The early light of dawn broke the horizon, but the sun still remained hidden behind the rolling hills. Marco and Jake were in the cab of his truck, while the others were sitting on the back. Jake had come along for the ride, but was staying with Marco. Sophie stared at Nathan as they bounced along. He was distracted by something, but she had no idea what was going on in his head.

“I can’t do it!” she finally said over the noise of the engine.

Nathan took a moment before he realized she was speaking to him, “Huh? You can’t do what?”

“I can’t work out what is going on inside that head of yours!” she laughed.

Nathan shook his head, “It’s nothing…”

“Mmhm? Doesn’t look like nothing,” she giggled, in a good imitation of Teresa.

“Well, I guess after seeing what a Hunter did to Jake… I think it just suddenly dawned on me that we could be killed in an instant out here. What if it was another Keeper?” Nathan’s voice trailed off.

“It wasn’t though,” Sophie replied, trying to lift his spirits.

“He would’ve died Sophie! I should have been…”

Sophie cut him off, “It is not your job to protect us all. You can’t expect yourself to be everywhere.”

Nathan shook his head, “I don’t want to see my friends get hurt. The thought that one of you might die haunts me.”

“You have to trust us. We are each on our own journey. We each received one of these blades for a reason, I don’t think we will be dying just yet,” she finished with a wink.

“And you have a good baby sitter,” Teresa interrupted.

Sophie and Nathan turned in surprise, unaware that she had been listening. But suddenly aware that Paige and Rocko were looking at them as well.

Nathan stared at Teresa, “Teresa, is this scroll really able to do what you people claim it can?”

“Yeah right, like a little piece of paper could end the world,” Paige said sarcastically.

Teresa moved a finger to her lips to shush Paige, “In the book I gave you, Revelations chapter 5 and 6 the scroll is explained. Have a read, this should explain any questions you have.”

Nathan took out the book and looked it over. Its navy blue cover looked a little tattered but it remained intact. He opened it, silently reading for the remainder of the ride.

Half an hour later they arrived, the jeep rumbling to a stop on the side of the road. Marco climbed out, pointing at the dense overgrowth of the jungle, “This is the closest point that the GPS says we are from the road to the temple. Head north for twenty kilometres, this will show you where to go.”

He threw the GPS and Teresa caught it effortlessly in one hand. “No probs Marky,” Teresa quipped. She swung her tramping pack over her shoulder and started hacking at the foliage with her sword, “See you in four or five days.”

“Teresa wait, don’t slash up the forest!” Sophie ran up beside her, “It will move for us!” she said, waving her arm, a neat path appearing through the jungle in front of them.

“Hey Marco!” Teresa yelled out, just before he climbed back into the jeep, “Make that a couple of days!” she gave Sophie a nod, and the group started down the path, dense bush encroaching either side of them.

After a few kilometres of an uphill tramp, Paige was complaining, “Couldn’t we have just gone around the hill? It’s freaken huge!”

“Going around this freakishly huge mountain would have added days to our trek,” Teresa replied nonchalantly.

“Can we at least stop for a break? We must be well ahead of schedule thanks to her,” Paige pointed at Sophie.

“You might find it a little easier if you were taller, and your pack wasn’t bigger then you,” Rocko laughed.

“Shut your trap, Giant,” Paige snapped.

“Paige!” Teresa yelled, “No more talking to Ben.”

“He started it!” she retorted.

“Sometimes I honestly feel like a school teacher dealing with children,” Teresa muttered, just loud enough for Sophie to hear.

Sophie giggled, “You mean that wasn’t in your job description?”

Teresa let out a laugh, “You know what? I think I should see Hyung about that. He hasn’t given me a job description.”

Sophie smiled. She liked Teresa. Nothing really seemed to get under her skin and she appeared competent in almost any situation. Nathan had remained silent throughout the walk so far, he was distracted by the book Teresa had given him, and been unable to stop reading it.

“Good book?” Sophie asked distracting him from his thoughts.

Nathan looked up from his trance, “Interesting, but it seems like it’s coded. What’s all this about Dragons and Beasts?”

“That book is mainly a prophecy of the end times. Some of it will come to pass literally but other parts are metaphorical,” Teresa stated, “Being able to clearly interpret it is not something we could possibly do until the time is here, or passed.”

Nathan shrugged, “So what’s the point of writing it down then, I mean, doesn’t that make it pretty useless?”

Teresa shook her head “Not quite. You will notice that during some parts, it talks about trumpets being blown by angels. We believed these to be a metaphorical explanation of the order of things that would occur. Well, that is until we found one of the trumpets. We now know that the items discussed in this book actually exist. The Blades. The Trumpets… Even this scroll we are hunting for are all connected somehow. The Sect of the Forbidden are currently hunting desperately for the four remaining trumpets and this scroll. We must find it first and keep it hidden from them.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

A few more hours passed. The group had been quite silent after Teresa’s story. Sophie leading the way under Teresa’s instruction, followed closely by Paige, Rocko then Nathan who had continued reading.

Sophie suddenly stopped in her tracks, “No it can’t be...” she whispered before taking off ahead, causing the rest of the group to run after her.

Surprised, Teresa looked up, “What is it?”

After a hundred metres Sophie stopped, turning her head while holding her nose. Two dead bodies lay cut up against a tree. They were hardly recognisable, with the vast amount of damage that had been inflicted.

“What on earth..?” Nathan muttered.

“Oh no...” Teresa said in disbelief.

Sophie had never seen her rattled before. Teresa took off into the bush and the group quickly followed. She came to a stop at the edge of a clearing.

Sophie gasped and had to look away. What stood before them was what used to be a village. Bodies of dead tribesmen and women littered the grounds. Trees in the surrounding area had been sliced cleanly and toppled onto some of the huts.

“Who would do such a thing?” Sophie said through tears, “The very forest around us is crying. I can feel its pain!”

Teresa had bent down to examine the body of a child “There is only one man who would kill with so little restraint.”

“There is no way only one man caused this much damage,” Paige said amazed.

“His Name is Kano Worth. But everyone calls him Slash,” Teresa sighed, “He is a Keeper.”

“What blade does he hold?” Nathan asked.

“It is called Excalibur. The Blade of Blades. It controls the sharpness of things basically. But as you can see, it can make one hell of a mess,” Teresa’s head dropped.

“There are five of us here though, surely we can get this guy!” Paige yelled enthusiastically.

“No!” Teresa held up her hand, “This is personal. I will find him, and I will kill him.”

Sophie felt that same killer intent that they sensed before. Fear seemed to run rampant through her whole body. Just who is this woman? She thought to herself.

The group carried on tramping until dusk. The remnants of the sun lit the clouds into a blood red.

Teresa stopped in a clearing, “We will camp here for the night, we are not too far away, and should reach the temple in the morning.”

Nathan and Rocko started pitching a couple of tents. Sophie stopped them, roots rising out of the ground, weaving and entwining together, creating a large wooden dome over the group, protecting them from any outside interference. “This should add more protection from whatever is out there,” she said quietly, still shaken from the bloody encounter at the destroyed village.

“You’re a really handy person to have around aren’t you Sophie?” Teresa smiled.

After a small camping meal Sophie moved to the side, away from everyone, unpacking her sleeping bag. As she lay down, her thoughts couldn’t move from the devastation she had seen in the village. She lay in her makeshift bed and began to quietly cry as images of the dead children ran through her head on a seemingly endless loop. She tried to muffle her sobs, when she heard Nathan approach.

“Are you ok Soph?” he whispered, sitting down next to her.

“How could someone do that?” she whispered through the tears.

“We will find him,” Nathan said, reliving the scene in his mind.

“Why does Teresa see this as something personal? It is like she has a grudge against this man,” Sophie said, changing the subject.

“I’m not sure, but when we find him, I have no doubt that she will kill him,” Nathan replied reassuringly, “There is something seriously fearsome about her… I wouldn’t want to be that Slash guy!”

He placed his arm around her shoulders and she suddenly felt safe. Safer then she had for a long time. She slowly rested her head on his chest, his steady heartbeat and rhythmic breathing sending a calm feeling through her body, “I’m just scared that if we do find him... What if one of us dies?” her eyes gazed up to meet his.

Nathan squeezed her shoulder, “Let’s just get some rest. We will deal with Slash tomorrow.”

The night was long. A mixture of the solid ground and the humidity made the sleep uncomfortable, but Sophie slept right through, exhausted from the tramp. She woke up in the early morning to hushed whispering.

She could make out Paige’s voice, “Shhh, don’t wake them.”

“I’m not going to,” Rocko replied, “Did you take the photo?”

Sophie’s eyes shot open, “What photo?” Paige and Rocko were straight ahead, staring at her with huge grins on their faces. It was then that Sophie realised she was still cuddled up with Nathan. “What the?” she could feel her face going bright red as she moved away from him.

“That’s the picture that Jake wanted, wasn’t it?” Paige laughed.

Rocko joined in the laugh, “Yeah that’s the one!”

“So what,” Sophie said still red in the face, “Anyway, since when did you two get along?”

“Ahhh we will go back to hating each other soon, we just had a mutual goal at this point in time,” Paige said, as the two walked off laughing.

Sophie moving away had stirred Nathan from his sleep, “What’s going on?” he mumbled.

“I think Paige and Rocko just took an incriminating picture of us for your friend Jake,” Sophie laughed slightly as she said it.

Nathan smiled, “I have had worse things happen.”

Once she was up, Sophie effortlessly took down the wooden dome, gliding it back to the soil around them. The early morning light poured into the area. Teresa collected up everyone’s water bottles, “Nathan, you come with me. The rest of you, get some breakfast ready.” Teresa and Nathan disappeared into the forest.

“I will go and get some wood for a fire,” Rocko declared, heading off into the forest.

After a few minutes Paige spoke up, “It was kind of cute you know... You and Nathan all cuddled up.”

“I thought it was very cute,” a male voice boomed from behind, the girls both spinning quickly.

A giant stood before them, with a giant sword, seemingly perfectly fitted to his size. His head was bald and he was missing half an ear. He wore a tight white singlet and some camouflage army cargo pants. Scars covered his body. This guy made Rocko seem small.

“You’re Slash!” Sophie pointed at the giant. Shizen and Tsuyosa were quickly in their respective hands as they prepared for a battle.

“I will not let you hurt anyone anymore you monster!” Sophie cried out enraged. Vines whipped out, wrapping around Slash’s torso, arms and legs, covering all but his head, “I am not going to let you walk away after what you did to that village.”

The vines around his body snapped, falling to the ground around him. The girls saw his body move back into is normal shape, “What the hell…?” Paige muttered.

“This is Excalibur, I will cut any plants you spawn to shreds. You are unlucky I am your opponent,” Slash said calmly.

“Sophie, I will take care of Slash,” Paige instructed.

A brisk wind blew, kicking out the base of Sophie’s green cloak. Her steel gaze wouldn’t move from Slash, “Why would you kill a whole village of innocent people?”

“I was under instruction from below,” Slash laughed.

“Don’t you mean above?” Paige corrected.

Slash shrugged, “Call it what you want.”

“Our friend Ben will be back soon, you don’t have a chance against three of us,” Paige replied.

“No… I don’t think Ben will be back any time soon. You didn’t just think it was me out here did you?” Slash laughed. “Anyway, let’s finish this so I can get out of this country. It’s too hot.”

“You seem very confident. You haven’t even stopped to think if you are underestimating us?” As Sophie spoke, a layer of bark covered her body.

“I do not think I am underestimating you at all, Sophie. In fact, I know all about you,” an evil smile crossed his face. Slash rotated his large blade, “This is Excalibur. You might know of it better from the old legend of King Arthur. It is the very sword that was stuck in the stone. Arthur drew it out, then became king. It was then passed down through Kings and Hunters until me.”

Two giant logs suddenly slammed into Slash from both directions. Sophie’s hair raised into the air, a deep green glow surrounded her. Her skin crackled with pure energy. Paige took a cautious step back, she had never seen Sophie this angry before.

The trees split violently apart and Slash stood unharmed between them, “I told you, none of your trees will hurt me…”

As he spoke another flew out of the ground, but once again Slash sliced it in two.

He look slightly annoyed, “I have had enough of this.” He waved his giant sword at Sophie, a blue transparent blast fired out. Sophie countered the attack by summoning a heavy wooden wall in front of her. It wasn’t enough though, the blast easily cut through the wall and sliced a massive cut up her whole body.

Paige muffled a scream as the impact hit Sophie, blood flying out. A blinding blue light was the last thing Sophie saw, before collapsing into a heap on the ground.