Cupid stared longingly at the exterior of the ancient construct. It was similar to a pyramid in shape, but not quite exactly the same, as the sides were of an uneven length. However, the tiny details did not bother Cupid very much, and he attempted to recollect his thoughts before carrying out the mission. He was told that a group of pirates were going on a grave-robbing streak in Rubeck Island, paying off the local authorities in exchange for them looking the other way. Cupid was told to shoot to kill, as Cupid was informed that the pirate crew was known for being dangerously violent against civilians and Marines alike.

Cupid slowly walked into the ancient construction through the main entrance, remaining cautious of any traps that may located at the entrance. Thankfully, it seemed safe, especially seeing as the grave robbers likely would’ve set off any booby traps if they existed. As Cupid fully entered into the pyramid-like building, he noticed that there were two entrances. Feeling a bit lost, he decided to check for footprints, before noting that one of the paths had a number of footprints while the other path was much less traveled, having no footprints. Cupid pondered about his decision for a bit, before following the road with many footprints, trying to be as quiet as possible, to avoid detection by the pirate crew. However, he heard a number of people talking in a room up ahead although he could not quite identify what they were saying. With his bow drawn, Cupid was ready to strike at any moment..

As Cupid stopped to catch his breath and recollect his thoughts, he saw a figure in the dark, coming right at him. Feeling a sudden adrenaline surge, he shot his bow, stopping the mysterious figure right at their tracks. Cupid heard yelps and murmurs coming from the other room, and he ran towards that specific room. As Cupid had his bow drawn, with another arrow ready to be shot, he entered into the room. The figures panicked and the gas lamp that the pirates were using to light up the room fell to the floor, bringing forth darkness. Everybody started shouting in the pitch black room, and they started throwing an assortment of random items at Cupid, from rocks to pens. Fearing for his life, Cupid ignored the pain and shot an arrow at one of the figures, before hearing the twisting sounds caused by wood puncturing flesh.

Another one of the figures yelled out “Jeffery!” as the supposed man named Jeffery fell to the floor. Still feeling the effects of fight or flight survival instinct, Cupid took his stand and launched another arrow at the figure yelling out, and panted as that figure’s body fell on the floor, with his life being sucked out by the scarlet fluid bleeding out of the arrow wound. As Cupid focused his attention to the last remaining grave robber, as the person cried out for mercy. “No! Please don’t kill me, I’m just an archeologist. I can prove it, I have a badge!”, as Cupid’s body came to a halt and his mind started piecing everything together..

Cupid managed to a stammer out a couple of words in light of the new revelation, although he still tried to keep his guard up, in case it was a ruse. “Wha-what are you talking about? Aren’t you a pirate crew?”, as Cupid dropped his bow to the floor, feeling the effects of the previous battering he got from the group of archeologists. Cupid was feeling exhausted both physically and mentally, before the archeologist started talking again, “Me, Jeffery, Finn, and Linda; we were sent by the Rubeck Archeological Association to uncover more about the origins of this ziggurat, and we were making steady progress, until you showed up..”

Cupid could only manage to mutter out “I’m so sorry” before grabbing his bow and running towards the light at the exit of the structure. At first, he felt incredibly guilty, having just killed three innocent civilians. However, he redirected these feelings against his commanding officer, as he misled him into believing that the archeologists were merely a group of grave robbers, and that they were dangerous. Cupid felt betrayed and used, and he began to wonder whether is was just a specific, lone officer that was corrupt or if the entire Revolutionary Army was built on false premises. Thoughts began rushing into his head, and he wondered why his officer would lie to him in the first place. Cupid wanted answers, but he wasn’t sure that anybody would actually tell him anything he wanted to hear. One thing that Cupid knew for sure was that his life was never going to be the same again..

Cupid walked towards the dock, before looking above, at the dark blue sky dotted with bright, yellow stars. The view of the stars were beautiful, especially compared to the otherwise dull, sandy landscape of Lubeck Isand. Cupid had been pondering about morality for most of the day, especially in context with the Revolutionary Army. He would be forever grateful for them, as they were the ones who cared enough about Cupid to rescue and take him in when nobody else would. However, Cupid started having second thoughts about not returning to Skypeia, to be with his parents. There was nothing more Cupid wanted than to have some of his mom’s comforting spicy goose soup and fall asleep on his king sized, fluffy bed.

Feeling defeated and crushed by the world, Cupid drudgingly entered the medium sized ordinary looking vessel that the North Blue Revolutionaries called their “base of operations”. A couple of Revolutionary Army soldiers noticed his return and tried to call Cupid over to them, but he simply waved at them before returning to his quarters deep within the ship. Cupid wanted to get a good night’s rest before making any drastic, stupid decisions. He pushed the door open and lied down on the bed. The bed was stiff and the room was an odd mixture of chilly and moist, but he did’t mind too much, it was very different from the room he had as a child, but it was much better than where he had slept in Saboady. However, he decided to bury those memories on more and fall asleep, at least until he was woken up from his almost-asleep phase by loud knocking on his door.

Upon hearing the loud knocking on his door, Cupid threw his pillow over his head, before shouting “Go away! I’m trying to get some sleep here, damn it!”. Unfortunately, the person was persistent and opened the door by force, breaking and dislodging the pathetic lock. A heavyset, dark-toned man came into Cupid’s room, and Cupid recognized him as Marlo, a Revolutionary Army foot soldier. He had talked to Marlo a couple of times before, but they were nowhere close enough to call each other a friend of some sort. Cupid really wanted nothing more than for Marlo to go and leave him alone, he just wanted to be alone in his room. However, it seemed as though the fellow Revolutionary Army soldier was not going to leave without talking to Cupid first.

Marlo asked Cupid “So, what’s up? How did your mission go?”. Cupid slowly arose from his previous position, before adjusting himself so that he was sitting on his bed, looking at Marlo. Cupid told Marlo, “Honestly, it was just horrible. I did something really terrible, and I’m not sure how, or why it happened.” Cupid could see Marlo tensing up slightly, but he did not think much of it. Marlo told Cupid “Well, if you ever need anybody to talk to, then I’m always here”, before sitting on a chair on the far corner the room. Cupid loudly exhaled for a moment, before sharing his own thoughts to Marlo “I feel like I don’t really want to be a Revolutionary anymore, I just want to go home."

Marlo’s eyes twitched slightly, although Cupid did not see it since he was staring at the floor at the moment. The older, larger man broke the awkward silence by saying “So it went that bad, huh?”, only for Cupid to glance at Marlo before nodding slightly. Marlo spoke again, with a soothing voice, “You should get some rest, seems like it’s been a long day for you”, before leaving the Cupid to his own devices in his room. Cupid decided to heed Marlo's advice and fell asleep shortly after Marlo left. The lock was broken, but Cupid did not have the strength to try to fix it, and all he saw was a faint glimpse of his childhood before darkness sunk in.

Cupid woke up to red, a blood-stained shade of red that rang throughout Cupid’s head. All that Cupid saw through the blood was a large man, one carrying his limp body in the darkness. Cupid felt so defeated and useless that he did not even bother to try to fight back, if tonight was the end of his story, then Cupid would not have been too sad, as he saw it as a fitting end for a murderer like him. Cupid was carried into a dark room at the bottom of the ship, and he was quickly encircled by a number of Revolutionary soldiers, some of whom that Cupid could recognize. In the distance, he could see Marlo standing firm in the shadows, and Cupid quickly realized that he had been betrayed.

Cupid did not have the courage to look up, at the people who were presumably planning on executing him. He kept his head down low, staring at the wooden floor, wincing every time a drop of blood landed on the floor. There were deep blood stains on the floor, ones that were visible even though somebody had tried to clean it. The more and more Cupid realized that this was going to be his end, the further he fell into despair. While Cupid was quietly accepting his fate, the others began to discuss amongst themselves, “I think we should just let him go home, isn’t he just a boy anyway?”, one said. However, another soldier quickly brought up a counterpoint, “He’s the one we sent out to the Ziggurat, we can’t risk letting him go, our heads would roll if word got out”. Unfortunately for Cupid, everybody in the room seemed to be in agreement that there was no way around it, Cupid had to die.

Cupid heard footsteps, with the wood painfully creaking in tune with each one. Once the footsteps stopped, Cupid heard a drawer open, before the footsteps resumed, but this time, they were getting closer. As the soldier reloaded the rifle, Cupid decided to close his eyes and accept his fate. He murmured a silent prayer as the quiet noise came to a halt. Cupid heard a deafeningly loud gunshot, and then another, then another. However, Cupid’s body was not riddled with bullets like he had expected it to, but he was still too frightened to look up.

Only silence followed the series of gunshots, until Cupid felt a large, sun-kissed hand placed on his shoulders. Cupid heard a familiar voice speak to him, saying “It’s okay now, you’re safe, you just need to grab whatever you can carry and leave the island as soon as you can.” It was not long until Cupid came into realization that it was Marlo who was speaking to him. Cupid was in disbelief, and he finally received the courage to look up, before noticing that there were 4 bodies lying on the floor, all with gunshot wounds. Marlo had killed all of them just to save Cupid, and he could not comprehend why Marlo had given up so much just to rescue a murderer like him.

Marlo helped Cupid get up, and Cupid started tearing up in response. He thought for sure that this was the end of his story, but it seems as though luck had smiled upon him this day. Cupid wanted to thank Marlo so badly, but no words could come out of Cupid’s throat. Marlo left the room shortly after, and Cupid followed. However, the two separated when Cupid went to his room. Once Cupid arrived at his room, he pocketed a number of personal belongings and grabbed his bow & arrow before leaving. Cupid was able to get off the boat with no problem, but it wasn’t long after he left that he realized that the ship was on fire. This was the end of Cupid’s time as a member of the Revolutionary Army, and he did not know what awaited him in the future..

It was pitch dark outside, with only the occasional star shining down on the barren wasteland that was the Rubeck Desert. Cupid had ran as far away from the harbour as he could, but his feet eventually gave in to the exhaustion that was hounding both his mind and body. So much had happened in the last twenty four hours, it felt surreal in a way that almost made Cupid feel sick to the stomach. It was very chilly outside, a stark contrast compared to the dry heat that swelled up the island during the day. In a way, it seemed like a metaphor for his life, akin to how he felt like he was suffocating under his parents back in Skypeia, but once he had left, only isolation and the bitter cold awaited him.

Cupid wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do after this. Getting to Skypeia would be an incredibly difficult task for a weak person like him, especially one that was alone. After pondering upon his options for a while, Cupid came to the conclusion that In order to survive in this harsh, unforgiving world, he had to become stronger. However, Cupid's resolve began hastily crumbling quickly, as Cupid started tearing up at his prospects of becoming somebody in this world. Cupid came into realization. That he was more likely to die in this desert than he was to become anybody worth noting. However, rather than feeling sorry for himself, Cupid felt anger pulsing through his body, and this frustration towards the world forced his body to get up again.

Cupid felt determination swelling up, coursing through his body. The pain pulsing through his legs slowly relinquished its grip, as Cupid’s steps became more and more steady. He did not want to run anymore, he had spent the last few years of his life running from something, be it his parents or slave capturers. Cupid wanted to stand firm, regardless of what was in front of him. The cold winds shifted the sands through the desert, and Cupid tried his best to cover his eyes whenever a gale of wind blew past by him. It was still very freezing cold, but Cupid persevered through the weather, taking steady yet large steps towards the direction of the town.

After around half an hour later, Cupid could finally see the town. It was still dark outside, and it seemed as though there was nobody outside. As Cupid cautiously entered the town, he set his gaze towards the harbour. The Revolutionary boat was no longer there, although Cupid noticed that a part of the dock was charred and very vulnerable. Cupid sat down on the dock, and watched as the sun started rising from beyond the horizon. As Cupid admired the beauty of the sunrise upon the dark blue ocean, he heard somebody walking towards his direction. He tensed himself in preparation for a possible battle, and slowly turned towards the town. Cupid saw two men in uniform heading towards him, with swords drawn. From the insignias of the two men, Cupid figured out that they were members of the Rubeck Royal Guard.

Cupid let out a forced smile and asked the two men “Beautiful morning isn’t it? What can I do for ya?”. However, Cupid’s attempts to be friendly were only met with a sharp gaze and cold silence. The silence persisted until the taller man finally spoke up “As you may know, somebody set fire to a boat docked in the harbour last night. Do you think you could give us any information in regards to who did this?”. Cupid responded to the man after a brief pause “Well, I can’t tell you exactly who did it, but I can tell who didn’t do it, and I can safely say that I had nothing to do with a boat fire or anything else in that matter”.

“I see, but one more thing: we found somebody who survived the boat fire, and that person told us that you may know the identity of the person who started the fire. We insist that you come with us to the station to talk with the person” the taller soldier told to Cupid, emphasizing the “insist” part to get the message across, that Cupid has no choice in regards to the matter. Cupid only stared at the two men, before they started slowly walking towards him. However, they only managed to take two steps towards Cupid, as their lifeless bodies fell down onto the cold, charred wood of the harbour on their third step. Nobody was going to stop Cupid from being a free man, no soldier, no regiment, and no damn army either.