Stan arrived at the old house, his gran who was ususally outside working in the garden was nowhere to be seen, he entered the house and called out to her, she was sat in the living room shivering in front of an unlit fire. She looked up and smiled when she saw him.

"Oh hello Stan, I was just about to light a fire and get dinner ready."

"Hi gran, how about I start the fire and you start the dinner."

"Thats a wonderful idea, why don't you get some wood from outback."

"Will do."

He walked out to the back of the house to the point where the wood was normally stored, not seeing any around he ventured a short distance into the forest picking up whatever dry sticks and leaves he could find, it wasn't much, but it would get a blaze going, he could always come back out later once the dinner pot was cooking. When he got back to the house a few minutes later he found his gran still sat down in the same place shivering in front of the unlit fire.

"You ok gran?"

She looked up at him smiling once again.

"Oh hello Stan, you're back, I was just about the light the fire and get some dinner on."

A small lump formed in his throat hand he paused for a short while before responding.

"Sounds good, I have some wood with me so can get the fire lit for you."

"Oh thats nice."

He got to work setting up the fire with the cooking pot full of water hung over it, all the while he worked he was deep in thought about what was going on right now. But I was only gone a couple of days, how could she have changed this much, how long has she been sat in the cold like this, has she eaten anything since I was last here? I shouldn't have left, I won't leave again.... His thoughts were interupted by a quiet snoring sound comming from the corner where she sat. Not wanting to disturb her he quietly moved into the kitchen and started preparing some of her left over veg, there wasn't much left, and the small store of meat he had brought during his last visit was mostly gone already. There will be enough for today, I will go out and get more tomorrow. He told himself gathering up all the ingredients and moving them towards the pot in the living room. When the stew was cooked he woke his grandma up to giver her her food, she seemed startled at first but a smile quickly formed on her face when she saw him.

"Oh hello Stan, when did you get here? mmm that smells good."

She sniffed the offered plate of food before digging in and giving her opinion about how good each bite tasted, Stan just sat opposite her listening as he nursed his own bowl in his hand, not really in the mood to eat yet still forcing himself to spoon a bit in at a time. Once they had finished their meal he took the plates away before going outside again to grab whatever wood or small game he could get hold of before night came.

Three days later Sonia arrived with Oren at her side, the young boy immedietly getting to work looking after the garden while Sonia passed a couple of dead rabbits to him.

"Hey there, thought you might want these."

Stan smiled at them both, not bothering to hide the relief he felt at having others around, while he could easily handle the work he didn't like having to leave his gran alone while he went hunting or foraging for food and wood, knowing there would always be someone else in the house at least for now brought him no small amount of relief.

"Yes, we certainly could use those, wasn't expecting Oren to come along."

"Yeah, he over heard my report to Master Aiden and insisted on comming back with me to help out."

She moved a little closer to whisper in his ear.

"I think he wants to be your apprentice."

Stan looked over at the boy who was kneeling in the garden pulling up various weeds and gathering them together in a bucket he had found lying by the front door.

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"I didn't think he knew about that."

"He doesn't, he's just hopeful."

"Yeah, will see where things take us, I don't want to see him thrown out, I am just not sure if I am the right person to train him or not, but thats a worry for later, lets get this meat ready, I'll introduce you both."

Then in a louder voice he said "Come on Oren" before leading them both inside the house, his grandma of course took an immediate liking to them both, she spent most of the time talking to the young lad telling him stories of her past as well as some tales of Stan when he had been Orens age. More than once she asked if Sonia was Stans girlfriend, which he was a little bit embarrased about but Sonia didn't seem to mind simply stating that they were friends from the guild who used to train together while their teachers were off on missions. The day went by fairly quickly and it was soon bed time, Oren helped the old lady to her room while Sonia slept in the spare room while Oren and Stan camped out in the living room.

Sometime during the night however Stan was woken up by something, he wasn't unsure what it was but an uneasy feeling left his stomache in a knot, after spending a long time in the wilderness alone he had learned to trust that feeling. He got up and grabbed his dagger from a nearby shelf, turned to see Sonia stood in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen. He sighed in relief at seeing her.

"Oh, its just you."

She shook her head in response whispering quietly.

"No, there is something else out there, am sure of it."

Stan nodded.

"Yeah, you stay here, guard the door, I will go take a look."

"What? No, I am going with you, they will be fine if we lock the door....don't argue there isn't time."

Stan was about to object when he heard a loud crashing noise as the front door was kicked in, they raced towards the entrance to see two hooded figures weilding crossbows entering the house, one of them aimed and shot a bolt at Stan, who ducked back behind the wall before moved to charge into the first guy knocking him back out the door, he followed it up by grabbing the second figures head and ramming it against the wall and before stabbing them in the neck. Stepping outside to confront the second figure he charged at them wrestling them to the ground, this one wasn't able to put up much of a fight before he rammed his blade into their neck as well. Getting up and moving back into the house he saw a third assailant tangling with Sonia, both were armed with daggers, Stan was about to help out when the figure lunged at her, she sidestepped the blow before ramming her blade into their side before tripping them up and slamming the back of their head onto the hard wooden floor. They stopped moving and she stood over the top of them blade in hand panting, she looked over at Stan before pointing towards his grandmothers room, he nodded in response before charging forward and knocking the door open. In one corner of his room his grandma sat curled up in a ball crying her bed covers pulled over the top of her, stood in front of her was Oren, with one hand held in front of him in a defensive gesture while the other hand held a bloodied dagger, Stan followed his eyes to see a dark hooded figure crawling across the floor towards a broken window. He and Sonia moved towards the figure turning him over and pinning him to the floor, pulling back the hood revealed the priest who had given them the tour of the nearby facility, he spat a glob of blood into Stans face before hissing at him.

"You think you have won? More will come, we will take what is ours, you cannot stop the inevitable."

"Yours?"

Something in Stans mind flicked on like a switch causing him to fall into a rage, he punched the guy several times before wrapping his hands around his neck squeezing as hard as he could, a series of electrical sparks danced along his arms and hands causing the priest to convulse as the skin around his neck blackened and his life slowly faded away. Once the struggle was over Stan came back to himself letting the priest go he stood up and looked towards Sonia who was staring at him with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"Your mana channels, are that developed? Already?"

Stan simply nodded.

"Yeah, I shouldn't have done that, I wish I could tell you more, but I can't, at least not yet."

She nodded before taking a deep breath and continuing."

"If what that guy said is true then more will come, we have to go to the facility and take care of this now."

"Yeah, your right, Oren."

The boy didn't respond, he continued to stare at the dead priest his hands shaking as he held his stance, Stan said his name again and he moved his attention towards him, he stepped forward and placed a hand on the boys shoulder.

"Oren, we have to go take care of this ok? I need you to stay here, take care of the bodies, tidy up and look after grandma, can you do that for me?"

The boy was shaking, obviously terrified but he nodded before stammering out a response.

"Ststsststtstrrnthh"

"Thats right Oren, you got this."

He turned to walk away but the boy grabbed his hand, tears were streaming donw his face.

"Cccccme, bbbccckk."

"I will Oren, I always do, remember."

The boy nodded, then placing the blodied dagger on a nearby shelf he moved towards Stans grandma and gave her a hug before helping her into her bed. Stan watched them for a short while before walking out the room.

"Right lets go."

He grabbed his quiver and bow, was about to walk out the door when Sonia spoke.

"Stan."

"What?"

"You should probably get dressed first."

He looked down at him self, a flash of relief came over as he saw that he had at least been wearing a pair of underpants.

"Yeah, some armor could be useful."