Chapter 12: Conversation

Santiago was still walking down the street. In a distance, a house larger than the other ones could be seen. It had 2 floors and large backyard.

On the entrance stood a sign; " If something's broken or missing in your body, come in. ".

Santiago laughed a bit and entered the house. As soon as he entered, he saw a man as tall as himself standing in the middle of the room. His clothes were all white. He was wearing a white blouse with many buttons on it, it was partially unbuttoned though. He was muscular and athletic. His face was longer than Santiago's and his chin ended a little bit spikier than Santiago's as well. He was cleanly shaved. His face had no scars whatsoever, nor could any be seen on his body. His eyes were brown and so was his hair too. He had an undercut with rest of his hair being slicked back, similar to Santiago's.

When both of them stood next to each other, someone could think two of them are brothers. Santiago was just a little bit taller and more muscular.

" If it isn't Santi.. I haven't seen you for a while now, how you been? " Lori smiled and approached him. He took of his glasses and stored them in a pocket his blouse had on his chest.

Santiago laughed back; " Yeah.. I'm traveling a lot lately.. we Hunters can always find a job if we just look for it.. but usually it always finds us you know? ". Lori nodded while smiling; " Please, sit down.. want some tea? " he headed towards the kitchen. Santiago was looking around the house, it was pretty spacious and tidy. It had several tables and shelves filled with medicine and surgery equipment, all of them were surprisingly clean and organized.

*cough* *cough*

" Santi? " Lori was holding a tea pot and a bag of tea. Santiago looked at him confusedly for few seconds; " Oh right tea.. uhmmm.. sure! Just make sure t-.. "

" To add extra sugar.. I know.. your sweet tooth is still one of those things that don't match your outside at all " he smiled and prepared tea for both of them. As he turned around, on his back something was sewn- a yellow star and a writing that said " Sons of Freedom " was visible as the sun rays penetrated through the window.

Lori was humming a melody while waiting for water to boil. Santiago was sitting with his eyes closed.

" Tell me Lori.. I've heard an outsider got here few days ago? " he asked him. Lori stopped humming and looked at him, he leaned on a table behind him, his arms and legs were crossed; " Actually there were two of them.. The boy is upstairs right now, Chieftain brought them here 2 days ago.. The girl got here in critical condition-.. both of them were low on energy, but she was regenerating herself and her energy much slower than he did. If she was to arrive in my residence an hour later, she would have definitely die... ".

" Right now, she's in the room next door.. " he pointed with his thumb on a room behind him; " ...she took a bath, now she's dressing up... I think". Santiago looked at the door, then directed his look at the floor.

Water boiled so Lori took it off and started making tea. He put 4 spoons of sugar in one cup and handed it to Santiago. Both of them were slowly drinking and sitting in silence. Santiago then looked at the staircase; " What about the boy? I've heard he's a strong one? ". Lori giggled; " His energy is massive Santi.. I would say it exceeds mine.. You're probably the only person in this village his energy doesn't surpass. He had no weapons nor special equipment with him. If I would have to guess-... " Lori took a long sip of the tea....

" I would say he's either a Gaerttem or Xioerttem.. Hell.. his energy might even match that of a lowly 2nd Class. " Lori smiled. Santiago was smiling as well; " He's working with the government then? ", Lori quickly responded " Not really.. he has no mark.. I've searched both him and the girl. ".

Santiago was thinking for few moments, than leaned forwards and whispered something to Lori. Lori blinked few times quickly and shook his head; " Uhm.. Well okay yeah... sure ".

Santiago stood up and started walking toward the staircase; " I'll go see if he's awake then ".

[ UPSTAIRS ]

Down the hallway, last room on the left; room was completely filled with shelves and tables, it had 2 beds in it's corners. Wherever you turned around, medicines could be seen lying, but it was all incredibly organised and tidy.

On one bed in the corner. A person was lying, they were covered with a blanket from head to toes, no part of his body was visible. On the other bed though-...

The headache was unimaginable. He nearly froze to death and was completely drained of energy. Sion was lying on a bed in room filled with medicine. He had a needle in his arm connected to a stand with infusion. As he opened his eyes, he quickly pulled it out and looked around himself.

" Nemma? " he whispered.

He stood up and continued looking around.

" Rune where am I? "

[Runes voice: I wouldn't know... Your eyes are my eyes, and you saw nothing. ]

Sion clenched his fist and slammed it on the table, making all the medicines shake and fall down; " DAMMIT! ". Suddenly something caught his attention.. He turned around and saw a bed in a corner of the room, few meters away from his own. Somebody was lying on it, yet he couldn't see who that was. The body was covered with a white blanket but it was bloody all over. Long, heavy breaths could occasionally be heard coming from it. Voice was deep and it sounded as if the person was in a lot of pain. Sometimes, another bloody stain would appear, bodies wounds were opening.

Sion felt ominous aura coming from the body, he slowly started approaching it. He was now standing next to the body, shaking.

[ WOOSH ]

A hand fell out of the blanket, it was hanging off the bed. Hand was skinny and completely black, it was missing all the nails and looked as if it was dried. It had several wounds over it, they didn't look like cuts, burns nor anything Sion thought was possible until now.

Sion took a deep breath and reached for the blanket, he was too curious not to.

[ SQUEAK, WOOSH ]

Door opened. A tall blonde man and Sion were staring at each other. Awkward silence appeared. Santiago looked at Sion, then looked at the bloody body lying on the bed; " I wouldn't do that if I were you... " he said while shaking his head left and right slowly. Santiago walked up to Sion while looking at the body; " This poor bastard got cursed by a monster, his name is... well, was.. Lucas, he was a fine warrior, a member of Sons of Freedom. Beside me, he was the strongest member of our group. " he turned his head and looked at Sion; " Come downstairs, there is a lot for you to hear.. "

Both man walked through the hallways quietly. Once they got downstairs, Lori was sitting in a chair and sipping his tea; " Well, you're already awake.. I hope Santi didn't wake you up, he can be a real assho-.. ", Santiago pulled a pebble from his pocket and with a flicker of his hand, knocked Lori down. Lori was laughing.

" This man is called Lori, otherwise known as Healing Son.. As you can guess, he's this villages healer, and most likely one of the top healers in the entire South. Feel free to kick his ass if he's annoying you, as long as you don't kill him he will heal anyways. " Santiago sat down and started drinking his tea again. Lori stood up and sat down on the chair again, he was grinning; " Come, sit down.. let us chat outsider ".

Sion walked up to them, pulled one chair and sat down. He looked at Santiago, then Lori; " So y'all are members of Sons of Freedom? ". Lori nodded his head slowly with a grin. Santiago leaned backwards and placed his legs on the table, Lori stopped smiling.

" There are 13 Sons.. Each of us is specialized in something. My name is Santiago, Hunting Son. I am a Hunter, I specialize in fighting nonhuman entities, otherwise known as monsters. The man you saw upstairs was Lucas, Warrior Son. He was our best fighter ". Santiago looked sad all of a sudden; " We aren't sure if he will make it.. It is all my fault anyway. If only I-.. " Lori slammed his fist on the table; " SHUT UP...! You can't take the blame and you know it... For the love of God.. You're a 2nd Class and couldn't leave a scratch on that-..that-... that monster.. Santi both of you were moments away from getting annihilated, you're lucky that Balthazar arrived! " Lori was pissed.

Sion looked at them with his eyebrows raised in the air. He was confused and scared of both of them. Each radiated with aura so strong, Sion was having hard time breathing.

" If I ever find that creature again-.. " Santiago started talking, but Lori interrupted; " You'll die Santiago... Don't. Be. A. Child. ". Lori was pointing his finger in Santiago's face. " If you go look for that creature nothing good will happen. We are short on members anyway.. "

Sion raised a finger in air; " Well actually- "

" If our members keep dying Sons of Freedom will collapse.. This group existed for 200 years, I can't let you ruin it by yourself! We lost Emanuel last year.. Rod died 2 months ago... Hektor died 3 weeks ago.. Now Lucas is on verge of death.. and on top of ALL THAT, you want to just.. CHARGE to death?! " Lori made a provoking expression.

" Guys I actually-.. " he was ignored.

Santiago stood up; " Don't point your finger at me! And you ARE right just so you know, I am a fucking 2nd Class and I'm incapable of protecting our members from a MONSTER while I'm a Hunter for God's sake! ".

" Can you m-maybe liste-.. " Sion tried desperately.

Lori grabbed Santiago by his coat under the neck; " It isn't your fault Santiago! Let Royals deal with that shit then! It is far stronger than our capabilities, we would have to gather all the members just to take that bastard down, and I don't even want to consider the casualties! "

" ... " Sion gave up. He slowly pushed his chair away from chair and stood up. Both man were yelling and their aura was shaking all objects in the house. Chairs and table started cracking. Sion looked at one man, then at other... He took a deep breath.

" You can't tell me what to do! If Royals wanted to act, they would act long time ago! This group was established in order to strip them of their authority! " Santiago yelled.

" You should back off before it is too late Santiago! " Lori's aura spiked up, house was shaking.

~Breathe in... Breathe... Out-!

[ WOOOOOOSH! CRAAAAAASH! ]

Sion increased his aura by focusing all energy outside of his body. Table and chairs were blown away. Shelves fell over, windows cracked and exploded. A small crater appeared underneath Sion. His aura was dark green in color and visible to naked eye. It enveloped the entire room as walls started to crack.

Both man covered their faces with their arms. They were caught off guard with sudden, incredible energy surge.

" Both of you-... Shall listen.. " his eyes were shining in dark green color.

Santiago opened his eyes widely; " So that's the power of a Rune huh? ".

In an instant, Sion's aura stopped wreaking chaos. Lori and Santiago both had few sweat drops going down their face. Sion closed his eyes.. as he opened them, dark green color was gone.. He looked at Santiago; " I need both of you to stop acting like children and give me some answers! You owe me that much! ".

Santiago stood silently, then smiled; " Heh... I would offer you to sit down.. but you just blew away all the chairs ".

" Do you have any idea how long it took me to organize everything? " Lori was smiling as well.

Sion looked at them with a confused expression. He expected them to be afraid a lot more. It seemed that he failed though.

" What a great aura, don't you say Santiago? " Lori said.

Sion bent his shoulders forward a bit and made a disappointed expression; " Y-you wanted me to do that right? ".

Both of them nodded simultaneously. " We wanted to see what you're capable of with our own eyes. " Santiago said.

" And it seems... you're able to use about 40%... maybe 50% of your energy capacity. " Lori said; " Take this guy for an example... If Santiago wanted he could probably shoot you out of the house by increasing his aura to maximum capacity. " Lori was laughing.

Lori placed one hand on Sion's shoulder and tapped it few times; " That's why you came to us right? You want to join us.. Or well... Us to join you.. ". Sion looked at him with his mouth slightly opened. Lori nodded; " I accessed your memories... only to a certain extent though.. ". Santiago walked to another side of the room, he crouched down and picked up his cup, it was empty and cracked.

Santiago sighed; " And that's why we will hear you out.. if your questions, and answers-... are honorable enough.. Sons of Freedom just MIGHT join you... in accomplishing your 'great goal' .. ". Santiago stood up and pointed his dagger at Sion, he didn't even see when he unsheathed it.

" But if you fail to satisfy me with your answers... " he bent his head slightly at his shoulder; " ..-I will cut you AND the girl down. ". Sion got goosebumps, this man was no joke.

Sion just nodded.