"We arrived in the dead of night. We had been tracking the traitorous Hunter for days, and finally had him cornered or so we thought.

As we approached, a home on the edge of the town exploded, sending splinters of wood and fist-sized chunks of rocks into our ranks.

We had but moments to regroup before fire rained from the sky, the sounds of destruction wrapped in a burst of hideous laughter from the center of the village.

There, perched atop the spire of the village temple, stood our fellow Hunter. But he was a Hybrid no longer.

We shouted prayers to the Celestials and deflected what magic we could, but as we fought, the creature fought harder. I saw my comrades fall, burned by the flaming sky or crushed by debris.

The monstrous creature, looking as if he was was half human and half spider spotted me and grinned.

We had forced him to this, I realized. Our Kindred had willingly given into the beast in our flesh to survive our assault. A Hunter had awoken and soon we would follow."

— Transcribed from a tale told by a dying Huntress who was soon granted Mercy in Netherthorne, 9:11 Mist

It had been a bit of a journey to transverse the passageways through the cliffs to the intellectual heart of the Institute-controlled city, and the young albino's group was led to a massive temple. The white stone shimmered in the morning light, giving it a divine glow and setting things apart from others. Stained glass windows with depictions of symbols or artifacts glimmered like jewels from the sunlight and it took her breath away to see.

Hundreds of people moved around the fittingly large and well taken care of the garden and meditative courtyards of the temple compound, and some kind of priest greeted her at the door. Serena, along with Arima and Kalani, was soon separated from Mara and was led to a large chamber. The chamber itself was a waiting room with around a hundred children and each of them was of various races and species. There were countless humanoids and human or near-human races, and more than a few more monstrous ones within the group.

Most of the other children were clothed in high-quality clothing while a few wore clothing that seemed to be from other worlds entirely. Oddly enough, they seemed to be avoiding a rather normal-looking human girl.

The girl in question had long, warm brown hair that had a small wave to it. Her wide eyes were deep forest green and looked at everyone in awe. Her clothing was a patchworked dress and shoes, and on top of her head was a witch's hat that was equally made of patchworked cloth and material. The hat was too big for her, and she pushed it out of her face every so often. She looked about five or six, around Serena's apparent age.

Beside her was a rather annoyed young boy about their age who appeared to want to be anywhere but there. His features were very soft, which combined with his flowing copper locks that reached his waist and stormy blue almond-shaped eyes, gave him a feeling of serenity. That was soon dashed when one took in the arrogant way he held himself and how he looked down on the other children.

Unfortunately, the only place left to sit down was beside these strange kids.

With clear hesitation in her every movement, Serena walked over and sat down beside the girl.

The girl brightened up at her. "Hello! Are you three here for the class assignment as well?"

Serena nodded and that seemed to open the floodgates of the girl talking about everything and nothing in her excitement. It was fascinating to hear about life in other countries on the continent, but it was half unconnected to the moment rambling and half information that should not be shared in the first minute of meeting someone.

This little witch girl was called Adelina Faust while the young boy was from some sect and had the name of Rama Ishikawa. Rama seemed to be a rather recent victim of being transported to a different world but he was quite young so he should be able to adapt well in time.

Adelina was from Edris and had descended from a long line of witches. Her family was very worried about her since she lacked the gift or even a basic knack for their spells and potions, and was unable to create tools or potions at all. She seemed to have a rare and unusual mental disorder as well, one that meditation helped her with controlling.

As a young child, Adelina had a disorder that prevented her from understanding facts and relating them to a process. She could see the stars in the sky but she could never understand how they worked even if she was directly told that the kid just couldn't relate the explanation with the actual process being explained. It was a disorder that made people into outcasts and they lived short lives as they had few friends and failure to understand basic everyday knowledge made them extremely prone to unfortunate accidents. Her family did their best to help her but nothing worked.

One day the two spat out whatever they were drinking when they heard the girl playing with toys and other children outside. They ran out to ask Adelina how was that possible. Usually, those plagued by the disorder could not play with toys and imitate real-life scenarios because they simply lacked understanding of how they worked which made it difficult. Adelina just told them that she knew how things worked - magic made everything work.

As Adelina spoke with her peers she was told of slayers, explorers, and mercenaries, or people that risked their lives to protect the lives of everyone and someone everyone admired. To the three-year-old girl, these people were champions of magic and the enforcers of magical will.

Adelina herself wanted to be such a person but her mental disorder made it impossible.

Despite their best attempts to talk Adelina out of the idea to be a ninja her parents still enrolled her into the Institute Academy when she was five. They figured that eventually, their daughter would quit when she found her dream life to be unattainable.

They were right.

Adelina bombed every test and failed at everything.

Her sensei in the Academy, however, took a liking to her. He wondered if this was Adelina's lack of skill or her disorder that prevented her from succeeding and he taught the kid how to meditate, focus on one's mind and work things out when they became too confusing.

That was the breakthrough Adelina needed. Just nearly two years later, she managed to overcome much of her mental disorder and for the first time managed to think like an ordinary kid. She still kept clinging to her ideals of all life being magical.

Magic made everything so beautiful, so perfect.

Considering everything magical made Adelina appreciate it more. Knowing how it worked sort of made her feel empty and feel like life was pointless.

Serena just stared at this girl who might as well be her opposite and felt that things were going to be rather interesting from now on.

One by one, five kids were picked off. Some figure dressed in holier-than-thou robes entered the classroom and read names off a sheet of paper. Upon being called out the kids just stood up and ran towards the robed people who were then led to a room for whatever this classing ritual was.

After an entire hour of sitting around listening to the names of other people and seeing their joy, Serena found that she was left sitting with this odd group with two no one coming in to read their names.

What did all of that mean? Did that mean that nobody wants us? Or is this an attempt at establishing dominance?

"It would seem that you five are the trouble makers," a darkly amused voice announced, shattering the silence and stunning her.

No, it can't be!

Serena turned to the young man near the door who gave her satisfaction, and dread filled her.

It is.

The young man's onyx hair was half up in a bun at the back of his head, with the remainder falling to his neck with tufts and strands that stood out and at times seemed to wrap around his throat as if to strangle him. A single section of hair hung over his face on the left side of his eye, stopping at his jaw. He was quite good-looking, with strong features that seemed to be crafted with care to attract the eye.

Clothed in fitted black robes that had subtle golden stitches of symbols, he took on an appearance of an adventuring scholar or someone of the mana-focused persuasion, though that would be a superficial observation.

What kind of scholar would reek of blood and smile as stray splashes of crimson stained his alabaster-hued face? Who else but a madman would have such empty pale grey eyes?

The man swiped at the blood on his cheek in an absent-minded manner, and that all but fueled the desire to get out of the room of the Lord of Lies.

"Very fitting for an outlier to teach the other problems," the man said. For a brief moment, he became fully serious. "My name is Veles Silvertongue. I am an unchanged hunter who also dabbles in purification. I also am a ranked Explorer, though that hasn't seen much use in the last few years."

The last part of the sentence was near muttering to himself but Serena easily heard it.

It was then that Rama spoke up for the first time. "I never agreed to whatever this Class assignment thing was. I demand to be taken back to my sect. I guarantee no harm will come to you if that is your concern."

Veles, the Lord of Lies, rolled his eyes at the copper-haired brat. "Demand away. Technically speaking, you’re doomed, kiddo. Then again, all of you are."

Adelina blinked, surprised at that. "That sounds bad."

Veles nodded. "It is bad. I only said kiddo to soften the blow, kiddo."

Kalani was done with this runaround and glared at Veles with undisguised hostility. The fact Veles managed to affect her twin so quickly proved that even if he somehow wasn't the Lord of Lies, he was something of note. "What do you mean exactly?"

"All of you have been chosen to undergo advanced and various specialized training along with various lessons in a wide range of subjects from now until you are at least teenagers. Each of you has untapped potential and already shows signs of expertise and raw power to the point it would be a shame not to advance your education. At times, you will be working with people many years your senior, but it should be fine."

I do not like how even he sounds unsure about this.

Rama scoffed, his displeased gaze sweeping over the others. "You expect me to believe that someone could be more powerful than me?"

Veles pointed at her, drawing the copperhead's irefully unto her. "This girl has had no training and only one experience in a battle. She is also at the second stage of Sah and is on the verge of moving from the first rank of Glass to Steel. Serena here will likely do so within a few days from now."

Adelina looked at her with excitement. "How is that possible?"

"I'm a Corpseborn," Serena admitted. It was never a thing of shame to her. Not truly. But it did cause others to treat her differently.

Serena offered both of them a smile, and she was gratified to see Adelina offer it back.

Rama's opinion was as a dismissive sniff. "An abomination."

Serena watched her childhood friend and her brother's faces turn murderous before she quickly schooled her features into a mask, and made a mental note.

Rama's a bigot or at least was raised with a massive superiority complex. No real surprise there – he's on that special list.

Veles clapped his hands and once everyone's attention was back on him, motioned them all to follow. As one, the group turned to him.

"You're in my care. That means you're going to be the very best in everything you achieve," Veles said. "We're the party or team of cunning, of creativity, and ambition. We have the drive to go as far as we want and reach our goals, and our goals are always higher than those of the rest of the world." He gave them another significant look.

Right – become the cunning, ambitious person I was meant to be. Serena made a mental note. Got it.

"Because of this, the other teams generally don't like us," Serena said, sniffing. "This is why the first rule is the most important – Rule #1: Our Team sticks together."

"We stick together," they all murmured back. Veles nodded satisfactorily.

"You will always be better than another person of your current stage, rank, and status," he said, tossing back his hair. "The others, though subconsciously, know this, and they will resent you for it. Conflicts with others are to be expected. Because of this, the second rule is also very important – Rule #2: Don't get caught."

Serena shared an amused look with Arima, and, to her surprise, Rama Ishikawa, who was shooting her a mischievous smile.

"So long as you don't get caught and don't leave proof behind, I will protect you from allegations," Veles said. "I derive delight from it, but don't push me too far. It's better to remain completely unseen, so there's not even a student accusation to deal with."

Serena blinked. Veles was giving them free rein to retaliate against others who bullied them. It was… a new approach to bullying, to be sure. She'd always been encouraged to report any bullying activities and harassment to her sibling, who would handle it. Telling Loras often made the problem worse, but the expectation had been there.

Here, they were expected to take care of problems and handle any such issues themselves. Serena hid a small smile, looking up at the mortal guise of her patron.

"One more," Veles said. "Rule #3 – We are the best. Whatever it takes."

He gave them a fierce look, and they cowered as a group.

"We will take pride in being the best. It takes work, it takes networking, it takes cunning, it takes cleverness. Whatever your goal, whatever it takes, you reach it. We don't fail. We adapt, we re-evaluate, and we get what we want."

Veles looked at them with a cross between pride and determination, and Serena felt inspired herself, just looking at him.

Serena smiled up at him with deep affection and appreciation without realizing it, and to her surprise, Veles gave her a small fond smile back, before seeming to shake himself out of her moment.

"All right – that's the basics." Veles motioned for them to follow him once again, and the group did so.

They traveled down the brightly lit hallways until stopping in front of two oaken double doors. Veles opened it revealing a round chamber made from white stone. Light from above showed down on a alter in the middle where signs of recent blood spillage stood out. Around them were various hunters and white-robed practitioners, who stood around the inner circle in the middle as a silent guard. There was more than enough blood on the ground as if people were cut down.

That would be troublesome to clean up.

The old priest at the altar was pouring various concoctions into small drink bowls and counting them out revealed that there were five of them. One for each of them.

"Is anyone undergoing the changing?" the wizened man asked, his voice quiet and a bit raspy.

Veles shook his head. "No. They are all normal. The need to undergo the class ritual, however."

Serena watched as the man put the knife down at hearing the dismissal, and she wondered if blood was connected to whatever this changing ritual was.

"I have prepared the libations. The children just need to drink deep."

"Serena, Kalani, Arima, Adelina Faust and Rama Ishikawa. Take hold of one of the bowls and swallow the contents," Veles ordered and she felt almost compelled or invested in obeying. Not that she had much of an option to deny him.

She walked forward and grabbed the one on the far right, which was opposite to Rama's as it turned out. She turned to her brother who reassuringly smiled at her, and they clinked the small ceramic bowl together to show their bond and wish the other good luck. In a single move, she drank the entire content and had enough time to put the now-empty bowl back on the altar before her world was encased in sudden darkness and she knew no more.