The heated discussion between Cass and Razel was quickly followed by silence as the two continued to push through the thick, thorny foliage of the forest. Eventually, Razel stumbled through the edge of the forest as the rays of the afternoon star shone upon her tanned skin. Cass soon followed after her as twigs and leaves stuck to his hair and fur.

His eyes narrowed to focus on the three figures that approached, all easily dwarfing him in size.

"We heard shouting," commented a deep and powerful voice. The voice of which came from a bipedal ursine that stood proud and stout. A large axe rested against his wide shoulders as intricate, dark-blue markings reminiscent of swirling winds were painted on his light-grey fur. He wore naught but a pair of ragged pants made from hides as a tattered, white cloth draped across his right hip with a symbol that matched his tattoos. A flag of a bygone tribe.

"What happened out there? You do realize you landed off mark, Cass. We can't have you straying too far from the unit this early," chimed in another voice, this time sounding commanding and analytical, but wizened and composed. It belonged to a matured woman with deeply tanned, scarred skin as her otherwise shoulder-length brown hair was tied into a loose bun. She boasted an athletic physique that was clad in a red field jacket and dark-grey combat pants as black boots and gloves finish her uniform. A military operative, or so Cass thought; her amber, feline-slitted eyes seemed to gaze pick up on any and every detail on his person, no matter how minute.

"I'm just glad you two are safe. We were worried something might've gotten to you before Razel found you! She is the fastest among us all..." spoke a light-hearted and tender voice. It belonged to a woman who boasted fair skin and an average physique amongst a party of hardened fighters; all except for Cass, that is. She was clad in a bright-yellow hoodie with brown stripes running along the sides resembling that of a tiger's own. The cuffs of her dark-brown pants spilled onto her matching sneakers ever-so-slightly as a heavy backpack was strapped onto her shoulders.

The backpack carrying one rushed over to throw her arms around Razel's shoulders and bury her face into Razel's neck. This caused her rounded spectacles to press and climb up along her squished face. "At least I was worried...!" she shouted into the collar of her jacket as Razel combed her fluffy, blonde hair with her fingers. Feeling her lover reciprocate caused Strafe's thick, shark-like tail to thrash against the grass.

"We weren't gone for that long, Strafe, if only a certain rat didn't get himself stuck in a tree," Razel said with a low chuckle as Cass sunk further and further into the background in silent shame. Though, she did raise her head to peer to her left and right before facing toward the cat-eyed commando.

"Where's Isles and Vox? I thought they were with you."

"They were, but I didn't expect a robot to be so impatient and hyperactive. Makes me wonder where you two even got her."

Razel's semblance of a delighted smile had once again pulled and deformed it into an aggressive and spiteful sneer. "Yeah? I'm sure you'd love to know. I still think you're a Fed, and I ain't sayin' shit to you Miss "Oriol". If that's even your name."

Strafe looked up at Razel with pleading eyes as Cass and the tattooed ursine exchanged exasperated glances. Her hazel eyes glimmered adorably in hopes to pacify the spite that kept rearing its ferocious fangs amidst her lover's words. For what it was worth, it worked to an extent as Razel relaxed once more in her embrace.

One would expect Oriol to seize the opportunity and mock her for being calmed by such antics. But she had other priorities in mind. "Right now we have to focus on regrouping with Isles and Vox," she instructed, her sharp gaze falling upon the bear who instinctively straightened his posture. "Rye, you had mentioned you were a hunter? Can you follow tracks?"

"Correct. We should take the vanguard if you wish it best for us to track them," Rye suggests as his heavy paw levered the wooden haft of his axe higher against his shoulder, stepping ahead of the party as he did. "We do not believe we have any others amongst our group with experience in surviving the wilds," he then casted Oriol a knowing look with his deep blue eyes, a soft smile creeping along his maw. "Though we would not be surprised if you had such a skillset. You do hold a certain air about you."

Cass noticed how Rye kept referring to himself as 'we' and 'us'. A detail that unsettled him, but the shame he felt from delaying the others in the contract kept him from voicing his observation.

Oriol nodded affirmatively, turning her attention toward the north. Roving hills surrounded the distant city as the gentle slopes have been cut by past farmers into terraced platforms to allow for crops to flourish amidst the uneven terrain. "Reaching Corriente can be reasonably met within two days. The other two should not have gone too far," she then turns back to face the party. "And you're right. I am adept enough to follow tracks and survive in the wilderness if I need too. You and I will take point," she gestured for him to join her. She was going to turn back around, but feeling Razel's irritated glare made her hesitate.

Stolen story; please report.

"You know I can just locate Vox with the GPS tracker I installed her with," Razel remarked impatiently, believing this ordeal to be a waste of time.

"Unneeded. Save your battery life, highly doubt the city has running electricity to begin with," Oriol calmly retorted before walking downhill with Rye in tow.

Razel, Strafe, and Cass all reluctantly followed behind as they gave the two supposed tracking experts enough room to perform their duties. The meek rat-kin who had been silent during the entirety of initial meeting took out his broken pair of glasses and a roll of duct tape. Now that he had a moment to himself, he could temporarily repair his glasses as Strafe curiously looked onward as a fellow spectacle-wearing individual.

"What happened to them?" She asked, peering over Cass to watch his handiwork.

Cass opened his mouth to answer, but found himself choking on his words. Feeling the animosity radiate from Razel who walked hand-in-hand with Strafe caused him to hesitate. While he could rat out his aggressor, he thought it best to keep that information withheld lest he end up snapped in half himself.

"They just fell off my face when I first landed in the tree. Haha, I'm just such a klutz! Ha..." Cass remarked with an awkward laugh and a sigh that equaled it. The brief embarrassment being more than enough punishment to have that intense, violent animosity which emanated from Razel recede for a time.

"Then you are really lucky that it was just the arm of the frame and not the lens. Once we get somewhere safe I can lend you my repair kit. I know the struggle of having glasses break while on a contract," Strafe offered with a kind smile that made her sharpened canines visible to Cass, who reactively glanced away before he found him become a slave to fight-or-flight once more.

"R-right. That'd be much appreciated," he remarked before tearing off a piece of tape with his teeth and wrapping it around the broken off arm to bind it to its fractured hinge. Finally, he can slip on his beloved glasses and view the world for what it was meant to be.

Immediately, his golden eyes honed in on his surroundings. He saw the dilapidated and ruined city of Corriente in the backdrop of terraced hills that continued downslope like a staircase befit of a behemoth. The city itself was immense, a common sight for all municipalities where Radiants such as Razel and Strafe reside and thrive in. The cities themselves were spread sparsely throughout their nation, leaving the wildlands in-between them to be the homes of Astrals such as Cass and Rye. Although cities did allow for Astrals and Radiants to co-exist and intermingle. Such was the balance of their world, Dawn.

However his discerning eyes did notice a peculiar detail. The farmlands they encroached upon were all kempt and pristine, albeit barren of any actual crop. A detail that did not sit well within his mind. "Razel, you said Corriente had been abandoned seventy years ago, why do the farmlands seem as if they have been worked upon all this time?"

Razel was caught off-guard by Cass's sudden question, raising a lax fist over her mouth to cough into to clear throat as if recomposing herself. "Ahm...as for that I don't know. Maybe some scavengers? Iunno."

"Potential sources of information, no doubt," Strafe surmised as Cass and Razel nodded.

"I just hope they're peaceful, whoever they are," Cass added.

"Why? Never got into a real fight?" Razel asked with a creeping smirk. She felt Strafe's elbow nudge sharply against her side, causing her to ease up on her mockery.

Cass's gaze lingered upon Rye and Oriol who continued to lead from the front. His lips furled into a musing frown, recalling from previous experiences for a moment. Unpleasant experiences that he'd rather not remember. "I had run-ins and scraps with a gang called the Tiger's Guard. They typically only made fun of and belittled me during my schooling days. Didn't get bad until my younger sister started up high-school herself three years ago. At least I could ignore it, but when they started targeting my siblings I could no longer let them go unnoticed."

Razel and Strafe saw Cass subconsciously tightened his hands into tight fists. His words striking a cord within them.

"And you still think it's best to leave them?" Razel reiterated, her teeth clenched.

"My parents are too stubborn to change, and I have long grown tired of their abuse...even if they don't see it as such," Cass said while holding his head high, staring up at the distant clouds that sailed overhead. "It's why I undertook this contract. I plan on giving them the equ so that they could move somewhere nicer. Maybe have it jumpstart my sister into university once she graduates."

"But as of me?" he asked rhetorically with a quiet, sardonic chuckle. "It was already too late for me. I didn't have a clear path for myself until I undertook this contract."

"Too late? You don't look that old, Cass. I would've thought you were twenty at the earliest." Strafe replied in attempts to cheer up the downtrodden Astral.

"And where are you even from? I thought you were from the West. You certainly act like a complete pushover," Razel added, keeping her veiled eyes upon Cass. A gaze he felt all too well.

"I'm only twenty-two. But I was never able to finish my education due to the Mage Rot pandemic that happened six years ago," his fists eventually unclenched, moving his hands to pocket them within his bulky, oversized aviator's coat. "And I'm from Millington D.C., Southern Ring."

Razel and Strafe both fell silent. The hands that intertwined them together tightening in their grip as Cass turned to face them with a brave smile.

"So don't worry about my use in a fight. I'll make sure to carry my own weight and then some."