A lone wren glided its way through the narrow hall of a long canyon situated roughly ten miles north of Felidae. Its crimson stones had been carved through by a fierce river, which had long since dried, leaving nothing but large rocks and the occasional tree that engulfed the ground in shadow. It was the perfect refuge for small ghouls to retreat to during the day, and their bony black arms reached for the tiny bird in vain as it flew just out of their reach.

Eventually, the narrow canyon walls widened out to a much broader path draped in sunlight, free of the beasts’ reaching claws. The wren landed confidently on the branch of a dead tree and began to preen. By the time it looked back up, it had no time to register the arrow flying directly towards it. Seconds later, the wren lay dead on the ground with the arrow piercing the center of its body.

“Whoa, nice shot!” Reima exclaimed as she, Falon, and Kyo emerged from behind a cluster of rocks about ten feet away and approached the body.

“Yeah,” Kyo agreed. “Now do it thirty more times and we might just have enough for everyone to survive the next few days.”

“Twenty-nine,” Falon said plainly as she hoisted her bow back over her shoulder and reached down to collect her kill. “You’ve had your share for the week, have you not? I don’t intend to exert more energy than I absolutely need to.”

“What? How is that fair?” Kyo snapped, curling his lip angrily.

Falon turned to face him, her expression neutral as ever. “This is the first bird I’ve seen in days. We’ll be lucky to find one more, let alone thirty.”

At this, Kyo began going off on a tangent. Reima let out an exasperated sigh. How the man had the energy to argue after wandering around the hot desert for five hours was beyond her. Head pounding and stomach screaming, she turned away from the pair and tried to find something to focus on other than Kyo’s yelling. A brief movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention and she looked up to see a massive raven perch on the branch of another tree only a few yards away. Its beady black eyes stared Reima down as if waiting for her to do something.

That thing has to count for at least three wrens, Reima thought. “Guys!” she hissed to her companions, trying to keep her voice low so as to not scare the animal away. “Guys, look!”

Falon and Kyo turned to look at where Reima was pointing and immediately ceased arguing. The raven stared at the trio a moment before letting out a deep caw.

“Is that…?” Kyo began.

“Black,” Falon confirmed.

“Congratulations, you know colors,” Reima muttered sarcastically. “Hurry and shoot it before it flies away!” she urged.

Falon, however, made no move toward her weapon and instead gently pushed Reima aside and approached the tree where the raven was perched. The bird cawed again then hopped off the branch and began hopping around on the ground. Next to it was an arrangement of markings drawn in the dirt.

Falon studied the scribbles thoughtfully. Arrows, lines, circles, and poorly drawn stick figures seemed to tell her all she needed to know before turning her gaze to the left, which led further down the canyon; and then to the right, toward the dark crevice from which the wren had emerged. The dead white eyes of the ghouls stared at her hungrily from the shadows, but the beasts didn’t dare step foot into the sunlight. It didn’t escape her notice the way their attention shifted from her, her companions, and to a giant pile of rocks just outside their reach.

Seeming satisfied with Falon’s reaction, the raven gave one final caw before flapping its wings and flying away.

“Dammit, I told you that would happen!” Reima cursed as she watched it disappear down the canyon.

“Forget the bird,” Falon said. Reima’s attention turned back to the redhead, who was now hoisting herself up into the tree. Finding a sturdy branch to stand on, she drew her bow. “We’ve got much bigger game coming our way. You two get down and conceal yourselves behind those rocks over there.” She gestured a bit further down the path to where the boulders were sat on either side of the ravine. “Our target will come quick, and when it does, you’ll need to cut the ankles to halt its movement.”

“Wait, what? How do you know…?” Reima started only for Kyo to cut her off.

“Shut up and go along with it,” he growled, grabbing her arm and pulling her over toward the rocks.

Still confused, Reima went with him and they each crouched down behind their respective boulders. Knives at the ready, the pair waited.

It only took a couple of minutes before the sound of a massive animal charging in their direction reached Reima’s ears, though she quickly this wasn’t a prey animal. Angry snarls and moans echoed bounced off the canyon walls as the creature continued to barrel towards them along with a harsh rattling sound that Reima could have sworn sounded like… chains? She quickly turned to Kyo, who crouched still as a statue with knife in hand.

“Kyo, I don’t think this is something we should be attacking,” she warned.

“Shh!” he hissed back, not breaking his concentration. “Just do what I do, yeah?”

Reima didn’t have a chance to protest before a massive brown bear charged between them, blood streaming from its flanks. She saw Kyo launch himself out from behind the boulder and dive straight for the animal’s heel, overshooting his target by about three inches and accidentally driving the tip of his blade into its leg. Caught off guard, he lost his grip on the weapon and tumbled into the dust with the knife still in the bear’s leg.

With a roar of fury, the beast reared up on its hind legs and whirled around, preparing to take a swipe at its stunned attacker. Without thinking, Reima leapt out from behind the boulder with her blade in hand and stood over Kyo defensively, but immediately realized the futility of her action and braced for the impact that never came.

A lean yet muscular woman had appeared in the bear’s wake. She now stood in front of Reima and lashed out at the beast’s stomach with two long chain whips tipped with sharp blades. Her body was littered with deep scars and her head was shaved on the sides, leaving wild blonde death hawk. Her crazed mahogany eyes blazed dangerously as her weapons tore through the animal’s flesh, spraying blood across all three of them. With an agonized roar, the bear turned on its heels and attempted to flee in the direction of the chasm.

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Seeing her chance, Reima lunged for the brown fluffy heel and slashed at the tendon. The bear stumbled under the weight of its destroyed leg and Reima heard Falon’s sharp call of “Get back!” pierce the air as she readied her bow.

Before she could shoot, however, the pile of rocks near the edge of the chasm exploded, startling Reima as a man almost identical in appearance as the woman with the whips flew into the air straight for the bear with a pair of swords crossed over his chest, ready to strike. In a last ditch effort of defense, the beast forced itself up onto its remaining hind leg and raised a paw to strike.

“Watch out!” Reima shouted at the swordsman, who made no effort to get out of the way. She looked on in horror as one of the bear’s claws snagged into his arm and tore it open from wrist to elbow. Despite this, he never ceased his momentum and the second his blades touched the bear’s throat, he threw out his arms and sliced completely through its neck, severing the head from the body in less than a second and sending blood flying in every directions. Body, head, and man all crashed to the ground and sent up a cloud of dust followed by a sudden silence that marked the end of the chaos.

As the dust cleared, Reima watched the man stand up and sheathe his swords in the cases strapped to his hips. Blood dripped profusely from the wound on his arm and he stood gazing over his kill for a moment before giving a satisfied grunt.

“You did it, Demetrius!” the woman with the whips exclaimed as she rushed over to his side.

Reima heard a soft groan from beside her and looked down to see Kyo pushing himself to his feet with a wince. “‘Just do what I do,’ huh?” she teased, earning a small groan of annoyance from the scrawny Felid.

“Shut up.”

“That was a dicey stunt you pulled, Demetrius,” Falon’s stern growl sent a shiver down Reima’s spine. The quiet anger lacing the usually stoic leader’s voice wasn’t something she had experienced before, and something about it was chilling. She watched the redhead approach the bloodied swordsman with a glare as cold as ice.

“It got the job done, didn’t it?” he replied calmly.

“Even so, that sort of reckless behavior is a surefire way to get yourself killed. I’m not about to watch one of my students drop dead over something so trivial,” Falon scolded.

“‘Trivial’?” the woman with the whips snarled. “We spent two days herding that beast out of the forest and through the canyon so you can feed your little friends, and you’ve got the audacity to label our efforts as trivial?”

“Demeter, please…” the one called Demetrius sighed.

“That isn’t what I meant and you know it,” Falon told her.

“You want to know what’s trivial?” Demeter continued, her temper only continuing to flare. “That itty bitty thing dangling from your belt!” She pointed at the dead wren strapped to Falon’s hip. “Who’s is that supposed to feed? Black?”

“Enough,” Falon said sharply, getting annoyed. “All I’m saying is you can’t get cocky. Even your implausible strength has its limits, Demetrius. Do try and remember that.”

“‘Implausible strength’?” the swordsman echoed. “Your words tread dangerously close to flattery, my teacher,” he teased with a smirk.

“Well, you did decapitate a giant raging bear with a single strike,” Reima cut in. She approached the trio with Kyo trailing not far behind. “That seems pretty implausible to me.”

“Who the hell are you?” Demeter snarled, whirling around and advancing on Reima with dangerous intent. Her eyes blazed furiously and prominent muscles rippled under heavily scarred skin, her red crop top leaving little to the imagination as she towered over Reima threateningly. Instinctively, the former soldier took a step back.

“Lay off,” Falon commanded. “She’s with us.”

Demeter hesitated for a moment, and Reima believed she may be contemplating whether or not Falon was worth listening to, but eventually backed off with an irritated huff.

“Now then, we’d best get a move on,” Falon said. “If we leave now, we’ll be back in Felidae long before sunset.” With that, she began leading the way out of the canyon, Demeter and Kyo in tow. Reima heard shuffling behind her and turned to see Demetrius hoist the massive bear carcass over his shoulder like it was a bag of sand and proceed to trudge after them.

“Huh. You really are a strong one, aren’t you?” Reima marveled with a nervous laugh as she matched his stride. He didn’t respond.

Demetrius was equally as terrifying as his female counterpart; having the same reddish brown eyes and blonde hair that was shaved on the sides. His open red vest revealed numerous scars along his torso, arms, and one particularly nasty one on the right side of his face. It was obvious the pair were siblings simply by looking at them.

Reima’s eyes locked onto his injured arm. Blood was flowing freely from the deep wound and leaving a trail of red drops in the dirt as the group headed toward the canyon exit.

“Your arm…” Reima began.

“It’s fine,” he interrupted curtly.

“I’m not sure I believe you. Here.” She grabbed hold of the end of Kaito’s oversized cardigan and removed the hair tie she’d used to keep it from dragging in the dirt. With a quick yank, she ripped off the end of it.

“You don’t need to destroy your clothing on my behalf,” Demetrius said, surprise etched on his face. He clearly hadn’t been expecting Reima to go out of her way to try and help him.

“Technically it’s not even mine, so don’t worry about it.”

“Somehow that makes things worse,” he growled quietly. “Fine. Since you’ve already mangled the damn thing anyway, I’ll hear you out.” He held his arm out for her to inspect. Luckily it wasn’t the one already holding the bear carcass in place on his shoulder.

Reima inhaled sharply upon seeing the wound up close. The bear’s claw had left a deep chasm in Demetrius’ skin and blood continued to relentlessly pulse from its depths.

“Yikes, that’s definitely going to leave a scar,” she informed him.

“A fine addition to my collection,” he commented with cheeky smirk. Reima chuckle as she carefully wrapped the cloth around the cut.

Demetrius doesn’t seem like a bad guy, she thought to herself. He was perhaps a bit brazen and careless, but reasonable enough beneath his roguish exterior.

“Well, that’s as good as its gonna get,” she said after she had finished tending to the wound. “Sorry, I’m not great at wound care but that should at least hold until Gennaro can stitch you up.”

“Much appreciated, erm…”

“Reima.”

“Right… I don’t think I’ve seen you back at the settlement,” he commented, eyeing her curiously.

“I’ve only been living in Felidae for about a week. I, uh…” Reima paused, Saela’s warning from earlier that day lingering in the back of her mind. “I had a bit of a falling out with my previous group. Kaito took me in when I had nowhere else to go.”

It wasn’t a total lie, and though Demetrius seemed docile now, she wasn’t eager to find out how this tank of pure muscle would react if she admitted to being Gedarian. Lucky for her, he seemed satisfied with that response and didn’t try to dig for details.

“What about you?” Reima asked, trying to flip the conversation. “I haven’t seen you around Felidae in the short time I’ve been living there.” Reima also noticed how neither he nor Demeter was painted with the black marks worn by the others.

“My sister and I don’t fare well among a large group,” he answered. “Before we met Falon, we’d been surviving on our own for… I dunno, about fifteen years, maybe?”

Reima couldn’t help being taken aback. The twins didn’t appear to be much older than her. Fifteen years ago they couldn’t have been older than ten.

“We owe Falon a great debt,” Demetrius continued. “Without her guidance, we’d be nothing more than feral beasts; our humanity long lost beneath the sands of time.”

Reima offered him a warm smile. “You really look up to her, don’t you?” she asked.

“More than anyone else in the world,” he said fondly. “And though she might not admit it, I know Demeter feels the same way. We may not be ready to fully integrate ourselves into the community just yet, but knowing there is a place we can turn to… somewhere we’re welcome… I find a source of comfort in that.”

Their conversation was cut short by a familiar cawing from above. Reima looked up to see the huge raven from before circling above them, calling out frantically. After circling the group a few more times, it swooped down and landed directly in front of Demetrius, cawing at him and flapping its wings wildly.