As the three of them were heading to the church, they saw other villagers starting to leave their homes, and joining them on the way.

“Mister Vincent, do you know what is going on?” One of the villagers said.

“Sadly I have no idea, but it must be important if they are ringing the church bell, for the meantime let us be calm about the situation.”

The villager nodded his head, the other villagers who were near them shook their heads as well, as if agreeing with him.

At the sight of the church, there was a huge crowd of villagers already there, on top of the stairs was the deacon Stevan.

As they join the group, the villagers made way for Vincent, and the others. Ray could hear a person screaming near the stair of the church.

“If you all would just give us a moment.” Stevan said.

“It’s already been fifteen hours! how much more do you need, my sons would have been home by now!” An elderly man said.

“I understand,”

“You don’t understand anything! How can you expect me to wait here and do nothing? Let me help look for my sons!” The old man demanded.

“John! Did something happen to Alex, and Yovanni?.” Vincent spoke out.

{He knew them!} Ray thought to himself

“Sir Vincent! What a relief, my sons have gone missing since yesterday afternoon. After I brought it up with one of the knights they brought me here, and refused to let me look for them.”

“Deacon Stevan, what is the meaning of this, is there something going on that you have to call the whole village here.”

“Sir Vincent, I have orders from Miss Sierra to have the church bell ringing, she will come back shortly, I am just asking everyone to wait until they return. If you could help me, calm down everyone, I will appreciate it.”

“How can you call us, and not know what is going on.” The old man shouted at the deacon.

Vincent put his hand on the old man's shoulder. “It’s alright, they must have a valid reason for calling us here, John just wait, at least until Miss Sierra comes back, I am sure your boys are ok, can you do that for me,”

The old man wanted to argue, but relented, he looked at his feet, and started crying. Vincent started walking up the stairs of the church, standing next to Stevan, soon everyone in the crowd was silent, waiting for him to speak.

“Everyone, I know you must be worried, but until we receive information from the knights who recently came here from the holy city, we must be patient, please don’t jump into any conclusion, until we have proof. I am sure it is nothing, remember we are a village that has gone without any major incident for over twenty years. So please follow deacon Stevan's orders until then.”

Vincent ignored the question that the villagers were shouting, and went back down the stairs into the crowd, where Ray, and Viola were waiting. Soon Stevan stood in front of the church, and started telling the villagers what he knew.

“As Mister Vincent has said, we don’t have all the information right now, all Miss Sierra asked me if to have the whole villager gather here, it is for your protection. Until she comes back I will please ask you to remain here.”

“Vincent, what do you think we should do?” Ray whispered.

“Nothing, soon they will come.” Vincent answered.

After a couple of minutes, soon a big commotion could be heard from the back of the crowd, Ray turned, and the villagers quickly moved out of the way. The ones walking straight to the church were Sierra. Behind her was Brandon and Roger, they all had a solemn look on their faces. Behind those three, four knights were carrying two bodies on a wooden stretcher, some knights behind them carrying their weapons. The bodies were covered in a black cloth.

“What happened!” The old man screamed.

“Stop him!” Sierra ordered.

Two knights stopped the old man from going to the bodies, he extended his hand, as if trying to get rid of the black cloth.

“Please! Please! Don’t tell me those are my boys, please I beg you, anything but that. Let me see those bodies, I need to know!”

“Take him into the church, take the bodies into the medical room.” Sierra ordered.

The knights did as they were told, they dragged the weeping old man inside the church, Sierra, Brandon, and Roger slowly stood in front of the church, she slowly looked over the crowd. Then to her knights, the deacon. She took a deep breath and finally addressed the village.

“There have been two murders!” She yelled.

No noise could be heard from the crowd, everyone waited for her to continue.

“We have looked everywhere, and couldn’t find the monster who did this, it seems a hybrid has come to this village!”

Gasps can be heard from the crowds, some were praying, others were starting to panic, some tried to leave the crowd but were stopped by the knights surrounding the area.

“I need you all to listen to me, before you leave this area, I won’t force you to stay, but I insist you hear my words, after that you may do as you please.”

The villagers quiet down and look at Sierra.

“First off, we don’t know how many hybrids we are dealing with, based on the wounds on the victim it seems it was the work of a one hybrid, but that doesn’t mean they can be more around. So until further notice I would ask all of you, if you intend to go to the forest please come to the church so we can accompany you, it's not much, but it's all we can offer right now.”

“You want us to ask for permission?!” A villager demanded.

“Of course not! We are only asking to have some of us accompany you in case something happens to you.”

“Besides you, who else can defeat a mark hybrid?” Another villager yelled.

“No one, but something is better than nothing. We won’t stop you from going into the woods, to do what you need to do.”

“What are you going to do if there are more hybrids than you can handle?” A villager shouted.

“That is why I am going to request more help from the church. I know I have no right to impose any rules against this village, but I hope all of you understand the situation we are in, that is why I would like to ask you to put in a temporary curfew.” Sierra said.

The villager spoke out in anger, refusing the rules. Sierra waited until they quiet down before continuing to talk.

“Like I said, we won’t enforce these rules, we are only asking them, because they will make our job of protecting you more easily, know I have more work to do, if you have any question, Deacon Stevan will answer then for you, I will hold another town meeting in a couple days, I would appreciate it if you would attend.”

Sierra ignored the question being thrown at her, and went inside the church, she whispered something to Brandon, before closing the door behind her. Deacon Stevan walked down the stairs into the side of the church, where the villagers were crowding and shouting questions.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“What should we do?” Ray whispered to Vincent.

“It seems we are going to talk to Miss Sierra.”

Ray looked and saw Roger approaching them.

“Mister Vincent, Miss Sierra would like to talk to you, if you have the time.”

“Of course! Nothing should be more important than this, is it alright if I bring my nephew as well?”

“I’m sure it won’t be a problem, but um I’m not sure about you know.”

“Oh! I’m sorry, Viola, you can wait here, or back at the house. I don't know how long we are going to take.”

“Don’t worry about me, I will probably go look around town in the meantime.”

“Sounds good, now then please lead the way.” Vincent said to Roger.

As they walked up the stairs, Ray looked at the other villagers, their panic sorrowful expression left an uneasy feeling in him. As they walked into the church in the distance they could hear a faint sobbing coming down the hallway, Roger led the opposite way. Soon they came to the same study room they had been in last time. Roger held the door open for them.

As they walked into the room, they saw Sierra discussing with Brandon, she handed him a piece of paper and looked towards Vincent, and Ray.

“Mr. Vincent, and Sam, how are the two of you doing?”

“Please, let us get to the topic at hand, with the news you just gave out, I am going to be pretty busy these next few days. So I will like to wrap this up as quickly as we can.” Vincent said.

“Of course my apologies, I will get right to it.” Sierra said as she sat down opposite of Vincent.

“Now then please tell me, what you know of the hybrid that killed those boys.”

“Well the only thing we can tell you, that I didn’t tell the other villagers, is that most likely the hybrid that killed those men, is stronger than I am.”

“You didn’t tell them, because you didn’t want to panic them.” Vincent said.

Sierra nodded her head.

“Yes, I want to get things tightly under control, that is why I’m going to have the knights do constant patrol around the village.”

“I don’t think that is a good idea Miss Sierra.” Vincent said.

“Please explain.”

“With the way things are now, the villagers would be more tense if they keep seeing your knights going around every hour, they will start to think this is an excuse to keep an eye on them.”

“We need to keep an eye on every villager we don’t know who the hybrid could be.”

“You are willing to risk having the complete church have an even worse reputation in the village.”

“I am willing to risk anything to make sure the villagers are safe, Vincent.” Sierra stated.

“Look, I know you, and every knight here cares about the people, but you can’t let your emotion cloud your judgment, the last thing you want is to have the people you want to save to despise you.”

“...”

“I am just saying with everything going on, especially these attacks after you, and your troops of knights just came the other day-.”

“Are you blaming us for this, Vincent?”

Vincent took a long look at Sierra before answering her. “Yes, yes I am.”

“Ok, I think that is enough for today, I appreciate your advice. Roger, would you please escort them out.”

“We will leave, but it is obvious the villagers will soon come to the same conclusion that these attacks happened just after you guys arrived, they will start to blame the church for their deaths, what will you do then.

“No matter what they think of us, we will protect them.”

“Ok, just be careful with your next move, Sierra.”

“I will.”

“I won’t lie to you Sierra, But I really appreciate everything you have done for us. It makes it easier for me to work with.”

“Thank you Vincent, I appreciate your help as well.”

Vincent nodded his head and went out the door, Ray looked at Sierra.

“I hope everything works out.” Ray said, as he left.

The door closed behind them, Vincent, and Ray follow Roger towards the entrance to the church.

“Well I guess this is goodbye, please be safe, if you need anything don’t be afraid to come to the church to ask for help.”

Vincent put his hand on Roger's shoulder.

“Of course, you as well, if you, or anyone from the church need any help with something don’t hesitate to come to me, we must work together if we are going to survive this.”

Roger nodded his head, agreeing with Vincent's words. Roger open the church door, holding it open for them. As they walked out they said their goodbyes.

As they walked down the stairs most of the villagers were already gone, they were some who were still talking to Stevan.

“Now Sam, let's get home, before I lose it.”

“Uh, are you ok Vincent?”

“I am fine, honestly I am in a good mood, let's get home before the villagers start noticing me, come on, I’m sure we will meet Viola on our way there.

“...Ok.”

Ray, and Vincent walked past the crowds, and started heading back to Vincent home, villagers tried to talk to them, but Vincent told them another time. As they reached the exit of the village, they saw Viola waiting for them, on the path that leads to Vincent house. She joined them, as they headed back to the house.

As they entered the house, Vincent went to the living room, and sat on the coach, Ray, and Viola looked at him, both of them were uneasy. Vincent clutched his stomach as he started laughing.

Ray, and Viola look at each other unsure of what to do. “Vincent, are you alright?” Ray asked.

Vincent held up his hand, as he continued laughing. “I’m fine, I'm fine. Phew.” Vincent said, as he wiped his eyes.

“What got you laughing that hard?” Viola asked.

“Oh the knights, I’m sure they are a little suspicious of me, but without proof they can’t do anything, honestly Ray, if you weren’t here for the mission I would have killed them the day they arrived.” Vincent said.

{I guess me being here is good for something.} Ray thought to himself.

“What will you do now?” Viola asked.

“Well we have a few days to ourselves, I told the knights we are going to be busy, plus he is going to need the days until he can recover.”

{Is he talking about me?}

“So when do you plan on starting the training?” Viola asked.

“Right now actually. Hopefully he'll get it soon. I don’t know how long he is going to take to fully master this part of the training.”

“Wait, what are you guys talking about?” Ray asked.

“What else, we need to start on your training, though don’t expect this to be like the training you have been doing with Viola.” Vincent stated.

“Viola?” Ray asked.

“Good luck, Ray, hopefully it doesn’t hurt too much, Vincent I would rather not be here when you go through with that kind of training.”

“Oh, can I ask why?”

“.... I have things I have to take care of, I will probably be busy these days as well, if you need me, I'll be back at my place."

“Ok if you say so, come on fresh-blood let get started.” Vincent said, as he got up and left the living room.

“Ok, goodbye Viola.” Ray said, as he followed Vincent.

“You too Ray, good luck.”

Viola left, and Ray went to where Vincent was, he was heading towards the training room, as he caught up with him and asked him a question.

“So what kind of training are we going to do?”

“Something you need to get used to, otherwise you will die quickly against a blessed knight, so it’s better to get you prepared.”

“Oh, ok.”

{By the look on Viola's face, I guess she didn’t want to see me go through this, is it that bad? I wonder why she cares about what I go through?}

As they entered the training room, Vincent went to the middle of the room, and Ray stood in front of him.

“Alright, this is going to hurt, but it's necessary so you’ll survive.” Vincent said.

“Ok, I’m ready.”

“Not when it happen, I can promise you that.”

Ray stared at him.

“Ok, first thing is summon your energy, expand your mark as much as you can, without struggling.” Vincent said.

“Ok.” Ray did as he was told, covering his whole body, in the black energy, his mark starting from the palm of his hand, reaching his elbow. Ray looked at Vincent when he was done.

“Alright, this is the training we are going to do, no matter what, keep your energy consistent, don't let it waver alright.”

“I’ll try my best.” Ray said.

“Now hold up your hand with your mark.” Vincent said.

Ray was confused but did as he was told, he put up his left hand, the backside towards him, and the front of his hand towards Vincent.

Vincent took a step forward, and slash at Ray's hand. Ray hands fell to the ground with a thud, blood coming out of the wound.

“Huh?”