Inside the church of Alton, Sierra was talking to Brandon, when they were interrupted, by Roger.

“Miss Sierra, Sir Brandon, we have an emergency, another villager may have gone missing.” Roger said,

“Who is the villager, and have you found anything?” Sierra said.

“Yes, the villager, is a hunter, he’s gone missing from the woods, his wife, came to where I have the knights station in the woods, and explain he’s been gone for a couple hours, i tried explaining that he might still be hunting, but she was convince something has happen, said, he is one of the villagers top hunters. So I came back and wanted to know how I should proceed.” Roger explained.

“Alright we will head there right now, Brandon, you will stay here and get ready, word is going to travel fast, it won’t be much longer before villagers start coming to the door and start demanding answers. Be sure to fill in deacon Stevan about what happened.” Sierra said.

Brandon nodded his head, and headed towards Stevan room, Sierra, and Roger started walking out the church, nighttime was already setting in. Sierra grabbed a torch and lit it, and headed for the woods, where the guards were stationed.

As they got closer they could see a group of villagers had already been formed, they could hear some of the villagers yelling at one of the guards that was trying to calm them down.

Sierra, walked into the crowd going past them, she ignored the insults that were being screamed at for being useless. She reached the knight and asked him a question.

“What is going, where is the other knight that is supposed to be here?” Sierra asked.

“He went with the wife of the villager that went missing, she refused to wait for you ma’am so he decided to accompany her, in case something happened.” The knight explained.

“Alright, do you know where they are now?” Sierra asked.

“No, the woman said, that her husband was hunting for deer, and it doesn't usually take him that long.”

“How long has he been missing?” Sierra said.

“The woman said it's been seven hours.” The knight explained.

“Right Roger I will go and look for them, you stay here, and try to calm down the villagers alright.” Sierra said.

“Are you sure, what if there is a hybrid waiting to ambush you, you need all the help that you can get.” Roger explained.

“I’ll be fine, the last thing I want is an unnecessary death on my watch, plus It’s my job to make sure this village is safe, I’ll risk my lives before I risk anyone under my care.” Sierra said.

“Alright, just be careful, if you are missing who knows what will happen to the village, and the people.”

Sierra nodded, and ran into the woods, running fast as she could, searching the woods for her knights, or the villager, until she could start hearing someone screaming another person named. She started heading towards the direction of the voices, and she finally found the villager, and her knight.

“Ma’am Sierra!” The knight said, as he walked forwards.

“Please, you have to find him, I can’t lose him!” The woman said, as she grabbed Sierra's hands, tight as she could.

Sierra freed her arms, and put her hands on the woman's shoulder.

“We will do our best to find him, but I am going to need your help as well, explain to me what he was doing, whatever you could tell me help.”

The woman nodded her head, and took a breath, while explaining what had happened during the day. “We were running out of meat, and Paul wanted to go hunting. I told him to have one of the knights follow him, but he just brushed me off, saying they will just drag him down, why? Why didn’t he just listen to me.” The woman said through tears.

“It's alright he only did what he thought was best for his family, can you tell me where you have been searching so I can look the other way.” Sierra said.

The knight told Sierra where they had looked, Sierra nodded her head, while looking around the forest.

“Alright I’ll search from the tree tops, you go to the forest entrance, and take her with you, if this is a hybrid we are dealing with, it’s better if I deal with it alone.” Sierra said.

‘Ma’am, I can’t leave to fight that hybrid by yourself, you will need all the help you can get.” The knight said.

“I’ll be fine, you have to escort her back to safety, when you go to the entrance tell Roger to come find me, understand, I’ll do the same if I find anything, now go.”

“Wait, what about me!?” The woman shrieked.

“I need you to head back towards the village.” Sierra said.

“I’m not leaving until I find him!” The woman screamed.

“Listen miss?”

“Sa- Samantha.” The woman said.

“Listen to Samantha, you can be more helpful back in the village, if we find anything, you’ll be the first one to know, if we come across a hybrid, we won’t be able to fight properly, and protect you right.”

“I, I guess.” Samantha said.

“We won’t stop looking until we find something that can help us find your husband ok. Can you tell me what he was wearing so I know if I find anything that belongs to him.”

“He was wearing his brown hunter gear, he had a scarf, his bag, bow, and quiver. Please, you have to find him, our kids need him, please tell me you’ll find him in one piece.” Samantha pleaded.

Sierra put her hand on Samantha's shoulder to comfort her. “We will do our best, now go back to both of you.”

The knight put his arm around Samantha who was still crying in her arms, and started walking her back towards the forest entrance, while Sierra started jumping towards the tree top. She reached a branch and started looking around.

Sierra spent a few hours looking around the forest until finally she found something. She jumped towards a tree branch that seemed to hold something, as she got closer she could see it was a bag. She landed on the tree branch, and picked up the backpack, looking inside of it.

She found hunting supplies, arrows, and brown clothes. Sierra put the backpack over her shoulder, and jumped to the ground. She bent down looking for any clues, as she was walking around she found footprints, she followed them, until they led her to a place where a fight seemed to take place. Sierra immedly searched the surrounding area, then she found a deer carcass. She inspected it, when her fears were confirmed. She could sense faint hybrid energy coming from the wound that killed the deer. Sierra stood up, and headed back towards the entrance forest.

As she got closer, she found Roger, screaming her name. She appears in front of him, scaring him in the process.

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“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you like that.” Sierra said.

“It’s ok, you found something!” Roger said.

“Yes, I think this is his bag, I couldn’t find any trace of his body, or any footsteps leading away from the scene.” Sierra said.

“A scene?” Roger said, confused.

“This involved a hybrid, I found a deer carcass that was shot through with what was hybrid energy.”

“What will we do, the villagers are going to be mad about this?” Roger said.

“I’m not sure yet, I’ll hold an emergency meeting, that should buy me a couple of minutes.” Sierra said.

“Why couldn’t they listen to your warnings,” Roger said.

“It’s fine Roger, he did what he thought was best, I won’t blame him for that, or any of the villagers, now come on. I am sure they have a lot of questions.” Sierra said.

As Sierra, and Roger came out of the forest, they were bombarded with questions from the villagers.

“Did you find anything?!”

“Where is Paul!?”

“Was there a hybrid!?”

They all yelled, Sierra held up her hand until they quieted down, but then Samantha came forward, she saw the bag Sierra was carrying, and collapsed to the ground crying out loud, the surrounding villagers started to comfort her. Sierra took a step forward, and spoke to the crowd.

“I did not find a body, I only found this backpack that seemed to belong to Paul, and I found traces of a hybrid energy!” Sierra said.

Some of the villagers started speaking to each other, others left the crowds, Samantha started crying even louder.

“I will hold a meeting in one hour, please keep your question until then, I will everyone that is here please do not go into the forest until we make sure it is safe. Once we have checked it out, we will do a search party for the villager Paul.” Sierra said. Sierra walks to the knights. “Take Samantha, to the church, be sure to pick up her kids, alright.” Sierra said.

The knight nodded, and headed where Samantha was, he helped her to her feet, they headed towards the village.

Sierra started walking away from the crowds, ignoring the question being thrown at her, she called Roger to her side.

“I’ll be going ahead, I need to tell the others what has happened, I need you to gather a search party, so we can start looking for Paul. Use the knights in the surrounding area in the meantime, once I get everything in order, I will have Brandon join you.” Sierra said.

“Understood, please be careful out there.” Roger said.

Sierra started running through the village, passing the villagers. She finally arrived at the church, she entered, and looked for Stevan, and Brandon finding them in the altar. When they both saw her they ran to her waiting for her story.

“There has been a disappearance, I found traces of hybrid energy, but no body, or trail leading out of the area, where I found it.” Sierra told them.

“Who disappeared?” Stevan asked.

“A villager named Paul.” Sierra said.

“Great a patron of Vincent, he is going to insist on being a part of this.” Stevan said.

“What is the relationship between those two?” Sierra asked.

“Paul, while not really working for him, he mostly sells him items from the forest, Vincent almost always buys everything from him. Once he finds out Paul went missing, he is going to want us to look for him right away.” Brandon said.

“We will, I already sent Roger, to gather a crew of knights to help him. I am going to join them after I am done talking to the villagers.” Sierra said.

“Do you need us to do anything?” Brandon said.

“Yes, Brandon while I am gone, you will be in charge of the village, Stevan, I need you to do your best to calm down the villagers, I’m pretty sure, they won’t be satisfied with my answers.” Sierra said.

“What do we do in the meantime?” Stevan said.

“Let's go to the study room, we have about fifty minutes before I hold a meeting.”

“Right.” Brandon said.

***

After Ray stood up from his bed, he could hear the faint ringing of the bell in the distance, Ray got off his bed, and headed downstairs, Ray saw Vincent getting ready.

“Vincent?” Ray said.

“They finally noticed, it's a good thing you didn’t leave a trail leading back here.” Vincent said.

“Yes, I made sure to cover my tracks well.” Ray said.

“Alright, I’ll be heading by myself, Viola already left for her house, just stay put, and get rest, you need your hand to fully recover by tomorrow.”

There was knocking at the door, both Ray looked at Vincent with wide eyes.

“Go to your room, do not come out unless I say so.” Vincent said.

Ray went back into the room, he stood behind his door, trying his best to hear what was going on. He heard Vincent opening the door, and some voices. Then he heard someone coming up the stairs, Ray went under his bed, pretending to be asleep.

The door opened slightly and Vincent's voice spoke out. “Sam, I’ll be back in a bit, a knight has come to escort me to the church, you’ll be in charge until I come back.”

“Ok, I’ll wait here until you come back.” Ray said.

Vincent closed the door, and said something Ray couldn’t hear. Ray heard Vincent going back down the stairs, Ray quickly got up, he put his ear on the door again, he heard the front door close, Ray slowly got out of the room, and went to a nearby window, the only window on the top floor that look towards the entrance of the house was Vincent room.

Ray stood in front of Vincent's room contemplating whether he should enter, he grabbed the knop and turned it. It was open, Ray grabbed the lamp from his room, and slowly made himself into Vincent's room. He quickly studied the room, it was similar to his room. The bed was bigger, his clothes were neatly folded top of a chair, there was a desk with a ton of paperwork. Ray quickly went to the window, crouching down to make sure he wasn’t seen, and saw Vincent, with a single knight heading down the walkway that leads towards the church. Ray watched them until he was sure they couldn’t see him. He stood up, and started going around the room. He went to the desk, and looked through the papers.

Ray went through the papers, until he found one with his name on it, he started reading it, it was from his master. Ray skimmed through it, it was the letter that Senya had sent to have Vincent train Ray, as well as Flora.

{Flora? Who’s that? What else is there?} Ray thought to himself.

Ray found a list of names, and read through them. “Jeremiah, Silas, Lothar, a name scratched out, replaced with Flora, Rita, Kya, and Alexander.

{Rita is the only name I know, who are these people?. Wait, are these the names of the rest of the hybrids working like Vincent? I can’t make out the name of the scratch out one, under it has Cata..? No it can’t be that, the letter that master sent Vincent, is asking to either train me, and take care of someone called Flora. Right? I’m confused, I better put this back, wait what is this.}

Ray looked at one of the papers that was neatly folded, and opened it, it was a letter that Vincent was in the middle of writing, he addressed it to a person called Doris. Ray quickly read it.

{Elder Doris, I am writing to you, because of your hybrid. Viola, I do not think she has what it takes to become a lead. She grows too attached easily. I will test her during her stay, if she manages to convince me I will–}

{That can’t be it. Where's the rest of it?} Ray thought, as he looked over the paper.

Ray heard a noise coming from the bottom of the house. Ray quickly put everything back as it was, and slowly came out of the room. He put out the fire from the lantern, and slowly looked over the railing. He saw someone lit up the room. He walked down the stairs, and into the living room. He turned the corner, and saw Viola.

{Really?}

“Hey Viola, what are you doing here?”

“I was just looking for Vincent.”

“Oh, he went out, a knight came to escort him to the church, most likely because of what I did.”

“Right, how are you holding up?”

“I haven’t really given it much thought, but I am still kinda sad, I killed an innocent man ruining his family.”

“You're gonna have to get used to that, he won’t be the last.” Viola said.

“No, no he won’t.” Ray said.

“What will you do?” Viola said.

“I will follow my orders, kill Sierra, and anyone who attacks me.”

“A few more days, right.” Viola said.

“A few more days.”