'Should I follow her?' That question was in my mind as I saw the carriage she was in go farther and farther away. I wasn't sure if choosing not to help her was the right course of action. After all, it wasn't part of my orders to do so. But something felt off. The appointment the driver mentioned, for instance. It made him look as if he was an important guy. But if he was, why was he driving his carriage instead of having someone else do so?

"Are you worried about her?" I was startled by the sudden words of my commander, whose voice I could listen to via the headphones I had put on, connected wirelessly to my communicator.

"Shut up, Theo. It's nothing I should care about. She's in good hands, I hope..." That was my answer. It was a little dubitative, but my voice didn't exactly express that.

"So you ARE worried." How the hell did he even notice that? "Don't worry, man. Go follow her, I'll send someone else to cover for you. Make sure she gets to her destination as safely as possible. Those are your new orders."

"Thanks, I appreciate it." I replied as I went into the woods, looking for the tree where I had hidden my Es-Bike. I rode it and decided to follow the carriage from a safe distance, to not attract attention with the noise of the engine.

About half an hour later, I noticed the carriage stopping for less than a minute, with my eyes perceiving it was being followed closely by a group of masked men. At the time, there were rumors of a gang of bandits kidnapping and robbing travelers, even killing them from time to time if there was nothing for them to steal. It was worse, WAY worse for women, as you could probably guess what they did to them. What made the hunt for them more difficult was that their modus operandi was unknown.

As I watched closely, I started taking into account things about the pursuers of the carriage: Their masks and number (about 8-9) matched with the descriptions given by the surviving victims, so it was a safe bet that these were the ones causing chaos in the kingdom. It was my chance to hunt them down.

The carriage started moving again and the masked men followed it as close as they could. I waited for a little moment before chasing them again, hoping I wouldn't be too late if they tried to do something to Chryssa. Why was I so worried about her, though?

I prepared some bullets and charged my gun before starting the engine of my Es-Bike once again, I started driving until I reached a forest clearing where the carriage had stopped. I went hiding in nearby bushes as I looked for the blue-haired girl they just kidnapped, but I couldn't find her. That meant she was still inside the carriage. I thought for a moment about entering, but it would be dangerous for her if a fight broke up inside such a closed space.

Suddenly, I heard a man scream "She's not Elidian, you idiots! She has no money, the only thing we can do is collect her essence!" and in a matter of seconds, they launched Chryssa out of the carriage, with some bandits getting a machine from the carriage trunk. It was an Essence Drainer! Weren't those things supposed to be illegal?

I knew time was running out and I couldn't afford the time to ask Theo for permission. I had no other choice but to fight. I aimed and pulled the trigger, planting a bullet in the forehead of the bandit leader. They all noticed me as soon as I killed the first one, but they simply weren't fast enough to react, so I took the chance to shoot them down, one by one, swiftly and precisely.

After taking out all the bandits, I looked at her, noticing her face stained by the red from one of the outlaws I had just executed. I couldn't believe I was so careless to let the blood of one of them splash into her face. What if she got infected by an illness? I kneeled next to her, trying to keep calm and using a clean towel I had with me to help her clean her face.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let you go on your own." I said, feeling regretful for not doing my best to protect her. I noticed a smile on her, which made my worries disappear for the moment.

"It's not your fault" She whispered, looking deep into my eyes. "It's not like any of us could have predicted this would happen." Except I did, but telling her would be a bad idea, anyway.

"My name is Ordell, by the way." Those were the words that came from my mouth. I knew she would want to know that after it had been two times now that I saved her.

"I'm glad you came, Ordell," Chryssa replied. "I don't know what would've been of me if you didn't come to save me again..."

I noticed the wound on her shoulder. It was shallow so not a lot of blood was coming out of it, but I knew it would be dangerous for her to go with it unattended, so I went running back to my Es-Bike and took a first-aid kit I brought with me. I came back to where Chryssa was lying and I cleaned her wound. She flinched a little bit as I disinfected it, a pretty normal reaction. I put a bandage around her arm, making sure she was fine.

"Does it hurt?" I said as I followed the procedure.

"Just a little bit... But don't worry, I've been through worse". She answered, still smiling while I was taking care of her. How rough do Arcadisians actually have it?

I helped her get up, letting her rest on my shoulder. I knew she was weak from the process of essence draining, as that was a process that basically sucked your vital energy from your soul. I took her to the part of the woods where I had hidden my Es-Bike. Meanwhile, I contacted Theo once again via my communicator.

"Theo, are you there?"

"Yes, Ordell. How did it go? Did you find her?" My commander replied quickly.

"Yeah. However, I have an update on the situation."

"Understood. What is it?"

"This is a Black Code. 10 dead men, all armed. I neutralized them all during a kidnapping and essence theft. Send a Cleaning Team and contact the Council of Sages. As you can guess, the bandits had an Essence Drainer."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"An Essence Drainer? Shit, this is bad!"

Chryssa looked at me intensely, confusion clearly showing through her looks. She probably didn't know what all this meant, so I decided to end communication with Theo, as I knew she had lots of questions to ask and it was up to me to answer all of them.

"Yeah. Gotta hang, I need to attend to the victim, okay? I'll contact you after the Cleaning Team has arrived."

"Got it. Thanks for the update, Ordell." Theo finished our call with these words. Now it was the best time for Chryssa to ask me whatever she had on her mind, so I took her beneath the canopy of a giant tree, where we sat down, as we both deserved to rest for a while.

I looked at her face. She looked contemplative, maybe slightly shocked. Which made sense as she was probably having the worst day of her life. It was only then that I actually got a better look at her: She was a young woman, about my age— or maybe slightly older? She was probably just 19 or 20. Her physique looked delicate and fragile. How did someone like her manage to escape from the Arcadisian military? She probably had a long story behind her, but my mind drifted toward her other features: Her shoulder-length blue hair fell down into her face, framing her green, innocent eyes. She wasn't tall at all and I noticed this a lot when we were walking together. She was about a head shorter than me.

A few minutes of silence were enough to notice the sounds of the woods: Birds chirping, some wind flowing, making the branches and leaves crunch in the air. Summer was ending, but cicadas could still be heard. However, none of those sounds made a bigger impression on me than her breathing. It was fast-paced, but not rushed. Its rhythm was mesmerizing. While there were lots of times before when I listened to my own breath, this was the first time I had ever paid attention to someone else's.

"I know you probably have lots of questions." I said, breaking the silence that was surrounding us. "So don't be afraid to ask them. I'll try to make sure I answer every single one of them."

"Who are you?" Chryssa immediately asked. "And I don't mean your name, I'm wondering who are you and why are you doing this and why were you so cold before but now are all protective of me..."

"Huh, I would've never guessed this was where you were actually going..." I sighed, as I didn't really like to talk about myself. "My name is Ordell Aashen and I'm a COMET. We're a private security organization that helps the authorities keep peace in Elidia." I paused for a moment, gauging her reactions. Chryssa was concentrated on my words. She didn't say it aloud, but it was clear she was eager to know more about us. "At the moment, we're working with the Council of Sages to help irregular migrants arrive safely to the country. Obviously, this is an undercover operation as the military is quite fond of deporting people like—"

Chryssa opened her mouth, interrupting me suddenly "So that's why you couldn't escort me to the capital, right? That figures..."

"I'm sorry," I mumbled as I tried to keep a straight look on my face. I didn't want to look unprofessional in front of her. "I was just doing my job. I couldn't have accompanied you and risked someone else dying in the desert, you know?"

"Oh, that's right! What if someone's out there?" She screamed in an alarmed tone, which I couldn't help but chuckle a bit at.

"Don't worry. Someone else took my job for the moment. My commander allowed me to follow you and make sure you arrived at Olimpia safely..." I paused for a moment and, with a resigned tone, I continued. "Which I think was a failure too because I allowed you to get kidnapped."

Chryssa put her hand on my shoulder and, with a reassuring smile, she declared. "As I told you, no one could've predicted this would happen. Don't be so harsh on yourself, okay?"

About 20 minutes after our conversation, Theo, accompanied by the Cleaning Team and the Special Operations Squadron (S.O.S for short) from the Council of Sages arrived in the forest. The S.O.S interrogated Chryssa and me for a moment, asking us for details of what happened. They corroborated the identity of the defunct bandits to make sure they were, in fact, the gang wanted for their crimes. Half an hour later, the Cleaning Team had retrieved the corpses and burned all evidence of what happened. On the other hand, the S.O.S confiscated the Essence Drainer.

"Aashen!" A commanding voice called to me. It was the leader of the S.O.S and an old acquaintance of mine, Eidan Aster. Eidan was a twenty-something man. Tall and skinny, with deep black hair that contrasted with his ghostly-looking pale skin. His eyes looked devoid of life most of the time thanks to the black circles under them. Maybe pulling all-nighters was a habit of him? Besides that cadaveric look on him, he didn't stand out that much. If it wasn't for his position, he probably would pass as an unremarkable citizen of Olimpia.

"Eidan. Didn't think you'd come here personally and leave that murky-ass office of yours for once. Good for you!" I said with a sarcastic tone in my voice, clearly not pretending to be polite to him as I knew he held some contempt against me. To be fair, the sentiment was mutual, but it's not like I wanted to pick a fight with him... At least not most of the time.

"Very funny, Aashen." He replied. "But I'm not here to listen to your irrelevant offenses."

"Oh, really? What is it, then?"

"Well. The Council of Sages asked me to send you their regards, hoping you can rejoin someday."

"Why would I?" I asked a genuine question. "I'm sure they hate me for, you know, that whole incident in the Korinthean Empire."

"Oh, well, it's not like I really agree with their message. I hate your guts like you can't imagine. But then again, some of the Sages don't really know what happened there or simply don't care. All in all, it's still your decision. Keep in mind that if you decide to join them, I'll make your life a living he-".

"Shut up. I won't join your little clubhouse." I interrupted him, as I didn't want to spend more time listening to him.

Eidan hummed. "Well. That makes things easier." He gave me his back as he walked away. "But I also believe that being a COMET doesn't fit you either. You'd be better off not wasting your time with those unpleasant bastards."

Shut the fuck up. I really wanted to say that. But I knew that it would give me more trouble than what I really wanted to deal with at the moment. Besides, wasting my energy wasn't something I was planning to do. He had already ruined my day, but it could still be salvageable if after all this issue I could grab a (non-alcoholic) drink with my friends in the night. Not like my day was going to get better, though.

"You shouldn't really try to pick a fight with Aster, dude." I heard a voice addressing me with rhotacism. It was my commander, Theo Elmwood, although I guess calling him that never sat right with me as he was actually younger by about two or three years, and we met each other when I was 15. At that time I was a young rookie in Elidia's Army.

"I'll take your advice, even though I already knew I should avoid conflicts with the Sages."

"Good." He said immediately after listening to my words.

Our conversation fell silent for a moment. It was clear it was an awkward situation, so I decided to break the silence by asking something, but before I could do so, Chryssa, who finished talking with S.O.S Officers, came to us and addressed Theo with her delicate voice.

"Oh, so you're Ordell's commander?" She said with a surprised tone. No joke, someone as young as him directing a private security organization?

"Name's Theo Elmwood. Nice to meet you."

"B-but aren't you a tad too young to be a soldier?" She asked without hesitation.

"I know you have lots of questions, Chryssa..." I said as I tried to prevent the situation from getting out of control. "Elidia is a completely different country to Arcadis, so, if you allow me, I'll explain everything to you as best as I can..."

"That's nice of you, Ordell." Theo intervened. "But that'll have to wait until you've finished your next mission."

Next mission..?