“This is stupid.” Marco whispered. “It's totally not going to work.”

  “Just bear with me.” Hadwyn grunted. He and Marco were perched atop a tree. Its thick structure allowed the flamingan to roost. It could most certainly hold two people.

  At least, he hoped so.

  Marco squinted. “I still don’t understand. Can you explain it to me one more time?”

  Hadwyn sighed. “Lars claims he can do impressions. He’s gonna do an impression of you, then throw his voice into the forest somewhere to draw out Teresa.”

  Marco looked at Hadwyn with disappointment. “Man, Teresa was really wrong about you.”

  Hadwyn put down his hands, which had been cupped over his eyes to see through the sunlight. “What? What did she see about me?”

  “She said you were the number one threat, man.” Marco replied. “She feared you the most.”

  “Why?”

  “She said she went to school with you.”

  Suddenly, Hadwyn recalled the conversion he had overheard between Peter and Teresa, mentioning his avidity for historical knowledge and his genius-like expertise.”

  “I know what you’re thinking.” Marco said. “That's what makes a dumbass fall for a girl. They say whatever shit they can to seem good.” He waved his hand. “Never again.”

  Hadwyn didn’t want to question Marco’s dating laments. But the compliments made him feel good, and whether or not Teresa had been planning to tell him to his face didn’t really matter to him.

  Marco rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He gazed down in the forest. He looked at the sun.

  “Thirty minutes til’.” He said confidently.

  “How can you tell?” Hadwyn asked.

  Marco’s smile said everything.

  “Sungazer.” Hadwyn said in disbelief.

  “Shut up.” Marco said, hiding his pride. “I can only use it twice a day.”

  “You have Sungazer.” Hadwyn said with a tinge of jealousy. “That’s a big deal.”

  Marco shrugged.

  “Where’d you even get it?” Hadwyn questioned.

  “Bought it.”

  “Bought it?” Hadwyn echoed. He could tell Marco was lying. “Sungazer is… one of the most sought after abilities ever.”

  Marco grunted. “Can I throw my voice?”

  “Not yet.” Hadwyn said smartly. “I damn well your broke ass can’t afford it.”

  Marco bit his upper lip. “Why do you care so much?”

  “Cause,” Hadwyn said, “You don’t just go to a shop to buy Sungazer. If a shop sold sungazer, it would either have already been robbed, or, It’s the most well protected shop in the world.”

  “Fine.” Marco spat. “I got it from Akoto.”

  Hadwyn’s eyes widened. “Akoto? Then where did he get it from?”

  Marco waved his hand, making sure to keep his other one gripping the tree branches. “I don’t know! Why don’t you ask him?”

  “Then why’d he give it to you?”

  “He broke a rule.” Marco said. “Stayed out too long. He told me he would give me Sungazer if I took his penalty for him.”

  “And you believed him?”

  Marco bit his lip. “I didn’t believe him, per say. I was just interested.”

  Hadwyn looked back towards the sun. They had only spent a few minutes talking, thankfully.

  “Wait for the signal from Ruby, Lars and Sophia.”

  {Hadwyn, we’ve spotted her!} Ruby’s voice landed.

  Hadwyn threw his voice back. {Yes. We’re here.}

  {Tell Marco to call out. My damn throat is starting to hurt from this.}

  Hadwyn turned to Marco. “Now.”

  {Teresa! They’re after me!} Marco threw. {Why the hell did you send me there!?}

  {Hadwyn! She’s coming out!}

  Hadwyn saw something glint.

  “Spear!”

  Marco was quick. Hadwyn wasn’t. The pike tore through his shoulder.

  {She’s out in the open! Hadwyn get down here!}

  Hadwyn hung by his legs from the tree. Marco slid down, sticking out his arm out to reach for his friend.

  Hadwyn ignored his attempt to rescue him.

  “Grab my hand!” Marco yelled. The pain was intense, but quickly subsided.

  Hadwyn, again ignored him.

  “Hadwyn!” He yelled. “You’re an idiot if you think you can survive!”

  “I am not planning to tank the fall!” Hadwyn barked. I’m gonna try and get down slowly. Get out of here before you get speared too!”

  Marco slid down the tree. Hadwyn grimly went through his options.

  I can land on the branches below.

  He took a deep breath. I can do it. I can do it. I can-

  Suddenly, the tree branch gave away without a warning, and he began to plummet.

  He briefly caught glimpse of Marco’s horrified face before everything went black.

  “Here we go again…”

  Hadwyn raised his head. He was on the forest floor, completely unscathed.

  “Marco!” He called, while getting up. “I’m fine! Are you okay?!”

  “Marco isn’t here.”

  “Who said that?” Hadwyn asked, caught off guard.

  “Me.”

  Hadwyn turned around to come face to face with a blurring figure. It’s features are hidden in rapid vibration.

  Hadwyn stumbled backward. “Who are you?”

  “Whatever you want me to be.” The thing replied.

  “What are you?”

  “Hmm… What am I? Let’s say I’m a benevolent god.”

  “A god…?” Hadwyn’s was suddenly parched. “W-which one?”

  The thing moved some limbs around. Exactly what type of appendages or or how many there were, Hadwyn couldn’t tell, but what he could tell was that the entity was inspecting itself.

  “I… I don’t really know. Bits and pieces of me are missing. Probably locked away or launched into the reaches of heavenly space…”

  Hadwyn stood up straight. “Well, what do you want with me?” He had also noticed, to his dismay, that the forest was quiet. Impossibly quiet. No birds chirping, no wind, nothing.

  “I don’t really remember.” The thing moved some sort of arm-appendage to what Hadwyn assumed was its head. “I did save you though, so think of this as a… divine intervention.”

  “Where am I?” Hadwyn said, beginning to panic. “Where are all the… birds? And where are all my friends? Did you kill them!?”

  Suddenly, a face appeared on the creature.

  A smiling face.

  The face quickly disappeared.

  “I will… return you to your world.” The creature said. “If you need me… just call out.”

  Hadwyn blinked, and suddenly was overcome with vertigo. He was on his back looking up at the forest. He blinked again.

  Suddenly, the sound of boots hitting the ground caused him to remember exactly where he was and what he was doing. “Holy shit!” Marco yelled, running toward Hadwyn. “How the hell did you survive that?”

  “You won’t believe me.” Hadwn said solemnly.

  “Try me.”

  Suddenly, before Hadwyn could answer, Ruby’s voice rang out. {Hadwyn! We need you! Up Ahead!}

  “You go back to Martin now.” Hadwyn said.

  “What about-”

  “I’ll tell you later. We need to clutch this game.”

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  Marco nodded and took off in the direction of the base. Hadwyn ran the opposite way, further into the forest.

  He eventually came into the clearing. Ruby was in combat with Akoto, and Teresa was fighting Lars and Sophia.

  A giant pond was between them. Hadwyn cursed and began to run along the circumference of the pond.

  Teresa managed to catch sight of him and immediately kicked Lars into the pond.

  “Freeze over!” She yelled, sticking out her hand. Immediately, a sheet of ice came over the pond.

  Lars slammed his hands against it in desperation.

  Hadwyn was shocked Teresa would do such a thing, but then again, Aldarians were different from anivors, most of whom, even specially trained divers, can’t hold their breath for more than three minutes.

  Aldarians could hold their breath for much longer. Around 12-15 minutes, and that was without practice. Some Aldarians could hold their breath for hours, or even be able to breathe underwater. So Hadwyn wasn’t too worried about Lars.

  Hadwyn smirked and jumped from shore to the sheet that Teresa had created. He ran over Lars, who was still punching the ice, trying to break free. He cringed. Not now, Sophia can’t fight her alone. Lars, as if reading his mind, gave up and sunk to the bottom.

  Sophia was now the lone target of Teresa. She swung at Teresa, who attempted to block, but was knocked back a couple of meters into a tree, bouncing off then landing in a shallow part of the pond. She gasped and looked shocked that Sophia had managed to hit her so incredibly hard.

  Sophia saw Teresa tank her punch and began to freak out, retreating to Ruby.

  Ruby was seeming to have the upper hand in the fight. Akoto was pretty average all around. Which meant he was essentially a jack of all traits.

  Teresa launched herself from her origin, but Hadwyn's shoulder slammed her into another tree.

  She got up. “Ahh, it's you!”

  “Damn right.” Hadwyn said, leveling his sword at Teresa. “Consider this a rematch.”

  Hitbox!

  Hadwyn charged at her.

  He swung his sword in a sideways arc. He had feigned a downward arc to get her to guard herself against such, only to change it at the last second. By far the most basic move of swordplay, and melee weapons in general, but it was well known for a reason; It was effective.

  With Teresa being caught off guard, he responded with a sweeping kick. Teresa’s face contorted into a repulsive one upon seeing her trick being used against her. Anivors couldn’t do this, even if they could, they wouldn’t want to anyways. Another perk of being Aldarian.

  Hadwyn had a disturbing feeling. Is this what being Loyd feels like? Gods… No wonder.

  Hadwyn didn’t fight often, at least, before his enrollment in the AFHA, let alone, against another aldarian, but he watched a lot of fights.

  Aldarian fights lasted a lot longer than normal fights, which was why they were so popular, even among the non-aldarian communities. For an anivor, getting stabbed one or twice would get you killed. For an Aldarian, it was much harder. Unless their Gen was down.

  Gen was basically magic defense in any aldarian. If an aldarian isn’t aware they are in danger. Their gen is weak or off. Gen is lowest in times of comfort or happiness.

  Fearful people often have the highest Gen. But gen is more than just awareness, it protects you, much like the phantom dimensional wolves.

  Teresa backflipped, which caused Hadwyn to clench his teeth. What was with the backflips? He’d seen at least one backflip in any SVS. Maybe it annoyed him because he could never quite master it.

  Whatever the case, Teresa twirled in the air with her sword out, creating a complicated weaving of her blade that Hadwyn couldn’t dodge. He felt the skin on his chest being ripped off.

  Shit!

  Hadwyn stumbled backward. Blood oozed from various slits in his torso.

  Teresa landed on a squat. When she saw Hadwyn, her face became twisted with regret from the brutality of the attack.

  Hadwyn pointed his sword at her.

  She leveled hers back at him, looking concerned.

  “Hadwyn…” She said, “We can do this again…”

  Hadwyn stared at her.

  Last ditch effort. It had to work.

  “Maximum hitbox.” He said.

  Teresa looked dumbfounded.

  Hadwyn swung his arm as hard as he could, sucker punching Teresa.

  He felt his fist connect with her face from ten feet away.

  She twisted backwards and fell over. Immediately Hadwyn grabbed her sword and pointed both at her back.

  “Surrender.” He croaked.

  She didn’t respond. She simply looked at him in astonishment.

  Hadwyn gritted his teeth. “Sophia!”

  Sophia ran forward to pin down Teresa. Hadwyn immediately stumbled over to the ice.

  {Ruby!} He voiced. {Trade places! Free Lars!}

  Ruby looked at him with concern, but followed his orders. She elbowed Akoto hard enough to make him gasp, then she darted off to the ice.

  When Akoto recovered, he immediately made a beeline straight for Sophia and Teresa. But Hadwyn ran to stop him.

  Suddenly, a phantom mass hit his leg. At the same time, Akoto tripped, cursing. The mild mannered Akoto face planted into moist sand. He got up.

  Hadwyn was his with a second wave of vertigo. His leg began to feel numb.

  C’mon! Let this damn game be over!

  Akoto marched towards him with his sword drawn.

  Hadwyn threw away his. It was a cheap traveler’s sword that dulled and dented easily. It stuck into the sand. He trudged towards Akoto, pulling out his baton.

  Akoto eyed the baton with a certain underestimation. Truth be told, Hadwyn was much more skilled with a baton than with a longsword. He didn’t think Akoto knew this, and that was what he was counting on.

  Akoto launched himself at Hadwyn.

  Hitbox minimum! He thought.

  Akoto drove his blade into Hadwyn.

  Suddenly, an arrow flew right over his shoulder.

  Lars!

  It hit Akoto right between the eyes.

  Everybody froze, including Akoto. But only for a second. He flicked the arrow out of his forehead and began to engage Lars.

  Ruby came in from the side and swung her sword into Akoto’s side. Tearing off a few chunks of flesh. He grimaced and lowered his sword.

  “Say it!” Someone shouted with pained ferocity. Hadwyn looked around and realized it was him.

  Akoto planted his blade in the sand. “I surrender.”

  Everyone looked to Teresa.

  “I surrender!” She called out.

  As if perfectly timed, the whistle blew.

  Immediately, everyone began treating wounds, and Martin arrived on horseback.

  But Hadwyn was still concerned about one person

  “Wait, where's Baluk?” He asked.

  “Oh shit!” Ruby exclaimed. She turned to Teresa, who had a confused expression on her face.

  “I don’t know where he is.” Teresa announced.

  Martin wore a look of amusement. Better go find him before it gets dark. This forest gets nasty at night. All sorts of dead spirit shit.”

  Hadwyn frowned. “Spirit stuff?”

  Martin rolled his eyes. “You should know of all people. This is where your little buddies go when they become…” He made a finger twirling expression. “...Cuckoo.”

  Hadwyn froze.

  Martin grimaced. “They go here to commit suicide.” You don’t get the joke?”

  Hadwyn wasn’t even that disturbed by the fact the word suicide and joke were used in the same sentence, he immediately yelled for Baluks name.

  “BALUK!”

  Hadwyn stared at Martin, awaiting an empathetic response.

  He simply shrugged. “Your mental state is not my concern. If he wants to run away and hang himself, what am I going to do about it?”

  Hadwyn felt hate well up inside him. Even more so than his contempt for Loyd.

  Everyone began spreading out to look for him.

  Eventually, It became so dark, that they almost could not find their way home.

  Eventually, Martin came around from his insensitivity to address the team personally.

  “I’m sorry about the way you all feel. We’ll send a search party to find him tomorrow." He said. But Hadwyn saw through the thinness of his words.

  “Fuck you.” Marco hissed under his breath. Martin glanced at him for a just brief second. Hadwyn wasn’t sure whether he heard Marco’s remark or not, but Martin took his leave.

  “You’re all dismissed. Go to bed and get a good rest, Peter will be back. I am sure we can sort something out.”

  Hadwyn sat on his bed overcome with hate. He hated himself for going early, when he should have been outside, searching for his peer. And he hated Peter for drilling the idea of fighting against your fellow man into the head of all his trainees.

  But then he thought about it some more and knew that Peter wasn’t to blame for any of this. No. He thought. Peter taught me how to fight others like myself, and even kill them, but he never even attempted to suggest that we disregard life, like the snap of our fingers. He thought. If anything, If Peter were here right now, he would be looking for Baluk himself. And if he weren’t, out of his duty and value to the government and others, not his own life, he would be staying, but at least agreeing with the fact that hate and violence were not the same thing.

  Yes.

  “Hatred and violence are not one and the same, like many would like to point out, that violence never solves anything, but it does. Violence solves many things. What doesn’t ever solve anything, is hate.”

  Fear yourself the most. You cannot stop yourself if you stray from the right path. Allow yourself to hate for brief moments, so that you have a point of reference. - Theodore

  May my words be repeated by others. I do not own them, and may not one hog wisdom to themselves. - The Halonar