Silence of Lies

Sometimes in the country of Biral, if you were lucky enough, you could catch the sky on a night where it was clear and the stars were in the sky, shining so brightly, that nothing could overcome them. Captivated by beauty, one could forget all of the troubles that existed within the world of Za’al.
Rare it was in other polluted countries such as Oslo or Gornia. But Biral was home to the gypsies, and artists. There was little room for technology, war, and the arcane study of magic, aside from the occasional rail road and the traveler, who was widely welcomed in Biral.

Biral was…definitely something more gorgeous than anything Dustin had ever seen from the world of warfare and despair. Looking at the rolling hills that passed by out the window of the train, Dustin leaned on his hands against the sill, coursing his thoughts as he looked at the stars. True, he had traveled far, but nothing like the peace of tonight could compare. “Although, I can’t help, but think I’m being watched,” the black haired man turned beside him, noticing a presence, yet no one was there, aside from the other four passengers that accompanied him.

On the train, there were only four other people. There was a woman, maybe around his age, maybe even younger. She wore a blue cloak, and her face was unseen. She could almost fake out anyone for being a man, but Dustin knew otherwise. She seemed uninterested by everything around her, except for the window, similar to Dustin. There was a man and a young girl, most likely father and daughter, the girl with hair of yellow and the man with hair of red. The girl seemed to on focus a puppet, while the man seemed interested in what she was doing. Lastly, was a man of yellow hair, who seemed preoccupied with a tome. “Interesting, so, where are you?” Dustin mumbled, turning back to the window, showing little interest to those who surrounded him. Perhaps he was just imagining things, none of these seemed like the people he tried so hard to avoid. Instead of remaining on thought, he returned to his thoughts, showing little interest to the half-empty train car.

The railroad sped by the countryside, an occasion bump here and there. The sky got lighter over the time, indicating that dawn was probably just beyond the horizon. It was hard to imagine that the night had moved so quickly, but perhaps it did, Dustin had little concept of time when it really came down to it.

“Sir, I would like to see your passport,” someone finally interrupted Dustin’s thoughts as he turned to face an albino man with short hair and purple eyes. “Oh, right, my passport,” Dustin was getting ready to remove the small ticket from his black trench coat pocket before realizing something unusual..a patch on the man's outfit with a certain emblem, it was almost hidden by his the sleeve of his coat, however. How curious. “What passport? I wasn't aware there was one,” he said, shoving the ticket further into his trench coat pocket.

“Then, you’ll have to come with me,” the man ushered Dustin from the seat, but he just nodded and remained still, “Nah, I’ll sit, thanks,” he replied with a smirk, “What are you going to do, throw me off?” The man hesitated, looking at Dustin before seizing Dustin's arm. Dustin didn't moved and just smiled as sharp fangs appeared, “…Templar?”

At that, everyone else in the car seemed to look up with a sense of tenseness, but Dustin showed no interest to them, just the Templar, “Demonkin..,” the Templar mumbled, “I knew I smelled scum.” Dustin put his gloved hand on the Templar's who still tried to seize Dustin's arm, “I've always wanted to hold hands with your kind, you know!”

Suddenly, the Templar broke from Dustin's grip, and raised his hand, revealing a small pistol with a curve, spikes at the bottom. Before slicing Dustin's hand with the spikes at the bottom, the demon recoiled closer to the window, “Well, well, an Ultima, you attacked me first,” the demon replied, pulling out a small pocket knife. The Templar laughed, a mocking one, “and just what do you planned to do with that?”

Dustin swung the knife around, as it turned into a sharp, pole arm with a skull at the end, “This.” It suddenly caught ablaze, a raging inferno that Dustin held with ease. He swung the pole arm around, the Templar ducked, rolling on the ground shooting the Ultima. Fast pace action had the Templar miss every shot, not that they would to have done much anyway. Dustin stabbed the spear towards the ground of the train, catching the holy white cloak that belonged to the Templar, “you do realize how cliché train fights are, right?” Dustin said to the Templar. The Templar ripped his coat from Dustin's spear before rolling back and holding the gun straight to his face. Dammit, that probably wasn't good---

“Oops,” the cloaked woman said before the Templar fell to the ground, the Ultima rolling to Dustin's feet. The man with hair of yellow picked it up, and began examining it, “definitely an emblem of their Paladin group. Hm, seems the oracle was right once again.” Dustin was unsure what had just unraveled in front of his eyes, for one, the cloaked woman had saved his ass with a wimpy hidden blade under her cloak. “Good, I'm tired of looking innocent,” the little girl said suddenly, standing up with the man following her close behind.

“Right, we need to do as instructed--,” the man of yellow hair turned to face Dustin, “...and just who the hell are you? You are a Templar, certainly,” he said inspecting Dustin, “..you're a demon. Yet you show yourself to the surface?”

“I'm only partly demon,” he replied, the fire on the pole arm still burning brightly, “you saved me, thanks. I'm Dustin, by the way.”

“I'm Cyril,” the woman with the cloak said suddenly, “you're welcome, kiddo.” Kiddo? She was probably younger than he was...”What are you doing?” The yellow haired man turned to face the little girl who was tying a sort of ethereal thread around the door, “blocking them out, what else? For a tactician, you can be such a blockhead.”

“You little bra--”, he suddenly stopped as the man with hair of red over towered him, “damned brat,” he mumbled lowly for the man to not hear, “Demonkin, what's your beef with the Templars?” Dustin pointed to himself, “me? None. Just got to the surface a few weeks ago, and they were all over me.”

“They don't take kindly to strangers,” the little girl said as she stepped back from the door, it seemed...stitched together? “Done,” she said marveling at her handiwork, “what now, oh mighty tactician?”

“What else? We look for the machine and destroy it,” he said before walking off to the other end of the car. Cyril pointed to Dustin, “okay, what about him?”

“What about him? He can fend for himself, he's definitely no victim.” Dustin nodded, “yeah, that's true. Actually, you all should let me come with you, if beating the crap out of Templars is what you plan to do with your free time, I mean, I'm reaaaally bored.” He said, casually leaning back on his hands, balancing the pole arm carefully with his foot before tossing it back up and catching it, “no, really. I'm really in the mood to kill stuff.”

“No, absolutely not, we are not bringing a random stranger along to fight a mission like this, especially not a demon.” The tactician hissed to his allies, the girl just shrugged as she walked by Dustin, “awwh, so? It's sooo boring with just the four of us. Come on, Walter, pleaseee?”
Walter looked at the girl with an annoyed look, “no means no.” Suddenly, the man of red hair walked up again, “I-I mean...do whatever you want, Melodia! I'm not stopping you!! Just...don't get in the way!”

“Yay...welcome aboard for now then, Dustin. Oh, I'm Melodia, by the way. This here is my companion, Cross. That there is Walter, and you already know Cyril,” the little girl held her hand out for the demon to shake. There was something odd about her...maybe he could learn something from contact touch. He took her hand and shook it firmly, “Dustin, but you already knew that. Glad to be of service for now...”