Alana stood next to Jaylin as people cheered for him, clapped him on the back, shook his hand. He had transformed, gained his Chimera form of a regal otter, right in front of their watching eyes.

Jaylin looked around and met Alana's eyes, smiling. She smiled back. She was happy for Jaylin. He was one of those few people who could bring out her happy side and make her smile, despite all that had happened. It was almost like he knew what had hurt her in the past and he was intentionally trying to cheer up.

Just a few years ago, Alana had felt like the happiest girl in Los Lagos. Both her mother and father were high-ranking sentries in the Las Lagos militia, leading squads against the attacks of bandits and rogues who wanted the riches of the city. Her parents had been instrumental in stopping more than four brutal invasions. Sometimes the invaders were bandits and thieves, other times they were predatory creatures that had been mutated, irradiated or spliced and diced with genetic engineering. Victory after victory, evil after evil were driven from their home. Her parents were warriors, brave guardians of Los Lagos.

But then that all changed. One day, Mayor Norwood declared that no-one could leave the city. That law affected the militia.

Normally, they would send scouts to go beyond the wall to gather valuable information and find out about approaching attackers. That way, they would know what they were going up against and they could prepare their defenses accordingly. But with the new laws in place, they couldn't send out scouts. They couldn't find out anything. The sentries, watching helplessly from the wall, only saw a band of mercenaries marching toward the walled city when it was too late.

The militia hadn't been prepared. They weren't ready for twenty highly trained assassins to show up right outside the walls of Los Lagos.

Alana's parents fought valiantly to ward off the assassins, and they eventually succeeded. But the price Alana's family paid for that success was huge.

Alana's father was horribly wounded. It took him a year to recover and he lost the vision in one of his eyes. But her mother...

Alana bit her tongue to hold back the sting of tears.

Her mother... her mother had died.

She had been killed by a knife, thrown by an overhead buzzard Chimera. They weren't ready for the attack, they hadn't seen any of it coming. All because the scouts weren't allowed to go beyond the wall.

After the battle ended and her mother was buried, Alana's father said that the wall laws should be halted. He reasoned that they had caused the city's militia extensive injury and death that could have all been prevented. Umbra Norwood ignored his pleas. Instead, the Mayor declared that while Alana's mother was indeed a defender of the city, she refused to take down the wall laws.

Alana didn't speak for half a year. Filled with bitterness, she had drawn a picture of the Mayor, glued it to a dummy, and attacked the imaginary Umbra. It was part of why she had become such a good fighter. Her skill was fuelled by that anger. She would have to draw a new picture of Umbra each day, because the Mayor's face would become too riddled with knife cuts and arrow holes, and then fall apart. Then at night Alana would cry, remembering her mother's touch and her soothing voice.

Alana's father had always said that the best way to protect the people you loved was to fight for them. He assured Alana that her mother had been fighting for her and all of Los Lagos.

That made Alana fight even more. She went to Coach's training sessions every day and attacked the dummy every night.

One day after a gruelling run of the obstacle course, Alana's father had come to her. He told her that he was proud of her skill, of her combat prowess and of her perfect aim. But then he had said that strength wasn't the only thing that won a battle. Knowledge was just as important. It decided the outcome of any war, it decided who died and who lived.

It was that ignorance, that lack of knowledge that had ended her mother's life and had shook Alana to the core.

Alana understood what her father had meant.

That knowledge... the thing that could have saved my mother... she had thought to herself, it's only available if I go beyond the wall.

Alana smiled grimly as she remembered the pledge she had made to her father that day.

I will go beyond the wall... or I will die trying.

Alana's eyes were misty and her throat felt sore, grief sat in her stomach in a heavy lump. She swallowed the discomfort and wiped at her eyes.

I will go beyond the wall... or I will die trying.

That thought came back to her now, as she saw Lance and Jaylin. Coach had excused them from the session and a max exodus of the training grounds was occurring, per usual. A huge flood of kids spilled out into the city. But Lance and Jaylin weren't following the others out towards the housing sections of the city, like they usually did. Instead, they were diverting from the usual path and making their way towards... the Den?

And they were casting looks over their shoulders, talking to each other in hushed tones. Alana squinted skeptically. Something was happening. Something that they didn't want others to see.

Alana walked briskly but stealthily, her breath held tightly in her chest as she crept up on the two boys. As she got closer, she heard snatches of their conversation.

"- yes, Jaylin. We're going to the Den. What -"

"- not allowed... Do you have money for it?"

"- yeah, my parents said they would give me some coins to spend on weapons," Lance said. He turned his head, and she hastily concealed herself in a bush.

"Weapons for what?" Jaylin asked.

"Going out into the desert, of course," Lance explained.

Alana's heart leapt in her chest, battering against her rib cage. They were going... outside the wall?

She sprang out of her hiding place, taking them by surprise and sending a multitude of leaves, twigs and unfortunate insects into the air. Lance's eyes widened in shock and Jaylin let out a little cry.

"What were you guys saying?" Alana grilled. The airborne leaves glided back down around her, settling on the dusty ground. Meanwhile, upturned bugs desperately scrambled on their backs until they righted themselves and scuttled hastily away.

"N-nothing," Jaylin stammered.

"I heard you! You want to go outside the wall!" she said.

"Look, please don't tell anybody. I know that it's illegal but we were just-" Lance began explaining feverishly.

"We were just... j-joking around!" Jaylin interjected.

"No! You don't understand. I agree with you. I want to go beyond the wall too," Alana said. The words spilled from her mouth in a cascade of joy and excitement.

"Really?" Lance asked, incredulous.

"Yes! The wall laws are stupid!"

He stared at her intently, locking on her eyes, as if he was reaching through them and into her head, probing her mind, testing her thoughts, examining her to see if she was telling the truth.

"Well, we were just about to go to the Den and get some weapons for our journey outside the wall," Lance told her, evidently having decided that she wasn't a threat.

"That's great!" she said, breathing an inward sigh of relief.

"Are you sure you want to come with us?" Jaylin asked.

"Completely! Let's go!" Alana said, with a cordiality that surprised even herself.

"Well, first we need to get Camila. She's another girl that wants to go into the desert. She's coming with us to the Den," Lance said. With a smile that made the corners of her mouth tug upwards involuntarily, he spun on his foot and set off. Alana was lifted by a sense of rising excitement... she was going beyond the wall!

Five minutes later, Alana, Jaylin, Camila and Lance were walking towards the Den, the gold coins that were the currency of Los Lagos jangling in their pockets. Lance had given them four shimmering coins each, as well as instructions. Now, as they walked towards the Den, he asked Alana to repeat them.

"Once we arrive in the Den, we're going to get one weapon each. So four altogether. And it has to be one we can wield skillfully enough to defend ourselves well," Alana said.

"Can we also get some food? I'm really hungry. That terrifying obstacle course has really fueled my appetite," Jaylin added. As if on cue, his stomach growled loudly, like a caged beast begging for fresh meat.

"Sure, we'll get a bite to eat," Lance said, rolling his eyes.

"I was hoping for a bit more than a bite," Jaylin muttered. Alana laughed. She could barely believe this was happening. In just one day, she had found three others with the same ideas as her and now they were talking like old friends, on their way to purchase weapons for fighting beyond the wall!

As they walked, Lance's nose started twitching.

"I smell smoke... and meat. We must be getting close to the cooking area of the Den," Lance informed them.

Alana frowned. She couldn't smell anything, but then she remembered that Lance was a wolf Chimera, and so his scent detection had been enhanced to the level of a canine's. Indeed, a minute later, Alana could smell acrid smoke, roasting meat, and a sharp, sickly sweetness that was probably rotting fruit. The Den soon followed the fragrances. When they entered the market, it was as crowded as ever. Like Lance had predicted, they were in the cooking area of the Den, surrounded by stalls of fruit and vegetables, animals roasting on spits, and stacks of bread and other baked goods.

"Follow me," Camila said, "I know where the weapons stalls are."

"How do you know where they provide murder tools?" Jaylin asked, giving her a dubious look.

"The ermine blacksmith that sells swords also sells the scrap metal that I use in my mechanics projects," she explained.

"Oh," Jaylin said.

The place that the weapons were sold in was a dark and shady box-shaped building, with wooden walls on all sides except one, where the inside was concealed from view by a veil of black, grimy cloth.

"Well, I'm sure we just can't see the good part," Jaylin said with forced cheer.

"By the way, the 'ugly on the outside, beautiful on the inside' thing doesn't apply to this place," Camila said drily.

She swept back the dark curtain and ushered them inside. They found themselves in a dim, crowded area. The only light filtered down in long beams from dozens of ragged holes in the ceiling of corrugated iron above, barely illuminating their surroundings. But despite the gloomy lighting, they could see that there were weapons everywhere, of every size and shape imaginable.

Katanas, scimitars, rapiers, broadswords, sabers and spears adorned the entire wall to their left. On the wall to their right, there was a huge array of recurve bows, longbows, and crossbows, as well as quivers stuffed full of arrows, whose heads gleamed dully. In front of Alana was a desk covered solely with knives, from switchblades and daggers to a stiletto and something that looked suspiciously like a needle taken from an old syringe.

Behind the knife desk, looking directly at them, was an ermine Chimera. Dark, crafty eyes were framed by lustrous, arctic white fur. He lounged regally on a velvety armchair like a king, surveying them cooly.

"Welcome to my store," he said, spreading his front legs wide to encompass the weapons around them. He had a voice that was soft, yet confident, like a creek that flowed strongly over the streambed, despite its quiet gurgling.

"Hello, Eraros," Camila greeted.

"Hey... Camille, is it?" he asked with a sharp-toothed grin.

"Camila, actually," she said, though the ermine Chimera looked like he either hadn't heard her correction, or didn't care.

It doesn't take a genius to know which one it is, Alana thought.

"Are you here for some scrap metal again? I told the last mechanic that came through: I don't have any left," he said, exasperated.

"No, I'm actually here for... well, for your weapons," Camila said. A slow smile spread across Eraros' face. His ermine whiskers quivered.

"So who are you going to murder this time, eh?" he asked in a relaxed voice, like assassinating people was a usual everyday activity for Camila.