“Watch out!” Just as Alphonse was about to warn them all. Haydon, the team's scout, rushed back. His shout got Lucas into action.

  

“Scatter!” At Lucas’ order, everyone jumped in different directions as the ground rumbled. Alphonse watched as a strange colossal iron toad looking monster leapt high from underground. Its enormous gaping mouth had nothing but dirt and rock, as it completely missed its first surprise attack. Alphonse could tell from a glance that there was nothing his weapon would do to the steel, like carapace encapsulating the toad.

  

Every fucking monster is bigger than the last. Alphonse said to himself as the toad crashed to the ground, sending dirt and rock surging outwards. His legs shook at the sudden impact. The sheer weight of the thing must have been staggering. It then used its powerful front legs and iron like mouth to completely burrow underground. It vanished. Alphonse glanced at Lucas–he was just standing there–as if in thought. He’s trying to find out how to kill it. Then his mouth finally opened. “Everyone, gather in a tight formation.”

 

Is he crazy? Alphonse thought. He was hesitant at first, but everyone didn’t even bat an eyelid as they all gathered together. Indeed–he’s crazy. Alphonse found out.

“Felecia, Gabriel, stay on the sides.” They both nodded and left to the edge of the formation. Soon Alphonse heard rocks being smashed and dirt being hauled underground.

  

“It’s coming.” Haydon warned. Alphonse felt time crawl to a stop. His blood was pumping round his body as his heart was thumping.

“Now!”

At the words everyone suddenly jumped to the side once more, Alphonse kept his eyes closely on Lucas. He wanted to know what he would do. Alphonse didn’t have to wait for long as Lucas jumped… no, teleported into action.

  

His body flickered forwards as he chased the toad's descent–then with a flash of light–his sword was unsheathed and slashed right beneath the belly of the beast as it let out a frightening noise. It sounded like a monster's roar had been mixed in with bubbles. Before the toad could hit the ground–blood spilled downwards–like a melon that was filled with water that had been split open.

  

As the toad hit the ground, without pause, Lucas had already begun his second attack. His sword glowed once more than a waterfall of sparks blinded the group. However–as the flash of light ended–despite it being the same attack as before, it only left a scratch in the thick plate armour. The toad quickly burrowed deep underground without them being able to do anything about it. Without them, even knowing if it was dead or alive.

  

“Let’s move.” Lucas wasted no time as he took the lead once more, his steps quickening as everyone urgently followed behind. The look of awe was clear on everyone's faces. They had walked quite a distance away from that monster toad–Alphonse couldn’t hear nor smell anything dangerous as his thoughts turned back to the fight.

 

Is that what it means to be a genius? Alphonse gave off a cynical grin as Lucus’ attacks still replayed in his mind.

  

“Awesome, isn’t it? That’s the ace of Class A–y’know.” Felicia pressed up against Alphonse as if she knew what he was thinking. Alphonse stepped to the side.

  

“Does he have a class?” Alphonse said as he thought back to Lucas' sword strike. His strength was terrifying. To become so strong in only one month was shocking to him. Felicia started laughing, flashing her pearly white teeth. Alphonse moved his eyes away from her body.

  

“Hey… did you look? Because I don’t mind, you know.” Felicia sported an innocent look at her.

  

"Felicia, knock it off, will you? You're terrifying him" Tariq said, patting Alphonse's shoulder. He continued. "You'll get used to it...maybe." Tariq fell back with a smile on his face.

 

“Hey Tariq, I was joking!…. Of course he has a class, we all do.” Felicia said, as if it was a matter of fact. She’s going to drive me insane…

  

“How?” Alphonse said. He didn’t know a single person from Class E that had been given a class. Even Alfred—his theory professor—told them it wouldn’t help them even if they knew.

  

“Ah, that’s easy. Our professor said it’s all about talent.” Her annoying voice left her mouth without a thought.

So that’s why. Alphonse didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, Alfred didn’t tell them to protect their pride.

“But I am curious. You killed all of those wolves without a class. Oh–I love the mystery!” Her bead-like eyes shone as her full attention was on Alphonse. She held no sense of urgency at all despite the risk they were under. His eyes drifted to Lucas and Markus. Yeah, that’s probably why.

 

“We all have our own secrets.” Alphonse responded, remembering the warning Sergeant Steele had given him. He held no trust in these people from Class A. His mind wandered back to the ice-fingered recruit… Alphonse balled his hand into a fist at the thought of him.

Alphonse noticed the girls called Kristen’s eyes, that were subtly directed at him, and hid his stony gaze. He knew them well. It was the look of distrust. But he didn’t care.

“Are we even going the right way?” Felecia said as she looked at Lucas.

At the question, Lucas simply ignored her as they continued walking forwards. Soon–Haydon arrived back to the group. His breath was heavy and sweat was dripping from his forehead. He took a second to gather his breathing before speaking. “I see mountains in the distance.” Lucas simply nodded while the others wore excited expressions. Thankfully, they weren’t going the wrong way.

Alphonse watched as an entire mountain range appeared in the distance. It was more like a valley, as it looked like someone had cut it straight down the middle with a cleaver. Although they could see it in the distance, it took until it was almost night before they reached the woodland beneath it. The trees here were different. It reminded him of… home. The brown colour of the bark was so familiar–the vivid green of the leaves accompanying the sweet smell of oak washed over him. As the sun was setting above the mountain range, the sheer size of it took aback him as it loomed over them.

“We’ll set up camp here.” Lucas said as he immediately got to work, sharpening sticks with his knife. He was getting started on a fence-like perimeter.

  

“We’ll dig trenches in front of the fence. We’ll make this our base for now.” Lucas continued.

 

Alphonse had to give him credit. It was a perfect place to make a base, easily defendable and with trenches dug out and stakes to prevent anything jumping over, made a relatively safe place to stay.

 

I just hope nothing bigger comes along, anything larger, and I don’t think my heart can take it. Alphonse thought.

With all the work done, it was hard to see anything, as the last of the night had vanished. The only light that was provided was a dim glow from the moon above.

 

“Alright, I guess I'll take my first watch then.” Markus stretched and then slammed his enormous door of a shield into the ground and sat down–using it as a backrest.

Felicia yawned and took out a strange wrapper looking sheet from her backpack. She noticed Alphonse’s curious gaze as she draped it over herself and closed her eyes.

 

Ah, it’s a thermal blanket. Class A gets all the good stuff… Alphonse thought as he lay on the cold damp floor.

He heard a crackling sound behind him. He thought it was the noise of Felecia’s blanket, but his hearing was too accurate for that. His eyes peered open as a tall young man tossed one of the thermal blankets over him.

  

“I wouldn’t be a good leader if I let you freeze to death. Here’s some spare clothes as well.” A set of fresh clothes was placed in front of him.

 

“Get some sleep.” Noticing Alphonse’s surprised face, Lucas quickly left and settled down in his own spot.

 

Well, that’s a surprise… Alphonse shook his head as his eyelids soon became heavy as he fell asleep.

As the sun crept up into the sky–the birds began chirping. Alphonse peeled open his eyes as he looked up at the clouds that seemed so carefree as they meandered through the clear blue sky. He placed his hand on his head as he took in the rare peace of this place.

  

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it, like me?” Felecia lay down beside him, her questioning eyes looking at Alphonse, but he ignored her, so she started pointing at the clouds. Making out pictures that clearly weren’t there, like a man eating a pizza or a panda riding a bike.

Alphonse sighed. “No one has died at your party, have they?”

  

Felecia was surprised at the sudden words–she was slightly taken aback–her head shook side to side. “No, why?”

 

“It was just a guess.” Alphonse firmly shook his head as he got a clearer picture of the girl's attitude. "Where were you when we all entered the forest?" Alphonse asked another question.

 

"Oh, back when we first arrived? We split off during the chaos, Lucus gave the order to go our own way. Marius was in charge of the other group—they ran into the forest." Felecia said.

  

"I see, thank you, Felecia." Alphonse said.

 

That ice magic Class A recruit must be Marius. Alphonse thought. A cold light gleamed in his eyes.