Chapter 8: Swirling clouds, Light rain

The festival had begun in full swing, villagers laughing loudly and dancing amongst the square, large fires set in place to keep them warm, even in their lighter garments.

Miranda could be seen chasing Silvia with a glob of paint, one having fun and the other…

The scenes before him stirred in a pot of cynicism and history, he felt he could not relate to them, to these simple things he felt so distant.

However a small part of his ever-so-lost mind caught a glimpse of a time he had no longing for, but a time he could never forget.

Their small voice, as though they didn’t want to get caught, their trembling little hands, a tell of their excitement.

And the stars in their eyes, it was a paragon of innocence,

The young boy jumped up and down, “You brought it?!” He cried in a hushed shout, the room was filled with an assortment of random trinkets and items, weapons and other strange drawings scattered about.

The child Agi held a nearly expressionless face as he replied, “Did you think I’d lie to you?”

The young Ari shook his head vigorously, “Of course not! What a good elder brother, what a good elder brother.” He praised, trying to quickly get the item from Agi.

Agi however held it above his head and danced around, preventing him from grabbing it, “Am I only a great elder brother when I have something to give you?” He raised an eyebrow.

Meanwhile Ari seemed to have a realization and went, “Ah…” He put his head down, looking at the floor,

“Sorry…”

Agi felt a bit bad for teasing him, clearing his throat, “Well, just keep this in mind.”

As the little drop of blood swished around within the glass container Ari snatched it with glee, meanwhile Agi gave him a dull look, “That was a completely fake reaction… Little yimrat… he’s taking after me.”

Agi felt annoyed after being tricked by his little brother into handing over the drop of blood, but seeing his excited expression as he huddled into the corner, he felt it wasn’t such a big deal.

Agi opened his eyes, once again taking in the scene of the vibrant festival, was his time at the temple simple? No, it was a terrible place, meant to crush his resolve, but those moments he spent with his brothers, he wonders sometimes… where did it go wrong?

Perhaps it was wrong from the beginning.

Agi shook his thoughts off, walking back into the festivities he found the streets lined with food, meats of all kinds and vegetables, for a moment he just pondered if the limited farms of the village could really handle such expenditure.

But he soon gained and answer by looking around, this was perhaps the strangest aspect, merchants had come to the village.

They were escorted by hunters, and after looking around a bit he had come to the conclusion there were more villages in The End.

He may have been wrong, but the goods of the merchants were almost exclusively items that were easily found in The End, whilst being rare elsewhere.

Such a thought felt dangerous, but Agi had no choice but to entertain it, if there were really more villagers though… then why have the festival here?

Is it a rotation? that wouldn’t make sense, since Old Michael had once told him the number of hunters increases each year, it seems they’ve been taking place here consistently.

This was one mystery that must be answered before the festival ends.

A familiar voice shattered his thoughts.

“Master! Come, we must win this game!”

Agi turned to find Evans standing before a booth, arms raised dramatically.

It was a silly game—yimrats would occasionally bounce out of holes, and the goal was to catch them. But it was also quite sadistic—because the yimrats were alive.

Agi glanced at the lanky man besides the merchant and immediately guessed the truth. This man had help.

The yimrats leaped up in a frenzied panic, their charcoal-black feet and long toes twitching. Their dusty yellow bodies wriggled, floppy ears nearly covering their mischievous eyes.

Yimrats were pests. Incredibly annoying to catch, always getting into places they shouldn’t. They had no core and weren’t true monsters—but somewhere in their lineage, a monster’s blood remained, Their feet were very resistant to heat, and a single leap could completely cool them. But they were extraordinarily weak.

They were practically made for this game.

Without hesitation, Agi shot out his hand, catching one midair. He turned to Evans.

“This is a good chance. Yimrats are excellent at evading. If you can catch them all, I’ll let you enjoy yourself today.”

The merchant nearly fell over in shock. He had expected the game to be difficult, to trap people into wasting money, yet Agi caught one effortlessly.

Hope flickered in the merchant’s eyes. But that kid—Evans—was struggling.

Evans shivered at Agi’s wording. If he caught them all, Agi might give him pocket change—and by Agi’s standards, that was generous.

But the alternative… if he failed…

He swallowed hard. Today would surely be training hell.

“But… Master, you only have to catch three to win…” He pointed at the game. “There’s twenty-three.”

Agi’s expression didn’t change.

“So?”

He set the yimrat back into the game box, handed the vendor a few coins, and waited.

Evans hand shot out–A miss.

Again, a miss.

He stared calmly, his expression turning serence, if he just grabbed mindlessly he would always miss.

No, he had to find something–He had to find his steps.

He heard the loud yip, his hand shooting out to the side, the yimrat twisting to avoid his grasp, but he moved his other hand, which was waiting patiently nearby.

The yimrat twitsted, its control of its body was incredible.

It narrowly missed the second hand, and Evans could swear it was snickering at him on its way down.

He grit his teeth, and his frustration was mounting.

He changed his tactic over and over again.

A while later Evans was practically pulling his hair from their roots, “Master! This is too hard… No, this is impossible!”

Agi took a step forward, his hand grabbing out repeatedly, “Then give up.” His gaze bore into Evans as he continued to grab the yimrats without looking.

“Will it change anything?”

Evans was in shock staring at the scene, the yimrats after being caught simply sat obediently, waiting for Agi to catch the next one.

“Aren’t you already used to giving up?”

The yimrats piled up, until only a single one remained, Agis hand ghosted over it, but didn’t catch it.

“Are you forgetting who wanted to move forward? If you rest, the mud will pull you deeper.”

Evans looked at the final yimrat with fire in his eyes, Agi was right… He had been submerged in mud for too long.

He stepped forward again, and the yimrats scurried back into the pockets, the hot coals awaiting them.

One flopped up, its big belly making it fall faster as Evans narrowly missed it again.

But he remained focused, He listened closely, he didn’t have the reaction speed of Agi, so he had to supplement it.

Hearing the familiar yip he waited, the yimrat, seeing him giving up snickered some more, Evans sent his hand out,

but he recalled a moment of his training from Agi,

“A fight is one of constantly evolving strategy, whoever stops thinking first loses.”

Evans at that time was exhausted, and ignored Agis words, opting for a nap.

Nevertheless Agi continued,

“There is no way to always win. Perhaps you’ll find an opponent you are unsuited to face, or perhaps you’ll face overwhelming might.”

Evans lazily responded,

“Then how do hunters kill monsters?”

Agi, finally receiving a good question nodded,

“They have control. They set the stage, the fight is orchestrated from the beginning. Once you learn to apply that to man, you will be a disciple worth mentioning.”

Back in the present his hand hovered, his mind became clear and only the next steps arrived before him, animals were predictable, often falling into habits and living that way their entire lives.

They could be baiting by food, and easily fall into traps.

He pushed out his hand, the yimrat twisting in anticipation, but before it escaped he quickly pulled his grasp back, tightly clasping around the little creature.

He looked toward Agi, “I caught one.”

The merchant clicked his tongue, crossing his arm he snickered hoping to incite the boys competitive spirit, “One in almost fifty tries, a good record.”

The lanky hunter snickered.

Evans scoffed, “Things will be different, if its just yimrats then this will be easy.”

He had a newfound confidence as Agi handed over some more coin.

Evans hand shot out, his eyes pinned on a yimrat, but he missed. the yimrat twisted unexpectedly and dodged.

He smiled awkwardly, “ahaha….? That’s odd.”

Agi sighed, “Do you think every yimrat shares a mind? Stop getting cocky from catching a stupid creature like that and focus.”

Evans felt a rivalry with the snickering foes, he would be doomed to a day of training by foolish little yellow rats.

Seeing their floppy ears alone made him feel a fire burning within, he would definitely catch all these yimrats.

His hand shot out, this time without his unfounded confidence, just focused precision.

He set down the final yimrat, The merchant latched onto the lanky man absentmindedly, his hand clasping his sleeve as he shook him lightly.

He had a dazed look and said, “C-Check if its raining.”

The lankly man slaps him on the head, “Don’t give me back luck, you idiot.”

Evans stared at Agi with stars in his eyes, “Hehe, I did it master.”

Agi nodded, “You’re at least as good as a yimrat now, not bad.”

Evans grumbled but he really had no retort he had barely managed to catch all twenty three. That was not even the difficult part, the problem was something he actually did not encounter.

Typically the yimrats will sneak back into the box, causing the player to catch them once again, and as they only have five tries, this is a very difficult challenge.

That’s why you only had to catch three. But Evans witnessed the yimrats simply go and sit lazily and obediently after being caught, he had a suspicion his master was intimidating them somehow.

Hunters were truly a mysterious group.

As they walked away Evans held out his hand expectantly.

Agi clicked his tongue, “A greedy disciple.”

Evans’ eye twitched, “But you promised.”

Agi put a small pouch full of coins in his hand, “Where is mireille? I haven’t seen her all day.”

Evans was slightly surprised Agi had asked but only answered awkwardly, “Honestly? No clue…”

Agi observed his surroundings wordlessly before saying, “I thought she’d be bouncing off the walls.”

Evans couldn’t hold back a laugh replying, “Master, you seem to be confused about her.”

Agi tilted his head, “What do you mean?”

Evans, counting the coins, finally looked up at him, “I mean, she’s usually not this cheerful.. To be honest with you she’s usually gloomy, in a bad mood, or generally detatched.”

Agi was almost too stunned to speak. Mireille? Surely they weren’t talking about the same person, “Well, I guess it makes sense, for whatever reason shes different around you. Like how she was a long time ago.”

Agi contemplated for a moment, it seemed they had more in common than he had initially believed.

Evans finally finished counting his coins and took long strides, “Its fine, Master, don’t worry about her so much, I’m sure shes fine.”

Agi didn’t exactly take his unruly disciple for the sensitive type, but she had managed all this time on her own, and in the first place, he wasn’t one to be concerned for others.

“Alright, go have your fun, you’ve made some progress, so I’m looking forward to our next training session.”

Evans shivered at the thought waving at his master and quickly taking off, Somehow, he found William with eerie precision.

Agi’s mind shifted to the event at hand. The guests were arriving, and it wouldn’t surprise him if the temple had already found a way in.

Agi’s gaze roamed, and before long, he found himself standing before a booth. The man sold all manner of goods—perhaps boasting the most diverse collection in the festival.

Agi bent over, his eyes tracing the various items in contemplation.

“You seem very interested in traps, are you perhaps a hunter?”

The middle-aged man’s voice cut through Agi’s silent contemplation. He hadn’t even realized how long his eyes had lingered.

He kept a deadpan expression, “I guess I enjoyed it more than I thought.” He stood back to his full height.

“You have quite the selection.”

The middle aged man laughed boisterously, “Well, I’ve traveled quite often in my past and I just happen to have some junk laying around.”

Agi had the sense this man would be easy to manipulate… but something was off.

The middle aged man was by no means an ordinary looking man. His arms were as thick as trees, and while he wasn’t quite as tall as Agi, he wasn’t short by any means.

He had a wild untamed mane of hair, bright and golden. his eyes were clear, like the surface of glittering amber.

Agi felt a tremendous spirit within this man, and he reminded him of something from his past,

A time where he had stood atop the corpses of the order.

Beneath his foot, a behemoth the size of mountains lay torn and battered, its eyes lifeless.

Its deep pink body, twisted and swollen, was somewhere between an axolotl and something far worse. It had scales, limbs too long for its form, and a gator’s face—thinner, sharper, as if it had evolved for something beyond mere survival.

Yet its final expression… it was human. Not just in shape, but in the raw, unmistakable look of rage and disbelief.

As if it could not fathom the fact that it had lost.

The rain all around had cleared. The thick ocean swirling above formed tremendous whirlpools. And through the storm’s eye, a single brilliant glow battered down upon Agi’s bloodied body, standing victorious in the wake of a god’s corpse.

A hunter, weak in the after math, called a single phrase…

“Exalted.”

Agi stared blankly at the man before him, and for a moment, his heart began to beat furiously, a new exalted… Likely to fill the gap left behind by three being sealed.

But the fact that a new one has appeared meant he had defeated one of those things…. He had slain a nerip.

Agi didn’t let off any change in expression, but he was sure a man who has reached the level of exalted can hear his heart as clear as day.

Agi’s fingers brushed over the thick metal teeth of the jaw clutch. Cold. Familiar. Not particularly useful—but effective. The mechanism was simple. Spring-loaded. It snapped shut the moment weight pressed against it.

It had a strange ability to temporarily stun monsters, Agi was not aware of the craftmanship involved, perhaps Ari would be more familiar.

It was a trap he had frequently used on humans.

Letting his hands fall back to his side, ready for anything unexpected he asked, “Whats your name?” The man met Agis gaze unflinchingly.

“Tenebrous, but thats such a mouthful, isn’t it? You can just call me Ten, its a bit easier.”

Agi felt unnerved by his friendly tone and relaxed visage. The exalted were a bunch of twisted monsters masquerading as man, even the most righteous of them is a vile backstabber, his outward appearance little more than a façade.

“These traps, how much are they?”

Tenebrous thought for a moment, “Not selling.”

Agi was slightly shocked, “What? Then why put them on display?”

The man crossed his arms over his chest, “I can tell your heart is impure, I don’t know what you’ll do with them, besides you aren’t even a hunter, what good will it do you?”

Agi narrowed his eyes, he couldn’t tell Agi received an inheritance…? Was he mistaken, had this man not reached that level yet?

Agi faked frustration, putting on a heavy frown, “That doesn’t matter. You should do business with me.”

The man huffed, “What a difficult client. Choose a different product, I can’t sell you traps with a good conscience.”

Agi let his outward expression contort, “Why do you keep claiming I’ll commit evil?”

Tenebrous put on a fierce expression, “Instinct!”

Agi had no words… the instinct he referred to was likely more intuition than the instinct that Agi had frequently abused.

Sighing, he picked up a random trinket, “Fine, I’ll take this.”

The man looked at his hand, “Take it.”

Agi furrowed his brows, “Aren’t you going to charge me?”

Tenebrous chuckled, “How can I sell junk with a good conscience?”

Agi cleared his false expression, “Then I’ll be on my way.”

The new exalteds gaze lingered on Agis back, “What a weirdo. My instinct was all kinds of messed up around him… I could barely get a read. But one thing’s for sure—he’s a villain.”

Unaware of the hunters thoughts Agi took a practiced gait, this changes things. Whatever happens, he must interfere, an exalteds involvement is no small thing.

The appearance of an exalted was unexpected, but he had to pry further, he couldn’t stop now, or else he might lose this chance forver.

Agi wandered around for the day, just gathering information.

Unsurprisingly the merchants were tight lipped, while the villagers didn’t seem to know anything worth his time.

But he had confirmed his earlier suspicion, there were indeed more villages, there were four in total, including the one he was in currently.

Mireilles earlier words began to make sense to him, this village must be the youngest of the four, and yet nobody else could tell him that.

Mireille definitely knows something, he’d like to go get an answer out of her now, but he was more aware than anyone how difficult it was to get her real thoughts.

He had also learned that currently paths between the villages existed, apparently, inheritors with the ability to raise canopies are being sent here in droves, maintaining paths between the villages.

Hunters escort the villages who cross, and in general, its a colossal undertaking, how these machinations could have avoided his gaze he didn’t know, but it was clear the Human Order was making moves recently.

He had wanted to escape them, and yet it seemed he would be inevitably pulled back into their pace, it left a disgustingly bitter taste in his already dry mouth.

A part of him just wanted to tear it all down, but he knew better than to act like a beast, he had lived his whole life denying such a thing.

Apparently, the temple had yet to arrive, they seemed to always take a few days to appear.

If he wanted to act, the time would likely be tonight. But he had made a mistake, he interacted with that freak, Tenebrous, and now he couldn’t act.

He felt a distinct gaze on him all day, it would seem that the man had sensed something off, and is attempting to confirm.

It felt vulgar, but he had no other options and could only act oblivious, in his sealed state fighting an exalted was simply impossible.

He could only give up on acting tonight, instead going to find Evans, he had his fun, it was time to push his training forward.

Agi didn’t know what would happen during the festival, and Evans was close to a breakthrough.

Before long Evans and Agi found themselves in the courtyard of the isolated house, Evans grumbled and complained, “Master, I barely had half a half a day.” Evans’ speech became more tangled the more upset he got.

Agi took a stance, Evans quickly copied, not wanting to be beaten without being able to even defend himself, “Blame yourself for being so slow.” Agi punched out.

Evans sidestepped, his leg jetting out toward Agi, “You are just too monstrous for comparison.”

Agi twisted his body slightly, ensuring the hit had little effect.

“Evans, you already came to a realization, Its time to take a step forward, I have no use for a worthless disciple.”

Evans had a strong dislike for Agis blunt speech, the way he manipulated him into getting agitated and pulling the reaction he wanted.

But he knew that Agi was right, all of his provocations, they were always targetted at him, seeking out his insecurities, but Agi was right too, that he had already realized something.

Agi sent out the familiar fist, it had a distinct sound, whistling with force, Evans dodged it, stepping closer to Agi.

Their reach was too different, if he stayed outside he would be battered mercilessly.

His cheeks puffed momentarily as he breathed out heavily, his fist shooting forward with a strength he should not have been capable of.

Agi dropped his elbow on top of his forearm, sending his hand down he kneed with brutal force into his abdomen.

Clasping his hands together Evans narrowed his eyes, grunting as the knee connected with his hands rather than his abdomen, the force, nearly stunning him, dispersed throughout his body, he shivered before shoving his head upward.

His skull connected heavily with Agis chin, throwing his head back.

Agi regained his composure, wrapping his arm around Evans neck he pulled down, kicking his leg out from under him, tossing him to the ground.

“Looks like you’ve begun to find your steps.”

Agi nodded approvingly, “Though I have to say, I didn’t expect your hearing to be so developed.”

Evans huffed from the ground, “I can’t react if I just see it… Its faster to… listen.”

“This is what it means to find your steps, a way to defeat an opponent greater than yourself. This is the fundemental of hunting, every last person who dares to claim to be one of us has mastered their steps.”

Evans felt like a whole new world was opening up to him. It wasn’t just brute strength that put inheritors on such pillars of power.

The next thing Agi said made him feel insignificant however, “Every last hunter, even if they were reduced to being a normal man, would beat the greatest human warriors, and likely wouldn’t lose even to the blood temples warriors.”

Evans found it hard to believe, how was it possible for such an elite group of humans to exist, but in some ways it made sense, they fought creatures that were far beyond themselves, they were conditioned to fight foes considerably more powerful.

The concept of finding your steps, it must be the most fundamental aspect because without it you can’t even call yourself a hunter, just prey.

As Agi is about to continue his lesson a loud horn begins to blare obnoxiously. Drums roared and loud shouts could be heard.

It was a typical show of authority, not uncommon amongst even smaller city states. It was something the blood temple had a dislike toward, believing the authority of the temple is unquestionable.

So he naturally found it more than a little strange, but decided not to linger, “Evans, Lets call it for today.”

Agi said as he spotted a familiar figure padding toward them, “Agi!” Mireille huffed, she seemed exhausted from running.

She put one hand on her knee, “Sorry, I lost track of time…” She seemed to be hiding something, but Agi had more pressing matters at hand, the arrival of the Temple was both a good and a bad thing, its likely that tenacious exalted would look elsewhere.

“I know it’s getting late, but…”

Mireille seemed hesitant, her hands fidgeting idly, “Do you want to explore the festival with me?”

As though she made a mistake she quickly began stammering, “I-If not its okay, I mean, I don’t even like the festival anyway, so it doesn’t really matter to me.”

Agi found her reaction odd, but he had no time for this, every moment he left the order to its machinations was a moment he couldn’t sit still.

“I can’t.”

She frowned, “But you were with Evans all day.”

Agi didn’t understand the point of such a comparison, “I was busy today as well.”

She clenched her fists, wanting to say something but eventually held her tongue, “I see… Alright then.” She turned, quickly disappearing just as she had entered.

Evans, witnessing the whole thing from the ground was a bit dazed, “Uh… Master, Maybe it’d be best to….”

Before he could continue Agi cut him off, “I have something important to take care of.”

Evans felt that Agi was too insensitive, but he had known nothing about his masters life, he was shrouded in mystery, and for all his strengths, even Evans could tell he was worn down.

Evans sighed, “Alright, Master. Just promise you’ll speak to her before the festival ends.”

Agi felt nothing for pointless promises, but gave a curt nod anyway. “I’ll be going then.”