-Ekleipsis- "Heh, she's the one huh?" A young woman with light grey hair tied back neatly, said as she watched Wren and the others through the trees. "Would you shut your face? We are supposed to be here in secret. If you keep talking so loud they-" A man with tattoos covering the back of his neck, suddenly stopped talking and quickly covered the girls mouth. From their vantage point, they could see that Silas had sensed something or someone close, he warned the others by stopping their horses. "Shit! If she "Reaches Out" she will find us..." Both of the people held their breaths anticipating the worst, they could hide from most people's eyes, but even with their status in Ekleipsis, they can't hide themselves from her. They carefully watched from the trees as Wren turned her head from side to side to see if she found anyone..."Silas wait!" They heard Wren yell and then noticed a commotion, caused by the possessed teens.
"Come on "Sweet Pea", luck seems to be on our side today," the man said as he uncovered the woman's mouth and they both quickly made their way down from the trees, took their horses, and rode off towards their camp just outside the Southern Territories. "Oi! What in the bloody hell took ya so long, eh?" A man with scars on his face and his neck, with tattoos covering most of his arms, yelled towards the man and woman from earlier. "Piss off Scab. Mind your own b-" "Oi! Scar, not Scab ya prick!" The man who was riding with Sweat Pea waved off "Scar's" comment, dismounted his horse, and tied her up to the post. "Honestly Scar why do you have to get "Triggers" hyped up all the damn time?" She asked as she too dismounted and tied her horse to the post. "Stay outta it! Did ya find that Spirit Lady or not?" Both Sweet Pea and Triggers looked at each other before busting out laughing. This caused Scar to get angry and throw a spoon in their direction before listening to what they had to say.
...The next morning the three of them packed their thing's and left to meet with their contact within the Southern Territory and arrived after only a short ride. "Do be careful of who you choose to speak with here; something has all the towns people worked into a frenzy. It would be best for you to stay within the shadows." Said a young looking girl with dark skin and light brown eyes. "Here, you know what needs to be done right "Sugar"?" The young girl nodded as Sweet pea handed her a small vial. Scar, Sweet Pea, and Triggers left shortly after the encounter, and made a plan for how they would complete the mission. They cautiously made their way to the temple where The Elders were said to be meeting. "Priestess Wren, welcome to our humble temple..." An elderly woman greeted Wren and her party warmly as they approached the temple walls. "Please come in as we choose to not discuss business outside our walls," Wren nodded and they all walked inside. "Ugh! I feel like we are on a damn babysittin' gig. Why can't we just end her here and-" "Are you fucking kidding me Triggers? Master Abena has a plan for a reason. It has to look like an accident. We can't just attempt to kill her without proper back up!" Sweet Pea said angrily, as she began pacing about on the outer edge of the wall. "Ya mean even with that damned Lava-shit ya can't-" Before Scar could finish his sentence, both he and Triggers felt the area around them begin to heat up. Sweet Pea looked over at the 2 men near her, clenching her fists and adjusting her stance. Her normally pink eyes looked as if they began to glow in a fiery rage.
..."Silas, watch Shizu close..." Later than evening, Triggers rode off to follow Wren and Silas, while the others each followed another, he was quietly watching their conversation from a distance. He watched them discussing things for a while, "Stupid Shizu, never covering his ass-" "Don't you dare say one more thing about me if you aren't ready to die!" Shizu suddenly appeared near the place where Triggers was spying. "Watch you tongue. Just because you are the current toy 'servicing' Master, doesn't mean I'll treat you special; you are still new to this." Shizu's eyes turned cold and he reached to grab his blade from his waist. "So that's how it's gonna be, huh kid? Fine by me, have fun explaining this to Master," Without hesitation Triggers, also reached for his weapon. As they continued to argue back and forth, never actually sparring, Wren and Silas left to go meet with Rose and Camila, who were talking with the other townspeople.
..."Has Sugar done her job yet? The others have already made moves to injure one of the higher ranking ones with Valen," Sweet Pea asked the other two men sitting across the fire. "Dunno," he shrugged as he answered, "Geez, thanks a lot Scar! Ugh..." she got up and walked towards the small cave near their camp. "She still pissy cus Master chose Sugar over her?" There was a slight pause, then Triggers nodded. "Do ya think what we're doin is right?" Triggers looked over at Scar with questioning eyes. "You doubt Master?" "Na, course not. Just dun see why Spirit Lady has to kick the bucket. I get the Old Fart, but not her. Dunno, maybe I've gone a bit soft. Ima crash guys. Night." Without another word, Scar went over to his sleeping area, leaving Triggers by himself. "That bastard actually makes a bit of sense if you think about it. Damn bullshit! I need a drink," he said as he rummaged through his bag.
..."Hey did you hear?"... "Who was that lady?"... "Do you think it was poison?!" ... "Others got sick too right?" ...The members of the Southern Territory were all talking and worried about what happened the night before. "Well Sweet Pea looks like there was no reason to doubt Sugar. Seems everything has been taken care of," He said in a matter of fact tone. "Guess Spirit Lady does hava big heart, or else that wouldn't worked yeah?" Scar and Triggers bantered with each other as the three of them were gathering their things. "I'm just ready to get back home to my Mushie! 4 days is too long to be away," Triggers had an exaggerated voice and wiggled happily, while Sweet Pea and Scar just scoffed. "Hey! Don't hate on me because I have a man waiting for me when you guys don't," "Not my pref. Triggers, I like a voluptuous Lady waiting in my bed. All h-" "Damn guys enough! Why do you both always have to be so dirty," the 3 of them looked at each other and laughed. Shortly after packing, they mounted their horses and rode off to report to Abena.
-Orion- "Hello? "45" do you read me? It's "21" I just left Master. Where are you?" He stood there as he was awaiting 45's response over the radio. "Ugh, come on 45 we should already be at the Tradelands East port. You were supposed to stay-" Suddenly, 21 turned around as he heard branches breaking behind him; he readied his weapon for an attack. He felt that someone was near and had intentions to harm him so he quickly leapt onto a nearby wall. "Dang Boi! Nice 'Ups', haha." 21 was startled and nearly feel off the wall because of 45's sudden comment and appearance. She was in a crouched position, tilting her head slightly which caused her dark green bangs to partially cover her face. "Shit, 45 was that necessary?! I almost had a-wait, what do you mean by "Ups"?" As 21 worked to collect himself, he pushed his dark teal colored hair out of his face, exposing the scar on his jawline. "I was just being silly, by ups I meant how high and quickly you jumped." She gently nudged his shoulder, "Come on, didn't you say we were supposed to be at the East side of Port? If you just left Lord-" Before she could finish, 21 put his hand over her mouth, "Honestly, how hard is it to stick with the codenames? We've wasted enough time now let's go!" He said as he jumped off the wall and began running towards the port; 45 giggled and followed closely behind.
..."My my, Honey would you look at this young boy's hair," an older lady called back to her husband as she was watching their small food booth. "Wow. Don't see many with that hair color around here nowadays." The old man smiled brightly as he was drying a dish, and the old lady pinched 21's cheek softly. "I thought many different lots of people came through the ports Ma'am?" 45 said in a slightly confused tone. She shook her head, "You see that big, scary man over there?" The old lady pointed to the end of the food stalls to where a tall, muscular, and scarred man stood; seemingly on guard. "Ever since the Military gained more footing within our ports, they controlled the people more carefully. Make sure you don't get in his way okay babies?" The woman said with a warm smile, causing both 21 and 45 to smile as well. "Of course, thank you for the information and the food. Hopefully we can meet again," they said as they walked towards the opposite direction of the man. "Darling, why did you tell those brats so much information? What if they were with-*cough cough*" the older man coughed as one of the stationed military men walked past their booth, then crouched down closer to his wife as he passed. "Honey, didn't you see the light colored tattoo behind the girls neck when she turned and on the boys arm? It's the Kalina Crest, those are Lord Valen's students." The old man's eyes opened wide in surprise, "But Darling, how did you? *sigh* You read too much nonsense...Wait! D-does that also mean Kooky Toto-" "Humph! I thought you said I read too much HONEY. Seems like you should read some more yourself," the older lady said as she stood and walked past her husband; who dared not say another word.
..."Wait, so "67" said she heard Abena discussing Ekleipsis related business in her office? I mean, why Abena of all people? Does she really have that much strength? I just can't see her as some ruler over the Ekleipsis members," 45 was talking in between eating her meal, making exaggerated hand signals as she spoke. Earlier, both her and 21 had walked throughout the town gathering as much useful information as they could regarding their temple and the military. Now they were staying in a small inn eating their dinner. "She has been suspicious about Abena for a while now. Remember the mission she went where she was attacked by Haruki? She was completing a intelligence mission for Orion. As for Abena's skill," he took another bite of his food and just shrugged instead of answering. "At least we have a general idea of when the Military started bullying everyone at the ports. Oh, I heard one of the "regular customers" mention that the East port is the second most guarded." She took a sip of her drink before continuing, "The northern most port is closest to their military base, which I suppose explains that," 45 then but the bowl to her mouth and loudly slurped the remaining soup, resulting in 21 throwing some of his bread at her head.
..."Lord Valen, why must you insist on such things?" Mav had an irritated look on his face as he spoke to Lord Valen, while 21 and 45 silently watched from a nearby building. "We shouldn't just be splitting up like this. Not when we lack allies," Lord Valen smirked. "What makes you think we don't have allies in the city? As I previously instructed, you will remain within city limits with with Amai and Serena while Ari, Sebastian, and myself will visit an old friend of mine for supplies. Take care to remember, this MY decision, you'll do well to follow what I say." Mav's body tensed up and he reluctantly nodded. "Hey 21, do you know who this friend-" "SHH!" 21 quickly grabbed 45 to shush her, but made a noise that alerted Mav. "Let's move!" He whispered quietly as Mav began to head into their direction. After they managed to get away undetected, they spent the day fathering information around town.
..."I only got a few snippets of information regarding Lord Valen's possible friend. Did you get anything?" They were back at the inn after spending the day tailing around. "I heard someone mention an old hermit that lives in the mountains, a possessed old man who fell into the river, and a pervert who was run off," She laughed loudly. "Gosh that's rich! Doesn't seem like someone who he would likely befriend." He sighed deeply, "I feel like there could be a bit of truth behind all the stories. I've heard Lord Valen mention an old friend, if he is as skilled as he says its probably a cover. What did you find out?" She drank the last bit of her drink and reached for her small notebook. "Well I heard about a 1 armed hermit who was banished into the mountains," She flipped through more pages then turned to show him. "According to the most reliable source I have here, this is the sketch I managed." 21 looked closely then grabbed the notebook and quickly grabbed his bag and dumped it on the floor. He pulled out an old article and wanted poster. "Aside from the hair and appendages, these could very well all be the same person." They both looked over the pictures, "We will meet with the others after this mission and maybe then we can get the full truth," 21 said matter of factly. Shortly after, they prepared for their journey the next day then turned in for the night.