Hood looks at Drac's dumbfounded face and sighs.

"It seems I will have to explain this in detail."

Drac looks at the ground. Emotions twisting. I'm unsure what to make of this.

"Me" Drac's breath sounds haggard. "What am I? No. W...what are we?"

Hood sits back on his head with both elbows on his lap. His eyes focus on Drac.

"What has your handler told you?"

"Handler? Only if you could call my father my handler. I guess he was when I was younger. Heard I was quite the tiny terror." Dracs said as he reminisced about the time his father would chase him around after he misplaced a farm tool.

Hood nods and crosses his arms. "I guess this confirms it."

"Confirm what, Hood? I am very confused. And you are not making it easier for me."

"You should have been briefed. You should have known about yourself and your mission. You should've known who I was when I showed you my face." Hood reaches over to the bag next to Drac to retrieve a first-aid kit and proceeds to treat his injuries.

"I can surmise from this that your father may not look anything like you."

"How did you know?" Drac says, astonished by his lookalike.

"I know you. The true you." Hood finished wrapping his arm to work on his leg.

"Let me tell you our story.” Although afraid, Drac listens.

“We were born at headquarters. Where it's located, I have no idea. In there, they discovered our ability—the power to multiply ourselves. Further tests and experiments were done until they also found out we could retain our memories from when we split. So they thought of a new test. To create a warrior worthy of being a pinnacle, how much can a single person learn if there are many people? They managed to split us into several and send us all over the world. The goal was to gain knowledge, skill, and power and bring them back into one being. It has been seventeen years since we were separated. Now is the time for us all to join together.”

Drac leaned back, overwhelmed. It sounded unbelievable but to Drac, it made sense. He knew his circumstances were very strange, but with his father not around to explain, he felt that the answers were locked away forever. He can finally get the closure he needs.

Drac asked, “How do we join together?”

Hood scratched his chin. “The plan was to all meet at a location given to our handlers. But that is where your issue lies. No handler for you.”

“My handler was supposed to be my teacher, my guide through all this craziness."

"They were to be your masters. to teach your appointed skills. You were supposed to focus more on languages, history, and politics. But all copies were to study some basic fighting techniques. Maybe you have figured it out by now. This place was to be your training ground.”

Drac looks around at the rock-grey walls, the dusty mats, and the large bags full of sand huddled in the corner. a small corner of the room with shelves full of books.

Hood Continues “After we all met, we were supposed to conjoin. How exactly we are to do so, I am unsure. We are quite a rare case. No one else has our power to learn with, you see?”

“I do see,” Drac answers. “What did you specialise in?

“Reconnaissance, spywork, and assassination I was taught how to kill since I was young, nothing else.”

“Then where did you learn to make that copy you showed when you fought off Cal?" Drac inquires about Hood.

His arms are still crossed. A frown emerges on Hood's face as he looks down. “Out in the field experience.” Hood looks back at Drac. Now that I have explained some, do you understand what needs to be done? Let us leave tomorrow, and we may reach our destination in a few days."

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“No.”

“What do you mean, no?" Hood demands, “We have a calling greater than this cesspool of a town.”

Drac said meekly, “But it's my town.”

“Your Town?” Hood laughs. He had the same face as Drac, but Hood's smiling felt frightening to him. Like Hood, he was not used to having this expression on his face.

“In the same town that sacrificed you to a fake deity for your pitiful lives, unintelligent fools are unaware that the loyal baron could help easily.”

“They are still my people; I should still be able to help!” Dracs pleads. Hood looks disappointed.

“I watched you for 10 weeks. In those 10 weeks, merely one person visited. Bree was her name, right? You sat alone on the farm in that tattered barn, secluded from your ‘people’. Why must you stay to help a village that would rather spit in your face than say thank you?" Hood's anger was all-encompassing. Drac does not yield.

“They were my father's people. They are now Bree's people.”

Drac's eyes, full of determination, glare at Hood. Hood puts his hands in his face. Breathes out. “I will go check out the area, then I'll go investigate the Sacrifice compound. Stay here and look through the texts down there."

Drac is ecstatic. “Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Yeah, yeah, calm down, farm boy. The moment this situation goes out of control, we are travelling straight to a meeting place. Luckily, we have a few months to go before the official meeting date.

“When is that?” Drac asks

“Our 18th Birthday”

********************************************

Hood stalked through the shadows. He followed the shadows of buildings, weaving through alleys. At a steady pace, he dodged cats, bins, and people. Noise isn't a concern, as the rain is heavy and constant. His coat, drenched in rainwater, still keeps him warm. Boots stepped into puddles, making ripples. Guards are coming from the left.

Hood jumped to the side of a building, jumped again off a window frame to gain height, and grabbed the roof. He propelled himself over into a roll to continue his run.

I can get by, but Drac will have a problem.

Hood ran across several more buildings, jumping over chimneys along the way. He finally sees the Stalwart manor. For a lowly baron, his abode is quite large. It would not be a surprise if a count or even a duke lived on these premises. Where Drac was sent to be killed was a small castle a bit away from here.

Although it is a place that needs to be scouted, it was not Hood's destination. He finds his discarded horses. jumps down to the ground. Nothing but waves landed on the puddle he landed on. Hood leads both horses out of Plyton and hitches Dracs' horse to a tree out of sight from the main road. He climbs on top of his horse and gallops to the castle he escaped from.

Trees and bushes rush past him. Going into the free market in his state isn't a good idea. But Drac won't leave.

Done here, then no more attachments.

The dilapidated castle comes into view.

There should be fewer guards since they are searching the village. Investigate and come back to the hideout.

Hood stops and hitches his horse. It's better to continue on foot.

I need to find that room.

He runs past the woods to find the same door that Drac and he came through.

No. I can't take the chance of guards being on the second floor.

Hood goes to the left and locates a window ledge. Focuses. leaps, reaching high to grab the ledge. Grasping tight, he pulls himself up and starts to climb up till he gets to the open window to the left. Hugging the wall, he jumps to the left and swings inside, using his right hand on the window frame. It lands like a feather.

Be careful, like always.

Hood crouched and lurked down the corridor to a stairway. While descending the stairs, he heard faint chatter. Hood lurks slower to peek through the exit of the stairway. Cal. The man from whom Hood narrowly escaped was walking with two guards. They are holding on to something. Bree was carried from her arms, tears staining her face.

“Please call, please!”

“Sorry, my dear. This was unavoidable. This harvest needs more. Poor Drac just wasn't enough.”

As if knowing all hope was lost, Bree quiets, her face expressionless. ”You know, I did have a crush on you once.” Cal grabs Bree by her chin. "You could have been a baroness, you, a commoner! What a fairy tale story! But alas, Drac’s presence has tainted you. So you must receive the same fate. Come with me, guards.”

Cal threw Bree’s chin away and stepped through the door. After the group entered the room, Hood came out of hiding to follow. The dead bodies of the guards he slew were removed, and the area was clean, although blood still marks the carpets.

Next to the door, Hood can feel a sense of foreboding; a creepy feeling rattled his bones and gave his skin goosebumps. Hackles go up. Hood unsheathed his blade and pushed the door open.

The door is not locked from the inside.

Inside is a large hall. dark with lamps as the only source of light. No windows are to be seen. Found on the ground is a large pentagram. It looked to be drawn with blood. Writing surrounded the pentagram. And in the middle, bodies lay on top of each other.”

"I didn't know you would come back so quickly.” Cal leaned beside the entrance of the nightmarish room. “Want to continue what we started? Cal Grins.

It was his plan all along. I brought Bree here to bait Drac. I came instead.

A flash of steel and a strike missed Hood’s head and crashed into the wall. “Come on! What are you waiting for? Let's get this started!"