Life After Near Death

The Sons of Darkness

"Safe in the womb
Of an everlasting night
You find the darkness can
Give the brightest light.
Safe in your place
Deep in the earth
That's when they'll know
What you were truly worth."
― "Fruit Tree," Nick Drake

A man dressed in jet black armor stepped into a cave. Inside was vast and well-lit, the walls glittering with the flames from numerous torches. People milled about within the cavern, sharpening weapons and drinking strong alcohol. The dark soldier stomped through the group to a side room separated by a bead curtain, leading to another smaller hollow within the cave system. There, two guards lowered weapons to block his entry.

"I'm expected," he told them coldly.

"Mallumo is in meditation," a guard warned.

From inside the room came a voice. "It's all right, brothers. Let him pass."

The guards instantly obeyed, and the soldier brushed aside the beaded curtain, marched through a rough stone tunnel, and entered a small chamber of pale limestone. The air was rank with the smell of candle wax, and the glittering walls had been blackened from the smoke drifting up from hundreds of tiny flames. Just before coming to a handwoven black rug, he stopped and pounded his fist to his chest in salute.

"Lord Mallumo."

In the center of the room was a man in his early forties with long, straight, dark-indigo hair down to his waist. He knelt by an altar with a gold-framed photograph of an old man. His black robes edged with silver trim spread around him in a circle of darkness.

"Show respect when you enter the shrine, Daegan."

Instantly, his armor flashed, vanished, and he wore a simple black tunic with a symbol of a silver outline of a mother all black embracing a dark purple baby. It was the guild mark of the Sons of Darkness, a dark guild of Eastern Fiore.

The man named Daegan dropped to one knee in honor before the shrine. "My sincere apologies for any rudeness, my lord."

"Please," the man named Mallumo sighed, "I have told you many times, I don't go by the lofty title my predecessor deemed to take. I follow in my father's humble footsteps. Call me brother, if you wish to call me anything."

"You are master of this guild," the dark soldier called Daegan protested.

Mallumo turned around and gazed at Daegan with narrow, jet black eyes. He had a lean, pale face, a long goatee with a few silver hairs streaking through the black-indigo color, and a scar ran over his cheekbone just under his eye. This was a stark contrast to the man in front of him, with his burgundy hair, mocha skin, and a flawlessness to his youthful face that proved no enemy had yet to hurt him, let alone defeat him.

"I do not deserve to be called master yet," Mallumo said sternly, "not until I have the head of the man who murdered my father."

"About that. We have news. A group from Fairy Tail have left Magnolia on a train heading in this direction. Natsu Dragneel was with them."

Mallumo's scarred cheek twitched at the name. "Natsu!" he hissed.

"There is more, my lord. With him is the man your father fought that day: Gray Fullbuster."

"Yes, I heard he survived. Not only that, but he miraculously healed from the wounds my father gave him. Now, he has nary a scratch to show for it, whereas I only managed to recognized my father's charred remains through this ring." He held up his fist to show an onyx ring on his finger. "Both wizards are coming?"