“Why is there a building in a cliff?” I asked while observing my surroundings. We were walking up a pathway, through the remains of a buried ruined castle-like structure.

“The cliff wasn’t there when they built it, these are the remains from the Ancient War.” Yavis waved at the ruins. “The islands are all the land that’s left, after the great flood from the Deep, or so we were told.” He rubs his chin in thought, while staring at me.

“So these are human ruins? What happened to their civilization?” I had so many more questions.

“We can chat about history later, the settlement needs us.” Woody sounded serious. “Smoke signal is strong, we have to run.” He gave the silent man of the group, whose white ashy gray skin and blinding bright yellow hair made him somehow forgettable enough to go unnoticed, a few hand signals.

“Is he a ninja?” I whisper to Troy, who has a tight grip on my shoulder, while a rope is bound between us. “Or just mute?” I watch as the man nods at Woody before summoning a large horse sized wolf, whose eyes hold a deeper intelligence than possible for any animal. The silent man grabs hold of a saddle that blended into the Pal’s fur, he vaulted up to mount the mighty beast.

“Heather, I need you back at the settlement. Swiss will escort you, we will be right behind.” Woody gave her a short bow.

“Understood.” Heather accepted Swiss’ hand and joined him on his mount. “Until then, stay safe.” She tapped on his back, before their ride shot off with a burst of speed. The wind pressure from the movement would have knocked me over, but Troy held me still.

“Appreciate the support.” I huffed out, the wind was still knocked out of me. “What was that, and where can I get one?” I looked at Yavis with a wild smile on my face, I really wanted to ride that Pal next.

“Ha! You already want to tame a rank 1 Pal?” Ivy mocked me as we started to jog towards this settlement they mentioned. “You might not even be able to activate a Pal Sphere.” She said with a mocking smirk.

“He already has. I think it might be why his corruption was so bad.” Woody said with a grim face. “He tried to capture Hoss.” This got a negative reaction from the group.

“You tried to capture a human?” Troy looked disgusted, and held me a bit further away from himself.

“He’s a piece of shit scumbag, but still, why would you risk that?” Ivy seemed a bit odd with her worrying.

“Where did you even get a Pal Sphere?” Yavis pondered out loud.

“I didn’t know what the shiny orb that magically appeared when a corpse disappeared was this Pal Sphere, I just thought it was heavy enough to be a blunt object that might help me escape.” I took a breath, remembering that weird encounter. “What does any of this have to do with my corruption?”

“Pal Spheres are a highly advanced ancient technology. We only know a limited amount about them, but in essence, they hold the body in a separate dormant dimension, while binding the souls of the beings together.” Yavis held out a blue grapefruit-sized sphere. “When made, they are a clear white color. It is only after you attune to the sphere, will it change according to your ranking.” This time he held out a white clear sphere.

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“That’s what I saw.” I pointed to the white clear sphere. “I don’t remember what color it changed into though.” I tried to remember, but I could only feel a haze.

“Don’t worry, the fact that it activated means you can be a tamer. Just avoid trying to capture humans, please.” Tara gave me a warning look.

“Yes ma’am, do NOT throw them at humans.” I gave her a salute, her frown only worsened. “What happens if you hit someone, by accident, and you catch them?” I turned to Yavis for an answer, he avoided my gaze.

“You will be hunted down and killed.” Woody stopped the group’s jogging, just to turn and make it clear to me, no catching humans. “You have to mark your target with intention when using a sphere, so there is no accident.” He made sure to be in my face to drive the message home. “You are lucky you’re a wrecker, otherwise I would have drowned you in the water.” His anger was rising higher, so he took a calming breath before getting us all moving again.

“That felt personal.” I mumbled while jogging tied to Troy.

“His folks got captured by a Demon, that’s what we call em, damned human poachers.” Troy’s anger at an old memory made him squeeze my shoulder a bit too hard. “My bad.” He said before he too, had a frown.

“Understood, avoid hitting humans at all costs. I apologize for my mistake.” I say through gritted teeth. “Pals only with the spheres.” I glance at Yavis who has a hand in his coat. “Huh?” I turn to see a flare launch into the sky with a whistle. The nearby Pals are all a bunch of small animal looking types, but they all turn and study the flare briefly, before running away from it. “What was that?” I stare at the wild animals feeling.

“Trouble.” Yavis said, as he pulled out a large hand cannon of a pistol. He racked the slide back, checking it was loaded, before hitting his safety off. “Never seen a gun before?” He held up the beast next to his smug face.

“I’m just surprised you have one. Is that a ‘50 cal’?” I try to examine his weapon, but he pulls it away.

“Fiddy pal?” Yaivs looks at me strangely. “This is just a handgun, one of the newer models we Merchants uncovered.” He turns on the safety before examining it. “You know what guns are?” He asks while looking at his weapon.

“Yeah, they were invented a few hundred years ago, and have been slowly improving over the last century.” I said while looking over his shoulder. “Your piece seems to be on the larger side for a handgun, and I’m guessing the bullets for it are a larger caliber than I know of, can I see one of them?” I held out my hand, he shook his head no.

“Your people had guns for that long?” Tara asked from the front of the group, she had just finished loading the shells into her pump action shotgun.

“Maybe longer, but where I’m from, it was weird to not have one.” I shrugged as I turned to watch the group all prepare their weapons. “Is that a rocket launcher?” I asked Troy as he slings a large tubed weapon over his shoulder.

“Close, grenade launcher.” He smiles as he loads a few rounds into it.

“You all look really dangerous with your weapons, but why do you all have them out?” I asked, making them all turn my way.

“Oh yeah, you don’t know. That was an emergency flare, which means they are under attack.” Woody sighed, some of his tension easing up. “That color means the Syndicate, we have to hurry.” He turns and starts to lead the group forwards.

“Do you guys have a plan?” I asked while running alongside Troy.

“Shoot them before they shoot you.” Ivy yelled at me.