“We are?” Ray said, confused.

“Well I can’t blame you for not knowing, since you don’t yet understand our hierarchy, but in time you will learn, I have faith you and your sister will make it through this. Well I will repeat it again, you and your sister must be better than the other hybrids. I already told your sister, so I give the same courtesy of telling you, now then goodbye.”

“Wait!” Ray wanted to say something, but Drogo already spun around, and vanished. Ray looked around but couldn’t find any trace of him.

{Damn, how fast is he?...I have to be better than the other hybrids? What did he mean by that?} Ray unrolled the newspaper, and read the headline.

[Mass Panic in Caister Village.

A hybrid was spotted, and reported to have killed a group of knights. A female hybrid with a mask, who wore pure black clothing, but had blonde hair. The hybrid killed off the blessed knight that was working on construction on the village, she was reported leaving the village before telling the surviving villagers, no matter what she will survive.”]

“She won! She actually did it!” He said, with a smile on his face. “I have to go showed Charles.” He took off running through the forest, forgetting that he was supposed to be hunting deer. He navigated the mist that came during the winter months. He tried to calm himself down, but the news of his couldn’t stop playing in his mind. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He finally reached the cottage. A low mist was surrounding the cottage.

{Look like this next two months are going to be a bad one. We have to start hunting more earlier before it starts getting even worse.} Ray thought to himself. He went inside the cabin and found Charles reading a book. “Charles! Here, good news.” Ray said while holding out the newspaper.

Ray handed the paper to Charles, Charles read the headline, before folding the newspaper. “So she did it?” He asked.

“Huh? Uh yeah! Read the newspaper and it says how she did it.” Ray told him.

Charles stood up, and handed the newspaper back to Ray. “It's great to hear that she survived her first mission, but I’m sorry I really don’t want to read about what she had to do. Knowing that she is still alive is more than enough for me.” Charles stated.

“Oh! Um I’m sorry, I didn’t mean too-” Ray tried to say, but decided to stop himself. {Even after staying with him for this long, I guess he still can’t accept it.}

“It’s alright, now where did you get that newspaper?” Charles asked.

“I got it from the messenger Drogo, he, oh! He also handed me a letter.” Ray took out the letter from his waist.

“You just remembered?” Charles asked.

“Hey, Eda was more important.”

“You’re right, what does the letter say?”

Ray took out the letter and started reading it outloud. “Brat?” {Really Master?}

Charles was chuckling to himself; Ray cleared his throat before continuing. “Since the deadline I gave you is approaching, and you still haven’t awakened your mark, I will send some extra help, by the time you get this message he should already be on his way. He should arrive there in a few days. As well a word of warning, I have reports that the church will send knights to the village you are staying at. So watch out for them. Don’t want you dying on me before you could be of use to me. Once he arrives to pick you up, tell Charles his debt is clear, with this they are even. Don’t disappoint me.” Ray said, as he closed up the letter.

“Did she really have to mention that?” Charles grumbles silently.

“You guys are even?” Ray said, with a confused look on his face.

Charles went into the kitchen, with Ray following behind him. “When I retired from being a knight, and was traveling around the region trying to find a place to stay, or to call home, I was attacked by some people. I would have died if it wasn’t for her.” Charles bitterly said.

“Her?”

“If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be standing here right now. At first she wanted to turn me into a hybrid, but I refused. I told her I would pay her back any other way, except turning into a hybrid.” Charles coldly stated.

“Why don’t you want to become a hybrid? We lived longer, if you turn-”

“No! Listen to me Ray, I don’t ever want to become a hybrid. I’m more than happy to live as a human.”

“But why.” Ray insisted.

“Sorry, but that story is my burden alone, I don’t want you hating yourself.”

“Hating myself?”

“That’s enough, plus we need to go over the details from the letter you got from Miss Senya.

“Right.” Ray opened the letter again. They went over the details explaining what Ray should do.

***

February 01, 1410

A week had passed, when a carriage raced over the stone road leading to Arc Village. Twenty knights on horseback escorted the carriage. The twenty knights wore their simple armor, a bright blue chest piece with the marking of Sez on their chest. They were armed with swords on their waist, and bows and quivers on their back.

The person who was inside the carriage was a deacon of the church. He wore a simple green cloth, with yellow stitches running down the middle of his cloth. He is the one in charge of the church sermons, and activities, as well as building the church.

Inside the carriage with the deacon, were two knights. A newly blessed knight, by the name of James, he chooses not to wear his special armor, gifted to only blessed knights, until he has mastered his blessing. His blond hair pulled to the left side of his face, his left arm covered in a single hash. He wore a simple blue tunic, with a red belt on his waist. He didn’t carry any weapons. As a blessed knight he was in charge of the knights under him, as well getting the village to fully accept the church's help.

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The person sitting next to James, was his second in command Henry, he was much shorter than his commander, with brown hair, and he was scrawny. He was considered the weakest in the unit, Only being selected as next in command due to his intellect. As they grew closer to Arc village, they discussed their plan.

“Deacon Cassian, we should discuss our course of action, we won’t be able to discuss much in private when we reach the village.” Henry said.

“What is there to discuss? I believe we already went over the plan. First we buy more land from the peasants to build an ever-greater temple than we originally planned, after that we bribe the village chief. We just promised him wealth and he will keep his status, and he will hand over the village to us. Then the church will do as it pleases with their new land. If the peasants have any complaints we will refer them to the chief who sold them out.” Cassian said, convinced of their plan.

“You really believe this is something we should be doing?” James asked.

“Of course, the church has plans to finally regain the region, the outer outskirts villages are the ones in the way. We just need to gain the trust of their chief.” Cassian said.

“I still object to bribing the chief, but our leaders were clear we have a deadline, we need to convince the villagers it would be best if they moved out of the village, but how are you going to bribe the chief?” Henry asked.

“Simple, you just need to find something the people want, once you have it just offer it to them like you’re dangling it in their face. This isn’t my first time doing this either. I promised you; We are going to have that chief on our side by the end of the month. Plus this is good for them, it is rare for a village this far out to accept the help of the church. From the seven outer villages only two had knights. I believe the devastating attack the hybrids took on those three villages two years ago, finally scared them to do the right thing. As well, once the other nearby villages see how we protect this village, they will also ask for help, which the church will notice.” Cassian proudly stated.

“Thank Sez, they were knights who were close by to stop those mad hybrids.” James said.

“It is a shame all those people died, but now that we are here, we can protect the people. We can convince them to move towards the upper regions, where the other knights can protect them more easily.” Henry stated.

Suddenly a loud knocking came from outside the carriage door. Henry open the door, and they look at the knight who knock.

“Yes?” Cassian said.

“Pardon for the intrusion, but we have arrived at the village.” The knight said.

Their carriage slowly came to a halt, as they passed the village entrance, the carriage and the knights stopped in front of an empty lot of land that was supposed to be their church. An old man waited in front of the land. He waved at the knights. He had no hair, his beard was gray, he was wearing blown clothing. He was very thin.

“I shall head out first.” Henry said.

“Thank you.” James replied.

Henry opened the carriage door, as he stepped out he held the door open for James, and Cassian. The other knights were dismounting their horses. Cassian dusted his ropes and approached the old man.

“Hello! Mister Amice, I apologize for arriving a couple of days late. Thank you for having us.” Cassian bowed, to apologize.

“Please pay it no mind Deacon Cassian, I always wanted to have the church to be a part of our village, I was so close to convincing them to ask for aid after those devastating attacks. After all, we were one of the few villages without the knight's protection. It's a miracle we didn’t get targeted by those monsters. I finally convinced enough people in the village to let the church send some people, after some protection is better than nothing, and with that attack on Caister village, it seems it was the right call.

“Yes! A very wise decision, as being a part of our glorious church, you and the villagers here can always count on us to protect you. As this is Sir James, as to put you at ease he is also a blessed knight. He will have no trouble dealing with any disgusting hybrids that dare show their face.” Cassian proudly stated.

“Yes, that is correct, if there is any trouble bothering you, please don't hesitate to tell me. I will do my best to protect this village.” James stated.

“That is great to hear, well I don’t want to keep you waiting,as you can see we empty this plot of land, so you’ll be free to build your church. If you like I can showed you where you will be staying during the meantime.” Mice said.

“Please, that can wait. First I would like my knights to inspect your village, get a feel for it, after all they would eventually start taking turns keeping watch over your village.” Cassian said.

“Oh! Um I’m not sure that is a good-” Amice tried to say.

“Nonsense, my friend Amice, we are here to protect you after all. It would cause me great pain if something were to happen to any villagers in this village. I promised you my knights would not bother no one, they will just walk around and get a feel of the village. After all, how would they protect you, if they lost their way?” Cassian replied.

“...As long as they don’t bother any of the villagers.”

“Of course Amice. we are only here to serve your village.” Cassian said, with a fake smile.

“Ok that is fine then, if you would excuse me, I must inform the other villagers of your arrival.” Amice said, as he turned around.

“Before you do, is there anything we should know off beforehand?” James said.

“Well there is a man who lives at the base of the mountain with two kids. The knights who came around the attack on the village two years ago checked on him, and told us he was ok, but that was before he had the kids. Well one kid now, one of them left but we don’t where. He sometimes comes to the village to help but not everyone is ok with him living outside the village. He has already been informed of you taking residence here. He won’t be a problem I believe. If you like I could inform him of your arrival so he’ll meet you.”

“That is not necessary, I’m sure you already have enough on your plate, we will start building the church.” Cassian said.

As the old man left them, James called all the knights, and Cassian started explaining their first order of business. “Alright, I want ten people to start building, we are going to have more people come and help us build the church by the end of the month. I want the foundation ready by then. I want the others to inspect the village. The ones who are to inspect the village take note of how many houses are here, and try to find out how many live in this village. Henry, come with me, the rest of you have your orders. We will meet back here in a couple of hours.”

The knights nodded their heads, and they formed a group deciding who would build, or go around the village. James, Henry, and Cassian left the area to talk.

“What do you think?” Cassian said.

“I would like to inspect the man who lives at the base of the mountain. I remembered there was a note about him back in Adruil but I never got the chance to read it, there were also the kids Amice mentioned. I would like to meet them,” James said.

“I agree, the fact that he had those kids after the attack might be something to look into. If you would permit it, captain, I would like to go with you.” Henry said.

“Are you sure? You still haven’t gotten control of your blessing, should you not be training?” Cassian asked James.

“No, I’ll be ok, after all it’s because of me, we arrived late. If I hadn’t insisted on stopping to train, we would have already started building the church.”

“The important thing a blessed knight must do is to control their blessing. You have nothing to apologize for.” Henry said.

“He is right, James. If you can freely control your blessing that would put the villagers, and us more at ease.” Cassian replied.

“Very well, I will train when we come back from investigating the man. Henry, do you want me to carry you, since it will be faster?” James asked.

“Please sir, not in front of the others.” Henry desperately said.

James laughed. “I only joked, let’s go before it gets dark.”