The shuttle is finally moving. The two Bishops began chattering over the outcomes of this invasion. They primarily worried for their Prime Clergy. First, uncertainty filled the air. Silence brewed shortly after, while the clattering of the shuttle's legs was grinding against the track, producing a consistent digging pitch. There is still a lingering in their mind as the Born that appeared in front of them remains a mystery,

  “Divinity doesn’t work on them? Isn’t that their weakness?” Ari asked, and he looked towards the two bishops, who shrugged their shoulders, having little to no experience in this topic.

  Leonardo looks to the floor, “That was my estimation two years ago, but I still can’t wrap my head around what exactly can immobilize them.”

  “When did you encounter these things? Have you been outside the District before?” Ari asked.

  Leonardo stared intently. “Well…I noticed that Dark-Fur one had scarring in his neck and forearm area.” Leonardo looks up, “I mean, according to everything Paegon learned about Borns, that alone says this Born is abnormal.” Leonardo said enthusiastically.

  “That doesn’t answer my question. And I'm sorry, but I want to know what you think, not Paegon.” Ari said.

  Leonardo breaks into silence once again, as one of the bishops pops out of his seat.

  “What’s going on with the track?” He asked.

  The track is bent upright approximately 50 yards ahead, but before they could even register this, another jet stream comes back, impacting the left side of the Beetle. This causes the entire shuttle to derail outside, tumbling and destroying fifteen trees. The turning finally stops, but all four passengers become dangerously disoriented.

  The Beetle laid on the ground, its nearly charred body twitching intensely. The small transparent lounging room on top of it remained untouched, further emphasizing the shuttle's durability.

  The Born in Black-Fur clearly ended its encounter with Jonthru so soon, as it presents itself in front of these four. It reaches its extended arm to Leonardo.

  “Now, where do you guys think you’re going?!!” The Dark Fur asked, landing his punch toward Leonardo.

  Leonardo tries to block it, but his frail build cannot take the swing directed at his gut; Leonardo flies away ten feet onto a broken stump. The bandages seem to slip further off his body, coupled with a sharp pain, making him nearly incapacitated. Ari looks at his newly fallen friend, then around to look for the two bishops, who are nowhere in sight. His frustration is ever-growing as he struggles to move his hands up.

  “C’mon!” Ari said, feeling a sense of fear and soreness.

  The Dark-Fur puts his hands to his side and scans Ari with his eyes. “I think you’re the boy the master’s looking for. Hey!! Zan! I found him!!” The Dark-Fur screamed, his volume multiplied like a megaphone at will.

  “What makes you say that?” Ari asked and then tried to throw a punch, but his strength and speed had not recovered yet. The Dark-Fur catches the fist and throws him next to Leonardo on the stump.

  “Well, Master said he’d be an angry kid, and you seem angry enough. You are also desperate to leave, from what I heard earlier. I just want to play a little bit. I won’t hurt you too much before we go to Master, okay?” The Dark-Fur said, his sharp teeth showing as he licked his lips.

  Ari and Leonardo are both completely helpless to the situation at hand as they are rendered useless, as the Dark-Fur walks up slowly to them, Ari goes into a squat and moves forward to tackle the Born's legs. The Dark-Fur supports himself using the pressure of the jet streams coming out of his forearms. This struggle lasts long enough for Leonardo to sneak a hit on its temple with a Divine Staff. He had to stand atop a tree to get an accurate direct hit, as the Born's height made it hard to do so normally. During this, Leonardo can’t help but wonder why Ari has not summoned his Divine weapon yet to fight back.

  The Dark-Fur is completely still, “Okay, this isn’t fun anymore with two people.”

  He overpowers Ari finally by putting even more pressure on his jet streams, and Ari is sent to the third tree stump the shuttle knocked over.

  “Now, where’d you get the courage to hit me with this stick?!” The Dark-Fur swiftly grabs the staff. Leonardo, having not let go, starts screaming as the Dark-Fur is concurrently laughing, spinning him around, and throwing him.

  Ari catches him. They both stand up as the Dark fur continues to walk towards them.

  “Well, Leonardo, it was nice meeting you. I didn't think we'd die today.” Ari said.

  Leonardo's eyes widen at the Dark-Fur menacingly walking toward them, not even registering Ari's words.

  “I am astounded at this Born…why is it talking so normally, and who is their Master and what do they want with you? Did Paegon even know of these types of Borns?” Leonardo asked. He has always been an active learner, regardless of whether it's in a calm environment or the heat of battle.

  Ari goes for another tackle, but it is met with the Dark-Fur’s dash of its own.

  But in the middle of the clash comes an interception of a perfectly vertical slash from above on the Dark-Fur's left shoulder to his gut. The culprit gracefully lands on their feet in front of Ari. The Dark-Fur stumbles backward, grabbing the exposed part of its body.

  “What was that?! And why does it hurt!! ARGH!!” The culprit moves towards the two boys, revealing herself, her red hair barely touching her shoulders. She raises her sword and points it toward the Dark-Fur, “Why aren’t you bleeding?” She asked.

  The two boys behind her are shocked at the sight; their day just got a whole lot more interesting.

  “I--” The Dark-Fur is interrupted as he seems to be deep in thought.

  The second invader, the Born with Arachnid legs, appears from the initial crash sight and grabs its head, forcing the Dark-Fur to grab his own head. “Pull Back!? Why would Master ask that? I almost got the boy!...” The Arachnid gives a more stern look as it finally lets go of its head. The Dark-Fur reluctantly does the same. “Fine, I mean, of course I wouldn’t disrespect Master’s wishes.” It reaches the same vicinity as the Arachnid. Who almost feels obligated to also engage with the 3 that the Dark-Fur was playing with.

  The Arachnid takes a gander before speaking, “Girl, you’re strong. I haven’t seen anyone give Fetler a hit like that since we were brought back into this world. What’s your name?”

  The girl's hair turns from red to brunette as she sheathes her sword. The boys notice an intriguing silver badge with a skull-like insignia on her scabbard. “How sweet of you. I’m Clementine. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you two again.”

  “Clementine, I will not forget this. You have impressed me.”

  Fetler, the Dark-Fur, looks at the Arachnid, “Alright, can we go now before I change my mind?” It responds by looking at the group of three once again as both invaders disappear before their very eyes.

  “What was that? That wasn't a Conceal command.” Clementine wondered as the two boys who were holding each other in fear and anticipation finally let go of each other and cleared their throats, grabbing her attention. She takes one good look at them and immediately makes her decision.

  “Alright, it’s time to take you two homeschoolers back to school…or home,” Clementine said.

  “No, wait! My name's Ari, and this is Leonardo. Are you a Hunter for the OTF by any chance? I see the badge.” Ari asked.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Growing up, Ari was fascinated with the mystery of hunters being interlaced with the history of the Holy Trident. Ignorantly so, because he's merely heard of these collaborations through rumors. He always knew the ideals of both entities could potentially be vastly different. Leonardo did not oppose Clementine's's Idea clearly but stopped moving when Ari asked his question.

  “Yes…why do you care?” Clementine crosses her arms.

  “Nice! Do you work under a Guardian?” Ari asked, his voice projecting.

  “Well, I just started, so it doesn’t work like that right away. I have to prove myself.”

  “Nice! Which guardian would you want to work under?”

  “You’re… loud. But, I wish to become a guardian myself and create my guild of hunters.”

  “Very Nice! Take us with you! I promise I won’t slow you down.” Ari clamps his hands together.

  “After how you two did against that Born just now? I don’t think so.”

  “Come on, we’re just a bit hurt right now, but you won’t regret it.”

  Leonardo timidly interjects as he wipes his glasses, “Ari, she’s right. We can’t keep the Clergies worried forever. Besides, the Sacred One has a commandment that we aren't allowed to leave home..."

  Clementine smugly raises her eyebrows. Ari looks down, leaving Leonardo still in the spotlight. “...Besides, we have to report what we learned about the Born.” He finished.

  “Wait. What did you learn? I had no idea what I was facing.” Clementine's curiosity got the best of her.

  “Well, that Dark-Fur was clearly a human, based on its shape and speech capabilities. The Dark-Fur might be a rare SpaceBorn. Maybe the Arachnid Born was as well; they also had stitches on different parts of the body. They must be modified humans. We must also consider that the Arachnid said they were ‘brought back’ which would mean they have been—“

  “Resurrected…” Clementine adds as she puts her hand on her chin. “Interesting, how good are you at recognizing artifacts? I know the Holy Trident has secret books on it.” She pulls out her greatsword, and he holds it, but he can’t hold it properly and impales it into the ground to support its weight. He has trained with a greatsword briefly and was surprised at the strength it required to carry this specific one.

  Leonardo is finally calming down, “See, I know enough about a majority of the existing ones based on what I’ve read. Paegon wrote books about them.”

  “Do you know the name of this one?”

  “I think this is…Rainbeaux. There's barely anything written on this, though. But how did you acquire this?” Leonardo said, Clementine takes her sword back.

  “So you don't know either? Well, I think I want to snag you away really quickly. I haven’t decided yet.”

  “What!?” Ari cannot let his frustration pass at the whim of her decision. As he storms away, “Even the arachnid wanted me to go with them.” He mutters to himself

  Clementine catches up and grabs Ari's shoulder, “They invited you to join them?”

  “Yes, they told me as they were leaving. I’m telling you, I can hold my own. We just need to heal.” Ari confirmed. Clementine looks at them both for a second, puts her hand on her hip, the other on her face.

  “Interesting, fine. You both can come.” She moves her hand, and the two boys instantly sense the sincerity of her next statement, “I will tell you just as I was told. We could die at any minute. This isn’t the training grounds like you have here. I’m not sure I’ll be able to save you if we get into something serious.”

  “Psh, we’ll be fine, just give us a day or two. I’ll fight as much as I can. Now we should walk and talk.” Ari puts his arm around Leonardo, who is feeling very anxious. Clementine moves back a little,

  "No, I decide where we go." She said.

  They walk away from the crash site a few yards before anything else is said. Clem looks back at the 2 boys.

  “You know, Ari, you act almost exactly like Red. My partner, whom I lost just now.”

  “Oh, cool!”

  “That’s not a good thing,” Clementine added.

  “Well, how long have you been dating?” Ari asked ignorantly.

  “Really, man? Not that kind of partner. He was my chaperone. Red works under my dad. I was in the middle of looking for him before I met you guys.”

  Leonardo astutely figures that if this father has underlings, he must be somebody of high esteem. “Is your dad a Guardian?”

  Clementine rolls her eyes, “A lot of questions is not good for a first impression, guys. But yes, he is. His Tag Name is Bullseye.”

  Ari’s mouth hangs for a second. “Your dad is Bullseye???!!! Never-Miss-Bullseye? What’s that like?”

  “Don’t know. I haven’t seen him in over 3 years. Don't ask about him anymore, please.”

  “Listen, Ari, Clementine, this has been...something, okay? But some people are probably actively looking for us, so Clementine, can you please bring us back after I’m done doing what you need me to do?”

  Leonardo can’t handle the pressure overwhelming him. He stops walking, balling his fists, which grabs the other's attention. Clementine pulls out her map of Terramyth, which belonged to her mother. She points to two locations Northwest of where they currently are. Leonardo is amazed to see how much bigger Terramyth as a whole is compared to the four districts of the Holy Trident Compass Church. Ari side smirks as he views his first map in his entire life of the world he inhabits.

  “I thought Red went to where we are right now, but he might have stopped at Rockylia. That place looks like it's the closest to here, so maybe you can show me where it is, and I will take you back. I promise.” Clementine removes her finger from the map.

  Leonardo nods his head, “Okay, I know where to go. My Instructor has shown me a lot,” signaling them to continue forward.

  As they continue to walk forward, they notice under the night sky that the plants and trees that are far away from the crash site seem to light up. It glows all sorts of beautifully vibrant and lighter colors. The three of them move their heads up and down as they analyze the beauty of it all.

  Ari is the most curious, “How is this happening?”

  “I read about this; there was a person who acquired a Nature-Born who could preserve dead essence in the wildlife, that was hundreds of years ago. Her name was Neri Rosaline.” After the bright young boy says this, Clem looks at Leo with a glint in her eye.

  “No way, the Rosaline family? I thought they were the ones who bless and honor the fallen.” She adds.

  “What do you mean? By the way, what are these fruits? I'm so hungry.” Leonardo grabs a fruit that almost resembles an apple from the tree as Clementine looks away from him to further see where they’re going.

  “They heal you. But don’t eat that yet, they have anesthetic properties while healing your ess-“ She sees it is to no avail as the two boys have already fallen to the ground.

  “This is the search party for Red, huh?” She sits down. “I suppose I need them fully recovered before we keep going.” As she sits down, two hours pass as she looks at the fire she built from her

  backpack and puts blankets on the two knocked-out boys. As she falls asleep looking at the fire, a faint memory replays in her head. One that seems so insignificant.

  These two boys remind me of you and Red a little bit, Dad. I think you'd like them a lot. However, I still don't understand why I wanted to become a Hunter. I remember I was 5, sitting with you on the edge of a cliff back home, and we threw pieces of fruit into the pig pens. We kept hitting them on the head, which made us laugh hard. I had something on my mind. I don’t remember what it was at the time.

  "So, you skipped Ballet? You're not quitting, are you? Is it that girl again?" Bullseye asked.

  “Dad, Dawnie is mean to me. I can't take it anymore.”

  The young scruffy Bullseye smirked, “But you're so good!! Besides, you of all people need the tough guidance.”

  “Can’t you take me with you to Hunt?” Clementine asked.

  Bullseye began laughing for a few seconds, before making a deadpan expression, “I can’t do that. For several reasons.”

  "Then stay here!" Clementine yelped.

  "You know Lady Millicent wouldn't like that. I'm already on her bad side," Bullseye said, shaking his head.

  “Whatever. Will you not take me because I’m a girl?” Clementine asked.

  “If that were the case, I wouldn’t be so keen on keeping you with Dawnie.”

  “If it’s because it’s too dangerous, I can handle myself,” Clementine said.

  “I’m sure you can.” He throws another fruit before wrapping his arm around his daughter. Staring into her displeased expression, he continues, “Listen, I know that look. This isn't about Ballet. Talk to me, and be honest.” Bullseye finished, his smirk turning into a stern and caring expression.

  Clementine gazes into her father's eyes more, the familiar warmth of his embrace coercing her to lean further into his arm.

  “Okay, but you have to be honest; What happened to mom? Is she going to come back? She said she would take me with her soon." Clementine asked.

  He looks ahead at the horizon, with his eyes focused, and lets out a deep breath. “You see… your mom and I, we're stubborn people. When we set our mind to something, even if it kills us, we won't budge. We actually love that about each other.” Bullseye said, superficially maintaining the smirk. His eyes projected a blank stare in the distance.

  "So you love each other still? Then why did she leave? Did I do something wrong?" Clementine asked.

  "Of course not, you're perfect in every single way. It's just…" Bullseye sighed and shook his head.

  Clementine lifts her head from his arm,

  "What? You have to tell me, you said you'd be honest." She said. Bullseye side-eye's his daughter.

  "Fair enough. I'll tell you like it is from here on. Deal?" Bullseye smiled again before lifting his hand for a handshake.

  Clementine grasps her father's hand as firmly as her toddler arm could.

  "Deal!" Clementine exclaimed in excitement.

  Bullseye looks into the distance again,

  "Clem, we lead very dangerous and unpredictable lives. In this world, that lifestyle's a dime a dozen. Before you entered our lives, the thought of that wasn't so scary. In fact, waking up not knowing what would happen the next day was actually fun for me. It was fun for your mom too, I think anyway." Bullseye said, chuckling slightly.

  "What about now? Is it not fun for you anymore?" Clementine asked.

  "Well, you made it not so fun…" Bullseye teased, before playfully wrapping his daughter around his arm again, briefly before letting her go.

  "We're trying hard to be your parents. To be normal people. I hope you know how much we love you." Bullseye finished, lifting his head high and away from his daughter.

  Clementine reflects on this memory, staring into the sleeping boys in front of her,

  I should have asked you more. I wonder just how much you would have told me then. Now I may never find out what happened to Mom. If I could just have a sign, any sign, that you're still out there. Where are you, Dad? Why can't anyone find you…?