CHAPTER THIRTEEN

First Mission

“Hey, what is that?” I pointed at the palm of the soldier sitting on the opposite side of me. “Looks like an enhancer.”

“You know your stuff, bud.” The soldier, a blue-eyed, brown-haired teenager who looked like he’d only just graduated from high school popped the blue tablet into his mouth before answering, “It’s called a go pill.”

“What does it do?”

He tapped the side of his temple. “Keeps me alert and combat-ready.”

I frowned. “Why do you need to be combat-ready now? We’re not even there yet.”

There were some bumps on the road that delayed his answer as we were both busy holding onto our seats. Seriously, this horse-drawn transport needed some serious suspension upgrades. Maybe even some butt padding.

“The go pill heightens the senses in a way that can be distracting, and I want to get used to it by the time we arrive.” He gave me a knowing smirk. “Not everyone’s got the talent to be an arcanist, you know. We grunts need every edge we can get when dealing with—”

Another bump on the road cut his answer short.

I noticed that it wasn’t just this soldier either. His buddies sitting on their side of our transport were all popping the same blue tablets into their mouths. And not all of them reacted to the pill as well as he did. Some of them had even begun to shiver in their seats while a few looked like they were about to puke.

“Is it that bad?” I asked.

“Depends… there are always side effects to any enhancer.” The brown-haired soldier shrugged. “You want one?”

“Um—”

I did want to try it at least once as this second life of mine was all about trying new things, but I didn’t get to say yes because Major Wolf — yeah, my master had been promoted recently — smacked the back of the brown-haired soldier’s head with his hand.

“What the hell are you offering one of my kids, Corporal Allers?” he growled.

“S-sorry, sir.” the corporal gave his superior a sheepish grin. “I was just teasing the wonder boy.”

The temperature in the carriage dropped suddenly, sending a chill up our collective spines. No, it hadn’t been the major’s doing. This display of power had come from the pretty blonde girl sitting next to me.

Corporal Allers immediately raised his hands in surrender. “I…I was just kidding, Three!”

“Me too,” Number Three said in that sweet-sounding voice she adopted whenever she was causing mischief.

“Number Three,” Major Wolf warned.

“Kay,” she said, and the temperature normalized around us.

Yep, at eight years old, my adorable not-so-little monster had become overly protective of me. She’s been like this since last year’s Blood Forest Event, and now anyone who messed with me was in danger of having ice-cold water dunked on their heads.

Although I sometimes wished she’d tone it down as I didn’t want her to develop a reputation for being a hothead, it made me happy that Number Three remained loyal to me even though many of my crib mates now viewed me as a traitor who’d joined hands with the devil. Honestly, even I couldn’t believe the things I’d been forced to do this past year, all to ensure Colonel Heinrich’s cooperation in keeping my crib mates safe from abuse.

Major Wolf laughed. “Better watch out, Allers. Number Three’s almost as good as me in manipulating temperature.”

“Ugh,” Corporal Allers sighed, “as if the major wasn’t enough, now I’m literally surrounded by monsters.”

The others laughed at his expense, easing the tension inside the transport somewhat. Although you could tell from the nervous looks they sent me and Number Three that they weren’t too comfortable having such gifted children with them on this mission. I couldn’t blame them. We were basically two underage guided missiles who knew very little about the outside world.

“Alright, alright, settle down, you idiots,” Major Wolf growled. “We’re nearly there.”

The major eyed both me and Number Three up and down, and I could tell from his furrowed brow that he was checking whether or not we’d gotten too creative with customizing our uniforms.

I was wearing the prescribed all-black uniform forced upon us child soldiers, but I had a happy face patch in place of the golden sun that usually adorned the left arm sleeve. My former nursemaid turned nanny, Lena, had made it for me. Oh, and I kept the top two buttons of my coat unbuttoned too just to show off the necklace Lena had given me on my eighth birthday.

“It has a one-time protective charm,” she’d explained, “and this round pendant is made of iron too in case you need it.”

Man, she was such a mom sometimes. Yeah, Lena treated me like I was her child, unlike some of the other nannies in the institute who’d joined Colonel Heinrich in pushing their wards too hard all to stay competitive with me, or so I’d heard.

Number Three wore the same wool black coat and shorts I did, but she’d paired white long socks with her white dancing boots instead of wearing the clunky black ones the rest of us wore. It was the one concession of her uniform that colonel Heinrich begrudgingly allowed as he knew she’d incorporated dance into her fighting style.

That’s right. This past year, Number Three, with the help of her nanny Petra and Major Wolf, had begun training in an Asyan martial art style that was most likely this world’s version of Kung-Fu.

“Asyan warriors call this the Kata Dance,” Major Wolf announced that first time he’d taught it to Number Three.

I had been there too, but my two left feet made it impossible for me to learn Kata. There were just too many twirls and high kicks. I would have to stick to my gauntlets and standard CQC when it came to arcane combat.

Satisfied that we hadn’t gone overboard, Major Wolf asked, “Did you two memorize the mission brief?”

We both nodded.

“Remind me.”

No, he didn’t really need any reminding. Major Wolf was simply testing our memory.

“We’re investigating a supposedly arcane incident that occurred on the outskirts of Drenken,” I answered, to which Number Three added, “They might have a fiend problem!”

“And what are fiends?” Major Wolf prompted.

“It’s a monster!” Number Three answered excitedly, to which I added, “It’s actually an artificial organism born from a forbidden act of sorcery.”

“That’s what I said,” she said, elbowing me in the ribs.

I elbowed her back. “Well, technically it is a monster, but master wanted more details than that.”

Number Three stuck her tongue out at me. “Teacher’s pet.”

“And why would a fiend appear near Drenken?” Master’s tone ended what would have been a battle of funny faces between me and Number Three. “What do we know about the town?”

“It’s a mid-sized town located by the national highway right between the capital and the eastern port of Water City,” I answered. “This makes it a convenient trading hub for capital merchants and residents looking for rare imports from the port without having to travel to our eastern border.”

“Wow,” Corporal Allers whistled, “even I didn’t know that… what the hell do they teach you kids at the institute?”

“Um, I just read the mission brief,” I answered, with Major Wolf adding at the same time, “He read the brief… which you clearly haven’t.”

Corporal Allers visibly shrank before my master’s wolfish glare, which no one else could do better, BTW. “I, uh, was a little busy preparing our equipment for the mission, major.”

He got another slap on the back of his head, and this time, both Number Three and I joined in on the laughing at his expense.

If only all Armestian soldiers were as cool as these guys… Maybe then I wouldn’t hate wearing the uniform so much.

“Remember, kiddos, your abilities aren’t just being evaluated here. How you conduct yourselves will also play a key factor in whether or not you get to go on more missions after this.” Major Wolf eyed me, and then Number Three. “I get that this is your first time outside of the institute. So, I can understand if you’re feeling excited, but don’t let your enthusiasm get in the way of your focus, understand?”

“Yes, master,” I said, while Number Three replied with her usual lazy, “Kay.”

“And try to show a little restraint in town, Number Three,” Major Wolf added. “I don’t want the brass reprimanding me for destruction of property.”

“Kay,” she said, sounding like she wasn’t at all taking his warning seriously.

Well, nothing new there. Number Three was a bit of a free spirit, something Colonel Heinrich knew when he dropped the responsibility of training her onto master’s lap days after my little show at the gymnasium. No, I didn’t think it was just because they were both compatible in terms of magical ability, but also because Colonel Heinrich wanted us three rebels in the same boat in case things turned sour. Easier to wipe us out that way. Still, I was thankful. Having Number Three around made master’s new and more difficult training regimen a lot more bearable.

“Don’t demand an easy path. That’s what the weak do. Demand the strength to endure a difficult one. This is the way of the strong,” he’d always tell us whenever he noticed we were struggling in training.

And although I sometimes wanted to punch him in the face for constantly pushing me past my limits, I knew that his tough love act was working. Because a year later, Number Three and I had become the first of our nursery to venture out into the wider world on our very first mission as apprentice arcanists of the military’s special tactics and response unit, the Wolf Squad.

“We’re here,” Major Wolf barked as the transport stopped abruptly. “Get out.”

I followed Number Three and Corporal Allers out the open flap and down into the grassy ground, which is when I caught a whiff of that rusty scent I was intimately familiar with. My eyes scanned our surroundings, and what I saw lying on the side of the road nearly made me hurl my breakfast onto Corporal Allers’ uniform.

It was like a scene from a horror movie. The mutilated bodies of the soldiers that had been sent here before us were scattered all over the grass on either side of the road. Dismembered body parts leaked blood into the earth while its iron scent permeated our surroundings.

Holy fuck… what the hell happened here?

“One…” Number Three’s hand reached out for mine. “I don’t think I like the outside so much…”

“It’s okay.” I squeezed her hand. “We’re in this together.”

While Major Wolf moved to inspect the nearest corpse, Corporal Allers and the other nine soldiers of Wolf Squad fanned out in a circular formation around our transport with the muzzles of their bolt-action rifles pointed outward. And unlike me and Number Three, they didn’t seem so bothered by the gruesome scene around us. They were very professional.

They’ve got Wolf’s Spartan training written all over them too, huh.

“Lieutenant Spiers,” Major Heinrich called.

The short-cropped, brown-haired woman with the scar across her left eye moved to join her superior who was kneeling next to the body that was so bloodied you couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman. Lieutenant Spears then got her medical kit out of her pack and used the tools inside it to examine the wounds on the corpse.

“We’ve got a problem, sir,” Lieutenant Spiers reported.

Although her voice carried not a hint of alarm in it, I could tell from the way her eyes were narrowed that Lieutenant Spiers didn’t like what she was seeing.

“Hold on,” Major Wolf instructed.

He motioned for Number Three and me to come forward, and while Number Three hopped quickly toward our master, my footsteps were a little more hesitant. There was just way too much blood over there for my nerves to act up. Yeah, I know, I know. It was ironic that I was still squeamish around blood even though I now had vials of the stuff hanging from my belt holster.

“What do you see?” Major Wolf asked.

Number Three pointed to the shoulder that Lieutenant Spiers’ scalpel was touching. Three wide gashes cut deep along the top half of the shoulder so that only a thin bit of skin around the armpit kept it from falling off the corpse.

“Those are really big claw marks,” Number Three said.

I took a deep breath before I too trained my eyes on the bloody shoulder. “There are blue marks around the wound… that might mean the claws were coated in some kind of toxin.”

“I agree, sir,” Lieutenant Spiers said in her low, husky voice. “A wild animal couldn’t have done this… not against seven of our well-trained and armed soldiers.”

It wasn’t just the man’s shoulder either. The deep gashes across the chest and face told the story that an inhuman sort of violence had visited this corpse. This wasn’t an act of hunger or desperation you’d associate with a wild beast either. No, this was murder pure and simple, and no animal was that malicious.

“This confirms the operational theory that we have a fiend problem… I hate fiends,” Major Wolf growled.

“Sir,” Corporal Allers called, “we’ve got tracks.”

My gaze drifted over to where the muzzle of the corporal’s rifle was aimed at. A thin line of blood trailed away from the scene of the massacre and toward the dirt path that led to… “It’s heading into Drenken.”

We could all see the tiled roofs of the nearby town’s buildings above the tree line. And it was definitely in the same direction where the trail of blood was leading us to.

“Follow it,” Major Wolf ordered.

As one, Wolf Squad formed up behind Corporal Allers. They moved together in rows of two, making tracks swiftly in the direction of town with us arcanists following right at their heels.

“You know, we could have brought the carriage, master,” I huffed.

I wasn’t exactly out of breath as I’d been running up and down Mt. Eigen every day for three years now, but the unfamiliar ground and overgrowth of greenery around the town’s outskirts had made our speed-run more of a challenge than I imagined.

Stupid fiend couldn’t have taken the road, instead?

“The carriage will make its way to Drenken on its own time,” Major Wolf answered, “But we’re needed here now.”

“Oh,” I gazed at the thing my master was staring intently at, “right…”

We’d made it to the walled town too late because the two guards who manned the gate were already dead. Their throats had been ripped open by the jaws of something that might have had teeth like a great white shark’s.

Then we heard a woman’s high-pitched scream, and anyone with a brain could tell that danger lay ahead. Wolf squad continued onward regardless. We crossed through the open gate and into the wide cobblestone main street of Drenken with guns at the ready.

This is getting way too real too fast…

The quaint, three-story white brick buildings packed together on either side of the street blurred together as I chased after my master who’d taken the lead.

Another scream. This one belonged to a man. Not the sound of a frightened yelp, but something more like a death rattle that caused the hairs on the back of my arms to rise.

It hadn’t been far. Maybe fifty yards from the gate, but by the time we got there, the few townspeople we could see were already scurrying away from the scene. All except for the woman — her face matted with blood — who was kneeling next to a man whose insides were now scattered on the outside. His blood soaked the cobblestones. As for the thing that caused his gruesome end, we could see no sight of it.

Lieutenant Wolf moved to help the woman while the rest of Wolf Squad fanned out around the scene in search of our quarry, but the fiend was gone. There wasn’t even a trail of blood to follow anymore. It had simply vanished from the street as if it had never been there at all.

With a shaking hand, I reached out for the comfort of my iron pendant. “What the hell’s going on?”