Heat and pain, that's what I feel as I walk.

  The rotten smell of hydrogen sulfide gas attacks my nose, my vision is covered by a dark cloud of dense smoke, my lungs aching with every breath.

  Every step I take forward is a torture, my feet is burning, the skin is blending with the rubber of my shoes and the fabric of my sock due to the temperature from where I walk, turning what was supposed to protect my feet into another means of hurting me.

  I look to my right, leaning on me was a small body, an unconscious boy who was two years younger than me, my beloved brother, Seth.

  I thought.

  I don't try to speak, I can't cover my mouth because my hands hold my brother, nor do i try to wake him either, any movement makes me fell pain due to the smoke in my lungs, all i can do is move on, we are already close to the exit, the exit of our house on fire, our dear abode, turned into hell by the acts of a single person, we could only hope for help when we reach the front door.

  The sound of the embers around me drove my ears crazy, the wood burning and becoming fuel for the fires of hell.

  , I thought.

  I was already near the exit, but the pain, the pain was too much, i lost the strength in my legs and fell to the ground, my dear brother feel lying next to me, the smoke filled my lungs, i was blacking out.

  I try to reach my brother with my right hand as my eyes close, my last sight being the flesh of my fingertips wrapped in ashes, and so, I collapse.

  The sound of the wind hit the glass of my bedroom window and the chirping of birds invade my ears, the dark interior of the bedroom ceiling was now visible to my gaze, next to that, my right arm extended to the ceiling, burn marks spread over my arm, the skin of my fingers slightly dark, but intact.

  I paused to breathe for three seconds, calming my mind while sit on my bed and push aside the light sheet, my crimson hair falling back as i bring my left hand to my neck, grabbing from inside my robes an icy piece of metal, a golden cross which i take to my forehead.

  "One more day, I pray to thee for protection and guidance," I then let the cross fall from my hand and turn to the right, my feet getting uncovered from the sheet and touching the ground, dark stains marking the soles of my feet, the result of the night i dreamed of.

  I move my right hand to a small dresser next to the bed and grab an orange glass located next to a white-bound book, i stare at the glass and read aloud its label.

  "Baku extract, another failure," I throw the glass into a trash can next to the bed and get up from it, i remove the bangs from the front of my eyes as i go to the bedroom bathroom, grabbing a black jacket lying on the floor halfway.

  After entering the bathroom, I throw the jacket on top of the toilet and turn to the mirror, i open the mirror, revealing some of the stored medicines, it took me a few moments to find what I was looking for, an eye drop flask, I grab it and close the mirror.

  Staring at the mirror I move my left hand to my face and remove my hair from the front, allowing me to see my own face, my right eye was normal as always, my pupil was in its natural brown, my left eye was gray though, a sigh escape my lips.

  Using the mirror as guide, I rise my head and position the bottle of eye drops above my left eye, squeezing the bottle i release a drop that fall to my eye, I blink for a few seconds and releas a second drop, i close my left eye and lower my head, i open the mirror and put the bottle away, after that I remove several bottles from inside the mirror, sleeping pills that failed, i throw them all in the trash, then close the mirror.

  "Waste of money," I mumbled as I grab the jacket and i put it over my shirt, the short sleeve allowing me to see my skin, i look down and grab the edge of the garment, a yellow stain on the shirt, mentally cursed myself for not changing before going to sleep, i close the jacket to cover the shirt and get out of the bathroom.

  I walk to an armchair next to the bedroom window with a suitcase on top of it, i put it on the floor and sit down.

  I move my right hand to the window and open it, along with that, i open my left eye, the effect of the eye drops was already in effect, the sunlight hit my face as i look outside the room, in front of where I am staying, there is a small sidewalk and, just ahead, a river run through a channel between two sides, a canoe crossing the water, two people sitting in the canoe while a third was guiding.

  Venice, the city of waters, a beautiful city, unfortunately I couldn't enjoy it, we were there for work, I open the suitcase and took a pair of blue jeans, put them on quickly and got up, going immediately to the exit of the room.

  As soon as I open the door, I see two small clay humanoid beings in front of the door, holding a tray together.

  "Seth already made the breakfast, apparently?" I ask the two small golems, who confirm with their heads, i take the tray and head to the living room.

  The place where we are staying is a small two-story house, this on the outside, on the inside is much larger, all the rooms of the house are on the second floor, the first is just to come and go.

  When i arrive in the room i see a man way taller than me sitting in a chair in front of the table, his hair is brown and skin was light, in front of him there was a brown plate with two pieces of bread, an omelette and a piece of sausage, I feared for a moment what was in my covered tray, still, I forced a smile and sat down in the chair in front, placing the tray on the table.

  "You didn't need to make your golems bring me food, I was already leaving the room, Seth" - that's what I tell to him, but I was grateful inside.

  "Sometimes you take a long time in the room, I just wanted to be considerate of my sister, by the way, did you change before going to sleep?" He stared at me when he asked, taking the focus off the plate.

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  "Why the question?" I fail in trying to disguise it, I take off the lid covering the plate, my fears proven real, two omelettes and a whole sausage, he always puts more food on my plate, idiot.

  "Because you stink, you didn't even take a shower yesterday, did you? The extract must have worked" he smiled as he spoke, always attentive this brother of mine.

  "A complete failure, same dream," I ignored the comment about my smell, it's not like we were going to receive someone today, I calmly cut the food with the knife and bring a piece to my mouth.

  "Allow me to guess," Seth said as he take a loaf of bread to his mouth.

  "You forgot what day it is," I stare at him, thinking for a few moments, it wasn't his birthday, mine or any relative's, we were in February.

  "Wait, February..." I thought as I moved my head to a nearby wall where it had a calendar.

  It was the thirteenth, nothing comes to mind, i chewed the food again, a small golem finally brought a pot of butter and put it on the table.

  "Sister, the seventh comes today, Saul is the name," Seth said this while buttering one of the loaves, which I gently took from his hand without permission.

  "Oh yes, our next student, haven't they learned not to put a young man under the tutelage of a Baptizer and an Exorcist?" I bite the bread after I finish speaking - "How do you always make such soft bread?"

  "Just because the last four died, it doesn't change that the other two are doing well, one of them even passed us and became a Knight, and bread is a secret," Seth was really a pit of patience, instead of scolding me for taking the bread, he just buttered the other one.

  "That young man only passed us because they still haven't approved my promotion, and you should spend less time in the kitchen and more time studying, you've already missed the promotion exam once," I move another bite of food to my mouth after i finish speaking.

  "Speaking of them," I move my attention to Seth again, calmly chewing the food until he places a stack of letters on the table, throwing the one from the top to the side of my plate, a red seal with the mark of a cross holding the envelope closed.

  I put down the cutlery, pick up the letter and open it slowly.

  A red stamp represented an urgent work, what wonderful timing, the first class of the seventh will be an urgent task. I read the letter slowly while Seth eat.

  "Very well," I break the silence after a few minutes

  "Two bodies found floating in the small port of the old Fort of Malamocco, two men, one found without eyes and the other without part of the thigh muscle."

  "Sun, Moon and Saturn are the stellar bodies corresponding to the taken parts of the body," Seth clap his hands. Two golems come to the table, one of them coming to my side and handing me my boots and a distinctive, the same happened to Seth.

  "I'll go straight there, you'll pick up the boy and we'll meet at the scene to investigate, I'll inform..." the name of the chief of police escaped my mind, I got up from my chair to go look for my notepad in the office.

  "Alessandro Bonanno, you should pay more attention to people's names, you won't be able to use your notes in a conversation on the street," Seth stared at me as he got up from his chair and took a cell phone from his pocket.

  "Not everyone remembers names so well, Seth, I even think it's strange that you do," a bad answer, I sit back in the chair and i put on my boots.

  "I must remember, after all, you only remember the things at work and completely forget the rest, remember when you let that pasta burn?" Seth went to his own room to get ready, i didn't answer, the package said five minutes, but i forgot to pay attention to the clock, and the pasta.

  I return to my room, leaving the food on the table for the little golems to clean up.

  In the bedroom, the first thing I did is close the bedroom window and lock it, after that, i started to look for my gloves.

  I look in the bathroom, in the closet, under the bed, I don't find anything, i take the suitcase and throw all the clothes out, it wasn't there either, I look at the bed, put the clothes back in the suitcase so Seth wouldn't scold me and walk to the small dresser next to the bed, looking at the white-covered book.

  "Seth complains, but if I don't read the laws from where we go, I am a dead weight," I said to myself in thought, I grab the white book, a copy of the laws of Italy, under the book i find my gloves, I take the gloves and put the book back away.

  I put on the fingerless gloves and then i face my hands, looking at the burn marks on my fingertips, a feeling of envy directed at Seth invades my mind for a few moments.

  Unlike me, Seth didn't suffer many burns that night, the few he suffered were repairable, I slap my face twice to drive away those thoughts and head back to the open door of the room to leave.

  After leaving the room, I immediately go to the office, there were two small tables in the center of the place, one for me and one for Seth, one facing the other, we used this to delimit the side of each one in the room, Seth had the table closest to the door and consequently the entrance side.

  I thought, it was a terrible idea for me to accept this, the small office was a mess on his side and it get in the way when entering, large pieces of clay and tools lying on the floor so he could make golems, he also drew on the floor a large image, ten spheres interconnected in a large tree, a Sefirot, a golem head was in the sphere at the top, i think the name was Kether.

  In comparison, my side of the office was well organized, there were some bookshelves on the wall with few books, all being books containing the laws of several countries, Italy, France, England, Egypt, Russia, among many others, I raised my face with a little pride that it was not a mess.

  I move to my desk and sit down in the chair.

  The table had only a few objects on top of it, the opposite of Seth's that was full of tools.

  Mine had only a small black book that was a copy of the Bible, a pencil, a pen and a telephone.

  I open one of the drawers of the table, i grab a silver object from inside of it and i rest it on the table, a lighter.

  these words returned to my mind, i press the trigger of the lighter once, twice, three times until the fire lit, I bring the object to the level of my eyes and stare at the fire.

  My eyes focus on the flame of the lighter, a flame smaller than my finger coming out of the object, still, it was something dangerous, a small flame is capable of generating the biggest of fires, the heat of the lighter spreads through my marked fingers, my mind returning to the dream.

  I am once again standing in the midst of the fire on the second floor of the house, but this time it's the me of now, not the me of before.

  The flames in the house burn and spread, I place my hand at my throat, it was as if I could feel the smoke of that day, as if I was still there, i go on my way.

  I walk through the burning house, reviewing in my memory where we lived, i passed by my room, the door already destroyed.

  I look inside and watch my bed being reduced to ashes, children's books burning and turning to dust, i continue to walk until reaching the stairs.

  The stairs had already fallen, I look from above at two children fleeing from the fire, it was me, the me from before, of only twelve years old, carrying my brother Seth, he turned ten last week, we celebrated in a dinner he loved with our mother and my stepfather.

  I see the twelve-year-old me fall to the ground next to Seth, her hand reaching out to him, I did the same without noticing and then I heard - "Cassiel! Seth!" - a man ran into the flames, my stepfather, his hair was blond and he had a small beard, he wore a protective vest, similar to that of firefighters.

  He grab us up both and take us outside.

  "Cassiel! Cassel!" - Why did I still hear my name being called? Wait, where was I again?

  My mind return from its wandering, the lighter was no longer in my hand, Seth picked it up and put it off on the table, he was shaking my right shoulder while repeating my name.

  My first impulse was to hug my brother, my hands wrapping around his big back, almost not being able to go around him, I close my eyes and smile.

  "I'm sorry, I've failed again," what followed was a slap in my face.