Gabriella and I smashed the walls on both side and Ace broke down the door in front. The people inside didn’t look to surprised but I guessed they didn’t expect us to be this many. The first to attack me was a guy who had an extending spear. He slashed in front, which is one of the common mistakes in fighting. You do not attack forward as your first move, it’s the most predictable move you can make. I easily dodged it and used a balisong to cut his waist. Since I’m more proficient when it comes to long distance attacks, I had to train close combat and make myself prepared. I carry a balisong or a butterfly knife and an extra dagger attached to my calf in case I have to resort to close combat.
“What the hell?!” someone exclaimed. I turned and saw someone backing up from the back, but he immediately froze and fell to the ground, Marco appearing behind him. I felt a ray of light behind me and that’s when I saw the cabin being surrounded with crystal light.
“Get down!” Gabriella ordered. I looked around me and saw that there was no one else to fight anymore. One of them was being held by Gabriella who had his hands tied upward and his ankle broken. Ace continued stepping on his ankle and the man groaned.
“What do you want?!” the man angrily asked. We all settled down and hid our weapons. I stood beside the broken wall beside Josaiah while Marco stayed behind beside Snow.
“Why do you have men camping here? What does Causan Industries want now?” Gabriella furiously asked. The man looked around and noticed all of his men were down and that he was alone. During this time, it’s either you kill yourself to protect your pride or spit it all out to save yourself. The man looked determined and even eager to escape, but he was too injured to even move a muscle.
“To drown Aleris,” the man simply said with provocation. Gabriella, who was already annoyed, punched the man on the jaw. The man coughed blood and eventually lost consciousness.
I turned to Gabriella. “What now?”
“He already alerted the others. We need to move fast,” Gabriella said while holding up an alerting device. We immediately headed out and the house was already covered with a transparent blue color- to collect chemical traces, identify people who have been inside and to shrink the object.
“Red and Xy, you guys should head first and scout the camp from above. You give us the signal when you already cleared the path for us and made the first move. These guys were surprised, so let’s keep it that way. Marco and Snow will follow you guys and stay somewhere close. Ace, Josaiah, and I will enter the north gate of their camp. Are we clear?” Gabriella ordered and we all nodded.
Xy and I immediately ran to the west side of the city. The camp is usually at the center where it’s surrounded by the buildings for convenience. I plan to make a distraction to make the troops come out and then take them out one by one as Gabriella, Ace, and Josaiah make their way inside. As I sighted a cauldron lit up on a pole, I immediately entered an abandoned building at least 300-400 meters away from it. That was the north gate of camp. I headed to the rooftop and knelt dwon as I took out my bow. Xy laid down and took out a tablet.
“There are at least four people by the gate, twelve by the fire and three inside a tent. They seem to be cooking food by the looks of how they’re gathered and moving,” Xy whispered to me, continuously scanning the camp. I nodded and pulled the string of the bow, the string generating a silver ray from the limb tip and bottom limb and then meeting at the middle of the string, generating a steel arrow. I stood and immediately saw the people gathered by the fire. Behind them was someone cutting vegetables and there was a grill beside him. As soon as that person turned away from the grill, I aimed at its bottom and fired. The arrow broke the bottom of the grill and part of it hit the fire. The grill fell and the fire grew bigger. The people then gathered by the grill to help lessen the fire and pick up the things that fell. That was my opening. I pulled the string of my bow and aimed at the guards by the gate. As I fired, the arrow hit the head of the guard and he immediately fell to the ground. One of the guards looked around and the other went to the guard to check on him. As I pull the string of my bow, I saw Gabriella, Ace, and Josaiah running to the gate. I turned to the people gathered by the grill and they still haven’t noticed one of the guards dead, so it was my chance to fire at them one by one. As I heard the guards shouting at each other, the people looked, and I fired. Just when I was supposed to fire at the tent, I noticed a silhouette inside a building behind the camp.
“Xy, can you check the building behind the camp if Marco and Snow are inside it?” I asked Xy, not taking my eyes off the silhouette. I couldn’t visualize who it was because it was too far away, but I am sure that there was someone.
“W-what? Marco’s already inside the camp and Snow is inside that building beside us.” Xy pointed at the building at our right side and I saw a glowing light by the window. It was Snow. I touched my in-ear communication device to alert the others.
“Hey, Gabriella? There’s someone behind the camp who doesn’t seem to be part of the plan,” I called.
“A little- busy- here, Red! Take care of it!” Gabriella said through the in-ear, obviously in a middle of a combat. I immediately pointed my bow to the building, but then something shiny hit my eye at the same time. I unconsciously blinked but didn’t move my position. I forcefully opened my eye and fired. A few seconds after I fired, that’s when I noticed something shiny heading towards us.
“Xy! Come with me!” I exclaimed and pulled Xy up. I dragged and pushed him to the door just as a loud crash was heard from our previous place. I peeked and saw the cement completely torn apart by a steel arrow that was pierced in it.
“Ah!” Xy shrieked. I held him down to stop him from standing up as I carefully observe the arrow. It looked exactly like mine. Did it bounce back to us? No. I pointed it at an angle that will surely hit and break the window, my arrow would have hit the inside of the building. When I stood, that’s when I noticed the window of the building actually got shattered.
“Xy, can you check that building behind camp for any sign of life or movement?” I asked Xy and he immediately got up. Although he was stumbling, he raised his tablet to the building.
“N-none, Red. The building’s empty,” he said and even zoomed in the building. It’s either that person immediately got away or I was wrong, but if I was wrong, how could an arrow be fired at us at the exact angle I intended to fire as well?
Suddenly, Xy’s in-ear piece was glowing red. I didn’t have enough time to think but I immediately pulled it out. Xy flinched and turned to me. I stared at the in-ear piece and it was sparkling, like it was hit by lightning. That’s when I felt the tingle in my ear. Before I knew it, I felt the left side of my head down to my neck being electrocuted.
“Red!” Xy shouted. My vision blurred, but when I fell down, that’s when I noticed the arrow pulsing at the same time as the in-ear piece. The arrow was an activator. The moment it hit our place before, it detected the electrical activity in our in-ear and triggered an electrical pulse. It was delayed and I was grateful I took out Xy’s before it electrocuted him as well.
“Snow! I need you here!” Xy called to the other side of the building. I kept myself awake, staring at the arrow and the in-ear piece. Suddenly, a rope was fired to the side of building. I shifted my eyes to the side and saw Snow swinging by to us.
“What happened?” Snow asked. She got down and flashed a light to my eyes.
“H-he got electrocuted. Someone fired at us that messed with our in-ear piece,” Xy explained. Just when I felt myself blacking out, I didn’t remove my eyes from the arrow, because before I fired my arrow at the building behind camp, I was thinking of the same thing- to fire an electrically charged arrow, to instantly paralyze the person.
I woke up feeling hot and sweaty. When I opened my eyes, my first initial thought was I was kidnapped and tied beside a fire, but I was on the ground, on cement to be exact. I was laying down and when I turned, Snow was beside me lighting a candle. “Hey, Red. You’re awake. This is a healing candle, it’s good for your nervous and respiratory systems,” she said, answering the question I was yet to think. A few seconds later, Marco entered the room. “The first time I saw you unconscious. What was that?” he asked. I don’t know if he was teasing me or he was actually concerned for me. “I don’t know. I thought I saw someone, and there was definitely someone, but I lost him,” I explained, expressing my disappointment. I stood up, Snow gasping, like she didn’t expect me to immediately recover that fast. I went out the room and saw the others resting by a fire. They all looked at me when I got out, Josaiah even stood up. What, like he was nervous for me? Geez, hav
The man looked tall and strong, like he had been training. I got a good look at him when he had his back on me. Although I couldn’t recognize him, he was someone I could remember and distinct from all my visions. I thought of the forest. It looked like an ordinary forest, but the trees were huge and tall, like our forest. It felt like I was in a maze when my vision shifted to the forest where there was no one I could see. The boat in the middle of the ocean was even more confusing. It was just a small boat with one paddle and it was empty. It just sat there on the ocean still and there were no waves at all, like the waters were calm. Why am I having these visions? It doesn’t make sense. I wasn’t in contact with anyone, let alone people from Causan Industries. Except for the fact that we killed their scouts, but they’re low-leveled. They weren’t even allowed to enter their premises and they didn’t even know who they were working for. I laid on my bed and closed my eyes. How am I
Gabriella’s “How am I going to make up for him then?” I asked Snow who was reading a book while laying down on her bed. We just got back from the mission and I just finished washing up. It’s not that what I did was wrong, but I thought I was being too harsh on Red. I know he’s a great leader and soldier, but he, himself, was hesitant to stay longer because of what happened to him. I just wanted him to know that I care for his thoughts and choices for himself. “I don’t know, Gabi. Maybe just apologize,” Snow said, not looking at me. I don’t know if she’s being sarcastic or if she’s actually giving a suggestion, but judging her tone, she’s being honest. I sighed and laid down my bed. It doesn’t matter now. All I have to do is just apologize and explain. The night went by pretty quickly considering the fact that I literally rehearsed in my head what I was going to say. “Red, I’m sorry for looking down on you,” “You kn
“It’s a good thing the weather is great today,” Mom said, staring at the sky in front of her tent. I was observing the people gather, counting them and familiarizing those who were coming with us. Today marks my father’s 12th death anniversary. It’s usually just me and mom visiting my father’s grave above the east mountain since we only say our prayers and have a few drinks, but today, the people suddenly started gathering while bringing food, saying that they want to come with us. Red and his squad will be coming with us too, and it’s going to be their first time coming to his grave. “Well, looks like everybody’s ready,” I said as they all wait for us to lead the way. Captain Hiragi and a few men will be staying to guard the camp. Mom and I lead the way to the east mountain while Snow and Ace tagged right behind us. The east mountain isn’t really that far from camp, but the trail is a little steep. It leads to the highest cliff there is in Aleris and below it are
19 years ago “Hey, Nat? Do you think this will fit me?” I heard Gabriella ask Nat. I was busy working on the steel bow we just finished creating here in our camp, so Nat is currently keeping my daughter busy. Gabriella found herself a soldier’s uniform in one of the cabinets and decided to try it on. She's only five, but her curiosity is unbelievable. Nat chuckled and placed her hand on her chin, pretending to be thinking deeply. “Hmm, I guess it would need some stitching, Gabi,” she told Gabriella. Nat just arrived here four months ago, and she already developed a close bond with Gabriella. Nat helps us look out for my daughter whenever me and my husband are busy. Speaking of my husband, I haven’t seen him in six hours already. “Nat, I’m going to look for Louisiano. Can you watch her for a little longer?” I asked Nat as I stood and wore my coat. I’m just so grateful that Nat enjoys Gabriella’s company even when she gets a little annoy
“Louis!” I called to him. My mind was not processing and I couldn’t let out my voice once more. My legs were just sprinting toward him and I couldn’t see the other people fighting by the entrance. When I rushed toward him, I immediately knelt and held his shoulders. “W-what happened? Where did you get hurt?” my mouth blurted out as my eyes looked for his injury. I didn’t want to touch him anywhere near the blood, but he was panting. I embraced his head and let him lean on me. “T-talk to me, please!” I pleaded to him. He held my hand and turned to me. He suddenly held my head to his chest and rubbed my back. I couldn’t understand what he was doing and I was trying to push him away because I might hurt him. “You came back for me,” he softly said. I closed my eyes and breathed. I hugged him back lightly and placed my hands on the back of his shoulder. This isn’t the first time that we got attacked, but this was the first time we got attacked with Gabriella.
“Are you sure you’re going to keep it?” I asked Louisiano while observing the hook. It looked old, but it wasn’t broken or torn, like it was just recently used. We were walking back to the camp, but he said he wanted to look into it more and bring it to our lab. “It’s safer for it to be with us, than leave it be at the cliff,” he said. I gave the hook back to him and he suddenly reached out to his back and brought out a book. “I found this as well. It looks like a diary, but it’s empty,” he said and then gave me the diary for me to look. It was indeed, empty. The structure of the diary looks new and the pages were smooth and brightly white. The cover didn’t have any design, simply a colored brown hard cover. There were no signature or ink spill, like it was newly bought. “I think I might use it for records. Have our own copy, don’t you think?” he suggested with an anticipating smile. He smiled with his dimples and teasing eyes, so I tossed the diary back at h
Louisiano’s It’s so stressful how they keep sliding off my hands when they’re so close to us already. They managed to attack the camp and plant cameras, but I still can’t get a clue about Causan Industries. My wife has been creating our own cameras for the past two days, and it’s been nothing but amazing. She’s the main reason how we’re progressing on our weapons and experiments, and she’s been working on medical research at the same time. I’ve been venturing around the east forest for a while now and I’ve discovered a few clues about the intruders. There were signs of camping on the cliffs and marks on the trees, so I decided to illustrate them on the diary I found a few days ago. I kept track of the things I discover so I can put them together when I have enough clues. Recently, I saw from the cameras that were just attached to the cliffs of the east forest that there were scouts who climbed the cliff to enter the forest. I’m guessing that they got
I stared in shock and disgust. They continuously worked will being ordered around and nobody seemed to stand up for themselves. I’m thinking they’re scientists, because they were mixing chemicals and had human-sized tubes. I couldn’t figure out what they were trying to create because the window seemed tinted, but I could see at the other side of the room some equipment and wiring. What exactly are they trying to do? Is the guy standing on the platform the head of Causan Industries? I doubt it. Someone important to this threat of a company wouldn’t expose himself in a mere laboratory with other individuals who can possibly betray him, but I don’t think they can do that anymore. They look so lifeless, like they’re being controlled by strings. I couldn’t imagine who their families would feel right now, being separated from each other, not knowing that they’re alive. It was a wide window, but the door wasn’t in my range of vision. The laboratory looked like it was a round room.
Louisiano’s It’s so stressful how they keep sliding off my hands when they’re so close to us already. They managed to attack the camp and plant cameras, but I still can’t get a clue about Causan Industries. My wife has been creating our own cameras for the past two days, and it’s been nothing but amazing. She’s the main reason how we’re progressing on our weapons and experiments, and she’s been working on medical research at the same time. I’ve been venturing around the east forest for a while now and I’ve discovered a few clues about the intruders. There were signs of camping on the cliffs and marks on the trees, so I decided to illustrate them on the diary I found a few days ago. I kept track of the things I discover so I can put them together when I have enough clues. Recently, I saw from the cameras that were just attached to the cliffs of the east forest that there were scouts who climbed the cliff to enter the forest. I’m guessing that they got
“Are you sure you’re going to keep it?” I asked Louisiano while observing the hook. It looked old, but it wasn’t broken or torn, like it was just recently used. We were walking back to the camp, but he said he wanted to look into it more and bring it to our lab. “It’s safer for it to be with us, than leave it be at the cliff,” he said. I gave the hook back to him and he suddenly reached out to his back and brought out a book. “I found this as well. It looks like a diary, but it’s empty,” he said and then gave me the diary for me to look. It was indeed, empty. The structure of the diary looks new and the pages were smooth and brightly white. The cover didn’t have any design, simply a colored brown hard cover. There were no signature or ink spill, like it was newly bought. “I think I might use it for records. Have our own copy, don’t you think?” he suggested with an anticipating smile. He smiled with his dimples and teasing eyes, so I tossed the diary back at h
“Louis!” I called to him. My mind was not processing and I couldn’t let out my voice once more. My legs were just sprinting toward him and I couldn’t see the other people fighting by the entrance. When I rushed toward him, I immediately knelt and held his shoulders. “W-what happened? Where did you get hurt?” my mouth blurted out as my eyes looked for his injury. I didn’t want to touch him anywhere near the blood, but he was panting. I embraced his head and let him lean on me. “T-talk to me, please!” I pleaded to him. He held my hand and turned to me. He suddenly held my head to his chest and rubbed my back. I couldn’t understand what he was doing and I was trying to push him away because I might hurt him. “You came back for me,” he softly said. I closed my eyes and breathed. I hugged him back lightly and placed my hands on the back of his shoulder. This isn’t the first time that we got attacked, but this was the first time we got attacked with Gabriella.
19 years ago “Hey, Nat? Do you think this will fit me?” I heard Gabriella ask Nat. I was busy working on the steel bow we just finished creating here in our camp, so Nat is currently keeping my daughter busy. Gabriella found herself a soldier’s uniform in one of the cabinets and decided to try it on. She's only five, but her curiosity is unbelievable. Nat chuckled and placed her hand on her chin, pretending to be thinking deeply. “Hmm, I guess it would need some stitching, Gabi,” she told Gabriella. Nat just arrived here four months ago, and she already developed a close bond with Gabriella. Nat helps us look out for my daughter whenever me and my husband are busy. Speaking of my husband, I haven’t seen him in six hours already. “Nat, I’m going to look for Louisiano. Can you watch her for a little longer?” I asked Nat as I stood and wore my coat. I’m just so grateful that Nat enjoys Gabriella’s company even when she gets a little annoy
“It’s a good thing the weather is great today,” Mom said, staring at the sky in front of her tent. I was observing the people gather, counting them and familiarizing those who were coming with us. Today marks my father’s 12th death anniversary. It’s usually just me and mom visiting my father’s grave above the east mountain since we only say our prayers and have a few drinks, but today, the people suddenly started gathering while bringing food, saying that they want to come with us. Red and his squad will be coming with us too, and it’s going to be their first time coming to his grave. “Well, looks like everybody’s ready,” I said as they all wait for us to lead the way. Captain Hiragi and a few men will be staying to guard the camp. Mom and I lead the way to the east mountain while Snow and Ace tagged right behind us. The east mountain isn’t really that far from camp, but the trail is a little steep. It leads to the highest cliff there is in Aleris and below it are
Gabriella’s “How am I going to make up for him then?” I asked Snow who was reading a book while laying down on her bed. We just got back from the mission and I just finished washing up. It’s not that what I did was wrong, but I thought I was being too harsh on Red. I know he’s a great leader and soldier, but he, himself, was hesitant to stay longer because of what happened to him. I just wanted him to know that I care for his thoughts and choices for himself. “I don’t know, Gabi. Maybe just apologize,” Snow said, not looking at me. I don’t know if she’s being sarcastic or if she’s actually giving a suggestion, but judging her tone, she’s being honest. I sighed and laid down my bed. It doesn’t matter now. All I have to do is just apologize and explain. The night went by pretty quickly considering the fact that I literally rehearsed in my head what I was going to say. “Red, I’m sorry for looking down on you,” “You kn
The man looked tall and strong, like he had been training. I got a good look at him when he had his back on me. Although I couldn’t recognize him, he was someone I could remember and distinct from all my visions. I thought of the forest. It looked like an ordinary forest, but the trees were huge and tall, like our forest. It felt like I was in a maze when my vision shifted to the forest where there was no one I could see. The boat in the middle of the ocean was even more confusing. It was just a small boat with one paddle and it was empty. It just sat there on the ocean still and there were no waves at all, like the waters were calm. Why am I having these visions? It doesn’t make sense. I wasn’t in contact with anyone, let alone people from Causan Industries. Except for the fact that we killed their scouts, but they’re low-leveled. They weren’t even allowed to enter their premises and they didn’t even know who they were working for. I laid on my bed and closed my eyes. How am I
I woke up feeling hot and sweaty. When I opened my eyes, my first initial thought was I was kidnapped and tied beside a fire, but I was on the ground, on cement to be exact. I was laying down and when I turned, Snow was beside me lighting a candle. “Hey, Red. You’re awake. This is a healing candle, it’s good for your nervous and respiratory systems,” she said, answering the question I was yet to think. A few seconds later, Marco entered the room. “The first time I saw you unconscious. What was that?” he asked. I don’t know if he was teasing me or he was actually concerned for me. “I don’t know. I thought I saw someone, and there was definitely someone, but I lost him,” I explained, expressing my disappointment. I stood up, Snow gasping, like she didn’t expect me to immediately recover that fast. I went out the room and saw the others resting by a fire. They all looked at me when I got out, Josaiah even stood up. What, like he was nervous for me? Geez, hav