"He's back?" Gadreel said with a slight tilt of his head. "Already?"

Sherridan stood at the door of his office. "He said it was rather urgent."

'This should be interesting.' Gadreel leaned back in his chair and gestured with his hand. "Then let the man in."

A few minutes later Leonardo walked in, a white patch over his other eyes. He bowed promptly. "I have returned with a surprise."

Gadreel smiled and pointed at his other eye. "That it?"

"Sharp as ever," Leonardo commented sarcastically and removed the patch to reveal an empty socket. "It seems he likes holding back when training. I'm not going to lie, I panicked there a little.

Gadreel laughed. "How did you lose it?"

"He took it out with claws. Crushed it."

"So he's ready, then?" Sherridan asked from the side.

Gadreel nodded. "I knew he was ready for the most part already since I already placed the bounty, but it seems I can move my plans a bit before schedule."

"And by that you mean?" Leonardo asked and paused. "Are you sure?"

Gadreel grinned and he flicked his wrist. "Tell Izir I've gotten what I want from the boy. He can kill him now." He clapped his hands. "And so, the last hunt begins."

***

Cade stretched loosely as Balgair set up their first camp in the Thropes. The stab wound had already healed during the month they had spent traveling.

They traveled straight through the country. They no longer had specific places to avoid—they were wanted everywhere—so traveling had been much faster this time. They had been in a hurry since innocent men with large frames and blonde hair started being mistaken for Aurelius, leading to multiple deaths all over the country. The sooner it started being apparent that he had left the country, the less innocent people would die.

All they needed now was to find a cursed beast. Then they could launch an assault on Acelot and assassinate the leader of Numen. At least that was what Aurelius wanted.

"Hey, Balgair," she said and the head of black hair turned.

"Yah?"

"This thing with Acelot. Whose idea was it exactly?"

"Whose idea do you think it was to waltz into the capital and kill one of the most powerful men in the world with only a handful of enhancers?" he asked with a dumbfounded expression.

"Uh..." Cade turned to look for Aurelius. He had already disappeared into the maze of trees. "You just agreed with him?"

"Hey, I didn't hear push back from you when you were informed," Balgair quipped.

"That's because I was informed and not asked," Cade said with a blank face. "I assume there was some kind of planning process where you could have said something."

Blagair's shoulders slumped. "What do you want me to do? He's the strongest," he said with a wink.

He knew it irritated her. But it was true. He had defeated the assassin, who had wiped the floor with her. She touched her stomach. The physical wound had healed, but the one on her psyche had yet to close up.

"If you want to change plans, tell him," Balgair said. "But what is there to do except go to Zalfari where the leader of Numen wants him?"

Cade looked down at her hands, mumbling, "We could go to his home. The farm deep in the Thropes where nobody would find us."

"Oh, so you two could get married?" Balgair said, his eyes slumping.

Cade looked up to meet his eyes. "Yeah."

Balgair leaned back and raised his brows. "Well, that was mature. Go you. But when do you plan on confronting him about it? As established, the guy's a... bit slow when he's not in battle, you know. Wait for too long, and he'll be having children with essence." Balgair laughed.

Cade rubbed his face. "I don't know. But would it be so bad to escape?"

Balgair rubbed his chin. "Well, now that I think about it, a farm could be nice. But am I even welcome? I'd just be third wheeling."

Cade smirked. "You can sleep with the sheep."

Balgair deadpanned. "Yeah, fuck you. We're going to Acelot."

They both chuckled until a booming sound in the distance made them quiet. Balgair performed a few setups before both of them rushed into the direction the sound came from.

When they made it to the scene, Cade's jaw hung loose while Balgair laughed again.

A few tens of meters ahead, Aurelius had his hands out, holding onto the front paws of a muscular four-legged creature with grey-striped skin. The pair pushed against one another, the creature seeming eager to scratch Aurelius' eyes out while Aurelius smiled as brightly as the sun.

Aurelius let go and maneuvered to the side so quickly that the creature flopped to the ground. When it regained its footing, it jumped at Aurelius with its maw wide. Aurelius squealed gleefully as he jumped away awkwardly.

After the encounter, the creature bared its teeth and grumbled while Aurelius laughed.

They repeated the same drill again and again with a few variations. It was amusing to watch one playing around while the other was thirsty for blood.

After a while of watching, Balgair dashed up to Aurelius, causing the creature to flee. Cade followed leisurely.

"Hey," Aurelius said, "you scared it off."

Balgair gave a short laugh. "You talk like it was a bird you were playing with."

Aurelius shrugged. "I've seen birds with the same colors."

"And I've seen birds that thing could swallow whole." Balgair snorted.

"You done playing around?" Cade asked as she walked up to them. "We need to talk about our searching strategy."

"For the cursed beast?" Aurelius asked, scratching his head.

"No." Cade deadpanned. "For Balgair's dad."

"Good luck with that," Balgair commented.

Aurelius wore a puzzled expression. "You think we'll find him here?"

Balgair laughed while Cade rubbed her forehead. She wasn't even sure if Aurelius was doing it intentionally nowadays.

"I say we look for settlements and question people. Looking for marks all over would take ages and seeking out an informant would require leaving Aurelius out," Cade argued.

Aurelius raised his hands casually. "I'm fine with anything. But I don't mind spending a few months here. I need some more training. And I need you for sparring," he said to Cade.

"There's nothing to be gained from sparring if you're just going to hold everything back. And we've sparred more than enough already. You just need more battle experience."

"It's sparring. You're meant to hold back," Aurelius whined.

"Yeah, but you're still meant to try."

"I do," Aurelius insisted.

"Yeah, whatever," Cade said flatly and turned her head to look at the surrounding area.

They would need to reach a high point to—

A deafening boom shook the earth and Cade turned back to where Aurelius and Balgair looked on at an enormous cloud of dust. It sounded like a mountain had been blown apart. But how could it all of a sudden?

Then came an inhuman shriek. One very much like the one Cade had heard about a year ago at that place. The Cloud-Piercing Mountains.