Author Note: Yo, thanks for reading this chapter! Please remember to favorite, follow and review. It helps me with motivation. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and have a wonderful and awesome day!

Chapter 1

The humming bits of nails being hammered into wood harmonized through the wind. A lone figure was taking a knee in front of a jagged wooden wall, using his hammer to bash the nails in. His thick grey work gloves reeked of sweat, while his hunched back creaked over to the face of the wall.

His sunbaked skin glistened under the sunrays, his right hand wiping the excess sweat that had his long black hair plastered to his face. His light blue eyes soaking into his work with accurate precision.

As he was beating the final nail in, a rough and sturdy voice erupted behind him. "Mateo!" The name rose through the construction site, but it was the same young man that turned his head towards the voice.

Mateo, the young man dropped his hammer to the side as he got up from his crouch. Dusting off the dirt fragments and parting the gloves free from his hands, the exhaust sweat making them clammy as he wiped them on his grey worker overalls.

"Can I help you, old man?" Mateo spoke with a plastered smile. The old man was not amused. Shaking his head as Mateo and him went over to the same wall that he was just working on a minute prior.

"Mateo." He spoke, his hands massaging his balding skull as he did a quick turn of his head, spinning it like a globe in a classroom. Once he was sure that he was in the clear, the old man parted his lips to speak again. "Where were you yesterday…I had to make an excuse so the foreman wouldn't fire you?"

Mateo simply smirked. The young man resting his back along the wall, fishing into his pocket a paper carton. He popped it open with a slight snap, exposing the rudimentary rolled up pieces of tobacco.

"You know, the usual." Mateo carelessly spoke, the young worker plopping the smoke in his mouth. Digging into his other pocket to find his lighter, sparking it open as he spoke with his slightly parted lips. "Smoking…drinking, kissing and making love to some pretty girls. You know the usual, old man." Mateo spoke, the old man shaking his head again. Clicking his lips from the absurdness of Mateo's fake story.

He followed Mateo's movements as Mateo parted the cigarette with his two fingers, allowing the smoke to cleanly empty from his mouth. They stood there for a second, the musical of the other workers building was musical to his ears.

"Don't you find it strange here, old man?" Mateo spoke after a minute. Still taking turns as he was huffing his smoke. "Jacob, it feels weird, doesn't it?" Mateo opting out to use the old man's real name, the time for jokes were now leading to a close.

Jacob shook his head, Mateo's gaze following the roof of the house. Mateo was finishing the rest of his cigarette as he welcomed the killing smoke, feeling purified and lightheaded. It helped to not remember, it helped to silence the thoughts and to forget.

Dear son, never forget…Navaro

Mateo's brilliant blue eyes widened as the fierce memory projected into his vision like the fresh rays of morning sunlight. Yet, after a second. He took a deep breath, shaking the memory away. 'Doesn't matter, not anymore.'

His thoughts compounded within his brain. Taking another cigarette as he plopped it into his mouth, striking up another flame and letting the smoke purify him. Days like today where he remembered his time there, wouldn't do him any good.

Mateo went into his jacket pocket. Jacob watched as Mateo lifted a strange picture. He held it within his hands as he observed it. A girl around Mateo's age, her curly blond hair and elegant white dress. Frozen in a photo.

"Mateo, what the hell is this…are you stalking a girl?" He bluntly asked, still holding onto the picture as he stared into his comrade's eyes. Mateo quickly snatched the picture away, nearly ripping it in the process as his eyes narrowed.

"No, god Jacob. I'm not a creep." He let out a sigh as he took a step forward, just in case there were others around. "Jacob, remember how those people…those frontiersmen have been going missing these past couple of weeks?"

Jacob, he knew what Mateo was talking about. After work the two men would go to the bar. It was kind of funny in a strange way, Mateo's hair was greying, and the long years made him slouch. While Mateo stood strong and proud, holding the energy of youth. Even then, there was something that was weighing Mateo down, like chains clinging him to the earth.

Though, Jacob had heard of the disappearances. They heard about it all the time at the bar, a boy or girl from the frontier trying to make it rich quick but just vanishing immediately. It was a strange occurrence, even then he knew the empire didn't care.

He tried to not think about it, instead heading hope during daylight and not sticking around after night. It was better that way; it was safer that way…

"That guy, remember him…the weird dude with the sword." Jacob nodded his head. "Also, that blond girl with that rocking body, god…if there was a woman that made me thankful to be a man." He spoke, chuckling as his cheeks began to shine a cherry red.

Jacob snapped his thumbs, waking Mateo from his daze. Mateo shaking his head as he began to continue. "Yeah, after she robbed him. I saw this girl…that other blond girl, she offered him a ride on her chariot and took him home with her."

"So, what?" Jacob shrugged his shoulders at Mateo's assessment. "It was a girl, and she had a carriage, she was most likely a noble. Those noblewomen mostly feel bad for commoners, maybe she just wanted to do a good deed."

Mateo shook his head immediately, exposing another picture of the girl from his pocket. This one was different, showing her raising her hand downwards. Her hand grasping onto other boys own. "Remember, his name is Mitch." Mateo spoke bluntly, tossing his cigarette to the floor, crushing the embers with his worker boots as Jacob's eyes widened along the paper.

Mitch was another frontiersman, a trader that came to their bar for directions. He stayed there for hours, getting the whole bar drunk as he carelessly wasted his whole allowance away. "Mitch…" Jacob slowly whispered the words. The guardsman had his picture out everywhere. Another frontiersman abducted and vanished.

Ben nodded his head, taking a break from the smokes. His eyes fixated ahead as Jacob turned towards him. "Mateo, what are you planning on doing with these things?" Jacob knew that Mateo was new, but he wasn't a fool. The girl was a noble and he was a measly commoner that worked in construction, even with this proof they would still take her side. Even then…Mateo, Jacob didn't even want to dread on what could happen to him.

"I am going to go over there tonight. That one kid, he's going to be in trouble."

Jacob's eyes widened. He quickly grabbed Mateo's shoulders, wrenching the boy to face him. "Absolutely not." He shook his head as he spoke the words.

"Jacob, I get what you are talking about right now. Though, I don't get a good feeling about that girl…if there is actually something going on there I got to see if I could help, thank you for giving me that excuse with the fore man but I'm going to head out now."

Jacob couldn't understand, why was Mateo doing this? For just a kid that they hardly knew…

"Mateo, why?" Jacob asked. He let go of the boy as he took a step backward. His hands going to his balding head as he couldn't believe in what he was hearing.

Mateo took a deep breath. "I don't know…" Mateo shook his head, knowing full well that wasn't a good enough answer. "I just…my father, I promised him to do the right thing, and for a long time I've tried to forget. Though…"

Mateo began to walk away. Something was pushing him, maybe it was the dead hands of his father ushering him forward. Or maybe it was the dead hands of those that he had killed, the innocent and the mountain of sins that he had built up in this life of his.

Do you believe with one good deed…you will be saved?

Mateo took a deep breath, the voice echoing in his head like a voice at the end of a cave. his eyes craning as he popped open another cigarette. The boy lit it up as the warm smoke filtered through his core. His eyes narrowing as the brilliant ocean blue, radiated calm and stillness.

"Maybe, a quick drink…just to forget for a little while. To ease the nerves and calm the tension of my trigger finger. Yeah, that wouldn't be so bad." Mateo whispered to himself, walking away from his job and Jacob.

He didn't know why he was doing this…why he put one foot forward and in front of the next, but there was something there. The road he had to follow, the road all men had to follow in their lives. Mateo was not foolish enough to actually believe he was exempted from that law.

Maybe, it would be tonight he would find his reason. Maybe, it would be tonight where his pitiful excuse of a life would be snuffed out. Though, as he pushed through the crowd…

There was a flame inside of him, a flame that helped support those two feet. A small smirk as he felt something rise within his chest. His spirit, his flame…diseased by his sins and vices. Refuses to allow him to give up, no matter the threats he faces…or the destruction he leaves behind.

That was all…that was supporting those two feet. It pushes him to walk onward, even for someone who lacked a purpose.