When Lukas was grabbed, he and his attacker were sent tumbling. He couldn't see where he was very clearly, but he knew someone was covering him with their body. The person also had one hand on his mouth, and something sharp pressed against his neck. When the person stood, Lukas saw that he and the attacker were standing about 20 or so metres from Oak.
'What the hell!?'
He frantically tried to do something, but his arms were pressed firmly against the attacker's body, pinning them. His legs were also wrapped tight with one of the attacker's legs. As he tried to struggle the attacker spoke to him with a clear, soft, and ever so slightly sadistic voice.
"I wouldn't try that if I were you."
But what could he do? His arms and legs were pinned, and his mouth was covered. He couldn't use his Frequency, although it might be too late now anyway. He looked at the point pushed up against his neck and saw it wasn't actually a weapon. Rather it was as if the attacker's pointer and middle finger had turned into long claws or fangs.
'Wait, Oak said that Skyla's subdivision has people good at range. So he must be good at range too, right?'
Instead, however, Oak brought his hands to his mouth and shouted at the attacker.
"I can see your uniform from here, you're part of the Fortissimo, right? We're two new recruits, we aren't your enemy."
Lukas could feel his attacker's head shift slightly as it rubbed against his own. Then the claws. or fangs, at his neck retracted. Finally, he was let go and heard the attacker sigh.
"Well, why didn't you say so!?"
Lukas looked at the person behind him. She was taller than him, and way more muscular. Her uniform consisted of a tight, pitch-black upper half that left her arms completely exposed. While the bottom half was baggy, made to obscure her form. Lukas couldn't see how powerful her legs were, but he sure did feel them earlier, and they were very restricting.
It was quite a distinctly different outfit to Bene or Oak. It seemed specially crafted for her and how she fought. Which seemed to have a heavy focus on grappling.
She then looked down at Lukas, then back at Oak.
"Who the hell are you two?"
Oak was the first to speak between the two of them. He even started walking towards Lukas and the strange woman.
"I'm Oak, and that is Lukas. I am a part of Skyla's subdivision, and was asked here by Vesa."
The woman erupted in laughter, clapping as she threw her head back from the hysteria.
"Well what do you know, I'm Vesa. You should've just said you're from Skyla's, anybody worth their weight in gold is on good terms with Skyla. More importantly... you're Lukas huh? You must be Bene's right?"
Lukas nodded.
"Right... Oh, here are your weapons back by the way."
She proceeded to toss both of Lukas' weapons back to him. He didn't even notice that they were gone.
'Scary...'
"Anyway, why don't I take you both back to Mystic Camp? Unless you two want to sleep in trees... oh, but the branches aren't thick enough huh."
Just after her teasing comment, a crow landed on her shoulder.
"Oh. You want a treat, little buddy?"
She took something out of her pocket that was too small for Lukas to see and fed it to the bird. She then whispered something to the bird before it flew away.
"Alright, let's get moving then."
On their way there, Lukas couldn't take his eyes off of her. He didn't fully trust her after what had happened and he kept part of his mind fully focused on her.
Her hair was black and lightless, shrouding her like a veil of darkness. Contrasted against her pale skin, it was as if she was painted with ink.
But one thing did pierce through her monochromatic appearance: the vibrancy of her blue eyes. They were like the ocean, and a bright fire danced in their depths. It was unlike the eyes of Bene or Oak. Neither of them had the same spirit to them.
Lastly, he noticed something else. Like Bene, she also had tattoos. One on the back of each of her hands, with the character for "Venom" written.
'Venom? So were those fangs against my neck?'
Lukas shivered at the thought of having venom injected into his neck. Vesa, noticing Lukas' gaze, turned to him.
"So, 'Weaver of Time' huh? What's that about?"
"I don't know. When Bene gave me my weapons and uniform, it was just inscribed onto them."
"Oh, so it's one of Bene's poetic names."
Oak, nonchalant as ever, chimed into the conversation.
"Do other people have names like that?"
Vesa chuckled.
"Sure, anyone who is important enough or well-known gets a title like that. Though most are nicknames, that just kind of... stick around. I got mine based on how lethal I am when it comes to ghasts."
Lukas remained silent for a while as the group kept walking. He still wasn't sure if Vesa was who he was supposed to meet. It seems like she does know Bene, but that didn't confirm anything. Also, what could she want with Oak?
Lukas wanted to ask her every question on his mind. But he was afraid to try to pry into her too much... Actually, he was just afraid of her. Despite this, he did still need to know whether she was who he was supposed to meet.
"How do you know Bene?"
She turned back to him with a confused look on her face. She went out of her way to turn around, walk backwards, and face Lukas. All to show him how stupid of a question that was.
"Everyone knows Bene. He's the highest-ranked member. Even people who haven't met him know of him."
She turned back around and let out a wistful sigh.
"But for me, Bene was the only person I knew for a long dark time in my life. I don't talk to him much outside of assignments these days, but he's growing colder. I can tell by looking at you."
'She can tell by looking at me? What does that even mean?'
He didn't have any time to think about her choice of words, however. As swiftly after, Vesa stopped.
"We're here."