" South Africa? How did he even get there?" asked Veritas."Air road, gates, all are off-limit to him."

" There are ways we don't know of, I guess." said Tetrax." But whatever, we must get to South Africa, with the Gate, of course. My Gate that is."

" You have your own Gate?" asked Aria.

" Every Singulus Digiti has one. Fancy, right?" Tetrax chuckled.

" You lots sure are mysterious, huh?" said Veritas.

Without answering, Tetrax signaled the others to follow her. She guided them into the tunnel.

" You cleared all of the rubbles by yourself?" asked Aria. "There was a lot."

" Now how would you know about that?" asked Veritas.

" Oh yeah, you still don't know, Captain. Wander told these two he destroyed this tunnel with runes and runes. Of course there must be a lot."

Veritas knew Tetrax was covering up for the two, but he knew it would be a waste of time to further pursuit the matter. It did not matter now that the two hid the truth. He only looked forward to finding Wander and Maria, then informed the Council of the location.

"Ok, here we are, now, stand close to me, grab my arms, and prepare for a trip you will never forget. "

After making sure the others had followed her order, Tetrax whispered an incantation, and the insignia emitted a glistering light engulfing every one. Apart from Tetrax, each of them experienced unprecedented nauseousness and disorientation. During the trip, they looked around to see nothing but blurry sceneries beyond recognition. A few minutes later, they could feel the space around them violently tremble, break apart then come together once more.

______________________________________________________________________________

Veritas fell to the ground as they all arrived in South Africa. He had never felt this disturbed and sick before, and was more than ready to vomit. Next to him, Aria was experiencing the same thing. He felt a little relieved, as it would have been incredibly embarrassing if he was the only one.

" I was like you the first time too. Don't worry, it gets better soon." said Tetrax.

After the two had recovered, they returned to the chase. Tetrax went in the front with the insignia as their tour guide.

" Where are we currently?" asked Veritas.

" Cape Town Halcyon. This is where Wander is, or was. Is it funny that we find ourselves inside a forest yet once more? And yep, we are officially out of his blood." said Tetrax.

" What? So are we like, lost now?" said Aria.

" Not necessarily. With our abilities it would more than easy to locate the nearest town. Captain, would it be too much if I ask you to scout ahead and pinpoint a populated area?"

" If you just want me to leave you all alone for a while, just get to the point. "

" Nah, I really want you to scout. Can you?"

That playful attitude of Tetrax was a great annoyance to Veritas. He really wanted to punch the guy in the face, but managed to hold back the desire. He turned away from his companions and made a giant leap upward. He could see a town North West, and so in that direction he moved forward.

This forest was not as dense as Mirilad, but some areas were flooded with overgrown bushes, and Veritas could see some trekkers from time to time. They waved at him and he nodded in return. He noticed that they were carrying weapons, but sensed no hostility from them. They were busy cutting all the weirdly overgrown bushes. His trip therefore went on smoothly.

The town he arrived in was named Simon's Town- a commercial town with -full-loaded trucks entering and departing constantly. Veritas did not detect anything out of the ordinary. However, to be careful, he commenced further investigation.

He traveled across the town, observing as many people and buildings as possible. Some natives glanced at him, some smiled, some stared but none was distracted from work for more than seconds. When he reached the centre of the town, Veritas noticed one building was more crowded than others. Most unusual, the entrants were all armed. As he got closer, he could read the building's name: Katleho Bounty Center.

Contrary to its dilapidated exterior, the interior of Katleho was well-furnished and well- designed. There were long couches and long tables positioned close to the walls where various employees with headphones on were talking to their customers. Behind them were hundreds of different paper notes with addresses, phone numbers, images stuck to the wall. The reception desk lied at the opposite end of the entrance, and caught the attention of Veritas due to the frowning face of the receptionist.

" Good morning, Mr...Mohapi." said Veritas as he glanced at the name card.

" Yeah, same to you. Now, what's the deal?" asked Mohapi with a rough voice.

" May I ask what this building's for?"

" Newcomer, aren't you? American? Wait, I know you." Mohapi knitted his brows." Veritas Solus? Now, this is bad news."

" Bad news?"

" You only appear when bad things happen. Every captain does. And what happened yesterday only enforces the fact."

" What happened yesterday?"

" A demon, what's else? It popped up not far from the town, scaring the towns people off. We tried to hunt it down, but it escaped to the south, to Vuur forest. Now that place is more dangerous than the demon itself. Most of us hope it dies there, but just to be sure, we are scouting the surrounding the area once more.

Veritas recalled the armed hunters waving at him.

" I see." Veritas nodded." That must have been the demon I've been looking for. Was anyone else with him?"

" No, there wasn't. And you can stop looking, I don't think it survived. But please, go south if you must, I'm not stopping you. I can ensure you that it had not escaped from there. Be careful, though, that part of the forest is deadly. Something is in there. Something centuries old."

Veritas thanked the receptionist before exiting Katleho and returning to his group. On his way back, he could see that the native hunters were on their way back home, and a few meters from them, his three companions were waving at him.

" Let me guess, Wander was here and he went south." said Tetrax.

" Yes, that's what I got from the people here. You talked to them too?"

" We met them while waiting for you." said Aria." They told us they were tracing a demon. Well, we immediately knew it was Wander. "

" So what are we waiting for? Let's head south!" said Hiatus.

______________________________________________________________________________

The residents of Simon's Town shook their heads at the group as they saw them marching South. Some even attempted to talk the group out of it, but quickly gave up after realizing the four were very determined.

The south of Vuur exuded an inexplicably blazing heat. Despite that, Vuur witnessed the overgrowth of vegetation, mostly fynbos. The group was baffled by the unusual height of the floras. They were supposed to be only knee-high, but here they were several feet taller than a grown hunter.

" I bet 100 dollar something super magical is in there." said Tetrax." Anyone?"

" I bet it was an ancient tree with roots running deep across the forest, providing all other plants with nutrition." said Aria." A hive of trees!"

" It must be the work of a demon." said Veritas.

" I want to buy their fertilizer" said Hiatus.

" Okay, team, let's get in!." Tetrax shouted, pointing ahead.

Veritas glanced at the Singulus Digiti, faintly smiling.

Apart from Tetrax, the whole team entered the uncharted territory with a despondent expression. For Veritas, he was recalling the warning of Mohapi. For Aria and Hiatus, they simply did not have much luck with forest adventure.

Unlike Mirilad, Vuur welcomed the visitation of light despite its overgrown fynbos. Therefore, the four could see one another, detect movements of animals and make their way through the forest with ease. What really troubled them, though, was the increasing heat. They were sweating profusely, and the use of runes only brought forth short-lived coolness. Veritas, intending to identify the face of Tetrax, suggested that she took off the robe, earning him the dead stares of Hiatus and Aria, and a mocking laughter from Tetrax.

In the human realm, they were heading towards Cape Point. However, in Halcyon, the destination was unknown, so they decided to keep going till the end of Vuur. Along the way, they would often helped one member leap off the ground to see ahead. However, only the sea lied at the other end.

The group reached the end of Vuur in disappointment. It was a cliff facing the endless ocean. Nothing unusual was within their sight.

" This is unusual. The forest is too peaceful, apart from the heat. We must have missed something." said Veritas."Let's go back and search again."

"You stay here." said Tetrax. "I will do quick check."

" You sure you want to split up? That is how people get killed in horror movie." said Hiatus.

" I agree with him. Let's us go together." said Veritas.

" Nah, with my speed, I will soon outrun you all. We will split anyways. Just wait"

Without waiting for any response, Tetrax vanished into the forest.

______________________________________________________________________________

Nearly 20 minutes had passed and Tetrax still did not return. The left behind grew more restless than ever. Aria walked around in circle, her fists bumping against each other. Veritas was standing still with crossed arms, but he incessantly tapped each arm with his fingers. Hiatus sat down, then stood up, only to sit down again.

" We must go back in there." said Veritas." Hee's in trouble"

" No, we must stay here. What if he returns when we are away?" said Aria.

" Then two will go in and one will wait." said Veritas

"You mean we will split up again and increase the risk of getting killed?" said Hiatus.

" I am going in whether you two want to come or not."

" He's a Singulus Digity. He can take care of troubles."

Veritas frowned. " If anything, he is trouble. Who knows, he may have abandoned us."

" The Council is more likely to do that, Veritas." Hiatus said, glancing at the Councilman.

Veritas glared at the boy. " Is this what you repay us with after all the things we do for you?"

" I'm sorry, but the only thing you've done to me is making me lose..." Hiatus stopped speaking, his eyes slowly widening.

" Guys, you are sweating.A lot." said Aria.

Aria's remark startled Hiatus and Veritas, and even herself. They noticed the temperature had abnorammly risen, and their anxiety of Tetrax had prevented them from noticing till now. The effects of dehydration kicked in, and they all felt stunned.

"We must get out of this forest, immediately." said Veritas.

With no hesitation, they ran at full speed towards the town. The fynbos somehow became much more intimidating than before. They cast their shadow over the three as if they were trying to drown them with darkness. The hunters could feel their heart beat violently and their breath get shorter and shorter. Their eyes got all blurry, and strength was sapped from their bodies. First to fall was Aria, then came Veritas's turn, and Hiatus was the last to succumb to Vuur.