It was almost sunset.
Robert was sitting at an abandoned, deserted car shed.
He had walked as far as he could and his legs had led him straight to where he was sitting.
This place was outside the main city where the Watchers Headquarters, Raven Towers was located. It looked like an average corporate office from inside out but only people who knew about its Depths, knew about its true purpose.
The place where Robert was sitting at the moment, was nothing like that. Parts of the rusty shade were falling off and parts crumbled under Robert's feet as he walked in.
" A glass of water please, " he asked as if there was someone waiting to take his order.
" Something happened at work, is that right? "
A figure appeared out of nowhere and asked as he poured that glass of water for his brother.
One would think Robert was standing in front of a mirror. They looked exactly the same. The same height, face, age, hair and everything else.
They were practically twins but were born one year apart, Robert being the young one and the older one was called Quill.
" Do you want to talk about it? " Quill asked but Robert shook his head.
Quill and Robert were both orphans. They grew up at barns, working their a*s off just to feed themselves.Not to mention the beatings they got from their various masters and the exploitation they faced.
Since the boys had no idea what real life looked like, they never complained. It was a way of livelihood for them and they had each other.
They were never able to stay in one place because of Robert's dreams and visions. He would babble random warnings at strangers and it would come true. But the people didn't see it that way. They saw Robert as a son of a witch, capable of dark witchcraft, jeopardizing people.
Robert would often be tied up and beaten. At one point, he was almost beaten to death. It was at this time that the Watchers came to his rescue.
They immediately took him away much to Quill's dismay. Both were sad and heart broken, but they realized it was a better possible time than the one they had been living, though it meant they would be spending less quality time.
" I saw her again... " Robert said, putting the glass down as if he just finished a glass of wine.
" The girl with the purple eyes? " Quill asked with concern. It was a recurrent dream that Robert had been seeing , ever since he first started having these premonitions.
" She told me she wasn't from this world and she told me she was very thirsty. "
Robert gulped down a few more glasses and his eyes looked as if they were drunk.
" She is coming for our world Quill. I saw a foreshadow of darkness that she will be ushering. I know she is somewhere near. I can feel what she has been saying."
One would think his stomach would burst open from all the drinking that he was doing.
" Didn't you talk to your seniors? "
Quill asked.
" The monitors flickered this time. They ought to pay some heed. I just hope it's not too late. I just hope we are able to get to her before she awakens. "
Robert started scribbling on the floor with his nails.
" Awaken? You make it seem like she is sleeping. "
Quill looked at Robert's drawing.
" She is. Her veil is still intact and she is unadulterated. "
His hands were moving with regained speed and the eyes, forehead and nose of a girl was clear and prominent.
" Is this what that girl in your dreams looks like?She is beautiful.Why don't you make the rest of it? "
Quill looked captivated as he asked.
" I can't see her behind the veil. She is thirsty. With the first drop of blood, her darkness will arise, consuming her innocence and everything else. If we do not get rid of her, the darkness will be too heavy to suppress. It's scary, Quill. It's frightening. "
Robert's hands were shivering. Quill bent down to hold him and hugged him like a baby.
*****
During the time of Robert's birth.
Robert's mother was already pregnant with him when she delivered Quill.
" Are you sure this is normal? Should we not get the other one out? It might be fatal for both you and the baby. "
Robert's father looked at his mother with utmost concern.
" This is because of the difference in gestation period, silly. Don't be so paranoid. Our first born takes after me but the second one will be taking after you darling. It's because of the difference in our species. "
Robert and Quill were born between the two unlikeliest of people, a female Watcher and a male Chemorian mage.
They had met and fallen in love with each other, during one of their missions.
They knew theirs was a doomed love, a forbidden story that might have no happy end.
They had been on the run since the first day of her pregnancy and their journey was a hell of a difficult one.
They thought they would make it work somehow,hiding between the two Worlds and trying to sneak here and there. But they had no idea how difficult it was going to be with a newborn.
It didn't take much time for the Watchers to catch up to them once they entered the Earth's atmosphere. It was a death knell but it was inevitable for the birthing process. Robert's powers came from his mage father but his physical anatomy was like his mothers. Besides, his mother could no longer keep breathing bottled air.
It was a two edged dagger. It would cut anyway.
When his mother went into labor, his father surrendered himself to the Watchers, much to his mother's horror, just to buy sometimes and hope his family would be saved.
But that was not the case.
His mother could hear his cries while in labor as they pulled his heart out with their tweezers and burnt it to ashes.
She threw her babies in the ocean.
One would think her head was probably not working.
Then she lunged at her former teammates, only to be arrested and penalized with treason and then being sent outside the Earth's orbit, for execution.
What a cruel joke destiny played on her child that he ended up working at the same place where his mother was once hailed amongst the highest ranks.
Neither the boys, nor the Watchers, had any idea about it. Robert was just a gifted boy for the Watcher agency.