Shadows Of Troria (Will Contain 'Slightly-Adult' Content in Later Chapters.)

Well, considering Sunova was kind enough to give me a topic here...well, I decided to return the kindess by posting what I've written so far. Keep in mind this IS a work in progress and only the first 'Draft' and therefore not the final product. I don't expect much feedback, considering the general opinion was poor, but I would appreciate it. Thank you all.

Oh, yes. This is copyrighted by me. You steal, I'll track you down and...yeah. I'll give you a very loud yelling at.
----
-Prolouge-

Just another Friday afternoon. I was glad that another dreary week had finally come to an end as I slammed the door shut behind me, giving a sigh of relief that the weekend had FINALLY arrived. University had been...harder than I'd expected.

To be completely honest, my intellect was up to the standard expectations and so far any grade I’d achieved had been a B+ at least. If anything, it was the people here that made life difficult with their stupid antics and constant mid-night parties which made it nigh-impossible to concentrate. Or sleep, for that matter.

Constant invitations had been given to me throughout the first term and I turned down every offer. Not only did I have better things to do than waste my time getting drunk, drugged and waking up next to someone the next morning, my social skills were lacking sever polish because I didn’t share the same viewpoint as everybody else.

Eventually it led to a simple misunderstanding led to me being branded an outcast and loser by most of the other students on campus. Granted, the teachers actually respected me for my sensible choices but obviously agitated everyone else even more.

Tossing my bag next to the PC, it took only a few moments to boot up, while I stared at my reflecting in the meantime. Not attractive enough to be royalty, but more than enough to have several girls interested in me who DIDN’T hate me (which I turned down. Social issues, remember?) made life somewhat easier.

My facial features were basically consisted of two hazel eyes, mouse-brown hair and usually I was cleanly shaved, something that had taken a few attempts to accomplish without any mistakes or harm to myself. The mocking laughter stung more than the cuts I’d made on my face.

While I’m on the subject, I suppose ‘Mother Nature' had certainly been kind to me as well, proven by the fact that there wasn't a single pimple in sight, nor any horrific flaws. The closest thing to that was a scar on my jaw, an incident from when I was MUCH younger and involving a fall from a bunk-bed into a wardrobe. Don't ask.

As for my attire when I was 'out and about', it proved pretty plain even by normal standards. I have never cared about fashion or stylish clothing and wasn't about to change my viewpoint on such things. A simple blue t-shirt and black trousers with white stripes and other dull clothes were more than enough.

I wasn't exactly all that physically built either. While fit, my muscles weren't very as prominent as my intellect. Mind over matter, as they say. Anyway my body was blessed with fairly light frame and from a recent medical emergency which nearly cost me my life left me about forty-five kilograms in weight.

There was something wrong with my insides...I can’t remember the specifics but it had to do with my digestive system and...Well...I’m still too afraid to eat a large meal after that traumatic experience. Simply thinking about it made me ill.

Still, I was fairly strong when it came to swimming and running which got me some recognition, but who really cares about my achievements? ...Perhaps employment agencies when I search for a job but there'd be no-one else as the rest of society didn’t seem to give a damn since they were thinking they’d be able to do better.

Looking over at my computer and deciding to get some patches for a game I’d bought a few weekends ago, I simply pulled some books out of my bag and decided to take a quick glance at what we’d be studying next week. By the looks of it, there was nothing but PE which was a subject I hated, especially since the game was usually rugby.

...SOMEONE’s going to get it when I found out who’d signed me up for tryouts...

Letting myself drop onto my bed with a thud, the large mattress absorbing my fall, my body refused to rest despite how much today’s physical and mental exercises had drained me.

Taking another glimpse at my PC, I raised an eyebrow at the display. There was a digital pattern with the words ‘Gateway Construction Complete’ taking up a majority of the monitor. The text had no relativity to the patches I was download, nor any other program that was installed on the computer.

Something told me that it was getting dangerously close to having it introduced to a sledgehammer which was sounding quite fun after this week of hell. The grin turned into a frown when I realised I’d have to buy that large unwieldy thing.

“Life-form detected. Beginning transfer...”

Before I had a chance to re-act, there was a deafening roar as a vortex of swirling energy suddenly materialized before my very eyes. Blinded by some rapid flashes of lightning, they lashed out at random, reducing all it touched into...well, it simply vanished.

Trying to fight the strain as this ‘gateway’ began to draw everything towards it, there was nothing I could use to try and resist this powerful force.

Like it mattered. A second wave of powerful bolts lashed out from the vortex, one hitting me directly in the chest. Searing pain coursed through my entire being. The feeling of blood boiling, a headache which felt like it was on the verge of tearing my brain apart...

Trying to remain standing, I could feel my body start to grow heavy and fighting it proved futile as I collapsed into a heap on the floor, my eyesight and consciousness dimming as the vortex continued to rage.
--
-Elsewhere-

“Great, just great! I suppose I should be somewhat thankful that it’s started raining. But I’ll never be able to get my hair out of my eyes OR make it right again. Damnit! Why’d this have to happen...?!” a figure yelled, his voice nearly drowned out by the storm he was cursing.

As such, it was hard to make out any obvious feature about the young man as he was running through the dead of night...and the sudden storm made things worse.

A sudden flash of lightning revealed a faint outline to confirm he was indeed male without any distinguishing features...apart from his lower legs which seemed to be talons.

Turning around when he noticed no reply from his complaint, he reached down to help a second figure who’d fallen over.

“C’mon, sis! We’ve got to hurry! I know it’s hard, especially given the circumstances...but we have to keep running!” the male figure shouted, helping his sister up.

The girl said nothing, barely able to speak and simply nodded at her brother. While they both shared the taloned legs, the only other visible difference was that the other figure was more feminine.

Without another word, they continued to run, even though their legs weren’t meant for this sort of task, not to mention it was surprising how fast they were managing to travel through the storm. Yet despite whatever was pursuing them would be at a disadvantage, there would be little doubt it...they would be close behind.

“Brother...Are we...Are we going to be okay? I’m...Aah!” the girl cried, tripping over something once again.

Obviously concerned about his sister’s well-being, if somewhat annoyed at her general clumsiness, he turned around to help her up once again only to notice WHAT she’d fallen over. A young adult, likely about their age was lying there, unmoving He was bleeding and by the looks of it, was unconscious and barely clinging on to life.

Damnit! As if we didn’t have enough problems...

“Brother...we can’t just leave him here. If the rain or cold doesn’t kill him then...then...” she trailed off, her voice pleading.

“Yeah. They’d kill him instead.” he sighed, lifting the unconscious adult and turning to the east. “We’re not far from a Slynn Village. We’ll simply hide there.”

Annnd...Chapter 1! Hopefully the First-Person View didn't annoy you guys too much.
--
A pair of eyes opened, exposed to the rays of a mid-day sun shining through a window. As such, the obvious reaction one would make would to turn away from the blinding light yet they simply stared unflinching at the radiance. When was the last time these hazel eyes had seen daylight? Or any sight of the sun?

Still completely oblivious to all else, muscles began to tense and a simple mental order brought about someone sitting upright. Slowly but surely, everything came flooding back. From his miserable solitary existence at college, (if not for his entire life) to remembering that it wasn’t an intelligent idea to move after being wounded and winced from the sudden pain which struck him.

After all, the image of that lightning bolt striking him square in the chest was still vivid in his mind and the young adult took a glance down at his upper body, now somewhat aware that he’d not only been found and his injuries had been treated if the blood-stained bandages covering him weren’t obvious enough. The fact he awoke in a bed that wasn’t his own was the second hint which caused him to become slightly worried. NO-ONE from the college would’ve bothered to save him and no girl was THAT desperate to make him theirs. He’d be lacking a more than his shirt in clothing.

Feh...If that were the case, I’d also be a bit tied up... the youth muttered, not caring that he’d made a stupid pun.

Trying to run through the remaining possibilities in his head, he came to the conclusion that what had happened was real and not some illusion conjured up from the recesses of his fatigued mind. It was simply a matter of figuring out where the hell he’d ended up. A simple glance of the room revealed nothing. With no other choice, the youth cautiously slid out from the covers and tried to stand...

...Only to fall flat on his face. A few moments passed before he pushed himself off the floor and stood upright, if somewhat off balance because of the previous endeavour. At least things were starting to look up before the door to the room swung open and the sudden shock saw him crashing down to the wooden floor a second time.

Reeling back and slowly raising his head, the youth’s body went cold as he saw the legs...or lack of them. They seemed more like a bird’s talons than anything else! Trying to keep calm, a voice which was clearly male broke his panicked thoughts.

“Ah, great...We got to all that effort of saving this guy’s life, only to find out he’s got some sort of problem with people who don’t have proper legs...Or he’s a twisted perv.”

The youth on the floor was obviously enraged by this insult and ignoring the possibility of causing further pain to his body, stood up and glared angrily at the speaker while trying to keep his nerve. This...bird-person was dressed in a white singlet which showed off his somewhat muscular body which was paired with a set of black shorts.

Even if this guy had saved him from death, he had little idea why or if this newcomer had some worse fate in mind and finally responded to the insult.

“Don’t compare me with a sick pervert! I was taken a little bit by surprised, that’s all! I mean, are you some sort of Hawkman or something?”

Giving a small smirk, the newcomer brushed a hand through his neon-green hair that looked like it had been through an air-tunnel, his blue eyes shone brightly at the remark.

“Close, but not quite, I’m afraid. I suppose people don’t see a MALE harpy every-day so I suppose they’d get mixed up. But I’m not just your run of the mill harpy!” he smirked, arms suddenly flashing with green light and changing into similar colored wings. “You’re looking at the fastest guy in the sky! I’m Falken!”

Raising an eyebrow at Falken’s over-confident boast, the human simply shrugged his shoulders that his worries of being harmed were unfounded and gave a small smile which he kept hidden out of sight.

“Well, since someone who’s overconfident as you saved my skin, I guess there’s no harm in introducing myself. I’m Wren. Self-Proclaimed Genius.” Wren said calmly. “Still, if you’re a Harpy, then how can you change your ‘wings’ into human arms?”

Falken’s wings flashed brightly for a second before he was rubbing his nose with a finger, his smile only growing wider and suddenly clicked his fingers to make sure Wren knew that HE was the centre of attention now.

“Heh. Like I said, I’m not your ‘run-of-the-mill’ harpy. One in a million! King of the Hill! And all those other titles which mean I’m ‘Number One’! Of course, I guess my sis is no pushover either...” Falken started, his cheerful expression becoming far more serious to the point he began staring out the window and into the distance.

Wren knew better to interrupt Falken’s sudden musing, despite wanting the answer to a few more questions he had in mind. Most important was probably where he’d ended up. The further away it was from ‘home’, the better. Hell, anywhere could be far more hospitable and kinder than ‘College for High-Achievers.’

Wincing that the students there probably DID achieve some sort of ‘high’, Wren gave himself a mental slap at making stupid puns. A quick glance down the hallway revealed several other doors and two stair-cases which led up and down. Coming to the natural assumption this was an inn, hotel or some other form of accommodation for multiple people, Wren stepped out into the corridor...only to be nearly bowled over by Falken as he pushed past him, back to his usual self.

“I guess it’s a bit late for breakfast. At least it’s time for lunch! Considering you’ve been out for several days, I bet you’d want to eat something by now.” Falken chuckled, helping Wren stay balanced.

Not at all shaken by the fact at how he’d been asleep, it wasn’t much of a surprise considering the amount of rest he’d been deprived of back at CHA. Surprisingly though at the mention of food, Wren’s stomach growled which made his entire face flash a bright red...changing to an even deeper shade when Falken began chuckling.

“You’ve got quite a selection to choose from.” Falken started as they headed down the stairs, or in his case, jumped over the railing and floated down. “Although it’ll probably be nothing but fruit today. Ah, well.”

Giving a simple shrug of his shoulders and following Falken to what Wren assumed was a sort of pseudo-restaurant, he pushed open the doors and came to an abrupt halt at what he saw. Apart from the vast spread of various fruits, from apples, oranges and even some he’d never seen before, there were more...people than he’d been expecting.

Granted, there was a few humans scattered throughout the entire room but the vast amount of ‘Monster-Girls/Guys’ or ‘Demi-Humans’ as Wren sometimes called them when he’d read about them. Again, they were dressed in various articles of clothing which were appropriate for social activity which made him breathe a sigh of relief, but still felt somewhat nervous that someone would pull out a blade or try and strangle him to death, he’d noticed Falken had vanished from sight.

“Probably gone to get some food...“ Wren started before he noticed Falken had engaged in a heated conversation (more like flirting) with a Lamia. Giving a sigh of annoyance, he headed over to the display of food and picked up an apple.

“U-Um...Excuse me...You’re the one my brother and I...uh...found, right? I’m H-Hylesa...” a timid voice asked, making Wren turn around and nod, looking at the figure standing before him.

The speaker was clearly a harpy, her wings were a bright purple which matched her beautiful long hair. Dressed in a pink shirt and skirt, she seemed to fidget a bit nervously before noticing Wren was giving her a small smile and couldn’t help but smile back.

“Nice to meet you, Hylesa. I’m Wren. Your brother brought me down here for lunch but...well; he’s busy flirting with a Lamia. Still, I guess I owe you both my deepest thanks for saving my life.” Wren replied.

Hylesa seemed to try and get somewhat annoyed at her sibling’s behaviour, but quickly calmed down and blushed after hearing Wren’s words of gratitude and suggested they sit down and wait for Falken.

The unmistakable sound of a hand slapping against someone’s face echoed throughout the room and both Hylesa and Wren couldn’t help but give a small laugh. Looked like they wouldn’t have to wait long.
--
Watching Falken walk over to where Wren and Hylesa were sitting who were both trying not to burst out into a fit laughter, he gave a sheepish grin and sat down beside his sister but not before heaving a disappointed sigh. Tossing the crest-fallen harpy an apple, Falken looked up at his new friend and smiled weakly.

“Hah...Thanks, Wren. I guess I went and made a fool of myself, huh?”

Hylesa frowned; nudging her brother in the ribs with that former timid nature replaced with irritation and scolded him. “You do this every time...Especially when you see a cute girl and it always ends up the same...You’re not exactly as good as you brag, brother.”

Wren took a small bite into his apple and looked over at the two siblings. Now that they were together, he could see they indeed looked somewhat similar...almost like twins. Of course, it didn’t exactly help tell him which was the eldest of them but simply assumed that Falken would be the older one.

“Could I ask a question? What’s up with all the huge amount of...uh, well, ‘Demi-Humans’?” Wren cautiously inquired, picking his words with care. Calling the people he was referring to as ‘monsters’ wouldn’t exactly be the best choice.

Falken rubbed the apple against his singlet for a few moments, watching this crimson fruit sparkle brightly before turning his gaze back at Wren with a serious expression instead of that carefree and boastful nature he was half-expecting.

“Hmm...I thought it was kind of obvious. We’re in Slynn Village. Well, it’s more of a city considering how big this place is. It’s one of the few places that people like us are permitted to walk freely instead of being attacked, enslaved or even killed by humans...or vice-versa.” Falken started, getting a horrified expression from Wren. “H-Hey! I’m not blaming you! And I doubt anyone here would commit murder! It’s just that there are people out there that make things difficult for both sides from getting along.”

Wren folded his arms and tried to keep calm. This wasn’t exactly the sort of democracy he’d been expecting...although, considering nearly every world in either fiction or reality was similar with the usual ‘divided people’ aspect, he sighed.

“Most of the humans here...they treat us with kindness...even though there’s others of our ‘kind’ who would rather see this place burn...and occasionally try and wipe everyone here out...they’re like...animals.” Hylesa said slowly, looking down at the floor.

Trying to change the subject, Falken turned towards Wren.

“What about you? Considering we might be attacked at any moment, do you have any sort of abilities? Trained with any weapons?” Falken enquired, giving a mental slap that he’d failed to change the topic.

For some reason, Wren cautiously gazed over his shoulder to catch a female Lizard man who’d quickly turned away; he made a mental note to keep his voice down. He didn’t need someone challenging or demanding a duel from him and gave a nod to Falken.

“Well, I’m no magician...but I’ve do some training with a katana and sword in general. Mainly Battōjutsu, Iaijutsu, Ono-ha Ittō-ryū...” Wren started whispering before Falken stopped him.

“Hold on a sec. You mind EXPLAINING what you’re going on about? Katana are blades, but I don’t think people really bother with those flashy techniques. Mainly they just pick up a sword and start swinging. So don’t bother with anything stylish and just fight back if you need to.” Falken sighed, shaking his head.

Embarrassed that his attempt to impress ended up failing dismally, Wren gave a sigh and nodded, simply finishing off his previous statement by adding he was also fairly adept with short-swords in general but also had a few certificates in ‘First-Aid’...which he simply re-worded to ‘Healing’. Looking over at Hylesa whose eyes seemed to sparkle, Falken gave a grin.

“Wow...So you’re like a heroic swordsman?” Hylesa asked somewhat, eyes shining. Her smile quickly changed to shock when her gaze was fixated on something behind Wren.

Feeling the familiar sensation of his hairs on his neck stand on end, Wren knew he’d have to turn around eventually. Breathing a nervous sigh, he turned to find same Lizardman standing there, staring at him. Keeping his nerve, he looked up directly at the female’s face; the two green eyes seemed to burn with an inner fire. As for the rest of her appearance, she had a fairly light frame, lime green skin and the obvious tail.

“Listen...If you want a duel, I’m afraid I can’t help you. I have no wea-“Wren was cut off as a katana was plunged into the wooden table causing them to break into a sweat.

“I’m a master with all sorts of weapons. Someone of your talent should put up a decent fight, considering you’re a ‘heroic swordsman’.” She smirked, arms folded.

Looking over at Hylesa who seemed apologetic for her outburst, Falken burst into laughter, pulled the katana out of the table and handed it to Wren. Watching as he stood up and give a sharp glare, the male harpy quickly shut up.

Here's Chapter 3! Not that anyone cares. Hehe.

Chapter 3
---
Following the Lizardwoman who hadn’t said a word since they’d both stepped outside into the village and leaving the siblings behind, Wren couldn’t help but shield his eyes from the bright afternoon sun, nor unable to stare in awe of the world around him. The village was more advanced than he’d expected, possibly only twenty, maybe ten years behind Earth’s own. Somewhat odd...considering they were content with living in a way which would’ve been several eras ago with the absence of cars or lunatics coming out of nowhere and pointing a gun in his face.

And it was still surprising to see the sun, as apart from his recent awakening, the last time he’d seen the celestial entity was several months ago as most of his time was spent either indoors or in terrible weather. Trying to avoid staring at his opponent’s tail that seemed to twitch every few moments, he noticed that the ‘lime skin’ was in reality a rather very tight outfit that clung tightly to her lithe, yet slightly toned figure.

Turning around at the familiar sound of Falken’s voice shouting from behind them, Wren stood there with his arms folded and VERY annoyed.

“Y-You can’t honestly be planning to go through with this! Do you know what’ll happen if you lose?! Remember those wounds on your upper body and stuck in a bed unconscious for a few days! Any of this ringing a bell of how WORSE it’s going to be?!” he quickly shut up when Hylesa looked up at her brother, upset. “...Ugh...Sorry. We’ll cheer you on, alright? Just don’t get yourself killed, got it?”

Wren nodded, feeling somewhat at ease that he had some moral support. Keeping calm and trying to figure out how he’d deal with this problem, this was pointless as a few steps forward caused him to crash into the lizardwoman from behind, which sent them both crashing to the ground. Thankfully, his ‘loaned’ katana fell in an opposite direction.

“You clumsy idiot! You’re probably more of an accident-prone jester than a warrior!” the lizardwoman laughed harshly.

Ignoring the insult and getting to his feet, Wren simply dusted himself and looked around. From what he assumed by the surroundings consisting of a fountain and signs pointing in multiple directions, it wouldn’t be a bad guess that this was the centre of the village...and they soon found themselves encircled by countless people, curious as to what was going on.

“So, I suppose we can’t try and talk about this? I already said that I’m not a heroic swordsman. If anything, I’m...a bit rusty.” Wren muttered, hoping to talk his way out of this.

The lizardwoman simply shook her head, brushing a strand of brown hair off her face before making sure her gauntlets and leggings (which were green, naturally) were fastened before she thrust both arms forward. Watching in shock as something began to form out of thin air; she simply grasped one end of the materializing object as it gave off a powerful gleam to reveal a powerful and quite deadly Zweihänder.

“Alright!” she shouted, which caused Wren to flinch. “Since it’s common courtesy to introduce one another before a duel and being the gentleman I’m supposing you are, ‘swordsman’, I suggest you tell me your name!”

Wren held the katana’s handle tightly, adrenaline already pumping through his veins for the unavoidable duel. “I’m Wren. And you are...?” He enquired, pointing the blade at the lizardwoman for emphasis.

The lizardwoman (although Wren was seriously considering that she wasn’t even close to being an adult considering the tone of her voice and appearance) hefted the massive blade with considerable ease and rested it on her shoulders, and pointed to herself with her free hand as an a overconfident smirk spread formed.

“I’m Sara! Legendary Blade-Master! Slayer of over a 1000 Monsters!” she proclaimed loudly, getting a cheer from the crowd before turning to Wren. “Now, let’s begin!” And lunged forward faster than the human had expected, gripping her broad-sword with both hands, ready to deliver a blow from above which was obviously in an attempt to fracture his skull.

Quickly leaping to the side to avoid the massive blade which came crashing down, which caused a cloud of dust to obscure the lizard-woman’s sight. Taking advantage of this, Wren swiftly spun around to deliver a counter-attack which was hopefully going to land somewhere on Sara’s upper body. Of course, Sara’s other senses were considerably honed by battle and a temporary loss of sight wasn’t enough to stop her from parrying the blow with her own blade.

Simply pulling away from the impact and slashing once more with a swift in a rising diagonal slash, Wren cursed his luck when the attack was intercepted by the lizardwoman’s own and was suddenly felt his entire body feeling a powerful vibration as the blades collided with significant force, enough to leave him temporarily stunned. ...And somewhat surprised his katana hadn’t been damaged from that last attack.

Giving a shout that this was her chance, Sara gave a shout of victory and delivered a powerful double-handed horizontal slash, only to find her grip faltered slightly and caught Wren in his torso with the flat of the blade rather than the edge which sent him skidding back a few inches, slightly bruised and probably suffering some small internal damage.

Of course, he’d recovered from this impact rather swiftly and closed the gap to deliver a powerful rising vertical double-handed slash of his own which tore a hole through Sara’s outfit and at her deathly pale skin...causing the familiar scent of blood to fill the air.

Taking a few steps back to avoid Wren who was preparing a follow-up attack, Sara glanced down at the moderate gash on her upper body and gave a shout of disbelief as her damaged outfit and skin was now stained with crimson, she immediately turning to Wren with a glare of hatred only for her expression to change into one of surprise as he’d lowered his guard, staring at the wound he’d inflicted.

“What’s the matter?! Why don’t you just try and do that again?!” she yelled before swinging her blade with both hands in a full circle.

While the human had managed to avoid the actual blade, he hadn’t anticipated the powerful shockwave it had created as he felt a powerful wind slash at his body, causing small cuts to form on his skin and began to bleed lightly. Refusing to give a cry of pain as this pain coursed through him, he was clearly shaken by these wounds and had little choice but to be on the defensive as another powerful horizontal slash nearly made contact with him. Launching an attack while Sara was in this enraged state would prove fatal if he left himself open.

Doing his best to avoid Sara’s enraged onslaught of furious slashes that came from all angles, Wren either parried the blow or avoided them completely as the blade flew past him. Giving a swift counter-slash every time the warrior made a mistake, Wren managed to wear his opponent down and force her back.

Then, disaster. One of the wounds on his left arm suddenly worsened, the light cut became worse as pain shot through his entire limb which in turn caused him to lose his grip on the blade mid-slash and the attack missed terribly. Sara, obviously somewhat worn out but alert enough to realise this opportunity ended the duel with a simple swing of her Zweihänder as it crashed into the katana in Wren’s right hand which caused it to fly out of his grasp.

Watching in terror as his weapon spiralled through the air and clattered several meters away on the ground, he staggered backwards and fell on the ground, nursing his heavily bleeding arm before glancing up at Sara as she held the edge of her Zweihänder at his throat. There was no noticeable expression on her face. There wasn’t any sign or rage for the pain he’d caused, nor any glee that she’d emerged victorious. Hearing the sound of rushing footsteps, she tilted her body to the side to avoid a powerful kick which was aimed at her face.

Falken was standing there, his entire body tensed and his leg’s talons were poised for another powerful kick.

“If you’re going to kill him, you’ll have to go through us! I ain’t going to let my friend die!” he yelled angrily.

Sara looked back at Wren who was surprised by the turn events. Weakly shaking his head that this wasn’t his doing, the lizard-woman gave a sigh and pulled the Zweihänder away from his neck and plunged the blade into the ground. It simply vanished as suddenly as it had appeared and turned to the siblings.

“You’re... not going to kill him, Miss Sara?” Hylesa asked, her voice almost a whisper.

To both of the siblings’ surprise, the lizard-woman turned around and pulled Wren to his feet and let him lean against her for support which surprised them.

“I never said this was a fight to the death.” Sara sighed, turning her attention to her own wounds which were still bleeding, wincing at the damage both of them had inflicted on each other. “Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve seen someone who possesses that much talent with a katana. Most warriors are too busy with weapons with more reach or easy to use. ...His...Wren’s style seems to banish the usual shortcomings of that blade. Although...”

Wren coughed weakly, the damage of Sara’s first attack had begun to become more apparent as a small amount of blood trickled from his mouth which made him wince from the taste. Although with such praise, he tried his best not to complain. Glancing around at the crowd which had begun to scatter, there wasn’t any reason to hang around.

“Wren...are you okay...? You’re covered in so many cuts...” Hylesa managed to stutter, doing her best not to shy away from the horrible wound on his arm. “And...You’re looking a little pale...”

Wren looked down at the wound, feeling somewhat light-headed at the sight of his crimson life-force leaking from that deep gash. Simply applying pressure to reduce blood-flow to the wound, he turned to Sara who was trying to ignore her wounds altogether.

“Hey. I know you probably don’t want any help, but if you’d like some of those wounds treated, I can help...uh, provided it’s not anywhere...awkward...for obvious reasons...” Wren trailed off, blushing slightly.

Sara’s face went bright red at the offer. She’d rarely treated any injuries inflicted from past battles mainly because she was usually focused on not getting hit in the first place and hadn’t fought against an ‘honourable’ opponent for a long time. Slowly nodding, she gave a small smile.

“It’s better than waiting for them to heal naturally, I suppos-.”

“Great. Nice to see you’re all getting along fine now. Can we PLEASE get back to the inn before one of you bleeds to death?! It’ll take ages to get the smell of blood off me as it is!” Falken complained, cleaning some of the crimson liquid with a tissue. “And my clothes! Rrrgh! Blood NEVER comes out!”

Deciding to heed Falken’s annoyed outburst, they decided it was best to recover after that recent duel and head back to the inn.

Hours passed without incident as Afternoon soon began approaching Night...-

Wren was applying the final bandage on Sara’s torso, averting his gaze from anything that would label him as a pervert. Apart from that, both warriors were slightly nervous...or embarrassed as Hylesa was observing them intently, taking down notes of what Wren was doing since she’d wanted to learn how to help other people.

“Alright. Now we make sure the bandage is putting enough pressure on the wound...and then depending on the situation, you simply secure the end of the cloth to the main bandage to keep it from coming undone. Like so.” Wren instructed, simply stitching the bandage together. The task had proved somewhat difficult as his left arm was still healing, not to mention Sara’s tail occasionally getting in the way but he managed to treat most of the wounds.

“...And we’re done! Okay, Sara, I’d say you’ll be ready to fight again in the morning considering how fast you’re healing.” Wren said with a cheerful smile, raising an eyebrow as he caught Hylesa holding Sara’s torn outfit. With the damage IT had sustained the article of clothing would be useless now.

The lizard-girl (as Sara had admitted she was still a youth like them) gave a short sigh. It was great that it wouldn’t take long before she’d recover but wasn’t too happy her one-piece suit had been ruined. She still had another set of but it was the fact they were EXPENSIVE to obtain which proved a hassle. Glancing over at Hylesa who was double-checking her notes and waiting for Falken to come back, Sara decided to stay dressed in a sleeping robe, irritated that there was no room for her tail to move freely.

Everyone turned around as the door to the room opened to find Falken carrying several trays of food and struggling to keep them from crashing into a mess over the wooden floor. Hylesa quickly dashed over and took two of the trays out of her brother’s hands and did her best not to fall over.

Wren went back to staring out the window, catching a glimpse of the two siblings arguing who was going to bring him his dinner while he looked up at the night sky, giving a weary sigh. It’d been a long time since he’d seen stars or the moon for that matter as well.

...I really am in another world. Wren thought, giving a small smile. And that’s fine with me. There was nothing back on Earth for me anyway.

He turned around to find Hylesa holding out the tray of food in front of him, giving a shy smile. Smiling back and saying ‘Thank You’, everyone sat down around the table in the room. It was far larger than the one Wren had awoken in and had four beds. The wooden surfaces (in other words, floor, ceiling and walls) were considerably new as they seemed to have been varnished...or something to give them a reflective-like glimmer.

Looking over at everyone else’s meal, Sara’s tray consisted of mostly meat which was mainly a well-cooked steak with a few leaves of lettuce and a carrot which the lizard-girl looked at with disdain while Hylesa’s and Falken’s consisted mostly of various fruits and small slices of ham. Almost afraid to ask what he had on his plate, Wren stared down and blinked.

...Pasta. Spaghetti, to be more specific. One of the foods he hated. Of course, there hadn’t been much of a chance to tell Falken about this since HE was busy elsewhere and simply brought dinner back without warning. Giving a shrug of his shoulders, he reluctantly began eating the meal. His stomach began to rebel but was swiftly hushed by his brain. A small cough from Sara made him turn to face her, swallowing a strand of spaghetti with difficulty.

“Wren. Do you have any idea what you’re going to now? You’re not just going to sit around in this Inn for the rest of your life, are you? You’d make a decent ‘Slayer’.” Sara stated, the rest of her offer cut off.

“B-But he promised he’d stay here to teach me more on how to help other people with those tec-teknikes he has! Besides...he doesn’t have to leave to go fight monsters...this village is attacked every now and again...” Hylesa retorted, somewhat upset.

Falken was smart enough not to get involved in the argument and decided to keep eating, while Wren hoped his spaghetti wouldn’t be cold by the time Sara and Hylesa had finished their ‘fight’.

“Alright, alright! It’s just I think he has potential, okay?! Today was the closest I’ve come to losing a duel for a long time and I’m hoping both of us can train each other to become stronger! If you two want to come along, I don’t mind but you’ll have to pull your weight!” Sara shouted angrily.

Everyone stared at Sara’s outburst, slightly stunned. Two of them had very little knowledge on the surrounding area while Wren was oblivious to what this world was like. He didn’t exactly want to drag Hylesa and Falken into something that could cost them their lives, but there was a sense of adventure he couldn’t shake off.

“You’re going to teach me how to be a better swordsman? I’ll admit, that sounds awfully tempting but is it a good idea to go out into the unknown this ill-equipped?” Wren asked.

“Hey, hey! Don’t say we’re both unable to defend ourselves! You saw today you almost got a kick to the face! I’m a master of un-armed combat while sis is a pretty decent spell-caster! Isn’t that right, Hay?”

The harpy girl nodded timidly.

“Well that’s that! We’ll buy some supplies tomorrow and set out to train! To adventure!” Wren shouted, taking everyone by surprise.

The four gave a loud cheer.
---
The darkness of the abyss. For countless years, no light has ever been able to penetrate through these murky depths, nor was it even humanly possible to reach this place through ‘normal’ means. This place was a part of this world, yet at the same time could be considered another realm of it’s own.

Screams of tormented souls fill the air, rising with the grievous wails of those who found their existence cut short or deprived of something precious during their existence. Then there were the cries of agony, all forming together to create a sort of symphony only the evilest of souls would find entertainment from this ballad of despair.

A pair of red eyes opened amidst the darkness, their piercing gaze suddenly bringing the voices to an abrupt end. If there was any solid ground in this realm, you’d still be unable to hear this enigma’s footsteps as it gracefully seemed to hover forward, standing concealed in a shroud of darkness that no light could hope to reveal what awful being lurked beneath it.

Nothing escaped it’s gaze. It was already aware that everything had been set into motion. Turning it’s gaze, countless sets of blood-lusting eyes emerged in the hellish void, their intent obviously clear. They needed no verbal order to move, nor any physical ‘persuasion’. Snarls could be heard in amidst the death-like silence.

But THEY knew better not to complain. They’d have their chance soon enough. There was blood to be spilt, flesh to rend. Lives to end. With a chorus of twisted laughter filling the empty void, the cloaked figure remained silent, those red eyes glaring upwards...

Alright. I upload TWO chapters a day until I get up to where I am now. Again, I don't really expect any comments or feedback, but if you have time to spare, then please do make a comment. I don't mind.
---
Chapter 4.

Dawn seemed to arrive quicker than Wren had expected as he sat up in bed, staring out the window and was greeted by rays of sunlight dancing across his face. Blinking a few times for his eyes to focus, there had been little change from last night. He’d slept fairly well, as the mattress felt considerably soft and kept comfortably warm by a single blanket. He wasted no time in getting up and stretching.

He was healing quicker than he expected as well. Most of those minor cuts were almost gone, while that worrying wound on his left arm...it was taking somewhat longer. Carefully applying a new bandage and covering his lower arm with one of his sleeves, he followed suit with his other arm. Looking up from the covered limb, no-one else was awake yet.

Falken was flailing around occasionally, his arms sometimes changing back into wing and those talons wouldn’t have made things easier. Hylesa probably hadn’t fared all that much better either as she seemed to be shivering slightly, despite covered quite well by the blanket. Taking the blanket of his own bed, he placed it over the sleeping harpy which stopped her shaking a bit.

Turning his gaze over at Sara, she’d probably fared pretty well. Lying on her side had caused no real problem apart from her tail; which was remaining limp and dangling over the bedside. Giving a smirk, he gave it a simple poke and watched it twitch slightly...but decided not to hang around to try it again. There was probably something more important things to spend time on.

“...Like breakfast, for example.” Wren sighed, rubbing his empty stomach, not wishing to recall the events around mid-night which had deprived him of his dinner and headed downstairs without delay.

The ‘restaurant’ was fairly empty. Taking a glance up at the clock which hung overhead, there was at least an hour of time to burn before it was 7 am...which was the time they ‘officially’ began serving breakfast. Granted, there were pieces of bread to toast (and toasters) with various sorts of jams but there was nothing but a pitcher of water and some glasses. Simply helping himself to some pieces of bread and sitting down in a chair, Wren just sat silently and ate his ‘meal’ without trying to draw any attention to himself. A plan which was thwarted when he was thrown out of his chair as something ran into him and landed on the floor, thankfully on his right arm.

Swiftly getting back onto his feet, he knew better not to yell loudly this early. He didn’t need an entire group of people trying to murder him for disturbing their sleep. Regardless, his mind focused on finding the figure that had sent him to the floor. It didn’t take long as he found that she was lying on her face. The white tail, hoofed feet and obvious fact that the poor newcomer was actually held up by her large breasts made him wince at that would be considerably uncomfortable.

Shaking his head, he stood in front of the ‘demi-human’ which he recalled was a Holstaurus and helped her stand. Blinking for a few moments and trying not to focus on her ‘prominent features’, the Holstaurus feebly rubbed the back of her head, in a bit of pain before noticing Wren was standing in front of her, arms folded. Quickly bowing politely and going quite red, she apologized swiftly, unintentionally relaying her dilemma as well.

“Oh! I’m so sorry! I’m kind of in a hurry to get breakfast ready for the guests here you see...and I’ve got a bit of a problem. The other chefs have called in sick so I’ll be stuck on my own...so if it wasn’t too much trouble, could you give me a hand? There’s nothing really complex to cook, it’s just I’d rather have some help.”

Wren raised an eyebrow, examining her more closely. Her long bluish hair was tied back, which matched her deep blue eyes that Wren struggled not to get lost in. Her ‘overalls’ were a bright blue which were considerably baggy and probably difficult to run around in, while her breasts were hidden behind a white tube-top which managed to keep them contained and tried his best not to stare.

“You’re a cook? Well, I suppose I’ve got nothing better to do until my friends wake up...so I suppose there’s no harm in helping you out. What are we making?” Wren enquired as he grabbed an apron from behind the counter.

The Holstaurus had already gotten out several bowls, frying pans and all sorts of cooking tools such as a whisk, spatula...the entire works faster than the human had expected. Turning to Wren and giving a shy smile, she turned away while pointing to a fridge which the human hadn’t noticed until now.

It was still hard for him to not be surprised at how advanced this world was. There was electricity and proper lighting, stoves and ovens that were almost like exact copies of the ones back at his dorm. Several moments passed before he realised he was being spoken to.

“Since it’s only the two of us, we’ll be making things relatively simple. Just some pancakes and omelettes for breakfast today. You’ll find everything you need in there. The usual stuff, eggs, pancake mixture, some...meat...to cut up and vegetables. Just cut up everything and put them in the omelettes. Just try to some for various tastes.” she smiled, placing a cutting board and knife in front of him.

The youth didn’t miss a beat and swiftly retrieved the ingredients from the fridge, handing his Holstaurus partner the flour, eggs and pancake mix and quickly focused on slicing up the vegetables in front of him with the rather sharp knife. A small twitch in his lower left arm was becoming irritating and he’d nearly cut himself rather than a tomato. Flinching at the sound of the blade crashing down against the wooden cutting board, he swapped hands and worked at a slower pace.

He couldn’t afford to let his mind wander as a single mistake could result in severe injury, yet it was nigh-impossible to take his thoughts off his new friends. They’d saved his life and actually worried about his well-being when he was defeated by Sara who wasn’t as cold as he first assumed, feeling somewhat happy that he’d been praised for his swordsmanship.

Falken, despite having a one-track mind around ‘proper women’, a remark last night which had nearly seen him getting severely beaten by an enraged Sara about her lack of feminine charm was at least honest and trust-worthy...while Wren found Hylesa’s shyness and admiration made him feel like her was actually needed by someone for once unlike his pointless existence back home.

Humming a cheerful tune as Wren began to pick up speed in his work to the point the Holstaurus was getting worried there wouldn’t be enough omelettes to keep up with the amount of toppings her companion was supplying before a small ‘ding’ sound was heard. Glancing up at the clock, he saw that the hour had passed quicker than he’d expected, yet there were at least fifty plates of omelettes and pancakes placed on the counter.

“Oh, thank you so much! I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here!” the Holstaurus smiled before hugging Wren tightly, causing his entire face to flush a bright red as he felt her ample chest press against him and reluctantly hugged her back.

Pulling away, she gave a cheerful smile.

“Hey...! You’re that guy who fought against that Lizardwoman yesterday! I didn’t notice until now! I’m not exactly interested in fighting but you did pretty well even though you lost...Maybe if you drunk some more milk...” she said, cheerfully.

Wren’s entire face went redder than he’d fought possible. He wondered if the Holstaurus understood what she’d said but simply gave a silent sigh and told her he’d keep the suggestion in mind. Watching her take a plate and sit down at a table, Wren made sure he got some food for everyone.

It’s was going to be long day...
--
--
“No!”

Hylesa’s eyes shot open as she sat upright in her bed, obviously awoken by some nightmare. Looking down at her arms which had changed back into their bright purple hue, the harpy remained silent and noticed she was covered in an extra blanket. Glancing over at Falken and Sara who was still asleep, her heart started to clench when she found no sign of Wren anywhere and that it was his blanket covering her.

...Had he seen her trembling from...no-one would be foolish enough to try and whisk him away. Feeling somewhat happy that Wren was worried about her, yet worried that he’d ask why she was shivering, her heart felt uneasy. There was something towards him growing despite the small amount of time they’d spent together. Her admiration at what he was capable of...the fact he accepted them for who they were...

But then, there was Sara. Hylesa looked over at the sleeping lizard-woman and knew all too well what they were like. Even though Wren had lost the duel, Sara had still showed interest in his abilities...and that meant any hope of getting any closer to the one she’d saved could be crushed completely.

She felt tears forming in her eyes, but refused to cry. There was always hope if she kept believing that things would work out...and felt another pain in her heart. Walking over to Falken and shaking him violently, he gave a groan and woke up.

“Ugh. What’s the matter, sis? Something up?”

Hylesa nodded and looked at her older brother with a sad look. Falken smiled weakly and hugged her.

“I know...But we’ve got to keep running, Hy. They’ll find us eventually and if we stay here, they’ll catch up eventually. At least we’ll be able to fight them off with Sara and Wren with us. We’d never be able to stand up against...”

“...Can we...Can we talk about something else later? I think Wren might have gone to get breakfast.” Hylesa said timidly, changing the subject.

Giving a smile and returning to his cheerful self, he agreed that getting something to eat would be a great idea. Quickly ushering Hylesa out of the room and taking aim at Sara, he scored a direct hit as his pillow soared through the air and to his horror, was knocked away as the lizard-girl woke up.

“OH CRAP!!!”

Leaping down the stairs before Sara could catch up; Hylesa could only shake her head at her brother’s behaviour and gave a weak smile. While it was stupid, she knew he’d do anything he could to make her happy. Looking over at the lizard-girl who was walking beside her, the harpy knew even if she considered themselves rivals, they’d still be good friends regardless and began talking.

Looking into the ‘restaurant’, Hylesa looked over at Wren and Falken who were sitting at a table, waving them over. Walking over and sitting down, she looked at a plate of pancakes which were garnished with a few strawberries and jam. Her entire face lit up.

“Yeah. I thought I’d try and do something nice for you guys since I haven’t exactly paid you back properly for saving me. It’s not much, but it’s a start.” Wren smiled at Hylesa’s expression. “Yes, I’m not exactly much of a cook without the proper ingredients, but I hope you enjoy it.”

Hylesa was struggling not to give a cry of joy and hug Wren in front of everyone. Even if it had only been a few days, she felt happy that someone other than her brother cared about her but gave a cheerful thank you and happily ate the meal.

“Okay, so here’s how I see it. We’re going to get the basic supplies for as cheap as we can. When I mean the basics, I mean food, water, bandages, stuff we’ll NEED. I don’t exactly have all that much of value, though...” Wren sighed, pulling his wallet out of his pocket. “...Well what do you know...? Guess I might have some money after all. Although I feel pretty stupid not noticing this until now.” He grinned sheepishly.

Waiting for everyone to finish their meal, they returned to their room and collected their belongings (or lack of) and set out to the stores. Things started off well as a polite lamia showed them around and pointed out sleeping gear and back-packs, but came to a dismal crash as the price was much more than any of them had expected.

“Are you sure my money’s no good here? Back at home, this is a lot of cash...” Wren started, holding out a hundred dollar bill before the human glared down at him angrily and tore the money into shreds, making the youth wince.

“Your stupid pieces of paper are no good here, boy! Unless you’ve got some more of these golden coins, you’ll be leaving here with nothing!” the man who looked like a cross between a golem and human being bellowed, causing Wren to give a sigh and tossed all of his coins onto the bar. The man greedily snatched them away and handed them several back-packs and probably two weeks worth of provisions, but no sleeping equipment.

Falken was fuming with rage and was barely restraining himself from kicking the shop-keeper to the moon, while Hylesa watched Wren step out of the shop and sit down outside on a bench. Sara was doing her best to negotiate a discount, but the man refused to budge on his decision and ordered them to leave.

...I should’ve known. People in general are still the real monsters... Wren thought to himself angrily, feeling his blood boil and watched his friends walk out of the shop, looking somewhat cheerful as they walked over.

“The lamia managed to convince her husband into giving us a set of sleeping equipment. I’m surprised she stays with that weakling...he’s got no real muscle to back up his threats...” Sara muttered angrily.
Falken gave a smug grin and placed most of the supplies in Wren’s backpack and handed it over which the human gratefully put on his back. Giving a weak smile to the group, he rolled out the map and turned to Sara.

“Okay. We’re better off heading along the coast while going north. The monsters aren’t too tough and there are no real bandits to worry about...Although, there is a problem. Including my own sleeping gear, each tent has room for only two people so we’ll have to share. I’m not sure on how we’ll decide on who sleeps where, but I’m guess it’ll be Falken and Wren in one, while I share the other with Hy.”

Falken looked over at Wren who simply shrugged. There wouldn’t be any problems with that...well, until Hylesa jumped in.

“...I...I want to be with Wren.”

Both Sara and Falken flinched at the sudden outburst, while Wren went bright red. Sara wasn’t too keen on having to share the tent with Falken, and he was awfully defensive about leaving his sister alone with Wren. When Hylesa seemed on the verge of tears, Falken reluctantly agreed not to be a problem to Sara and that if Wren were to hurt his sister in anyway, he’d get a FALKEN KICK to the face.

Wren nodded and without another word, they left town.

...Sorry if you guys were expecting a story post today. Stuff came up and all that. Anyways, I see 54 views. No comments, but the fact it's being read makes me happy. Thank you all.

Chapter 5

For the first few miles, there wasn’t any sign of rouge monsters amidst the peaceful landscape. While they were on the well-worn path which would take them north, Wren was observing the scenery with keen interest that it seemed to be a rather interesting contrast outlook to his friends had different reactions to being out in the open. Falken seemed a bit anxious as if they could be attacked at any moment while Hylesa stayed close to Wren, feeling somewhat safer.

The emerald green grassy plains seemed to stretch out for miles, occasionally interrupted by the odd tree. There were some interesting shrubs which seemed to be blossoming with vibrant colored flowers and in the horizon...and with a small, faint scent of salt, he got the feeling the ocean was closer than he’d expected.

A quick glance at in all directions showed that there seemed to be a forest to the south-west and more roads stretching out in multiple directions. Shielding his eyes for a moment as the sun seemed to get in the way; Wren couldn’t help but give a grin and feel confident enough to take on anything.

“Don’t get too over-confident. While some monsters aren’t exactly smart, they’ll do whatever it takes to kill you.” Sara warned, walking beside Wren with her arms folded. “Keep focused on being prepared for any signs of danger rather than enjoying the view.” She added sternly.

His good mood suddenly being replaced by a sense of caution, Wren nodded firmly. Glancing over Falken, it seemed he had abandoned his anxiety and changed back into his usual self, giving a shout of joy before performing an impressive loop-de-loop and flying into the sky while Hylesa was simply content to continue hovering next to Wren with minimum effort, her bright purple wings easily keeping her above the ground.

She was keeping silent while Sara was pointing out the basics of combat to Wren. The harpy seemed somewhat distressed at the possibility of battle but listened intently regardless, just in case they were flung into a conflict.

“Now, it’s obvious you’re quick with drawing your blade and getting into your battle stance quicker than most. You also know that you’d want to lure your opponent into attacking first, evade the blow and deliver a devastating counter. But there’s times when you’ll have to fight against monsters who cast magic. Take Hylesa for example. Since she can fly, it’s obvious anytime she’s able to cast a spell, she’ll keep out of reach. You’ll have to close the gap quickly; otherwise, you’ll suffer some serious damage.” Sara explained.

Obviously, Hylesa was rather upset and simply asked why she was being used as an example when there were plenty of other spell-casting monsters. Sara simply gave a shrug of her shoulders as an apology and continued her explaination of strategy to Wren with a calm, serious manner.

“Of course, should there be a situation where you’d have to enter combat against one of our kind, such as a Lamia or Goblin...you have to realise their advantages and shortcomings. Lamias tend to fight with long-range weapons and their tails are capable of strangling you to death...but they’re a bit slow. Goblins usually use clubs and focus on powerful blows to disable you, so try to counter with quick strikes.”

Wren gave a nod of approval. Everything Sara was saying made sense and while he already possessed some of the knowledge which he considered common sense, it wasn’t a bad thing to be reminded. Before she had a chance to continue however, Hylesa interrupted.

“Hey Sara. I know your kind tends to have a lot of knowledge on battle, but how come you know so much?”

Sara’s face went bright red, her tail suddenly straightening out and looked in the distance somewhat embarrassed by the pseudo compliment/question.

“Well...my mother is a powerful warrior, obviously. While my father...well, he’s a scholar who researches various arts of combat and other things. It took a while for her to accept him and let him teach her his wealth of knowledge...but she fell in love with him because she’d never lost a battle after everything he’d taught her.”

Sara said slowly, looking down at her feet. “It was obvious both my parents wanted me to be strong and taught me as much as they could. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen them though.”

The harpy simply gave a smile before her mind soon drifting off to something else...until a yell from Falken brought her out of her thoughts and bring her back into the reality of this large and vast world.

“Alright! We’ve got a monsters coming our way! Looks like a few basic undead! The mindless type, mind you! Not the ones with forms of intelligence!”

Wren swiftly unsheathed his katana and stood ready to engage the incoming enemy which Falken had warned them about. The loud clattering sounds made him assume they were skeletons which was confirmed when Falken landed beside him, stretching his legs and talons before giving more details.

Telling his sister to take the rear and support them with magic if necessary, Sara stepped up beside Wren and Falken with her zweihänder at the ready.

Of course as the seven skeletons lurched towards them, four with rusty blades, one with a club and another an axe, the human couldn’t help but wonder why they were out in the middle of the day. Wouldn’t it make more sense for undead to come out during the night when it was more ‘natural’ for them?

Screw it. This isn’t some book or world of fiction. Those wounds from yesterday are proof this is no game or dream...So I’ve got to stay alive and to do that, I have to fight.
Opening his eyes and dashing forward, the skeletons came to an abrupt halt as they saw the human charge towards them, leap into the air and bring his katana down in a powerful double-handed slash that pierced through one of their skulls and consequently, the rest of it before quickly using the momentum from his landing to spring away a short distance away from the remaining for undead.

Sara blinked in surprise at Wren’s sudden movement before Falken had already rocketed forward towards the remaining for foes, hovering a few inches above the ground before he suddenly stopped his flight and touched down on solid soil. Yet he carried his incredible speed into a dash forward and delivered a powerful round-house kick that sent a skeleton hurtling through the air at least several meters before crashing down in a heap of bones.

“Hah, hah! Been a while since I’ve had a chance to fight!” Falken laughed, taking flight to avoid an axe which intended to bisect him and simply stuck out his tongue. “Too slow, sucker!”

While Wren was busy fighting off another skeleton and Falken enjoyed taunting one by flying out of the way each time it attacked, Sara finally entered the conflict by swinging her massive blade at a skeleton. While it managed to parry the weapon with it’s own, the monster gave a rattle of dismay as it’s arms were sent flying, the head following a few moments after before it simply collapsed into a heap.

Hylesa was hovering nearby, keeping out of harm’s way and ready to cast a spell if necessary but had yet to find an opportunity. Wren who was once on the attack found himself forced to defend as two skeletons had come at him at once. Sweat had obviously begun pouring down his fore-head as he continued to block and evade every blow...there was no chance to attack as they seemed to increase in speed.

Sara half-heartedly dealt with the club-wielding skeleton, bored and waiting to deal a single fatal blow as it vainly tried to break through her defences while Falken was still laughing down at the remaining one which STILL continued to pursue him, occasionally getting a light kick to send it toppling forward. Both were aware of Wren’s predicament, yet decided to let him handle it.

Wren knew he was the weakest link here, but with Hylesa nearby and ready to help, it gave him enough courage to suddenly deliver a counter-attack which was a powerful slash that resulted in a small shockwave which forced the two undead back before he delivered a downwards diagonal slash, cutting one of them down while another was torn apart by a small whirlwind cast by Hylesa. Turning around and giving a smile, they watched as Sara simply used the flat part of her blade to crack her foe’s skull while Falken, deciding to wrap things up, stopped his flight and dropped from the sky to land directly on the skeleton in a powerful stomp, crushing it.

Scanning the immediate area and finding no further enemies, Sara caused her weapon to vanish in a flash of light and turned to everyone. Falken was chuckling and stretching legs once more, picking up several pieces of gold while Hylesa was standing next to Wren looking over at him with concern. He felt a bit drained...but seemed somewhat reliefed that it was over.

“We better keep moving. While it’s obvious undead don’t usually appear during the day, I have a feeling there’s more of them. We best hurry on and set up camp early when we reach the shore, or we’ll be outnumbered.” Sara pointed out.

Hylesa was about to speak up, suggesting they let Wren rest but was cut off by Wren who shook his head, pointing out Sara was right and they had to leave quickly. Simply asking the harpies to fly on ahead and search for somewhere to camp, the human calmly added that he and Sara would be close behind on foot and finally sheathed his katana.

The harpy girl didn’t like the fact she’d be leaving Wren with Sara but reluctantly decided to listen to the suggestion. Wren, who handed over the sleeping gear which Hylesa and her brother held in their talons, Falken gave a mock salute before they flew off to the north east and vanished into the distance a few minutes later while Sara and Wren followed. Neither of them said anything to each other, simply staring into the distance before the lizard-girl broke the silence.

“That was certainly different from how you fought yesterday. While your charge forward was a rather foolish and reckless attack that could've gotten you injured, you managed to take advantage of the enemy’s naturally slow reactions and deliver a killing blow. Looks like there’s more to you than meets the eye.” Sara trailed off, giving Wren a small smile.

Feeling somewhat better from the praise, he simply smiled back. It was general instinct that told him to go for the first strike and try and destroy an undead’s head which made Sara give an understanding nod. It was likely the adrenaline rush which had enhanced Wren’s movements in battle before looking down at her clawed feet.

“...Uh...I’m sorry for acting so serious before. It’s just learning about combat and fighting is a serious thing. If you don’t take it seriously...you’ll lose...and die. Don’t go throwing your life away over a careless mistake, okay?” Sara apologized, looking a bit shy.

Wren simply smiled and told Sara that it was nothing to worry about, considering he would try and avoid doing anything too dangerous, giving the lizardgirl the reassurance that his three friends would be there to save him if he ever got into a situation that was too much for him before finally commenting they just had to watch out for one another and smiled, asking if Sara had anything else to add as they continued to follow thier companions.

Shaking her head, Sara brushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes and focused on the road ahead, lost in thought.

...He just might be the one...

She knew that yesterday could’ve ended differently if one of Wren’s wounds hadn’t caused his defeat, there was the possibility he may become a better warrior than herself. Of course, if that were to happen, she’d challenge him again when he’d recovered and see if he’d improved. The thought of a PROPER fight made the lizard-girl smile...she'd never lost a fight before. Either way, she suddenly became serious at the sound of Wren unsheathing her katana, her entire body tensed ready for battle.

“Where’s the enemy?! How many are there?!”

Wren had already sheathed his blade. Turning to Sara with a sly grin, he dashed off ahead. The gears in her mind finally clicking together that it was a simple trick, she gave a loud yell of anger and raced after him. Of course, since Wren seemed to be much faster (not to mention the head-start helped), Sara eventually resumed walking as her friend waited, bracing himself to a punch to the arm.

“Well, at least we’ll catch up to Hylesa & Falken quicker now. Sorry about being a jerk though. I’ll buy you a steak when we get to the next town to make up for it, okay?”

Sara smiled.

“Only if you’re buying dessert as well. I mean, the warm types of dessert. Pudding and all that.”

Both of them laughed before continuing to walk onwards. A few hours passed as the sun slowly began to set in the horizon before they’d caught up to Falken and Hylesa. The former was sitting down on a stump in front of a fire, while the latter was looking down at her feet anxiously before brightening up when she saw Wren.

“About time you two showed up! Didn’t run into any monsters...or ‘trouble’?” Falken smirked, getting a swift punch in his arm, courtesy of a blushing Sara.

Simply sitting down around the fire, Wren looked at the sun finally vanish over the horizon and the sky becoming dark...soon illuminated by the silver stars in the sky and pale moon. Accepting the responsibility of being the ‘cook’, he got out a few rashers of bacon and some sausages and placed them in a frying pan over the fire, gave Hylesa and Falken a toasted lettuce and tomato sandwich and kept an eye on Sara’s meal, biting into a sandwich of his own.

The scent of bacon filled the air but soon gave way to a faint, yet salty scent of the ocean. Being stuck in a city for most of his life, Wren raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t unpleasant but had caught him by surprise that they were closer to the ocean than he’d thought. Taking a sip of water from his flask, he turned to Falken.

“The ocean’s safe to swim in during the day, right?” Wren asked. “Or are there monsters and demi-humans that would want to kill me too?”

Falken shrugged with a ‘Do I look like I can swim?’ look and bit into his sandwich. Wren turned to Sara who gave a firm nod.

“The ocean’s considerably dangerous. There’s occasional feral Scylla which steals from ships and people foolish enough to enter their territory, while a tribe of mermen might notice you as a possible threat and use you for fish-food.” Sara grinned.

Wren winced for a moment at Sara's comment and simply dismissed the idea altogether, considering he reminded himself this was an adventure to train and become stronger. Not to have fun...but did his best to hide his disappointment as he handed Sara’s meal over and stared at the fire as the night began to set in properly.

A loud yawn several minutes later caused everyone to suddenly turn to Falken who was rubbing his eyes, looking fairly tired. Joking that he’d be better off getting to sleep before Sara’s complaining had a chance to keep him up, he walked into the somewhat awkwardly set up tent and flung himself down on the mattress.

It was truly an amazing piece of technology by Wren’s reckoning. The fact it looked and probably acted like a normal bed mattress but was so easy to move around and seemed incredibly durable made him wish he felt tired, yet his mind was racing with too many ideas and possibilities. A sudden realisation that Falken had fallen asleep, evident by a faint whistling noise made Wren uncomfortably aware he that both Sara and Hylesa were looking in his direction.

“Hey Wren. Did you...um...uh...have...well...have...” Hylesa shyly asked before getting cut off by Sara who simply finished the sentence. “She means, did you have any close bond with a woman back at your world.”

Wren shook his head and gave a sigh. He didn’t say anything, considering there was too much to say. But why did it matter? It wasn't likely he'd return to that place anytime soon and even if he did, he'd flat-out refuse the offer. This world without a name...it seemed much more appealing, despite that some of the humans seemed cold and simply gave a weary smile. Even if some of the people here were no better than those back on Earth, it was nice to know that everyone here didn’t shun him for his talents.

Feeling a bit less worried, he answered a few more questions on what ‘Earth’ was like.

“I haven’t seen this entire world, so I can’t really make a solid comparison. But Earth...it’s not exactly the sort of place demi-humans would be accepted so easily. Sure, there’d be a lot of people who’d be happy to know mermaids, lamias and the like actually exist, but it's obvious scientists would want to dissect you and the people would label you as monsters and demand to wipe you all out.”

Both of them looked rather un-nerved by this statement. Simply shaking his head that he’d rather stay in this world than go back to his own caused them to calm down again. Deciding to get some rest, Wren waved them both good-night and entered his own tent, somewhat uneasy that Hylesa would be joining him soon.

Before she had a chance to however, Sara stopped her who looked quite serious. Her arms were folded and glared at the harpy which made her feel uneasy. For a moment, she contemplated something, not quite sure what to say but was certain of the circumstances and just shook her head.

Hylesa shyly turned away, looking down at the ground. She didn't need words to tell what the lizardgirl was getting at and remained silent. Why did...why did she think something was going to happen? All she wanted was to spend time with Wren, was that such a crime?

“...Goodnight, Hylesa.”

And with that, Sara vanished into her tent, pushed the slumbering Falken out of the way so she’d have room on the mattress and sealed it shut. Turning around and doing the same, Wren looked up at the harpy girl who shied away, obvious a bit nervous at where her mere request had led up to and sat down besides the human.

It didn't take long for Wren to simply ask how Hylesa was feeling, which left the harpy silent for several moments, unable to speak and far too shy to say anything at all until her companion gave a small smile and gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be alright. I mean, I guess it was kind of obvious from the question earlier but you don't need to be so scared. There's plenty of time for us to talk and get to know each other. Whatever happens, happens, alright? Just try to keep your chin up and be more assertive, okay?"

The harpy girl simply felt her face flash a bright red, obviously embarrassed from ...but considering Wren's words...she couldn't help but begin bawling, her face becoming stained with tears until the human simply placed his other hand on Hylesa's right shoulder and looked at her face, wiping away one of the girl's tears and gave a gentle smile. Unable to do anything but smile back, she just hugged Wren and tried not to cry.

Wow. We're only up to Chapter 6 and we've reached 67 views. Heh. Looks like we might make it to Chapter 10 with 100 views! Heck, maybe a miracle will happen and a comment/feedback will magically appear, too! Ah, well. It's nice to dream. Anyways, Chapter 6, coming right up!
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Chapter 6

Dawn arrived faster than Wren had expected, something he was thankful for. He’d been unable to fall asleep; mainly because of the possibility of being attacked while outdoors, considering he'd been in the safety an inn and the like for most of his life...it would take some time to adjust to these conditions, but if there was anything humans could do, it was adapt to whatever circumstances.

Taking a glance over at Hylesa who was sleeping peacefully, he couldn't help but give a small smile at the relaxed and happy expression on her face. ...Granted, it had taken a good amount of talking to calm the poor harpy down, but in the end, it had worked. She seemed happy, but he could assume there was more to her misery than just a lack of self-esteem.

In either case, the human decided to let her sleep before he stood up, picked up his things and walked outside...immediately shielding his eyes from the morning sun as it revealed the peaceful world around him. That obvious salty scent from the east was clearly a sure sign the ocean was likely only several minutes away...yet there he felt a bit uneasy at the eerie silence and readied to draw his katana at any moment.

The sound of footsteps from behind the human caught his attention as he span around, katana drawn and felt his defense barely withstand the collision from a large blade of metal, a weapon he knew all too well and glanced over at Sara who was wielding her Zweihänder.

There was some surprise in her golden eyes at how Wren had managed to parry her first blow, but it was swiftly replaced by a fiery anger. Pulling away, she lunged forward once again while the human dashed out of harm's way to avoid getting cleaved in two, causing the warrior to end up embedding her blade in the stump near where the human once was.

Obviously trying to retrieve the weapon, she stopped when noticing Wren’s katana pointed directly at her face. He was clearly confused and quite afraid by this sudden attack and simply hoped Sara would explain. Reluctantly backing away, it was clear the lizardgirl’s anger was at boiling point and seemed barely able to restrain herself from trying to tear him apart with her claws if necessary.

“What the hell did you do to her?! Do you think I DIDN’T hear Hylesa crying last night?! Did you try to force her into doing something?! Hurt her?! ANSWER ME!" she yelled angrily, cut off as Wren simply hurled his katana into the ground a few inches away from her, making her blink in surprise at his sudden gesture.

He shook his head, feelings somewhat mixed considering Sara's attitude. It was admirable that she was worried about Hylesa but felt a little bit betrayed that she'd only heard the crying and not the conversation that followed. Obviously, Wren went into a quick explanation of what happened in an attempt to calm his companion down. He seemed rather calm despite the fact it was obvious Sara would likely beat him to death if she didn’t believe him.

It took several minutes, but Sara simply gave a weak nod and looked down at the ground, embarrassed before looking up at Wren, speechless and flinched slightly when he simply took back the katana and sheathed it and their eyes met for a moment, only the anger was gone but replaced by calm...and apologetic. The human gave a small smile and simply told her that it was a simple misunderstanding and helped the Lizardgirl to her feet.

For a moment, she stared at him for a few moments, her face a light shade of red before Sara closed the gap between herself and Wren before the Lizardgirl hugged him...a bit too tightly and pulled away with embarrassment when she noticed him struggling to breath.

“Ahahah...Oops. I’m a bit too strong at times, aren’t I? Still, at least you don’t have to worry about Falken. I swear he can sleep through anything.” Sara smirked, looking over at Wren who pulled out two frying pans and had a glint in his eye before he dashed to the tent where Falken was still asleep and smashed the two cooking tools together.

...A shout of surprise and terror rang for miles. Quickly racing out of the tent and sitting down in front of the fire Sara had started when she’d caught on, Wren began cooking breakfast while both of them tried their best to hold back their laughter as Falken leapt out of bed, hit his head on the one of the supports of the tent as it all came tumbling down on him.

After calming Falken down that it was just a freak thunder-clap which had woken him up, the harpy glared at both Wren and Sara for a few moments before sitting down on a tree-stump and began eating a bowl of cereal. It was quite amazing the amount of supplies they’d managed to purchase, there was several bottles of Holstaurus milk, several boxes of cereal full of fruits, grains and nuts, meat and an interesting device that kept it all from spoiling.

Magic was a wonderful thing. Granted, Wren wasn’t all that amused in technology back home as all he needed was the basics to keep him alive and comfortable...and probably tens of thousands of dollars worth of Video Games and Consoles which were probably destroyed in the incident. On the bright side, his insurance would cover it quite well...if it was ever accepted. Besides, that PC which had caused all this was long over-due for an update.

Granted, it was fairly powerful but was already being left behind by the advances in technology which meant any new game for the PC would be time-consuming to configure it to run properly on decent graphics. Oh...and it ran the internet, but like his thoughts on alcohol and drugs, he’d done quite well to avoid the ‘darker’ portion of the net considering ‘those’ sorts of material a waste of time and simply unfolded the map.

“Okay. We’ve got about a few hours of walking to do along the coast before we reach the next town...and it is...” Wren paused, searching for the name. “Uriala. It’s a town on the water, meaning aquatic demi-humans are quite common and the people there have no grudge against each other either. Looks like we’ll be okay.” He gave a sigh of relief, looking over at Sara.

She was happily devouring a few scrambled eggs and ham with a glass of water, almost certain to start talking until Wren gave her a stern look to finish eating first. Manners to him were quite important. Looking rather embarrassed about this, she did what she was told.

“It doesn’t need saying that I’ve been around this part of the continent a few times and Uriala is quite hospitable. They tend to have an abundance of healing supplies for sale, various types of exotic seafood and underwater themed rooms at the inn. Granted, it’s a bit expensive but we’ll have made more than enough money if we come across another bunch of monsters.” Sara explained.

Taking a quick glance over at Hylesa who’d just woken up and was a bit unsteady in her steps, the lizard-girl came over to help which surprised both harpies. Handing a bowl of fruit-filled cereal to Hylesa who awkwardly took it after changing her wings into arms, she sat down besides Sara who began talking.

Deciding to leave them be, Wren walked over and began dismantling the tent, placing all of the components into it’s bag before pressing a button which caused it to shrink to a tiny fraction of it’s former size. Falken had already gotten a head start for obvious reasons and had packed up already, walking over to Wren with a serious expression.

“He-...Hey. What’s up with you? It’s like you haven’t any sleep at all! I thought with Sis sleeping next to you, you would’ve been out like a light.” Falken chuckled after seeing Wren’s tired eyes. “Guess we’ll have our work cut out for us today, but still, I’m glad I don’t have to boot you into the stratosphere.” He laughed.

Wren nervously laughed with him as they finished packing everything away and turned to their other two companions who’d finished talking. Once more explaining the intended destination and that they could expect an attack or two on the way, they set off...well, not before they’d put the fire out at least.

Like the day before, Falken was somewhat on the edge, glancing around for the first hour of walking before giving a cheer of glee and taking flight into the sky and soaring among the clouds. Wren watched with a slight hint of jealously on his face that he’d never been in the sky before as he’d either gotten around by train or ship.

Looking over at Hylesa who was humming a cheerful tune as she hovered by Wren’s side, Sara was in high-spirits herself as she seemed to have a bit more bounce in her steps. Regardless, all three of them began whistling (or in Wren’s case, humming) the same song with a smile on their face.

“Sara said you managed to get the upper hand when you two...had a misunderstanding in the morning. I’m happy everything’s worked out so well. I mean, it’s nice being around someone who’s honest and likes helping people...” Hylesa remarked, smiling.

Wren closed his eyes at the mention of being honest and helping people, everything else suddenly came to a stand-still as he thought about those two things. ...He’d been keeping the wound on his arm hidden as it refused to heal, while helping others...well, he didn’t mind the ‘demi-humans’ so far who’d shown more humanity and kindness than humankind as a whole back on Earth.

The image of him lying on the ground, eyes blankly staring into the distance as he simply lay on the concrete, bleeding heavily from various cuts and even a gunshot to his lower torso filled his mind. That mocking laughter of those who’d tried to kill him...of everyone who’d made everyday existence a living misery. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, he knew he’d done nothing to deserve that.

...Those long weeks in hospital, laying there in a bed where the ward was completely empty. For his entire duration as he recovered from both the savage beating and surgery which was necessary as something had stopped working in his digestive system...not a single person he knew walked through the two doors.

He didn’t cry.

A dull room filled with diplomas with forged signatures were hung on the wall as he sat there, a balding man staring directly at him.

“You should consider a criminal like yourself lucky we let you at least try to finish your studies here, but I can safely assure you that no sane person would want to employ you. Especially since any application for a job will be tainted by what you’ve done.” The man shouted before telling Wren to get out of his office.

...He didn’t complain.

He didn’t bother to try and say that he was innocent. ...No-one would’ve believed him anyway.

“Let’s teach that loser a lesson!”

More beatings. More warnings for incidents he didn’t start. Constantly repeating in a cycle for how long...with a simple, somewhat insane laugh that startled Wren, the images became clouded by a blood-red haze before he snapped back to reality.

What...What just happened?

Looking over at Hylesa and Sara who were standing beside him, asking him if something was wrong, Wren shook his head and gave a cheerful smile that he was perfectly fine and the three of them continued walking and talking about their plans when they’d arrived at Uriala.

Sara was remaining silent, obviously cautious as she’d drawn her Zweihänder. Wren quickly unsheathed his own blade and asked Hylesa if she could would for a few minutes, explaining that she’d be a possible target while she was visible. Falken was out of sight above the clouds, so for the moment, he wouldn’t be in any danger. Motioning for them to stop, Sara turned to her companions.

“Slimes. ...And not the ones that take human form. Just basic monsters that just try to absorb a living person and dissolve them into nothing. I think we’ll be alright, especially since magic’s considerably effective so Hylesa can even cast a weak spell to defeat one, while us warriors, we have to stab them. In the eyes.”

Wren nodded. So they were going to be fighting against a few beings made from some odd liquid that simply melted people down? The prospect seemed dangerous, but was curious as to what exactly the slime would be made of. Hearing a yawn of boredom, they turned to find Falken was simply floating there, not happy.

“Well, I’m out of this one. Two reasons. Firstly, kicking these things is a stupid idea...and secondly, I’d get slime on my rather tidy clothes, so have fun, guys.”

Sara sighed, now reminded that Falken was right and was basically a dead-weight in this fight. Nodding to Hylesa, she hovered forwards a small distance as the slimes, five in number began to slide into view.

The harpy closed her eyes, focusing on the magical energies of the wind around her and gave a mighty flap of her wings before a powerful tornado formed in the midst of their enemies, drawing all five slimes into it’s powerful vortex as they were ripped apart by talons of wind. Sara stared in disbelief that she’d missed out on all the action while Wren and Falken gave a shout of encouragement which caused Hylesa to blush and return to Wren’s side.

It was a possibility the lizard-girl would’ve made a proper complaint that Hylesa should’ve at least one standing but decided to comment on the spell which had, not literally, blown her away considering it was anything but a weak Wind-Element spell. Deciding to move on and collect the gold the vaporized slimes left behind, Wren knew his head was going to be sore as he’d try to figure out how those slimes could’ve had any gold on them...or why it wasn’t blown away with them.

Ugh. I wish I’d never taken Physics lessons.

And we've reached Chapter 7. Yes, I know it's STILL focusing around Wren and company. Rejoice, because things will change in Chapter 10. BELIEVE IT!
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Chapter 7

It was still around mid-day as the group finally arrived at Uriala without incident, something Wren was thankful for as he felt he’d collapse at any moment. It was impossible to hide his sluggish movements and dulled reactions that were weighing the human down like pieces of iron lashed to every limb. He was too tired to care about a town which managed to remain supported on this giant board-walk which was probably only inches above the ocean.

...Probably because Earth had something similar. He’d seen pictures of major fishing operations back home where an entire city was suspended in the middle of the Atlantic and that lasted for a few years before it was targeted by some insane cult and blown to pieces which caused enormous amounts damage to the environment and a large loss of life. Like it mattered now. That had no relevance here.

Stifling a yawn as they continued along the board-walk which seemed to take forever, it felt odd compared to solid ground. As for how far they had to walk to the actual town, Sara said that it was at least a few miles of walking before they’d get to the gate and enter Uriala.

“All trading is done by boats as it’s far too difficult to get caravans in and out of the town at the same time. Although, the Scylla and exiled Merfolk tend to prove a problem. Mercenaries are hired to keep them at bay so the goods aren’t stolen.” Sara paused before giving a grin at Falken “...Or let the 'attractive' men be whisked away.”

The male harpy remained unfazed as he continued to hover in front of the group with his usual overconfident attitude, boasting that they’d be too busy fighting each other over him. Sara laughed that no-one would want to bother taking Falken away and the argument continued between the two of them which eventually ended up to both flinging insults at each other.

Deciding not to get involved in the Wren gave another loud yawn, his eyes chancing a quick gaze down at the ocean’s depths which seemed remarkably clear. Sitting down on the boardwalk, his feet hanging a few inches from the water’s edge he looked closer at the coral and odd fish that swam by. It was like looking through glass, every detail revealed by the sun shining brightly down from above.

A flicker of movement unlike any normal fish caught his eye for a brief moment...and vanished with no visible trace. Wondering if had merely been a figment of his imagination he looked behind him to see Falken and Sara’s fight was coming to an end, while Hylesa was sitting next to him, glancing down into the ocean.

“I wish I knew how to swim.” Hylesa started with a sigh, staring down at the colourful display of coral. “...I can change the form of my wings...but I’m stuck with these talons.” She finished, flexing her bird-like legs.

“But you can fly, right? That’s impossible for anyone else to do without wings and how many people who cans swim have wings? Not many, so be cheerful like you are when you’re flying. And if that doesn’t cheer you up, how about I try to teach you how to swim? It’ll take a while, though.”

Hylesa nodded at the suggestion, giving a small smile before she began hovering once more as Wren stood up to join the others who’d finished arguing...before a familiar booming sound could be heard on the horizon. The four of them glanced up at the sky as the sun vanished.

“Damn! Looks like we’re in for a bit of rain.” Falken muttered at the sight of those grey storm clouds.

Deciding it would be best to pick up the pace and get to the shelter of Uriala before the storm began in earnest, Falken winced as he felt several drops of rain splash against his face. It’s be far too risky to take flight in this stormy weather as not only the rain would get in the way, but a stray bolt of lightning would fry either him or Hylesa with ease. He wasn’t too happy at the prospect of having to run on this board-walk, but there’d be little choice and began to dash forward, doing his best not to fall over while Sara shivered from the cold and was already ahead of the group, with Hylesa close behind.

Wren seemed content to take him time and walk through the currently weak downpour. He’d had to put up with worse storms than this and simply continued to glance occasionally down at the once clear ocean which was slowly beginning to become violent. Forced to shield his eyes however as a powerful gust blew past him, he knew perhaps it wouldn’t be best to dawdle and picked up the pace.

A second loud boom rang throughout the sky, the rain coming down harder with significant force. While still weaker than what he’d been expecting, he was beginning to wish he had an umbrella and felt somewhat concerned about Sara. Weren’t Lizard-folk cold-blooded like normal reptiles...? Giving a small shrug, he gave another yawn and put in more of an effort in running.

Twenty minutes of running through the powerful winds, rain and the occasional flash of lightning bolts finally got the group to a large gateway which was completely of stone and wood. There wasn’t anything real impressive about it, but there was a hint of unease as two figures concealed beneath a suit of silver armour prevented them from entering.

Of course, being soaked with rain and shivering from the cold meant none of the group wanted to stay out in this weather much longer, especially considering the wave crashed against the boardwalk to send chilling water splashing everywhere. Tapping his right foot impatiently at the two ‘knights’ simply stood there; Wren gave a cough which seemed to bring them around.

“Alright, you lot. The two of you harpies go on through, you ain’t the threat. It’s the other two there who have weapons who’ve got a problem.” One of the knights said sternly, making Wren raise an eyebrow. “Oh, we know ‘Lizard-Folk’ carry a weapon on ‘em, even if it ain’t visible. I suggest yer both hand over any weapons you own. Simple rules we have to enforce here, sadly.”

Sara was fuming as such a ‘rule’ hadn’t been in place during her last visit and was intent on giving both of these rust-buckets a piece of her mind as she caused her Zweihänder to materialize and take on her usual fighting stance. Quickly realising that there’d be an un-necessary fight, Wren simply tossed his katana, still sheathed at one of the knights and folded his arms, glaring at them as well as he could in his tired state...so it wasn’t that intimidating.

The ‘knights’ watched Wren simply give the wooden door a kick of impatience and turned to Sara who reluctantly handed over the massive blade, swearing she’d slice them into ribbons if they didn’t get their weapons back. Both of them looked at each other before turning a handle which activated the mechanism to open the large gate.

“Enjoy your stay, keep out of trouble and you’ll get your weapons back when you leave.” the other knight muttered as the group walked inside.

Hylesa gave a small gasp of awe as she looked up, pointing at the sky. The storm raged away behind a glass wall which covered the entirety of the town preventing any powerful gusts or rain from forcing the group to take cover. Falken wasn’t too happy that he was still grounded and muttered under his breath.

“Whatever. Despite looking handsome as always, I’m wet, tired and I’m freaking hungry. Might as well head to the inn.” Falken laughed, pausing for moment as he thought of something. “Uh...where the hell is it?”

Turning to Sara who was still barely able to restrain her rage, she simply stormed off straight ahead, pushing Falken out of her way and quickly whipping him in the face with her tail. The male harpy simply muttered something under his breath and kept his distance while Wren and Hylesa looked on, somewhat worried and quickly followed before the other two vanished from sight.

The raging ocean could still be heard underneath the wooden ‘ground’ while the rain overhead began to finally pour down in earnest, every few moments a thunderbolt arced through the sky, causing Hylesa to flinch. Deciding to ask about it another time, Wren kept his gaze focused ahead, catching a glimpse of the inn.

...Inn was an understatement, considering the size of the building put the rest of the houses and taverns to shame as it towered over nearly everything else. Casually walking inside and wondering if Falken had already ordered a room or Wren would be digging through his wallet for more coins, a small voice made both of them turn around to face who was speaking, finding no-one except a blue feather which fluttered down and landed on Wren’s nose.

“...Welcome to Uriala Inn” the voice called again, before the one behind it landed on the wooden floor with considerable grace. “I’m your host, Aria.” the girl said dully, hiding her face behind her dark blue wings.

Wren’s sleep-deprived brain barely managed to work out that this was most likely a ‘Siren’. The wings and bird-like legs were the obvious indicators, not to mention a sea-shell necklace around the girl’s neck, the fact her outfit (which was mainly a blue pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt which hide her ample chest) and wings were a dark blue and her...unique voice.

Hylesa blinked for a few seconds, staring at Aria for a few moments before turning her gaze down to the floor, blushing slightly. Wondering what the matter was, Wren found himself backing away as Aria had walked right up to him, trying to smile.

“...Well, it's not often we have young male adventures like yourself. Aria commented, causing Wren to go bright red and shake his head. “I guess you two are with that other harpy and Sa...I mean the lizard-girl? Well, despite the guy being a total flirt, he paid for the room and is on the third floor. I’ll be performing tonight as usual, so I hope to see you there...” she gave another weak smile before walking off to attend to another guest.

Turning to Hylesa who was lost in thought, Wren coughed to get the harpy girl’s attention, explained they were on the third floor and decided to get some rest after today. A simple search for the stair-cases showed two different sets of stairs, one going up, while the other set went down.

Deciding to ask someone about it later, the two climbed up to the third floor which took longer than either of them expected. Finding an open door, they cautiously stepped inside to find Falken was laying on a bed which seemed to wobble like jelly while Sara was sitting in a corner, staring out into the town, her tail still randomly twitching violently.

Deciding to try and calm the lizard-girl down later, Wren simply sat down on his bed and gave a yawn. It took only a few minutes before he fell asleep, the familiar haze of slumber taking over all of his senses.
--

Aaaaaanddddd...Chapter 8.
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Chapter 8

Several hours passed as the visible portions of the stormy sky began to darken even further. The flashes of lightning continued to lash but thankfully had little effect on the glass ‘shield’ which covered the entire town. Hylesa couldn’t help but flinch at every bolt, fearing that it would pierce through the barrier and send them all to a watery demise.

Sara seemed to be in a slightly better mood, her tail idly twitching as she stared out the window, lost in thought. The fact they’d taken away her Zweihänder was still weighing heavily on her mind. Granted, she’d still be able to fight with her claws if necessary, not to mention a javelin the lizard-girl could ‘draw’ similar to the Zweihänder... but she didn’t need to draw any further attention to herself.

Turning away from the window and the raging storm outside, Sara looked over at Hylesa who was glancing over at the sleeping Wren & Falken, sighing. Deciding to start a conversation to pass the time, it didn’t take them very long to find themselves completely absorbed by it. After half an hour though, the harpy suddenly went silent, looking down at the floor.

“Umm...Sara? Do you know that siren who runs the in-“Hylesa started, quickly cut off as the lizard-girl gave a firm nod.

“She must’ve been put in charge of the inn. Aria’s just a singer who used to perform wherever she could but has never had many fans. Girls hated her because of her vocal talent and that she’s ‘cuter’ than them; while guys simply don’t care as they’re too focused on other things. She couldn’t afford to pay the Inn for her room since no-one bothered to watch her performances, so she’s been here for the last year helping out around the place.” Sara sighed, somewhat sad.

“We know each other and she actually managed to get us this room cheaper than usual. ...I feel a bit sorry for her though. She’s not only been alone for most of her life, but probably the unluckiest person you’ll meet.”

Hylesa who had shown little interest until this point suddenly turned to Sara, her expression changing to something of shock as it all clicked together. Aria’s dark blue wings and clothing, most likely caused by serious incident had left Aria traumatized, not to mention leaving her orphaned. The lizard-girl simply nodded.

Giving a depressed sigh at bringing up something upsetting, the harpy failed to block out the sudden image which flashed in her mind. Pity towards Aria swiftly changing into fear for her life, that stormy night not too long ago...those red eyes pursuing both Falken and herself through the forest...Hylesa gave a shrill scream of terror, causing both Wren and her brother to awaken with a jump as the harpy lunged at the human, sobbing heavily.

Everyone was taken by surprise by her sudden actions, apart from Falken who had stepped next to Wren as the human tried to console the harpy who was crying into his chest. Muttering something under his breath and glaring angrily at the stormy sky through the window, Falken left his sister be and stepped out of the room.

“Hy...It’s okay, calm down. What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Wren whispered, looking down at Hylesa’s tear-stained face while glancing over at Sara who seemed somewhat jealous.

The harpy looked up at her crush, still crying and holding him tightly with both wings, refusing to let go as she shook her head. There was a lot Hylesa wanted to say, but couldn’t bring herself to speak. It hurt too much to remember and bringing up what happened that night...she gave another sob and simply laid against Wren’s chest, sniffling quietly.

He knew better than to try and force whatever was bothering Hylesa out and turned to Sara, hoping for a possible answer. The lizard-girl shook her head, informing Wren they were simply talking about Aria. He refrained from asking about the specific details in fear of making the harpy burst into tears once more.

“I suppose it’s getting close to nightfall....I think.” Wren started, unable to see the sky clearly. “How about we get something to eat? Especially that steak I owe Sara.”

Falken was sitting down in the main lobby, arms folded and lost in thought. It had nearly two weeks since his life had taken a turn for the worse, constantly hunted by...something that wanted both him and Hylesa dead...obviously from her recent outburst; he knew the trauma she’d suffered would never heal.

Of course, he couldn’t blame her. Anyone would’ve been traumatised after watching someone being impaled on a blade right in front of them. The harpy sighed, knowing if he hadn’t heard his sister’s scream; it would’ve been unlikely they’d have escaped alive. Obviously running to help and horrified by what he saw, Falken managed to send the assailants reeling back with a powerful round-house kick and rush to his sister who was on the verge of crying.

Forced to flee with the weeping Hylesa in tow into the stormy night, everything became a blur, his mind managing to figure out where to hide and pray that those who’d caused this wouldn’t find them. Their frantic escape eventually resulted in discovering Wren...and led up to this.

...Why the hell did they do that?! We did nothing to deserve this and having to run for our lives. Sure, Wren and Sara aren’t too shabby with those swords of theirs... yet there’s no need them to pull them into this...but I can’t just tear Sis away from her friends, either. Ugh.

Falken shook his head, looking up to find the very people he was thinking about walk by. It was obvious they were all in higher spirits now as Sara seemed to have calmed down and Hylesa had stopped crying. Of course, there was some concern that she’d be getting too ‘attached’ to Wren. Yes, he’d proved he could fight and put up with her constantly shifting personality but...there was something which was making him worry about his sister.

He’s explained the ‘Other World’ to a degree his story makes sense...but what if he ends up going back? If Sis stays this close and they have to part ways, I don’t think...

While his sister’s happiness and well-being came first and foremost over his own, something he’d promised himself on being the ‘older brother’, it wouldn’t be right to interfere. There’d have to be some more thorough conversation with Wren about how he arrived here and any possible way they could safely cross both into either worl-

The harpy flinched when he noticed Wren standing right in front of him, giving a grin.

“Hey, Falken. You might want to hurry up unless you want to starve. I’m pretty sure there’s not going to be all that much in the way of fruit.” Wren warned, watching the harpy ‘dash’ off towards the dining room as a neon green bolt.

Now on the ground floor and walking through the set of doors to the dining room, everyone (bar Sara) gasped in awe at how it was set out. There were the usual square and round tables on the aquatic blue carpet on one side of the closest side of the room while in the distance, only floating tables could be seen above the waist height water with a large stage secured against the back wall.

Sara pointed out this Inn was unique in it’s design. Certain demi-humans are more comfortable living in the ocean, either by choice or because they’d be unable to survive on land. Yet it wasn’t completely depressing, as there were rumours the ‘world’ undersea was untainted and pure as no human could hope to manipulate it without help.

In short, there were several floors of the inn that were completely underwater.

Obviously finding a seat at a square table, Falken sat besides his sister. Wren looked down at the menu which was obviously different from how things worked in Slynn Village as this seemed more like a proper restaurant. Of course, there seemed to be considerably less people in the room...as there were only seven, no, eight people who were too busy to look up from their drinks to interact with anyone.

“Cheerful place, isn’t it?” Wren sighed, glancing over at the stage as he waited for someone to serve them, his eye catching a glimpse of someone quickly hide behind the curtain. Hearing Falken cough, Wren turned to notice a middle-aged woman dressed in a blue maid outfit and bowing politely who gave a small smile

“Good Evening. I do hope you’re all enjoying your stay here. Is there anything I can get you today?”

Quickly going over the order which consisted of different types of grilled fish, a lobster and a large steak, the ‘maid’ bowed politely and walked off as Wren began to dread how much this was going to cost and rummaged through his wallet for some coins, trying to figure out who was still hiding behind the curtain.

...Aria was having a case of stage fright. It was the first time someone had actually taken up her offer to come and listen to her perform, while everyone else had never bothered and dismissed the Siren as a nuisance, pest...and other terms that caused her self-esteem to hit rock bottom. She hadn’t sung for an entire year. Then, why was she trying to perform now?

She continued to hide behind the curtain, absolutely sure that was the youth she’d met that afternoon...and hadn’t expected to see Sara again, either. Of course, noticing her sit next to that guy made any hope she had slowly begun to fade, heart feeling heavy and turned to leave only to find her friend standing in front of her who'd managed to sneak on stage.

“S-Sara!?”

The siren was unable to say anything else as she felt a bag of gold pressed into her wings mind racing at the large amount of money within. Looking up to find Sara who gave a smile before she back to her seat, Aria closed her eyes, doing her best not to cry.

She...She kept her promise...that she’d help me...

Feeling new determination grow within, Aria stepped forward onto the stage and nervously look down at the group who was looking up at her expectantly before breaking out into song. Her voice echoed clearly throughout the room, that uplifting melody which seemed to last for a few minutes and finally finished.

Hearing the sound of applause, no matter how small brought tears to her eyes as the siren stood on the stage, smiling weakly at the cheers she hadn’t heard for so long...

The things I do for that stupid brother of mine. Anyways, I'm Zak. Joshua (or 'TheRealWren' God, what a stupid name...) asked me to upload the next chapter for him and because I sadly owe him a favour...yeah. Don't expect to me again. Whatever, the sooner I get this stupid chapter up the sooner I can go look for stuff.
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Chapter 9

A few minutes after her performance, Aria walked over and shyly asked the group if she could join them at their table. Feeling her face flush red with embarrassment as Wren and Sara moved to make room for the siren, she sat down between them and constantly looked away from everyone, unable to keep eye contact with them and felt somewhat nervous as Falken was beginning to get annoyed, evident by his constant tapping against the table.

“Rrrgh...I’m hungry, damnit!” he shouted angrily, causing Aria to cower in fear.

Sara quickly tried to calm the panicking Siren down, while both Hylesa and Wren were giving the male harpy a warning glare. Mumbling a short apology, time passed slowly and in silence as they all waited quietly before Wren decided to ask a question.

“Hey, Hylesa. Are you any good at singing?”

The reaction caused Hylesa to shake her head wildly, going red from embarrassment while Falken raised an eyebrow before giving a sigh of annoyance and spoke up for his sister.

“What are you saying, sis? I bet you’d be able to give Aria a run of her money!”

This caused both Aria and Hylesa to go an even brighter shade of red, which caused the male harpy to burst into laughter and ended up getting clobbered around the head when the woman dressed in blue came racing back out, carrying plates of grilled fish in both hands and accidently hit him with her outstretched arm, causing a few of the plates to go flying.

Sara managed to lean out and catch a plate while Wren caught one that nearly collided into his face, yet the remaining plates crashed against the floor and broke into pieces. Looking over at the woman who was looking down at the mess, clearly upset, she simply gave a sigh and informed them she’d return with more food and to clean up the mess.

...They’d had better be getting the rest of the meal for free, or there would be some serious trouble. Of course, this wasn’t so bad for Sara who was quickly cutting up and devouring her large steak which Wren swore came from some sort of mutated cow considering the size of that slab of meat. Looking down at his own plate find that pieces of lettuce and fish were still edible, he slid it over to Hylesa and drank a glass of water.

“What are you...going to do now, Aria?” the lizard-girl asked between bites, getting an glare from Wren having on having forgotten her proper ‘table manners’. Aria, oblivious to him however simply looked down at the bag of gold and gave a weak smile.

“Well...if you guys don’t mind me tagging along...that is...” Aria stuttered, hiding behind her wings in fear of getting yelled at.

Falken frowned, recalling what he’d been thinking about earlier.

Great. Like I need someone ELSE getting drawn into this mess.

But didn’t say anything aloud in fear of getting pummelled to a pulp by Sara who seemed somewhat concerned and tried to talk her out of letting the siren join them. Aria had no fighting skills at all, a fact she herself reluctantly admitted. Obviously somewhat depressed at her friend’s decision, the singer remained silent.

Hylesa was still in the middle of eating her meal, savouring the taste of the grilled fish which was something she hadn’t eaten for a considerable time and looked up to see the upset Aria. While it would be best to let her stay here where it was safe, she had no real place to go.

...It'd be nice to have someone else in the group that wouldn't be any real competition...but leaving her in this town with nowhere to turn was something the harpy couldn’t handle being on her conscious and was more important and nodded in agreement that Arai should tag along.

All of them, save Wren, stared at Hylesa, her friends surprised and Aria grateful. Turning to the human to hear what he thought, he seemed to have spaced out a bit, staring into the distance but was indeed contemplating the situation.

It’d be difficult considering Aria would likely be a prime target for the enemy, not to mention there were only two tents which, while spacey, wouldn’t likely be able to hold an extra person. The siren had seemed to lose her hopeful expression and simply looked down at her taloned feet, trying not to cry.

“...It’s going to be tough. Are you really sure this is what you want?” Wren asked, taking them all by surprise.

Aria looked up at him and slowly nodded. Even if singing was all she was good at, there seemed to be little doubt she’d back down if there was someone else who agreed to let her tag along. Looking at Wren expectantly who gave a small smile, she did her best not to burst into tears and hug him. Of course, Falken wasn’t too pleased but kept silent as he rubbed the bruise on his head.

Glancing over at the woman dressed in blue walk back in carefully balancing several plates lest they come crashing down on the floor once again. Giving a whoop of joy when his grilled fish was finally placed in front of him, Falken quickly began eating with both hands as he’d waited long enough. Wren would’ve reached over the table and added another bruise to the harpy’s head if he hadn’t gotten his own meal.

Watching the ‘maid’ give a polite curtsey and walk off, Wren gave a sigh of relief that they wouldn’t have to pay...otherwise that woman would’ve simply stood there and waited patiently. Feeling a bit more at ease, he looked over at Sara who had wasted little time into eating the lobster she’d ordered as well and quickly began to feel slightly worried again.

All that fighting and exercise must’ve been what kept the lizard-girl that slim considering she wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down. Making a mental note to buy some more meat to make sure Sara would be satisfied; Wren wondered how things would turn out considering they now had another addition to the group. They’d be fine with the supplies they had for the moment, but provided Aria simply stayed out of harm’s way by being airborne, they wouldn’t have to worry about protecting her too much.

...Not to mention the sleeping arrangements they’d have to make. While confident he could try to haggle for another tent, he was feeling somewhat worried about Hylesa and Sara taking glances ath him. While it was obvious that they felt something towards him and he was grateful since they’d both had saved his life (to a degree, in Sara’s case.) and admired him for his talents...he wasn’t sure if he should be worried of the monsters attacking or one of them trying something.

Granted, it was highly unlikely but it still made the human feel uneasy. Looking up at Hylesa who was simply prodding a piece of lettuce with a fork, he couldn’t help but smile...but feel worried. There was something which had caused her to burst into tears earlier and was clearly distressed.

Hylesa...

Waiting for everyone to finish their meal, the group returned to their room with Aria following them, a bit more cheerful than before as they all continued the conversation. Wren was somewhat distracted, staring out the window at the storm which continued to rage, blocking out all signs of the moon. Trying to keep calm that it would be nigh-impossible for this torrent of heavy rain and lightning to break the ‘barrier’ around the town, Wren’s eyes closed as the familiar mists of slumber took over his senses.
--
...The scent of blood fills the air as someone lies on the ground. Bleeding. Dying. Even though there’s a distinct lack of light here, the obvious and horrifying wound in the victim’s upper torso would be impossible to miss as it seems that their chest has been torn open, the rib cage shattered and heart ripped out without any form of elegance.

A figure stands above the gruesome scene, concealed almost completely by the shadows. Dressed in what was now a VERY blood-stained set of robes, the cloaked one held the victim’s heart and glanced at it with a morbid fascination like it’s poor owner lying on the ground.

“Don’t take it personally. This is simply research and you were next in line for...examination. If anything, you should be glad that you’re aiding such a cause like mine.” He spoke, his voice calm and reasoning.

Whoever was lying on the ground stared up at their tormentor in agony, revealing long blue hair and dimming aqua eyes. Unable to say a single word, the figure whispered a name, shed a tear before lying still. A small flash of light revealed much of the deceased, a woman...before the light faded, her legs replaced with a blue tail.

“As I thought. Still, I might as well see if there’s any change in the final result.” The man mused, walking off as the mermaid slowly dissolved into a series of faint blue lights and vanished completely.

Finally. Here we are at Chapter 10. Obviously.
---
Chapter 10.

It was late afternoon as a sleek, not to mention elegant car pulled up into a college car-park and came to a complete stop. As always, the rain was pouring down quite heavily but there was no other activity for several moments until one of the vehicle’s doors slid out of the way effortlessly to allow a figure dressed in a brown jacket and matching wide-brimmed hat in stepping onto the concrete ground. It was obvious by their build this was a man, likely in his early thirties.

Not much worried by the rain, a simple click of his left hand caused the door to slide shut and the car to lock itself. Some sort of complicated technology...state of the art and brand new off the market, it was likely it cost thousands...

A gloved hand reached into a pocket on his jacket and pulled out two objects. A digital notepad with stylus and a pack of odd-looking cigarettes. Keeping his head concealed from view and placing the box of ‘smokes’ away, he walked forward in silence. There was no sound from every step he took, nor his occasional exhale.

It had been several weeks since a certain incident had occurred here. While the head-master, teachers and students had tried to keep whatever happened under-wraps, an intoxicated group of delinquents let slip a rumour that someone had simply ‘disappeared’ from school grounds without a trace.

The media immediately pounced on this and the authorities issued a search on the premises. Eventually stumbling across the ‘room’ of whoever disappeared, there was a large security door in place. Threatening the head-master that the college would be shut down and place them all under suspicion of murder, he reluctantly handed over what they needed. A simple code. 3290.

Inside...the entire room was a complete mess. Every wall was charred pitch black and everything that could’ve been recognizable was dust. No sign of a body...and it didn’t look like a fire had caused the damage. All that remained in the room was a computer which wouldn’t even boot.

Of course, the authorities ended up closing down the college regardless and took those there into custody. For about five days, this place had been devoid of life and off-limits to the public before deciding to call in an investigator since there was no solid leads they’d been able to follow.

Stepping through the ‘police-tape ‘and into the empty room, it was obvious nothing had changed since it was first seen. Folding his arms and writing down a few notes on the digital note-pad before beginning to take a closer look at the walls, it was obvious this man was a professional, especially since with a few motions on the screen caused a blue-print of the room to appear on the device.

Turning his gaze to one of the charred walls, the investigator eyed if for a few moments and pulled out the box of ‘cigarettes’, removed one from it’s cardboard prison and placed the odd-looking tube against the right wall before stepping back and pressing a switch on the box...which wasn’t cardboard at all.

A few moments of silence passed before the tube began to glow, occasional streams of data interacting with the wall before it gave a harsh hiss and the entire obstruction sank into the floor to reveal a small security system, complete with what he hoped to give him some idea of what happened.

...It wasn’t common knowledge that every room on college grounds had a hidden security to the point that this technology wasn’t even known to have existed by the people who previously ran this establishment. Booting up the dormant system, the detective waited patiently before it came to a simple blue login screen. Typing the default password, he blinked; somewhat surprised that it was incorrect.

Impossible. The student who’d previously lived couldn’t have possibly known of this, yet there was no other possibility unless whatever had caused this had disrupted the PC’s circuits and corrupted the password data. Since all information on the ‘vanished’ had been destroyed by the college, there was nothing for them to go on.

Was it a possibility that he’d found out by sheer coincidence? The detective couldn’t rule out that option at this stage and simply applied another tube to the PC’s mainframe. Almost instantly, the PC’s display began to light up with various password combinations yet for several minutes, there was no breakthrough. Had it become that corrupt and jumbled? Or had this youth thought of something nigh-impossible to break?

Granted, it might not matter in the end. Whatever had caused this obviously had fried the ‘camera’s’ circuits...so the information this could provide would probably be a mere glimpse of what happened. But the truth was necessary, no matter how small. With no proof of a murder or how to explain this mysterious disappearance, there’d be...complications since they’d be forced to let the ‘possible’ murderers free and his reputation would have an unhealthy tarnish.

But what if this student had caused the security to change? He’d have to be some sort of genius to hack into the system, which raised the question why someone of his talent would remain here in this college which was mediocre at best? Financial difficulties obviously proved to be the obvious cause, but that wouldn’t have mattered with a scholarship.

Even as the man was thinking of all these possibilities, he continued to write them all down. No stone could be left unturned or smallest detail ignored. Glancing over at the monitor which still refused to show a positive match in the password, there was no visible expression on his face. Anger, annoyance, distress...not a single emotion was written of what one would be able to see of the man’s head.

Deciding to leave the system alone for the time being, he resumed his search of the room. In general, it was fairly cramped with the basic essentials for living despite most of the kitchen utensils and hygiene supplies being turned into ash, notes he added.

Metal doesn’t turn into ash, yet it’s obvious what’s left of the shower and sink simply lay on the floor as piles of colourless dust which ruled out the possibility of an accidental or intentional fire. Of course, the two PCs were completely unharmed yet one which obviously belonged to the student seemed to have died. A pity, considering such a recent computer would’ve cost him a considerable amount of money.

Everything was still intact and a quick uplink to the computer’s hard-drives proved that everything was still present...yet there wasn’t much apart from a few games, exams and links to various websites which held information. The strangest containing entries on various types of ‘mythical creatures’ that appeared to be hybrid of monsters and humans.

...Perhaps he was some sort of mad genius, considering he’d been writing a few pieces of information on his views of the subject. Closing the files he was reading on the note-pad, this had proved a disappointing outcome as no personal information, nor anything about the college was anywhere to be found...and there were no signs of deletion, either.

Granted, there were several corrupted executable files but these had no relativity and were simply ignored as the characters for the files names was horribly scrambled into a mishmash of unreadable symbols. It was highly unlikely these would have any relativity to the case but took down notes anyway. There’d be plenty of time to sort through everything back at the apartment.

No-one from the college was talking about the subject in question at great length, but they seemed considerably bitter towards him, not even bothering to say his name. It was obvious most teachers and students beared some sort of grudge but compared to the evidence so far, none of them would be able to do something like this.

There had been no sign of any ‘advanced’ weapons that could cause this much destruction despite being plenty of deadly fire-arms on the premises and blood-stained bludgeoning objects such as baseball bats and clubs which shed new light on a previous case.

...But that had to wait. Night was beginning to fall and the streets weren’t exactly the most ideal place to be. Besides, there didn’t look like there’d be anything else to find for now. Taking one last glance around the room before stepping outside, the detective headed back to his car in heavy rain after closing the door and securing it.

Well, it looks like I forgot to upload a chapter yesterday. Oops. Anyways, I'll upload two today to make up for it. Again, you guys do realize this is only the first draft, right? It doesn't hurt to point out my short-comings.
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Chapter 11

The comfort sleep had brought was surprising at best. While these beds made of water proved soft and cushy change from a mattress made of plastic and air, they were somewhat unstable and made a state of deep slumber near-impossible but at least provided a substantial amount of rest for them all to feel considerably refreshed as the storm raged throughout the night.

A familiar feeling of his body refusing to sleep any longer, Wren’s eyes opened. While it was annoying he’d been awakened and wanted to rest a few more hours, there was no point in lying on the wobbling bed and quickly stood on the wooden floor and stared out at the stormy sky. Had this storm raged into the morning, or was it still night? All natural illumination was blocked out by a blanket of grey and black clouds which smothered the world below.

...For an awful moment, the human felt he was back on Earth to suffer that usual dreary pattern of dead-end life. Pointless college lessons and constant abuse from both teacher and peers alike. It was only a quick glance back at his companions that was simply an illusion. How long had it been since he’d known what friendship was like?

Hah. There’d been no chance for him to fit anywhere. He was rejected by those too ‘sporty’ and muscle-heads while the ‘nerds’ shunned him for his lack of interest in ‘science’ and preferred to do research on computers which was being considered an out-dated technology with the advent of SSSPM, or Self-Serving & Sustainable Personal Machine, a device that made PCs obsolete.

No need for typing long essays or spend countless hours in making sprites or drawings, one simply used the mental interface and several seconds later, the finished product appeared on the screen. Granted, it wasn’t exactly used for much else but was hailed superior than all other previous forms of technology which only cemented Wren’s contempt towards the lack of man-kind’s intellect.

While there were PC’s still in development, most of them were for security and personal reasons, these could be considered a rarity, ‘desktop’ computers even more so as if one wanted to upgrade a part or replace it, they’d usually have to buy a brand new system. The fact most weren’t portable was what many considered a defining ‘nail in the coffin’.

Granted, they were more powerful than what most people gave them credit for but were hardly a saving grace in the public eye. People wanted functionality to do multiple things to make their lives easier as they tended to sit back and do nothing, letting technology do everything for them.

Turning around at the sound of Falken yawning loudly, Wren flinched. Was it REALLY that necessary to make so much noise? It was fortunate that no-one else had awoken from the harpy’s stupid ‘outburst’ as he stood up, giving a smirk which was met with a cold glare which was enough to stop him from saying anything.

Before anything else was said, he simply picked up his back-pack and stormed out of the room without another word. Falken blinked for a few seconds but hesitated from following. Getting a black eye wouldn’t do him any good in fighting OR hitting on any girl that he saw. Of course, since there wasn’t any real point since there was a distinct lack of females here anyways and if Wren was REALLY in that bad of a mood...it’d be safer to let someone else talk to him.

“...Meh. Might as well get some breakfast.” He sighed, pausing for a moment before a smile crossed his face. “I wonder if they’ve got any special fruit here...” Without wasting another second, Falken left to get some breakfast, clearly oblivious the storm.

Something was clearly agitating the youth and it was more than Falken’s recent stupidity. While obvious the harpy didn’t use his brain for common sense...everything was reminding him of home, the world he’d always hated. The dismal days and general idiocy of other people made his blood boil...

He froze when something suddenly splashed down on his head from the sky. A drop of rain...? Glancing up at the barrier of glass that was keeping that raging storm, Wren began to feel uneasy as a second droplet of water managed to fall on his face as he continued to stare upwards at the increasing amount of rain which was managing to leak through.

Deciding to inform someone who had authority, Wren dashed to the first building he saw and knocked on the door heavily...only for it to give way and reveal the empty room inside. Searching inside to find nothing except some signs of a rushed departure, the human began to piece things together.

But things were perfectly fine yesterday! Dashing to the front gate of the town to see if those guards knew anything, Wren’s heart dropped when he noticed they’d gone...yet there was nothing but Sara’s Zweihänder and katana lying there.

“Damnit...! They just deserted us here!” Wren muttered angrily, arming himself with his katana and barely managed to lift Sara’s massive blade which made him wonder how she could effortlessly swing this thing, let alone carry it. Managing to make it back to the inn, Wren glanced up as a horrifying cracking sound filled the air.

A large fissure had formed in the glass; rain was managing to leak in far easier as the damage began to worsen. If that gave way...they’d be subject to the full wrath of the storm and considering that it was likely the ocean itself was raging against the only defence they all had, Uriala would likely be underwater in a matter of minutes.

Wren felt a bit more at ease that Falken was outside the Inn despite looking fairly annoyed which changed into surprised when he noticed the human dragging a certain lizard-girl’s Zweihänder and quickly raced over. Neither of them wasted any time with the details and simply got straight to the point, they had to get moving before...

There was a loud crash. Fragments of glass came raining down from the sky along with the furious storm behind it. Dashing inside the inn to take cover from that deadly hail...things weren’t looking too promising...
--
While the Inn had mostly been empty as the staff had fled along with those who lived here, many of the guests were still stranded here along with Wren and his companions. Many were quick to believe the severity of the situation as the heavy rain was seen crashing against the window. Of course, keeping them calm would be another matter entirely.

Re-grouping with Hylesa and Sara, a quick count tallied there were eight other humans. Three children while the rest consisted of a middle-aged couple. Those ‘sailors’ had recovered from their previous drunken stupor of the previous night and were making the family feel uneasy before Falken told the men to shut up.

“We can’t afford to let everyone fly into a panic. It’s obvious something else apart from this storm has broken the barrier and those who lived here left us to die. …Some hospitality. Guess they knew something like this would’ve happened.” Wren muttered, doing his best to figure out what else could’ve caused their ‘peril’.

It was obvious the three sailors had some idea of what could be behind this and Falken reluctantly gave a nod.

“It’s them Scylla and Chardabiss. A huge amount of ‘em were once around this place before this barrier was put up and men kept vanishin’. I guess they’ve slowly been wearing away at what’s keeping ‘em out. …Looks like six of us are pretty much done for.”

Wren gritted his teeth, not exactly liking the idea of being held captive and raped to death while a quick glance over at Falken saw him giving a similar expression. Guess the gravity of the situation over-ruled his general mind-set around women. It’d be obvious to get the children and their companions to safety first.

Sara and Hylesa obviously didn’t want to leave their friends behind, especially since they’d be able to help fight of those who were intent of whisking them away. But there was no real idea on how many of the two races were lurking beneath the depths...or the ones who would be brave enough to come on land. Scylla would but the Chardabiss were stuck on the ocean floor, yet eventually, they’d grow impatient and probably drag everything under with a powerful whirlpool.

Wren stepped outside and looked at the still open gates of Uriala. If they ran at full-speed and managed to wade through the ankle-deep water when it’d consume the boardwalk, it’d probably take ten, fifteen minutes to reach shore.

There was likely some weapons still inside the ‘gate’ which the couple would be able to use...but it was somewhat heart-breaking to watch the husband and wife try to comfort their crying children who were beginning to get scared. Wren couldn’t really blame them, especially since none of them looked that old...probably between the ages of seven and eleven.

“Get moving. Us five...” Wren started to say before he noticed the sailors had already fled. “...Damnit...” Wren finished, muttering that statement to himself. “Okay. Falken and I will try to buy you all some time. Hylesa, Aria. Make sure you stay close with the family and keep them safe.”

The harpy and siren nodded. Hylesa be able to blow anything that got too close away with a powerful blast of wind while Aria would help in any other way she could. Sara held her massive Zweihänder over her shoulders and stood ready. It seemed both she and Falken would be ready to do what it took to escape while Wren felt ill. ...Would he have to kill people who were essentially human but were driven by their ‘instincts’? The thought made him feel uneasy.

“Just focus on cutting off a tentacle if they manage to grab you or Falken. They’ll heal back eventually.” Sara said calmly, trying not to look nervous as everyone prepared themselves to flee as they stepped outside.

“Not a fan of cold or water, huh? I’ll try to save you if you fall in.” Wren offered, causing the lizard-girl to go bright red and nod. “Now let’s get moving.”

His katana drawn as he watched the family of five begin dashing off with Aria and Hylesa staying close by, he knew they’d be fine. The sudden sound of something emerging from the water made Wren leap to the centre of the board-walk next to Falken and Sara as they began to back away, looking down at the tentacle which had barely missed grabbing around Wren’s leg.

...Guess it looked like they had company...

Chapter 12

Regretting she’d been unable to say anything to Wren before the family had decided to flee, Hylesa knew she couldn’t let him down and despite feeling fear that her friends and brother were putting their lives on the line so they could have a better chance of escape; there was a feeling of regret she wasn’t there to help. Too late now, Hylesa did her best to keep running through the raging storm, shielding herself from the harsh wind and rain with her wings.

Aria was somewhat unsteady, evident by the usual stumble and thrown off-balance, wildly flailing her wings to stay upright as falling over would...she didn’t dare to think of it. A quick glance over at the children showed they were just as scared as she was; only they had no idea of what fate awaited them if captured.

The three kids consisted of two older girls, both who looked like they were nine and eight years old while their brother seemed was likely only six. The sisters were dressed in frilly pink dresses which were getting soaked by the rain while the boy kept his head down. ...Would the Scylla be desperate enough to go after him?

Their mother, a young woman who seemed fairly young and dressed in a grey dress and like her daughters, long brown hair and eyes. Every few minutes she turned around and checked on her children, constantly trying to cheer them up and keep their minds off the immediate danger which they couldn’t understand.

As for her husband, he was about the same age but with black hair and determined blue eyes. Dressed in a simple black suit which he’d regretted wearing, both of his hands tightly gripped the simple blade like a novice...which was probably accurate. Staying next to his wife, it was obvious he was afraid like the rest of them.

...Water had begun to slowly cover the board-walk, making it even more difficult to stay upright. Those powerful gusts of wind didn’t help, either but they hadn’t had any Scylla show themselves, nor did any tentacles emerge from the stormy depths. Land was in sight and only a few minutes away.

Then, a piercing scream filled the air as everyone turned and covered their ears at the loud and shrill cry from Aria, watching as the Scylla who’d entangled and tripped up the siren reeled back from the loud blast of sound and back beneath the murky depths after it’s grip around her prey loosened. Rushing over to help the shaken Aria to her feet, they cautiously continued onwards and made it safely but could hear nothing but a faint ringing in their ears from the siren’s loud scream.

Obviously feeling somewhat relieved and happy as the couple embraced their family and cried softly that they were safe, Hylesa turned back to Uriala which was a faint speck in the horizon in the midst of this horrible storm. Wanting to go back and help those who’d bought them their freedom, she knew her friends would be fine. Falken would just have to avoid getting tangled up in melee, while Sara would easily cleave through anything that got too close but was clearly worried about Wren.

The Scylla would go after him and ignore everyone else if they succeeded. And if that happened, she’d never see Wren again. Part of the harpy wanted to fly though the storm to help him but common sense and terror kept her frozen to the spot and simply stood there, waiting. Hoping.
--
Using basic common sense and simple tactics, the three others kept close together and kept their eyes open, ready to alert everyone else to danger if they saw something. It was obvious there was probably several Scylla lurking beneath the raging waves. Wren kept his eyes to the north, feeling uneasy as he took a second glance. ...Had some buildings vanished? Mentioning this, Sara gave a firm nod.

“It’s the Charybdis. They create a whirlpool in an attempt to drag men down and...well...it’s pretty obvious what they’ll do. Most Scylla keep them as ‘pets’ but since they rarely get to have ‘time’ with a male, they must be deciding to do their own thing today. It might distract them.” Sara explained, obviously sounding a bit more confident.

The lizard-girl was obviously a bit nervous. While eager to battle, she had a severe disadvantage being on enemy terrain and if she were to fall into the raging ocean, Sara feared she’d never re-surface and breathe air again. Feeling a bit uneasy, she moved closer to Wren and held his right hand (which was somewhat awkward with her clawed limb), taking the human by surprise but simply grasped her hand tightly.

“...Hey! There’s one right in front of us, blocking our way out of here!” Falken shouted, causing his friends to turn and find a Scylla ‘stand’ in front of the gate.

She was a bit taller than them as her purple octopus-like tentacles seemed to lift her slightly...as for her body, she had an obvious slender figure and slightly ample bust while her ‘modesty’ was hidden beneath two white pieces of cloth for her upper and lower body. Her bronze hair and piercing eyes seemed to focus on Wren and Falken, yet keeping a small focus on Sara.

They hesitated from attacking as the Scylla simply stood there before finally speaking, her voice sounding somewhat weak...likely from being above the surface.

“At least we’ve got some guys to have ‘fun’ with...Anyway, here’s the deal. You two can either agree to make this easy and give yourselves up or we’ll simply wear you down and have our way with you while you’re unconscious. Look around you. You’re out-numbered 12 to 3.” She laughed cruelly, cut off by the sound of the storm and figures emerging from the ocean.

She wasn’t bluffing. Twelve other Scylla who looked fairly similar to their ‘leader’ had encircled the group. ...It was obvious the expression burning in their eyes was lust but Wren wasn’t going to let them drag him away and keep him as a toy for them and their ‘pets’. Granted, Falken...

“Hell no! I’m not into being ‘dominated’, damnit! You pushy bitches should learn some etiquette in how things are done!” Falken shouted, getting ready to fight.

Wren nodded, agreeing with his friend.

“Do you honestly we would agree to your twisted terms?! Not only are you planning to try something stupid if you’re going to try it...but the fact you’d offer us a choice? Get lost before I slice you into calamari rings! And decide if you’re REALLY that eager to throw your life away or will you back down.”

Wren kept his blade pointed at who was obviously the lead Scylla and waited, readying himself in evading an attack. Flinching as several tentacles lashed out in an attempt to ensnare him, the human used the wet boardwalk to his advantage and slid a bit further backwards as the octopus-like limbs fell short and ended despite Wren’s better judgement, cut into one to leave a shallow wound which barely drew blood yet was enough to cause the Scylla to give a cry of pain as she retreated.

Four others lunged forward and quickly encircled Falken who was managing to keep his cool despite his immediate peril. Feeling a powerful gust of wind pass by, the Harpy leapt into the air as the four lashed out and ended up entangling their tentacles. Landing on the tangled mess of limbs, he gave a small smirk as his taloned legs suddenly flashed with a green light.

“FALKEN…”**

The harpy did a graceful back-flip through the air to land behind one of the Scylla and delivered a short kick which knocked all four of them a small distance upwards before he spun around in a sort of break-dance move, legs infused with raw wind-elemental energy.

“KICK!”

As he made contact, a miniature tornado formed from the point of impact which tore at their clothing…or lack thereof before being thrown an incredible distance into the horizon while everyone stopped and watched in stunned silence at the four Scylla which soon vanished from sight. Wren felt VERY uneasy, especially since he’d just found out what he’d suffer if he got on Falken’s bad side.

Quickly realising that Falken would be more trouble than he’d be worth with that much agility and power; the remaining Scylla focused their efforts on Wren who was quick to try and move out of the way...but not quick enough and felt a tentacle wrap around his left leg. Trying to slash at the tentacle, he felt a second one wrap around his right arm and felt a sharp pang of pain rip through his body as the salty water was forced into the wound.

Feeling himself being hoisted upside-down, he looked at his captor who gave a small grin.

“Well, well. Looks like I’ll get you all to mysel-“the Scylla started before she felt one of her tentacles get cut. Giving a whimper of pain and dropping Wren, he landed harshly against the boardwalk while the remaining Scylla closed in.

“BACK OFF!” Sara yelled angrily, swinging her Zweihänder in a wide arc with the flat of her blade to send the other Scylla soaring back into the water. Falken, who had common sense to avoid the attack by leaping into the air slowly floated back down and landed next to Sara assisted her in helping Wren to his feet. He’d managed to hide the wound from sight so neither of his friends had seen it and gave a nod, watching the lead Scylla give an irritated huff.

She was obviously annoyed that the other twelve of her ‘kind’ had been defeated and it didn’t help matters that those blasted Chardybis were closing in on them as more buildings had been swallowed by the whirlpool.

“Looks like we win! Outta the way.”

**For clarification, Falken's Falken Kick is actually an abbreviation. Final Absoloute Limit Killer Endless Nirvana Kick. Just thought I'd throw that out.

...Nothing really much to say. Let's get on with it.
---
Chapter 13

The Scylla was obviously bitter in defeat and refused to move from her spot in front of Uriala’s gate while nursing the injured tentacles carefully, glancing daggers at those who’d almost effortlessly ‘wiped out’ her fellow Scyllas and simply waited to be ‘removed’, yet none of her ‘prey’ moved from their spot despite the storm still raging on above.

“...Just kill me already.”

Falken folded his arms, giving a short sigh while Wren and Sara sheathed their weapons and continued to stand there while looking down at the ‘leader’ who was waiting for death, irritated that none of them would finish her off.

“Look, whatever your name is. Under normal circumstances, I would’ve LOVED to have fun with you girls but there were three things you did wrong. Firstly, trying to force us into it was a stupid move and you should’ve just ASKED me instead of doing all this. Secondly, I HATE water and while I may be interested i-“Falken was cut off when Sara punched him in the arm and Wren stepped forward.

“Are you really that desperate to find someone to be your...mate? Was it necessary to go to this length and destroy an entire town?! Being so worked up in satisfying yourself and not your followers, you were just using them, weren’t you?!” he yelled angrily,

The Scylla recoiled a little bit at Wren’s outburst, barely able to look up at the human who was looking a bit regretful with his words but didn’t say anything and simply kept staring down at the boardwalk, somewhat upset. Noticing the Lizard-Girl pass without a word and soon followed by the harpy who gave a quick remark on her figure before getting punched, the human kept standing there, arms folded.

What was she thinking? Regret over what she’d done, perhaps a bit of guilt? It was obvious Wren’s words had some impact on the Scylla leader, but this wasn’t his place to pry. The anger was still boiling that they’d let their Chardybis ‘pets’ do this...yet were they really that desperate to find someone to be with, or was it just instinct? Either way, it didn’t make him feel any better. There were plenty of ways to get someone’s attention.

Taking a glance back at what little of the town remained above sea-level, Wren couldn’t help but wonder about those sailors. While they’d originally deserted them, it was likely obvious what their fate was which made him cringe and considering the Scylla seemed more focused on going after ‘younger’ prey, the Chardybis would’ve likely ended up with the leftovers, as it were. He began to worry who’d suffer more, though...although those sailors might actually become somewhat decent people if they ever got away. It all depended though, considering if they DID change for the better, it’d be unlikely they’d be let go.

The human shook his head, trying to shake these thoughts from his mind. It was their fault they fled and whatever fate befell them was their own doing. Cautiously peering down at the Scylla leader, he rummaged through his backpack which was STILL on his back during the entire time and pulled out some bandages. Obviously reeling back in shock, Wren sighed.

“Look. I’m sorry about hurting you and what I said before, but I might as well fix those wounds I gave you, but if you’d rather...” Wren started, kneeling besides the Scylla who was obviously trying to avoid him. “...I guess it’s a matter of pride. As a leader...”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. I might as well be dead...the rest of them will simply fight among themselves to see who’ll be the next leader. Besides, I doubt they’d be willing to follow someone who’s completely selfish, right?” the Scylla smiled bitterly.

Hearing Falken and Sara yell to hurry up, Wren got to his feet and took a glance back at the Scylla, feeling somewhat uneasy. There was no real place for her to go which caused that familiar pang of guilt afflict him. ...He couldn’t just leave her here to die, but there’d be no way for her to survive on land.

His entire body flinched when a tentacle slowly brushed against his leg and grabbed for the katana. Going cold at what the Scylla had in mind as she drew the blade from it’s scabbard, Wren recklessly kicked it out of her hands, clattering against the water-covered boardwalk while the human glared at her, his eyes cold.

“You’re coming with us. I don’t care HOW we’ll be able to carry you, but it’d be better than leaving you here to kill yourself. Seriously, get a grip. You lost a simple fight and feel like you’ve got nothing to live for.” Wren muttered, his voice growing distant. “Trust me. I know what it feels like.” He sighed, making sure neither Sara nor Falken heard.

Granted, the two of them were getting slightly impatient and wet from the storm but were tolerating Wren’s ‘behaviour’, blinking in stunned surprise as the Scylla simply nodded and looked up at him with a weak smile, her tentacles slowly vanishing in a flash of light before being replaced by a pair of human legs. Falken was on the verge of giving a whistle but restrained himself as Sara shot him an icy glare.

“I’ll guess I’ve got no other choice...But I don’t need your help to get around. I have SOME pride.” The Scylla said in a huff.

Wren nodded and stepped back for her to stretch. Her skin was fairly tanned despite being in the oceans depths while her figure was far more...defined with the slender waist and somewhat ample ‘assets’ which were covered by two simple pieces of cloth. Wren was unable to do anything but blink a few moments...soon turning Falken getting punched by Sara for staring which made the Scylla feel a bit uneasy.

“Don’t mind Falken. You saw how serious he can get; he’s just a bit of a flirt. Anyway, do you have a name?”

She nodded, simply said her name was Azure and remained silent, still feeling somewhat uneasy that she’d taken this form, not to mention the glare Sara was giving. Cautiously staying by Wren’s side as they pushed through the harsh storm back to shore, Falken keeping quiet while the human felt uneasy that his friends were upset he’d let Azure join them, especially the Lizard-Girl’s stern gaze which un-nerved him further but before she could voice her opinion, Wren cut her off.

“Even if her original intents weren’t exactly...just, do you really think it isn’t fair to judge her for one mistake? I know I’m being stupid for letting her tag along, but I’m not exactly a fan of watching someone cut their life short.” Wren sighed, looking at Sara who was still folding her arms and walked over to her. “...She’s not going to come between us, okay? You know I’m happy with you and Hylesa, right?”

Sara gave a sigh of resignation and nodded. It was irritating that Wren was perhaps a bit too kind for his own good but at least he was honest...he hadn’t told a single lie nor used any underhanded tactics. Granted, it was somewhat worrying how everyone else would react when they arrived on the shore but none of them had any idea that Azure was a Scylla, well, until Wren decided to tell them.

Before he had a chance to, though, everyone swarmed around the three of them. In Hylesa’s case, she was sobbing softly while clinging tightly to Wren while Falken was looking down at the two sisters who were smiling up at him.

“Uh...Can I help you two?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

The girls giggled.

“Thank you very much, mister! You saved us, so when we grow up, we’re...we’re going to marry you one day!”

Falken immediately flinched, his eyes growing wide and glowing bright red as the girls began arguing over who’d marry him while he slowly edged away, sweating a bit and hoping they didn’t notice his escape attempt and hid behind Wren and watched the sisters continue their fight before their mother stopped them.

“Um...Do you think I’d be able to be a warrior like you one day, mister...?”

Wren looked down at the young boy glancing up at him. Giving a small smile, he first told him there was no need to call him ‘Mister’ and gave a short nod which made the child beam happily.

“I’ll practice every day so I become as brave and strong as you are, Mister Wren! Not only to protect other people, but to make my parents proud of me!” he smiled.

Watching the family give their thanks once more and explain they’d be fine and simply travel to Slynn Village to rest from the recent ordeal, the group happily saw them off before deciding to set off, but not before Wren explained what had happened and why Azure had joined them. Hylesa wasn’t exactly happy about it but nodded. It was obvious the Scylla had no interest in the human...and Aria seemed to be focused on singing, rather than anything else.

Pulling out the map from his back-pack and holding it in front of him, he turned to Sara for an idea on where to head to next. Heading in-land would likely prove difficult as there were less towns and cities which were accepting of demi-humans so they’d simply travel North-West along the coast. Granted, there was a forest in the way but it’d take far too long to trek around it.

“Alright, so I take it we’ll camp near the forest? Okay, we’ll set out for Gloari tomorrow morning...but we’ve got two problems. First, the storm will make it impossible to have a fire so we’ll have to risk making a controlled flame in a tent for dinner which brings me to the second. We’re a bit short on tents for everyone to sleep in.” Wren sighed, not looking forward to being cramped.

Falken gave a small chuckle and pulled two tents with inflatable beds out of his own back-pack, making Wren raise a stern eyebrow.

“...You STOLE them?!”

Falken shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

“Hey. Those merchants left them behind so I technically didn’t steal them. Besides, it’s not like they were going to come back, right?”

Wren sighed. Falken was right but...it didn’t exactly feel right to take them. It was far too late now, though and simply helped set up the tents to get out of the rain as fast as possible. Everyone placed the tents close together to make it easy to pass cooked food without it getting too cold, yet no-one said a word about who would be sleeping with whom.

Hylesa didn’t mind sleeping with Aria and decided it was only fair to let Sara be with Wren, while Azure was seemed to be concealing her concern that she’d be stuck with Falken until the human pointed out the extra tent which made the Scylla calm down but obvious annoy the male harpy. Looking up at the sky as night began to fall; they went to their separate tents.

Another chapter set back on Earth around 'The Detective'. What fun!
----
Chapter 14

...Another dull morning. The early mists which drifted around this dreary capital made most of the dimly lights be drowned by this smog of smothering grey. As usual, rain was pouring down quite heavily with no real sign of letting up and this made travelling to work or school quite difficult as the haze reduced everyone into buying high-powered forms of illumination which still sometimes failed to pierce this suffocating veil of fog.

It had been several days since the investigations had begun in earnest, yet no progress had been made at all. With no change in that password being decoded or any help from those who were in charge of the college and the information the local police force had given which was proving to be more of a hindrance than anything else…

The familiar figure of the detective was sitting down, causally glancing through the notes he’d written and received in an attempt to piece the obvious facts together but there was no real connection considering some information had only arrived last night which threw a certain party’s facts into doubt.

…Of course, having read the records he’d received made him suspicious right away. He’d bring it up at a later date if necessary. Finding out what had caused all this meant the truth would be needed, not false information. Taking a sip of some odd-coloured liquid from a mug, he made no audible noise when finishing his drink or when placing it back on the table.

Raising his eyebrow as an irritating, yet familiar ringing sound filled an apartment building and continued for several minutes before coming to an abrupt halt and followed by a simple click. Silence reined for once more which allowed the detective to glance back down at his notes until a weak voice managed to barely speak.

“U-Uh, sir…We might have found a lead on the…erm…missing subject. So if you could report down at the station…”

Then, silence. Without another word, the detective closed his digital notepad and deleted the message on his answering machine. Already dressed in the typical attire fitting for someone of his position, he stepped out into the dull corridor, down the carpeted staircase and went outside already aware of the weather.

It took several minutes of driving to get to his intended destination through the fog. Normal cars would’ve likely taken far longer as their lighting would’ve been useless to pierce through this metaphorical wall of grey mist…which did a very good job at concealing the police station from sight which was dull and exactly the same colour as the miserable weather.

Casually stepping out of the car and approaching the officer who was standing beneath an umbrella, his figure was as pitiful like the voice on the phone. Small, weak and inexperienced, the man was shaking when the detective walked by and ignored him completely. There were more important things to take care of at this moment in time.

The interior of the police station wasn’t much better, simply dark blue and grey corridors and walls while officers, interns and all sorts of people dashed around the busy building with no real purpose…the detective simply followed the man from before rush by, obviously showing him to why he was here.

…It was just like before. Chief of Police sitting behind a desk with an uncaring expression on his face while several lower-ranking officers were going through the large cabinets full of various files. Cautiously sitting down and remaining silent, the chief glared at the detective who was still hidden beneath his jacket and hat, barely containing his rage. Not bothering to listen to the man who’d begun ranting on why things were taking this long, the detective remained silent.

“Honestly…Shouldn’t someone of your status have finished a case like this when the reason is clearly obvious? Kid committed suicide, end of story. Of course, the GOVERNMENT isn’t satisfied with such an explanation despite it making the most sense. We tell it’s a simple fire but there’s no corpse of that stupid brat…probably staged the whole thing…”

The detective remained silent. All of his evidence at this current moment in time was pointing away from such a conclusion. Sloppy investigation work done by the department here had lead them to an obviously incorrect assumption, yet he remained silent. There was likely more to it than being brought down here to be yelled at.

“Bah. We’ve got a person who might have an idea on where this brat is, but I doubt it’ll help.”

There was a grating, creaking noise which gradually got louder as it drew nearer to the room before a pair of old-looking wheels connected to a fairly sad wheelchair and an even sadder girl was been pushed forward who was glancing down at the dull floor to avoid everyone’s gaze, her long brown hair shielding most of the girl’s face.

Her figure was pitiful…that small, slender frame looked like it’d snap in two seemed to shiver from the cold, yet she had an ample chest and slim waist, making everyone stare in disbelief at such a paradoxical anatomy. Feeling most of the people stare at her, the girl simply recoiled and remained silent.

Deciding to be as blunt as possible, the chief opened his mouth after glancing through the file he’d been given.

“So, you’re one of ‘Mr. Wren’s’ victims and considering what’s reported here, I suppose he tried a second time and ran off, am I right?”

The girl looked up at the mention of Wren’s name and shook her head violently, clearly upset by what had been said which made them all stare at her as if she was mad.

“N-No…Wren’s not that sort of person. I told you all that before that it was those other people who came after him...they were the ones who tried to assault me and if it wasn’t for him, I’d...”

Almost instantly, the police officers began to yell angrily at such an accusation before they were silenced by a loud fist crashing down against a table which made them all turn to the detective who was looking at his notepad with his free hand.

“…Unlike you people who are so easily blinded by such obvious lies, it’s obvious the hospital with their medical reports obviously proved a bit more helpful. Going through their logs, the ‘fugitive’ as you call him brought this young lady there despite being in a horrible condition himself. In this case, the testimony of this girl is far more important than a group of thugs. I’d say any blood spilt would’ve been down by the gang while Wren would’ve merely fought back in self-defence. He should be commended, if anything.”

The girl looked over at the detective with disbelief, stunned that someone agreed with her story…yet it was obvious everyone else was glaring at the cloaked man with anger. Accusations began flying through the room directed at him while he simply sat there, writing down more notes while ignoring those who seemed ready to pull out a gun and shoot him.

Some of the officers had already left, muttering among themselves while others, the chief included continued to stare daggers at the detective who was keeping completely calm as he read through the notes one last time.

“While this information might not hold any connection to the current case, it’s clear that the missing person in question was not the one who attempted to kill a group of students…” the detective started, getting cut off by the girl.

She was shyly looking down at her feet, fidgeting slightly before giving a firm nod and deciding to speak again.

“…Those…guys were going to...rape me and taunted Wren about it. They even broke my legs to prove a point which made him break his way through them despite them having clubs and guns…he managed to save me…even though he ended up hurt…*sniff*…I didn’t get a chance to say thank you since everyone ended up twisting things around…and when he was beaten up a second time…”

The Chief of Police was about to make a remark before the detective seemed to look in his direction which made the man fall into silence, trying to hold back his rage.

“They singled him out a second time and basically left him for dead. I…I’d been following him in my wheelchair and called the hospital…just like before, the police turned a blind eye…Wren’s not to blame…So please don’t say he’s done something criminal…” the girl managed to sniffle, trying her best not to break into tears.

Giving a simple nod and turning to the Chief who was simply sitting there in silence, still clearly furious that this…’big-shot’ was turning the Police Department’s conclusions upside down. It was clearly obvious Wren had manipulated the girl and was bribing people to make things look like an accident.

Folding his arms, he continued to think. …If the public found out that the police had simply turned a blind eye to the crime and simply pinned the blame on it’s victims, their reputation would be tarnished. The common people didn’t need to know they were…easily influenced by money and power.

Simply keep an eye on the detective and his conclusions. Take the credit, twist the truth and use it as leverage for this foolish government to help give us more ‘funding’. Of course…we’ll have to take care of these two later… he thought to himself, giving a small smile and motioning to the detective and girl to leave. They left to discuss about Wren a bit more. Of course, it was necessary for introductions as the girl insisted.

“Well, Mr. Detective…I’m Michelle Hart…Like Wren, I went to the college until it closed because of his disappearance. We were in the same class…” she managed to say.

Despite being behind the wheel, the detective nodded and turned to his companion.

“I believe there’s more to it than just that. Take a deep breath and tell me everything from the beginning.”

Thought I'd let you guys know that this chapter is basically a flash-back through Michelle's perspective, hench the reason most of the text is in italics. Anyways, enjoy.
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Chapter 15

I first saw him during grade school one morning...well, along with everybody else, actually. Wren was a new student who’d never even set foot into such a large group of people our age, even more so that the teacher quickly rambled on about how he seemed to be such a ‘freak’ managing to simply leap into 5th Year without having any education before.

I was too shy to look at him for too long...he seemed so distant and dead to the world, ignoring the teacher’s insults and his only reaction to being harshly struck with a cane when that horrible woman flung into a rage...it...was a mere grimace as if it were nothing. ...It was obvious she didn’t like the fact Wren hadn’t even shed a tear and brought that horrific tool down on his back again which made some of our classmates gasp while others seemed to encourage it.

“Freak! If he’s such a smart kid, why’s he even in a place like this! He doesn’t belong here! Then we’ll simply drive him away crying like a baby!” ...Those were some of the taunts my classmates hurled at him but Wren simply stared into the distance like before...Even I’d never been treated that badly...

Pausing for a moment for the detective to...uh...I think he raised a curious eyebrow while writing down notes, I decided to go into more detail about myself.

...I...I’ve always been a quiet girl...interested in reading and helping animals...so I didn’t make many friends, probably even more so because I wore glasses. My family’s always been poor which means these are ones I wore back then. Surgery was too expensive to afford and they seemed too focused on my younger sister who they’d pinned all hope on.

A-Anyway...I was in charge of the library, checking that all books were properly arranged, returned and had to clean up any mess which was left behind which every student in the school were content to make things difficult by blowing light bulbs and leaving me to change them...When I finished thinking to myself that I might have a friend to talk to, Wren sat at the very end of the room and I shyly caught a glimpse of him as he stared down at the floor.

The abuse towards him didn’t stop though. The teachers constantly picked on him for answers which he handed forward through the students to them. Usually, I saw they were right and neatly written but it was obvious no-one else was impressed and sent him to detention countless times despite him simply sitting there, saying nothing. None of them stopped those who flung rubber bands and paper planes at Wren. He simply sat and took all of the abuse without flinching.

Lunch break finally came by the ring of the bell and he left, nimbly avoiding being tripped up by those who wanted him to fall flat on his face but Wren seemed quite graceful as he walked off to detention. I simply ate my simple and dull lunch and heard some of my classmates talk about how dull he was by not reacting and didn’t bother to whisper their plot.

The girls made remarks that he wasn’t bad looking but knew it wouldn’t be worth trying to talk to him. They had to think of their social image and only hung out with those who mattered. Timidly asking the teacher in charge if I could go and start cleaning up at the library early, I left my classroom but not before someone tripped me up and sent me crashing to the floor.

...It hurt, but I knew better not to cry and simply got up to keep going to start cleaning up a place no-one seemed to care about. I couldn’t do anything but hope that I’d finally have a friend and managed to give a small smile as I cleaned up the library, humming a small tune to myself. ...Of course, time went by quickly and school finished. There was still one light-bulb to change so I cautiously searched for the ladder and while I managed to change it...I couldn’t bring myself to climb down when I saw the floor so far away.

I cried out for help, hoping someone would come but no-one came. The teachers were too busy with their staff meeting and everyone else had left for home. Unable to do anything but stay stranded on the ladder and cry for a few hours, I didn’t notice the sound of footsteps before something gripped my hand.

Frozen with fear, I couldn’t do anything and prayed that whatever they were after wasn’t something indecent. ...You have no idea how scared I was when I felt myself being lifted off the ladder...my body moved was carried for a few moments until I felt solid ground underneath my feet. Blinking in surprise and turning around, I saw him up close for the first time, the one who’d saved me.

He was a little bit taller than me and looked incredibly plain and dull, dressed in a grey t-shirt and shorts. I didn’t want to cry or act ungrateful, but all I managed to do was squeak a small ‘thank you’ which made him smile. ...I think. Wren seemed a little less distant and nodded. I began telling him about myself a little bit and asked if he needed a friend.

“...I’ve never needed a friend.” Was what he said, his voice dull. “But...you do.”

...You have no idea how happy I was. I actually cried a little bit and hugged him which took him by surprise but simply smiled. He walked me home while I talked to Wren about everything in my life while he listened, never saying a word. That was basically him in a nut-shell...but...he made me so happy that it eventually brought me out of my shell.

I looked over at the detective who simply gave a simple nod, commenting that I must’ve quickly become smitten with him. Feeling my face flush, I smiled. Why wouldn’t I be...?

Granted, he didn’t always spend time with me and I had to follow him around a little bit but...I’ve always been hoping he felt something towards me. The crush I had became more of an admiration, feeling even more towards him, having to endure the suffering during the last few years.

We both grew up together. Our classmates started noticing me because of my...chest and started hitting on me. I knew they were only interested in one thing and I turned them all down. Wren...Wren was the only I considered the only one I’d ever be able to really love but he never said anything and continued being silent.

When it came to studies, the teachers were FORCED to display Wren’s marks which were perfect on every test he took. While I lagged behind in the middle, I was worried if I didn’t do good enough, I’d be unable to keep following him...I wanted to go to college with him but my grades were...well, average at best. So I worked hard and managed to get high marks.

...But he didn’t say anything. I wanted him to be proud of me, but no-one was. I felt like I should just give up altogether when we went to college. I was a coward to tell him how I felt and...then that night happened. Suddenly dragged out of my dorm by a few girls and their boyfriends, they were obviously envious of me, but hated Wren more and I was basically bait to a trap they set.

I cried. They were going to kill Wren and it would’ve been my fault since they’d already sent him proof I was prisoner. Bound to a chair and gagged, the rain began falling and I could barely see Wren walking up to the heavily armed thugs that were college students like us. He didn’t say a word but quickly re-acted to one which had snuck up behind him and...knocked him out with a single punch to his jaw.

He was still outnumbered, but wasn’t intent on fighting them as most of the time, he tried to reason with them and let me go. It was obvious they wanted us both dead though...so Wren simply dashed through them before breaking the wooden chair I was in. It hurt to fall to the ground, but the ropes loosened and I managed to stand up, pulling off my gag...but felt one of those jerks punch me in the stomach and I fell back. I could faintly see the same person now armed with a metal bat and cried out in pain as it crashed down against my legs twice, breaking them. I was sobbing...bleeding, unable to do anything but watch and wait for the end only for that guy to quickly topple back when Wren delivered a quick kick to his torso before following it up with a powerful uppercut to his jaw which I faintly heard break.

Wren simply stood in front of me, unmoving. It was obvious the thugs were intent on killing him, but before they had a chance to do so, he stood tall and warned them to leave me alone. There were still seven of those ‘jocks’ who looked like they’d easily crush him...but they agreed to his terms and shook his hand. With that I could only watch in horror as he let them beat him half to death and walk off, laughing.

...I was scared. He was lying there so still, bleeding heavily...I couldn’t do anything but cry as the rain began pouring down harder until I felt someone pick me up. Trying to fight back with half a heart, I hit a wound and caused the figure to stumble slightly before I noticed who it was. ...It was Wren...and he’d survived that hellish beating and was carrying me away. I couldn’t do anything but cry softly and weakly kept apologizing.

I don’t know how he managed to walk us to the hospital...after an hour of limping through the night streets, a doctor noticed us as he carried me in their direction. I felt my head growing heavy and lost consciousness, waking up a few days later in a different ward from Wren. My parents came to visit me, worried for the first time in their life, but obviously angry.

The news showed an edited version of the events of what happened that night and I could only cry, even more so when they said Wren would likely be arrested. My parents took me out of college and I simply sit at home every day, worrying about him since he was ‘taken back’ by the college provided he behaved.

“...And that takes us to now. I haven’t seen him since so I don’t know what’s happened to him since he went back to that living hell. People on the news are always blaming Wren for crimes he didn’t commit. I know that he’s not that sort of person...” Michelle managed to whisper.

She was clearly upset, doing her best to keep a straight face and holding back tears, though those glasses were fogging up and hiding the young woman’s eyes which were clenched shut, on the verge of crying before feeling the car come to a complete stop. Looking out the window to find her house, Michelle gave a silent sob as the door opened, letting the rain in. Suddenly blinking at the detective who had gotten out and was offering her a hand out, she unbuckled the seatbelt and wheeled herself out.

Michelle’s house was locked, quickly remedied as she pulled a key from the backpack on her wheelchair and rolled inside, her companion cautiously stepping inside. Telling him to help himself to some tea, she soon vanished, leaving for her room while the detective sat down and poured a glass of tea from the dispenser and gave a small sigh as he sat down, his hand chancing across a letter.

The contents consisted of a donation made toward Michelle for an operation for her damaged legs and eyes had been cancelled...while another series of receipts littered the coffee table for the expensive furniture and flashy looking kitchen.

Bastards. Neglecting their own child for selfish reasons. Makes me sick.

...It wasn’t his business.

Michelle sat in front of her old laptop, giving a small sigh. Every day she was hoping for a reply to an email she’d sent, but there’d been nothing. Unable to do anything but sob, something caught her eye through the tears. An email. ...From...

“WREN?!” she managed to sob, double-clicking on the email as it opened, her laptop making a few strange noises as the message displayed itself as a boring display of code which didn’t make any sense. Giving a sigh of disappointment as her hopes were crushed, Michelle slowly set the laptop down before a sudden bolt of energy lashed out from nowhere, landing square on her chest causing her to give a scream of pain before slipping into unconsciousness.

The detective, obviously alerted by this leapt from his chair and dashed towards the source of the noise, worried about Michelle’s well-being before a loud explosion filled his ears and shook the entire building. Painfully getting up, the detective looked at the door to Michelle’s door blown off it’s hinges, the interior just like the original ‘crime scene’. Deciding to investigate the scene for any clues after slapping on some gloves, he found very little difference from before except for melted plastic and what seemed to be left of the wheels on Michelle’s wheelchair....

Right. I'd like to point out now that there's a bit of nudity in this chapter. Nothing too explicit mind you, but I thought I'd give you all a warning before you go diving right into this chapter. And yes, the bold was necessary to get your attention. Thank you.
----
Chapter 16

Glancing through the thick layers of material which Wren couldn't quite fathom, it was clearly obvious that storm was still raging outside. Of course, that didn't need pointing out as rain kept crashing against the odd sheets which were actually doing a good job of keeping the cold out. Granted, it wasn't all that warm to begin with which made him turn to Sara, somewhat concerned. If Lizard-folk were like their reptilian 'cousins' back on Earth, then...

He shook his head. Showing any concern would likely result in Sara simply refusing any help of any kind. Perhaps it was a simply trick of his imagination but Wren swore he could've seen her shiver for a few moments and was looking a little pale. Deciding to act rather than keep quiet, he placed a hand on the shoulder of the lizard-girl who was keeping being completely silent...he almost tore his hand away. Her skin was cold, yet she sat there beneath a blanket, shivering.

It was obvious her tail was curled up close to her body, while she held her body as tightly as possible to keep warm. Obviously from Wren's viewpoint, Sara was trying to ignore the cold...failing poorly.

"Sara. We're not in the middle of a battle, so you don't need to act tough. Calm down and relax, okay? Have some more blanket."

A few moments passed as Wren held most of his own portion of the blanket to Sara who seemed somewhat hesitant to say or do anything before reluctantly taking the blanket and draping it around her briefly exposed body which the human hadn't intended on catching a glimpse of and expected to get a slap to the face that never happened.

...She looked considerably different without her usual green leotard, something which she didn't want to sleep in considering it was soaking wet and cold. Sara was only wearing the bare essentials, which exposed much of her peach-colored skin that had become somewhat pale from the exposure to this chilling cold as it was occasionally met with patches of emerald green scales that covered several parts of her torso and limbs. Shyly draping the blanket tighter around her body, Sara unintentionally drew attention to her breasts while doing so which caused Wren to turn away, going bright red.

"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to..." Wren managed to stammer, feeling even guiltier.

Both of them were unable to make eye-contact, let alone speak. While the human was constantly expecting a powerful blow which would send him reeling, his companion couldn't think of straight, her thoughts being hampered by the cold and her shivering worsened in a desperate attempt to try and keep warm but failed, slowly beginning to lose conscious thought as her body temperature kept falling.

Wren, feeling a bit more confident he could say something looked up to find Sara's arms which had a weak grasp on the blanket, exposing more of her body to the cold air. The human thought swiftly and despite his better judgement, took the cloth from her weakened hands and hugged her tightly, draping them both with the blanket in an attempt to try and keep the Lizard-Girl's body temperature stable. Several minutes passed, neither of them moving before Sara's mind stirred slightly and rational thought returned as she looked up at Wren who's face was still considerably red.

Realising she was being embraced like this, her immediate reaction made her inwardly flinch and make the warrior want to reel away before her mind slowly processed what had likely happened and felt nothing but pity for her own stupidity.

There was also sort of uneasiness for them both considering neither of them were wearing that much in clothing... fact made painfully obvious as she could feel her small breasts press against Wren's chest. The human wasn't saying anything though and simply loosened his grip and slowly pulled away, turning away as Sara covered herself with the blanket.

"I...I didn’t mean to...so if you want me to sleep outside..." Wren muttered, apologetic and turned to step outside before he felt a hand grip his left arm and sat back down to look at Sara who was fidgeting slightly, trying to say something. ...This wasn't like her.

"D-Don't be sorry...I'm grateful that you care enough to...help...but...um...could I ask you something, Wren?"

He nodded, doing his best not to shiver from being denied the blanket or any form of warmth and kept his eyes focused on Sara's face which was glowing a bright red as she managed to speak her request.

"...Can...Can we just stay like that for a little while longer...?"

The lizard-girl remained still, looking up at Wren expectantly who was inwardly reeling from the question but gave a nod which caused Sara to smile and closed the gap between them and hugged him tightly, finding herself embraced just as much. Looking up at her companion who shared her smile, something caused the Lizard-Girl to loosen her embrace slightly, lean forward and kiss the human squarely on the lips. Clearly surprised, Wren hesitated for moment and simply returned the sign of affection.

The lizard-girl began to feel light-headed and was feeling a bit more daring, but she quickly gave herself a mental slap. Mainly for thinking of going any further...besides, fatigue had taken it’s toll and the wo of them soon fell asleep in each other’s embrace, smiling.
--
Azure simply sat in her own tent, somewhat uneasy at being on solid land for this long as the last time was several years ago, simply curious at how things were different from that dull and deep blue ocean which had nothing of interest considering there was hardly anything to brighten up their boring existence which consisted of drifting around in search of treasure and something to kill time with.

Looking down at the bronze-lined bracelet on her left wrist, she gave a sigh. Granted, it’s mysterious power had allowed her to change between forms at will but seemed to be infused with her arm and was unable to take it off. A curse, or an after-effect of this power, the Scylla had no idea.

Besides…this place brought back bad memories which made her blood boil but quickly banished them from her mind. It’d had left a lasting impression on Azure though which made her more aggressive and determined before her first journey onto solid ground.

At least those she’d been ‘forced’ to come along with didn’t seem too bad at the moment and the first one who came to mind was that Lizard-Girl. Despite not yet fully-grown, she seemed to be quite the aggressive fighter and didn’t hesitate in battle. That huge two-handed sword of hers which she swung around with ease meant it was clear ‘Sara’ was a warrior focused on power, rather than agility which carried over to her personality which seemed tough. Blunt. Straight to the Point.

Then there were the harpy siblings who were completely different in most aspects, although it was obvious ‘Falken’ was somewhat mature most of the time despite his flirtatious attitude and had given four of her ‘would-be’ usurpers a rude awakening considering the harpy’s powerful footwork.

…The sister seemed somewhat timid, but occasionally spoke her mind which meant she had some sort of backbone, not to mention trying to keep that brother in line to a degree. Yet it was clear she’d only last a few moments in a heated battle from her frail appearance. Of course, considering her brother was quite protective…and the human seemed to feel some sort of connection.

Wren. What an odd name for a human.

But he seemed to be the centre of the group. It was obvious despite his somewhat average build and appearance there was more to him than her original assumption. Light on his feet and swift with that blade, not to mention that Lizard-Girl was probably training him which showed that show today was only a small aspect of his abilities.

Of course, it wasn’t those skills that had caught her interest but rather his personality. He seemed determined, yet looked like he’d gone through quite a few trials considering the controlled outburst only she’d been able to hear. Did that make him somewhat...odd considering his mood seemed to shift from all over the place? He'd been rather at ease when they'd set up camp, but it was obvious there was some reason why Wren acted that way.

Why bother worrying about something that doesn't have anything to do with herself? Simply trying to get comfortable on the mattress and blankets, Azure didn't have much trouble getting to sleep and wondered what fate had in store.

And another scene-change...!
----
Chapter 17

The sun rose slowly over Rellin, one of the largest kingdoms in all of...this world, which was currently being ruled by the equal and just leader, King Luke who has reigned for thirty years. While it was neutral towards all others, there were very few that were driven away from the realm's doors as it accepted all sorts of people...yet were fearful towards those who weren't fully human and always eyed them with suspicion, not hesitant to try and pin the blame on the 'monster-humans'.

Very few of them were accepting of the race that was clearly in the minority which consisted mainly of those who didn’t possess traits that were a potential threat. A few harpies, lamias and holstaurus with the odd fairy flying around with a child in close pursuit, giggling with glee as they played simple games. Of course, that didn’t stop rumours travelling around the huge city which told that there were many more ‘monster-humans’ hidden.

With some reluctance from the King who had no choice but to listen to his people, he issued patrols throughout the city which resulted in proof that the rumour had no real support to stand on and was laid to rest which caused some citizens to rebel and leave Rellin’s borders while others simply accepted the fact they were wrong and calmed down…but still showed their distaste towards those who inhabited the city.

Especially the women who were jealous of the appealing appearance of those ‘half-humans’, despite their features which was in clear sight and obvious, their bodies and faces were beautiful and attractive which caused some of them to scheme against those who had no intent on stealing men away. Word travelled quickly and such plans never saw fruition thanks to the efforts of the King’s ‘Paladins’, a group of elite knights who fought with honour and compassion as well as weeding out the injustices, not to mention they treated the ‘half-humans’ with equity.

Their numbers have begun to dwindle, however. Five of the six paladins have left the city with a small battalion of knights and soldiers to search for the source of the undead which has been on the rise of late, not to mention other misshapen creatures which were intent on causing death and destruction as reports had described the monstrosities ripping apart anything.

The six ‘Paladins’ considered themselves equal in terms of leading the knights and soldiers, supporting each other in battle, yet their skills were quite different. The oldest of them was Sir Brett who was in his late forties. A superb tactician and decked in heavy armour, he was proficient in wielding battle-axes with an incredible amount of power, yet he made it look graceful.

Second, there was Sir Greg who was in his early forties despite his still fairly youthful appearance. Decked in a light suit of armour, he was a master of agility and various bladed weapons which allowed him to perform incredible feats of acrobatics to strike swiftly to cut down countless foes.

Thirdly, Lady Rachelle. Only in her late thirties, the determination and will to carry out her duties still burned brightly. While decked in the heaviest armour, she was still capable of fighting with an almost equally heavy halberd which could cut down through groups of enemies or pierce through the toughest of defences with ease.

Fourth. Lady Blossom was a master with any form of bow. Longbow, crossbow, short bow. Any type of projectile weapon, Lady Blossom was adept in it, made even more obvious considering she could hit a target's weak points from at least a kilometre in distance which gave her plenty of time to defeat a foe before they had a chance to close in, yet Blossom was also a deadly hand with knifes as a last method of defence.

Fifth was Lady Pandora who's a master of the magical arts, capable of casting powerful blasts of fire which would reduce foes into ashes to a freezing blizzard that could bring an entire enemy battalion to its knees, her power incredible despite only being in her late twenties. Her tactics, like Blossom's, consisted of luring the enemy towards them and blowing them away with a powerful blast of magic.

Regardless, it seemed like it'd be another peaceful day in Rellin as the sun rose in the horizon. The citizens went about their usual agenda, shopping and conversing with others while trying to keep their children in line from rushing around out of control before a loud ringing sound ran out through the entire city.

A young man in his early twenties quickly rose from his bed at the sound of that alarm and quickly donned on a suit of silver armour in record time, covering his well-toned body in this precious, yet powerful metal. Making sure he armed himself with a long-sword forged from a powerful metal, he raced to the gathering point to learn about the situation while politely informing the citizens to head for the castle and take refuge there.

"S-Sir Trevor!"

…Sir Trevor. The youngest Paladin to be knighted by the King since the forming of the group over it's one hundred years; it was obvious his potential had already begun to flourish beautifully. Constantly training with Sir Greg and Brett to learn various fighting styles with a long-sword, it was completely unexpected he’d been able to master a degree of magic as well, making him a versatile fighter.

The youth turned around to look at the knight who was bowing, yet completely out of breath and in the middle of a panic. It was obvious whatever he'd seen hadn't been good and must've ran a considerable distance to raise the alarm and inform Trevor, their 'superior'. At least forty men stood in front of the Paladin, bowed politely and stood at the ready.

"Inform me of the situation. Something this urgent must mean time is of the essence." Trevor spoke calmly. "Still, you don't need to kneel before me. Come on, get up."

Quickly springing to his feet, the knight gave an enthusiastic 'Sir!' and pointed to the south wall. Quickly reaching for the telescope to try and catch a glimpse of what that grey speck was, Trevor peered through the device...and inwardly flinched when he first saw the massive troll. It looked like it was at least several times his height and girth, some of which was actually pure muscle, especially it's arms and upper body yet it's eyes seemed to be smothered by some excess fat and large stomach made the monstrosity appear a bit out of shape.

Handing the telescope back to the soldier who bowed politely, Trevor began to think, formulating a plan as he focused his resolve and prepared for battle, turning to his fellow knights.

"Alright. We've got little time before this monster breaks down the main gates, so we have to act fast. We'll take the 'side-passage' which will let us through and hopefully strike from our foe from the rear. It's weak spots are it's head and stomach. Archers, take care not to hit our allies and aim for it's eyes. Everyone else, take care not to get hit. That log it's carrying will cause a great deal of harm. Regardless, let us fight! For Rellin!"

"FOR RELLIN!"

Following Trevor's plan, the knights quickly dashed through the side-passages in single file with Trevor in the rear.
===
The troll was even more gruesome close up as every horrible feature could be clearly seen. Folds of fat covered it's gigantic legs and face, while the gut prominently stuck forwards, making it an easy target. Of course, it's bluish-green skin had several scars and let off a horrible stench that caused the men who'd encircled the beast to stagger backwards for a moment, leaving them vulnerable to it's club, or in this case, a tree.

Shouts of pain filled the air as the troll swung the massive piece of wood in an arc, sending several knights flying off their feet and crashing back down to earth, while missing others who threw themselves to the ground and barely avoided getting hit before launching a swift counter-attack at their foe's legs, slashing several times with their blades before getting kicked away as it lashed out in response.

Trevor was keeping an eye on the situation. The archers had obviously taken a step back and were launching a barrage of arrows which managed to hit their mark, some managed to sink into the troll's face, while others either bounced off the folds of fatty flesh or pierce that huge stomach. Deciding to deliver a decisive blow against the monstrosity, Trevor dashed forward with remarkable agility. Of course, the troll had caught a glimpse of him but swung it's club far too slow as the Paladin leapt into the air and landed on that uprooted tree and jumped once more, delivering a powerful double-handed slash across the beast's face before kicking off it to be propelled away from it's counter-attack.

His fellow knights were either taking extreme caution on their next movement or badly wounded and awaiting help. The armour they wore was powerful enough to endure a direct hit, but it still caused some damage internally, not to mention some bleeding as one unfortunate soul's suit had dented badly, crushing a rib-bone or two and couldn't move in fear of causing further damage.

But this monstrosity had slowed down somewhat from it's injuries, every violent swing packed considerable force but took much longer to actually carry out which allowed the knights to evade that massive tree trunk. But it was obvious the troll had some power left and gave a loud bellow before giving one mighty swing in a full circle which sent the knights flying to crash into the stone wall which encircled Rellin.

It was some miracle that allowed the Paladin to stand his ground, but was obviously wounded somewhat. Trevor focused on the troll as the monster staggered, drained from it's previous attack. Obviously, he'd only get one shot, the Paladin's long-sword was immersed with a brilliant fire before he dashed forward and leapt into the air, above the ugly monstrosity's head and delivered a powerful downwards slash that cleaved the horrible beast in two, causing both halves to separate and crash on the ground.

Granted, that left a considerable mess as blackish blood was flung through the air but it was some fortune that the troll's internal organs hadn't gone splattering everywhere. Quickly backing away from the corpse, Trevor checked the situation once more. Those who'd been wounded had been taken to safety indoors, while those who were still capable of battle began congratulating each other, not to mention making a big deal of Trevor's prowess.

"It's simply a matter of training and determination. The impossible becomes possible if you're willing to go the distance...that's Sir Greg's idea. Regardless, I'm glad we managed to avoid having any losses on our side. Have you taken care of those who injured?"

"Yes, Sir Trevor!" the knights shouted with enthusiasm.

Trevor gave a weak smile at those who were admiring his skill, but quickly grew serious.

"I appreciate your kind words...but I have to report to His Majesty. He'd be glad to hear that we've taken care of the threat."

With one final salute, the Paladin quickly dashed off to the palace. His obvious dedication to his kingdom was admirable, but it wasn't just the people here he fought for...

And Chapter 18. Woo-hoo.
===
Chapter 18.

Dawn finally arrived and thankfully, the storm had died down enough to allow everyone to get a decent night's rest. While it was still raining lightly when those first rays of sunlight came into sight, forming a beautiful rainbow which shimmered for several moments before vanishing as the rain finally ended. It didn't take long for the cold atmosphere to warm up, making the day ahead a promising one as those grey clouds parted.

Wren eventually awoke, still somewhat tired and the events of last night were quite clear in his mind despite the fatigue which had some hold on him, as well as a smiling Sara who was lying right next to him with a small smile on her face. Considering that she was far cuter like this instead of being serious and focused on battle, the human couldn't help but wonder if his words had gotten to her last night.

Since she looked quite content to lay there, Wren carefully broke free from Sara's tight embrace without waking her and got up, reached for his still somewhat damp shirt and trousers before stepping outside to find Falken was already sitting in front of a small fire which seemed to be thriving despite only consisting of only a few twigs and leafs. It seemed like the harpy was smart enough to make sure the kindling in question wasn't damp. He hadn't really questioned his intelligence but Wren...well, when it came to the 'Outdoors', his knowledge was somewhat basic.

Since most of the food was in Wren's back-pack, he wasted little time in getting the usual breakfast for his friends ready while Falken decided to make some conversation.

"Well, did you sleep any better last night? Considering you look pretty well-rested means either you were more comfortable sleeping in the rain or Sara was welcome company!" he smirked, making Wren flinch a bit. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm kidding. When I was stuck with her two nights ago, she couldn't get to sleep. She didn't want me trying anything, I guess. I mean, I'm not into her considering it's apparent WHO she's got her eyes on."

Wren raised an eyebrow for a few moments; eyeing the panicking harpy with suspicion before handing him the toasted sandwich which was smothered with apricot jam which Falken ate with considerable gusto and gave a satisfied sigh after licking the excess jam off his fingers before his arms changed back into those neon-green wings.

“So I guess your father was a magician, considering you’re capable of using magic to change your limbs at any time?” Wren asked, getting a simple nod from Falken and no other response as the harpy became silent. “...Sorry. I didn’t mean to pry; you probably don’t like talking about it because you’re...”

Falken suddenly turned to Wren with a furious expression on his face, the claws on his wings clenching tightly before he realised what he was doing and gave an exasperated sigh and shook his head sadly.

“...I don’t want to go into that.” The harpy muttered. “Besides, I’m sure you hate you’re parents considering you haven’t talked about at all. I thought any person who had come from another world would wish they could see their parents again or wondered if they would be alright. But, you don’t look like the sort of person who could hate anyone.”

Wren didn’t flinch at Falken’s words and simply looked away, going silent. He hesitated for a few moments and considering that there was no movement from the other tents, the human contemplated trying to bring up another subject, but considering Falken had brought up the subject of his own parents...

...What was there to worry about? His relationship with his parents was fairly strong as they supported him through thick and thin. But was this really the case, or was Wren lying to himself, burying the real truth? It didn’t matter; he knew the reality of how the relationship between him and his family really was.

“Heh...You’re right. I don’t hate anyone.” Wren lied calmly.

His consciousness was screaming at him, reminding him of the fact the more lies he told, the bigger of a ‘grave’ he dug himself. Not like it mattered, it wasn’t likely he’d ever see Earth again and even if the opportunity arose, he’d decline.

While some of the humans weren’t any different from that corrupted mass called ‘humanity’ back on that dying planet, it was obvious the demi-humans were generally kind and helpful from what he’d seen so far. ...But there was ONE person back home who wasn’t like the rest, someone who’d believe in him no matter what happened.

...I’m worried about her. At first it was out of pity that I helped her, but I guess...there was actually something else. ...What would she say if she saw me falling for someone else? I didn’t want to get too close to her, but something like that ended up anyway. And what would Hylesa and Sara say?

“Hey, Wren. You okay over there? Dude? We’ve got other people to feed, you know!” Falken yelled, causing the human to snap out of his thoughts and glance around to find Hylesa had sat down between the two of them with a sleepy smile on her face. “You sleep well, sis?”

Hylesa brushed her long purple hair out of her eyes and gave a firm nod, smiling at them both, giggling as Wren hurriedly toasted another few pieces of bread and covered it with strawberry jam which caused the harpy to give a happy cry and devour the ‘meal’ with considerable speed, causing Falken to look at her sternly.

“Sis. That’s not exactly a good idea, you’ll make yourself sick and we’re far away from a town.” He warned.

Of course, the younger harpy was still somewhat sleepy and simply leaned against Wren, giggling slightly which made him feel a bit uneasy. Had Hylesa REALLY gotten enough sleep? Looking over at Falken who simply shrugged his shoulders, he didn’t bother saying anything until Hylesa gave a reply.

“...Big brother, even if I did get sick, we’ve got Wren...he’ll make me better...” she managed to sigh before falling forward suddenly, yet the human was quick enough to catch her.

Of course, Falken was in quite a panic until Wren told him to calm down and get special plastic case in his backpack. The harpy forgot to change his wings into arms for a few moments of searching and quickly grasped the object and handed it to Wren who opened it to reveal a bland looking band which caused him to bombard him with questions.

“Relax. I just place it on Hylesa’s fore-head for a few seconds...” Wren sighed, gently pressing the band like he explained for ten seconds before drawing it away as a series of numbers lit up which he read calmly. “Hylesa’s got a mild fever. It looks like we won’t be getting anywhere today; I don’t want to push her.”

Falken gave a sigh of relief and Wren quickly answered Falken’s questions. The band was a special thermometer which, when placed against the skin checks a patient’s temperature, while the case is a recharging unit. Inside the band is a complex micro-computer that comes up with the numbers depending on the amount of heat it absorbs.

“Anyway, we better get her back to bed. You let Aria and Azure know we’re staying put today.”
---
It didn't take very long to inform everyone of the situation before they all met back at the fire. Falken had made sure his sister was resting peacefully while Wren was concerned about everyone else's health. A quick check of their body temperature showed they were all fine, meaning it was only Hylesa who had become somewhat ill.

Considering there was nothing to do but wait for Hylesa to rest, everyone else sat around the fire for a few moments, staring at the flames for a few seconds. Sara was obviously bored, Falken was munching on a sandwich, Aria tried to hum a tune that seemed a little off-key while Azure simply sat there, not doing or saying anything. Without a word, Wren stood up and looked at the area around them, thinking.

"Well, it might not be much fun for everyone to watch, but a rematch would pass the time. You up for it, Sara?" Wren asked, watching the lizard-girl had already gotten up at the word 'rematch' and was standing a few meters away, drawing her Zweihänder. "Guess that's a yes. Well, here we go."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwH1hPMyVZU

Wren charged forwards, blade tightly grasped in hand and dashed directly at Sara without hesitation. The lizard-girl paused for a few moments, noticing he was getting ready to leap into the air. Not giving away knowledge of this, she braced herself slightly in anticipation for this aerial attack before preparing to deliver a swift upwards slash as her foe closed in, only for Wren to simply do a small hop to the side, causing Sara's counter to miss by a wide margin and because her defences were down, the human delivered a quick slash to her defenceless torso, barely causing a tear in that green leotard before getting out the lizard-girl's range.

Obviously annoyed she'd left herself open for a brief moment, Sara lunged forward at Wren who shifted his weight and prepared to block the blow, only he was completely taken by surprise as the lizard-girl performed a large leap into the air and with lightning speed brought her giant Zweihänder down against the ground, causing a large tremor to knock him off his feet.

Slightly stunned but aware Sara was closing in fast to deliver a more powerful slash, Wren waited a few moments before rolling back and then springing forwards into the air, taking them both by surprise as he harmlessly landed on that massive blade and jumped off before his opponent had a chance to react.

...It was clear Wren was focusing all of his energy on being nimble and trying to avoid getting hit while Sara seemed to be putting a lot of power into her blows. Either way, a direct hit on either of them could be enough in turning this battle in the other warrior's favour. Quickly retrieving his blade and leaving himself open to Sara's ferocious onslaught of slashes which Wren managed to evade, a quick flash of his memory reminded him to hold the blade with both hands and then...! He gave a powerful horizontal slash, a few feet too short of Sara, but a powerful shockwave cut through the air and tore through her defences, leaving a large tear in the lizard-girl's clothing.

While it had taken her by surprise, Sara quickly went back on the defensive while Wren was doing his best to ignore the sudden surge of pain which was coursing through the bandaged wound on his right arm. This cost him dearly as being distracted; even a small window of time was more than enough for the lizard-girl to deliver a powerful slash with the flat of her blade which smashed into Wren with considerable force it sent him skidding back across the ground.

Wren stood up, Sara only a short distance away to deliver another attack and he prepared himself to evade.

!?!

...but an incredible pain shot through his torso. That attack must've broken a bone and Wren was stunned, leaving himself wide open and Sara delivered another powerful blow which sent the human flying through the air a few meters before he landed on his feet, coughing up a small amount of blood as he staggered forward, everything going hazy before a powerful jolt of energy coursed through him, causing Wren to stand up straight.

Was it a miracle? Or a simple trick of fate?

Either way, a great deal of pain was coursing through his body but Wren wasn't going to let that stop him and dashed at Sara once again, faster than she'd been expecting considering how much damage he'd already sustained and prepared to defend an over-head attack...! But Wren suddenly changed his blade's position slightly and delivered a powerful under-hand slash that managed to tear a large upwards diagonal gash in Sara's outfit while barely cutting the skin before he managed to place the blade on her shoulder, an inch away from her neck.

The lizard-girl was blinking in disbelief that she'd been beaten but simply lowered her sword and smiled. It had still been considerably close and helped Wren who was exaughsted to his feet. It was obvious he'd been considerably drained and barely able to stand properly.

"Heh! It's 1 for 1, now! Way to go, Wren!" Falken shouted, congratulating Wren while Aria looked over at Sara, somewhat concerned. "Guess the next match decides who's better!"

Wren winced somewhat at the prospect. While today's victory was his, it was too close for comfort. But taking a quick glance at Sara who was still smiling, he gave a smile of his own.

And we're back on Earth for this Chapter as the Detective continues his investigation...
===
Chapter 19

"So let me get this straight. You let a vital witness who'd be able to put that kid in the chair slip out from your fingers while you were only a room away?! And in the SAME method as the first 'disappearance'?! Detective, I'm warning you, any more of this incompetence on your part and we'll be putting you under suspicion for being an accomplice to that killer and his crime!" the Chief threatened, his face turning a bright purple as a vein bulged on his ugly face.

The detective remained silent; giving only a simple nod that he understood the chief's threat. It was common knowledge the 'Chief' of Police had fired many of his former officers when they stepped out of line or did something that wasn't to his liking. Further, he was a greedy man who constantly cut the pay checks of those who had no other choice but to put up with this monster. No-one dared to raise a hand against him, not even the mayor to this city.

A simple glance at the officers who were running around the house and sealing off the 'crime scene' until the Chief said he'd given them permission to do otherwise made the house quite frantic while Michelle's parents simply sat on their cough, rather undisturbed by their daughter's absence.

"We kept telling her that man was nothing but trouble, but she never listened and this ended up happening. Of course, it's not our fault. She had plenty of warning and this is the punishment our daughter deserves. A real pity Michelle couldn't have been like her younger sister then perhaps she wouldn’t have been kidnapped and held for ransom. Let that boy keep her for all we care...we’ve got enough troubles to worry about.” Michelle’s mother said a bitter tone in her voice.

She was a woman in her early thirties with an average frame and moderately attractive but a quick glance at the photo’s showed she had no hope of matching either of her daughters. Her long black hair seemed to be showing the signs of going grey early and while that average figure probably was appealing back then, it’d have little chance into today’s society.

Two cold blue eyes seemed to glare at the officer questioning them as making those who were watching flinch from fear. She was almost as terrifying as their ‘Chief’ but made no verbal remark lest they suffer a cut to their pay check or even worse. Dressed in a fairly modern dressed which did it’s best to try and make her feminine assets better, one could assume by the style and elegance it would’ve costed a great deal of money.

“My wife is right. Michelle knew that lad was no good since that incident which left her crippled...and we were unable to sue him for compensation to pay for the surgery which could’ve prevented her from spending a few years in a wheelchair! All because of a ‘lack of evidence’ and the fact you officers were to spineless!” the man shouted, only to meet the gaze of the ‘Chief’ who gave a small smile.

“I can assure you Mr. Hart that you have my deepest sympathies and apologies for not being able to bring this criminal to justice! This is the third crime he’s been able to slip through my fingers and I intend to send him to the chair for the punishment he rightly deserves and a one-way ticket to a fiery hell!”

The mention of another case immediately caught the detective’s attention, but considering his face and body was concealed by his clothing this was hard to tell. ...Why was there something else he hadn’t been informed of when it could have potential evidence to this case?! ...But he couldn’t say anything now lest he suffer the wrath of the still enraged ‘Chief’.

Because he was there when this abduction took place, the detective had managed to get a brief investigation of the crime-scene done and collect some pieces of information which seemed to help a considerable deal. ...The damage wasn’t as extensive as Wren’s room which made it easier to search through what was there.

Natural precautions had been taken, of course. He’d worn special state-of-the-art gloves which didn’t attract any of an evidence’s molecules or alter it’s current state, not to mention the obvious benefit of not leaving behind any prints. Before he had actually gone through Michelle’s belongings which he mentally apologized for, he made a quick mental state of how the scene was so despite things being moved to and fro, there’d be no real noticeable change.

The results he had on hand were interesting. For starters, only Michelle’s wheel-chair and bed had suffered any significant damage while the rest of her room was either barely scorched by something or left unharmed which meant boxes of various papers consisting of various drawings and pieces of literature stood out.

...He’d also managed to make a complete copy of all the data on her laptop which had crashed, but the password was considerably easy to crack. This would have to wait until he returned to his lab before it’d be able to be examined further.

When the ‘Chief’ first arrived, he’d been furious and tore through Michelle’s room ignoring various pieces of important evidence and simply dismissed the scene as a repeat incident like the first ‘abduction’. Of course, considering the detective was becoming more confident that Wren wasn’t behind all this, but it’d be difficult to prove without solid evidence.

...It also didn’t help that some of the notes he’d stumbled across during his search weren’t exactly easy to read. Most of what was written down was basically a diary of sorts Michelle kept hidden behind lock and key, something the ‘Chief’ had thankfully overlooked as there was more to it than that.

Several scrunched up notes of Michelle trying to plan to meet up with Wren and tell him how she felt, not to mention her thoughts on her family and a small knife which was stained slightly with blood and a note which had been written at least a year ago...basically a suicide note except she’d been unable to carry it out which again, was mentioned in her diary.

Conversely, the evidence didn’t look to promising for Wren if the ‘Chief’ got his hands on it. He’d simply claim he manipulated Michelle to attempt and commit suicide but she manage to fight against it. Giving a quick look over at the ‘Chief’ who was still interrogating and shouting at his officers for their incompetence, the detective began to think.

There was two choices he could take, either continue his investigation with the police and hopefully get more information on Wren’s file and history to try and put more pieces together or break off from the police, claiming they were a hindrance to his work and continue his search alone. Both had potential threats.

If he remained with the police, if the ‘Chief’ managed to get a hold of his evidence or deny him access to the ‘crime-scenes’, he would likely be finished. It was necessary to get the data from that Security PC in Wren’s dorm. The chance of it possessing the necessary data to prove Wren’s innocence was there.

...Conversely, continuing his investigation alone would make him a prime target for the chief. He’d heard the rumours...saying that anyone who went against him was killed in cold blood. It wasn’t fear for his life that was preventing him from leaving, but the fact the truth would never be discovered or even worse, distorted to fit the ‘Chief’s’ twisted ideas. He’d be able to get a temporary grant from the ‘higher-ups’ to investigate the crime-scenes at his leisure but again, it’d prove difficult with that man standing in his way.

And Chapter 20. TWENTY! That's two tens! ...Yeah.
===
Chapter 20

It took several hours before the chief finally agreed that all investigations to come to a close as night had fallen faster than any of them had expected. Granted, some of them had been keeping track of the time for various reasons. Officers wanted to get back to their families and away from their terrible boss while Michelle's parents were getting somewhat annoyed by the police force which had failed to do anything useful. The Chief was obviously quite angry at this fact but SOMEHOW managed to contain his rage...of course, this would only be temporary until he'd returned to the station.

The detective had come to a conclusion about his dilemma. The chief's wrath was a small price to pay and provided he watched his movements, there'd be no real danger. These officers wouldn't risk coming after him, no matter what lie his 'boss' fed them. Having a reputation of never making a single false arrest or failing to solve a crime would, in any NORMAL person's eyes would make him too important to kill...especially since part of his investigation was something else completely irrelevant to the case.

...Not to mention an odd thought which crossed his mind, something which was completely out of character about the Chief being dipped in a vat of acid in a most painful way. This was an image he swiftly banished from the depths of his mind. Perhaps it was he hadn't had a decent night sleep for the last few days, which made him wonder why the password for that computer hadn't been cracked YET. It had been nearly two, three days and there wasn't any change...it defied logic. Over millions, if not more combinations had tried to break that password yet there was no success whatsoever.

How was it possible? Considering that the password hadn't even been broken yet meant the information stored on that computer would be vital. The footage on how Wren's dorm ended up getting half-destroyed would likely prove his innocence or guilt. Either way, it looked like it'd be another late night. Taking a cautious glance over at the Chief who simply gave a shrug.

"Bloody hell. The media's going got be all over this." he managed to mutter, showing no signs of his typical rage. Well, until he spoke again. "It's bad enough that...BOY managed to evade us all this time but we'll get him soon enough!!"

The detective decided it'd be best to leave. Shielding himself from the rain as he remained concealed beneath his jacket, a simple movement of his hand and press of a button unlocked his car. Same thing as usual after finishing at the scene. A simple drive back to his temporary apartment, climb up the stairs and sit down on the lounge, lost in thought the entire time as this case had no real evidence to speak of...apart from what he'd managed to salvage from the two computers which had stopped working.

Most of the data wasn't important. It was obvious Michelle had obviously tried to reach Wren countless times as there were plenty of emails sent and received, yet the latter hadn't responded to a single one. Was it because he considered her a nuisance? Or simply regret and denying himself from talking to her? Some of the early emails were simply telling Wren that a certain 'incident' wasn't his fault; while later ones were her basically begging him to at least reply to know that he was okay. All 9 of these were unanswered.

...Yet there was ONE draft Wren had begun writing. Despite being irrelevant to the current case, the detective opened the file...only to find it was protected by a password. Odd, considering that shouldn't have happened...it was a transferred document from an old PC. The simple lock shouldn't have come up, yet it showed up nonetheless.

Wren was shaping up to be quite suspicious with all of these passwords. Of course, a program began running in the background of the detective's 'Notepad' which would HOPEFULLY decode it shortly. ...Something else which was odd that the email count said 10 and 4 for Wren & Michelle's inboxes, yet there were only 9 & 3 documents visible. Even a through double-check and sifting through the files revealed nothing...there was definitely something strange with this.

Not to mention the corruption of files he'd retrieved from Michelle's laptop was far less...basically a second copy of her diary, several drafts of those emails, a few school photos...but there wasn't much else of note which would help. The entire city had been searched (or at least what some of the officers had said) for Wren yet none had found any sign of the youth.

By the looks of it, that could either be the truth or an exaggeration. Either way, this was looking more and more like a dead end...
--
Sir Trevor had wasted no time on his race to the castle. A simple matter of racing through the city's market proved somewhat easy with the citizens taking refuge in the castle as there was very little to slow the Paladin down. A few minutes of non-stop running through this city brought him to his destination. Several guards, who were at the ready noticed Trevor approach and saluted, were quickly explained of the situation and asked to inform the citizens it was safe to return outside. Watching them give another salute and dash inside, Trevor followed.

The castle was enormous...even more so inside. Elegant walls reached upwards and endless corridors stretched out into the distance. To find the throne room however, was a simply task. A long red carpet pointed directly to the throne room. Of course, he had to wait patiently as the civilians returned outside before casually walking down the corridor and stepping through two large doors in front of him.

Two thrones sat in the distance, with the figures sitting on them who were quite surprised, if not outright pleased to see the Paladin who walked forwards until he stopped a small distance in front of the two figures and kneeled.

"Your Majesty...I've come to inform you that the Troll which threatened our city is no more. Thanks to the dedication of the Knights and those who defend this city, along with our healers, we suffered no fatalities and those who were injured should recover swiftly." he said calmly.

The King looked quite youthful despite being in his late fifties, dressed in typical regal robes despite having the body of a warrior, his well-groomed blue hair and matching dark blue eyes made him appear quite serious and not to be trifled with. A smile crept across his face at his Paladin's actions and began to speak.

"You may stand, Trevor. You need not kneel before me...after all, you're like a son to me." the King smiled, causing Trevor to stand upright and salute, causing Luke to give a hearty laugh. "Relax, my boy. I already know your dedication to the royal family and this kingdom is unbreakable. The fact you didn't hesitate to defend us against such a dangerous threat, you have our gratitude, along with everyone else."

Trevor simply nodded, trying to compose himself. For the first few years of his life, this man had been like a father to him when he was left in front of the Castle. Looked after and raised, he simply wished to serve his King and the best way was to defend his kingdom by becoming a Paladin. With the King's blessing, he'd been trained to become the man he was now.

A quick glance to his side was a young and incredibly beautiful woman who was in her early twenties. Dressed in an elegant sky-blue dress which was bigger than her slender frame, her long black hair and blue eyes looked down at Trevor with a small smile.

"Princess Gloria. I trust you're well?" Trevor asked, bowing politely.

The princess gave a small nod. While only a few years younger than Trevor, they'd been raised together and had become considerably close. Of course, the King quickly noticed this but did nothing to interfere. Gloria had been the only child born despite both of her parents being quite healthy decided to have only one child which was a fact further cemented when Trevor was left on their doorstep, barely a few months old.

"Sir Trevor...As of late, the Kingdom of Caanna has suggested a treaty of peace if their prince was to marry my daughter. While I care for my people, it's obvious Gloria's happiness matters more. At the mere suggestion of marriage, she simply said one name that I've no hesitation to agree with. Trevor, despite not being of royal blood, you'll be..." Luke started, before he was cut short.

"But, your Majesty! I...I'm not worthy of this honour! Especially since the people wouldn't accept me if they knew...!" Trevor started to retort, being cut off as Gloria interrupted.

"Sir Trevor. The only two who know of your secret are those who are before you. ...And even if you're not fully human, I'd rather marry the man I know and admire, rather than someone I've never met." Gloria spoke up, causing Trevor to simply stand there in stunned silence before giving a nod.

This was quite a powerful blow. While it was true he'd admired Gloria, Trevor never considered himself good enough to be worthy of being her future husband. Even after the King had made that sudden announcement, he shook his head, carefully reached for it and with a simple and swift motion...pulled it off effortlessly.

"What will the people say if they see the who...what I really was? You'll lose all standing with your people! You expect them to become so accepting of a monster to be your heir?!" Trevor shouted, obviously distressed.

"...We'll discuss this further at a later date, my boy. You're tired...please, get some rest." King Luke simply offered, causing Trevor to give a nod of resignation, retrieve his disembodied head and firmly re-attach it to his body. "I'm sorry for bringing up the subject so suddenly, Trevor. Forgive me."

The Paladin simply gave a small nod, a quick bow before leaving the Royal Chamber, still trying to comprehend what had just happened...

And here were are at Chapter 21.
====
Chapter 21

...The rest of the day passed without anything of real note. Wren was quite content to train a bit more with Sara who'd simply launched into an explanation of how to perform basic slashes. Of course, the human was now armed with a normal blade rather than his 'loaned' katana which meant the sword could potentially be a far more lethal weapon to anything that ended up getting in his way. Of course, it was obvious the lizard-girl's words were making sense and several examples of 'how it was done' helped Wren understand the concept.

At first it was the basics, the general difference between a katana and a normal sword. While the fighting styles for one could be used with the other, common sense proved it'd be far more effective to simply stick with the basics if you were only beginning rather than run a risk of causing harm to yourself. ...Also, the blade Wren held was much sharper which meant he had to be cautious as it could inflict some serious harm.

It felt...different to wielding a katana. The blade felt slightly lighter in weight and gave of a brilliant silver glow which Wren could see his reflection in. Of course, there was no dull side to this weapons which meant he'd have to hit a foe with the flat of this blade to deal a non-lethal blow should he end up facing a living opponent and considering his 'hesitation', Sara noticed.

"You've got great skill at trying to render your enemies with the blunt edge of that katana, but there are plenty of monsters and enemies who won't show any mercy! The only way you'll stay alive is to concentrate on delivering a blow that will either kill them outright or at least disable them. End a fight before it gets too out of hand and you'll be able to deal with a group of monsters a lot easier." Sara pointed out, causing Wren to nod slowly.

His mind wandered somewhat and took a glance over at Aria who was trying to hum various notes, attempting to create a sort of melody from them which seemed like a difficult task. Back on Earth, he'd been dragged along to one of Michelle's choir sessions and ended up joining in and of course, drove everyone else in the group away. Trying his best to remove the past from current thoughts, Wren couldn't help but feel pity towards the Siren. Had she studied music to recognize what notes was singing or was it all coming from memory to create something new and unique? Either way, it'd be hard to memorize since she lacked proper hands to write down her progress.

Of course, this wasn't a bad thing. Even if there was no real song or proper melody, Aria's 'singing' indeed proved itself quite captivating as each note rung clearly and with a sort of beauty which...proved too hard to put into words. The siren was putting her heart and soul towards creating a new song. Turning to Sara who gave a small, she nodded.

"Even when life gets her down, Aria knows that singing is the way of making things easier to take. I'm glad she's become a bit stronger since we parted ways. She'll get her chance to shine soon enough...at least I hope so." Sara commented.

Deciding to leave Aria be to continue her singing lest they interrupt, Wren looked at Azure who was simply sitting next to the burnt-out fire and avoiding eye-contact with everyone. It was obvious the Scylla was still seething with rage and considering it'd be unwise to ask any questions while she had that frown on her face, he turned to Sara who simply shrugged and pointed out there'd be time for those questions later...they'd gotten a bit side-tracked from their 'training'.

The human grasped his silver blade tightly, feeling it's hilt shift slightly and held it with one hand and swung the blade with his left hand which, while not powerful nor fast, it struck home on the dead tree to leave quite a powerful gash. Of course, this was natural...he WAS left-handed after all. Quickly tightening his grip once again, he delivered another vertical slash which cut cleanly through the wood with ease.

"Exactly. While it'll take a while getting used to, swords are a bit more easier to handle with one hand. Granted, beginners use both hands for accuracy and power but others tend to hold a shield or even another blade in their other hand to be more versatile. To be honest...I've never bothered with wielding two weapons at once, or a shield as I'm trying to end the fight quickly. You just might be able to pull it off with a bit of practice." Sara commented, causing a second blade to materialize and handed it to Wren.

There was a noticeable difference...but it wasn't exactly easy to hold while hiding the wound. Turning to Sara who nodded, Wren began to deliver a dual-bladed slash, only for the blade in his right hand to go flying out of his grasp and impale the dead tree, causing Wren to stare wide-eyed while the Lizard-girl simply shook her head. It looked like the human would need a lot more practice.

Deciding to call it quits for today, Sara took back the sword which had flew out of Wren's right hand and katana, causing them to vanish into thin air. The human was curious as how she managed to do this but didn't feel like asking...

...Yet there were questions about the monsters in general. What exactly were these things? How did they come into existence and considering that they'd faced some undead a few days ago, were they simply empty shells driven by an uncanny desire to destroy? Or did some fraction of humanity remain? It was easy for Wren to ignore the fact those monstrosities had once been alive and felt at ease to put them out of their torment but...what if...

"Don't think about it too much, Wren. They're not like us 'monsters' as some people would call our kind. No-one's really sure how or why these mindless creatures came into existence. All we know is that they've got no other motivation or desire except for killing and that there's been a lot more on the rise. As I told you earlier, don't hesitate...I'd be quite disappointed if you were slain by simple monster." Sara explained calmly.

This put the human a bit more at ease; despite the Lizard-girl's last 'comment'. Both turned to find Falken was now sitting in front of the fire while Aria and Azure sat a short distance away. It was clearly obvious there was something which had caused the harpy to be more concerned than usual, yet he'd calmed down from when his sister had caught a mild case of a fever...but was muttering to himself.

"I guess I was being paranoid...and a bit worried since I'd forgotten that 'It' is still at least a week away...something I'm not exactly looking forward to."

About to ask what Falken meant, Wren simply shook his head and looked to the sky. Night was slowly falling...
--
Night has fallen on this 'other world' and the moon is already out over the world which was now engulfed in darkness. The celestial body shone brightly to illuminate a great deal of this dark abyss. Of course, because of the full moon, many demi-humans were recently awakening to the silent call to take this opportunity. Werewolves, searching for prey or an opponent, prowled through the depths of shadow to avoid being spotted.

Vampires, drawn to the illuminance of the night left their castles to take a brisk stroll and enjoy the evening's elegance. Everything seemed quite perfect to try and find a new meal. Blood...always tasted much better on a full moon. Of course, it was obvious counts and countesses were quite cautious as even the perfect evening can quickly turn into a disaster. There were hunters who saw this night as an opportunity to catch a reckless demi-human.

Regardless, the night was still dangerous, especially with a sudden surge as monsters continued to show up in far greater numbers. Something had caused these misshapen creatures to stagger aimlessly throughout the forests and close in on populated areas. Of course, some were torn apart by a werewolf's fury, who were likely venting their rage out on these pathetic monstrosities while simple bandits either managed to fend them off or were ripped to shreds.

Villagers simply barricaded themselves in their home, lest an unspeakable evil whisk them away from their family and friends, likely to a horrible death.

In the midst of darkness...a pair of eyes opened, slowly trying to focus through the veil of darkness which was kind of un-nerving as if anyone was nearby they would've likely been flung into a panic as there was two bright red eyes which pierced through night. What exactly was mirrored in those crimson eyes? And more importantly, who did they belong to? They were filled with confusion and pain, yet most of all, they were filled with hatred. These made these blood-red eyes and their owner all the more tragic.

It reached out a small distance, trying to grab something which lay shrouded in the darkness and fell short. Weakly managing to get on his knees before upright and secure whatever this object was, coughing weakly as it grasped whatever this was. ...It...was made of metal and obviously, freezing cold to touch but only at first. The initial chill swiftly died away as the hand which was grasped around it seemed to block out the pain.

This dull metal seemed to be a simple rod which extended for a small bit before...it became a curved blade. A sudden flash of moonlight shone down, illuminating the figure slightly but not enough to be clearly visible. The object in it's grasp however...the moon's rays revealed it to be a scythe which was nearly the size of this enigmatic figure. Something stirred in the figure's mind, a suppressed desire.

It wanted to kill...the burning blood-lust which threatened to consume everything. There'd be no satisfaction unless everything was gone...

Chapter 22

As Falken was determined to keep an eye on his sister just in case her fever got worse and Aria wanted to catch up with Sara...the fact Azure would still be fuming with anger over her defeat, Wren sat alone which gave him time to think about everything which had happened over this last week which was quite a considerable a lot to take in...that and because sleep would be impossible. Being out in the world by himself...that fear of being killed in his sleep...well, it wouldn't be changing anytime soon.

Giving a sigh and rummaging through his backpack, his hand stumbled across something and pulled it out to reveal a simple bag which was considerably light in weight. Opening the bag caused his eyes to light up as he now had something to pass the time as he pulled out a black and considerably flashy handheld console. It seemed like a hybrid of a PSP and DSi, yet a bit more compact and far more advanced.

The battery, for example was quite different as it would provide energy for the console for an eternity. No need for recharging or any other limitations and considering a quick glance back into the bag which was holding the forty DS games and 20 PSP games, it brought back a few memories of how much time he’d spent playing games...or giving up eating a proper meal for a day to buy one.

Of course, that didn't really matter now. Quickly booting the handheld system up and going through the basic features such as a Music Player, Movie Player, and Txt Document reader...simple basics Wren had installed onto the system himself after a few weeks of programming. Not exactly an easy task but it had paid off considering these functions worked better than their 'store-bought' counterparts as these programs played various file types instead of the typical MP3 and AVI.

Deciding to see if the data was still intact, his other hand was rummaging through another part of his bag, absent-mindedly searching if there was anything else of importance. Several moments of pointless searching and he came across something that he wasn't quite expecting. Granted, this wasn’t exactly a normal backpack...well, on Earth it was. Again, technology was a wonderful thing allowing to a lot more to fit. ...Heck, there'd be enough space to fit a person or two if he tried. ...Well, it was basically the main reason why he'd managed to carry the rolled up tents and supplies effortlessly.

After several moments of searching, Wren's hand found nothing of interest except what felt like another bag. Not bothering to look away from the handheld’s screen as the system scan came to a conclusion, giving a cheerful 'Ding!' that everything was still intact, he slowly turned to find what he’d and taking out whatever this was, he found it was nothing but a bag of bird-seed which made him raise a eyebrow in surprise at why such an odd thing was doing in there. ...Not to mention there were broken shards of...Wren suddenly recoiled when there was a sharp pain as something cut his hand.

Cautiously grabbing whatever it was and swiftly drawing his hand out to find it was merely a broken sheet of plastic which had only left a small cut which had drawn a small bit of blood.

"Plastic...?" he carefully brought out the contents of whatever else was nearby. "A make-shift bird-cage?" Wren winced, still trying to put these things together. "...Why would I carry a bird in a container in my bag?! That's not..." he smacked his head, remembering that since it was Friday... "Okay, I wasn’t thinking straight that day. I took her with me by mistake. So why the heck isn't Topaz here?!"

Wren desperately rummaged through the back-pack, hoping to find some sign that his bird was still alive...or any sign if the worst had befallen the poor bird. After several moments of frenzied searching resulted in nothing which cause the human to simply sit there, ignoring the music which began playing on the console. Simply sitting there and unsure what do, the human took a cautious glimpse outside into this dark night. Deciding it'd be best to clear his head rather than stay here and think about what horrible fate had befallen the poor creature.

Dressing himself in his typical jacket and stepping outside into the cold night, making sure that the handheld was in had as a make-shift torch, he sat down in front of the fire which was still burning brightly, not bothering to acknowledge anyone who might've been out there with him. ...It was ironic. Under normal circumstances whenever the universe decided to kick Wren in the shins, he simply shrugged it off and kept going despite one unfortunate event was soon followed by countless more, making is existence a complete misery.

...Even anything remotely close to him ended up suffering. Michelle was basically the main example and then there was Topaz who hadn't fared much better in it's life-time. A simple song-bird which had broken it's wing and lost it's voice, unable to sing. If Wren hadn't saved the poor thing, though, it would’ve likely perished. ...But it looked like that didn't mean anything now. Simply staring at the burning flames and trying to shake his head from these troubling thoughts, he notice Azure was sitting at only a short distance away, staring at him.

"And what do you want?" Wren muttered bitterly. "If you've come to complain about being denied your death, then I don't want to hear it. I've already suffered enough already."

The Scylla simple gave a shrug; not showing any interest at all except for two certain words that made her fold her arms and simply glared at him as if he was a child.

"Hmph. And what would a human like you know about death and suffering? Considering you tried to stop me from ending my own existence and didn't kill any of my kind...Unless you're really a cold-blooded killer who's waiting to kill his 'friends' at any chance he'd get. Like now, considering they’re asleep and vulnerable....As for suffering, what do you have to complain about?! What have you gone through that could be worse than being shamed by being defeated by you?!"

Wren winced at the first half of Azure's harsh retort, completely ignoring the second part of her statement. Ending another living person's life...even the thought of it disgusted him. Of course, there was still a great deal of anger boiling in his blood.

"Trust me, I've seen and been through plenty. I don't know how this world or how your life underwater was, my world was and probably still is a living hell compared to what you've probably had to endure. Don't believe me? Well let me go into how much detail to explain how much of a nightmare Earth is. Nearly every hour that goes by, there are at least countless crimes across the globe being committed. Simple thievery, blackmail...even rape. Most of these end up resulting in murder of the victim. Mankind has no real sense of morals or any conscious as those who have the power are all too happy to watch those 'beneath' them die from easily preventable causes." Wren muttered, doing his best not to lose his temper.

"Hmph. Then it's obviously clear that no matter what world it is, your race is generally dooming itself. The fact they're motivated by greed and more than willing to show their 'power' to anything beneath them by enslaving them or killing them in cold blood. Sooner or later you'll all get a rude awakening when some powerful monster comes along and tears you limb from limb. I suppose there's no such creatures back on your world."

The human closed his eyes, taking in what Azure had just pointed out and did nothing but give simple sigh and look up, somewhat uncaring.

"You'd be right, but my race is more than quite capable of wiping itself out at the rate it's going. As far as I'm concerned, man-kind in general can go to hell. Yes, you heard that right. I'd be happy to see the end of most of my race as there's only a scarce few that are worth saving because the world is that messed up and so corrupted that to simply live there and retain any form of morals...is a miracle."

Azure blinked at Wren's sudden comment in surprise, taken aback. What exactly was going on in this kid's mind?! Was he actually being serious?!

"What...? You'd condemn your our kind because of the crimes they've committed?" Getting a firm nod from Wren, she folded her arms and stared at him. "...Either you're a demon in human form...or they've really made you suffer as much as you claim. But how much have you su-"

"I don't want to go into it. It's obvious when it comes to humanity, we've both suffered greatly. Maybe you don't want to accept this, but that’s something we have in common. We might as well stop being so hostile to each other. If it makes you feel better, go ahead and yell at me." Wren sighed, looking at the burning flames.

Both of them were silent for several minutes, Azure still reeling from Wren's words while the human had nothing really much to say. He hadn't been expecting to say that much about how much of a hell Earth was, but considering Azure wasn't likely going to tell anybody else, there was a bit of weight lifted off his shoulders knowing there was someone who agreed with him that his kind was indeed corrupt.

...Yet he knew there was more to Azure's hatred. It couldn't be just the 'justified' accusations people were making about them stealing men for their own purposes. The fact the Scylla would still show some hostility despite being on a slightly common ground meant Wren would have to be cautious in what he'd say if he brought the topic up again. Looking over at his companion who's gaze seemed to be fixated near Wren, she finally spoke again.

"...And what IS that in your hand? It's not exactly..."

Wren looked down at console and gave a laugh, having forgotten all about the handheld which was softly playing random tracks of music.

"Let's just say it's one of the things the human race managed to get right. Well, in my world anyway. I doubt the people of this world would've heard of ‘Video Games' or 'Movies'. You're welcome to come and have a look...I'll even let you try out a simple puzzle game if you’re interested."

Azure raised an eyebrow as the human pressed a few buttons, causing her to cautiously approach Wren and stare at the screen with a sort of fascination at the vivid colors and brilliant display, despite being somewhat perplexed at how something like this worked until she found the console in question gently placed into her hands. The screen was displayed full of sparkling gems on a board, causing even more confusion.

"Okay, let's start from the top. This is a simple game where you have to match three or more gems of the same type in a row. So, do you see any that you could match? You simply move the arrow, press the 'A' button and then swap it with the gem you want to swap it with."

Azure scanned the screen, finding such a possible match and caused the three gems to vanish with a bright flash, causing the Scylla to flinch but quickly compose herself. Wondering what the point of this was, Wren explained it in more detail which didn't catch her interest at first until mention of it being a competition to get a high score. The two kept discussing the subject and Azure's attempts to beat Wren's current score kept them both unaware of how much time had passed...

The human, however was feeling a bit more at ease now. Granted, the fact he couldn’t find Topaz was weighing down on him, but considering he’d gotten Azure to open up a little bit made him feel a bit more at ease. Closing his eyes and hoping that Topaz was still alive and out in the world...he gave a weak smile.

Chapter 23...! Only 4 more to go and then I'll have to start writing again.
====
Chapter 23

It was about...2 PM in the afternoon. Not surprisingly, things were as dull and boring like they'd always been. The predictable haze of grey and stormy black clouds hung heavy in this empty sky with no sign of ever letting up. Of course, considering this city had nothing that stood out as it, like everywhere else on Earth there was nowhere that wasn't perpetually engulfed with the awful weather. A quick glance from an apartment window proved that today wouldn't be any different as it had been the same just like the last several years before...if not longer as the day it had all started was...nearly at least nearly twenty years ago.

The one staring out into the dismal scene turned away back to their room which was a bit of a mess. Several papers were scattered across the desk and folders were out of place containing the wrong files, a simple accident. It had been a long night of searching for certain pieces of information among what he'd been given when all this started but it wasn't exactly proving all that helpful as these facts were simply...well, leading him nowhere. At another dead end, the detective sat down.

...This was depressing. He hadn't left his apartment yet as there'd be police swarming over both crime scenes which would make it impossible to look for any information, especially if the 'Chief' was out with them, likely creating false evidence to make things more difficult. Granted, his superiors had given him access to files on the criminal but it'd take a day or two before they'd arrive. ...Then there was the effort he'd had to make two days ago to ensure the police wouldn't discover the hidden security terminal in the 'fugitive's' dorm but sooner or later, they'd stumble across it and likely destroy it with a simple order from their corrupted 'Boss'.

Of course, considering the events of yesterday, the entire case had sharply gone down-hill and trying to prove the man's innocence was going to become more difficult because of this second incident which had caused an innocent girl to vanish without a trace. ...It obviously did nothing but point directly at Wren as the most likely suspect considering the conditions of the scene were almost exactly similar, although the damage done to Michelle's bedroom was far less.

Deciding to see if there was any possible way for Wren to have left the city by car, a glance over the car registration system and license applications showed the 'criminal' in question had never attempted for his driver's license which was odd considering most youths tended to get it as soon as they turned 16. There could've been many reasons for this, but clicking up a few links to find an incident involving Wren made the detective come a swift conclusion.

It was...one of the reports in the 'Road Fatalities' which showed Wren's grandparents had perished in a car crash while he'd managed to escape relatively unharmed despite all odds. Considering this only happened at the age of five and would likely be suffering from the trauma to this day, it could rule out the possibility of him trying to escape the scene of the crime(s) by car or any form of vehicle he'd have to drive. Add the fact he was a ‘wanted criminal’ and it'd be impossible to leave this city on any other sort of public transport without being noticed.

Regardless, that was basically the extent of the information he'd been able to get on Wren's family for the time being. Reports said that both parents were always abroad and he had no siblings, along with Michelle's testimony which the detective had recorded meant Wren's life was akin to a living hell from the amount of suffering he'd been through. Of course, this was pointless and had no relevance to what was happening.

Getting back to the case at hand, considering Michelle's current condition of being unable to walk and that her wheelchair had been destroyed, it was obvious the fugitive would have to carry the girl and this would obviously stand out, not to mention the detective would've been able to give chase on foot. Again, it was stupid to assume this possibility because of the heavy rain and that there were no reports that day of anyone seeing Michelle after her disappearance. Besides, people would've noticed her as she WAS the 'victim' of Wren's previous 'crime'.

But this meant there was either a third party involved in their disappearance...or that they'd simply vanished from existence completely. The latter was completely absurd and not even worth considering while the former possibility was highly unlikely as Wren wouldn't have been involved in such a thing as a kidnapping considering he seemed somewhat determined to protect Michelle from harm.

A sudden fear gripped the detective. What if the real criminals were the gang which originally wanted Wren dead? Considering the fact both of them had survived the previous beating, it was highly likely they would be more than happy to try and finish them off. To make matters worse if this was the case, it’d be too easy for the Chief, if not the media to spin a web of lies...

Did it really matter, though? Considering how determined everyone was to find Wren guilty the fact they wouldn't accept anything else made the detective uneasy. Why exactly were people so intent on framing someone who was likely innocent of those previous crimes? ...Granted, that ‘first’ crime Wren was involved in was still unknown to the detective but the information for that would arrive shortly.

Honestly, what the hell could it be that’s worse than the accusations of beating a group of people to near-death? Whatever this accusation was, it probably had no real solid ground of Wren actually being involved. Of course, people were always happy to speculate and make up farfetched explanations which were usually utter nonsense.

Lifting a mug of swirling liquid and downing most of it, the detective did his best to remain calm and gave an exasperated sigh. There was still plenty of time to get to the bottom of all this. Considering no-one really cared about either the criminal or the victim, there wasn’t exactly any rush to find a guilty party unless...but that was absurd. ...Yet not a possibility the detective couldn't rule out. Gangs nowadays were usually allowed to get away with anything they wanted, especially if some of their ill-gotten profits were used to make the authorities turn a blind eye.

It was sad. People didn't care about injustices or who was the true criminal...they only wanted a scapegoat and the only time they cared about a crime is if it was happening to them or that they were content to unite and single an innocent man out. The government he worked for wasn't much better as to them, the detective was just...

"..."

He gave a resigned sigh. How many people in this world had let themselves lose all sense of morality and compassion for one another? When had man-kind decided to turn on each other to ridicule and slowly destroy the very world they all live in? Was it really worth the effort to save them from their own annihilation? The detective shook his head. This wasn't a good time to worry about things like this, especially if a person's life was at stake. Deciding to look up those who were 'victims' of Wren's previous 'crime', he'd try and get some information out of them.

...Hopefully. Even the best plans can end up going awry.
---
It's obvious that at where all this started, the officers and scientists are doing their best to find SOME sort of evidence that showed Wren as the guilty criminal that he was. ...Well, in their chief's words, anyway. Some were clearly worried for their jobs, others knew those who were either absent or back at HQ would suffer 'his' rage if they found nothing considering he was still consumed with rage after yesterday's incident...a fact he was happy to drive into their skulls since he was there with them, barking out orders.

"And where the hell is that worthless detective?! He's not being paid to sit on his ass and waste our times and resources on a pointless case! It's all too clear Wren decided he wasn't content with those last crimes two crimes! He's already gotten away from a 'Guilty' verdict, it won't happen a second time, that much I can assure you."

One officer who was relatively new could find no evidence at all. Everything apart from the computer which refused to boot was either utterly destroyed and turned to ash or scorched beyond recognition.

"B-But sir...! If he did something like this, wouldn't have the fugitive in question perished in that blaze? Considering he hasn't been found as of yet could very well mean he was a victim and framed! Shouldn't we..." an officer blurted out, much to the panic of his associates.

Immediately regretting his words the moment they'd been spoken, remembering that warning his superior officer had given him, the poor newcomer was quickly singled out and deserted by his colleges to face the chief's wrath which could be anything from a harsh yelling to a fatal court-martial for even suggesting such foolishness. Such things as executing a defiant or traitorous college were legal, proving how corrupt man-kind had fallen.

The officers looked in horror as their Chief's unusual reaction, actually keeping considerably calm and telling them to try harder. Obviously terrified that this would be their ONLY warning, the continued searching the room desperately, causing the Chief to give a small, wicked grin. If one couldn’t manipulate through violence and brute strength, then inspiring fear would work just as well...

Right, Chapter 24.
===
Chapter 24

Considering that it'd be in everyone's interests to get breakfast started and ready before his friends awoke, Wren had basically resigned himself to preparing every single meal. Considering he was usually the first one awake, it was simply common courtesy to get things organized. Besides, why waste those lessons spent in those compulsory cooking classes? Especially since it was one of the few things he was good at...even if the grades said he'd be lucky to fry chips at a fast-food joint. Anyways, it was either that or learning how to become a farmer which could be considered not only very low on the scale of society but the fact Wren...didn't exactly get on well with livestock was the main reason.

"Let's see...Guess it's the usual of Strawberry & Apricot Jam on Toast for Hylesa & Falken, some rashers of bacon with a fillet of fish for Sara and some for you, if you’re interested, Azure. I've almost finished roasting some in case you'd like to eat instead of continuing to starve yourself. And if you think it's poisoned or anything, I'll eat some of it."

The Scylla simply shrugged her shoulders. She knew it wasn't poisoned, so that wasn't exactly the issue...it was simply accepting Wren's help. Before getting a chance to object, a plate of fried, golden brown fish handed to her. Azure cautiously glanced behind her human companion, making sure no-one else was awake before giving a quick nod. The last thing she wanted was the others to assume that the Scylla was weak and needed help.

Either way, she hesitated from eating. Her meal was obviously still quite hot and didn't want to risk burning herself by grabbing the fish by hand. It took a few seconds to realise the fork and turned to Wren, somewhat frustrated at her small problem.

Wren gave a smile and decided to teach Azure a bit in general table manners, starting with how to eat with a fork. Yes, he had didn't place a knife on the plate in fear of Azure misunderstanding the situation. Regardless, he placed the frying pan out of harm's way to let Sara's bacon and fish cook for a bit longer.

"It's pretty simple, actually. Just jab the fork into the fish until the pronged part goes through to the other side. And you might want to hold onto the plate with your other hand. It should stay on the fork without falling off. Just take bites out of it like that if you're really hungry."

Doing what she was told, the Scylla did so and stared for a few moments realising what she'd done and things clicked together, glancing over at Wren who nodded.

It was obvious that it'd take some time for Azure to completely lose that cold and proud exterior that was shielding her, but the fact she was being a bit more reasonable and accepting his Wren's generosity. Giving a smile as Azure cautiously took a bite out of the fish and blinked in surprise that it tasted surprisingly better than what she'd usually eaten for most of her entire life. Turning to Wren, she was about to reluctantly ask a question only to find him focused on continuing cooking breakfast.

He'd learnt a considerable bit, but not to mention Wren was applying common sense as well when it came to preparing the meals. Anything fancy or over- the-top was a stupid idea as it would be far easier to handle smaller and simpler meals at once and secondly, such elegant meals took time to prepare as there was nothing was the first meal of the day so there was no real point in cooking anything flashy. It'd waste time which would be better off spent towards handling multiple meals and considering there were bandits out for blood and monsters looking for food...

Wren suddenly blinked and for a moment, completely spaced out, horrified as a certain memory flashed through his mind and not a very pleasant one at the mention of being someone else's meal. ...Let's just say it involved looking for drawings of various demi-humans, stumbling onto a website which hosted a certain comic/manga that had GIANT 'demi-humans' that ate living people WHOLE and leave it at that. If that wasn't bad enough, the fact he'd been unable to sleep for nearly an entire week because he was almost certain a dream would involve him being devoured. When sleep eventually caught up to him, there were no such nightmares...well, not for several days and occasionally had nightmares to this day.

The fact he'd only just realised he was on a world which was full of demi-humans only made things even worse. Sure, it was highly unlikely that there were any giant versions but the point still remained! He couldn't help but feel completely terrified that a giant lamia could slither out of nowhere, pick him up effortlessly and...!!!

...A sharp flare of fire to his arm made him blink back into reality and reel in pain, unsure wether he should be thankful for this pain which was providing an decent distraction from those horrifying memories or that there was no real burns or injury from that small flame. He was simply thankful he hadn’t screamed in terror (or pain) as that would result in quite the humiliation in front of Azure, not to mention waking his friends up before breakfast was ready.

Wren concentrated on cooking the meal. He couldn't afford to get distracted, especially since the bacon and fish had almost been burnt because of his carelessness. Thankfully Azure was busy devouring the cooked fish meaning she hadn't seen his blunder. Of course, he continued to convince himself that certain incident wasn't entirely his fault.

Besides, his internet usage of the internet basically consisted of searching for fan-art, examining the forums for people who had a scrap of morals...it was heart-warming to know there were few people out there who shared his view-points but...they eventually ended up like all the rest. Michelle...was the only one who'd stayed the same. Of course, his mind soon drifted back to...GAH!

How the hell was he supposed to know that where that link had led?! It was basically the only real mistake he'd made in terms of morality and simple human curiosity made him pay dearly...well, if one considered being horrified of having THOSE images coming back to haunt them a price to pay. That and being unable to sleep well at night...

No! Stop thinking about it and focus on cooking! It's not going to happen, so don't worry. Just. Calm. Down. Sheesh, considering that the demi-humans here are more friendly than expected. Okay, I guess there's some who might do rather...unpleasant things but considering we haven't met any yet...Azure excluded, but that's debateable considering she's not as bad as we thought.

Wren stared at the frying pan, somewhat lost in thought but alert enough to place the bacon and fish on a plate before placing the pan on a tree stump nearby. He'd wash it later. His mind drifted back to the 'demi-humans' as a whole and he couldn't help but think of everyone else who was here with him. They were basically the same as things could've ended far worse if this world and all of the people in it were just like Earth. But, it was nice to see that there were people who he'd be able to trust.

It was hard to put into words how to describe why each one of his friends was so important to him. Was it that he had only one real friend until now, making it hard to explain how he felt?

Not to mention there was also the uneasy prospect of what had happened two nights before, considering what happened with Sara was basically the most...intimate he'd been with anyone and Wren couldn't help but feel uneasy. And there was the fact he wasn't sure on the exact terms of Hylesa & Sara’s ‘agreement’.

Tempting fate was a stupid thing to do and knew it'd only be fair to treat them exactly the same. (Of course, he didn't believe in fate or luck but that was beside the point) Failing to treat them equally would likely result in disaster and considering Falken seemed quite defensive when it came to his younger sister and that Sara was a powerful warrior...the end result wouldn't be pretty.

The human paused for a moment as Michelle and her happiness immediately crossed his mind. ...Her life had been a complete misery from the start and basically any joy she'd found had vanished when he'd arrived on this world. He felt...conflicted. Earth was a living hell compared to here, but leaving Michelle to suffer tore at him. It was hard not to entertain the thought of trying to go back and save her...

But there was nothing except death waiting. That 'Chief' would've likely made this look like an attempted suicide and since that crime in question was usually punished with execution, any happiness he'd be able to give Michelle would be short-lived. Giving a heavy sigh, Wren knew that like the fate of Topaz, there was no point in thinking about it as there was nothing he'd be able to do.

A human is only capable of so much. And that's all I am, an ordinary human being.
====
It took at least another fifteen minutes for everyone to wake up. Surprisingly, Aria was the first to join Wren & Azure and simply asked for some cereal rather than anything else, something which wasn't really interesting considering it was mostly flakes of various grains and a few pieces of blueberry which was drenched in milk. The human wasn't too sure how it would exactly prove to be an appetizing meal, but simply guessed there were different tastes for different people...

That was before Wren remembered most of the milk came from a certain Holstaurus back at the Slynn Inn. Wren tried not to think about HOW they ‘harvested’ it, something which caused him to slap himself to get his mind off the subject, with surprisingly more success than...something else he'd already forced out of his mind. Either way, he simply obliged Aria's request and handed her the bowl of cereal.

She seemed a bit sombre and silent, rather than her being cheerful when Sara was around. Some could make certain...assumptions from this but Wren didn’t really think anything of it. Of course, he wasn't exactly a fan of couples consisting of the same gender. Somewhat tolerant but only to a certain degree. Sure, 'love conquers all' and all that but...Wren simply shrugged and continued getting his own breakfast ready. Besides, it'd be best not to think of anything like that.

Surprisingly, Falken and Hylesa were the next to emerge from their tent. The former looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep considering his hair looked quite messed up, even by Falken's standards and there was no smart remark from him while the latter looked much better considering she had been feverish yesterday, not to mention she'd managed to keep her brother standing upright. Of course, Wren quickly put down his meal to help despite the fact Hylesa was fairing quite well.

Things seemed a bit livelier with their presence. Wren had already checked their temperature which showed favourable results. No sign of fever or anything out of the ordinary. Granted, Falken was still pretty fatigued so they'd be slowed down somewhat despite the harpy's protests that he'd be able to fly perfectly fine, yet it was obvious Wren wasn't going to allow this. Any argument he had was cut short when Falken found a plate of toast, smothered in apricot jam leaving him somewhat content to agree...for the moment, watching Hylesa swiftly consume her own meal.

...The fact she always seemed so enthusiastic about eating brought up a question whether the harpy girl always seemed hungry or simply enjoyed eating. It wasn’t like toast coated in strawberry jam was anything special as there wasn't any real method to making such a meal. Either way, Wren didn't bother thinking about it any longer when there were more important things to worry about...well, sort of. He was too busy wondering what or who was lurking in this forest. ...Besides, Sara's breakfast was starting to get cold, something that didn't really matter as she'd finally woken up and like Falken, looked quite tired. At least she was grateful for her breakfast.

Whatever. It's almost time to break camp and get moving anyway. Wren thought, already packing up the gear inside his tent without any further delay. Considering that the mood seemed rather dull as everyone seemed rather distant...well, except for Hylesa who seemed to be happy that her fever had passed and now that Sara was here, Aria was at least trying to bring up a conversation.

...Only the two of them were in a conversation, the rest weren't interested and followed Wren's example after they'd finished eating their meal. It probably was because most of them seemed tired and not in a good mood and considering they may be ambushed by monsters, some bandits or something else entirely, it'd be difficult to fight back. Granted, Hylesa would likely help with that powerful wind magic but it wouldn't be that helpful in a forest.

The fact they'd be heading through such terrain meant all of them would be at a severe disadvantage. Everyone knew this, but they'd arrive at Glennol far quicker. Outlaws, demi-humans who's intentions weren't exactly pleasant or even simple monsters...anything could lay waiting and the group would simply have to take that chance. Turning to his friends who'd finished packing, he braced himself for whatever happened next as they walked into the forest.

Trees stretched up for what seemed to be almost miles, blocking out a great deal of sunlight as it failed to break through the mighty canopy. Shrubs and plants were common place on the forest floor and the fact it’d be several miles of pushing through this giant

"Everyone stay close. We could be attacked any minute and we’re not in a position to fight at our full strength. No matter what we come across, we’ll have to drive them off...trying to remove them through brute force will be too taxing." Wren explained calmly and looked at his companions who nodded in agreement.

They continued their walk forwards in the direction of Glennol, remaining cautious. Even after half an hour of walking, it was becoming obvious everyone was becoming more tense and cautious. Falken looked rather...worried and was glancing in every possible direction, almost as if he was expecting an attack while Sara’s grip on her Zweihänder was a bit...relaxed. How long had she and Aria talked last night?!

The human almost leapt out of his skin in terror when he felt something clung to his right arm, causing him to slowly turn around and notice it was Hylesa. She seemed to be a bit less worried than everyone else, except for Aria who seemed to be doing her best not to break into a cheerful tune if it didn’t bring about the possible chance of drawing attention.

Soon, that half-hour progressed into three and during this time, there’d been no sign of any real threat which brought little relief to the group as it only made them all far more cautious and tense than before...with the obvious exception of Aria who continued to try to lighten the mood. Everyone seemed almost convinced that SOMETHING would appear out at any moment.

They finally emerged out of the forest into the plains with the sun shining brightly and Glennol was clearly visible in the distance, making everyone feel a lot more at ease. Wren even gave a loud sigh of relief that it was finally over...well...before a loud roar from the forest caused them all to turn to each other. While most of them were obviously ready to flee, Wren’s sleep-deprived state caused him to remember a certain movie and an immortal line uttered by a certain king...

“RUN AWAY!!!”

Everyone blinked for a few moments before they realised Wren had already dashed off towards Glennol as fast as possible. Of course, none of them were willing to hang around considering that loud roar could only mean trouble and soon followed the fleeing human...

-A Small Distance Away...-

A pixie sat on a tree-branch while holding up a mega-phone that seemed a far larger than itself and couldn’t help but give a mischievous giggle at that last prank she’d just pulled off. Of course, sitting around here had been boring lately...perhaps she’d stalk the group and have some more fun...