way to describe us."
"If not that, then what? Demons? Monsters? I don't give a shit about that, Mephisto. I've taken a couple of human lives myself over the last five years, and I know Caelus has too. In that case, aren't we monsters too?"
Mephisto shut his eyes in ponder. Never did he believe that a human would care for him like this, yet standing before him was a prime example of such. He couldn't tell whether she was dumb or arrogant, but one thing was for sure — her feelings were authentic, and it seemed like nothing could change that.
How strange it was to be on the receiving end of pity, but Mephisto neither disliked nor refused it. Instead, he simply let out a small chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Celine grumbled.
"You, that's what," he scoffed, stepping over to meet her at the edge of the rooftop. "There are many things you don't know, Celine. Even more so, what you think you understand, when in reality, it's the opposite. One day, Lord Arkus will slip through the cracks of Strife — and you're right. Whatever lies at the end of that path, we will follow him without question. If our fate is to fall, then so be it."
"...What if I don't want that?"
"Then allow me to lend you a word of advice, kid. The absolute laws of this world, as we've come to know them, should not be defied, and fate is one of them. Struggle all you want, try as you might to stop it, but you will find that it was all pointless in the end. Trust me. We would know."
However, Celine was unconvinced. There had to be something she could do, and if she searched hard enough, she could maybe find it. But with each passing day, the line wears thinner. It was only a matter of time before she lost her family again. Or at least, what she now calls her family.
Sensing her unwillingness to let this go, Mephisto chuckled again and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm hungry," he said. "Let's go."
"...Huh?"
"You said it yourself, didn't you? We'd be remiss if we disregarded times like these. If my fate is to fall, then I'll at least go down with a full stomach. Come. I've been here long enough to know where all the best spots are."
As he walked toward a spiraling portal, Celine stared at his back. Despite his fate being sealed in stone, he was able to maintain that nonchalant sense of humor.
"How?" she thought to herself, but nothing came to mind.
"Hey!" Mephisto called from up ahead. "You coming or what? At this rate, I'll starve to death before fate gets to me."
Broken free from her train of thought, Celine stared at him before letting out a slight chuckle of her own.
"You're so stupid it actually hurts me," she sighed.
"Ah, you don't mean that," he scoffed. "Remember the last time you told Noir the same thing? That big guy acted like he didn't care, but he was secretly sulking in his bedroom for a couple of days straight."
"That... doesn't sound like something he'd do."
"It was that time he annoyed you by making an off-the-cuff joke about your father. The whole dining table went silent. Xaede's jaws dropped to the floor."
"Hmm... Oh! Yeah, I remember. It was deserved, to be honest."
"It was kinda funny, though."
"Not at the time, it wasn't."
As they walked through the portal together, it shut behind them, leaving not a single trace that they were ever there.
Upon their departure, a gust of chilly wind swept through the college, carrying a small leaf across the busy campus courtyard. It flowed and fluttered, spun and zagged, until it descended gracefully onto the head of a snoozing cat.
Resting with his back against the grass beneath a tall oak tree, Caelus hovered his hand over Alune, who was asleep on his chest. Gently, he plucked the leaf off her fur, lifted it above his face, and spun it around by the stem.
"Already a full month, huh?" he mumbled. "Not bad. I thought I would've lost my patience by now. It's a relief to see that I was wrong."
Suddenly, someone plopped down to his left with an exaggerated, "Ahh~ I'm beat."
"Oh. Hello, Kain," Caelus greeted with his usual nonchalance. "How are you?"
"Dead inside. I don't know why I thought taking Introduction to Military Tactics was a good idea. It comes right after my class with Professor Lynn, which already leaves me out of breath because of how intense she is. Having to sit down and listen to an old man go on and on about how the empire's army won this battle or that battle — I nearly lost my damn mind."
"And whose fault is that?" asked a young lady as she sat on the other side of Caelus.
"Oh. Hello, Rosalina," Caelus greeted with the same cadence. "How are you?"
"Fine, thanks. Anyway, don't bother yourself with Kain's pointless drivel."
"Eh?!" he exclaimed. "What are you on about?!"
"I should be asking you that question, you imbecile! Why are you complaining about a class you chose to take? And worse, you're subjecting poor Caelus to absolute torment."
"Torment?! Say that isn't so, Caelus!"
They both twisted their heads at the same time to look at him. He looked at Kain's pleading eyes and Rosalina's borderline murderous eyes. One was begging him to take his side, and the other was threatening him to take her side.
"...No comment," he finally said.
"What he meant was that he does think it is tormenting, by the way," Rosalina coughed.
"No, he didn't!" Kain refuted. "Quit putting words in his mouth, you witch!"
"...Witch?"
And just like that, the inevitable back and forth continued, and Caelus had a front row ticket. Not that he wanted it.
Episode 2: Where Tales Unfold and Blades Cross