Chapter Three: Stranger

  Our team of four makes it to a boat that is transporting them to the Philippines, without being followed by the authorities. As they quickly made their way across the ocean in this small and speedy boat, the team tries to relax a little. However, Ying kept staring at Zia and Siran. She couldn't help but to think something about them was off, somehow, in some way. "Hm..." Ying says as she keeps staring at the two of them.

  "Is something wrong?" Zia asks as she lays back with her eyes closed, trying to rest.

  "Well... no" Ying says, "but something about the two of you seems a little... different than you were three years ago".

  "Man... it's really been three years, hasn't it?" Siran asks.

  "Indeed" Ying says.

  "Speaking of years" Holly says, "how long was your sentence?".

  "For life" Ying says. "I was to be imprisoned for life".

  "Why!?" Siran asks.

  "I was considered a traitor when I left on my own to join The Six Guns" Ying says. "They consider the crew a completely different faction, and treat us as enemies now that The Ly'Lum is out of the way".

  "Figures" Siran says. "Let someone in power get their way once with you, and they'll only toss you aside once you've served your purpose. It's always been like that everywhere you go... I hate it".

  "Well, it's not so bad..." Ying says.

  "What's not so bad about it!?" Siran asks.

  "Well, I'm here now" Ying says. "I like to try to focus on the present more. It's easier that way, sometimes... when the past is too hard... y'know".

  Siran sighs, then says "Right... but you can't run away from the past. It'll only get worse the more you ignore it, Ying".

  "Anyways!" Ying says cheerfully, completely changing the tone of the conversation, "what's up with you two? Siran and Zia? You guys seem different... like... your aura is different maybe? I guess captain has always been kinda... silly... but Zia used to be much more recluse and reserved".

  "The two of 'em probably got super close to each other in the time they were gone" Holly says.

  "I-I mean..." Siran says.

  "Which begs the question" Holly says. "You never did clarify what happened while you were gone. You mentioned something about a goddess, then dismissed it as a joke. What exactly happened during the three years you and Zia were gone?".

  "W-well..." Zia tries to speak up, suddenly sitting up but averting her gaze from Holly and Ying, "we did get... close. However, we don't remember most of... what happened".

  "Got close... but don't remember?" Holly asks. "That's rather cryptic".

  "What she means" Siran says, "we were asleep most of that time. We were stuck in some place not even on Earth. That thing you saw the two of us disappear into after the fight against Naris three years ago... that was the Theist Gate, like from The Naris Catastrophe stories. The portal that people say I came from when I showed up to fight Naris all those years ago".

  "So, on the other side of that is the Endo Realm?" Holly asks.

  "It's called Valhalla" Siran replies.

  "Valhalla?" Holly asks. "Then you must've spoken to a Norse god then? If you really spoke to a god, that is...".

  "No, actually..." Siran says. "The only one we've spoken to so far is Gaia".

  "Gaia... from Greek Mythology?" Holly asks.

  "You're not believing me..." Siran says. "Okay, well... I had to do something to save Zia. She was dying from her sacrifice she made to stop Naris. Something had to be done!".

  Ying snaps her fingers and says "That's it! You two are happy!".

  "Huh?" Siran asks. "Whaddya mean?".

  "I don't mean just... in the moment" Ying says. "Your attitudes shifted more... positively. You two seem genuinely happy for once. Before, when I met all of you, you were all practically the most depressed group of people I've ever met".

  "And you can just... sense that?" Zia asks.

  Ying shrugs and says "It's not hard to see that, you know. It's kinda easy when you're a functional human being".

  "Ouch... that one actually hurt" Siran says.

  "So..." Ying says as she leans closer, "what happened? Are you two dating?".

  "You're making me uncomfortable" Siran says as Zia's face gets visibly red.

  "T-technically" Zia stutters, "we've been dating for three years".

  "Though you don't remember any of it?" Holly asks.

  Siran raises his hand as if he were about to interject, but then he paused and lowered his hand. "Yeah... sounds about right, actually".

  "What else happened?" Holly asks. "Seeing as how Zia's still alive, something must've happened".

  "Well..." Siran explains, "remember when I told you my story about meeting Gaia the first time? She manipulated my body and endo to make my body able to handle it all, and kept me from dying? Well, that's what happened to Zia".

  "And now Zia has the same immortality as you then?" Holly asks. "Why doesn't she have another form?".

  "T-the form wasn't a byproduct of the endo!" Siran says. "I told you before it was a curse from-". Suddenly, Siran is stopped in the middle of his sentence with a sudden shock in his brain. The words "You and Naris were like... brothers" from Gaia rang inside of Siran's head. "That's right..." Siran says as he raises his hands up to his head and gently rubs his forehead.

"You... okay, Syr?" Zia asks.

"Yeah, just a headache" Siran says.

"You're still dying?" Holly asks.

"No! No, I'm fine now" Siran replies. "Seems like my life was saved as a sort of... reward for killing my bro-... for taking down Naris".

Holly and Ying both tilt their heads as they stare at Siran, both suspicious about what he was going to say. "Killing your what?" Ying asks.

"Nothing too important" Siran says. "The job is done, Naris is gone, we're still here, and neither of us died".

"And you're cursed form?" Holly asks.

"Exactly as you've just said, and exactly as I've said before when I explained it" Siran says. "It was a curse... from Naris".

"It's hard to remember all of those details" Holly says. "You've told that story so long ago...".

"I've never heard it" Ying says. "Can I?".

"Maybe another time, Ying" Siran says as he stares off towards the shore of the nearest island of the Philippines. "Something about this place is giving me a familiar, yet bad vibe".

Zia opens up her eyes wide as she stares at the shore as well. Her sclera were pure black, like Siran's eyes when he uses his cursed form. However, Zia was using her clairvoyance magic as she stared at the shore. "With a little bit of debuff magic" Zia says "I can see trace amounts of Endo just... laying around. It's like... when we were several miles away from Dead Crater. There's just endo laying around in small streams, not really doing anything, but not nearly as concentrated as the amount of endo actually near Dead Crater or in Omnium Guild".

"What does this mean?" Ying asks.

"Well, something has to be putting it here" Holly says. "To my knowledge, there's no such crater in the Philippines, nor was there major damage dealt directly by Naris here during the catastrophe. It did, however, get hit by unnaturally caused disasters, one after another".

"But that's not the kind of thing that leaves chunks of Endo around, is it?" Ying asks.

"It absolutely is not" Siran confirms. "Something about it feels familiar though... maybe from something not so long ago?".

"Doesn't it maybe..." Zia says as they finally step onto land, "just maybe... feel like the endo from Naris's dead body back in Omnium Guild... just... not as heavy or concentrated?".

"Like a faint trace of his body?" Siran asks as he thinks. "Now that you mention it... yeah, it does".

"What does this mean?" Ying asks.

"Nothing good, that's for sure" Siran replies.

"But he's dead for good this time, right?" Holly asks.

"Yeah... Naris is dead for sure" Zia says.

As the crew steps on land, Siran thought he could see a man watching them from afar. As Siran looks over, this man was gone. As the crew continues walking, this pair of ravens flew high above the crew, seeming as if they're keeping pace with the crew. The crew took a break after a while and rested for the day. The next day, they start moving around again, trying to find some clues about the endo here as they make their way to the nearest airport. After a while of traveling, the crew comes up to this long road with houses sparingly apart from each other. However, nobody was seen outside. Rather, this neighborhood felt empty. After a while of walking down the road, a little boy comes running out of the gates from the front yard of their house, chasing a ball that rolled out into the street. The little boy stops and looks at the crew with wide open eyes, and a look of amazement on his face. "Oooohh" the little boy says as he looks up at Siran. The boy's mother comes running outside, grabbing the boy by the hand and lightly pulling him inside. The boy argued as he pointed at The Six Guns and said "Mga Bayani!".

"Hindi!" The mother yelled as she pulled the boy towards the gates.

"Excuse me" Ying says politely, "is something wrong?".

"You guys need to get out of here" the mother says. "Lately, hunters have been gathering all over the world and they know you're here! Since yesterday, they've been gathering in neighborhoods and waiting at every town near the northern shores for you guys!".

"You know who we are?" Zia asks.

"Mga bayani!" The boy shouts.

"Of course we know" the mother says. "You're a few members of The Six Guns. We've heard all about the war and everything. My son even looks up to you".

"Aw, that's so cute!" Zia says as she crouches in front of the little boy. "How old is he? What's his name?".

"Benjie" the mother says. "He's only 7 years old and doesn't know English yet, but he's a big fan of your crew".

Zia picks the boy up and smiles, forgetting that the whites of her eyes, her sclera are still pure black. However, Benjie doesn't get scared at all. He stares back into her eyes with wonder as Zia says "Sorry, little man. We'd invite you to be one of us, but the crew disbanded". Zia puts the boy back down and pats his head. "As an unofficial member of The Six Guns though, your first task will be to take care of your mother, okay?".

The mother giggles, then says "I'll let him know".

Suddenly, Siran feels something off about the atmosphere. Siran turns around quickly with his gun in hand and points it directly behind the crew. There, at the end of Siran's gun, was a group of people who already had their weapons pointed at the crew, as well as at the boy and the mother. "It's easier to find you when people keep mentioning The Six Guns" one of them says. "Thanks for announcing that you were here. Makes it take less time for us to come to you".

"And which shitty Hunters groups are you guys?" Siran asks.

"We're The Locusts Hunters" the man at the business end of Siran's gun says, without flinching one bit, speaking calmly, regardless of the danger. All of them wore normal clothes, but had a large embossed handkerchief hanging from their belt. On the handkerchief, a locust was embossed on it, each of the handkerchiefs with a solid brown color. "What's it gonna be? Risk having the families here get killed in a firefight, or lay down your weapons and surrender?".

"Tch" Siran scoffs, "that's playing dirty. That's why you waiting in these residential areas, isn't it?".

"Fight fire with fire" the man says. "Your crew manipulated information to launch an attack on the leading military power, and committed several war crimes, including trying to get away with the indiscriminate murder of every last civilian in the capitol city of Omnia".

"Oh yeah, they don't know that wasn't us" Zia says quietly. "They'd probably never believe us if we told them the Mages did that...".

"Lay down your arms and surrender, now!" The man demands.

Siran hesitates, but slowly drops his pistol to the ground. The rest of the crew hesitate, but eventually do the same, except for Ying who had no weapon and was still wearing her prison jumpsuit. Suddenly, two ravens gently fly downwards at the crew, and land on the gate of the family's house. The ravens seemed unusual to Siran, because each one looked like they had a tiny, broken shackle on their legs. Yet, their flight wasn't hindered. Siran closes his eyes and tries to put the ravens out of his mind as he takes a deep breath. When he finishes inhaling, Siran opens his eyes. His sclera were black again, and as soon as he exhaled, a strong gust of wind knocked down the group of Hunters. As the Hunters tried to get up, Zia stomped on the ground, and the ground around them shoots up and begins to curl around the Hunters, locking them against the ground. "Get inside!" Zia yells at the mother. The mother picks up Benjie and runs inside.

"Who's sending you guys?" Siran demands.

"Who isn't at this point?" the man says as he struggles. "A lot of the world wants you dead now. It's not that hard to name a few".

"Then who's paying you in specific?" Siran asks.

"I ain't telling you a god damned thing" the man scoffs.

"You're right about that" a mysterious man says in a cheerful tone as he approaches the crew, somehow unnoticed until now. "Dead men tell no tales, after all".

The man looks over and begins to ask "Who the hell are you?", but suddenly gets interrupted by the ground entangling the Hunters suddenly crushing all of them instantly. Every last one of the Hunters died immediately.

The crew jumps back and gets in a defensive position. "Did you kill them, Zia?" Siran asks.

"No" Zia says, "my spell was manipulated".

"But to do that-" Holly begins to say.

"To do that" Siran interrupts, "means that this guy either used reactive endo, or more endo than Zia used to activate that spell".

"Where's his charm?" Ying asks.

The man raises his empty hands, rolls up his sleeves and even lifts up his shirt and exposes his stomach, shoulders and back to show he has no tattoos or charms. "Guilty!" He says cheerfully, "but you're not going to find any sort of charm on me... unless you're just that into me. I guess I do have a certain... charm". After the man speaks, he winks at the crew.

"Who are you?" Siran asks.

"If I tell you, you'll have to do me a favor" the man says.

"What favor?" Siran asks.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt or kill ya" he says cheerfully.

"Who the hell are you, and how are you able to cast magic without a charm like me?" Siran asks.

"The girl next to you also casted magic without a charm just now" the man says as he points at Zia. "But you didn't notice that, did you?".

"I casted without a charm?" Zia asks. "That's right! I thought something was different when I used my magic! My charms aren't warming up anymore because I'm not using them! Being exposed to Valhalla must've done something to me".

"So you have been there?" The man asks, suddenly in a much more serious tone.

"Huh?" Zia asks.

"You know about it then?" Siran asks as he squints at the man.

"Haha! Know about what?" The man asks, suddenly sounding cheery again.

"What a creep" Holly says.

"Oh, right!" The man says. "You asked my name". The man bows and says "My name is Lo-.... Lo...". The man stands upright and pulls a piece of paper out of his back pocket. "Laurence!" He says.

"Did he just have to check a piece of paper to remember his name?" Ying asks.

"Oops!" Laurence says suddenly. "Now you have to do me a favor!".

"What's the favor?" Siran asks.

Laurence happily skips up to the crew and comes face to face with Siran. Laurence wears a big smiles as he says "Don't worry. This will hurt, but I'm not gonna kill ya!". While smiling sweetly, Laurence suddenly stabs a knife into Siran's stomach. Siran kneels over as the blade is twisted, making blood spill into two large vials. Laurence rips the blade out of Siran's stomach suddenly, and Siran nearly collapses.

"What'd you do!?" Zia shouts as she helps Siran stand back up and points a gun at him.

"Relax" Laurence says.

"You..." Zia says as she keeps her gun pointed at Laurence's face. "What'd you do to Siran!?".

"I didn't kill him, if that's what you're worrying about" Laurence replies calmly.

"Hey..." Siran says as he leans up. Siran grabs Laurence by the neck and says "You call that a favor, you freakin' looney!?".

"Whoa!" Laurence says, "you wouldn't hit a woman, would you!?".

"Woman?" Siran asks.

Suddenly, Laurence's entire body changes into that of a woman. In a genuine female voice, Laurence says "Well? You wouldn't, would you?".

Siran drops Laurence in shock, unable to believe what he just saw. "What the hell... are you?".

"Don't worry about that" Laurence says as he changes back into a man. Laurence raises the two vials full of Siran's blood into the air, and the two ravens fly up to Laurence. "Huginn! Muninn!" Laurence calls out to them. "Take these to father. He'll know what to do with them".

"You stabbed me!" Siran yells as he breathes heavily.

"No I didn't" Laurence says.

"But you just had my blood in your hands, and a blade in my stomach!" Siran yells.

"Are you calling me a liar?" Laurence asks.

"I have a stab wound!" Siran yells.

"What stab wound?" Laurence asks with his head titled.

Siran searches his stomach, then all over his body as the rest of the crew stares at him. However, there was no stab wound. Nor was there anymore pain from being stabbed, although Siran knew that he really was stabbed. "It's... gone?" Siran asks.

"You guys are adorable!" Laurence says as he starts to walk away. "See ya later, Ishmael!".

Siran continues searching his body in confusion as Laurence walks away. As Laurence gets far away, Siran could see Laurence in the corner of his eye. It looked exactly like the same figure that Siran saw when they first arrived here. When Siran looked back up at Laurence, he was suddenly gone. "W-... what the hell?" Siran asks himself.