He bent his fingers. He curled his fist. He uncurled his fist. He straightened his fingers. He made another fist. He punched Alexander. He shook his hand. His hand.

It was as if nothing ever happened. As if he didn't nearly get his arm torn off. Everything was working perfectly. Completely fine. Totally healed. He wouldn't even have a scar.

Augustus stared at his hand in wonder.

"Yup. This is my hand, alright."

"Okay. I deserved that." Alexander wheezed, rubbing his once again bruised cheek.

Augustus stared at his so-called friend. "No... You didn't."

Alexander frowned. "If you're feeling guilty, stop. It's my fault, okay? You even said so yourself. Don't go backing out now."

Augustus remained silent.

"C'mon, let's get out of here. This place is nuts." Alexander sighed, walking away.

"No."

He stopped midstep, turning around. "What?"

Augustus looked him straight in the eye. "You heard me. I said, no"

Alexander made a face. "Are you insane? Were you poisoned by that monster? That's it, isn't it? You were poisoned weren't you? I mean, you were the one all griping and moaning about being here in the first place. You told me, shouted at me, that we should leave. Clean up our tracks and pretend this whole ordeal never happened. And now that I'm agreeing, for once since who knows when, you tell me no? No?! Are you arguing with me just for the sake of arguing?!"

He took Augustus by the shoulders, peering in close. "What's wrong, Augustus? Were you really poisoned? Are you feverish? Tell me!"

Augustus shot him a blank expression. Before punching Alexander in the face, for the second time that day. "Quit invading my personal space you idiot."

"Oow..."

"And I'm not poisoned. I'm agreeing with you for once." The blond mumbled, crossing his arms.

Alexander blinked, sprawled across the forest floor like a welcome mat. "So, we're leaving?"

"No! Not that you imbecile! About what you said before!"

Alexander sat up. "I said something?"

"Don't you remember?"

"No..."

"God! You are such an idiot!" Augustus stamped his foot, kneeling down and hauling Alexander towards him. A breath of space seperating the two.

"Who's invading who now?" Alexander joked.

Augustus only brought him closer. "Listen to me, just listen to me! You told me, and I don't care if you remember or not, but you told me... That if we walk away... If we turn our backs now... We will regret it for the rest of our lives."

Augustus could feel it now. A strange sensation bubbling from the depths of his soul. A warmth so alien and yet so familiar, sending fire roaring in his blood, igniting the marrow of his bones. Power, knowledge, widsom, strength... Power. Augustus did not understand what was happening, but he knew. He knew. He had felt this all before. The fog of a distant dream, forgotten. Echoes of a lost name.

"Alexander. Our destiny awaits us."

Alexander stared at Augustus in confusion. This wasn't right. One look at those eyes, those eyes that seemed so far away, and yet so temptingly close... Alexander knew this was not the Augustus he knew. Oh no, he was much more familiar.

They called each other "friends". But they were only so out of necessity. Without the other, surely they could not survive. They were, in all essence, strangers. Alexander only knew Augustus in the way he hunted. His cold, solemn personality, permitting no ray of distraction to color his day. The Augustus he saw now... Was a brother. Was a rival.

Was a friend, in every meaning of the word.

"Didn't you see what just happened? I could've died. I should've died! At the very least be one arm less. But I'm not, Alexander! I'm not... My hand. It's back. You saw. It rebuilt itself. Nerve by fucking nerve! That's not normal! We're not normal! Alexander..."

"We're not human." Alexander finished. "But we've always known that."

"We've known what we are not. It's time we find out what we are. And this is just the place to start."

"How, exactly, do you know that?"

Augustus slowly rose to his feet. That faraway gaze never leaving his crystalline eyes. "Can't you feel it, Alexander? You were the one who showed me. Can't you feel it?"

Alexander found his eyes drifting close. A deep, booming thrum sweeping his body. A string plucked, a fading, resonating note. He shivered. Yes. He felt it. An all consuming hunger; a breathtaking lust.

And he could feel it again. Now with Augustus and his ancient words.

That hunger.

That mesmerizing siren call.

Something was here.

And Alexander wanted it. Needed it.

But what?

The trees shivered, the Forrest sighed. Silent words spoken. The forgotten singing in his veins, roaring in his ears. And still... Alexander heard nothing.

The answer was so close. And yet so far.

"Yeah..." Alexander licked his lips. "I know what you mean."

Surrounded by darkness, an endless abyss yawning before them. Time caught in the embrace of shadows. Long lost, and frozen. The answers laid here. Cradled among the many secrets of this forbidden ground.

They didn't have choice. Perhaps they never had a choice. Perhaps all those long years, those long, hard years shunned and rejected from village to village, and tribe to tribe... Perhaps it all led to this. This one defining moment in their bleak lives. Boiling down to a single choice. To step forward. Or to forever turn their backs.

Augustus swallowed a shaky sigh. His eyes locking with Alexander.

And there was nothing more to say. The boys knew what they were supposed to do.

Taking one step, then another, then another. Increasing their pace faster and faster and faster still. The boys dashed blindly through the Forrest, weaving between trunks and leaping over roots. Trusting each other to keep up, to keep running. Don't stop. Never stop.

This was it.

And for reasons they could not grasp, they laughed. Alexander began or maybe Augustus did. Chuckling at first, barely a whisper of breath. Growing louder, rising in volume, their peals of joy echoing in the all-encompassing silence.

This was it.

And they kept running.

The Forrest melted away behind them. The trees shrinking, thinning. A patchwork of sky visible through the spiderweb of branches. Sunlight slowly filtering through. As day turned to night.

The boys came to a stop. Gently, softly, quietly. Their feet padding across the earth. They stopped.

The Forrest opening before them. A great, wide clearing. Devoid of any life. No proud pines standing strong. No looming, ancient oaks. Instead rising before them, lay structures. Great, white structures of twisted metal; rusting iron and broken steel. Shattered glass scattered on the godforsaken ground. Glittering in the dying afternoon light; fallen stars from heaven.

People lived here...

The ash of the dead, roasted in hellfires past. The bitter remains of a once proud race. Torn photos, fading memories. A chorus of dying screams lingering in the still air. The past frozen, etched forever in blood-soaked ground.

People died here...

Buried in a grave of their own doing.

A chilling breeze swept through the clearing. Stirring through dust, caressing the dead.

On a rotting wooden sign, painted in cold, black letters.

Willkommen in Wien

Welcome to Vienna.