A warm, sunny day greeted Ega as he opened his eyes. He looked around the grassy field, watching it sway with the passing breeze. The scene before him was from a special place and time, ripped directly from his memories.

  He knew it was a dream, but he didn’t mind being in this place, where, for the few moments in his life, Ega could find some semblance of peace. As another breeze passed by, he closed his eyes, wanting to savor the moment, but what was a nice breeze suddenly swirled into a scorching hot gust of wind.

  He opened his eyes to a black sky, a starless sky made only of the darkest ink imaginable. But light still illuminated in the form of a raging fire, burning towns, cities, and scattering all of their remains as ashes into the air.

  The scattered ashes began to twist in the endless darkness, forming horrendous creatures. They were formless, with mouths and eyes hanging haphazardly all over their bodies. They ranged from the size of dogs to humans to even the fabled dragons.

  They began to charge at him, no, past him, and all he could do was shut his eyes and stand paralyzed as the monsters passed by. Once they were gone, Ega opened his eyes again only to be greeted by an even more revolting sight, the body of the dead Old God.

  In the form of a human, its giant body lay before him, blood spilling from the lacerations all across its body. The guardian Yolu had fallen, leaving the great kingdom of Lanier exposed to the Outers.

  Screams and yells began to pierce Ega’s ears as the Outers began to wreak havoc. All he could do was close his eyes, and try his best to silence the sounds, until finally, he woke up.

  His eyes darted around in a panic as they shot open, but seeing a crumbling roof dotted with holes, he started to calm down. Pressing his arm against his eyes, he heaved out a long sigh. Ever since he fused together with a piece of the Old God Yolu, he had started to receive visions of the future, a future where their kingdom would be consumed by the Outers.

  Some great calamity would befall upon them, but Ega knew how to change the course of that uncertain future. He needed to bring back their Old God once more.

  Mithril Blood is the most important part of the Old Gods. It is where their divinity came from, how they are able to manipulate the world at will and where their power to fend off the Outers derived from. The flesh and bones only served as a vessel, so all Ega needed to do was gather up enough blood and the rest would eventually follow.

  Hearing a strange clanging sound, Ega forced himself upright to access the situation better. Ella was sitting by a fire with a pot hanging over it in a similar fashion to when he was cooking a stew. She had a small knife in hand, gingerly wielding it as she tried to cut up some meat, carrots, and potatoes.

  Wondering where she had even got that, Ega reached for his belt only to feel the soul sack missing. All the rustling alerted Ella of Ega’s now awake state. She turned to him only to turn back at the knife and cutting board.

  “I… um…” Her face flushed with embarrassment and shame. She braced herself for Ega to yell at her or scold her for what she was doing, but he didn’t seem to care that much.

  “Not a bad try. Here, let me show you how to do it.” Taking the knife away from Ella, he began to cut the carrots and potatoes, purposely slowing himself down for her to watch.

  Despite only having watched Ega cook the stew once, she got a good amount of the steps completed. Setting up the pot and fire was already half the battle. Throwing the meat into the pot first, he looked over at Ella.

  “Are you really hungry?”

  She weakly nodded her head, not wanting to seem too greedy.

  “Here, let me get you something to chew on for the meantime.” Taking the soul sack off to the side, he imagined the jerky that he had placed in there a while ago and pulled it out. Handing it to Ella, he continued cooking, giving a few guiding words here and there to explain what he was doing.

  She watched intently, wanting to remember every step so she could replicate them when the time came. Ega couldn’t help but smile, noticing her intense gaze, knowing that everything he was saying was getting through to her.

  A few minutes before the stew finished, Ega asked, “How’d you even drag us here in the first place? Was anyone chasing you?”

  Ella shook her head, “Guards came after… They ran after them, so no one went after us.”

  “I see…” They had probably started to investigate the roaring flames and taken care of the remainder of Vulf’s gang. After seeing them so disorganized and with Vulf dead, they probably took the opportunity to take back control of their town.

  Once the stew finished cooking, Ega began to pour both of them a bowl, finding himself pouring Ella more scoops of stew as they ate. Her face lit up the same as last time, and Ega couldn’t help but grin as he watched her eat.

  As they finished, Ega began to search for a faucet. Even though they were in the slums, the aqueducts still carried water to each of the houses, a sign that this area used to be something more in the past. Although it was slow, probably from the fact that they were eroded, it was enough for him to wash all the bowls, pots, and even all the blood and grime off his body.

  He also gave Ella a towel to wipe herself down. Though they weren’t looking their best, both of them were presentable at the very least. After putting everything away in his soul sack and getting into a new change of clothes away from Ella’s view, Ega started to leave.

  Ella quickly trailed behind him. Seeing this, he turned back to face her.

  “What?” He was wearing a confused expression. “You’re free now, no need to keep following me kid.”

  “But, can I—”

  “No.” His voice was stern. This was where their relationship ended, at least, he was trying to end it here.

  “Please… I… I don’t have…” Ella’s voice began to shake and tears began to well up in her eyes. She lowered her gaze, not wanting Ega to see her crumbling expression.

  ‘Anywhere else to go.’ He internally finished the sentence for her.

  Ega couldn’t help but let out a long sigh as memories of his younger days were coming back to him. He was like Ella, nowhere else to go but back into the slums where he’d probably end up dead at the end of some alleyway. If it wasn’t for his master, he would have never made it this far.

  “Can’t you use me?” It was a desperate plea at this point. “Don’t I have some special soul that you can take from me once I get older? I heard Vulf talking about it so can’t you keep me around for—”

  “Ella.” His voice stopped her from speaking further. Crouching down, he tried to meet her eyes, only for her to keep her gaze on the ground.

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  “Just what do you think you are? You’re not some tool for me to use nor are you some cattle for me to raise only to slaughter once you're useful. Do you know what you are?”

  “A kid?” She forced out the words between her tears and sniffles.

  “A human Ella. You’re a human being no matter if your soul is blessed or if you’re just a kid. Can you understand that?”

  Tears were dripping down her face as he weakly nodded her head. She tried to wipe them with her arms, but they slipped through and pattered the dry ground.

  “And about you coming along with me, do you know what I'm doing? The types of shi— stuff that I get into? I cannot guarantee your safety. Hell, I’ll tell you this right now, when it comes down to it, I will give up your neck for mine, and you still want to come along with me?”

  She nodded her head, and met his gaze with teary eyes. Still, through all those tears, the defiant fire in her eyes was burning bright. Seeing this, Ega couldn’t help but click his tongue and let out another long sigh. Standing up, he looked around for a second, contemplating what to do next. After a few seconds, he found his words.

  “Fine.”

  He turned back to witness Ella’s face light up through the sniffling and tears. “Th-thank… you…”

  “Don’t thank me for dragging you closer to your death.” He crouched down, helping wipe her tears away.

  Once Ella had stopped crying and pieced herself back together, Ega asked, “Are you okay now?”

  She weakly nodded her head in response. Standing up again, he stuck his hand out at Ella. For a few seconds, she just stared at it, unsure of what he was doing.

  “Come on, take my hand. I don’t want you getting lost now.”

  After looking up at Ega, she grabbed his hand only to flick back, not expecting his hands to be so rough. All the clauses were prickly, but they didn’t hurt her at the very least.

  “Ah, right. Don’t worry, my hands are just a little rough, I won’t—”

  Before he could even finish, she grabbed a hold of his hand, tightly this time. Ella looked up to him again, and seeing this, he decided it was time to get out of the slums.

  He couldn’t help but wonder if this was what his master had felt when he had first taken him in. The sense of responsibility, the burden of it. He wondered if she’d survive till the end of his journey. Even though she was still a kid, possessing a blessed soul gave her an edge, but even that was a double-edged sword.

  There were many uncertainties surrounding it too, such as which Old God had even blessed her soul in the first place. There were multiple different kingdoms, each with their own guardian. He wondered what powers Ella possessed, hoping it was something useful for her own sake.

  Once the two of them left the slums, Ega took notice of all the commotion going around. The large fire in the slums, Vulf’s gang being brought to justice, and the destroyed tavern. Each time those incidents were brought up, so was “Ega the Blood Hunter.”

  Thankfully, his face has yet to be attached to that name and title, letting him move through the streets in peace. There wasn’t anything that really made him stand out from other people anyways. Ega looked like any other vagrant you’d find on the street.

  Although Ega paid the conversations no mind, Ella couldn’t help but tune into them and look over to him every time she heard his name.

  “Stop,” Ega held the top of Ella’s head to keep her from darting her gaze back and forth,

  “you’re making it too obvious.”

  he let go after getting his message across. After a few minutes, they had finally arrived at their destination, a large three story building which served at the center of most commerce, The Guild.

  Their symbol of a map and sword hung above the wide wooden gate. Even though they were outside, they could still hear the rumbling of commotion from the inside. Ella stood stunned for a second, admiring the sheer size of the building.

  Stepping inside, there were close to a hundred people just in the lobby either sitting around and talking, making deals, looking at requests, or searching for a group to be with.

  Ega joined those scouring the large board of pinned requests, taking a look at the map of the kingdom of Lanier before focusing entirely on the requests. He hovered his finger randomly around the map until he began to feel a strange pulling feeling.

  Ever since he had fused with a part of the Old God Yolu, he had always had this pulling feeling which always led him to his next target. He was afraid that it would draw him towards someone he had no chance in beating, but in the nearly two years of hunting, that had yet to occur.

  As Ega moved his finger randomly around the map, he finally found the area of his next target, the place where the pulling sensation was the strongest. It was the large city of Ashier located more centrally in Lanier.

  “Is… that where we’re going?” Despite her short stature, Ella could see what Ega was pointing at.

  “Have you ever been to Ashier?”

  Ella shook her head. “I’ve never been outside of here.”

  “Well, guess you’re going to be going on your first adventure pretty soon.”

  There was a hint of excitement in her face as Ega told her that. Turning toward the board of requests, he searched for those with their destination being Ashier, or at the least, passing by it. After sweeping his gaze across the hundreds of pinned papers, he finally found one.

  It was a protection request from a merchant that only paid a few copper coins, but Ega couldn’t care less about the money. Taking it off the board, he turned toward the receptionist desk and approached a woman standing on the other side.

  “I’d like to take on this request please.” Ega handed her the paper and his identification tag.

  “Alright.” She looked at the request and then back at Ega. She took notice of Ega’s features, concluding that he was at the very least, somewhat capable. “If I could have the names of the people in your party.”

  “Party of two, Ega and Ella.”

  The receptionist’s eyes suddenly grew wide.

  “Not that Ega.” He tried to laugh it off. “We just have the same name. It really does get me into a lot of trouble.”

  “Oh…” She nervously laughed, noticing how lustrous his identification tag was. “I see, my apologies. And what is your relationship with that child if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “Ella? She’s my… daughter.” The fact that they were still holding hands was doing them well.

  “I see, let me send a message to the client and see if they’ll meet you. You can wait here for a bit and I’ll get back to you in about ten minutes.”

  “Thank you.”

  Walking towards a seating area in the lobby, he sat down to wait for the client. Ella had a strange expression, but Ega didn’t seem to notice.

  “Have you ever been in this building?”

  Ella shook her head.

  “Well, just take it all in. It’s a good place to be familiar with, and who knows, maybe you’ll learn something.”

  Though she couldn’t understand his gibberish, Ella paid close attention to her surroundings. Ega noticed the look in her eyes, a strange look that seemed like it could pierce through anything.

  After a bit of waiting, their client had finally arrived, guided by the receptionist from earlier. It was an older looking man with mostly gray hairs and wrinkles on his face, but he still had the strength in his body to be a merchant.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you. You must be Ega, the ‘not Blood Hunter’ one?” The man reached out for a handshake.

  “That’s correct, and you are?” Ega returned the gesture.

  “Rayland, it's a pleasure.” Just by handshake, he could tell that Ega was an extremely capable person.

  After all of his years as a merchant, he knew how to read people in an instant.

  “But, will it really be okay for you? I don’t have much to pay for a man of your caliber.” Rayland wasn’t an idiot, he knew who Ega was.

  “Don’t worry about it, we just need a ride to Ashier. I don’t really care about the money.”

  “Alright, then I guess it's a deal. We’ll set off tomorrow morning, so let's meet outside of The Guild at sunrise.”

  “Understood.”

  Rayland couldn’t help but smile. “Still can’t believe I’m going to be traveling with a living legend,” he murmured as he left through the wooden gate.

  Turning back to Ella, Ega finally took notice of something. Her clothes. Even after all this time, she was still wrapping herself in that oversized coat.

  “Hey, Ella, why don’t we get you some proper clothes before we depart for Ashier?”