Midnight Vessels: Book 0 - Aster

The following morning, as the sky began to turn a pale blue that gave everything in view a faint glow, Alan returned home exhausted from walking and standing all night. Once inside, instead of the usual quiet homie smell he's greeted by the smell of bacon and

eggs being cooked and his nephews playing in the living room.

"Oh, welcome home. I hope you don't mind me using whatever you had on hand." Alice calls out without looking back as she continues to cook breakfast.

"Who am I to say no to your cooking? It's not every day I get to enjoy a home cooked meal, especially from my darling cousin." Alan says with a playful tone as he flops onto the couch.

"I know my wife is perfect, so you better not be gunning for her." Jason comments as he enters the room from the bedroom. "You

lost your chance when you left the village. Besides Kendall would kick your ass, even after all these years." He adds as they both laugh.

"Jackson, if you start bragging about me all over town again, I'm going to stop cooking food for you while we're here..." Alice

comments as she starts setting the table, her tone playful but firm.

Which causes Jackson to let out a nervous chuckle, knowing she's not kidding. "I'll keep that in mind sweetie." He adds as he

kisses her cheek, in an attempt to appease her.

Within minutes the table is set and covered with plates of food. The scent of freshly fried bacon and various forms of cooked eggs fill the air, with slices of bread, jam, and butter set in the center of the table for everyone to reach. Quickly followed by the sounds of

blissful eating, conversation, and laughter.

Once everyone was finished eating Alice and the boys worked to clear the table and wash the dishes. While Alan and Jackson spoke

about recent events and catching up briefly.

"You're telling me the village is harboring another deserter? Two at that…" Alan asks with a hint of worry on his tone. "Must be

the light and fire Vessels then."

"How'd you know?" Jackson asked, surprised by Alan's deduction.

"They're the only deserters who have been missing for a few years for one. But if the rumors are to believed, they love each other. Enough to run away to avoid persecution for breaking one of the Vessel laws."

"The Vessel laws?" Aster asked suddenly, having secretly been listening. Leading Alan to look to Jackson who then looks at his

son, before standing up and walking to one of the only books on a nearby bookshelf.

"Listen closely, cause I'm only going to cover this once. Honestly, if Lyla was here, I'd ask her to tell you instead…" Jackson says, prompting Aster to nod and sit down. Awaiting his father's explanation.

Jackson takes a deep breath as he opens the book and searches for a specific page, before looking at Aster;

"The four Vessel laws are:

First, Vessels are to report themselves to the Midnight Order, so they can be conscripted into the Spiritualist corp.

Any who fail to do so will be treated like a criminal and will either be imprisoned or executed.

Second, Vessels are forbidden from being in any intimate or romantic relationships with other Vessels.

Violators will be separated or killed. Or in the event of a pregnancy, the mother and child will be executed and the father imprisoned.

Third, Vessels who desert their posts in the Spiritualist corp shall be punished based on the severity of their actions from that point on. Violators who simply hid, must prove their loyalty or be imprisoned for a minimum of 10 years; while violent violators will be executed with extreme prejudice; and

repeat offenders will be imprisoned or executed, based on the severity of every attempt made.

And finally, Vessels are to follow the commands of their human commanders and leaders, with little room for

error. Violators are to be warned, while repeat offenses will result in imprisonment or execution. Based on the severity of

the offenses." Jackson's tone as he spoke was as if each word was like poison on his lips. As if each line burned his heart

and caused him physical pain, simply from the anger and disgust he felt.

Aster sat in silence as he tried to process the information his father just told him. Slowly coming to a realization, "Does that mean

master Draco and miss Lyla are in trouble?"

"Not as long as we can keep them safe and hidden. Fortunately, Wolfsbane is far from the capital, so that and the fact that

they made it look like they went towards to mountains. The Order shouldn't be able to find them." Jackson says softly as he sits back down, after putting the book he read aloud away.

"That and there's been a lot of deserters over the last couple of years. The corp has went from 15 members to 10 or so now, I think.

But admittedly, I haven't really kept up to date on this stuff." Alan adds. "But the fact that the fire and light Vessels are still alive is good to know, they were among the more beloved Vessels. Unlike that Gil fellow…"

"Gil?" Jackson asks, before suddenly remembering something, "Oh, you mean Gilgamesh. Yeah, his powers tend to do more harm than good."

"What powers does he have?" Aster asks, who's still sitting and listening to both men speak.

"I think it's called Nether?" Alan answers. "Something to do with death and decay. But he throws his attacks around with little

concern for others."

"He's caused so much collateral damage that they made an entirely new term just for victims of the nether Vessel. They simply

just call it Gil, or having Gil." Jackson adds, "Some way to have your name put in the history books…"

"But if he's so dangerous, why not arrest him?" Aster asks.

"Doesn't hurting others break the law?"

"He doesn't do it anytime, only when he's fighting. And they have arrested him… or at least tried to." Alan answers.

"What do you mean?"

"Due to the nature of his powers, any cell or restraint is pointless. He'll just erode or decay it once he's bored of playing

along. And because of her strength and rank, they can't afford to lose him for long. Especially since just hearing that he's the one hunting you down is enough to make most people and Vessels surrender

themselves without a fight…" Alan adds.

"Is he really that strong?"

"Aside from Colonel Sawyer, as well as her predecessors, he's probably the strongest Vessel in recorded history." Jackson chimes in.

"So much so that the Order practically forces his son to go with him on missions, so that he can't fight like he normally does. As sick as that is, it worked. Death tolls during his missions have practically been cut in half."

"Fortunately, his son is also a Vessel now." Alan comments.

"He became the dark Vessel. Funnily enough, he's the first dark Vessel in recorded history to not immediately take a turn towards killing everyone they see, while his father is one of the most sinister Vessels ever to side with the Order."

"Must be something in the bloodline…" Jackson jokes quietly.

"For both of them to be so extraordinary to make some kind of record from the beginning."

"Is the dark Vessel usually bad?" Aster asks.

"Hard to say." Alice says as she sits down, after having finished the dishes with Jason's help. "It's just that something about

becoming the dark Vessel has usually made the person go insane."

"Becoming the dark Vessel? What do you mean?" Aster asks, "Aren't people born as Vessels?"

Jackson and Alice look at each other, before Jackson asked, "Did Draco and Lyla never tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Aster asks, confused by his father's question.

"Vessels are just ordinary people, who are suddenly chosen to have certain powers. The how and why isn't really known or

consistent and Vessels never really remember the moment they get

their powers, just that they have them and an understanding about how they use them." Jackson explains.

"It's also believed that if Vessels have children together, then their children will become Vessels at some point. But usually at an early age, especially if one of the parents die while they're still young." Alan adds as he gets up to get a drink. "Hence the law to kill both mother and child, when Vessels do end up with kids. Since the

child usually inherits their mother's powers, no matter how young they are."

"But why? Wouldn't just keeping an eye on them be enough?" Aster asks, his voice tinged with sadness.

"They don't want to risk a single Vessel's bloodline from getting too strong from repeatedly mixing with other Vessels. Or so

they say." Jackson adds quietly, obviously not thrilled by the subject.

Suddenly Alice claps her hands, "Alright that's enough of this talk. No sense getting ourselves down while talking about such heavy subjects for so long."

Jackson just stands up to go outside, seemingly happy to go get some fresh air after their lengthy discussion. Which starts to make Aster wonder why his dad was so affected by these subjects, as he

watches his father go outside. While Alan stood up to go lay on the couch, exhaustion from working all night and the discussion taking its toll on him.

"Go sleep in your bed, you goof" Alice says as she throws a towel at him, before adding. "That's part of the reason we got up so

early."

Alan just glances up at her before letting out a chuckle as he gets off the couch and drudges into his bedroom. The sound of him

flopping onto the mattress could be heard from the living room, as the bed creaks a bit under the force and weight. Prompting a look

between Alice and the kids, before quietly laughing to themselves.

Once they've collected themselves, they go out to join Jackson outside. The sun nearly in the center of the sky, with clouds peppered

across the sky like foam in a bath. The city slowly waking up, as the main street is beginning to bustle with the shops and stalling filling with customers. A sound completely foreign to Aster and Jason, who

are just looking around in awe as the family makes their way deeper into the city. Passing dozens of new faces and types of people, of

different colors and sizes. As well as the tall buildings, some nearly three times larger than their house back home.

They watch as several children run around, laughing and playing in the streets as carts and people move past them. Everyone

being mindful not to run into each other or get hit by a passing cart.

Occasionally seeing people walk around eating some food they bought from one of the various stalls along the road. If they hadn't just eaten, they would've surely been begging to try some of the food.

Whose scent has filled the air like a strong wind whipped around them. The scent of roasted meats and fresh fruit, with the occasional sweet scent of honeyed foods.