The sand whipped past Sam and he squinted from the bright light finally making up the shapes of the Village's tents. Children ran around, chasing each other with lizards and noticed one clutched a scorpion by its tail. Fear ran through him. He saw the elder council members off to the side talking and noticed Rae, her grey shawl whipping in the wind laughing. She looked happy, eyes not full of hatred and noticed everyone looked at ease and not so tense. A familiar face emerged from one of the far tents, a scruffy beard of a hard working man and the honest brown eyes full of sadness. Benji; his caretaker thought Sam was dead. Died to the hybrid hunters.
Sam moved down the hill, half sliding and noticed how the sun made the world ripple. No one seemed to notice him and he stood in front of Benji who looked right through him. How Sam missed him. The Village was better off without a hybrid but it didn’t make it any less painful. He’d always been a good scavenger and guide on the Stretch but knew nothing would change their minds. Benji continued with his work, scouting and making sure the Village was safe.
Sam felt the shift and he looked over to where Rae stood, her eyes now purple. She pulled her brown hair out of the bun and slowly walked over to where Sam stood and the rest of the Village faded away. She pulled out a sword, twirling it casually.
“Hello freak.” Sam didn’t reply because he would not play along. It ended the same anyways. His eye starts to burn and he rubbed at it before he saw Rae hold up a scorpion. “Remember this?” Of course he did. The dream taunted him and in a quick motion she tossed the scorpion at him and swung her sword down on his leg. Sam let it happen before he felt the pull and was yanked into a black void.
“Why don’t you fight back?” A female voice said. Her voice bounced all around.
“What's the point? I lived through it and it's not like anything will change.” Sam said, keeping his head down. He shivered at the cold. He didn’t want to know who she was either.
“Interesting.” She mused. Sam didn’t know what the mysterious voice wanted but he refused to figure it out. Nothing could change what happened in the past. “Show me what you can do little one.” He felt the scorpion crawl up his body and he refused to move. Its legs were so light on his skin and he felt himself start to shake when it reached his neck. It slowly made its way on his face and for a brief moment he was back on the ship. The scorpion just waited as if waiting for permission, its barb hovering over his left eye once more.
“Do it.” Sam whispered and the barb struck down.
Sam groaned feeling the sheets rub around his bare arms uncomfortably. His mechanical eye flickered to life and he blinked a few times seeing his room come into focus from his nightlight. He sat up and could feel the phantom pain start up on his hip and he rubbed it in an attempt to soothe the ache from the scorpion poison. He was up before his alarm and shut it off. He had a bit till they would meet in the training room which was not unusual. It happened plenty of times, especially when he had dreams.
He looked at his tan arms, seeing the two remnant markings of the snakes while the sides of his body had remnant markings of grey swirls. They were more like stripes that stuck out against his dark skin. He took a deep breath and summoned his blue coral snake, the marking disappearing from his left arm. He stretched and let Cansu slither up to his neck before getting up and wrapping Benji’s light brown shawl around his shoulders.
Cansu became a more affectionate snake after Moros, his ball python, died to Rae. He shook his head of the memories and grabbed his staff. Its bandaged handle, where the wood twisted and winded up to where it branched to warp around a large dull yellow crystal and then a smaller white one higher up where the wood became thicker to wrap around it. It was his prize for surviving the ship where he was meant to die. Cansu moved down Sam’s arm and he let his snake onto his desk. He checked to make sure his door was locked.
He hadn’t told anyone about his unique ability, well one person knew as he was unsure how the team would react. His Village hated it and would shame him for having his snakes out. So he only let out Cansu in his room. He sat at his desk, turning on the lamp, thinking of what he would have the team do. He was nervous to be taking over for his leader but he wanted to prove himself worthy. He didn’t want to be looked at as if he were something so fragile and as much as he was powerless, he wanted to fight. Being in the team was his chance to be someone else and not let anyone push him around. He just needed to find his voice because he was still scared.
Cansu flickered her tongue at him and Sam rubbed his tongue over his fangs. Life dealt him unfair cards but he was getting used to it. There was a knock at his door and he scrambled to grab his snake and in his panic couldn’t get her to go back into a tattoo. His logical thinking was to gently shove her in his desk drawer and just pray whoever it was didn’t notice his missing tattoo. He unlocked his door and it slid open revealing Felix sitting on the floor.
Oh. “Uh you wanna come in?” Sam asked. Felix darted in with such speed he almost knocked Sam over appearing on his bed. “Goodmorning?” Felix signed back a greeting. His beady black eyes stared at Sam with such intensity it was starting to creep him out. Felix was harmless though and the only passive member on the team. Felix flexed his clawed hands before he seemed to knead the blanket. There were various black spots on his face, some were freckles but the large ones seemed to mimic scales in a way. Around his neck his neck feathers ruffled up before smoothing down.
He pulled the drawer open and Cansu immediately began to wind herself on his hand. Felix perked up seeing the snake, ears twitching. He was always curious when it came to Sam’s snake mostly because it was new to him. It had been awhile since Felix visited Sam’s room or in general since he seemed very attached to their leader. “What brought you here?” Sam asked, letting Cansu go to his other arm.
Felix bounced on to his long animalistic legs before signing. “New leader, also help.” It was pretty vague. Felix never seemed to understand how to make a sentence flow and just had choppy wording. “Oh, you mean my temporary promotion? It might have been a mistake.” Sam admitted. Reality was sinking in because always kind of considered himself a weaker link and didn’t know the first step to dealing with the rest of the team's powers. Sam took a seat next to Felix and handed Cansu over. Felix blinked before trilling at the snake as she moved down his grey arm.
He didn’t even understand Felix’s powers, they were a mystery to him besides seeing him shadow-travel once and that was all. He didn’t show them off when they trained but would let someone, usually Azara, teach him basic defensive moves. The team didn’t even know what Felix was, having animal legs and a grey body. Sam picked up on Felix's heartbeat after a moment of silence and he realized he wasn’t wearing his ring that helped block it out. He’d sworn he had it on when he went to bed and began to move his blankets around before shoving most off.
He shook them out but didn’t see anything before Felix held up the shiny gold ring. “Did you- did you steal it?” Sam questioned because Felix also had a strange knack for shiny things. Felix had such a guilty look and Sam sighed because he wasn’t mad at him. “Man you're getting good at that.” Felix shrugged before tossing it back.
“It might be good if you don’t wear it today.” Felix said softly, “It could help you out and all you're doing is limiting yourself.”
Sam stood there in shock, for one Felix just spoke which was rare and two he seemed to know Sam’s struggle. “You just spoke.” It was all he could think to say. Felix shook his head in denial. “I just watched you.” Again Felix shook his head and Sam decided to not push it. He held the ring and reluctantly put the ring in his little jewelry box. He got overwhelmed rather easily especially since he had sensitive hearing and the ring he got from Benji helped block out many of his….snake traits he picked up. Sam was unusual but he guessed it was “normal” considering Felix.
“Ok.” Sam said and took back Cansu as she disappeared back into a tattoo. He changed in his bathroom and reappeared as Felix patiently waited for him. “Let's go.” He readjusted his shawl and grabbed his staff before stepping out and had to breathe for a moment but Felix nudged him forward. He did check in on his leader and Aaron before deeming them fine and left for the training room. The sun was just starting to rise and Felix immediately leapt onto one of their walls that held a board for working on abs and grip strength with two pegs and some slots, his tail snapping around as he tried to hold on and for balance.
Felix fell off halfway through the puzzle. Sam perked up hearing heartbeats and shook his head because it had been so long since he had to deal with it. He wasn’t sure he could do it but it was good practice for his mental shield of blocking. He gripped his staff and focused on the texture to ground himself. Azara kicked open the door.
“Good Morning! Who's ready for another day!?” Sam winced at the volume watching her prance around. He did not understand how she had this much energy already.
“Ugh, Azara, please dear, tone it down.” Vixen said entering but she was also dragging Ryan behind her by his ear. Sam attempted to hide his smile, tossing his staff back and forth between his hands. Vixen let go, shoving him forward as Ryan just glared at her, rubbing his ear and looked more irritated than normal.
“He was trying to skip.” She said casually.
“Thank you.” Sam said although as he looked to where Azara had grabbed a plastic spear instead of her actual one spinning it gracefully, he felt nervous still. He looked at Vixen who seemed to be having a staring contest with Ryan over dominance at the moment and wondered briefly why his leader didn’t assign her to the role. Was it really because he asked? Sam liked his lip out of habit and tensed up realizing he can now smell the team, another snake trait he picked up and he rubbed his finger where the ring would be. He was half tempted to leave and get it.
Felix was watching him intensely and Sam knew he couldn’t go back on his word. Azara launched herself on the board and he watched her shift the pegs, sliding them up and down till she made it across. “Boom!” She yelled dropping down and held a hand up to Felix for a high-five. He stared at her confused and she grabbed his hand, showing him what to do. Felix had been with their leader first and it still seemed he didn’t know a lot about the world and was still discovering new things just like how the team was trying to learn about him.
Although recently Ryan seemed to be trying to pull away from anything the team did together and seemed bothered by Felix but Sam wasn’t entirely sure. Vixen had moved to stand before the door watching Ryan who was lingering by the wall wanting to leave. Sam knew it was time for them to get started sensing the tension building. Although he hadn’t exactly figured out what they were gonna do. He tapped his staff and signaled for them to go outside. The training room was good for when they wouldn’t use their powers but it could handle them if needed but outside is where they could get real rough.
Azara moved to talk to Vixen while Ryan was ahead of the group, not bothering to wait. Felix stayed by Sam’s side. “Are you gonna participate?” Sam asked him. Felix nodded. He had to think of some activity that would accommodate the rest of the team's powers, like how Azara had flames, Ryan’s rage, Vixen’s medic experience, Felix’s shadow-traveling and his own. Sam stared at his arm where the remnant marks resided in the shape of a snake. Marking him as a hybrid, not an Elemental.
He glanced at Azara, she was the closest to being an Elemental but what separated her from the organization was her eyes. They were like a magma color while all Elemental had grey colored eyes. It was also how she didn’t have outrageous remnant markings, her palms had the black smudges which were the only thing visible. From what Sam was told, they would scan any design to see if it was a tattoo or remnant marking.
Fire elementals were known for their ability to produce flames and their natural immunity to fire—much like other elementals, such as those of ice, earth, and water, their abilities are tied to their element. With every generation they would have weaker powers from the Elemental God, Catur and maybe it was why they didn’t do anything to help out Amshire. Yet they were the face of hope and peace. They were hybrids too but they were deemed normal enough and loved when they did nothing, not even protecting people or shipments that mean everything to the city. The Elementals could care less for what happens to hybrids.
Hybrids were nothing but creatures that needed to be tamed—at least, that was the perception held by most of society because they were dangerous. Sam knew better because history was twisted. The mayor’s speeches, full of hopeful rhetoric, claimed that hybrids could be reintegrated into society, but Sam saw through the empty promises. Laws had been passed, giving hybrids basic rights and protections on paper, but in practice, they were rarely enforced. They were scared because of the past of what happened during the Age of Divine Ruin because Amshire couldn’t have a repeat of what happened. Sam didn’t know the full story but knew it held the truth.
He had been hunted down by hybrid hunters to be killed for money because people feared him and when Kashi found him, his will to live was reduced to nothing. He couldn’t let others go through the torture either but the truth was, they would. The Outskirts of Amshire told a different story, one that the mayor conveniently ignored. It was a place where hybrids gathered out of necessity, not by choice, cast out, stigmatized, and left to fend for themselves. The laws offered no real sanctuary there. The promises of reintegration meant nothing without action—without true change. Hybrids weren’t creatures to be tamed; they were people, and Sam knew that the fight for their dignity and safety was far from over. Somehow, he would figure out how to change Amshire.
“Well start here.” He said tapping the ground with his staff as they had made it out to the bare ground. He made his way to a metal box, flipping open the top to reveal a panel, searching through activities they could do. His eyes lingered on a particular teamwork drill.
“How about a game of capture the flag?” Sam asked. He may not have powers to truly work with but he loved a good challenge.
“We should do girls versus boys.” Azara said, nudging Vixen who also had a devious smile.
“I don’t care.” Ryan said, crossing his arms. Sam clicked the button and an orb appeared in the middle of the grounds lazily spinning and pulsing “Huh, I guess Kashi changed it but either way we’ll start on the opposite side of the forest, Azara can signal with her shell.”
“May the best team win.” Vixen said and pulled a box out from the panel for the headgear. She pulled two out for her team and Sam tossed the other two to Ryan and Felix before hooking his own up.
Sam hoped that Ryan would behave and play fair. The girls took off. “Good luck!” Azara shouted before laughing with Vixen.
“Come on, let's go.” Sam said, leading the two to the opposite side.
“What's our plan?” Ryan asked casually but Sam could tell there was more to his tone.
Sam looked at Felix. “I was gonna have Felix shadow travel while we distracted the girls and figure out how to reach it.”
Ryan did not seem to like his idea. “Why can’t we charge in, we could easily over power them.”
“Were trying to work as team-”
“Technically it's teamwork.” Ryan interrupted.
“You do remember where the flag is kept is also a training ground of traps too so it wouldn’t just be charging in. We need a strategy, charging in would get you killed if it was a true mission.” Sam said annoyed. “This exercise is for offensive and defensive tactics and besides we don’t entirely understand what the orb can do, I highly doubt it's normal.”
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“We could take a chance.” Ryan said.
“No,” Sam said, spinning around and shoving his staff to Ryan’s throat. “You took that chance yesterday and look what happened, both Aaron and Kashi got hurt. Do you not feel any shame or remorse for your recklessness?”
Ryan’s eyes were glowing dangerously and he seemed ready to fight Sam at the moment before he shook his head violently and stepped back. “Ok, fine we’ll do it your way but it fails. I'm doing it my way.” Ryan sneered and moved ahead harshly bumping into Sam’s shoulder.
Sam let him go, giving himself a moment to also cool off. Felix nudged him and he patted his hair before moving forward. He really hoped Ryan wouldn’t do anything stupid. He stopped a few feet from Ryan as they all waited to hear the horn sound from Azara. “We can have Felix scout and figure out the obstacles. I guess you can be offensive and I can switch to whichever we need.” Sam said.
“Alright.” Ryan said but he still looked upset and hoped it would cloud his judgment on tactics. They all jumped to attention upon hearing Azara’s horn. Felix stepped away and disappeared while Ryan and Sam walked splitting ways. Sam approached the clearing seeing Felix in the tree before going left. It was then he realized he heard the faint sound of a heartbeat and kept moving. He licked his lips trying to catch any scent of the girls and tasted the hint of perfume that lingered in the air. It had to be Vixen.
He scanned for any footprints as he made his way over to the girls side and wondered what their tactic would be since they only had two members. He found the trach of footprints and began to follow, pausing every now and then to listen for anything. Birds continued to chirp in the early morning until they didn’t. Sam stopped looking around and all the trees looked similar and was stunned when he ended up losing their trail.
He realized he had looped around somehow. He licked his lips for any sign of their scent and got a tasteful of a very strong perfume which made him cough. It was all over and he shook his head. They completely threw him off so he hit a tree with his staff and the bead hanging from the top shook. A message and warning similar to a rattlesnake's tail. Sam whipped around hearing the heartbeat pounding in his ears and was met with Vixen who tackled him down.
“Nice try.” She said pushing down on the staff and he got a mouthful of her peppermint perfume causing him to gag. He managed to twist the staff and shove her off but crawled away coughing over the smell. She was watching intensely. The team had discovered it by accident when Vixen was going out and Sam had ended up outside when she walked through leaving the team confused. He hadn’t had his ring on. Maybe he shouldn’t have let the girls team up. Ryan’s voice spoke through the comm.
“I have Azara pinned currently but I don’t know how long I can hold her.” Sam looked at Vixen who took off into the woods. Sam followed after her to the best of his abilities.
He saw Ryan up ahead wrestling with Azar and how the Orb was pulsing a lot more. Vixen lunged to jump on Ryan but it was then the Orb sent out a wave of energy knocking everyone back. Felix burst from wherever he had been hiding and moved with such speed Sam had a hard time tracking him. He zigzagged and must have been avoiding triggering any traps before pushing off the ground and kicked the Orb away from its pedestal. Felix threw himself after it, his tail snapping around as Sam watched in shock that Felix could run on four legs.
“Ok, so change of plan-” Sam started but Ryan seemed to actually know what to do getting up and running after him. Azara got up following. Sam and Vixen locked eyes and scrambled to move, she shoved him back, getting ahead. The only thing was they were heading away from the base, they needed to bring it back to the base to win. “Felix other way.” He said into the comm.
He stopped short upon seeing Ryan trying to hold off Vixen while Felix was nowhere in sight and Azara was trying to get away with the Orb except she seemed to be struggling. Sam approached and she raised her palm to blast fire but nothing came out. It seemed no power worked near it and it was draining energy from the carrier. She frowned seeing him approach and Sam felt no different except not hearing their heartbeats. All of the sudden Vixen twisted out of Ryan’s grasp and Azara dropped the Orb charging at Ryan instead. Vixen took Azar’s place instead.
Sam lunged at her using his staff to block her hits. She growled watching as he put himself in between her and the Orb. She must have been far enough from the Orb to use her powers as the rose on her forearm began to glow as did her eyes. “Stand down Sam, let me have the Orb.” She said sweetly with a smile. His body relaxed and he stepped away unsure why he was fighting her in the first place. She would have an easier time without him intervening. She moved past him and snatched it up running off. Sam blinked a moment later seeing he just got played from her charmspeak.
“Oh come on!” Sam said, ignored Ryan and Azara to go chase down Vixen. He found her on the ground with Felix sitting on her. She pushed Felix off earning a small squawk from him moving away and hissing at the Orb. Sam supposed it would really bother Felix since he is a full hybrid. “You're mean,” he said, playing with his staff. “I won’t let you use that trick again. She smiled, “Whatever you say.” She picked up a sword and swung. Sam blocked it, shoving her back.
“For a medic, you fight pretty well.” She said moving out of his range.
“I’m not just a medic.” Sam said.
“Maybe,” Vixen said before her eyes glowed orange once more. “Vivian guide me!” A cry to the life and healer Goddess. Wisps of orange energy wrapped around her arms.
She charged again, fierce and unrelenting a split second seeing Rae before it was gone. Sam braced himself, meeting her head-on and slamming his staff into her with more force than necessary. The impact sent a jolt of exhilaration through him, igniting something wild inside. Without thinking, his hand shot up, summoning a powerful gust of wind, stronger than anything he’d conjured before. Energy buzzed through his body, electric and foreign, as if he were no longer fully in control. It felt amazing.
Vixen staggered back, her eyes narrowing as she began to calculate her next move. Sam gripped his staff tighter, the rattle echoing ominously. The energy coursing through him was intoxicating, but he didn’t dare glance down to check if his tattoos were glowing—his focus stayed locked on Vixen. She clenched her teeth, muscle tensing, readying for another attack like a predator except she gasped.
Heat singed his back and Sam snapped back to reality feeling the energy fade as he whirled around to see Azara lighting up Ryan. He was back against a tree holding up his shield from his watch against the fire she spewed from her hand. Her eyes were dilated and she looked wild as she laughed.
“Azara!” Sam shouted now terrified she might hurt Ryan. Vixen came up next to him, no energy in sight.. Azara ignored Sam and took another step closer to Ryan. Her eyes almost looked dark pink like her hair which concerned Sam. He moved but Vixen threw a hand out to stop him. “Don’t go near her, I think she would turn her flames on you.”
Sam felt useless, he didn’t know how to deal with hybrid instincts, let alone his own. The fire stopped but she had her spear in hand. The singed trees were smoking and the embers were a fiery red that came off. Ryan lowered his shield as it folded away and his eyes were a bright green than his normal dull eyes. A snarl ripped through him and he unleashed his sword from his back ready for a fight. His muscles seemed to ripple as he stepped closer to her. “Give me a real fight,” Ryan said way too calmly. Azara just smiled, her sharp canines showing. “Have your way, dragon boy.”
This was not the ideal situation for Sam to deal with. He looked to Vixen for guidance as panic was setting in because having both Azara and Ryan riled up was a terrible combo. Sam knew they would try to kill each other. Ryan dashed forward before jumping and catching Azara off guard. He took her to the ground where he delivered a few p before Vixen took off towards them. Sam followed but he wasn’t sure what help he could give.
The sun was starting to peek through the trees and pathway Azara had torched, it bathed the two hybrids in the golden light. Glorious as it was, they needed to get Ryan off Azara before he did real damage he would regret later. Sam dropped his staff as they went for Ryan, trying to pull him away or somehow separate the two. He tried to shake them off. “Let go.” He said, clearly not in his right mind. Sam shook his head. He knew Ryan would not stop until whatever triggered him was destroyed and it was terrifying how the remnant markings of the war God affected him so much.
Ryan grabbed Sam's arm before ripping him off. He sent Sam flying into the charred ground and he watched as Vixen tried with all her might to stay gripped on Ryan’s arm. He ended up slamming her into the ground but she bit him in return. Ryan hissed in pain trying to pry her mouth open. Sam saw Azara watching and the way her body tensed for an attack.
“Ryan! Watch out!” Sam yelled as he scrambled to help out. Ryan looked down as Azara also latched onto him, her teeth sinking into his arm much deeper than what Vixen did. Ryan cursed and threw Vixen onto her when she had let go to yell at Azara.
“Get her off!” Ryan shouted, seeming to have some clarity return to his eyes. Sam made his way over to where Vixen had sprayed perfume into Azara’s mouth who let go spitting out the taste. Sam turned to assess Ryan’s injuries but gasped as he was roughly pushed out of the way.
Ryan pinned Azara down ignoring Vixen's pleas as he roughly grabbed Azara’s face. “Don’t ever do that again.” He growled. Sam opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by two metal pieces flying and throwing Ryan off Azara. Two cuffs were wrapped around Ryan’s wrist keeping them together and he looked pissed.. “What is this?” He said. Sam noticed the way his demeanor changed to scared.
He looked in the direction where the metal had come from and froze when he saw Kashi standing there with a grim expression. Felix stepped out from behind him looking scared. Kashi’s voice was low when he spoke. “What is going on?” Sam looked down feeling guilty but then noticed how Kashi wasn’t looking at him. His gaze was on Ryan. “What were you thinking?” Ryan huffed looking away. “It wasn’t just me.” Kashi gave a stern look at Azara who shrank away, lowering her head.
“I see regardless, you could have seriously gotten someone hurt,” Kashi said, looking over the team. Then his attention turned to Sam who wished he could just disappear.
He was prepared for Kashi to yell at him. “Are you alright?” Sam flinched, not expecting that. “What.” He felt dumbfounded.
Kashi surveyed the area and winced at the charred part of the woods. “I’m sorry for putting you through this. It wasn’t fair.” Sam just stared at him trying to get his brain to function.
“I asked for it though and for the most part I knew what I was getting into,” Sam said, looking at the team. Vixen was scolding Azara while she patched her up. Felix stared at Sam from where he was sitting, the black eyes seemed curious. “Did Felix get you up?”
Kashi sighed and nodded. “Something was bound to go wrong.” He said pulling the two metal cuffs off Ryan that came back over and secured to his watch. “Don’t make me do that again Ryan.”
Ryan just grumbled and limped off to cool down. Sam still felt guilty. “So what exactly were you trying to do?” Kashi said not looking at Sam. He heard Vixen cough.
“Would you believe me if I said we tried to play capture the flag, and it went off the rails?” Kashi gave him a puzzled look but just shook his head in disbelief. Then his gaze landed on the Orb that was still pulsing. “Oh, yeah that was a work in progress, my bad.” Kashi hit the stop button and it disappeared.
Sam shook his head and pulled out the piece of paper with the “lesson plan” on it, handing it to his leader. “It was a lot better than whatever you were trying to do.”
Kashi looked away before quietly saying. “It wasn’t gonna be that bad.” Sam scoffed and looked over to see Vixen helping Azara up.
Sam noticed out of the corner of his eye the way Kashi tensed up. He looked back over to ask if he was okay but Kashi held up a hand. His focus was on the trees and he reached for his dagger. Sam didn’t see anything but observed how the birds went quiet. Kashi threw his dagger into the trees and a Northern Harrier burst out screeching. It hovered in the air clicking its beak and Sam noticed how it didn’t look gray with a brown pattern. This bird was black with red eyes. It screeched once more before it flew off. Weird Sam thought.
“Hey Sam, can you take Vixen and Azara back to the base? I need to check something real quick with Felix.” Kashi said not looking at him but where the bird of prey went. “Yeah I can do that.” What about you? Sam thought, staring at his leader.
Felix came over and signed to him “I will keep an eye on Kashi.” Sam nodded and felt reluctant to leave. Felix gave him an encouraging smile and Sam knew they could handle themselves. He turned and made his way over to Vixen who understood. No words were spoken. They made it back to the base with ease and Sam went to check on Aaron.
He knocked on the door and heard a muffled “come in.” Aaron was sitting up eating but could make out the taping of his fingers that signaled his restlessness. Sam fingered-combed his hair already feeling weary. “How are you feeling?”
Aaron shrugged. “Better, the best I can be.” Sam made his way over and checked the wounds which were almost completely healed. The good thing about being a hybrid is the enhanced healing rate and with a potion, it helps tremendously.
“I think you’ll be ready to get back to work, just take it easy.” Sam said, moving away and checking over his supplies. “I’m guessing training didn’t go as planned?” Aaron said, poking his food not meeting his eye. Sam just groaned and sat down and then noticed how he didn't have his staff. “Not really. It got out of hand.”
Aaron snorted “I feel like that's a big understatement considering the way Kashi ran in here looking for a potion.” Sam’s head shot up and stared at the empty bottle sitting out. He reached for it and saw the label was for healing. Kashi hadn’t been limping. Sam shook his head. “It was….. bad.”
He pulled himself up and put the bottle in a bin. He would find more herbs later to make a potion. His hand felt empty without his staff but he wasn’t in the mood to go search for it. “You can move but I would recommend you take it easy.” Sam said. His right hip was starting to flare up from all the running he did and took some pills. “I’ll be in the living room if you need anything,” Sam said, picking up his own holopad.
He stretched out his bad leg on the couch looking through the recent events to see what the reports had to say. He flipped through, taking note that most of the Elementals sent to the call didn’t seem all too concerned but they were the ones getting the heat for it, not the Outlanders. People complained of the food waste and how the mayor should have sent out patrols to protect the truck. Sam rolled his eyes, they never got credit but at the same time, no one knew they would be patrolling. The mayor disregarded them, considering them unworthy of attention. He sighed watching the new reporters go on about the crime rate.
“Anything interesting?”
Sam yelped, seeing Azara behind him. “No, by the Divine, Azara. You can’t sneak up on me like that. You’ll give me a heart attack.”
Her arms rested on the couch watching him. “Oops, you're not old enough for a heart attack.” She said flipping over the couch and landed next to him. Sam frowned, looking away offended. “I’m old enough, eighteen means I'm an adult.” He muttered although he truly didn’t know how old Felix was, he did look a little bit younger than Sam.
Azara ruffled his hair. “Uh huh, sure. Considering most of us still call you kid and technically you're still taking college online.” Sam groaned mostly because he was falling behind and if he didn't get the lessons done with decent grades, Kashi would pull him out of the “hero” work. That was the one thing Kashi wanted him to do, was school even if most of the young adults these days didn’t finish and very few schools were running. Kashi had told him he would never go to a school run by the Elementals and Sam never argued about it.
“I was seeing if there was anything useful in the reports.” Sam said, swiping away from the news and pulled up his homework lessons. Azara nodded and turned the tv on instead as the noise filled the room.
After a while he could feel her fidgeting with her hair and every few moments and not so subtly look at him. Her heart beat was quick and he had to guess nerves. He listened to his intuition as he put down the holographic pad to stare at her. “I can’t get work done with you fidgeting. What is it?”
She took a deep breath. “I came over here to say sorry. I didn’t mean to get so riled up and out of control. I should have had a better temperament.”
“It’s okay, I understand but also know Ryan can be… very provoking.” Sam said. Azara snorted, “Tell me about it. I swear he has a stick up his ass.”
Aaron shuffled into the room. “I can’t stand being in there any longer.” He came over and picked up a blanket before plopping down. “That's a fair statement and honestly no one likes the medbay.” Sam said, shifting and pulling his legs up focusing back on his school work. Azara and Aaron began talking about something to which Sam didn’t pay attention too.
His left arm itched, where his tattoo resided. He glanced at the tv and was shocked at what the news was going on about. There was a blurry picture of what looked like a demon.
Sam knew that wasn’t good, as the Chaoshold might have been falling if demons were coming through. “That ain’t good.’ Azara said while watching the TV. “We're gonna have to watch the Chaoshold more. There were reports of those anti-heroes too.”
Aaron looked at Azara seemingly alarmed. “You think we might be able to contact them? What did they go by, The Illusion Rebel and the other one? I knew they were quiet for a while so it might be a bad sign that they are more active.” He sat up more to watch the TV more.
Sam heard the ping of the door signaling that someone was back. Seconds later Felix jumped over the couch crashing on top of Azara. Kashi came in, and handed Sam his staff. “Has anyone seen Ryan?” He asked.
“I’ll go find him.” Aaron said getting up and leaving.
Kashi didn’t look mad, more worried than anything with the way his eyebrows scrunched together as he walked away. Sam got up to follow after him, to at least check on him because his heart was beating incredibly fast.
“Hey, wait up.” Sam said quietly. “Are you okay?” He didn’t want to pry but Kashi seemed more on edge than usual. He scanned for any new injuries but found nothing. Kashi hesitated before knocking on Vixen's door. He turned back to Sam. “I discovered something with the Chaoshold, That is where I went.” “Oh.” Is all Sam could say.
Vixen opened the door. “Yes?”
Kashi stared at her for a few moments before very quietly saying. “There are tears forming in the Chaoshold, they seem purposeful and the barrier is weakening and I fear if it falls, unimaginable creatures will come to finish what they started.”
