The day was bright, it was early in the morning. The birds were singing, the sound of river flowing accompanied their song, it was the symphony of nature.Amidst all this were footsteps, filling up the ambience. Jake, Williams, and Henry were all walking in the forest, making sure that their steps weren't heard.They'd been training heavily for the last two weeks under the guidance of Miss Kayla. After that night, they'd trained their bodies, and worked on their alchemy, with heavy emphasis on Williams.Jake hadn't spoken much to them during that night that he'd heard Williams and Henry's back stories, he'd been really distant, but he'd been working hard and seemed focused as well.Williams and Henry were a tad worried, but they were focused on the task at hand and had been working hard as well.Right now, it was the day that Miss Kayla had been preparing them for. She'd spent those two weeks tracking their movements and gathering information.Now that she had all the info she needed,
Illuminated by their alchemy sticks, Henry and Jake walked through the dark cave, seeing no further than three meters from them.Both of them walked slowly and quietly, making sure not to make any unnecessary noise as they moved.The eerie dripping of water in the cave seemed like the only company they had... That, and the swarm of bats that had flown out of the cave not too long after they'd entered.The further inside they went, the more and more tense the air got. Jake took a step forward, and his foot seemed to sink into the floor."Shit!" He thought as he began gathering mana, "Henry, booby trap!" He yelled before slamming both his hands together."Gale burst!!!" He yelled as a huge gust of wind erupted from all around him, blowing dense and fast air all around him all at once.In the same instant, Henry slammed his hands into the floor. "Hibernation!" Instantly huge pillars of ice erupted from the floor all around him, surrounding him in a thick layer of ice.A millisecond after
"We're here to save you," Jake repeated as he took a step towards the kids. During the whole ordeal, the children watched Jake and Henry come down from the ceiling and defeat the men that were just beating them in a single hit.Whether it was because they were too scared to think straight, or because they simply didn't believe them, the children retreated from Jake.Jake and Henry stood in front of the kids with confused looks on their faces. "It's alright now guys, we're here to save you guys," said Jake as he stretched out a hand."No!" One of the children screamed as he covered his head and began crying. All the other children huddled even closer with tears flowing from their eyes."P-please," one of the girls said as she slowly hugged her fellow captives close, "d-don't kill us," she cried.Watching all the children shudder at the mere sight of them, Jake and Henry stood in shock looking at them."These kids... Can't they see we're here to save them?" Said Jake in a soft and empat
"I'm not gonna stutter," said Williams, "I'm n-not—argh!!" He cursed lightly and oddly nicely as he threw a stone off the top of the cave.He was sitting on top of the cave, on a huge rock that arched over the edge of the cave, causing it to resemble a cliff."That was supposed to be it! I was supposed to say ten sentences in a row without stuttering, and of course I messed up on the seventh line," thought Williams as he tossed another rock.He let out a heavy sigh, "remember what Henry said... Say whatever it is you want to say in your head first a couple times," thought Williams.He sat quietly for a moment before speaking, "I'm not gonna stutter. I'm not gonna stutter. I'm not gonna stutter. I'm not gonna stutter. I'm not gonna stutter. I'm not gonna stutter. I'm not gonna stutter. I'm not gonna s-stutter—dang it!!!" He yelled as he tossed another rock."That damned seventh line..." He thought, as he threw another rock. He sat silently, alone, on a cliff above the cave. Certain tho
Maner and C3 stood opposite Williams, both in their battle stances. Williams held both hands out in front of him and locked eyes with his opponents.A nervous sweat ran down the side of his face, "this is bad, they already have information on me," thought Williams, "they know what my alchemy is... But they're information is highly outdated," Williams took a step backwards."I can't tell if that's a good or bad thing. They could be more on edge because they're aware of their ignorance... If this battle doesn't end fast, then we'll both end up dead. And worse of all it's two versus one," thought Williams."Calm down Williams, calm down, you've done this before, you've killed the ORA before haven't you?..." Thought Williams as he took a breath."Remember all the training you've been through with Jake and Henry. They're in there battling to save the people who were kidnapped, I have to give it my best too," thought Williams."C3," said Maner, "let's kill him in one attack," he whispered.
Williams stood looking down at the body of C3. "Wires?" He thought as he noticed a wire sticking out of C3's body.He raised his eyebrows in confusion. What would wires be doing inside of a living person? Was this some sort of upgrade the ORA used? He knelt down beside the body.Now that he took a closer look, he could see more and more circuitry sticking out of C3's corpse. It didn't make sense.This wasn't just enough wires and circuitry for a simple enhancement, no, it looked like he was made from nothing but wires.In fact, Williams struggled trying to find a single actual organ in his body—at least from where he could see.He was no doctor. Sticking his hands into people—whether dead or alive—wasn't something he was comfortable with."Now that I think about it, I think that guy was called Maner... And he called this guy C3..." Said Williams as he sat down beside it, staring at the body."Wires... C3... Maybe this guy isn't a guy at all?" Thought Williams. As much as he thought ab
Soki was shirtless and kneeling ten-toed in front of an alchemy return circle, holding a piece of paper in his hands."I fear the worst is yet to come, and a battle beyond what we could possibly imagine won't be long now," he said to himself.He was quietly reading the contents of the paper. It was a report, sent to him by Horace.It spoke about the findings of team Charlie, team Stevens, and team Kayla. Earl's familiar, the secret base and the storm drug, project Chimera and the slave traders... There was a lot that they discovered in their one month away from the school.Team Charlie strangely hadn't encountered any of the ORA and had stuck to basic training—Team Soki wasn't much different.Though as a result, Team Charlie had made the most progress training wise and covered the most distance.It spoke of the identifying of the moles within the school, as well as the progress of the other children back in Welgrid.Thankfully, the children who were kidnapped for the slave trade and e
Damian, Ruby, and Christopher were all walking in a row behind Soki in the dead of the night.They walked past vegetation, trees, streams, and a few insects. Thankfully the activities of the ORA—whatever they were—seemed to have scared all the beasts and animals away, meaning that they didn't have to worry about encountering any beasts attacks in the dark.They didn't even walk with any artificial lights. The moonlight was enough for them to navigate through the area easily, they were used to the surrounding area after all."Hey," said Damian from behind Ruby, Ruby turned, "yeah?" "Are you okay?" Asked Damian, Ruby raised a brow."Whaddya mean?" "Meeting the ORA I mean..." Said Damian, Ruby kept silent for a moment.It hadn't been too long since the death of her mother. It hadn't even been a year since she died. Her funeral hadn't been done yet either.Immediately after that whole incident, there was barely any time before the school festival where Earl and Sidney were kidnapped.And