Eddie

Yes, master," I mutter. He glares at me.

"Look at me when you speak. Do you understand that?" Master hisses. I nod and look at him. "Why did you disobey me?" he snaps. I flinch.

"I... I don't know; I was dumb, I wasn't thinking..." I bluff. Dylair smirks at me from his position beside the door. I restrain myself from snapping something back. I look at Master in the eye.

"I disobeyed you because I thought you were wrong," I blurt out before thinking. Master narrows his green eyes.

"And why, exactly, did you think that you had a choice?"

"Er..."

"Sir!" Sylith barges in. Master glares at her. "Sir, I am sorry for interrupting, but we're under attack!" Master lifts his chin importantly.

"Deal with it," he snaps. Sylith bows and her gaze catches mine. I shake my head. She ignores me.

"What's Eddie doing here?" she asks. Master sighs. She purses her lips and turns away. Once she leaves, Master continues.

"You want to live? Fight," he snarks. I widen my eyes as he throws me a gun. Finally. This is my chance!

"Thank you, Master," I say. I flurry out of the room, looking for Sylith.

"Ed? What are you doing here?" she cocks her head. "Whatever. You have a gun? Good; you know how to use it?" I shrug.

"I pull a trigger." She says nothing, stifling a laugh.

"Is it loaded?" I check.

"Yeah." She looks at me skeptically but doesn't stop me.

"Come." I follow her outside.

"Er... Is this normal?" I ask, staring at the humans and beasts clashing. Sylith looks at me.

"Sure. Sir doesn't- You know, Sir is Master- really cares about hiding where he is; he just constantly mo-" A beast with long ears leaps at me. Surprised, I pull the trigger. When it falls to the ground, my heart soars.

"I think... Maybe I'll become a-"

"You can't get a higher rank. You know why." I sigh. She looks at me sadly. "Come on."

I never knew that there were so many different beasts. It really surprises me. A fox-tailed person grabs my gun out of my hand and pins me down. I scream, seeing its sharp teeth, and roll over. I smack the beast with my forehead and run, grabbing my gun. I wildly shoot with my eyes closed, and jump when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I spin around, about to shoot, when I recognize the face. "Uh..." I murmur.

"Whoa! Careful with that; you're off aim and you're shooting everybody, on our side, too!" Sylith growls. I smile weakly.

"Sorry?"

"Just fight with your eyes open, okay?" I nod and she helps me attack a blue haired human with shimmering, scaly legs. Soon the battle ends.

"Did we win?" I ask, peering at the beasts in cages and on the bloody ground. Sylith nods. "That was... not as exciting as I had hoped." Sylith looks at me oddly but says nothing.

"What did you do?" she asks, changing the conversation. I know what she's talking about. I look at my feet.

"Well... Two things," I admit. "First, remember that group of beasts, the ones on the streets?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, you know I don't fight, but I was supposed to keep them in cages. I... uh..." I pause and take a deep breath. "I didn't. Dylair did it instead. I felt so- I felt sorry." Sylith narrows her chestnut eyes.

"Remember, beasts killed Sir's wife and son!" she snaps. I flinch. "You do not feel sorry; do you hear me?"

"I know, I know," I mutter, aghast. "I didn't- I'm not going to betray Master, no way." This is weird. Sylith has always been slightly against Master; feeling sorry and disobeying him.

"The second thing?" she asks, relaxing.

"The... The Plan." Sylith gasps.

"You ruined it?!" she cries. I nod sheepishly.

"Yeah... I, uh, I forgot to milk the cows." This is true, but probably doesn't sound like it. Sylith stares at me, her expression dumbfounded.

"How is that related?"

"Whatever." I say, exasperated. It'll take forever to explain. "I have to find Master." Sylith looks at me. There's a question in her gaze. What could it be?

"What-" she stops herself. I can see that this isn't it. "What is it like? Your rank? You're Sir's slave, but you surely have the potential to be a higher rank!"

"Well..." I mutter. "I can't. You know why." Sylith nods.

"It's a shame. When the beasts killed his wife, he said his son was dead too, but you're not."

"Master-"

"Why don't you call him father?" she asks.

"No way! He's Master, okay?" I wait for her to agree before I continue. "Master doesn't want to be seen with a son that has a weakness," I snap. Sylith groans.

"Ugh. Why did they have to attack at all?"

"Technically, it's my fault. If I had saved Mom, I would have been a hero. But I was too weak; that means that I will always be a slave." I stare at her wistfully. "I wish I was a Hunter." I sigh. "I miss my sister." Sure, she doesn't know I'm her brother. She thinks she never had one. But still.

"Hey, puny, Sir wants you!" Dylair yells. I run after him, leaving Sylith staring at us.

...

What's Sylith up to? I watch her leave the room. I have a night break, so... I tip-toe after her as she leaves the massive building. She walks down the road and looks around. Does she know I'm here? She breathes deeply and punches a wall. That's got to hurt. The wall slides away, making a doorway, and she steps in. It closes behind her. I peer at the wall and punch it. It's bouncy, but doesn't feel like a wall. It opens and I slip in, looking for her. "Commander! Sister! Sylith!" a voice shouts. Sylith looks at Sylaks.

"Hey, brother. You're part of this? I haven't seen you," she says. Sylaks laughs.

"Of course I am, little sister! But I'm new."

"That explains it. Where's Valstor?" Sylaks shrugs. "Well, he started this, so if he's not here..."

"Hello, everyone," a voice booms. It's Valstor, a soldier along with Sylaks. Sylith is a commander. "I thank you all for coming to our cause." What is their cause? I narrow my eyes. "To-"

"Wait!" Sylaks calls. "Somebody's here!" Several others have gathered to join them, and now all of them are looking for me. Valstor sniffs the air like a true Hunter, searching for whoever is a threat to them... Me. I silently gulp and freeze. Saikan, a lowly soldier, looks in my direction. I don't breathe.

"There!" he calls. Forlie glances.

"Yeah," she calls hesitantly. "Someone's there. Behind-" Sylaks pushes the garbage can I'm behind aside, and stares at me.

"Eddie?" he asks disbelievingly. "What..." Sylith glares at me.

"You followed me!" she cries. "Why?" I edge into the wall, the real, hard wall.

"Uh... I don't know, you were being mysterious? You yelled at me for being sorry for a beast," I mutter. "But you're always disobeying and saying stuff like that." Valstor walks forward.

"Do you know why we're here?" he asks quietly. I shrug.

"Nah. But there are a lot of you, and guessing from how this is hidden, it's not allowed." Forlie hisses at me.

"And why did you think, as a slave, you could follow her?" I scowl.

"If demons hadn't attacked, I wouldn't be a slave. I would be a higher rank than you."

"Well?" Sylaks asks. "Do we tell him?"

"Of course!" Sylith snaps. "I was going to ask you, Valsor," she looks at him, "to recruit Ed."

"Why?" Valstor asks. He's perplexed. "He doesn't even know our cause."

"Well, why don't we tell him?" Sylith asks swiftly. My friend meets my eye. "We think that the Hunters are dumb," she says. I flinch.

"Uh..." Sylaks says carefully. "Sis, his dream is to be a Hunter." Sylith glares at him.

"Yes, well we can turn it into his nightmare." I back up, deeper into the wall. Valstor sighs.

"Well, we're not going to kill him. Let's carry on." I hold myself back from asking what they're carrying on and listen.

"Why don't we just kill him?" a new voice chirrups. I scowl, recognizing Daylaski.

"You're very eager to kill me, aren't you?" I snap. Her black bangs drape over her beautiful blue eyes as she snarks back.

"Well, you aren't much help to us. In fact, you are a risk. So... I'm sure others will understand my reasoning." She falls silent, seeing Valstor glare at her. "Sorry," she growls, not sounding sorry at all.

"So what will we do?" Sylith asks. "It won't be easy to assassinate Si-"

"We, here, call him by his true name. Kenneth." Valstor reprimands.

"Yeah, yeah. Okay. How will we kill him?" I swallow back a gasp. Kill him? For what? Every head turns to me, and I realize I said it aloud. "Because, Ed," Sylith starts, "he's unfair to everyone and is trying to kill every single beast because the demon beasts killed your mother. Sure, he's allowed to be angry, but I don't even remember why I agreed to join." Valstor nods approvingly. I bite my lips.

"Oh." They carry on with the meeting as if I'm not there. I sigh. Maybe they're right. Maybe Master is wrong.