Forum Thread

Astrid wasn't sure wether or not she belived that he was telling the truth. But what choice did she have? She'd have to take this information at face value. If she tried to probe further, she might just push him away. And that meant she could be giving up valubale information to..his cause. And she'd be out of this deal, knowing where exactly her parents were. That was the main goal. Finding out what really happened to her parents, and why she couldn't remember anything at all. It wasn't her buisness what his orginization really did, or how they got peace between the two sides. That was their buisness, not Astrids. But then his offer hit her. Go with him to the human realm? Why in the world would she do that? Not only would she be losing the deal that would give her the fate of her parents (as she couldn't track the Saakri-Lumens) but she'd be going somewhere she'd never been with someone she barely knew. But on the other hand, it was sort of amusing to think that this guy needed her help. She'd never had someone depend on her before like that, except maybe when she'd had to save his life from the other Saakri-Lumens. Astrid was still debating it when a voice spoke from behind her. "Oh, why don't you go?" The man from before, his face still obscured by the cloak, chuckled to himself, dissapearearing and reapearing next to Astrid, who shuddered slightly and pulled away. She hated being near him. "Think of it, dear Astrid, as a...reassignment. I'm curious to see if you'd sucseed. I really do think that this boy is what we need to get closer to our goal. "Leave him alone, Ocion," Astrid snapped in his head, forgetting that the connection was still open with Sephthis so he could probablly hear her thoughts to Ocion. "Oh please, he's risking his life already! He's too involved for me to leave him alone. I'll get someone else to tag that woman. You go with him." He spoke into her mind. You do want to know what happened to your parents, don't you? Buzz off. I'll go with him, alright?" "Good," he said aloud, "I have asscosciates in the human world. They'll find you and assist you as needed." Ocion dissapeared, and Astrid snapped in Sephtis's head, already annoyed,

"Fine, I'll go with you.

---

And as the wind blew, and the leaves fell gently to the ground, the Saakri-Lumens leader stepped onto human grounds. She had cleverly disguised herself as a young looking business woman, and she appeared human. She had put on raven black contact lenses and donned a wig of straight black hair. She steps and makes conversation with the people in the parade square of the humans, discussing pleasantly things like the weather and other…stuff. She slowly but surely steers the conversation to Ignis, to which they reply in great detail, spilling out each and every one of their thoughts regarding Ignis in great detail. She smiles and nods, leaving them with a considerably large amount of cash as payment for answering her questions. She had got what she wanted. She turned and crossed the border back to the human world, though not before placing several small metal discs along the border. They were playing by her rules now. All she needed was to play the game well, and everything goes according to plan. One little tip of the dominoes, and everything would crumble at her command.

Ignis sat talking to Jax, quietly observing the land below. All he needed was to play the game well and everything goes according to plan. One little tip of the dominoes, and everything would crumble at his command.

---

𝕾𝖊𝖕𝖍𝖙𝖎𝖘 𝕬𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖕𝖍𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖘
" 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔮𝔲𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔦𝔰𝔫'𝔱 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔦𝔰 𝔤𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔩𝔢𝔱 𝔪𝔢; 𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔦𝔰 𝔤𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔭 𝔪𝔢. "
Astrid’s sudden snap didn’t result in much reaction from Sephtis other than a single raised eyebrow. He could make out traces of their conversation and wondered whoever was forcing her to follow him.

Well, if she ever changed her mind, Sephtis wouldn’t care if she backed out.

“Alright. Thanks, I guess,” he awkwardly said before he made his way outside. He didn’t say anything before he left, sprinting towards the centre, where the route towards their destination started. While he could have taken the shortcut through the hidden door in the wall, he was sure that they may face a human with the number of them patrolling the area, so he took the safer choice. He didn’t bother to look back to see if she was tagging along.

Just because he was bringing her didn’t mean he’d wait, he needed to make sure she could follow with his speed. But, then again, they were both thieves. They had to be quick on their feet or they’d be penned up in a cell by now.

”Hey, slow down a little. You’re still healing from the broken rib,” Emet huffed in his head. Sephtis completely forgot about the injury as the pain had lessened to nothing but a sore throb whenever he inhaled.

“I’ll be fine. Stop worrying about me for a second,” he mentally groaned back. The answer didn’t come, he was, yet again, greeted with silence.

He climbed up the roofs this time, not wanting to risk going through the previous events again, his feet carefully avoiding the occasional holes that appeared under his shoes. They reached the center soon and he jumped to land on one of the buildings, looking towards the opening that led to the human world.
The gates were guarded by Saakri-Lumens, as usual, only allowing certain people to pass. The numbers may have increased, but Sephtis has repeated this too many times to even be worried. It had become easier for him to slip out, no matter how many times they added to the guards.

There were not many buildings anywhere close to the gates, which meant Sephtis couldn’t just get there by moving from roof to roof. There were, however, plenty of trees that were tall enough to carry him to the top of the wall. He ran and jumped, catching one of the branches and climbing on top of it, looking at the guards walking below. Thanks to his light weight, his landing made almost no sound and the two Saakri-Lumens walked by without noticing him, hidden behind the leaves.

He went forward, grabbing branch by branch and propelling himself through the trees, a feeling of joy surged inside of him, as what always happens whenever he’s swinging above the ground. Emet resurfaced again after staying silent for so long.

”Boy, you’re seriously only happy when you act like a monkey,” he sighed. Sephtis didn’t care what his brother thought.

It felt amazing to defy the limits of gravity.

He quickly passed the walls and made it into the woods, stopping on a tree to scan the area. There wouldn’t be any patrolling humans anywhere close to them yet since they were still within the Saakri-Lumen borders, but they can’t be sure of how many there were beyond there. So, instead of making the faster trip on foot, he decided to move around, again, through the trees.

More humans came into view as they went further away from the border, though Sephtis noticed their numbers had decreased slightly. They were now only patrolling in pairs and only stayed at specific areas, including the part close to Sephtis’s secret door.

“What could Ignis be up to now?” he wondered as he passed them. Maybe he was concentrating the patrols to areas closer to the human walls? Who knows…

After making sure they were clear, Sephtis finally landed on the ground, the dirt almost exploding under his feet in a shower of dust. They were very close now, the human realm’s walls visible to Sephtis who was squatting behind a bush, peeking from the crack in the leaves.

He wondered if he can even blend in with them. His looks are anything but human, with those glowing eyes, fangs and claws, he would be easily distinguishable to them, and probably Ignis too, if he was anywhere nearby. The least he could do was use a cloak, but he didn’t have one.

A pair of footsteps approached him and he quickly hid further behind a tree as the two humans walk by, chatting and laughing while they cover their ground. They both have cloaks on, just what he needed. He checked for anyone near them before he knocked them unconscious using a large, broken branch, taking their cloaks and wearing it to hide his prominent appearance, at least his eyes and claws. The other extra one could be used by the girl, which he would offer later when she caught up with him. He decided to walk around while waiting, noticing glints of metal hidden between the bushes near the walls.

Now what could that be, he contemplated, but didn’t dare to go anywhere close to it since he didn’t know what it could potentially do, and so he just stood there and waited for Astrid to come.

---

Astrid didn't expect Sephtis for not slowing down. If she had been in his shoes, she would've done the same for him. It was almost a test, she assumed. Keep up, and you're in. Astrid would've refused, if she had a choice. If she wasn't so desperate for any information about her parents. Honestly, she was a bit ashamed of how she just couldn't give up on her past. Why couldn't she seem to accept that her parents were most likely dead in a ditch somewhere, had abandoned her or something, and left? But she couldn't. Astrid couldn't let go of the hope that her parents were alive. And Ocion was the only way she could get that information. So, she kept following after Septhis. Astrid's rib was still aching slightly, but she ignored it. She'd dealt with worse injuries. When it came to the trees, she hesitated. Still, it was similar enough to going across the walls. She could do this. She could do this. Astrid jumped, landing a bit akwardly on the first tree. She pushed off of it, going to the next tree. She managed to get halfway before she fell, landing badly and having to run the rest of the ways until she caught sight of Sephtis. She jumped up into a tree, glancing around to be sure no one was around, before whistling quietly to signal him, dropping down. "Thought I couldn't keep up?" she asked inside his mind.

---

"Over there!" Fier's head snapped in the direction of the shout, which had come from one of the men patroling the woods in pairs. Oh great, they had been spotted, this wasn't going to be pretty. The two started jogging towards Fier and the boy, causing the latter to turn and attempt to run off, but Fier grabbed his hood and pulled him back over to her side, not once breaking eye contact with the men. Once they had arrived, and were around 5 feet away from them, the man who had first spotted them asked a question. "What do you two think you're doing? No citizens are allowed in these woods, no exceptions." An awkward silence hung in the air, Fier stood motionless with a blank face, staring deep into the man's eyes. The boy on the other hand, shook slightly, but stayed quiet and didn't move much. Suddenly, a devilish grin tugged at the side of Fier's mouth, her eyes narrowed, and the hand with the dagger was raised, moved to the side of her body and lied loosely in her palm. Once the blade had come to their attention, the sound of guns being pulled from their holsters rung in the air. "Drop your weapon, now." He ordered, the pair both having their guns out and pointed directly at Fier. Aiden, being seemingly terrified of guns, ran behind the tree right next to him and hid, while Fier simply stood there with the maniacal expression on her face, appearing to be enjoying it.

"Or what, huh? What are you gonna do? Shoot me?" After saying such an obnoxious and stupid thing, she reared her head back and cackled, which was just as obnoxious as her statement. The men didn't respond, and Aiden didn't do a thing. The forest was silent after she had finished her laughing, even the birds seemed to stop singing, and the wind stopped rustling te leaves as to make the atmosphere more tense. Fier had finally gotten herself together, and her expression immediately became serious. Moments later, the sound of flesh being sliced echoed through the woods, 2 small thuds following soon after. Using her almost inhuman speed, she had cut through both of the men's wrists, severing the hands that held the trigger, leaving them both without a weapon and a hand. Silence was the only thing one could hear once again, but it was quickly replaced with the terrifying sounds of horrifying screams and 2, much larger thuds as they both fell to their knees, screaming in pain and shock. Aiden was smart enough to close his eyes and turn away as soon as he realized what was going on, which fortunately saved him from the nightmarish sight that was soon to come. "The king has no power in these woods..." Fier growled, placing her foot on one of the men, grabbing his hair and pulling it back, recklessly shoving her knife under his throat before leaning down into his ear. "Sheep shouldn't roam the woods where wolves roam, surely you would've known that by now..." Those were the final words the poor man heard before his head was severed, the swift slice overpowering the deadly silence that lied in these woods.

Drip... Drip... Drip... The sound of blood as it hit the soft, lush grass was sickening, watching it fall from the severed head that was forever frozen in fear was even worse. A low, quiet laugh rumbled in Fier's throat as she made her way ovee to the second man, who was somewhat recovered from the shock of having his hand cut off. He was whimpering, though, begging the woman to spare him, knowing that he was next. None of that stopped Fier, she was enjoying this far too much. She did the exact same thing to him, slam her foot down on his back, gripped his hair tightly, and yanked it back before resting the edge of her knife right against the thin skin of his throat. Screams and cries resonanted in the trees, getting louder and more panicked as Fier slowly sank the blade into his skin, drawing more and more blood until she hit the point of no return. The man began to gag, he was choking on his own blood, until finally she had gone far enough that the cries and gargling stopped. *SHING* Both men were now dead, and the blood was on her hands. She held up both of the heads, looking between them as her smile grew wider and her laughs became louder.

After looking at them for a bit, like a little kid would look at trophies, her smile faded and she had tossed them both aside, kicking one since it had landed too close to her. She wasn't exactly enjoying this anymore, and she was ready to go home. "Hey kid, come on, we're leaving." She called, staring at the tree he stood behind. A few moments past, and not a single sound was heard, and not a movement was made. "Aiden, come on." Her tone had turned slightly demanding, as if she was already impatient and mad at the kid. Still, nothing. She groaned and marched over, stopping as soon as she saw him on the ground, curled up into a ball. She could hear faint crying, which made her sigh. "Get up, now. We're getting out of here." The change in volume due to Fier being closer must've startled the kid, as he jumped as soon as he heard her and looked up. His eyes were red and full of tears, his expression was fighting between being terrified and being pissed. "What is wrong with you...? You're insane!" He yelled, his voice being heavily interfered by his shattered sobs. As soon as Fier knelt down to meet his level, he turned away and tried to get up, but Fier stopped him. "Ah ah ah... Remember what I said? The chance to save yourself is long gone now, you'll have to deal with this until I'm done with you..." Her voice was lowered once again, her eyes crackling with insanity. She didn't dare to hold the bloody knife up against him, she knew her words were enough to send shivers down his spine.

The boy seemed to stop struggling, but instead was frozen in fear. He wouldn't be able to snap out of it until Fier got up and pulled him up with her, where he tried to maintain his distance while also keeping an eye on her dagger. "G-" Fier was about to say something, before she was interrupted by the sound of leaves shaking nearby, like something was running across the treetops. She turned her head up, only to see a glimps of two figures, rushing towards the human town. She was quite intrigued which caused her to almost immediately chase the two relentlessly, pulling the boy along with her. She noticed that one had fallen out of the trees once or twice, but she was too far away to see what exactly it was, so she didn't stop running.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, she spotted that the two had fallen to the ground and ran from there, coming to a stop near the human wall. She made sure to keep her distance, as to not alert the two, but the boy had other plans. He was pretty smart at times, Fier knew that, but right now was not his best moment, as he let out a loud ahd alerting, "Hey!" which would've surely caught their attention. Instead of trying to hide, the girl came out of the shrubbery and slowly walked over, slightly shocked to see one of the figures turn out to be familiar. It was the Saakri-Lumen with the power of blood, the one she had chased an lost. She had finally found him again, and she wasn't going to mess this up like she did last time. The battle between hatred and curiousity plagued her mind for months, and their previous encounter plus her long forgotten memories only fuelled the fight to become something unbearable. "So, what the hell are you doing here?" She asked the two.

---

𝕾𝖊𝖕𝖍𝖙𝖎𝖘 𝕬𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖕𝖍𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖘
" 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔮𝔲𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔦𝔰𝔫'𝔱 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔦𝔰 𝔤𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔩𝔢𝔱 𝔪𝔢; 𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔦𝔰 𝔤𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔭 𝔪𝔢. "

He watched as the girl clumsily swing from the trees and finally landed in front of him. She was quick on roofs and ground but on thinner platforms he noticed her speed lagged a little. Nonetheless, she still matched up with his expectations. He threw the cloak at her.

“I would’ve been surprised if you didn’t catch up,” he answered before turned back to look at the entry. Some guards were coming and going from the entrance and Sephtis hoped that the cloak would be enough to hide their identities, especially him. At least the girl looked more human than he did.

“If only you could use the Blood of the Shapeshifter. It’d be a piece of cake to get in,” Emet grumbled. There was still a high risk that the two would get caught, and the last thing he wanted was for the mission to stop as soon as it started. “There’s little escape once you’re caught. Those guns aren’t to mess with,” he added.

“Is there any other way in?” Sephtis asked. He felt Emet’s presence disappear for a moment before he felt the usual chill.

“There is a part of the wall covered in vines that you could climb, though it’s still guarded. But it’ll have less casualties than going through the front gate” he reported. “I think that would be the best course of action-“

“Hey!”

Sephtis’s eyes widened as he broke the conversation with his brother and focused on the person approaching them. He had made sure the area was clear, when did she even get here? He could feel is heart drop at the person’s face.

Oh, it was her. And this time the splatter of blood on her sleeves and the dagger that dripped the exact same liquid, hidden behind her back, was enough to tell Sephtis that she would be a worser obstacle than all the guards at the gates. The hatred burned in her eyes. He didn’t answer their question as his brain scrambled to think of a way out. The distance between them was too close, she could catch up with them in a split second if he tried to run. He knew if he took his eyes off her for one minute, he’d see his life flash before them when he opened them again.

”I won’t let that happen” Emet hissed, reading his thoughts again, but he was dead. He couldn’t protect Sephtis with his strength anymore. The boy was on his own now and there was nothing he could do other than tell him the things he couldn’t see.

Sephtis moved his attention to the child behind her back, quaking with fear. He could hear Emet mentally groan.

”Sephtis, this isn’t the best time to be playing hero,” he warned. He knew Sephtis’s reaction when it came to children. He might be menacing to adults and the like, but he softened too easily with those younger ones. While he could get that it was because of his past, this clearly wasn’t the perfect moment to be saving lives that wouldn’t matter to him.

But Sephtis didn’t listen, he’d never listen. And he knew it.

Emet sighed as he moved away from Sephtis, who by the looks of it was about to have a full-on fight with this human. Until Sephtis was weak enough for him to switch in, he could only watch, picking his skin in worry for his brash younger brother.

Meanwhile, Sephtis gathered all his courage to plant his feet into the ground and confront the human, his fury burning stronger than his wits. Honestly, he wouldn’t care if he got cut since the more blood he spills the more powerful he becomes. He didn’t think about the higher cost of the strength. He didn’t let the price of his own life waver him.

He didn’t give the human a single moment to think before he disappeared behind the her and kicked her, sending her flying to a nearby tree. While he heard a satisfactory crack of the bone, he knew it would be a miracle to finish her off so easily, even with his physical strength.

“I’m not looking for a casual chit-chat with someone who has a murderous intent, so stop trying to mask it,” he growled, shielding the boy behind him before muttering his command. The blood he laid rose and hardened into a protective globe around Astrid and the boy.

“You two get out of here first. We won’t be able to get inside with this person here. I’ll buy time until you make it in. Just knock on the shield three times so I can deactivate the effect,” he quickly instructed before he ordered the ball to leave towards the area Emet mentioned about. He knew Astrid could make it on her own, he could see her strength. He focused on the current matter at hand and looked back at the human.

“If a fight is what you want, then a fight is what you shall get,” he said, the blood staining his hands started to literally boil.

---

As she approached, she could hear them talking about a plan of sorts, like trying to get over the wall. She listened closely, careful not to make a sound so she could gather information the best she could. So they wanted to make it over to the human realm, but why? The distance was closing in by now, so she didn't have time to try and figure out their reason. All she knew is that they wanted to get over there, and she could help. Gah, helping them? Was she stupid? She wasn't the type of person to help others, and the male knew that she wasn't very positive and helpful. Well... She could at least try, maybe doing that would answer the questions she had, finally quell the headache of a war that was going on in her mind. Her suspicions were confirmed when the blood bending saakri-lumen seemed to get more tense, planting his feet firmly into the ground and putting on a quite intimidating stance. She knew what this was. This was going to be a fight, whether she liked it or not. She had to do something to maybe, just maybe show her intentions. She dropped the knife and held her hands up in surrender, before trying to let out a shout. "Listen, I don't wanna-" He moved. The saakri-lumen had moved, and he was gone. She tried putting her arms in front of the boy standing next to her, for some reason thinking that whatever attack that was coming would hit him too. She didn't want the boy hurt, even if she wasn't the kindest to him. She knew he hated him, but that was her fault and she knew it. But it was too late. With a terrifying boom, a blow was struck to her back, and she was sent face first into a tree.

Her vision dulled and even went black after the final impact, and she could hear the sound of her bones cracking under the force. She tried her hardest to get up, leaning against the tree, but she was already weak from that. Her body cried out with every breath she took, every movement she made, but she had to push. She couldn't die here, her life was finally starting to turn around and she couldn't pass up that opportunity. She groaned with every movement she made, the pain was unbearable. She tried her best to focus her blurry vision on the saakri-lumen, who seemed to be saying something to the girl he had come here with. She couldn't exactly make out anything, but right now that didn't matter. She frantically looked around for the boy, hoping he wasn't involved in the man's fury. There he was, standing right behind the one who had dealt the painful blow, like the man was trying to protect him. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw this, thankful that the boy wasn't a target. "I..." Her voice was raspy and quiet, which was expected with the amount of damage done to her chest and back. "I deserve that, don't I... Heh, that was a good kick..." She was basically hugging the tree by this point, her body unable to stay up on it's own. Sure, the impacts might not have been the most deadly, but her body was frail, even if she was able to do things she did. Her head seemed to lower on it's own, her exhaustion getting the best of her. "I don't want a fight... I... I heard about what you're doing and..." She let out a few coughs, probably over exaggerating her pain a little, but it still hurt like hell. She tried to speak again but she couldn't, her mouth wouldn't open and her head was spinning intensely. She knew that her words meant nothing, that he wouldn't listen to her and continue on as if nothing happened, but she was desperate. A small part of her scoffed, hating how vulnerable she was and how sappy this situation became. A small part of her was pissed at the man, trying so hard to fight back the pain just so she could land a heavy blow on him as well. She knew she was always going to be like that, a small part of her that only wanted to fight, laugh at others, and live a miserable life as a killer. She hated that part of her, it was infuriating to have to listen to it's demands of violence, but for now she had to suppress that part of her, and maybe later figure out a way to make it go away forever. That is, if she got out of here alive.

this is so weird and cringey i'm sorry

---

𝕾𝖊𝖕𝖍𝖙𝖎𝖘 𝕬𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖕𝖍𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖘
" 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔮𝔲𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔦𝔰𝔫'𝔱 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔦𝔰 𝔤𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔩𝔢𝔱 𝔪𝔢; 𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔦𝔰 𝔤𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔭 𝔪𝔢. "

Sephtis looked at the human and, had to admit, thought it was so pathetic that their bodies were so fragile. It surprised him more that she wasn't even trying to fight him with the sour scent of hatred surrounding her whenever he gets near her, and with those bloody sleeves of course, Sephtis expected more from such people. Though, he reminded himself that not everyone is as horrific as the Ssakri-Lumens back at the village, claiming they 're 'peaceful creatures' like Andrea said, but in reality only crave for power and bloodshed. He scoffed as he calmed his tense muscles and dropped his technique, all except the ball surrounding Astrid and the boy. He had clearly overestimated her. He did take the daggers laying on the ground for safety measure before he got angwhere closer to the human leaning at the bark of the tree.

Today must be break a rib day, he thought. In just the span of 12 hours, at least 3 ribs have been broken.

Thankfully, he brought his 'first aid kit' around and took the little cube out of his pocket. While it looked like it was too small for even a ring, it actually stored lots of things inside, compact in a little box. He snapped his fingers and out popped the bandages and the stock of berries he brought. There were no proper bowls in the middle of the woods, so he reached for the nearest leaf and made it into a cone, sticking it with blood to make sure it held together. He pressed the berries in and tipped it into the human's mouth before tightening the bandages around her chest.

"Looke who's being nice for once," Emet joked, descending from the air and standing right beside Sephtis, his cool air spread around them as usual. He was actually relieved it didn't end up becoming a nasty fight. For once, his prayers were answered. "This is why you don't jump to conclusions, idiot," he said, smacking Sephtis's head. Of course, it did nothing, all he would have felt was the hit of freezing wind.

"I get it," he groaned out loud, forgetting the human in front of him. His ears picked up the sound of rushing footsteps and he groaned even more. Of course the sudden shake of the trees from force would've attracted attention. Since the berries take a while to work, what more on a human, he literally dragged her somewhere else, closer to the wall they were planning to climb.

---

Fier was surprised to see that he actually decided to help her, she never would've predicted that with the way he acted. She was also surprised at how easily she was hurt, it was only one attack after all. Sure it was pretty powerful, but she had lived much worse hits than this and still managed to be at full strength. Then it hit her. She hadn't eaten much in days, and the adrenaline that kicked in. the rush that she was so used to feeling, wasn't there. No, she didn't let it be there. That was probably a mistake, but she didn't want anything to happen, so it might've been for the best. Come to think about it, this entire thing was a mistake. The humans and saakri-lumens had a rivalry for ages, and Fier was pretty much the embodiment of the stereotype the creatures had put on each other. There was no way that things would've gone so smoothly. She was being incredibly stupid, stupid enough to get her killed, but she wasn't. She was still alive, and that's what mattered.

Nearly killed me, and now he's trying to heal my wounds? Oh what the hell, it doesn't matter... Fier couldn't exactly say anything with her injury, since she didn't exactly want to deal with any more pain, so she stayed silent and let Sephtis do his work. The berries tasted odd, but she wasn't going to complain. It didn't taste like anything dangerous, as far as she knew of at least. If it was poison or something, she would've definitely known, but this was berries, so the knowledge didn't really help. The sudden outburst from the man somewhat startled her, but she didn't worry about it for too long before turning her attention back to the girl and Aiden, but more so on Astrid. She had never seen her before, which wasn't all that surprising, but for some reason she intrigued Fier.

Footsteps. The sudden, frightening sound of footsteps caused Fier to jerk her head towards the sound, causing a slight bit of pain that she almost sighed at. She kept her mouth clamped shut though, and minimized the amount of loud, deep breaths she took in order to make as little noise as possible. The effort was futile though, as she was suddenly dragged into the bushes near the wall. She was unable to move much in order to get comfortable or take a closer look, so she was stuck staring at the bushes and the wall, so she couldn't see what was making the noise.

---

Astrid caught the cloak and put it on, leaving her hood down at the moment so it wouldn't obscure her vision. She would put it up when she was in the human territory. Astrid shuddered a little watching Sephtis as he talked to himself. She still hadn't fully figured out what was going on with him, and supposed she never would, though she was dying to know. But then, it seemed, once more that everything was going too fast, and faster than Astrid could take it in. Before she could protest, or even do anything at all, the blood globe was already there and moving. Her anger at not being able to fight suprised her, though it was fleeting. Why did she care what happened to Sephtis? And why would she want to fight? She didn't want to hurt anyone, she was a danger. She could do more damage than she was willing too. But still, it was strange to think that she might care about what happened to Sephtis? No, no. The only person Astrid would ever care about was herself. Right? She could do nothing as the globe floated away to their destination. The boy was quiet and didn't say a word, trying to get as far away from her as possible, though there wasn't much he could do. Made sense. Astrid ignored him until the globe stopped moving, and she rapped her knuckles against it three times. The feeling made her stomach turn, it was like feeling stone, but smoother, and as if it were moving underneath her fingers.

---

𝕾𝖊𝖕𝖍𝖙𝖎𝖘 𝕬𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖕𝖍𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖘
" 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔮𝔲𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔦𝔰𝔫'𝔱 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔦𝔰 𝔤𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔩𝔢𝔱 𝔪𝔢; 𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔦𝔰 𝔤𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔭 𝔪𝔢. "

Sephtis was busy thinking about other things when he felt it, a sudden thump in his blood from the connections between the ball and the blood trailing on the floor to the dried bits on his palm. He let go if his focus and the sphere around Astrid shrunk back into the ground into a puddle of liquid that drenched every green blade into a crimson color. He kept his hood up, hiding his identity in case some of the guards approach them. He wasn’t too far from where Astrid was and another few steps would do. He just hoped he wouldn’t bump into anyone else on the way. He stopped dragging the human, since it slowed him down as well, and instead lifted her on his back, allowing him to run.

The guards were looking uneasy, they must have seen the blood in the area, the huge dent in the tree and the torn patches of grass. They started spreading around the area and Sephtis had to detour so many times to stay under their radar, all the while carrying the human on his back. Why was he even helping her? Why couldn’t he just leave her just now to die? Sephtis didn’t know, he felt conflicted, and has been like this for days now.

He was questioning whether the house had changed something inside of him since had visited that old place.

The wall with the vines started to get closer into view and Sephtis finally met up with Astrid and the child. The boy was still shaking and he looked even more frightened when he saw Sephtis’s demonic looks, his hood not enough to conceal the glow of his eyes. Though, he remained quiet, not pointing out the clear obviousness that he wasn’t a human, even when his eyes showed his longing to speak it out.

Sephtis was about to ask if Fier had kidnapped the child when a rhythmic beat of footsteps, not just one pair but at least 5, marching towards their direction. His ears also picked up the sound of clanking metal and orders being given out.
“There were three humans and one Saakri-Lumen heading towards the wall. We don’t know of the human’s identities, but they Saakri-Lumen was the one with red eyes. He looked almost familiar, try to avoid killing him,” was what the leader said, his commands ringing clearly in the silent woods. The description matched no one else but him, of course, and he was already dragging the other three into this mess. He groaned.

Why, oh why did he have to look so odd among the others.

The soldiers were still far away from them judging by the sound, and seem to be busy inspecting the other perimeters of the wall so there was still time for them to make it inside. He tested the vines and they were strong enough to hold the weight of both Fier and him, making it reliable to climb on. He continued his journey up and made it onto the top.

Now they had to figure out a way to get down, but it wasn’t that hard. The buildings were so tall that Sephtis didn’t even have to jump. It was as simple as stepping between the towering buildings. He took the time to look around the foreign territory.

It was so much different from the Saakri-Lumen village, they had metal machines that moves around on dark concrete roads and there were only small dots of green compared to the village, where every nook and cranny housed a tiny version of a rainforest. The air was what stood out the most, though. It was heavy with smoke and was a huge difference to the fresh air in the village. Several coughs escaped Sephtis’s mouth even as he tried to hold them down.

“Goodness, how can you live like this,” he cursed as he started to get to the ground, the stairs eliminating the need for him to go through all the jumping. Everything looked much bigger down below and Sephtis had to gawk to even see the roofs of some buildings. This place was really on another level.

Eventually, they were forced into the crowded area, humans filling every gap as they pushed around, trying to get to their destination. Some complained as they squeezed through the mass, and it was the same old conversation happening on the other side.

“We’re running out of space we could barely move in our own homes”

Through the flood of bodies, Sephtis ended up separating from Astrid and the kid, with only Fier with him on his back. He groaned, now he had to go find her in this swarm of people. Reluctantly, he started to walk back-
A man bumped, almost rammed, into him and he lost his balance, falling onto the floor on his butt. The man kneeled down to help him up.

“Sorry, is your friend okay there? There’s a hospital…” he started but froze his words mid-sentence. Sephtis didn’t need to be told why.

The impact of the fall and the wind was enough to move his hood to the back a little and show his pale skin and bloody eyes. That was it, his cover was blown.

For a moment, everything seems to be frozen before the chaos set in. The humans screamed and ran away, shoving each other to keep a distance from Sephtis, some even trampled over the smaller ones. The terrified children cried through the rush and the situation became an utter catastrophe.

It didn’t take long for the guards to pull in and surround Sephtis. His mind was cluttered as the guards started to advance towards him, their weapons raised while some cleared the area.

“Is that the one?”

“Yes, he must be the one that we’re looking for,”

Sephtis’s head ached. If he didn’t do anything, he could be easily dropped into Ignis hands and the power of immortality and a whole pool of others would be in that man’s hands. He didn’t know what to do.

”Oh, please, I’ll take it from here,” Emet grumbled as he switched. This boy was seriously slow.

When a situation like this happens, you just eliminate the threat. End of story.

Emet moved around in the body quickly, finishing off every guard before they could press the trigger or scream. He didn’t leave a single one of them alive. No one must know about Sephtis’s presence. They can say a Saakri-Lumen infiltrated the territory, but if his name was heard by their leader, a manhunt would surely follow after.

After the last guard dropped dead, he checked to see if anyone else were there. The crowd was too panicked to even bother to take a good look at Sephtis, so they weren’t much of a threat, and all the guards were down. He was done here.
He looked down at Fier, who was sitting in the middle of it all.

“Had fun watching the show?” he asked before he continued to drag her, not bothering to be as nice as Sephtis and lift her. She was their enemy; this boy was starting to give away his trust too easily. He hurriedly retreated from the area to find shelter in the shadows of the towering skyscrapers.

Unknown to them, a guard had survived through the ordeal. Shaken, he immediately ran towards the leader’s place to relay the news.

---

Fier had tried to make it as easy as possible for Sephtis, including trying to get up on her own, but her efforts were useless as she still wasn't able to do much. She found out that she could breath easier, and talking seemed to be an option again, but that wasn't all that important. She hated being this weak, hated weighing them down so much, but she knew if she was left alone, she wouldn't be able to get around enough to stay safe, or even keep them safe either. If she was found by the guards, and they knew she had come into contact with the red-eyed saakri-lumen, she would be interrogated. She'd be put on death's row anyways for the crimes she had committed, and she knew she deserved it, but the interrogation would risk spilling too much information about the 2. Besides, the humans used a more... violent approach with their questionings, and hell would await her if she was ever caught. She didn't really have much of a choice other than to be Sephtis's heavy, useless backpack.

"I wouldn't call it living..." She simply muttered in reply to what the man had said, looking around the city to try and figure out a decent path. She knew this place like the back of her hand, but she wasn't the best with planning. She just did whatever felt right and hoped she made it out safely. She tried pointing out directions to a safe location, but it was hard when they were constantly being pushed around and she couldn't exactly see clearly through the hoard.

"Sorry, is your friend okay there? There's a hospital..."
A thud was heard when both of their bodies were shoved to the ground, the ache in her chest suddenly worsened. She quickly tried to get up and was surprised when she was able to do so, but her accomplishment meant nothing as soon as she saw what had happened. The crowd had run from the two, fingers were pointed and screams flied in the air. Most seemed to be terrified of the saakri-lumen, and some had their fingers pointed at Fier. The hood had fallen off of Sephtis's inhuman head, his unusual features now being shown to everyone. Footsteps. Multiple heavy footsteps where coming straight at them. They were guards. Fier couldn't do anything, even when fear and panic rushed through her veins as a form of adrenaline, like it always did, she was still frozen in place. She tried reaching for her trusty daggers, but they weren't there. Sephtis still had them, and it wasn't like she couldn't use them anyways. Even if she wanted to let loose, something told her that it wouldn't be possible.

She didn't nead to worry about that anymore, as she noticed a sudden change in the saakri-lumen's behavior. He went from being as frozen in shock as she was, to suddenly causing the death of all the guards in the area. Something seemed to change about him, similar to what she experienced, but different somehow. Almost as if he had different demeanors, different personalities or something. And that outburst he had back in the woods... "So that's what's going on... Interesting..." she muttered to herself, giving a small smirk at her discovery. How she figured it out, or at least she think she did, with such little information and time was beyond her, but it gave a pretty good explanation for his odd behavior.

"Had fun watching the show?" Fier turned her attention away from the dead bodies to Sephtis, and gave him an odd look. She raised her eyebrows and had a grin, which was a strange combination but was enough to convey her confusion, as well as how impressed she was. She didn't have time to give any input on what to do next as she was soon dragged along by the man, heading to wherever he planned to go. It looked like he was trying to find shelter, in the shadows of the buildings that filled the city, which gave her an idea. "If we need some shelter, I have a shack on the edge of town..." She grumbled, now getting tired of being dragged around all the time. She looked around to try and find the other saakri-lumen and the boy, only to see they weren't there. How she didn't notice their disappearance long before now was a mystery, but she suddenly got a bit worried. Well... The kid knew his way around, right? She wasn't sure if Astrid would be okay, but she had faith in the boy to not let the two get caught.

---

Astrid landed on her feet with a little huff, the boy landing akwardly but not falling. She tapped her foot impatiently, resisting the urge to glance at the boy as she waited for Sephtis to show up. What was that human's buisness with him anyways? She may have been annoyed at her own curiousity, but at this point she was done with stifling her own questions. Then, she heard footsteps. If Astrid could speak out loud, she would have blurted out, "Took you long enough," but with no interest in opening up a connection, she stayed quiet as Sephtis arrived. Why didn't she? Well, Astrid supposed that she wanted to keep up the facade that she was human. It wasn't lost on her that the boy was much more terrified of him than her, and it would come in handy as they went into the human's territory. Something told her (and she learned to trust her gut a lot more lately) that it was going to be filled with dangers bigger than being a Saakri-Lumens surrounded by humans, the ones who hated them more than anything.

She tensed like an animal hearing the breaking of a branch. "Three humans and one Saakri-Lumens." So the little boy wasn't the only one who thought she was human. Good. Still, there was no time to waste. They had to get over the wall. The little boy made a hesitant sound like he wanted to point out another obvious thing, that he wasn't getting over the wall on his own. Astrid had never had the patience for small children, and Saakri-Lumen children she saw had long since learned how to look out for themselves, or had parents to depend on. She couldn't remember the last time she'd interacted with a small child in a way that wasn't chasing them away from one of her hideouts or keeping them from stealing her food. She smiled ruefully, thinking of the hares. Someone would find them, people were smart. Especially when they were fighting to survive.

She had the same bitter distaste for the way that the humans lived. Saakri-Lumens may have been a lot of things, but at least they cared about keeping the place they lived from being completley dirty and grey. This was digusting. The boy, at one point or another, had clamped down onto her wrist like a tiny crab, which was annoying to say the least, but after a few unsucsessful tugs, she gave up. She was too focused on navigating this new world to attempt anything else. Being small and having a small child basically attached to you had its advantages and distadvantages. The first advantage was that it was harder to get knocked over if you were able to more easily dodge arms and legs and bodies...somewhat. The second advantage was that the kid was small as well. The disadvantages meant that she was taking up less space, so more people crowded around her until Astrid was afraid that she wouldn't be able to breathe. The boy seemed used to this, still not saying a word.

It wasn't long before Astrid realized that Sephtis and the other human had gone missing. Great. Just what she needed. Being lost in a city she'd never seen with a little human boy. Now, she was in trouble. She glared at the boy, who muttered, "I can help." Before Astrid could do anything, he had adjusted his grip on her wrist and was now leading her around. Astrid didn't like the idea of being led around by this boy, but he was smart. He found Sephtis and the bloody carnage in his wake quicker than Astrid could have. Astrid swallowed hard as she saw what he'd done, but it was better to move forward. Despite this, she couldn't resist a dry jab, opening up a connection with him. "Couldn't go five minutes without getting into trouble and killing to get out of it, huh Blood Boy?"

---

𝕾𝖊𝖕𝖍𝖙𝖎𝖘 𝕬𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖕𝖍𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖘
" 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔮𝔲𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔦𝔰𝔫'𝔱 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔦𝔰 𝔤𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔩𝔢𝔱 𝔪𝔢; 𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔦𝔰 𝔤𝔬𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔭 𝔪𝔢. "

Sephtis, well technially Emet's, face turned from dead serious to a look of amusement, turning to hide his laughter.

Yes, blood boy sounded like a good name. Actually they should replace it to be bloody idiot or something along those lines. Sephtis would hate that and he knew it, but he couldn't wait to see it. He shook his head to stop the happy feelings.

They need to keep going, he continued to drag the human towards the edge of town as she said earlier.

"You can go there, I'm not staying here longer than I need. He just needs to get to Alden and we'd be gone from here," he stated, continuing in the hard, rocky ground. He accidentally revealed the person's name, but who cares. Cans and bottles littered every corner and the trash bins smell horrible, worse than home. His face twisted in disgust as he passed tnrough horrendous smelling public toilets and sewers. "Once we get that immortality property out his blood and activate his healing, we're going far away from here," he muttered to himself. They're world was cramped, though, every single inch of land colonised by either sides. Was there even anywhere else to go? Somewhere that wasn't dedicated to either of the two species?

It was wishful thinking, but Emet wanted to believe it existed. Once Sephtis can use his powers properly, he can do whatever he wants and live however he pleases. He'd no longer need to stay under the constraints of either sides. He'd finally be free and that's when Emet's task is done. When he's assured Sephtis can live on without his limits bothering him and possibly leading to his death in a dire situation. He didn't care if there would be no more Sanguis children after him. If his little brother could be happy again, that was all that matter. He can screw the damn bloodline, even if their father was against it. That man never cared for his childrem anyway, all he cared of was their power, it wasn't like Emet didn't know what horrible things he did to Sephtis. He mentally shuddered at the memory, but tried his best to bury it so he doesn't end up showing Sephtis the images of the memories. He didn't need to now abput them, so he cleared his mind as he brought the group towards Fier's shack

---

"I'm afraid I'll be tagging along for a little longer," Astrid said into his mind. She was starting to get used to this, but almost subconciously, she started signing out her own words as she walked. She'd barely gotten to speak before, and it was fursturating that she was stuck with echoing in people's brains instead of actually talking. Though she hadn't thought about it much before, now, it was starting to ache. "I'm afraid I'll be tagging along for a little longer," The boy repeated quietly. Astrid stopped dead in her tracks, and signed, "You can understand me?" He nodded. "Can you..translate for me?" "Sure." She smirked slightly, and thanked him. She turned her attention back to Sephtis. "All I need to do is find my employer's contacts, and I'll be out of your hair, I swear. And since you're the only person that I can trust right now besides Squirt over here, that's how it's going to be. And it's not like I'll get in the way, so there's no problem, is it? Then you can do...whatever it is you want, Blood Boy." The boy repeated it out loud.

---

This whole situation... It was incredibly awkward and unusual for Fier. She had no understanding of what was going on or what they had been talking about, but she decided it was probably for the best. The less she understood, the more she was likely to not screw things up. The one thing she did understand was the nickname "Blood Boy", which made her burst out laughing. It was only temporary though, as it made her ribs ache. It did make her wonder... Why make such a light-hearted about him when she got kicked into a tree for having some blood on her hands? Well, that question was pretty stupid. After all, she did try to kill "blood boy" when she first saw him. Not only that, Fier killed her own kind for no reason, while Sephtis or whoever he was had killed for a pretty understandable reason, and the rivalry between the species only justified it further. Yeah, she definitely deserved the broken rib, she wasn't even sure why she had questioned it in the first place.

By now she had tugged her hand away and was running independently. Painfully, but still independently. She had a more tired and distant expression now, like the one she always had before this unexpected encounter, and she was silent this entire time. She was a bit behind the group anyways, so trying to enter whatever conversation they were having would be inconvenient. She just carefully watched, trying to put things together solely on what little she heard and what she saw.

The spaces between houses kept getting larger and larger, the density was fading out the closer they got to the wall. Just a little further... Fier had slown down a bit by now, mostly due to exhaustion but also because she was trying to figure out the correct path. She had always just gone to her house from the opposite side of the rest of the city, she rarely actually went through the city to get there. She tried spotting landmarks, like differently colored houses or different layouts, which was fairly simple due to how unchanging the outside houses were. Once she figured it out, she called out directions for them to follow, and soon enough, her old, beaten up home was in sight. "There, right ahead. Man, you guys should've told me you were coming, I would've cleaned up the place before I left!" Her joke left a dry taste in her mouth, and the oh so wonderfully negative voice in her head told her to shut up. Yeah, she deserved it, the joke was terrible and the timing was probably just as bad too. Besides, it didn't even make sense. It wasn't like they were staying there, it was only temporary. She didn't say another word as they approached her home

---