Yawning softly she was laying on her bed in the hotel room she booked. The bed was soft, silk velvet sheets with white ruffles on the edges. She was wearing a black and maroon dress gown that women usually wear to bed. Her body was curled up in a spooning position yet there was no one there to spoon with. Oh how it felt cold yet familiar. She was always alone, so why was this any different? Slowly she licked her lips to remember (or try to) the night of the kiss from Maars. He was always on her mind. Was this the purpose of that night? Of the kiss? Her left hand that was towards the air, was clenching the sheets, frustrated. Her right canine tooth would nibble her lower lip while she thought this. ‘I’m sure I’ll see him later today, right?’ she thought. Her brown-like eyes would turn golden honey orbs that were like mirrors. She stared towards the window now while the light shined upon them. ‘’I guess I should get up and get ready.’’ She spoke out-loud to herself since there was obviously no one there. Slowly she would roll off the bed, literally so her body plopped onto the floor. It didn’t hurt of course as the part surround the bed was all soft fluffy carpet of blood red. It truly fit the surrounding as the canopy bed was in the colors of black, maroon and designs of gold and silver. It was truly beautiful. Her eyes were half open while she would then put pressure onto the floor to get up.

Arisa walked towards the huge dresser with two cabinet-like doors to grab out some clothes. With that she would turn away and walked towards the mirror. Brushing her hair she would do rather slowly while her left hand held a large pony tail to hold up her thick hair. Her eyes looked deeper at herself, her skin, seeing it still being flawless. ‘Someday I’ll get old…’ a voice would speak in her thoughts that sounded familiar. ‘I’ll get old and wither.’ It spoke again. She’d shake her head and then looked towards the elevator door. ‘’Welp. Time to go.’’ She would say as she would then ski-dattle off. With that she pressed the button, went down and exited the hotel. Arisa didn’t get to eat before this so she would just walk towards the bathing house before the hill itself and grab something from the stalls. ‘Mmm…what sounds good?’ her thoughts would wander with food on mind. Slowly she walked by the stalls. They had people upon them, opening them. Some had fruit, some had cooked warm foods and others had drinks while some were just empty for some odd reason. Grrrr.~ Her stomach would growl. She had to wait till evening anyways, so why not get something for now? Within a minute, her stomach would smell the taste cooked foods on a stick. Slowly walking towards it she would point at some spiced chicken on a stick. ‘’I’ll have one of those please.’’ She would say as she’d grab, pay and then walked away with a bow of her head in thanks. Slowly nomming it she would get in place to wait for Maars as she thought he was coming. Hopefully she didn’t forget on if he was coming or not.

Stretching alongside the brick building that was unknown to her, she would wander her golden eyes to see if he was around. Her indigo colored skin was like shining indigo metal with a glowing tint from the sun's rays. Her hair was raven colored with some purple with revealed by the light. Arisa's full lips were rather scarlet colored and glossed. She was honestly day dreaming as she waited for her friend, Maarschalk in her daydream yet he really wasn't really coming. Were they truly lovers though? She would hope so. The thought of the lighter Arisa being in denial would then be a tragedy in the end. Who was she right now? 'The other one'. Some people would question what that meant and honestly, she wouldn't give a shit enough to answer them.

'Wonder how this mission will end, eh Arisa?' the darker one spoke within her thoughts. Her eyes would half-way close as they gazed upon the open light-blue sky. The clouds would reflect and mirror what she was seeing perfectly. She was wearing normal blue jeans, hiking boots and a crop-top with a leather jacket covering her top half of her body. 'Don't do anything stupid please...' Arisa would speak within her thoughts softly. Ana wouldn't care of Arisa's words much as she knew better. Truly she wouldn't get her in much trouble though. Slowly her head would turn so her left cheek grazed against the brick wall, feeling scratchy. The texture of the wall to her soft smooth cheek was like as if she was rubbing her cheek against a man's shaved cheek after a day or two. Only Ana remembered somewhat on what that felt like, but Arisa? No. The girl barely even knew what romance was as she was pure and new to any 'love' shit. There wasn't much new to it though as Arisa's been with Maarschalk for awhile now. That was way back when she was still first meeting the guy. She wondered if she was to see Hyoen being her partner again or not. She would nom her food and think for a bit on what to really do.. 914

”I can’t find it…” he mumbled in fright. Hyōen felt like being a dead man inside without those journals, because everything that he had been through - from when he left Worth Woodsea for the first time - was written down. So much work and so many fingers being worn out to write them down, and for what? If they all just disappeared like dust in the wild, then all that was for nothing! Not only he, but Coda sought the journals around the small apartment too; they both checked lockers, floors, underneath carpets, behind closets, in others’ rooms, at the hallway, in front of the door that lead into the building and etc. They weren’t to be found anywhere. “…” A soft tear was trickling down in a rather comical way as he felt losing something extremely valuable to him. Those journals could have been gold material to read when he became older and unable to explore more, and thus write more down…

The building which he lived in looked simple. Subtle could have been another word to describe it, but simple was more… simple of a word to use, and it suited the simplicity of this place. Not many people lived here as it wasn’t exactly ‘exotic’ in its own way or another. No, many people here in Magnolia could, instead, live in finer places like Mzulft Hotel and others. Someone like the Fire Mage, though, wanted to safe some of his jewels, though, and he didn’t have enough to just burn them out like that. Then again, it was pretty hypocritical as he did burn out a lot of money on meat. He felt surprised that he wasn’t having any troubles with that yet, though. That was also when he got a thought running through his mind; ‘Maybe they’re at the Bath house!’ Unhesitating, he simply launched out of the window and felt the air around hit him like a bat, but he slowly dashed upon a roof using some fire as jets. He would wait a few seconds for his feathery companion to fly out of the very same window too, and as Coda made it to his shoulder - specifically the left one as she favoured that place to rest - Hyōen dashed out across the rooftops of Magnolia Town.

It was a marvel to see the town from up here. Pillars of buildings stuck up everywhere, and it felt like having bird perspective all the damn time. It was lovely for Hyōen, and he preferred to explore a town like this. Heck, he preferred to explore anything from a high angle, from somewhere above the things that he could see. He never thought of it before, but… maybe he should have gotten some nice wings made of fire? It was a neat idea, but he didn’t know if that was even a possibility. Could fire, burning air, lift his body up in the air like a bird? It sounded almost ridiculous, but… he yet had some hopes for it as he continued to approach the bath house. There was a brick building beside it, and Hyōen just happened to pass it as he entered the bath house and tried his best to get his journals back. The places where he was waiting for that other peeper back then were hidden in the statues, and there were hidden entrances to reach them. He was waiting there himself, so perhaps he could have dropped his journals there? Although, upon entering the hidden place, in the middle of the day, in the middle of the bath house’s open times, he quickly regretted to have ever returned to this spot at that very moment…

Upon returning from the bath house with a frightened, dark-red look on his face, he spotted Ana. She was hanging around at the brick building from before, perhaps having another meal or something. Her cheek had been scratching against the wall, or so it appeared to from his point of view. Without much warning, his head slung down and looked at her from above as he was hanging on his legs from the ceiling. He didn’t intend to make any noise, just curious to see how she was doing. Although, as she would have at some point, he had to make his presence known by saying: “What’s shaking, Ana?”725

Slowly Arisa continued to walk through town as she would let her eyes wander. She wasn't really sure on who her partner would be, but for some reason she would know how it was as soon as she saw the person. Some could call it 'her senses'. In her day dream she was once again 'away' mentally. Arisa would wait to hear the man's voice, Maarschalk's voice at that. It was strange to her as there was some spike of a feel when she's around him. What kind of feel was questionable? Her ears could hear people roaming around, nature chirping and the winds howling softly. Slowly her golden hues would look up to see the trees flailing from the wind. Oh how she enjoyed looking and watching nature grow. Reminds her of how human's grew, but in the end also died. She wondered on what was going on with her sisters, her mother and other friends of hers. Even though that was in her thoughts now, she then changed her thoughts towards the mission she was waiting on. Today she was to be with a partner and do some stuff for some guy in some armor. She swore it was for that one guy she helped throw invitations out to be some solider last time. Her head would go through her flashback or memory lane as when she was missioning with King and doing it for... Right, Devon. Yawning softly she would look at the guy leave, Devon - whatever the rest of his name was. Her golden brown eyes would then lower/higher to look at King, the interesting fellow she was to work with. She didn’t know much of him and neither was she going to say much about herself. She felt somewhat unknown to herself enough. Why would she speak to someone about everything that had to do with her when it was so little? She listened to him tell her that it would be easier to get more people if they went separate - like some fourth world Scooby doo shit. ‘’Alright. If that’s what you really feel.’’ she would say as she tilted her head, smiled small and then stood up straight to move away. Her hips swayed, hair moved left and right a
s she moved forward in her own direction. Her head turned to look for people, feeling some simple breeze go against her face like it was caressing her cheek. It felt so gentle, but still, she slowly was feeling it disappear - her nature soul. There were so many people to start with. So many people were walking on about like some had important things to do while others had tons of free time.

Arisa would see some bulky dude with muscles like what a god would have, but a face of a monkey. He looked pissed and annoyed for some reason - so why not start with him? Slowly her steps were gentle against the ground like some feather-footing. She stood in front of him and bent down a little to look towards him. ‘’What’s wrong dear sir?’’ she spoke in a rather soothing soft tone that was sweet like innocent sugar. She was able to change her attitude like that, it wasn’t out of practice but because it was between the two selves that excited her. It just happens. The man grumbled as he glared at him, looking up at her. ‘’Go away. Not in the mood. The stupid police did god damn nothing when my wife got robbed. What shit!’’ he ranted on as she would then stand tall, hand against her chin in a thinking position. ‘’Why not join them and make a difference!? You could beat that guy up who robs wives and those people who harm. If you have any bad record, they’ll still take you in - give you a second chance.’’ she would say with a smile. He was really thinking - it was easy to tell. He nodded a couple times and smirked. ‘’Yea...You’re right! And it’d help pay for things for my love.’’ he would say and then laughed. He stood up straight - being taller than her, making Arisa step back and look up smiling nervously. ‘’Haha! Thanks. I’ll never forget.’’ he reported as he went off after giving his info to her. ‘’Yea.~ No problem.’’. ‘That’s one.’ she would think.

She would walk around once again to look for more people. Her eyes would then meet another guy who was scrawny and looked as if he had some rough patches - including a need for a shower. ''Hello sir, would you be interested in signing up for the Force of Justice? Kic-'' she was about to finish, but the guy laughed and then glared with some grumpy face. ''Lady. That's a waste of my time. I could just drink all day and win my money gambling. Get the hell out of here with that.'' he spoke like some old man would towards kids getting off his lawn. She would do so even though a part of her wanted to beat the living crap out of him. After him, she got several other signatures. After those, the guy who laughed in her face came back with a nervous face. ''Yo lady!... Does it actually pay? And help people like me... change?'' he spoke rather sad, filled with sorrow and such. ''Yes! It does. Gives second chances, changes people for the good and kick bad people's asses.'' she would say, turning to him and handed him the forms/paper to sign. He nods, signs and then Arisa would wave goodbye to him, going towards King as she was done. After he reported it, she would see the client arrive to grab the reports. He smiled satisfied and gave the two the awards. With that Arisa would say her farewell to King and left, wondering if they'd meet again. As she woke up from that she would see Hyoen waving hello to her which it came to her surprise.

''Greetings Hyoen. Guessing you're my partner today?'' she would wonder as Arisa would pluck the stick into a garbage can. ''You ready then?'' she wondered curiously as she would walk with her partner from her guessing and towards the client. 1045

His legs were getting a little confortable now… she sure was daydreaming a lot. Perhaps even Ana had her mind full of thoughts that had to be thought through thoroughly. Hyōen could relate, and he too had his thoughts that he wanted to go through before he moved on. For instance, back at Worth Woodsea… when was he going to revisit his roots again? It was so long ago, perhaps a few trees grew up and changed the area before he even knew of it. Maybe more raptors had returned to the wildlife, unlike Coda who had been the only one around for ages. Maybe the bears had been using his cottage as a cave while he was gone. All kinds of things could have happened, so he really felt a little homesick… yet it was not necessary to feel that. If he felt that homesick, then he could risk missing out some place out in the world. That was practically the greatest reason why he hadn’t returned just yet, because that he wanted to at least have a proper look at the world right now. He still remembered when he first decided to go out and see the world…

Another beast had claimed his home back at the higher valleys. It all started in the morning where he went out to search for nutrients in one of the many valleys around there. Luck embraced him as he brought down the perfect prey for today’s meal, having used his wooden items as his only tools of hunt, but as soon as he returned to his resting place, the largest being that he’d ever seen was sleeping on the same spot. Right in front of the cottage, a large predator was resting. It led to an encounter between Hyōen and the strange specie where they exchanged a couple of warnings, intimidating movements and, in the end, a pair of attacks. Hyōen was confident of his victory over the enlargened fox and found his territory secured from any intruders, but as time passed during the exchanging matches, the fox had to surrender. It was tired out and finally left Hyōen alone, but the boy wanted its skin here and now. Having chased it through the woods, he suddenly began feeling like that the ground became smoother and smoother for every step that he took. The fox was suddenly out of sight, and something that he had never seen before stood right beneath his feet; a large, bricked road leading to one of the first towns that he had ever seen. He couldn’t believe that he ever found the way to this place, despite having been living in the woods for a decade. He couldn’t but suddenly approach the unknown world as if it was calling to him with its soft, tempering voice. It was so pretty and new and exciting and interesting… he just couldn’t resist seeing what was beyond.

Then, he suddenly found himself somewhere up in the rooftops. He had seemingly climbed all the way up to get a better view, but as soon as other birds - simple pidgeons and not the raptors that he expected - arrived, he leapt and landed a few rooftops away from the birds while scanning the areas and sniffing a little to spot that the smell of birds was strong up here. He despised their nuisances even more now, the one coming from the many, many other people that he had been so isolated from in such a long time, so he decided that this shouldn’t be the place to stay at all. Perhaps he had to target the lower areas and search for a place to stay down there. With that idea in his head, he leaped off the edge of the building with a few jumps, watching over the heights that he was jumping over, and slided down across the walls as he would watch his own shadow on it. His eyes dove into the picture of himself soaring down, wearing his damaged clothes from the bricks, and having its eyes set on his too. A stinging pain spread over his chest for a moment by looking at himself, because it reminded him of his past with his mother. She was the one that gave him this aesthetic outfit in the beginning. The black, dominant theme, and the blue, supportive role… a small growl of a saddened animal could be heard from him. Suddenly, he braked midair and stood still, slowly turning around until he stood in the right position; his feet towards the ground beneath him. Somehow, the wall was gone, and all that he looked at now was a store. He appeared to have braked just the right time, because if he’d fell an inch lower, then he might’ve hit the ground dramatically. However, his eyes were stuck at the turned-on lacrimas that were showing something. His head was burning with curiosity of that ‘thing’ and its purpose, not to mention how it could change images like that. Magic? It didn’t appear like any weird phenomenon by the other bystanders who were rather surprised of Hyōen’s sudden arrival from above. One man even walked a little closer to him and asked with anxiety: “Ehm… excuse me, but you’re kind of in the way for people.” Hyōen’s pupils aimed at the speaking person, while the atmosphere tensed a little more. After a moment of thinking, he walked closer towards the magical thing and dug his eyes into it, handing it all his inquisitiveness. The others were trying to watch as well as one complained: “Hey, he’s blocking the view! I can’t see what kind of number that it’s going to show now...!!!” People began getting a little annoyed as hell, and it only lasted this long until he was soon thrown out…

Back to present time, Ana finally greeted back. Damn, she was daydreaming ten times more than him! Although, given by her comment, it turned out that she was his partner once again, in which he chuckled. “I guess so,” he replied, while swinging back down on his feet and following Ana as he was ready to go. Whoever they were going to help today would definitely be someone familiar to him as he had been around Magnolia his fair share of times…
1054

She looked at Hyoen and nodded. Her head turned to look towards the way they had to go in which they would meet the guy she helped out last time. They would walk, feeling the nice breeze against the face and her hair flowed back. Her sunset brown eyes saw the guard who would smirk at the sight of her. ''You may look a little different, but i can tell who you are. Good to see someone such as yourself.'' he would say to her as his eyes would then look at him. ''Alright... There are some rumors going around through this city of a possible cult that's forming. Rather it's true or not, we need to find out and hopefully, it's not. That's all.'' he would say and went on to carry on whatever he had to do. ''Alright... Seems simple..'' she would say softly and turned away from him. Her and Hyoen would start going through the streets and looked around to find someone suspicious. First, she would ask some random people who just shoos her off or denies the fact they know anything about some cult. Finally, she eyed that selling guy who you'd see talking to kids randomly and then hides in some alley. 'Hey! You!'' she would ask as she would pull her sword out and against his throat. ''You know anything about some cult?!'' she asked irritated and interrogating him. ''Hehe, What's your interest in it, lady?'' he asked in a snarky way. ''I'm actually quite interested as well as my partner,'' she spoke coldly and looked at him darkly. Her height over towered this guy and it didn't bother her one bit right now... 281

The breeze did feel nice, indeed. His wild hair bristled a little by the wind as he walked across the street with Ana, heading towards presumably the knight that had asked him for a favor earlier. He didn’t know if Ana knew him herself, but it did appear so when they finally met him and he saw the look on his face under the helmet. He decided to listen to the mission that Devon held in store for them, learning about a certainty of a cult’s forming. It sounded very oddly like the cult that revived those dreadful zombies, but if it didn’t include any threats like that, then the mission was quite easy. They just had to clarify the cult and its forming, and they didn’t wait much longer until they moved around town and gazed upon strangers. Coda flew around like usual, also having her eyes locked onto people in order to be helpful to the Fire Mage. While Ana was suddenly asking people, he stumbled upon this stranger that quickly excused for bumping into him, but when Hyōen tried to ask this person about the cult, he got no satisfying answer. The male knew nothing about a cult and simply walked off with his groceries.

Ana had suddenly unsheathed her sword, and the mere sound of metal slicing upon the sheath triggered him and a good amount of civilians in the street. Hyōen quickly made it back to where she was, spotting the person that she was intimidatingly interrogating. He did hear a few comments coming from both of them as he arrived, simply entering the scene with: “Well, truly, we are… look, we have to know anything about this cult that we’ve heard of, so either say what you know or I won’t stop Ana from what she’s planning to do…”
305

Well now that Arisa and Hyoen had the password that they needed in order to get into those secret cult meetings, all they had to do now was wait until nightfall and then they could go to the store they had been directed to, say the secret words and enter the secret room where the secret cult meetings were supposedly taking place. It was finally dark outside and she would look at Hyoen and then went towards the placce they were told to go to. Softly she sighed, got her cold expressionless stare going and walked in. Slowly she walked to the counter person and looked at him. Softly she'd whisper the password and he would stare. The person behind the counter did not move for a second, seemingly deep in thought before examining the two from head to toe and nodding. Afterwards, he directed the two to a bookshelf full of plastic ornaments and began to push the shelf aside, revealing the secret door that had been hidden by the bookshelf. He muttered something underneath his breath, knocked on the secret door three times and opened it, before beckoning the two to follow in after him. Once Arisa and Hyoen entered the makeshift tunnel, the other person, the man who had been working behind the counter began to address them and started to ask them some simple questions in a friendly enough tone to which Arisa for sure would answered with a friendly tone of her own. Once he reached more or less the end, she realised that the place that she had been led to was actually a massive cavern, but it wasn't an unmolested cave, oh no, it was intricately decorated and there were many altars and statues everywhere. Even the dumbest of individuals would have been able to realize that this cavern had been specially designed for worship but the generic statues and altars did not give away the faith to which this area of worship belonged. The woman and her partner absorbed in this atmosphere before turning to look at the man who had been behind the counter, only to realize that he had disappeared somewhere along the way. Arisa once again returned to face his front and in the distance, could see another man, different from the other two she had spoken to today in regards to the cult, and this man, who might have been a cleric of some sort, was beginning to approach her and Hyoen with a glint of a smile in his eye.
425

Well, they were lucky this time. The man that Ana had interrogated surprisingly knew something; apparently, there was a place where they should head to at nightfall, along with a password to enter the specific store. Once having learned that word, they merely had to wait a little more time, so that the sun would set and the night could rise. Then they would approach the specific store as he let Ana whisper the word that they needed in order for the people on the other side to trust them. The store looked vague for now, but there was something dense about the counter that would soon reveal its intention later. Coda had far too long ago landed on his shoulder, looking around the first room with anticipation. She could expect interesting things happening here, while Hyōen was as blank as ever. He just looked at the other male who got the password from his partner, and who then suddenly showed them a secret door behind the bookshelf. It let to another room, and the Fire Mage and Ana simply awaited the man to open the door for them. Once having entered, they found themselves inside a cave that felt much more like home for the Fire Mage than the earlier room. However, it was vastly decorated with nice things that indicated something with worship, although the actual target of worship was unknown.

A stranger approached them. He was wearing garments that made him look like some kind of priest, cleric or holy man. He had been smiling, but when he stood right in front of the both of them, his smile turned into a curious, faint face. “… And what are your interests here, outsiders?” he asked, reminding the Fire Mage of what the previous guy asked them about. What was with all this ‘interest’, anyway? Was it a way to show that they only wanted people who were genuinely excited about the cult’s program and teachings? If so, then why not just try a little and tell people about the cult, instead of being like a hidden syndicate? “Actually, we’re just curious about your goals and stuff, and it’s… honestly pretty interesting if you ask me,” he replied, trying his best to sound convinced. The cleric’s face lightened up a little by the statement, but it went back a little when he turned his gaze at Ana. “And you too, lady? Or do you not share similar thoughts..?”
410

At first, the two would have thought that the person approaching them was doing so with hostile intent (or it seemed), but now that he was within reach of the two, she realised that was anything but the case. The man was friendly, a bit unnerving in that way, but nevertheless it did not seem like he meant any real harm to them at this point in time. The man, like the other two supposed cultists before her greeted the two fairly rudely, not verbally with words mind you, but instead his way of greeting was observing them head to toe, examining her as though he were some sort of strange and unknown specimen. The woman was perhaps expecting some sort of meaningful greeting after that ''undressing me with his eyes'' moment, but such a thing, to Arisa's surprise and somewhat disappointment, did not happen. Instead, the man began to question them, asking questions eerily similar to the ones that had been posed to her before. Arisa did her best not to change the gist of her answers too much, but knew that she would be well and truly screwed if her answers now were too similar to the answers that she gave earlier in the day. When the hooded man asked Arisa why she wanted to know about the whereabouts of the cult, the woman explained that it was because she was actually interested in joining up and becoming a member to which the man nodded as though it was a satisfactory answer. When the hooded man asked if her partner was that way too she would let him reply for himself. She was careful not to offend anyone, and this too seemed to satisfy the hooded man.

Seemed to was the keywords as the hooded man rubbed his chin before pointing his index finger at the two in an excusing manner. "I say you are a spy!" the hooded man exclaimed before turning and looking at his acolytes. At a click of the hooded man's fingers, the worshipers got up from their worship and began to chase after them who swiftly did a 180 degree turn and began to sprint away. Arisa and Hyoen (hopefully) ran all the way up the makeshift tunnel and out the store that was situated near the bakery that sold the delicious bread with the worshipers hot on their heels. Arisa ran faster than she ever ran before, and once he turned back to find that the acolytes (or worshipers) had, for the time being, stopped following them, Arisa deemed it appropriate to slacken her pace so that she would be able to reserve energy in case she would need to run again. She changed her direction and headed to where she knew Captain Devon would be patrolling, and spoke to him, panting all the while. Softly she sighed as she would explain what has happened. He would frown, but at the same time, he had a satisfied look on his face. ''Not good news, but glad I know now. I must tell the rest as soon as possible. Thank you for helping.'' he spoke and gave them both their rewards, running off.

530

-exit-

3195

The cleric began asking Ana the very same question, while Hyōen took a look around the cavern. It was fairly decorated, but he didn’t like it. It reduced some of the effects of being inside a cave, the tense feeling of security and nature, it was all wrong. To hell with it, as if he lived in a cave or anything, but he hoped that they didn’t. Then again, he did live in a fairly decorated cottage, so what was it that triggered those feelings? Maybe it was just the ideal thought that nature had to stay, at least, a good chunk like the nature that it was supposed to be. Maybe it was something completely different, but he couldn’t fathom what his mind wanted to point at specifically when thinking about this. Coda, on the other hand, was more acting than thinking as her wings dried in the cave. She was feeling unwell about this, as if the looks on the acolytes were darting through her body like bullets. It was eerie and irritating for the bird, and she tried her best to let Hyōen notice that by pecking him with her beak. The Fire Mage quickly tried to sooth her paranoia with a little stroking on the forehead, to which the raptor quickly calmed down again without causing too much attention from the cleric who was asking Ana.

All of a sudden, an index finger was pointed at them both as the cleric suddenly went: “I say you area a spy!” When and how did he notice that? How did he know? Was it just something that - Hyōen couldn’t even get time enough to speculate as his feet dashed flames to move him away from the sudden, charging acolytes. Ana was quick on her toes too, and they both charged out of the cave with angry cultists after their asses. As soon as he exited the cave and found himself in the store again, he smelled baked bread. It was nearby that the bakery was stalled, but if it just wasn’t for the damned cultists, Hyōen would have killed for a loaf of bread right now. However, at the moment, he kept sprinting away with fire under his feet, following with Ana as the acolytes slowly disappeared into the night. “… That was sudden. All of it,” he commented as he and Ana would round a corner and approach another road, seemingly where Devon was waiting. Due to the support of magic, he wasn’t panting as much as Ana who had run full speed using her bare legs all the time, unlike the Fire Mage who simply dashed at the same speed but with jet-like boosts supporting each step. Devon wasn’t quite glad that a cult like that existed, for real and everything, but it was so important to know sooner than later, in which he was satisfied with their work. He thanked them both for their help and gave them both a reward, in which he quickly ran off into the night…
506

Full WC: 3000, precisely

EXIT