May 19, 1410

Ray got lost.

Ray looks at the map countless times, trying to find a way back on the trail. It has been four days since he left Alton village, Ray dropped the compass Vincent had given him somewhere when he was running through the forest. Ray climbed the trees, reaching the top, he saw the sun was already setting, he looked at the surroundings, but all he saw were more trees. Ray climbed back down and laid on a tree. Adjusting his backpack.

{I should be almost there by now, did I miss something? I don’t want to keep the other hybrid waiting too long. Dammit, I’ll worry about in the morning, running in the dark isn’t going to help me.}

Ray felt like he just blinked. When he opened his eyes again, and saw it was morning, Ray grabbed his packback, and put it over his shoulder, he climbed to the top of the trees again, to get another view of the surroundings.

Ray stood on the highest branch that could fully support him, he decided to jump as high as he could, and look quickly around, before he fell back down. Ray bends his knees, and using as much force as he can he jumps, the tree branch breaking because of the force.

Ray managed to jump five meters above the trees, he quickly looked around before the gravity pulled him back down, and saw a clearing of trees over the horizon, Ray turned himself towards the clearing, and started falling back down. Before he hit the tree branches he threw a bolt of energy toward the trees so he would know where to go.

{This is going to hurt.}

As Ray fell he tried to grab on to anything he could, but whenever he grabbed a branch, it snapped off, and kept sending towards the ground, with a thud, he landed on his back, he laid on the ground until the pain went away. Getting on his feet, Ray started climbing the tree he marked.

As he got to the top, he started going around it, looking for the mark he made, and finally finding it, the bolt managed to get in the wood about half a meter. Smoke was coming out as well.

Ray faced the direction he needed to go, and started jumping through the tree branches. As he went he was marking the trees so he knew where to go back in case he got lost. Finally he reached the clearing, and saw one of the landmarks he was supposed to see. It was a big tree that was broken in half, with the other half of the tree trunk laying on the side. Ray grabbed his map, and found where he was.

{What the? I somehow skipped two landmarks. Whatever I’m close to the village, I need one more landmark, and I should arrive at Temes. I should stay out of this path in case some knights are patrolling it, I’ll have to stick to the top of the trees again.}

Ray quickly looked at the map one more time, and started jumping through the trees, making sure he could see the route. After traveling for half an hour he finally reached the next landmark, a wooden sign detailing the location of Temes. Ray made sure the coast was clear before jumping to the ground, and inspecting the sign.

{The village of Temes is just down the path, I need to look for the hill that overlooks it, and find the other hybrid. Hopefully he hasn’t been waiting too long.}

Ray went back to the trees, and started going as fast as he could, until finally he reached the village, he stood on a branch and looked over it. Temes was almost twice the size of Alton. Ray saw the entrance of the village made of wood. Ray saw most of the buildings were made of stone, rather than wood. The village had a wooden wall surrounding it. Some knights were stationed on top of the wood fitted with bows, and arrows. They were the four bells across the village, and in the middle was the church. The church was like the one in Alton, made of gray stone, a black bell hung on top of it, in the middle of the church stood the mark of Sez.

Behind the church stood a giant stone pillar that was almost the same height as the church. Ray tried to look behind it but couldn’t see anything.

{Wonder what that’s for?}

Ray looked at the surroundings of the village until he found the hill that overlooks it. Ray quickly started jumping through, making sure not to lose sight of the hill. As he finally reached the top of the hill, Ray looked around and saw no one.

Ray looks at the village again, able to see more. The left side of the village seems to have the housing of the village, while the right side, were made of stores, and inns. Ray could see some people leaving the village.

“Yo,” A voice called out.

Ray quickly turned around getting in a stance, he saw a boy jump down from the trees, and landing perfectly, he stood up, with his hands on his hips. The boy had blond hair, and blue eyes, he was the same height as Ray. He wore a blue cloak, underneath were black pants, and a black shirt. He had a big smile on his face.

“Easy there, I'd rather not have to do something do stupid.” The boy said.

“Who are you, a normal human could never jump from that height without getting hurt, if you do anything stupid I will kill you.” Ray stated.

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The boy started laughing, Ray started feeling uncomfortable, his fist tightening.

“Relax, I have been following you since you arrived, I saw you overlooking the village, though just to be sure I am John.”

Ray relaxed his shoulders, standing up straight, he held out a hand towards John. “I’m Sam.”

The boy smiled, and shook Ray's hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you Ray.”

“Yeah, you too, Justin.”

“It is nice to finally meet the hybrid that committed all those crimes against the church, and at Arc village.” Justin said.

“How did you-?”

“In the newspaper, the fact you gave out your names is the most surprising to me, though the fact you killed all those knights helps me remember you.” Justin said, in a disapproving tone.

Ray was confused with the way Justin was saying these things, he decided it was better to ignore it. Ray tried to let go of his hand but Justin suddenly pulled Ray closer to him, and turned Ray around until the both of them faced the village. Justin had his arm over Ray's shoulder as they walked near the edge of the cliff overlooking the village.

“Huh, what are you doing?” Ray asked.

“Let's be sure to do our best, honestly I wish we can start the mission already, but the orders they gave us told us to wait until the last week of the next month, do you know why they want us to do that?”

Ray still felt uncomfortable being grabbed by someone he doesn’t know, but he went with it, trying to get along with Justin. “Uh, no, not really. I was confused about that too, maybe our target didn't come to the village until that time?” Ray said.

“No, it can’t be that, I was secretly listening to the knight's conversation, our target Roberto is already there, so it must be something else.” Justin replied.

“Oh, how long have you been here?” Ray questioned.

“I got here yesterday in the morning,” Justin answered.

“Oh, I’m sorry for making you wait.” Ray apologized.

“Don’t worry about it, I must have come from a closer village than you.”

“No, I don’t think that’s it.” Ray stated.

Justin let go of Ray's shoulder, and looked at him with a confused look on his face. “What do you mean?” Justin asked.

“... I got lost.” Ray admitted.

“Oh, that’s ok, I mean it happens, how did you get lost?”

“I lost my compass, when I was jumping through the forest.”

“It's fine, we are barely in May, we still have a full month and a half before we finally have to complete the mission.”

“Right.” Ray agreed.

Justin sat down on the grass, his gaze focusing on the church. “Tell me Ray, what do you think about the church of Sez.”

“I am really not sure to be honest.” Ray answered.

“Oh,”

“How about you?” Ray asked.

“It doesn’t really matter in my eyes, I used to admire them, but since becoming a hybrid, I am not sure either.”

Ray wanted to ask about his past, but decided against it.

“So what else do you know about me?” Ray asked.

“Well I am only saying these things based on the newspapers I read, if they are wrong please don’t hesitate to correct me.” Justin reassured Ray.

“Ok.”

“Well according to the newspaper, you are a heartless monster who kills for no reason, even taking innocent lives when you don’t have to, as well as mocking the people you’ve killed. Assembling their bodies right after killing them. Giving them a funeral as some sick joke. With the recent news, how you brutally killed the deacon of the village when he just wanted to talk to you. I think that is it.”

“Do you believe any of that?” Ray mumbled.

“Well I know better than to believe the news, I am sure some of it was exaggerated to make the people be more afraid of the hybrids.”

“What if I told you everything in the newspaper was true, killing innocents, beheading those twenty knights, putting them together right after, brutally beheading the deacon of Alton, making kids orphans?” Ray asked.

Justin sighed, rubbing his head before answering. “If you don’t mind I would rather not talk about that, I hope you had your reason for doing what you, other than that, there is nothing I can do, but we are going to have to work together if we are going to take down Roberto.”

Ray wanted to keep quiet, but he decided to ask one more question just to be sure, about where he stood.

“Fine, but can you at least tell me, if you think if I am some kind of monster, who kills without cause?”

“...” Justin remained silent, shifting his gaze towards the sky, his fingers slowly feeling the ground.

“That depends on you?” Justin finally spoke.

“What do you mean?”

“What were the reasons that you killed those people, did you have a reason for it, or because you wanted to?”

“I never!” Ray stopped himself, realizing he was raising his voice, he took a gulp and tried again, speaking slowly this time. “I had my reasons, though I don’t want to share them, I can tell you I never went out of my way to kill someone, every death I caused had its own reason, I would never try to seek out murder.” Ray stated.

Justin stood up and looked over at Ray, he looked like he was inspecting him, Justin looked unconvinced, which made Ray feel worse for some reason. “If you actually did it for a certain reason, and not like those kind of hybrids who just take out their anger on a nearby knight, or person, I think we can get along.” Justin said, while extending his hand towards Ray, with a smile on his face.

“Yeah, I don’t think I would ever do that.” Ray agreed as he shook Justin's hand .

{As long as I did my actions within reason, I think I should be fine, I don’t know what Eda would think of me if she knew I was just some brute hybrid killing without reasons. I am sure she thinks my actions are justified, if there is one person I never want to disappoint it’s her. Eda I promised to see this through. I hope you do the same.}