“What are you talking about Eda?” Ray asked, with a confused look.

Eda ignored Ray, and continued looking straight at Senya.

“Ok. You got my attention, what kind of deal are you proposing?” Senya finally spoke, she leaned forward intrigued by Eda.

Eda took a deep breath. “Let me help you in whatever you want to accomplish, and in return once we are done with whatever it is that you want to do, you’ll let my brother go, he will no longer belong to you.” Eda stated, refusing to back down.

Senya stared into Eda's eyes, when she suddenly released her aura, Ray instinctively looked down, as his head body couldn’t look at Senya, in the corner of his eye, he could see Eda was still standing, but her legs were slightly shaking.

“Do you understand what you are asking of me?” Senya asked, in a low, angry voice.

Eda did her best to not falter. She force herself to speak. “Yes, I was in charge of my brother.”

“If you really are serious about this, I won’t allow you to change your mind.” Senya warned her.

“Yes,” Eda repeated. “Ray is all I have left,” she looked at him, then back at Senya. “I will… I will do whatever is necessary to save him.”

“Even if you could never live peacefully again?” Senya asked, wondering what Eda was thinking.

Before Eda could speak, Ray forced himself up. His anger fuelled him. “No! Eda this is my choice, you don’t have to abandon everything dad taught us for me I’ll be ok, you need to forget everything that has happened, and live a normal life.” Ray pleaded.

“You know I can’t just let you go. I’m responsible for you, that was the last thing dad told me to do, before I saw those knights strike him down.” Eda revealed.

“No! Listen, the deal was she would be saved, you aren’t supposed to make her into a full on monster!” Ray said to Senya.

“I will say this once, if you make me repeat myself, there will be severe consequences. The deal was if I save the both of you, you will belong to me. You never mention anything after I save the two of you. I completed my part, and you will do too.” Senya told him.

“But…” Ray wanted to argue with Senya, but he realized she was right, he couldn’t put them in even more trouble.

“If I do accept your deal, when you finally start doing missions, the two of you will be seperated. What would you do if your brother dies?” Senya probed.

Eda took a minute to think, she realized she wouldn’t like the obvious answer, so she decided to take her question seriously. Though if pain her to think that would happen to Ray. “If that does happen, then that will only give me more motivation, more strength to take on the church. I only asked you to let me avenge him.”

Senya looked taken aback, she didn’t expect that answer, but then she started laughing. Eda, and Ray look at each other, unsure of what to do. “Ah, it’s been a while since I laughed like that, thank you. You really are lucky I was the one who changed you, otherwise it wouldn’t be possible to avenge your brother.” Senya chuckled, with a genuine smile on her face.

{I wonder if she really is from nobility, everything she does is so graceful. Hopefully she can treat me like that too. She does look pretty, though she did say hybrids live longer lives, I wonder how old she really is. Should I ask her? No, that will be rude, and most likely get me hit again.} Ray thought to himself.

“Hmm? Ray, do you have a question, I keep seeing your face changing expression, as if you're talking to yourself?” Senya wondered.

“Oh no, miss-”

“Master, remember you work for me now.” Senya reminded him.

“Is that really necessary?” Eda asked in disbelief.

“Of course, I can’t have the others see him adress me, as anything else. But I do like you, so I will let you call me Miss Senya.” Senya offered.

{Lucky.} Ray thought to himself.

“So does that mean you will accept my proposal?” Eda asked.

Senya sighed, “listen, this goes for you as well Ray, since I’m making you do this regardless. This road will be long, and especially hard, like I said you might even lose your life, who knows? You will become enemies of the people, you mentioned it before you have an uncle that works for the church, if the time comes to meet him, will either one of you be able to kill him?”

Ray continued to look at the ground, unable to answer. Eda wanted her, and Ray to just ignore the question, but she steadied herself, and answered Senya's question.

“If we do meet our uncle, or cousins, can we have a chance to talk it out, who knows we can convince them to join our side instead?” Eda offered.

“Your cousins are also knights?” Senya asked, wanting to know their full family first.

“Our uncle Oliver is a blessed knight, we don’t really know about our cousins, it's been two years since they left the village, but they were adamant on joining the church. It’s just our uncle, and two cousins.” Ray spoke out.

“What are they’re names?”

“They have the same last name as us, Friede. Oliver Friede, and his three sons. Jose Friede who is twenty three. Dennis Friede who is twenty, and the younger one Rick Friede. I believe he just turned eighteen, the required age to begin knight training.” Eda revealed.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Alright, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for their names, when I send you two on those missions, but if they do refuse to listen, and start fighting you for real, aiming to kill you, will the two of you be able to set aside your emotions?” Senya asked, wanting to be sure what they were capable of.

“Yes, my brother is more important than them.” Eda declared, she already made up her mind, if she had to choose between a sibling, or a cousin, she will choose the one that matters the most to her.

Senya nodded her head, and looked at Ray, who was still looking down at the ground. He was gripping his black jeans, tears were coming out of his eyes, and falling on his knees. “Ray, look at me, I still need your answer.” Senya demanded.

Ray forces his head up, and looks at his master, taking a shallow breath before answering. “I…I will do whatever I have to, to make sure I come out alive, so Eda, and I never have to go through that again. If I lose family members, then so be it. As long as Eda is still with me, still alive, that is enough for me, I will be ok.” Ray answered.

Eda wanted to console her brother, but decided to wait until Senya decided to talk again.

“Eda, are you sure you will be able to handle the task I give you?” Senya asked again.

“Yes, without a doubt.” Eda confirmed.

“Very well then, the deal is made.”

Ray wanted to argue against his master, he desperately didn’t want this life for his sister, but there was no turning back after they both agreed to the deal. {If I have to become a monster then so be it, Eda, and I will make it, nothing will stop us.} Ray told himself.

“Alright since we all are in agreement, let me tell you a part of my plan, Eda you can sit back down next to Ray.” Senya looked at the both newly turned hybrids, wondering how much to tell them, also secretly wondering which one of them will last the longest. “While I can’t tell you everything for obvious reasons, the main thing we are doing is taking down the church. I need the both of you to do right now is to get stronger. Once the two of you reach a certain amount of strength you will play a part in the plan, the both of you will have enough time to gather strength.” Senya revealed.

“What about the citizens, and the royal family?” Ray asked.

“They don’t matter, they will probably die, but they aren’t a threat especially the royal family, so don’t mind them.” Senya said.

“So right now you just want us to build our strength?” Eda asked.

“Yes, once you reach a certain amount then everything will be explained to you, but right now I need to know what the both of you know, what can you tell me about the church of Sez?” Senya questioned them.

Ray spoke first. “ Well the church is made up mostly of the three holy cities, or the three pillars to be exact, two are the major cities Adruil, and Aetrom, and the last one is the sacred city, Aevum. All three of them are located in the upper regions of Pangaea.” Ray answered, as if he was repeating a book.

“That’s right, I’m surprised you know that much.” Senya admitted.

“Uh, yeah! It’s just I wanted to learn everything about the knights, before I could beco…” His voice trailed off, realizing what he was about to say. {How stupid am I? After what they did, I could never think like that again.} Despite what he went through, deep down he wondered if he could still live that life, despite what he has become. “Sorry master, I didn’t mean to say that.” Ray apologized.

“...It’s alright, you are still adjusting to your new life, I can’t expect you to fully come to terms with what you are so soon, it does take time.” Senya admitted, hinting that she had to go through something similar. “Now then,” she reached behind her, and grabbed her bag, taking out a big scroll of paper, she placed it on the ground in front of Ray, and Eda, unrolling it, it was a map of the continent Pangaea.

Pangaea was a massive landmass, it was the only continent in the world, there were other small islands around the world, but because of their harsh conditions no one bothered to live there. In the upper regions of Pangaea were the three holy cities. Aevum being in the most upper region. A dense forest was underneath Aevum, under it was the city Aetrom. Two small cities were located below Aetrom. While the biggest city Adruil was located in the mid-region.

“As I was saying, your goal right now is to gather enough strength to make a difference on my mission. If you don’t have enough strength then even a newly blessed knight will be able to kill you, and you will become nothing but an inconvenience. We should have everything ready for the mission in about four to five years. Both of you have that much time to spread your mark across your body. About thirty percent should be enough. Since we are already approaching the deadline, I think it would be best to tell the others about no more turning anymore humans, they would just become fodder. Well I have already sent the letter, I will send you two somewhere to train, and when you have your new teacher’s approval. I will start sending out orders.”

Ray raised his hand, wanting to ask a question, but didn’t want to interrupt Senya.

“Yes, Ray?”

“What can we do if we manage to spread our marks to thirty percent like you wanted?” Ray wondered.

“Not much but just gain enough strength that even a bunch of normal knights won’t pose a problem to you.” Senya revealed.

“What about you, is there something you are trying to learn to do?” Eda asked.

Senya smirked, she thought for a bit, and decided to humor them. “Well the two of you most likely won’t be able to do it anytime soon, but right now I am training on seeing how much I can control another person.” Senya revealed.

The both of them look at her confused.

Senya sighed, “Ray put up your hand.” She commanded.

“Uh, which one?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Ray put up his left hand, Senya stood from the tree trunk and got close to him, with her left hand she touched Ray’s middle finger. Soon Ray's finger was covered in a dark colored energy. Ray was a little shocked, but he remained still.

“Now then, try to move your finger.” She commanded.

Ray tried his best to flex his finger but it refused to move, it was like it was stuck into place, he slowly started panicking.

“Relax, since your finger is under my energy only I can move it, but this is something that nobody has mastered that I know. Even when I use all my strength the most I can do is just cover only the five fingers. Even now with just one finger I need to put some effort into it. Of course it seems to work only on normal people, it doesn’t work on knights who are blessed, or hybrids who have their marks because of their strength.” Senya revealed as she let Ray’s finger go. “To be honest I wonder how much stronger I need to be to fully control a normal human.”

“Will you be teaching us then?” Eda asked.

“No.” Senya answered.

“You won’t be training us master?” Ray asked.

“No, I have other things to take care of, I shouldn’t have even been here in the first place. Never mind that, I will send you two to this village,” Senya pointed at the map. “It’s not that far from where we are. Ark village is where you two will be heading. To the west side of the village should be a small forest below a mountain. In the forest you will find a cabin, with a red rooftop. A man named Charles will be your teacher, I already sent out a letter through a carrier pigeon. He will be waiting for you. You should arrive there in a week’s time at most. Be sure to avoid the village. Every village is on high alert since the attacks of the other villages, if they find you they will question you, so it is best to avoid them for now. Are you both with me so far?”

They both nodded, understanding where to go, and what to do.