There was a thud.

The Travelator shook as it arrived at their destination after what seemed like several minutes.

The doors opened followed by a ding sound signaling it was safe to step off now.

Val's eyes widened when he saw where they were. It was a dense forest, so dark it nearly looked like nighttime. Fog crawled along the ground beneath their feet so thick Val couldn't make out his shoe straps. His hands tensed around the handle of the gun, "Where are we?" He asked struggling to keep his voice even.

"A small wood on the outskirts of London." Mika replied, "Its a moving location so it's hard to find, but the information we have says there's a cave here with a very powerful relic in it."

"Anything guarding it?" Symon asked scanning the are for signs of a threat.

"Not sure so keep an eye out?" Mika shrugged before moving forward.

"Aren't you guys meant to typically know these things?"

Kenta gave a calm smile, "The research department doesn't always have accurate information, but the unexpected always makes things more exciting."

"I don't find walking into death exciting." Val said.

"You'll be doing that more often kid." Symon told him, "But no worries, I've got you."

"We all do." Kenta grinned.

Mika gave them a look that said he clearly wasn't part of that 'we'.

Val felt a wave of relief wash through him. He stuck close to Symon and kept his eyes on Mika who led them through the woods.

They walked for a tiring amount of time and Val was pretty sure it had gotten darker, he looked up only to find the canopy of leaves blocking the moonlight from coming down.

"Kenta, light." Mika called.

Val looked back to see her conjure a small ball of light. It floated past he and Symon to where Mika was at the front. The light brightened up the area enabling them to get a better look at what was around them.

Val flinched as he laid eyes on a large paw print which had visible holes where the monster's claws had sunk into the ground.

Mika squatted down to inspect the paw print, "Probably a grade three, we can handle it."

"Are you sure about that?" Kenta asked.

"Do I look like someone that isn't sure?" He glared at her.

"No time for your fragile ego kid let's keep moving." Symon said moving forward.

That was when they heard it, low growl coming from within the fog. Kenta notched an arrow in her bow, Val followed Symon's lead and pulled out his gun.

This was getting really way too quickly. Mika gestured for them to keel quiet. The growling stopped and the air went tense. Val struggled to remain calm, but his trembling hands showed no signs of that happening any time soon.

He looked up to see Mika had pulled a spear from his back and was aiming it in the direction of the fog. Then next second the weapon soared through the air and disappeared through the fog only to be followed by a loud piercing shriek.

There ground shook as quick heavy footfalls approached them, Val was yanked back by Symon just as a large lizard like beast came into view snapping at them, the spear Mika threw was lodged in its collarbone.

"Missed." Mika growled getting his other spear ready.

Kenta aimed and began to shoot arrows at it, their tips burning with an eerie blue fire. Symon as well began to shoot.

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Val wanted to join, to be useful in anyway but he was frozen in fear. He was looking at a real life monster. It trashed about, it's teeth seeking flesh and claws ready to kill anyone.

"Cullen! Cullen snap out of it!" Mika screamed.

Val turned to the red-head, very sure he looked paler than a ghost.

Mika rolled his eyes, "Listen you don'thave to fight this, its here meaning we're close to the cave, the artifact is a silver vase. Go get it."

Val felt his heart sink with dread, "But-I-"

"We'll hold it back just go." Kenta called still firing more arrows.

Val swallowed thickly, forcing his shaky legs to move he took a step forward, he nearly fell but he kept on until he was running. While moving past the trees he rubbed tears of frustration from his eyes, why had he been do scared? So useless?

There was another loud roar which increased his fear, he fought back the urge to call for help when he remembered what Kenta said. They'd hold it off, it wasn't coming for him. He saw the outline of a cave ahead and entered it quickly.

The walls were lined with glowing stones which he admired briefly before remembering his mission. He walked deeper still til he came to a nest with a small pile of treasures. Mostly hold coins and gems but also some weapons. He found the small vase which Mika had told him to retrieve. It didn't look like much but that wasn't what he was going to worry about at the moment.

He grabbed it and thrust it in his small backpack before heading back to meet the others. As he neared he heard the low growls the monster made, he immediately felt afraid.

Mika said they could take it down then why hadn't they done so already?

He got there to find Symon and Mika putting up a fight but Kenta was sprawled on the ground in a unnatural angle. He ran to her side.

"Kenta, Kenta are you okay?! Say something!"

She remained quiet. Val fell back on his but and crawled away, staring at the dead body in shock. What was happening. He heard a scream, he faced the direction it came from to see Mika in the jaws of the lizard monster.

Val stared in horror. So much blood. He had to do something, he had to.

Without thinking he aimed an energy sphere and shot it at the monster, hitting its left flank. The monster screeched dropping Mika to the ground. Val's blast hadn't done much damage, the sphere wasn't large enough so a small part of the monster's hide had frozen over.

It glared at him, it spun around causing its tail to smack him into a nearby tree. Val groaned I pain, the world seemed to spin and the pain was spreading through his whole body.

He was drawn out of his agony by a scream, he looked up to Symon was struggling against the monster who had his leg in its teeth and was dragging him towards the fog.

"Val! Val do something!"

His eyes widened, not Symon. Please not Symon. He struggled to get up and began running feebly towards Symon. "Let him go!" He shrieked making another sphere.

"Val another spell." Symon called his voice filled with pain.

Val's brain was in turmoil, he wasn't sure what to do, he tried to recall all the training all the spells but he was freaking out. He'd never sen a monster like this, he'd never been in this type of situation. Why were things falling apart like this.

He didn't know when he started crying. "Symon! I don't know what to do."

Symon stared at him with the same pain in his easy before saying the last words Val heard from him.

"Run." Just as he said those words the lizard monster yanked hmm into the darkness. Val heard brief screaming before a very loud crack.

He fell to his knees, the silence sending a fresh wave of fear through him.

He was alone.

The leaves rustled, he turned quickly. Nothing.

The monster was playing with him now, he knew it was, his body was buzzing with the fear yet numb with pain. His brain was panicking, what was he to do? Should he run? Should he fight? Could he fight?

The rustling of leaves came again.

He pulled out his pistol and aimed everywhere. Tears were blurring his eyes again. Why? Why him.

That when he felt it.

A change in the air, the wild footsteps. He could see it through his blurry eyes, it was running towards him.

His fingers shook on the weapon.

'Shoot.' His brain ordered.

But those green slit eyes bored into him, Paralyzing him with fear.

This was it. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the pain that was about to come.

Seconds passed with nothing happening. Val opened his eyes to see he wasn't dead. In front of him the monster stayed frozen in position as if time had stopped.

He stared at in confusion until he saw it flicker out of existence like a hologram. The trees and the clearing also did same, vanishing from sight.

He sat in pitch blackness, his heart racing wildly, trying to pump blood to his brain do it'd start working and giving answers. All of a sudden a light shone down on him, he flinched.

"By far the worst performance I've ever witnessed."

Lady Proxianna? How?

He turned to where the voice had come from to see the Governors, his teammates and Blaise standing on a floating platform.

The only word he was able to get out out was a very confused. "What?"

"All rookies do an assessment test by the end of their first month." Lady Stellar explained gently. The platform moved closer to where he sat.

"Very disappointing, Valerian." Raymond said, "You managed to let fear take over."

"I..."

"No excuses." Lady Proxianna snapped. "Your trainer said you've educated on what to expect on an investigation right?"

Val looked to Symon who was strictly avoiding his eyes. He was relieved though. Symon was alive, no one had died. He just had to try harder.

That had all been an illusion.

"Don't be so hard on him." Blaise spoke up. "He's still unfamiliar with the Magick world. Unlike most of our other workers he's never seen a monster in a zoo or had an unusual pet. I overlooked his background and experience, I'm at fault."

"No. She's right, I was totally useless."

Proxianna made a scoffing sound. "At least you can acknowledge how pathetic you are."

Val felt the swing of her words, he had failed. He knew that much and though it wasn't his fault he knew he could have been more helpful. If only he hadn't been so freaked out. If only he had known more spells.

He glared at the ground, fists clenched. He'd stop taking this as a fun little part of his life because if there was a chance Symon would die because of him he wasn't going to play around.

He came out of his thoughts to see the Governors leaving Symon was following them and he didn't spare Val a glance. Val was still immediately anxious. Was Symon.... disappointed in him?

***

"Mistress it's been several weeks since we sent Reed to capture the boy and the cat. Have you really lost interest?" A young lady asked as she was bowed before a throne.

On the throne sat a figure cloaked in darkness, sharp orange eyes which held a smirked looked down at the servant below. "No I still have interest in them, but let's wait."

"They're already with the Committee-"

"Then let the Committee do all the hardwork of training and grooming. Once I feel he's ready...he will come crawling and he'll bring the cat with him."

***

Symon was usually a deep sleeper. If there was danger then his instincts would wake him but lately he was being kept awake by something else.

The pain he could feel from the boy who slept beside him.

Val had watched him die, maybe not the real him but it had still hit the same way. He didn't want Val worrying about him, he didn't want to be the reason Val pushed himself beyond what was humanly possible.

He wasn't good enough to be that reason.

He felt the bed dip. He sighed inwardly, this had been going on for a week now and it was already getting on his nerves. He turned over still pretending to be asleep. When the noise of dressing and movement had vanished, he quietly got up and moved to the window.

Soon he would see Val standing on the sidewalk, stretching and performing warm-ups.

At 3am. God, this kid was dumb.

And adorable. Symon cringed at the thought. Stupid human.

Val paused, looked up and waved.

Symon rolled his eyes, and didn't wave back. He walked back to bed, unlike a certain teenager he had sleep to catch.