Maple leaves shower the barren, rigid path running under a wooden bench. A plastic trash can sits not far from the bench, where two children sit with their feet kicking sluggishly at air. Fall's breeze sweeps silently by, the duo fidget uncomfortably as wind carries droplets of water from a fountain not far from them.

The park is not lonesome with so many occupants chatting, walking, and jogging delightfully. However, to the boys that rest silently on the bench, bitter solitude seems to be all they grasp.

A lone page of a newspaper flutters in the breeze, covering one child's face, onto the next, then vanish into the boys' peripheral visions.

"Is it true, Adusti?" cries one of the boys who appears more lean than the other. In his tardy speech, light flickers at the corner of his eyes. "You're moving away?"

"Yea, I think so," the other child responds after a brief pause. As soon as he realizes his companion's remorseful expression, he scratches his head quickly. "Hey, hey, Sidus, don't worry. It's not like I'm gone forever, ya know?"

"Bu—but why all the sudden you have to leave? What happened?" Sidus realizes his sorrow is as plain as if written across his forehead, he turns away and wipes his eyes discreetly.

Gazing at the leaves skipping across the ground by wind's will, Adusti intentionally avoids making eye contact with his friend. "You know how weird my family is, it's a miracle they stayed in one spot for eleven years."

"Are you going to come back?" Sidus nudges toward his friend, who notices movement but makes no response. "Are you going to remember me?"

"Oy, what are you saying?" Adusti turns his head around with a helpless, but friendly grin. "We are friends for eleven years and I'm just gonna forget everything? Com'on Sidus, I'm horrible at school and all, but I'm not stupid."

Sidus lowers his head, still shocked and unconvinced. He begins to mumble. "It's just a few days before school starts, why not tell me earlier?"

"I'm sorry, it was short notice from my folks, as well." Adusti shrugs plainly, but sympathetic. He reaches into his pants pocket to retrieve something, then he extends his hand with two trinkets sitting quietly in his palm. They are a set of rings encrusted with different gemstones. One of black garnets, the other of blue topazes. "Here, the blue one is for you."

Sidus gapes with surprise at the gleaming accessories, then burst out in laughter with his hands holding his stomach. "What is this, are you proposing to me?"

"Well I'm sorry for trying to be nice, I guess you don't want it." Adusti pretends to be withdrawing the trinkets. Yet, Sidus quickly intercepts his friend's arm and takes the ring encrusted with blue topazes into his own hand.

"I knew your family makes a lot of money, but this must be really expensive." Sidus gazes at his ring, almost mesmerized by the sharp glow of the ghastly blue aura of the ring.

Adusti wears his ring on his thumb, flipping his hand back and forth in the air while admiring the accessory with a sigh. "They never told me what they do, but I'm not complaining. These rings were a set found in Dad's antique room."

"Ugh, don't tell me you stole them!" Sidus gasps, but not with anger as much as surprise. Deep within, Sidus actually feels grateful, since his friend was willing to go to this extent for their friendship.

"Hey, it's not stealing when they belong to me when the old man kicks the bucket." Adusti laughs irresponsibly.

Sidus covers his face with his palm and shakes his head. "You never change, do you?"

"That's a compliment, and you know it." Adusti replies quickly.

Dusk spreads its indecisive color across the land. From red to yellow, delight to sadness, light to darkness, a realm in between that twilight refuses to surrender its unique recipe.

"We'll see each other, again, right?" Sidus smiles awkwardly, seeking assurance.

"When I move out of my house, you're the first place I'm crashing over at." Adusti nods swiftly.

"Promise?"

"You bet!"

Little do the boys know of their unfortunate destinies, and their precarious intersections, but that begins seven years after their separation. The world holds many secrets from its occupants, including underground societies with nefarious objectives.

Anything is possible in this world, since one only need to convince oneself of what is true and what is not. Yet, the world remain unbiased, and objective; or at least that used to be true.

Now that the world sets on destroying its own occupants, those who belong to this world and those who do not, either way, a war is upon all. Let it be the precursor, that when only one of the divine lines remain, all shall be concluded.