The sounds of the ringing chimes resounded through the forest, flowing together with the gentle breeze. Suddenly, the peaceful silence of the forest was broken by the clashing sounds of metal and cries of pain.

"Your lacking focus! I told you to concentrate on the enemy and not their weapon! Your opponent is the real threat, not the sword itself. A sword is merely a tool to help achieve your goals. Again! Pick up your sword."

A woman dressed in a full suit of armor, said in a commanding tone to the girl who was on her knees. The girl who looks to be in her late teens and early 20s was currently being trained by the beautiful woman in front of her. As for how she got here, she only remembers the blast of energy released by that sword and waking up into this place with the woman in front of her holding the sword in question. 

A few hours earlier...

With his mind slowly resurfacing, he hears the sound of what seems like the cluttering noise of metal. 

"...ke...up...w....ke...p....wak..u..."

As he regains his consciousness, he can faintly hear someone voice repeatedly saying something. While wondering what that person was saying, a sharp pain assaulted his stomach. The pain caused his mind fully resurface, along with a cry of pain.

"Guh!" 

"Can you not hear me? I said wake up!"

Another blow assaulted his side this time, eliciting another pain filled cry as he curls up. He finally opened his eyes, trying to see his attacker with his sight blurred by tears. Looking up from his prone position, he sees a woman in a full suit of armor.

"Finally decided to open your eyes, is it? Good. We have little time. Get up."

Said the woman in a proud tone as she looks down at him, who was still laying down prone on the grassy field. Neo slowly gets up, still clutching his stomach. He eyes the woman's armored toe for a split second, convinced that she kicked him with the slightly pointed part of the toe. Seeing him stand up with no problems, she turned around and calls out to him.

"Follow me. We have much to do."

She says and continues walking forward. Neo didn't move from his spot, looking at the woman with suspicion with slight hostility. He doesn't know what happened nor how did he get here, but he wouldn't just blindly follow some stranger who just kicked him with awake.

"Wait a minute! Who are you and where am I?"

The woman turned around with an annoyed look. 

"I am Alexia Vorn Ignis. You are currently in my domain. Now that we have wasted some precious time answering your question, keep walking forward."

She says before turning around to continue walking. Neo tried to refute to her, but stopped as she was no longer in front of him. Shocked, he looks around the path, only to find her walking in the distance. A distance that someone walking shouldn't be able to cover in an instant, as if she has teleported. He sees her distant figure turn around once again.

"What are you doing? I said keep walking forward. You don't want to get lost in the eternal forest now, we have little time."

He suddenly hears her voice clearly, as if she was speaking directly to his brain. The suddenness surprised him, snapping him out of his stupor. He hurriedly runs forward, chasing after her disappearing figure as she continues to walk further into the woods. He doesn't know how exactly she was faster than him and has no idea what is the woman talking about, but he sure doesn't want to be left alone in the middle of nowhere. Lightly hopping over the protruding roots and weaving through the big trees, he tries not to lose sight of her red cape as he runs through the uneven forest path.

"Faster. As I said, we have little time." He hears her voice again echo in his mind.

At this point, she was now disappearing behind the tree trunks only to appear in another. Neo increased his speed, trying his best not to trip over the roots and not lose sight of the contrasting red color in the green lush green forest. He doesn't know how much  time has passed since he started running or how much distance he has covered, but he as sure as hell that he couldn't see any end to this forest. 

"We are nearly there. Prepare yourself." 

Those words encouraged him to continue forward but at the same time, worries him as he knows nothing on what is going to happen next. Not long after, he could see some sort of structure through the woods. Waiting ahead of him was the woman with her back turned towards the clearings. The clearing was wide, enough to fit a soccer field. She spoke bringing his attention back to her. 

"Quickly. Follow me towards the 'Regalia'."

She gestures towards the gigantic stone slab standing in the middle clearing. He follows her towards it, although suspicious at her goals, he was also interested at the stone placed in the middle of the wide open field.

"What are we doing here?"

"To see if you have the potential, the strength to hold the 'Mark' left by the $&@#% for the future generations."

"The what...?" He frowned, not understanding the word she just said at the end.

"Enough. Walk up towards the 'Regalia' and touch the core." She said, stopping before the steps. 

He looks at her suspiciously, not knowing what her intent was. But a single glare from her made him look away, sending his gaze to the gigantic stone slab in front of him, or the 'Regalia' as she calls it. The giant stone slab can only be described as a massive tablet. It has the rough oblong shape with a rough surface, suggesting that it was a natural formation. It's sizes was roughly around 40 meters high, 15 meters wide, and 5-10 meters thick. What separates this from being a simple stone formation was the similar gigantic blue jewel in the center of it, it has a round spherical shape with its other half buried into the stone. The sphere was releasing a blue glow with an occasional whisps of blue particles emanating from it. The cracks around the jewel was also releasing a blue glow, giving an illusion of as if the blue jewel was spreading its roots from inside the stone.

"I know that you find it fascinating to watch, but your wasting time. Hurry up and get to it."

Her words broke him out of his reverie. He steps towards it, remembering her instructions. He touched the jewel nervously, having no idea of what would happen next. He touched it and waited in bathed breath, waiting for something to happen. A minute goes by and nothing has happened, making him worried if he's not doing something right. He turns around to look at her with a bewildered look.

"What are you doing? Pour your Ether into the core!"

"Uhh, what's an Ether?" He asks awkwardly.

Those timid words made her look up to the heavens with a palm on her face.

"The heavens must be working against me..." She mutters silently, her voice filled with disappointment.

She looks at back down to Neo who was still touching the jewel and approaches him. 

"Show me your hand. I will show you how to." 

He obediently shows her his hand. She grasps his hand, turning his palm to face up.

"The fastest was to feel the Ether flowing in your body is... Like this."

A silver flash glimpses through his hand, followed by a hot searing pain. He lets out a cry of pain as he grasps his other hand.

"Aaaghh!!!"

"The bleeding will stop soon. Quickly, put your hand back on the core. The Ether will flow together with your blood to heal any injuries that our bodies took, use this time to grasp the feeling of Ether flowing in your hand."

She says calmly as she returns the dagger to its sheath hidden by the cape to her back. Neo looks up to her with his vision blurred by tears. He feels anger well up inside him, but he quickly quelled it and just gives her questioning look.

"It is the fastest way for a beginner, who doesn't have the slightest idea of what an Ether is, like you to learn. Now hurry, so that we don't have to open up another wound."

She says so with a cool look and gestures him towards the core. Wiping the tears in his eyes, he wordlessly walks up to it and places his bloody hand on to the smooth surface, but not without a wince of pain shooing on his face. He doesn't know what this Ether he has to feel for, but he sure doesn't want to have his hand sliced open again. He closes his eyes, concentrating on feeling his body. The searing pain from was the first thing he feels, second was the other parts of his body, and then third was an amazing mysterious powerful force. 

"Your doing good, focus on it. Feel it, the flow, the power, the driving force behind our existence."

He follows those words, he puts more focus on it. The power gathering in his hand was slowly getting smaller, but he could still feel it. He felt it's flow, following it to its source, leading him to his heart. There, he felt the enormous power swirling inside his core. Instinctively reaching out to it, he felt it flow out of him. The feeling of it coursing through every part of his existence just felt right, as if it was normal to have it.

"Wonderful. Now pour your Ether into the Core."

He pours his Ether into the core, feeling it join the colossal swirl inside the jewel and in turn, the light passing through the back of his eyelids was getting stronger. He slowly opens his eyes, only to be surprised by the amount of blue particles of light flying out of the jewel. The sight can only be called fantastical, as the blue whisps floats around him, they bathe him in their rapturously and welcoming blue light. He looks around him, entranced at the sight, but the woman's voice snaps him out of it.

"Prepare yourself. It should commence soon." 

"What's going to happen?"

"The main event, of course." 

A second after her words, the core let out several strings made out of blue light. It floated in a swaying manner for a few seconds before extending longer for a few meters, more than enough to reach him who was at arms reach. He was about to step back in alarm, but the woman's warning stop him.

"Don't move. Don't panic either, and just let it happen."

He leans back, but he didn't separate his hand from the core. The strings of light surrounding him slowly approaches, each connecting to different parts of his body. Next, a surge of knowledge assaulted his mind, accompanied by pain that made him grit his teeth hard. Experiences and memories flashes in his mind, a wave of emotions and nostalgia flickering in his heart as he saw and felt someone's life. Standing on the forefront of the chaotic battlefield, watching the ever changing tides of the ocean. standing on the cliff as they watch the fleeting light of the sun as it sets, standing in the front of a gigantic scaled beast, standing above the large oak table with a mug of mead in hand raising their voices in triumph.

"Haah...haah...haah..." 

Before he realizes it, he was kneeling on the ground, gasping desperately for air. He felt as if he has about to drown, sinking in a sea of emotions. He felt dizzy and sick, giving him the urge to hurl. 

"Sit down and put your body upright, it will help. The symptoms are as expected, so it seems like it was a success. I congratulate you." 

She says as she makes her way to his side, pulling his collar to make him sit. 

"...What was that?" 

He asks, looking up to her. She looks at the rattled young man and shrugs.

"Your ancestry. What you had just experienced are the memories of the first successful generation from your bloodline. I cannot explain on what is the purpose of the whole thing without going into further details, but for now, my job is to help you not die for some pathetic way by not being able to defend yourself."

"Huh..." He said absentmindedly, his head still trying to catch up with the situation. 

"For now, focus on resting. We will begin the next step after you have regained enough Ether."

He just nodded silently, not willing to move to much as he still felt sick.

After several minutes passed, they left the place and entered the forest.

"Where are we going now?" Neo asks.

"To the training grounds."

"Why? Can't we just do it back to where the Regal-something is at? There's plenty of space." 

"That is a sacred place. We cannot do anything that will potentially harm Regalia, doing so would be nothing but foolish." She says sharply.

"I see." He says a little meekly.

They silently continued to walk through the forest. As they traverse through forest path, he starts to get more curious about the forest. He looks at the trees that he passes by. The trees here are huge, the trunk was enough to make him feel like child. From his guess ,it was around 5-10 feet wide and the height of it was 50-65 meters tall. 

Kyui!

Hearing a loud cry of a bird, he hurriedly looks up. A bird perched on top of the trees branches was looking down at him, watching him with regal eyes. The bird large, just like the forest. It looks as though it was bigger than him in terms of body size alone. 

"Woah." 

He lets out a voice of amazement as it spread its wings. But that amazement was soon replaced by terror as he realizes its intention. The bird was now looking at him as one would look at prey. Sensing the danger, he turns to flee as soon as he sees it leap off the branch it was perched on. 

"Shit! Alexia!" 

He shouted out, calling for his guide. But no reply came back could be heard, and a quick look already tells him that she was nowhere to be seen. Behind him, he hears the flapping wings chasing after him. He runs for dear life, running as fast as he can. But even with his efforts of trying to lose it by swerving and changing directions, he can still hear it getting closer and closer. 

KYUI!!

The giant predator let out a cry, and at the same time, a chill went up his spine. He leapt to the side, not bothering to look behind him. 

Boom!!!

An explosion occurred to where he previously was, kicking up dirt, grass, and leaves. But even with that, the chills hasn't stopped. He follows his instincts and rolls to the nearest tree in his prone position. The next moment. Splinters and chips of wood dances in the air as the bird that was radiating a pale green light flew by. He looks up to the tree he used as cover. The thick tree now has chunk of its trunk missing, showing just how abnormally powerful it was. The scene of him being ripped apart to minced meat was playing in his brain, further fueling his fear. 

Kyui!

He hears it's cry again, a signal for him to get back to sprinting. He continued to run, turning left and right trying not to get hit by the occasional cannon that it somehow shoots. Whether it's by magic or some physics that he wouldn't understand, he for sure doesn't want to get hit or shredded by the powerful talons. 

Boom!!

Another impacted behind him just after he turned into another direction. He peeks behind him to see dirt and leaves flying in the air. And the next second was the predator that turned sharply in an almost 90° angle, something a bird that was bigger than him shouldn't be able to do. Their gazes intersected, and he felt a strong chill shot up his spine.

Boom!!!

The area just a meter beside him suddenly exploded, sending him flying to the side and tumbling a few times in the ground before crashing into a tree. The impact was enough to almost send his consciousness flying, but the extra impact of dropping to the protruding roots kept him awake. He grunts from the pain in his dim consciousness. His body aches in pain and he couldn't hear anything from the explosion, hearing nothing but a deafening ring that continues to echo in his head.

As he laid prone on the ground, his forgotten chaser has made its presence known again. It made a huge gust of wind as it landed a couple feet away in front of him. He felt the winds produced by the wings of his attacker, making him look up. Even though his hearing hasn't recovered yet, he could still see it make a cry as it spread out it's wings. It looks at him in the eyes while it opens its beak wide open. He couldn't understand what it was doing, but the chill that assaulted his body tells him that it was nothing good. His premonition was answered when the bird started sucking in air and at the same time gathering Ether in its beak. He could feel the Ether gathering into a ball as the air bends around it, as if it was compressing the air into its beak.

The sight of what it was doing was enough indication for him to start struggling to get up. It was going to shoot the compressed ball of air, just like an air cannon. He desperately started to run for dear life. His left leg hurts so much, but the fear of death kept him going. But even with all his efforts, his speed was as fast as normal human at jogging speed. He couldn't hope to get away in with his already unsteady steps. He only made a couple meters of distance before tripping on one of the protruding roots.

He looks back at his predator and sees its eyes, an intent that was clearly conveyed to him. It won't let him get out of this place alive. His senses are screaming at him to flee from that place, to run away as far as possible. But his limbs wouldn't move as he  wished, as fear of death dominated his mind. The car bombing from a few days ago was still fresh in his mind. The scene of the mangled bodies scattered about, and their lifeless eyes looking into his soul kept repeating in his mind.

"There you are. Didn't I tell you to not wander off?" 

The calm voice of his guide sounds in his mind.

"Ah.."

He let out a befuddled voice at her words. At that time, the large bird finally fired its conjured spell. He closed his eyes shut at the sight of it heading towards him. The deafening impact was came, but the expected impact of the explosion didn't. It only felt like a strong gust of wind in a windy day. He opened his eyes. The waving crimson color of the cape filled his vision. He looks up, meeting her emerald green eyes.

"What a pathetic look on your face. No matter, that problem will be remedied by the time you leave."

After saying thode words, she turned her attention back to the Bird.

"Though I will commend you for managing to encounter a juvenile Arvolk. These fellows have been rather elusive to us."

She said while simultaneously pulling her ornate dagger under her cloak. Meanwhile, the Arvolk has already taken flight and was releasing it's bloodlust at the intervening knight. She received that bloodlust with a cool look while releasing the glass like dome that shielded them from its attack.

KYUI!!!

It let out an ear piercing cry as its body glowed in a pale green light. Alexia merely scoffs at it's attempt of intimidating her and silently walks forward. Perhaps upset at the woman's reaction, it fired its air cannon that it conjured in an instant. The woman saw it and swung her now glowing dagger, the ball of air shot at her vanishes leaving only a gust of wind that blew on her cape.

"Too weak, little chick." She said to the now alarmed bird.

Seeing its attack disappear, it turns to the sky to gather altitude, firing several shots of compressed air to the woman below as it did so. But just after it pierced through the tree canopies. What greeted it was the female knight who was already in the motion of swinging her sword. The next moment, a silver glint passes through its sight before its vision spins uncontrollably as it sinks into darkness.

"And too slow as well." She mutters as she watches the head she lopped off fall to the ground. She sheaths her sword as she slowly descend to the branches, her other hand still holding the glowing dagger. Once her feet touched the branch, she dispelled the wind keeping her afloat. Next, she jumped to the lower branches, skipping as she did so. Her steps was light while she hops to the next branch to the other, similar to how one would descend a flight of stairs. She lands near to Neo's unconscious body with a soft thump.

"Now, I hope your still breathing, youngling."

Kneeling down next to his body, she checks his condition after turning him over from his prone position. After a while, she judges that except for a few broken ribs and a broken leg, there was no danger to his life. Still, she grabs a small vial filled with mysterious liquid from one her belt pouches. Next, she raised her other hand above Neo's cheek and lightly slaps him repeatedly to wake him up.

"Oi, wake up!" 

Not long after, he let out a groan as he opened his eyes. He repeatedly blinks his unfocused eyes while trying to remember things with his foggy mind. 

"Hey, youngling. Since you have the energy to go in your own little adventure, surely you have enough vigor to sprint the whole way through the forest towards the training ground. Right?"

She said in a flat tone paired with a small smile that didn't reach her eyes. Her voice alone was enough to clear the haze in his thoughts, his heart beating faster as he put his attention to her.

"Good. I thought you would jump back to your feet. Because that would have been foolish if you did. Now drink this in one go, it's medicine."

She shoves vial into his mouth, making him choke at the liquid that nearly entered in the wrong pipeline. He frowns at the forceful method, but he silently drinks the mysterious liquid nonetheless. As he drinks it, he could feel the pain in his body slowly disappear with each gulp. By the time he finishes it, the pain aching pain was gone as if a lie. He sat up and felt his body in amazement.

"It seems like you have no problems moving. Now that you have wasted enough of our precious time, we will make do with this place. We wouldn't have the time if we changed places now."

"What are we going to do here?" He asks meekly.

She looks at him as if she was looking at a daft person.

"How many time do i have to tell you that i will train you so that you can at least defend yourself from low level threats. It would be such a great waste if a 'Mark' holder were to be killed by some thugs."

She said while walking to a relatively small open space that was free from protruding tree roots. Once she was in the center, she drew her dagger again.

"Don't move and just stay put. We have wasted enough time because of you."

She holds the dagger with both hands and closed her eyes, concentrating as she silently mutters foreign words. The dagger was now glowing in a violet colored light. She stood there for about a few minutes as glyphs floats around her. A few moments later. The space in front of her starts to bend, creating ripples in the air. In the middle of it was a satchel slowly appearing in the air. She reaches for the luggage in the air and lobs it to Neo, who catches it with ease.

"What are these for?"

"Those will be useful to you in time of need, but only use it when you really have to."

He opened the satchel expectantly, only to see pitch black darkness when peeks inside.

"It's a magic bag of holding, you will know what's in it once you stick your hand inside it."

She explains when she saw his confused look.

"Now that we have what we need. There is a small blue orb in the bag, take it out and swallow it whole."

Neo wanted to wallow in regret as he felt the orb in his hand. He took it out, in his hand was a blue transparent orb in the size of jaw breaker. He stares at orb, hesitant whether he could really swallow this thing and not just choke on it.

"Well? If your not going to swallow it yourself, then allow me to shove it down your throat." She says that in seeing his hesitation.

Mentally psyching himself up, he finally gathered enough courage and stop delaying the inevitable. With a loud audible gulp, he swallowed it and feels the large bulge goes down throat with little to no discomfort that was much to his surprise.

"Wasn't even that hard, was it? Now then. We will be doing the fun part. Go get the sword inside the bag." She said as a small smile appears on her face.

Somehow, a strange shiver went down his spine with those words.

Back to Tryx and the group...

The group is currently back at the room, with each sitting in their own bean bags, with the exception of  Thamriyell who was having the bed all to herself. They sat in a relaxed manner, but their expressions are serious.

"So basically, what your saying is we should split up, search for one person while the other group continues searching for the other. I don't know about that chief." Tryx said as she twirls a lock of hair with a finger.

"Yeah. What if something happened to Neo if we slow down the search? Thats one thing to worry about too." Nomo says.

"But if we do that, we could also see if the others are also in the same situation or its just a select few people. Besides, they could be in trouble right now, so I think it's best if check if they're really in their avatars." Tham pushes on adamantly.

"I'm with Tham about this one. If it's just us, then that's good right? Besides, we should be close to finding Neo as long as we are on the look out." Said Welmet, pushing his glasses up with a slightly tense look.

Everyone was silent for a while as they think about their situation and worries. In that silent space, Tryx sighs loudly turning everyone's eyes to her.

"I guess your right. I almost forgot about the guys at the other world trying to kill us." She said with a shrug.

"So. You said were going to split up right? Then who's going with who?" She continues the subject and asks as she looks everyone at the room.

Tham lets out a small smile before answering her.

"I think Welmet and Nomo should go to look for the others. Welmet. You know which worlds the others last went to, right?"

"Yeah. I know where some of our friends last went to."

"Wait, why am I going?" Nomo cuts in after his words.

"You don't want to?" Tham asks her blinking a few times.

"No, it's not that. I'm just curious as to why you chose me." She replies.

"Oh, I just thought you be more effective in using that axe more than any of us."

"Yeah. You were swinging that thing like nothing after the fight too. The weight of it is insane." Tryx added. 

"Really? I feel like it's normally heavy like an axe should though." Nomo looks at the axe leaning on wall.

"Anyways." Tham cuts in, bringing the conversation back on track. "You also look kinda suspicious since you look like a foreigner covering your whole head with a scarf. So I think it's better for you to go with Welmet instead of Tryx who looks normal."

"Fine..." Nomo's shoulder droop, feeling a bit shocked at being seen as a suspicious person by her friends.

"Now that we know who's going. Who's taking the guns?" Tryx asks.

"I think you should take the AK, Welmet. I don't think we're going to need the AK in a place full of civilians." Tham said, shaking off the image of going full auto in a city full of people.

"Then, you should take this instead." Nomo passes the Revolver to Tryx.

"You sure? I get that you got that axe but are you sure you won't need this?" Tryx tilts her head as she receives the gun.

"I think it's better that you at least have something to back fight with just in case things go south." She affirms her with a nod.

"I think you would need this more than me though. I'm just looking around in the city, so i should be much safer there." She said somewhat reluctantly as she receives the pouch filled with bullets. 

"You mean the city that just had a car bombing yesterday?" Welmet said with a teasing grin.

"Yes. Safe." Tham said, emphasizing the latter half with a similar grin on her face.

Tryx scoffs at the two dinguses.

"So, everyone is good to go right?" Nomo asks.

Everyone nods. Welmet stands up and closes his eyes, concentrating on opening a portal. Tryx stretches lazily as she leans back to the bean bag before standing up to open their respective portal.

"Remember. We will meet back here 6 in the evening. So we have about 10 hours to find someone before coming back." Tham reminds everyone.

"I know. Let's just hope that nobody is in a shitty situation before we find them." Said Nomo, resting her axe onto her shoulder.

Tham nods in agreement.

"Portals ready." Welmet calls out, prompting Nomo that it's time to go. She waves at the other duo before going through.

"Good luck." Tham said in a whisper as she watches the portal slowly disappear.

"We're good to go, Tham. C'mon let's go." Tryx call her before jumping through.

Tham follows her through the portal, silently trying to quell the anxious beats of her heart.

A few hours later after arriving at the city...

*Beep!*

Honking the horn while simultaneously flooring the brakes, Tham clicks her tongue as a car suddenly cuts her off.

"What the heck is wrong with these people."

She says, watching the car cutting through traffic with breakneck speed.

"Those guys must be high or something." Tryx comments, her grip on the car passengers handle bar tightens as she felt the inertia from the sudden stop.

"There's a parking spot over there Tham." Tryx points at an abandoned store.

She sees the open space in front of the building and turns the wheels to begin parking, but not before she caught a glimpse of a pair of eyes observing them from the window. She stops the car and reverses, confusing Tryx.

"What's wrong?"

"I saw someone peeking at us from the window. They looks like they're holding something." Replied Tham as she drives them away.

"What? Just that?"

"What do you mean just that? There's a guy who looking at us with pipe or something."

"Okay?" Tryx raises an eyebrow, feeling that she is not telling something.

With an awkward silence, they have found a new spot not long after in a relatively busy street with decent amount of pedestrians.

"Sorry about that." Tham said quietly, fixing the gun hidden under her clothes.

"Don't worry about it. But you wanna tell me what's wrong?" Putting on her sunglasses.

"It might sound crazy but I felt like something bad is going to happen if we walked out of the truck. I just had the gut feeling similar to when Welmet and I split up back at the temple where we found you."

"I see. It might be just because your a cat girl now. Your survival instincts must be kicking in." Tryx said before getting out of the truck.

Tham looks at her getting out, her heart relieved at the nonchalant comment made by her friend. Not in the slightest bit of doubting her words or maybe it's just because of their crazy situation that she was pretty nonchalant about it. But still, that made her happy.

Joining her outside, they started walking towards the place where the car bombing took place. When they reached the cross roads, they nodded to each other and went on their own direction. After walking for a while, she arrives at where Neo was last spotted. Tryx went into one of the alleys, following the alley in a straight line. She looks around every corner, hoping to see him resting peacefully. She spent a few hours just wandering in the alleys and sometimes checking on Tham through the radio, hoping of getting even the slightest clue. 

With a sigh, she sat at the bottom of the staircase. Resting at an abandoned building outside even though she doesn't feel any fatigue despite all the walking. She grabs a bottle inside the bag, refreshing her mind with the cool temperature of the water bottle whilst looking at the clear blue sky. As she stares at the floating clouds, her radio flares to life with the excited voice of Tham resounding at the silent alley.

["Tryx. Come in. I got someone who knows where Neo is."] 

"Wait really?!"

["Yeah. But I don't know if it's true or she's just messing with us."]

"Hold on, i'm coming back. Let's meet at the truck."

["Gotcha."]

She immediately left the alleys, attracting a lot of attention from the locals with her speedy exit. While strapping the radio onto the backpack, she notices a police patrol car heading towards her. She lowers down her pace, slowing down to a walk and continues to strap her radio. Just as she was about to pass them, she makes eye contact with the passenger that she immediately cuts off. She continues walking, slightly wary of the cops. The current her is a white teenage girl with no adult accompanying her in a foreign country. If they stopped and questions her about her guardians and ID, she wouldn't be able to show anything that she doesn't have and she would be in a much more deeper trouble if they checked her and found the gun.

(Please ignore me!)

Unfortunately, the wish in her heart was not heard when she sneaks a look behind her. The patrol car has just made a U turn, heading back towards her direction. She hastened her steps, her mind racing as to how she was going to make ear escape.

"Miss miss! Eh, American lady over there! Wait!" A voice with a thick accent to her right from the other side of the road calls out to her.

She looks to the corner of her eye, catching a glimpse of the front hood of the patrol car. Acting like she didn't hear them, she continues her hasty steps despite the people around her turning their heads at her. She reaches for the button on the radio hoping that Tham would hear her words.

"Tham, I got a situation over here."

["What's up?"]

"The police is following me and calling me out. I don't know what they want but i'll try to lose them in the alley."

["Do you remember how to get to the Car Bombing?"]

"Yeah. I remember."

["Let's meet up there. I will pick you up there."]

"Roger."

She hears the the clopping shoes of two people approaching from behind fast, most likely the two officers. She turns to the next alleyway, sprinting the moment she entered. She hears a shout from behind her and then a whistle. She ignores the two upset whistling officers and focuses more on not getting lost. She already knows where to go thanks to her mental map, but it won't do her any good if she doesn't know where she is. While taking care to not get lost in the maze of the city, making several tight turns, and jumping over heaps of trash, she finally sees the exit from the dark alleys. She slows down to a walk and fixes her hair as she entered the streets. Looking around, she was soon found the street sign telling her that she was only a few streets away from the rendezvous. 

"Tham. We're good, I lost them. Where are you now?"

["I'm parked on the side of the road. Are you here yet? I don't see you."]

"I'm two streets from where you are. Could you meet me halfway? I feel like I'm a seating duck out here."

["Okay. I'm coming."]

She tell her the street and proceeds to head to her rendezvous while warily checking the streets for a patrol car. Not long after, the familiar black pickup truck drove towards her in a leisure pace and opens its door. She immediately gets in and Tham drove them away. 

"God, the alleys here stinks! So, where's the lady you said earlier?"

Tham looks at the rear view mirror with an apologetic smile. Tryx looks behind her seat and was surprised at the old woman sitting there silently.

"Hello there, little miss."

"Uh. Hello? I heard you know where our missing friend is. Is that true?"

The old woman smiles kindly and said.

"It's true."

"Can you point us where can we find him?"

"Yes. He has taken refuge in my household after I took him in a few days ago."

"I see. Then, he's doing okay right?"

"He's doing fine. From what I could see, there's nothing wrong with him whatsoever. To be honest, it's a miracle that he hadn't gotten a single injury from that explosion."

Her shoulders slumps down and a relieved sigh escapes her mouth. Her worries about her friend's well being has been alleviated.

"So mind showing us the way?" Tham peeks at the rear view mirror.

"Gladly."

And with the directions of the old woman, they soon arrived to a quiet residential area. The road was narrow. Wide enough for cars to drive through comfortably, but really tight if one were to encounter another car through this narrow road. Many of the houses are walled off, preventing others from peeking through. And because of that, the group has been slowly driving their way towards the old woman's house.

"Turn right in the next corner. My house is just around the corner."

Following her last direction, Tham stops the truck and looks around.

"Which one is your house?" She asks.

The old woman points at the before the cornering house and spoke.

"That one. You can park the truck on the front my wall."

"Won't we get in the way?" Tham naturally asks.

The old woman shook her head.

"It's fine. You won't be staying long anyway. Besides, there are barely any cars that drive around here."

Tham parks the truck and they all exit the vehicle. The old woman opens the gate and enters. The two follows her inside, politely closing the gate behind them. As they approached the house, the two was smelling some refreshing scent of some type of herb. 

"Come inside. I think he is in the kitchen right now." She invites them inside.

"Excuse us. Thank you."

They meekly entered while curiously looking at the furnitures.

"Neo! Where are you?"

The old woman suddenly shouts, surprising the both them and at the same time, making them tense. 

"I'm here! Sorry. I was preparing some Tea for whe-."

A tall figure appears out of the hallway and replying with an apologetic tone that was cut off when they saw the two figures standing behind her.

Everyone stood still for a while before Tham charges at the person, almost tackling him down with her hug.

"Oh my god! Neo! Neo! Your alright!" Thamriyell's tearfully said.

"Yeah. What sort of trouble have you gotten yourself into? You made us worried man." Tryx slaps him in the arm lightly.

Neo just stood there with a stupefied expression on his face. He wonders if this was just some sort of lucid dreaming as the voices of the two does not resemble the deep voice of a male at all and instead, sounds like the voice that would suit their current look. But the warmth in his chest tells him it's the friends that he had been hoping to see. The tense string slowly came loose as his arms returns the favor to the two of his friends.

"Sorry and Thank you."

He said in a slightly shaky voice as a wave of relief washes over him.

Alisa-Hutako

Hey ho~! How is everyone doing~? Good~? Wonderful~! Anyways~! I have been writing things on the spot as I think of stuff on what should happen next~ and as you might've noticed on the last few previous chapters~ It's kinda all over the place~? Well~ I wrote half of those chapters while drinking~! Fufuhn~! Amazing right~?! No~? Okay... ~ -ehem- Anyway~ I said something in the comment section in the previous chapter that I will shorten the chapters so that I could post more frequently~ (even though I am not posting chapters as frequently as everyone couldn't even tell the difference~) but I will strive to do my best okay~?! -ehem- As I was saying~ I will post half the length of my usual chapters which was around 10-15K words to about 6-9K words~ so I hope nobody isn't opposed to that idea~? And I'll try not to write while drinking okay~? If you still have a problem with me drinking my Vodka while writing Daniel~ let's take this to the streets~! Ya hear me~?! Btw~ for those who write their own novels~ do you have a map/plan on how you want to proceed with your story~? Like what's going to happen in chapter XX and reveal secrets at chapter XXX or something like that~? Because I don't~ so i'm basically writing this this blindfolded but I have a very rough draft of what I want to do and happen but not sure where I am going to do them~