After running for some time, he heard a roar ahead, followed by three more echoing it.

He stopped caring about the marks and picked up the pace, running toward the roars. Occasionally he would notice a mark in his peripheral vision, assuring him that he was going in the right direction and allowing him to prepare for what he would be walking into.

Within two minutes he spotted the team and immediately felt as though he had a good grasp of the situation. Jay, Walter, Trey, and Ben were stuck in what appeared to be quicksand, almost waist-deep. Slightly more than a meter from Ben was a beast buried even deeper but still swiping out at its prey. On the periphery, three more beasts of the same species rotated between showing their distress for their companion and circling the quicksand pit.

"Pst, Kade. Over here."

Hearing a hushed voice, Kade turned his head and spotted Cal hunkered behind some bushes.

"Tell me about the beasts." Kade said after creeping over.

"I don't know much." Cal said with a grim expression "They don't seem to have any ranged or magical attacks and they aren't very fast, but just by looking at them you can tell how dangerous they are."

Kade nodded. The beasts were quadrupeds with short legs and long bodies. They had long, thick serrated claws and oversized fangs. Their tails were as long as their bodies and covered in brown spikes. One of the most striking features was the distinct quills protruding from the back of their heads that shivered occasionally.

"Alright, you have two options. Fight the three beasts and win, or lure them away and lose them in the forest before returning to help the others." Kade said calmly.

Cal furrowed his brows "Me? You're not helping?" He asked to confirm.

"Nope. This is all you." Kade replied with indifference "I won't always be around to save you guys, so it's time for you to learn to adapt." He turned to Cal with a solemn expression "This is within your capabilities, and I've already given you two options. It's time for you to sink or swim."

Cal opened his mouth before closing it quickly. This continued two more times before he nodded with a determined expression and slinked off stealthily.

Kade returned his gaze to the beasts. His anxiety had calmed greatly once he realized the situation. Their predicament wasn't that dangerous, quicksand wouldn't be much of a threat as long as they didn't move around much, and the beasts were unable to get in range without condemning themselves to the same fate. The only issue being that they couldn't escape the quicksand as long as the three beasts lingered nearby.

With Cal, this wasn't even much of an issue. They already knew the beast's main weakness, their speed, and Cal was the fastest in the team. Not to mention the fact that he had already escaped once, he would definitely be able to do so again. They didn't need his help at all, but their reliance on him prevented them from thinking of a solution that they could accomplish. So, this was the perfect opportunity for them to learn.

Cal darted out of the treeline at top speed and struck out at the closest beast as he rolled under its body. Springing up, he wasted no time bolting away at top speed.

The beast, barely harmed, roared in anger as it turned and gave chase. The other two beasts looked over to take stock of the situation. They hesitated, furiously moving their gazes from their stuck companion to the prey running toward the trees.

'Ugh, why don't they just follow me already?!' Cal thought angrily before leading his current pursuer in an arc as he circled back around 'Guess they need a little push.'

Kade watched raptly, Altaris quickly shrouding his hand. Despite what he said, he was having issues resolving himself to allow Cal to experience too much danger. He could only compromise with himself. He wouldn't step in until it was absolutely necessary.

"Haa" Cal controlled his breathing as he closed in. This was the first time he was fighting solo, and against three beasts nonetheless! His heart was beating ninety to nothing and his arms trembled. The only solace was that he only had to grab their attention, which if done properly, would only take a single exchange.

A spikey tail came at him from the right, causing him to duck to avoid it. Stumbling, he lunged forward while slashing with his sword as he contorted his body, allowing himself to land on his shoulder and roll to maintain momentum.

Taking two steps, he jumped to avoid the second tail targetting his knees before swinging his sword at the second beast's hip. Upon landing, he swiveled his head.

'One tail.' He moved his gaze 'Sec-' Cutting his thought and acting on instinct, his body bent backward as the second tail glided over him, missing by millimeters.

He began to lose balance, so he kicked off with his right leg while twisting his torso left to spin himself around and catching himself with his hands. Then pushed off the ground and ran as fast as his legs would carry him.

After a few seconds of running his confidence grew enough that he glanced behind him. His actions were enough to spark the beasts into action, now he just needed them to keep them interested for the duration of the chase. He slowed his pace, allowing the beasts to close the gap significantly until they were only a few steps behind him before matching their speed to maintain the distance.

High stepping over the flora as he charged into the treeline, he weaved between the trees while racking his mind in an attempt to determine his path. The plan was simple, lure the beasts far away before using his superior speed to leave them in the dust on his return. That would hopefully give him enough time to get the others out of the quicksand.

However, it would be a good idea to trap these beasts in some way. They could always track his scent back to the others, or even just lose interest and return to their companion on their own. The more difficult he made it for them, the longer he would have to work.

"Roarrr"

The roar interrupted his thoughts and caused him to briefly glance back. His eyes widened 'Oh crap!' He thought as he faced forward and increased his speed. He had been wrapped up in his thoughts and slowed down enough that the beasts were nipping at his heels!

As soon as he increased the gap the tension in his chest relaxed and he returned to his thoughts. The best-case scenario would be finding terrain similar to the quicksand to trap the beasts in, but he didn't know of anywhere like that nearby.

'Ah, the vines!' He thought, a bit of relief washing over him. During his scouting, he had taken Kade's teaching into account and paid attention to the terrain in case they had to use it to their advantage. around a kilometer from the quicksand pit was a mass of vines stretched between multiple trees with a lot of thick flora covering the ground.

If he could get the beasts tangled up in that mess it would buy him some time. Furthermore, he could burn some of the beast repelling plants that Trey forced them all to carry to confuse the beast's senses and disorient them. Not only would it mask his scent, but it might also confuse them on the direction to return in.

He quickly ran through his options one more time before deciding 'This is my best option right now.' He thought as he changed his direction slightly before checking on his distance from the beasts. Slowing slightly to give the beasts the illusion that they could catch him, he continued on his path.

Doing his best to control his breathing, he navigated the distance deftly. It took nearly thirty minutes before the area matched his memories. Picking up the pace greatly, he increased the distance between them for the last time. His eyes locked on the patch of vines as he darted toward it and charged within.

He climbed through the vines and flora as quickly as he could, doing his best not to break any of them. The beasts quickly closed what little gap he had gained and leaped into the mess of plant life with far less care. Vines snapped and bushes ruffled as they closed in.

'Please... PLEASE!' Cal shouted in his mind, his heart speeding up as he watched the beasts closing in 'C'mon, work!' He couldn't escape quickly due to the terrain and was banking on the vines to slow the beasts at least as much as it slowed him!

Panting roughly, his heartbeat steadied as he watched the beasts slow rapidly as they were wrapped up in vines while struggling in an attempt to move forward. 'That was a close one...' He thought with a wry smile forming on his face. His plan had almost backfired.

Carefully navigating the jumble of vines, he put a bit of distance before stopping to light the bundle of beast repelling plants and tossing it slightly behind the beasts. Turning around, he climbed, ducked, and crawled through the plant life relatively quickly, only taking a few minutes to break free on the opposite side.

"Roaaaaar" One beast roared out, followed by the other two. Their intimidating roars quickly turned into distressed whimpers as their struggles turned frantic and unordered.

'The plant is working its magic.' Cal thought with a grin as he jogged into the distance.

After breaking the line of sight, he changed his direction and picked up the pace, heading back to the others. The return was slightly shorter as he maintained his fastest speed. When he saw the quicksand pit once more, he noticed that the beast's head was the only portion of its body above the surface. Its breaths were strained and ragged as the force of the sand constricted its torso.

He checked the others and realized that their situation was far better as they hadn't struggled at all, the quicksand only coming to their waist after all this time. Finding his bag, he pulled some paracord out and approached the pit.

"Who wants out first?" He asked with a grin.

"Get Jay out first, then Ben." Trey spoke while the others remained silent.

Though they weren't in dire straights yet, none of them wanted to be selfish and request to be saved first. Besides, Trey's decision made the most sense. Jay was the leader and had the physical strength needed to get the rest out, while ben had the weakest constitution and would suffer the most from the compression of the sand.

"Alright. Tie this around yourself." Cal said as he one of the ends of the paracord to Jay before finding the closest tree and wrapping the other end around it. "Ready?"

"Yeah, go ahead!" Jay shouted.

Cal pulled as hard as he could, but the paracord barely moved. "Dang it!" Cal shouted before walking to the tree and pressing his foot against it for leverage and pulling on the paracord again. It moved slowly, but that was enough for him. He pulled again and again until he was panting.

"This isn't working!" Cal shouted back as he glanced at his hands. They were bright red, aching and burning. His arms felt sore and he doubted that his muscles would last much longer.

"Just tied it to the tree and I'll pull myself out!" Jay shouted.

Cal nodded before securing it to the tree and turning back to watch while taking a short break.

Jay wrapped the paracord around his right arm and grasped it with both hands before using all of his upper body strength to pull. He could feel his limp lower body rise slowly and the sand flowed around to fill the gaps. Slowly, he worked himself out of the sand and toward the bank.

Kade watched while perched on a branch. There were multiple ways that they could use to free themselves from the quicksand, and while this wasn't the easiest, it was the one immediately available.

Perhaps the best way was using a large, flat object as leverage and wiggling themselves out. The flat object would disperse their weight so that they wouldn't sink, and allowed them to use their entire body rather than just their arms, back, and chest. Unfortunately, they didn't have any suitable object.

For Jay, the next thirty minutes were arduous and painful. It took all of his energy and left deep indents on his arms and palms from small paracord digging into his skin. But it was worth it when he finally reached solid ground. Laying his torso against it, he wiggled his legs while clawing forward and shortly freed himself.

"Haaa, Haaa. Damn. That was rough." Jay said while panting "Good job Cal. Thanks for the save."

"No problem." Cal replied as he helped Jay removed the paracord.

"So." Jay plopped on his butt "I'm guessing that you couldn't find Kade?"

"I found him." Cal said, briefly glancing at Jay before continuing "But he wanted to use this as a teaching moment I guess."

Jay's face warped in confusion "Teaching moment? What, like some strength-building exercise or something?"

"I think he wants us to learn to fend for ourselves so that we don't rely on him too much." Cal explained before tossing the end of the paracord to Ben.

Catching the paracord, Ben chimed in "It makes sense. Our first reaction to getting stuck here was to find Kade, but Cal managed to get this us this far on his own." Wrapping the cord around himself as Jay had, he continued "We need to try to resolve our issues on our own and only ask for help when we have exhausted our options."

Jay nodded as he grabbed the line "True. I guess we have been relying on him too much." He said before pulling on the line.

Ben wiggled his lower body as he pulled with his upper body. With Jay's help and his own intelligence, they were able to make up for his lack of strength.

"I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to be stuck in Kade's shadow forever." Walter said with a level of severity that was unusual for him. "I want to be an equal with him, not a junior."

Trey nodded "I feel the same. I didn't agree to join FwD for protection, that's for sure."

Taking a short break, Jay stretched his body to fight the fatigue he was feeling. "I think all of us feel like that. Though it will probably take some time, I think this is the first big step toward that goal."

Gripping the line again, Jay got lost in his thoughts. Meeting Kade had changed them. The decision to come to Detrius had led them to Kade who promised them a home and a family, everything they were searching for. After that point, their goals had shifted to following Kade as a leader. Yet once again, at this moment, they were changing. They didn't want to just follow Kade, they wanted to be like him. They wanted to support him as equals and move up in this world together.

It was funny how a simple decision could change so much.

"Alright, alright. Let's all get out of this pit first." Ben complained as his upper body flopped like a fish in an attempt to get free.

Jay was pulled from his thoughts before laughing and focusing on his job. Cal stood guard, scanning the treeline.

Before long, Ben was freed from the pit and helped develop a new plan for freeing the final two. Chiseling the bark off of the tree, he retrieved another paracord and formed it into a few loops before connecting it with the original paracord.

"Alright, pull the line that way." He said while pointing to his right. "Walter, wiggle your legs to disturb the sand and widen the hole slightly. Don't overdo it though."

Jay nodded and signaled Walter before pulling the line, which steadily moved. The changes that Ben had added to the line gave them far more leverage. Walking back, he pulled the line over his shoulder and used his body weight to assist.

The new method proved useful and Walter was steadily pulled from the quicksand, requiring half the time and effort to free him. Next was Trey.

"Incoming! It's the beasts from earlier!" Cal shouted as he regrouped with the others.

"How much time do we have?" Jay asked as he checked on their progress. Trey was nearly free, they only needed one more minute at most!

"Maybe thirty seconds!" Cal replied.

"Okay, you guys gather at the edge of the pit." Jay ordered as he dug the balls of his feet into the dirt and pulled as hard as he could.

The others quickly followed the orders and stood close to the edge while staring into the treeline.

"Fifteen seconds!" Cal shouted, continuously updating Jay.

"Ten, get out of there!"

"JAY!" Cal screamed.

Releasing the line, Jay turned and ran toward the others. He couldn't see Trey behind the others and didn't know if he was free, but he hoped. "Try to get them into the pit!" He yelled as he stumbled into them, being caught by Cal.

Walter stepped to the side, baiting one of the beasts before diving to the ground as the beast lunged at him. Ben rolled to the side as another beast did the same.

Cal stared at the beast just a few meters from him with wide eyes. He had caught Jay, but it resulted in both of them losing their balance at the worst possible moment. They wouldn't be able to recover in time to fend off or dodge the beast. Suddenly, a strong force pushed them to the right.

Trey bent his knees and accepted the lunge as he twisted his torso. Bringing his right hand up in one swift motion he grabbed the beast while slamming his left shoulder into its side. Exerting a phenomenal level of strength, he altered the beast's course mid-air and sent it tumbling into the quicksand behind them.

"Ahhhrg." He grunted as he fell to his knee while clutching his chest.

Jay scrambled to his feet "Let me see." He said as he knelt down and pulled Trey's arm away before sighing in relief at the four lacerations on his chest. They were deep, but with Ben around they wouldn't be life-threatening.

"Haha, it worked!" Walter exclaimed as he pumped his fist at his side "That's what you get you assholes!"

The force from their landing had already forced a few of their limbs beneath the surface. They were stuck, and without anyone to help them, they would perish.

"Whew... That was a bit rough." Cal sighed, finally feeling relief wash over his body now that they were all safe.