With her body low on the greenery, Cayleth approached the source of the child’s cry, hiding herself behind the trees and bushes as she closed in, going over a slope and finally taking sight of the brave visitors.

‘Two girls? Why are they here?’ she thought, looking towards the two figures. One of them, the source of the cries, was on the ground weeping as she hugged her scraped knee, she couldn’t be more than 10 years old, with red hair that looked almost black with all the grime stuck to it, wearing a tattered dress with too many stitches, her face red and swollen by the crying.

The other one was kneeling next to the weeping girl, with long blonde hair in a braid behind her back, her face although dirty with earth and lacking proper hygiene would induce jealousy in the most pompous of noblewomans, with perfect proportions and hazel eyes that seemed golden, with an almost feral glint to them; she appeared to be 13 years old and wore a tattered linen shirt and trousers.

Cayleth merely stood there watching them, unsure of what her next move would be. The older girl was trying to console the weeping one, their conversation now reaching her ears.

“Come on now, we need to keep moving, I know you’re tired, but we can’t stop now. Its darkening and we still haven’t found anything” Said the blonde one in kind tone. Hearing her voice Cayleth felt confused.

‘That’s not the voice of a gir…’

“But big brother I’M HUNGRY… uhhhh I CAN’T KEEP GOING, MY LEGS ARE GOING TO FALL OFF! UWAHHH!!!” The smaller one continued crying and sobbing.

‘That’s a boy? Well damn me, he is prettier than all the women in the village’

The boy seemed unsure what to do, looking around the area. Cayleth noticed his sight falling on a particular bush of berries, that unlike many others in the vicinity, lacked the neon like glow or any particular striking colors that screamed danger even to the most novice herbalist.

‘oh fuck, don’t do it!’ Cayleth thought as she saw the blonde boy approach the bush.

Cold and indifferent she may be, but she wasn’t one to stand idly as some idiot kids killed themselves in a horrible way.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Unless you want to puke blood and die horribly that is.” She said, letting her voice reach the boy moving towards the bush.

He was startled, then in a blur of movement even Cayleth couldn’t follow properly a small steel knife was suddenly in his hands and he held a battle stance.

“WHO’S THERE?!” He said his eyes the darting all over the place until they settled on the general location Cayleth was hidden.

‘Hummm pretty good senses, also had some training by the looks of it. Why is a kid like that in this place?’ Cayleth wondered. Her eyes now firmly attached to the blonde boy ‘This might be interesting after all’ she thought. Feeling a little mischievous.

‘I haven’t seen their faces around, they must be new blood. A guard’s son maybe? Why he was allowed to come in here alone and bring that brat along is beyond me… still it takes some serious balls or desperation to come so deep into this place. Let’s see if his skill is for real’ She readied herself, not moving a single muscle, hidden behind a tree waiting for an opportunity.

The small girl noticed the change in the boy’s demeanor and had stopped crying.

“Big brother what is happening?” she said in a frightened voice.

“Come here Jun, someone is here wi...” he never got to finish his sentence. His senses screaming for him to dodge as a blurring figure flew by his cheek.

Cayleth didn’t lose the opportunity when he lost his concentration. Throwing one of her spears and missing intentionally to frighten him. Then darting from her hiding spot circling the boy and ending up behind him.

“You know you really shouldn’t lose your concentration when there is a potential enemy nearby” She warned him, before swinging her spear.

The boy ducked just as a blur went past where his head stood, turning to where his assailant was, he deflected three more blows with his dagger before grabbing the shaft of her spear with his free hand.

What he saw shocked him, Cayleth’s childish grinning figure making him doubt just what he was seeing.

“You know, you’re not half bad.” She said, twisting and pulling her spear, taking advantage of his shock to get close and punch him in the gut.

The boy flew backwards falling on the ground, but still keeping hold of his dagger as he did so.

Cayleth didn’t give him any chances though, even before he could get his bearings back, she already rested the tip of her spear a few millimeters from his neck.

He froze on the spot, eyes focused on her face, afraid, confused, angry, ashamed, a plethora of emotions flashed through his expression, to which Cayleth merely chuckled.

“You’re dead, just so you know” she said softly, removing the spear, and retreating a little.

The boy got up immediately, back in his stance as he eyed her warily. Still trying to take in just what had transpired, and why a strange girl had suddenly attacked him.

“Wh…” he tried to say, but even before he could finish, the little girl Jun started to cry and scream wildly.

“UWAAH, B-BIG BROTHER RUN! IT’S T-THE WRAITH!!!, UWAAHH!!!”

‘Wraith? What’s this nonsense now?’ Cayleth thought as she observed the little girl struggle to get up and hide behind the boy’s figure.

“Who are you?! Why did you attack us?!” the boy asked with hostility and fear clear on his face.

“Well…” Cayleth spun the spear in her hand, making the boy flinch as he readied the knife in front of him. Ready to parry.

“I wanted to see just who had the balls to enter this forest” she said as drove the wooden blade to the ground, sticking it there letting go.

“You refugees? What are you kids doing here? I Thought those idiots on the village didn’t let their snot nosed brats leave the safety of the shitholes they call homes” Now crossing her arms and eyeing both of them with an arrogant look that was only half pretended. Putting an impersonation of Raz’s best infuriating smirk. Which apparently worked as the boy’s face grew darker and angrier, surpassing his fear and battle instincts telling him to keep his cool.

“W-WHO ARE WE! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!”

'He had some training, but he's still a kid, still those were some pretty impressive moves for a refugee' Cayleth laughed internally at the sight of the boy losing his calm so easily.

“Oh, I guess never did introduce myself” she said putting up a dumb childish expression with her hand on her chin, her emerald green eyes glistening with fake innocence.

“Name is Cayleth, nice to meet you!” a smile now beaming on her childish face.

“Nic- NICE TO MEET YOU?! YOU ALMOST TOOK MY GODDAMN HEAD OFF!!!” He said in a tone filled with outrage.

“Well, that’s just my way of greeting people” Cayleth retorted in the sweetest childish voice she could muster, leaving the boy stunned for a moment, before his expression once again turned to outrage.

“GREETING PEOPLE?! GREETING PEOPLE?!!! WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT YOU CRAZY KID?!” he screamed again.

“Now, now, I’m not a kid. I’m positive that I’m older than you” She retorted, her voice now taking a complete different, dignified tone.

The boy finally seemed to have had enough, and stopped talking. Only eying Cayleth’s carefree demeanor warily as he held back the anger. Still confused to how the situation had turned out.

“Well now that you know my name, might I have yours? Its only good to be polite you know?” Cayleth said, still keeping the stuck-up condescending demeanor that Raz was so fond off. She had learned from him that people often showed their true selves and lost their masks when they lost their calm.

Visibly trembling with anger, the boy snarled back.

“And why should I?”

“Well…I DID save your life, so It’s only natural that you should be thankful, right?” Cayleth said, putting up Raz’s best shit eating grin.

“Sav- SAVED MY LIFE?! WHAT ARE YOU GOING ON ABOUT YOU STUPID IDIOT?” He screamed back, face flushing red with anger.

Cayleth merely pointed at the berry bush.

“Had you touched those berries the skin on your hands would be falling off right about now, if you had eaten them… well let’s just say your insides would be splattered all over the forest floor while they leaked from every hole ya got” It was a half lie, the berries would definitively kill him painfully had he swallowed them. But she had inherited a gusto for the theatrics from her companion.

The boy visibly flinched after she mentioned the berry bush, but Cayleth didn’t let up.

“Now you see, I don’t think you realize what situation you're in” She continued

“Try and see it from my point of view will ya? A stupid kid enters the forest, when it’s already darkening too, a forest that I’m sure every human in that dirty village told you is DANGEROUS and POISONOUS. Not only that but brings also brings along a snot nosed brat that will likely only slow him down. And then as if all of that wasn't enough, he lets himself get beat up by someone TWO HEADS SMALLER THAN HIM using a STICK while he has a STEEL dagger. Now I don’t know what level of STUPID or CRAZY, or downright ARROGANT that boy is, but it’s gotta be pretty damn high if you ask me”

She glared at the two of them, the small girl shrinking behind the now dejected looking boy, both evading her piercing gaze.

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“Alright I’ll introduce myself and try again, my name is Cayleth, half-elf, a dweller of that dirty village just like you guys. Come on now, you try, I’m sure you can do it.”

The boy looked up at the mention she was also an inhabitant of the village. Now noticing the inherent sarcasm and mock in her tone. Realizing that this was all a test. He sighed knowing that he’d been had.

“Name is Ariel, this is Jun she’s my… sister” He said, directing his gaze back at Cayleth.

“See isn’t that much better? Was it that hard?”

“Can you please cut it with the sarcasm?” He said now looking dejected.

“Sorry… It’s kinda hard not to do it when you live with who I live with for long enough… ahem* well now that is settled, Friends?” Cayleth said, dropping the stuck-up arrogant demeanor. Intentionally letting her tone become friendlier, as she closed in and offered a hand. An offer of peace.

The boy eyed her warily for a while, but ended up sheathing his dagger in his belt, and shaking her hand, accepting the truce.

His hand was larger than hers, but he didn’t try to squeeze it, merely having a firm grip. Cayleth looked deep into his amber eyes, and what she saw pleased her.

Now that they were no longer at stakes, she could not see it in his eyes.

They had no hate, nor the ever-present prejudice she was so used to dealing with. Not flinching back at her presence or touch. His eyes were firm, honest, a little naïve too, but she couldn’t stop a genuine smile from appearing in her face.

‘A kind human, how rare’ She thought as she retreated, and an awkward atmosphere descended as the boy didn’t seem to know how to continue the conversation looking at her beaming smile.

“Well I’m sorry about all that act, it kinda comes as a second nature to ya when you gotta deal with shitty wastes of humanity all the time” She said, allowing a natural friendly tone. A tinge of melancholy to dripping into her voice.

Ariel didn’t know what to say, looking weirdly at her trying to make out what she meant.

“You see… humans can be quite the asshats when it comes to xenos in times of war, if you know what I mean” Cayleth said, an understanding expression taking Ariel’s face as she noticed his eyes scanning her. From her silvery hair to her marble-like features, but surprisingly no expression of disgust or hate flashed through his face, only pity.

Cayleth smiled inside, it wasn’t the first time she was looked at like that, but it was surely better than  hateful glares. It only reinforced her guess that this blonde-haired boy might be different from most of the other humans, if that was true then he might be worth keeping around. Raz was a good person, but it wouldn’t hurt to increase her repertoire of allies, and as kids usually mirrored their parent’s behavior, his family might be worth helping. Especially because if his father was the one who trained him.

“Sooo now that we’re friends, might I ask just what the hell are you guys doing here?” Cayleth decided that she should be the one to break the silence.

Ariel put up a difficult expression but ended up sighing and speaking.

“We were hoping to find something to eat… we were on the road for a long time, and the food they gave wasn’t enough…” He said warily no doubt expecting another barbed reply from her part.

“Wow, you guys must have some shitty parents for them to…” Cayleth started saying, but Ariel cut her off midway.

“We’re orphans, my father died when Citri fell, we followed the refugee line by ourselves.”

“What? I thought they didn’t send orphans to the frontier; Doesn’t the church take them or something?” She asked now confused to why these two were here.

“They do, it’s just that we that ran away” Ariel’s said firmly

“Now why in the nine hells would do that?! You’re both human, aren’t you? Becoming a Demon Hunter, or even an Evangelist sure beats living in this shithole, and with your skills I'm sure they'd take you in immediately. Are you actually stupid?!” Her voice now taking on an incredulous tone.

It was a known fact that the church took orphans into their ranks, indoctrinating them when they were young was more effective afterall. Cayleth naturally wasn’t taken in since it preached human supremacy, but for a pure human to refuse the opportunity to escape living the rest of their days starving at a stupid frontier village or becoming cannon fodder in the army was utter madness in her eyes.

Ariel merely made an angry expression, disgust reaching his eyes for the first time.

“I would never serve those bastards” he said with a tone that ended the discussion.

Cayleth watched his expression judgingly for a while. Wondering what her next step would be. ‘If they’re truly orphans they won’t last a week in this place. Gods know what would’ve happened if Raz hadn’t found me…’

“Well your decisions are your own. Now on to problem at hand, what are you going to do now?”

Ariel thought for a bit, then replied.

"I don't know, we just wanted to get as far away from the war as possible"

"Didn't plan for the scarcity of food, did you?" Cayleth guessed, now that she was able to take a closer look at Ariel she noticed that underneath the ragged clothes he wore was a well-trained body, although one that showed signs of someone that lost weight quickly.

"The country representatives didn't say anything about the conditions of the place we would be sent to, and people stopped inquiring after they executed the ones who refused their generous offer" Ariel said with a dark expression.

"Typical" Cayleth had heard many tales like these from Raz, apparently the inner cities were filled to the brim with refugees already, and their respective nobles pushed the kingdom to do something about it. Now one of two fates awaits those who lost their homes, either become cannon fodder for the army, a fate which many avoided at all cost because it was basically suicide; Or head north to the frontier with a promise of a new home and a better life. Unaware of the fact that the same fate still awaited them, albeit a slower one.

The boy just stood there, still unsure what to say.

“Well it is indeed darkening” Cayleth said, looking at the foliage above, now casting deep shadows on the places the sun could no longer reach. “I don’t know about you, but I’m heading back, you guys coming?” She had already decided that Ariel was worth keeping around.

The boy hesitated, to which she continued “That's unless you’ve got a problem keeping company to a xeno” she said, now with cold glint on her eyes.

The boy noticing what she was implying hurriedly said “No, not at all… it’s just…” he stopped, hesitating again.

“Come on. are we not friends? out with it”

“We don’t have a place to stay, the man who offered us shelter says we have to pay a rent, either in food, or… in other ways…” He said drily.

“Ugh, disgusting” Cayleth snarled. She had already guessed their situation being rather knowledgeable on the darker spots of human nature herself. “But wait, what are you doing here then? The villagers might not be the brightest people in the world, but they are smart enough not to eat anything that doesn’t come from their plantation” she asked confused.

“Well… I heard from some of the others that there were a few berries that were safe to eat, we were hoping to find those, or in the worst-case scenario, I’d hunt down a few small animals” Ariel continued, observing how Cayleth’s expression twisted as he spoke.

In the end she couldn’t help but laugh drily ‘BY THE GODS, are they keen on suicide?! Are humans really that indifferent to let children, their Kin wander uninformed into a place that would only lead to their death?!’ She already knew the answers, as she was familiar with the logic of less mouths to feed that most people used in this place. But it surprised her nonetheless.

“Well good thing I found you guys then, otherwise you and your sister would be either fertilizer, or some beast’s dinner. You see, this isn’t just some normal forest like the others in the country, you guys are in what is called the dead zone, because no beasts live here and most of the things that grow are extremely poisonous or toxic”

 The boy wanted to reply but Cayleth didn’t give him the chance.

“NOW, if you guys had gone a few more miles, you’d have entered the forest proper, and trust me when I say that you DO NOT want to do that, unless you want to die before you even realize what got to you. I’m sure you have killed some Gob’s in your training pretty boy. But you have NO IDEA of what lurks in that place” Cayleth warned them in a stern tone.

“Oh, and those berries don’t exist anymore, it’s incredible how quickly hungry humans are able to track down and devour anything that won’t turn their insides into mush…”

Ariel looked dejected, realizing just how faulty his plans were, and how close he had come to dying. And yet worse, dragging Jun down with him.

“Well, if you guys don’t have a place to stay, I guess you can stay at my place for a while…” She offered, noticing the increasing desperation in Ariel’s face.

“PLEASE!!!” He bowed, going down on his knees and planting his forehead on the ground.

“Wow, Wow, you don’t need to go that far. We are friends, aren’t we?” She was startled, quickly replying and saying whatever came to mind, but if anything, the boy’s behavior made her smile internally, and steeled her resolve she would take care of these kids. The prospect of a friend near her age pleased her.

The boy got up and looked straight at her emerald eyes, then saying with a relieved tone “Thank you!”

Cayleth couldn’t help but let a genuine smile grace her face “Well you guys aren’t that bad, for humans that is” she chuckled. “Come on, I’ll lead you guys back, we still got a long way to go”

She moved, gesturing so Ariel followed, but something interrupted them by the form a childish scream.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO, B-BIG BROTHER DON’T DO IT, IT’S THE W-WRAITH, SHES GOING TO CURSE YOU, THEN YOU BECOME WEAK AND DI-DIE, UWAAHHAHH” The little girl screamed, having stayed quiet for most of the conversation, merely hugging Ariel and burying her face into his back. Cayleth had almost forgotten about her.

Ariel, looked at her, expression changing to anger them sighing and becoming a patient one.

“Sorry, she’s still a kid… I guess the things the villagers said got to her… Sorry” He said wryly, looking awkwardly in Cayleth’s direction as he kneeled and looked Jun straight in the eyes.

“Jun” he started, putting his face on the same level as hers “She’s not the wraith, I heard the stories too, but we shouldn’t judge someone based on rumors” He said in a firm tone.

“B-but, Big-bro…”

“JUN, I can tell she’s not the wraith, ok? the wraith doesn’t use a spear, right? nor does she talk to people before she curses them, right? She’s just a girl like you” He continued, smiling at her.

The small girl apparently accepted his words, as she stopped crying, but then she looked at Cayleth and buried her face in Ariel’s chest.

“It’s okay Jun, I promised I would protect you, didn’t I?” He reassured the small girl “Can you walk?”

The small girl looked at his smiling face and replied. “Yes”

Ariel looked at Cayleth who was still frozen in place looking at them and smiled wryly again.

“Sorry about that, I hope this doesn’t hurt our friendship…” he said awkwardly.

“No probs, I can tell you’re not a bad human Ariel. But what is that nonsense about a wraith now?” Cayleth had a guess, but she wanted to make sure.

Ariel looked relieved, but them his expression turned complicated as he thought of what he should say.

“It was just talk among the refugees, I thought it was nonsense when I heard it too, something about the spirit of an elf girl that curses the land their people, maki…”

Cayleth growled and snarled “Typical” under her breath, interrupting him “You don’t need to tell me the rest, kinda used to it already to tell ya the truth” she said with a dark expression.

“Well we should start walking, don't want that idiot doing something stupid because I didn’t show up” She continued, turning towards the direction of the village.

“What?” Ariel asked.

“Oh… sorry, just kinda spoke what was on my mind, but we really should be walking right now. We don’t have much light left, and I rather not stumble into one of those vines with poison on their thorns”

“Okay” he said holding Jun’s hand and following her

A little while later, Ariel suddenly stopped as if he had realized something.

Cayleth shot him a questioning look, as he was eying her hands.

“Your spears! We forgot them!” Ariel said.

“Oh that… ah don’t worry they’re expendable” She said shrugging it off and turned to continue walking.

But Ariel didn’t let up “Expendable?! Don’t bullshit me. The crafting on those things was incredible! They must have taken an incredible amount of effort to craft!” Ariel was apparently good at judging weapons.

Cayleth simply looked at the ground and found a small twig laying around. She picked it up and willed her mana into, transforming it into a miniature spear. The bark perfect and smooth without a single failure. As if the wood had grown into that shape naturally.

She offered it to Ariel, who was giving her surprised look.

“Here, for you”

“Incredible! You could make some good money selling that back in the cities, specially if you can use something like Steelbark on them”

Cayleth flushed a bit, she wasn’t used to receiving compliments.

“Well sadly they don’t last long” she said weakly, turning her face away.

“What?”

“…. They rot away after some time, especially when I make then quickly like this. That one will likely last only a few minutes at best”

Ariel’s expression turned blank. Unsure of what to say looking at the miniature spear in his hands, at the end he pocketed it near where kept his dagger. Drawing a small smile from Cayleth as she observed it side-eyed while walking ahead.

Midway through the trip an awkward silence had settled down, to which Ariel attempted to break it by starting a conversation.

“You know, I thought you didn’t exist at first” he said.

“What?” she replied coldly.

Noticing his mistake, Ariel tried to correct it. “uhm… you know, besides the rumors about the wraith, there were some talks about an elf girl with silver hair, they said that she was here as long as they can remember, as if time didn’t change her appearance at all, and that if you dared to touch her you’d end up strung to a tree with a spear down your… well uh…”

“Oh, that one. I guess he did go a little overboard back then... but sincerely It was well deserved, that one was rude, and grabby too” She said chuckling, remembering the situation in question.

Ariel gulped, “h-he?”

“You’ll meet him soon, don’t worry though. You’re a good kid, and I’m sure Raz will like you too” Cayleth said while grinning.