As we approached Serenity's desk Dion and I were silent and an over looming atmosphere sunk in. We knew it was nothing new to your line of work, but our senses were attuned to such settings and we all knew who had set the stage. "Goddamn... looks like Romero caught us a live one." Dion commented, setting the tone. "Very strong it seems, must be an Elder-one." I contemplated aloud giving some context to our predicament. "No worries, Marcus, Romero is probably one of the best trappers in Death Hunter Corp." Dion reassured everyone, but he too was uneasy about the environment. "Yes, and I feel the strong barrier as well, Romero has outdone himself." I calmly replied, bringing my hand to my chin in deep thought. "Enough, already, you two are way too intense." Serenity broke the tension and set our minds at ease. "We got a live one, let's head to Mr. Romero's Armory." "Well said, beautiful, I'm glad you're on our side!" Dion complimented with his constant charm.

We all nodded and began to head down a flight of stairs kept at the back of the building that broke off to the right into an underground compound. It was the Armory wing, rightfully named Romero's Armory. Seeing as Mr. Simon Romero was an expert in all weaponry and tended to like explosions more enthusiastically than others. It was unnerving but was welcoming showing an in depth interest in such things. Romero was an old friend of Dion and Ewen's, I never thought such characters were my father's confidants but seeing the history lesson they gave it was comforting for me to be part of their team.

Simon Romero had left a message on his receiving desk behind a reinforced cage marked with all sorts of runes, and relics that it was unmistakably what kind of work the man did behind there. It was marked in all sorts of barriers and wards only the most skilled in scribery were able to understand these unique symbols. My father had always loved books and their stories, he educated me as a young boy with grandiose stories that kept the details clear. I have followed his work ever since. My eyes were not shaken by them since they were all positively charged and showed knowledge of things beyond imagining. They were all designed by Romero and my father. Men of the paper, scribes of knowledge and truth.

We knocked on the cage door only to find it ajar, we then walked in and into a den of weaponry that measured in length the size of the whole station. It was a catalog and storage for everything needed to fight anything in this universe. That was saying something coming from such moderate beginnings. There was an inner chamber that was barred and locked from the inside which held stronger barriers that even I could not transcribe without further reading. It showed we had gathered centuries of knowledge in the above floor where I had my own collection of material. Death Hunter Corp. truly was a magical place. We could hear a deep voice speaking in a muffled tone. The inner chamber had no window or viewing window, we could only guess what was inside. We knew we could not open it; unless we had an inside man.

The doorknob rustled as we heard someone opening it from the inside. Simon peered his head around the edge of the door and welcomed us with a big smile. "Dude, what did you bring home today??" I questioned with a puzzled face. "Serious shit, Marcus!" Romero retorted with a grunty sound. "Again with the demons, Romero you need to keep me posted on this shit!" Dion replied in a stern voice bringing its own kind of pressure. "Alright, alright man. I bagged and tagged a Knight!" Romero said with utmost achievement in his voice. "God be damned, seriously a knight! What were you thinking man!" I exclaimed my concern as this was known to be one of the guardians of damnation. "Yes, Marcus, dude can't you feel its presence!" Romero again scolded me. "Come on, lets get this party started!" Romero swung the door wide open allowing us to peer inside and see the knight possessed creature that Romero brought home. "Not what I expected..." Dion commented, "This is not what I would call a meatsuit, if I were it." "It truly is a new form of vessel." I added my two cents. "Not so strange though..." commented Romero. "It's a goddamn caribou-sion." Serenity added with confidence; it was not strange to hear something like this from her since she had an odd way at seeing things. Her history is more mysterious than Dion, I can't even fathom its creation. "A half-human, caribou?" Romero asked with utter surprise. "Technically speaking, yes." Serenity added. "Well looks like we have a strong fecsies." Dion spoke barely holding back his laughter. "I believe you mean a strong feral species." I corrected Dion, who was obviously trying to make a joke from a dire situation. "Bwahaha, yes Marcus, a feral species is a fecsies incarnate." Travis replied, again making a smile. "So I see you have taken all the necessary precautions, Mr. Romero." I said complimenting Romero's handy work. "Indeed, its a hybrid scribe-spell your father made." Romero added giving credit to Ewen. "Well done! I like!" "So Caribou-man, what is your purpose here?" Dion began interrogating the knight.

"I have no reason to answer you, meatsuit." the knight sputtered out of the deformed head that was shaped like a caribou but with a slight difference in snout length. It was closer to its face and widened out to form a human mouth. it had huge antlers that protruded from its head. Its fingers were human-like with them being completely made of black hoof-like material. Its fur covered most of its body, and it stunk like a caribou would too. I can tell now why Dion called it a feces.

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"Well I can give him some ground to find purpose." Romero said in a maniacal voice, as he leaned in looking the knight in the eye showing it what he plans to do if he is not given the necessary facts he is looking for. "Hahaha haha, you mortal have nothing I want! Only the thirst to spill your blood out right in front of me!" the knight threatened sending dark vibes from its murderous intent. "Now, now let us not get ahead of ourselves..." Dion countered, stepping on the foot of the knight, with force strong enough to break any bone. "Aagrah!" sputtered out of the knights deformed head. "hahahahahaha, torture, you think I care for torture! I thrive in it!" "Well let's try another tactic..." Romero smiled turning his head slightly to the left and turned around and stepped out of the inner chamber and off to one side of the armory. A few moments later he returns with a beaker of water with a crucifix floating in it. "As if you mortals have holy water, you all are trash just like the rest of your kind!" the knight fired another threat. "As a matter of fact, some of us trash do have purity." Romero retorted holding up a father's collar and placed it under his own shirt collar. "I'm a father of the church, I have devoted my life to the crusade; and I shall strike you down hellspawn!"

This was no surprise to me, as I knew Romero from my childhood as he and my father were students of the faith learning the ways of the hunt. Romero was an orphan who was placed in the the care of the church and was given a proper education in the priesthood, he was one of the most powerful priest that the church produced before its corruption. Now he works for Death Hunter Corp. Romero popped open the top and began chanting a blessing on the water. For a moment I sworn I saw light emanate from Romero's hand but it was short and not very bright but The water did shimmer in the light as Romero poured some of it over the knight's head. "Aaahh Aaahh...Hahahaha..." The knight still laughing it off, but showing signs of pain proved it was working. "Now, bottoms up!" Romero pushed against the knight's throat and force-fed it the holy water, emptying about half of it as it burned the inside of the knight's mouth and burned his skin as it trickled out of his mouth and down his chin. "Uuaaaghhurll, Ahhahhsph..." the knight let out a curdling scream of agony as it swallowed the like-acid holy water to his kind. "Ahh, it seems you could not cut off your infernal connections, Knight of Styx." I announced giving name to form. "It seems you have a worthy pet amongst the Hunters!" the knight replied after coughing out the last of the evaporated holy water. "Nephilim! You should join the Kabal." the knight offered a sincere invitation, and it sickened me. "Why would I mingle with such filth as your Kabal. The Death Hunter Corp. is my home and I will not have you soil its name!" "Nephilim eh? Well that makes sense now. Looks like we have the key." Dion commented without a waiver in his resolve. "Well, seems I only need to ask for the favor now!" Romero claimed with a wide smile, "Say, Marcus, you have any control over your white aspects?" "Indeed, it was the first class of my trials." I replied with reassurance in my words. "I haven't used this particular spell in ages!" "Good, now I'd like to ask a favor, Nephilim." Romero began the first sequence of my trigger. "Very well, human." I answered with confidence, "What is it you seek?" "A way to bind this spirit to its vessel." Romero knew exactly what he was looking for. "A leash? Very well give me a moment to collect my thoughts." I began a small prayer that turned swiftly into a meditative chant.

The chant was of Highborn, the language of Angels. It was a binding spell that required a submission of energy to hold a spirit to a corporeal form. "You must mark the forehead of the vessel with a blood pentagram." I commanded, as being in this state required. Romero bit the end of his thumb producing blood, he marked the knight's forehead with the up-side-down pentagram required for the binding. "Done." "Very good..." I began the last line of the chant, which activated the priest's blood-mark. The mark began to glow a hot red and a burning smell was filling the air. "UaaahhAAAaaahhh, Waaahaahaa..." the knight wailed in pain as its soul was ripped from the Aether and turned into Essence. "I bind thee, Knight of Styx, to the hills and mountains of Earth, for the rest of your vessel's life." I concluded the chant and a flash of light blinded the room and all that was heard was the knight's screams of distaste for what has transpired. The light dissipated and the room was silent. The knight was slumped over in the binding chair that Romero had set up. "I release thee..." I whispered and lost the energy to stand, almost passing out. "Damn Romero, I think you cost him more energy! Knowing the key like that." Dion commented as I regained some of my balance. "It's fine... I'm the one that's getting rusty." I replied putting the worry at ease. "Nephilim..." mumbled the knight as it woke from its binding, "Nephilim... I'm gonna kill you... nephilim..." "You wouldn't be the first to say that." I replied as I walked out of the inner chamber and sat at Romero's desk, still within sight and earshot, "Finish your interrogation guys, I must rest to recover my strength." "Ya did good, rookie!" Romero complimented me, and closed the door after letting Serenity out to keep an eye over me. "Now lets get down to business, shall we?" Dion said with a smile to Romero. These men were not people to give up easily and had the tendency of getting the information they needed from any Deathwalker.

I began to drift off into sleep as the night grew longer, and the background noise was reduced to a hum. My mind took me to a place inside a dream of the past. Knowing that space-time fluctuated and gave rise to a reality of dreams that could be traversed by any of Highborn descent. My mother was an angel who fell in love with a mortal man, my father. They had children and lived a simple life in the mountains away from the troubles of society. My past kept rushing into my mind, opening doors for what had transpired in those fateful days.