THWACK!!

“The hell…?”

Twenty-year-old Reima Steiner was startled into consciousness by a sharp pain slashing across her face. Jolting upright, she looked around wildly and saw a terrifyingly huge individual standing at her bedside. He held a small army green jacket, which he was twirling around in the air lightly with a simple flick of his wrist as he glared down at Reima with snapping black eyes.

“Elias…?” she groaned sleepily while rubbing her stinging cheek.

The brutish looking man grunted and tossed the jacket onto the bed. “’Bout time,” he growled. “Thought you’d died or something.”

Reima looked back at the jacket, her eyes landing on the small metallic zipper. “Did you just hit me with that?” she asked. “The damn zipper could’ve taken my eye out!”

Elias just shrugged. “You sleep hard. I had to improvise,” he said bluntly.

“How did you even get in here anyway?” Reima asked him. The room they were in was lined with several small beds, all of which were empty except for hers.

“Nova,” he said, pulling a key out from his pocket. “You slept through the reveille this morning and the others left without you. If you hurry you might be able to snag something to eat before the mission.”

Hearing this, Reima shot out of bed and stripped down to her underwear while scrambling around to find her clothes. She paid no mind to Elias, who appeared to be completely unfazed by the half naked woman in front of him.

“Why the hell didn’t they wake me?” Reima muttered angrily. “What ever happened to that whole ‘never leave a man behind’ crap?”

“Your comrades aren’t responsible for your horrible sleeping habits,” Elias told her as he continued to stare at the wall with a blank expression. “That’s on you.”

Reima’s pale grey eyes scanned the floor for her jacket as she pulled her long dirty-blonde hair back in a ponytail. “Yeah, yeah… Where the fuck is my—?”

Her words were cut short as the jacket made contact with her face once again, having been thrown at her by Elias.

“Right… Come on, let’s get going!” she said, darting out the door with Elias trailing behind her.

The two of them exited the women’s dorm and made their way through the barracks to where the dining facility was located across the courtyard, combat boots crunching on the dirt floor with each step they took.

“So… today’s the big day, huh?” Reima said, turning to look back at Elias. “Our first assignment as members of the Vanguard! After three years of training, we finally get to see the world GG used to tell us about! I’m stoked!” she said excitedly.

“I hope you at least took the time to pack properly,” Elias said, his expression as unchanging as ever. “We don’t know what we might run into out there. I want you to stick close to me and make sure to pay attention to your surroundings.”

Reima frowned at him. “Yeah, alright, Mom...” she said sarcastically. “Way to be a buzz kill… I’m not some damsel in distress, you know. I can fight and defend myself as well as anyone else here! Besides…” she slowed her pace to walk alongside him. “You have to keep to your end of the promise.”

Elias said nothing, but met Reima’s gaze with a look of understanding as they entered the dining hall. Most of the tables scattered around the room were vacant, but Reima’s attention was drawn to a group of people seated near the door.

“Uh, Jinnai? I don’t think it’s really fair that you got three of those…” a brown-haired man with deep blue eyes was saying as he slowly reached his hand toward the plate of food set before a rather gaunt looking young woman with long black hair who was seated across from him.

“Piss off, Rylo,” she snapped, pulling her plate closer to her as she glared at him with sharp green eyes. “Your horse has enough deadweight to carry as it is.”

Seeing the look in her eyes, Rylo pulled his hand back quickly. “Fine, have all of it!” he snorted. “Get as fat as Elias for all I care!”

Jinnai raised a brow at him just as a knife came plunging down from behind and pierced the table just inches away from Rylo’s hand. He whipped around in shock only to see Elias bearing down on him threateningly.

“Aha…! Elias!” he laughed nervously. “Um… I see you managed to wake Reima up! That takes a lot of talent! Seriously, it takes a true badass to manage such a difficult task!”

Elias continued to glare angrily until Reima placed a hand on his shoulder. “Easy now, tough guy,” she chuckled. “It’s not nice to stab people at the table.”

Elias grunted and pulled the knife out of the wood before sitting down at the end of the table. Reima took a seat between him and Anthony – a friendly-faced brown haired fellow who offered her a welcoming smile upon their arrival to the dining hall.

“Good morning, Reima!” he said cheerfully. “Happy to see you’re still with us!”

Reima smirked and raised a brow at his enthusiasm. She had known Anthony to be polite and sociable, but he appeared to be in an especially good mood today.

“What’s got you all smiley?” she asked.

“He got assigned the role of captain for today’s mission,” a female voice said from across the table. Anthony turned towards her with a slightly disappointed look on his face.

“Come on, Nova, why’d you have to go and steal my thunder like that?” he asked half-jokingly. Nova just stared at him like he’d grown a second head.

“I don’t understand that reference,” she said flatly, earning a small chuckle from Reima.

Nova Altaire was a tall and elegant looking young woman with long black hair and sharp onyx colored eyes. She was among the most intelligent and well-mannered members of the small team of Vanguard recruits seated at the table, but she was also one of the most socially inept people Reima had ever met.

“A piss poor choice if you ask me,” a handsome man seated further down the table grumbled. He was tall and had a long face with pronounced cheekbones and a permanent scowl. His hair was styled in an undercut with black roots and locks streaked with silver. His narrow amber eyes glared angrily at a spot on the table as he spoke.

Jinnai smirked and glanced toward him. “Oh? You think you’d be any better, Bacheo?” she challenged.

Bacheo shrugged, apparently oblivious to the sarcasm in her voice. “Probably, yeah…” he said confidently. “Seeing as I’m the fastest person here and am better with weapons than any of you shitheads,” he told them.

“Such vulgar language!” Nova exclaimed.

“Well, even if that’s true, it isn’t up to us,” Anthony said, standing up and pushing his chair in. “It’ll look bad if we’re not on time to begin our first mission. We should get going.”

Rylo chuckled. “Good point! Sarge will eat our ass out if we’re late!” he agreed.

“Language!”

“Hey… Don’t I get to eat anything?” Reima asked, her stomach growling. To her dismay, the group had already begun to file out of the dining hall. Reluctantly, she followed after them.

Entering the stables, Reima was immediately greeted by the smell of grain and leather as the young soldiers began tacking their horses. She noticed one boy struggling to lift a saddle onto the back of a small black and white paint mare and felt a pang of worry in her heart. The boy was called Mel, and he was Reima’s weak muscled younger brother who had insisted on joining the ranks alongside his sister despite his physical limitations.

As Reima started in his direction to help, Elias approached Mel and easily picked up the saddle as if it were a mere feather before fastening it to the horse. His eyes met Reima’s and he gave a single nod, which she returned with a pained but grateful smile before turning her attention to her brother.

“Mel, are you sure about this?” she asked gently.

“Of course I am!” he replied. “I’ve told you before, I’m not going to sit around at home while you and Eli get to have all the fun!”

Reima flinched slightly. “This isn’t about having fun, it’s about taking back our future… but you never seemed interested in that. What is it that you find so appealing about becoming a soldier?”

Mel turned and stared at his sister with excited blue eyes and said, without missing a beat, “I get to see death!”

Reima sighed as several heads turned to stare in their direction. Mel had always been a little… off. Sure, he was intelligent for his age, so much so that he was able to make it into the Vanguard on wits alone, but he never tried to hide what he truly was inside… and that was a complete and utter lunatic. Perhaps that was another reason why he had been accepted into the ranks. After all, what sane person would willingly venture beyond the protective walls that shielded them from the unexplained?

After saddling their horses and gathering their gear, Reima’s group headed towards the East Gate, one of eight portals that lead to the outside world. The recruits lined up before an older, scarred Vanguard soldier who stood waiting for them. His eyes scanned the group in front of him with a thoughtful look on his face.

In total, there were eleven soldiers in Reima’s group. Most of them were either nineteen or twenty, with the oldest of them being the twenty-two-year-old Elias. The youngest was Jonah, a fifteen-year-old who was blind in one eye. All of them had graduated from basic training less than one month ago and were still getting to know each other. The scarred soldier cleared his throat before addressing the young soldiers before him.

“You all are about to begin the expedition to Uramao territory,” he began. “You are to head south along the wall until you reach Sica’s Pass. This route will lead you right to Uramao territory, but it will take time to get there. Three days, to be specific. However, this is the safest route there is. Do not attempt to cross through the forest. This mission isn’t about taking the ghouls on directly, and you should do whatever you can to avoid coming into contact with them. An advanced unit has already been sent out to lure away any ghouls that might be in your path.”

Reima heard a quiet scoff from beside her and noticed Bacheo curl his lip in an irritated scowl. Though she had only known the amber-eyed soldier for a few weeks, it didn’t take long for her to realize his attitude was going to be a problem. Reima just hoped that his aggressive tendencies didn’t cause trouble for the group during their endeavors. The scarred soldier – whom Rylo had playfully referred to as Sarge earlier – seemed to notice Bacheo’s reaction and glared at him before continuing.

“Your objective isn’t to fight,” he explained. “As you already know, the Uramao Guild was wiped out almost two years ago, which means that land rich with precious limestone now belongs to the ghouls. High Command has constructed a plan to retake that territory, but in order for this to succeed, we need to know the layout of the inner territory. Your job is to scout the area and see what you can find. Return with as much information as you can, and a claiming expedition could be on the horizon. The mere possibility of expanding our land is finally within reach, but we must go about doing so with extreme caution. Work together as a team and return alive in order to share the glory of taking back humanity’s future. The entirety of Gederah is counting on you.” With those parting words, the giant portcullis was pulled upward and the Vanguard recruit squad charged forward.

The plains that lay ahead of them were vast and covered in soft green grass sprinkled with dandelions. Less than a mile ahead was a hill just tall enough to cut off their view of the following landscape, but Reima could still see the tops of the mountains peaking over its crest. It was that mountain where Uramao territory was said to be. Still, they stuck close to the wall and ventured south, just as Sarge had told them to do.

Three days, huh? Reima thought, looking out at the mountains. It’d probably be quicker to just head straight for the hills, but I’m sure there’s a good reason for the detour.

They had been moving along at an easy canter when Bacheo suddenly broke formation and made a beeline for the mountains. Apparently, he’d been thinking the same thing as Reima, but ultimately decided Sarge’s warning wasn’t worth his time. “Bacheo!” Reima quickly darted after him and reached out to grab his jacket before he could advance any further. He spun around in his saddle with blazing eyes and his lip curled up in a furious snarl.

“What the hell!?” he bellowed angrily as the rest of the group came to a stop at the sudden commotion.

Reima took a deep breath before continuing. Though she didn’t disagree with what he wanted to do, it annoyed her that he would just ignore his superior’s advice and take matters into his own hands. “Quit causing problems,” she told him. “We need to stick to the plan.”

To her surprise, Bacheo was silent. He turned his horse around and came to a halt right beside Reima while facing the opposite direction. Without a word, he leaned down as if to adjust his stirrup. Reima watched the movement with a look of confusion, and was caught off guard when he grabbed her by the ankle and flung her over the side of her own mount.

Reima heard a few of the others bust into laughter as she hit the ground and looked up to see Bacheo’s snarling face glaring down at her. “Do NOT fucking touch my clothes!” he roared.

“That’s enough, Bacheo!” Anthony barked as he pushed his horse between the quarrelling soldiers. “Just what do you think you’re doing, assaulting your teammate like that?”

Though he backed off slightly, Bacheo continued to glare angrily. “We should get this done as quickly as possible,” he said. “Uramao is right ahead of us! Why the hell are we taking the scenic route?”

“You heard what Sarge said,” Anthony said calmly. “There’s a forest in that direction… in other words, more shadows. That means we’d be walking right into a ghoul hookah bar. Does that sound like fun to you?”

Bacheo just blinked at him in utter confusion. “That… doesn’t even make sense,” he growled.

Anthony sighed. “Look, all I’m saying is that we shouldn’t be running off into places that more experienced soldiers tell us to avoid. If you don’t believe Sarge’s words that’s one thing, but those scars on his face don’t lie.”

His words seemed to resonate with Bacheo, who backed off to let Reima remount her horse. As the Vanguard began to reorganize, it soon became apparent they were down one person. It wasn’t until Loca—a tiny, rather androgynous looking woman—spoke up that anyone really noticed.

“Speaking of scars…” she began. “Where’s Jonah?”

The others paused and looked around, baffled. The teenager had definitely been with them a few minutes ago, yet now he was nowhere to be found. Finally, Reima’s eye caught sight of his familiar red hair as he rode off at a gallop towards the mountains.

“Seriously!?” Reima snapped, annoyed. “We’re supposed to travel together!” she shouted after him, but he either didn’t hear or didn’t care, seeing as he made no move to even look back at the group.

“I never liked him anyway,” Bacheo growled.

“Jeez, I know the kid prefers to keep to himself but this is just childish,” Rylo growled.

“He’s from Central, isn’t he? An Elite? I’ve heard they’re all like that,” Jinnai said.

“He’s a potential Elite…” Anthony corrected her. “He has to prove himself as a regular soldier before he can ascend to that kind of status. That’s probably what he’s trying to do by going off on his own, but he isn’t thinking this through at all. Come on, we have to catch up to him,” Anthony said. “Elite, soldier… whatever you want to call him, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s still just a kid. It’s dangerous for him to be going solo.”

With Anthony in the lead, the group set off after Jonah at a canter. It had only been a few minutes, but Jonah had managed to put a considerable amount of distance between himself and the group in just that short amount of time, but Anthony knew how risky it was to set off at a gallop after him. If they wore out their horses in ghoul territory, it would be over.

The sun was starting to set behind them by the time they reached the edge of the forest, and the soldiers paused at the top of the hill to gaze out at the scenery before them. At the bottom of the hill was a thick forest spanning over several miles. While there was still about an hour of daylight left, the forest was shrouded in an ominous darkness due to the thickness of the trees.

“C’mon, we should keep moving,” said Anthony. He coaxed his horse forward and the rest of the squad followed in a tense silence.

“This place is beautiful,” said Izo, a soft-spoken recruit with an unusually gentle personality. He had dark hair and a lean build with long bangs that covered half his face, leaving just one brilliant sea green eye exposed as he looked around him in amazement.

“Izo…” It was Nova who spoke up. “You do realize that a forest means inevitable death, right?” she asked. The look of bewilderment on Izo’s face quickly changed to one of concern as he turned his attention to her.

Reima couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed with Nova’s pessimism. Izo was always someone who managed to see the beauty in everything around him, no matter the circumstances. It was a rare trait that Reima thought the world needed more of. “We can always start a fire if it gets too dark,” she pointed out. “That should be enough to keep the ghouls at bay, right?”

Nova stepped up to ride alongside Reima. Her brow was scrunched up as if she were contemplating something. “You know, I’ve never understood that logic,” she admitted. “If their weakness is something as simple as light, how did they end up so powerful?” she asked.

“They’re ghouls, Nova,” Reima said dryly. “Literally nothing about them makes any sense. That’s why we’re out here.”

The group paused upon reaching the edge of the forest. The trees towered over them and cast an ominous shadow that only darkened as the path led into the woods. Even if there was still an hour or so of daylight left, the forest appeared to be entirely deprived of light, and the branches on the trees seemed to claw at the sky as the squad gazed up at them.

“D-Do we really have to go through here?” Izo asked nervously, all traces of awe now gone from his face.

“We’ve been on the move all day,” Jinnai agreed. “Maybe it would be better for us to set up camp and continue when the sun is high?” she suggested.

“We don’t have a choice, Jinnai…” Anthony said as firmly as he could, though Reima could tell he was just as nervous as the rest of them.

The darkness continued to envelope around them as they trekked through the forest. Tensions rose with each step and Izo edged closer and closer to Reima until their horses were brushing shoulders. She noticed his breathing was ragged and she could swear she heard his heart pounding against his chest.

“Izo…” Reima said softly, making him jump. “Do you really want to be a Vanguard soldier?” she asked.

Izo seemed to catch on to what Reima was implying and averted his gaze awkwardly. “I, uh—” His answer was cut short by a shrill whinny from one of the horses behind him.

“HELP!” someone cried, and Reima’s blood froze when she recognized the voice. It was Mel.

No…

She spun her horse around and raced towards the back of the group where the scrawny blonde boy had been thrown from his horse, who was now down on the ground and struggling to break free from a bony black hand that had wrapped around her leg.

Suddenly, Elias leapt from his saddle and charged toward the chaos, ax in hand. There was no hesitation as he brought the weapon down on the long bony arm, dismembering it from its owner in one swift motion. There was a screech of pain from the ghoul and what little remained of the arm recoiled back into the shadows as Reima helped the fallen soldier to his feet.

“You ok, Mel?” she asked him.

“Ah… no?” came the shaky reply.

“He’s fine,” Elias said, coming over to where they were crouched on the ground. “Xyozara here might be a different story, though.” He gestured with the ax – which was now dripping a thick purple goop from its blade – to the small paint mare lying on the ground. Her cannon bone had been snapped clean in half, and the dismembered ghoul hand still clung on to her fetlock joint as if it was still trying to drag her into the shadows.

“Was that one of them?” Rylo asked. “A ghoul, I mean?”

Jinnai raised a brow at him. “A tiny screeching shadow beast capable of bringing down a horse and leaves a trail of purple goop instead of blood?” she asked sarcastically. “Yeah, I’m guessing that was a ghoul…”

“This is exactly why brats like this shouldn’t be allowed in the Vanguard!” Bacheo snarled, glaring down at Mel from his horse’s back. “First Scarface runs off… and now that good for nothing twig you call a brother nearly got us all killed, Steiner Bitch!”

Reima felt her blood boil at his words. “What was that, you pompous piece of shit!?” she snarled back, getting to her feet, letting go of Mel’s hand as she tried to help him up and causing him to double over backwards in the process.

“Please… don’t start with this again,” Anthony said, stepping between the two for the second time that day. “Everyone’s on edge and we really shouldn’t be moving in this darkness. Let’s set up camp for now and continue moving in the morning.”

Izo gave him a worried look. “What about Jonah?” he asked.

“He’ll have to make do on his own for now…” Anthony said sadly. He turned to face Elias, who was still tending to the injured Xyozara. “Elias, that horse won’t make it back to Gederah with that injury. I’m leaving her to you.”

Elias nodded in understanding and Anthony led the remaining eight recruits towards a small clearing that was just spacious enough for the squad to spend the night. Elias rejoined them a few minutes later, wiping the blood from his ax.

Before long, Nova had managed to get a small fire started. She, Rylo, and Jinnai immediately arranged their sleeping bags as close to the flames as possible and eventually fell into an uneasy slumber. Anthony and Bacheo had taken the first watch as promised. The two of them sat near the edge of the clearing, talking quietly to each other while Elias, Izo, and Mel sat wide awake and stared into the embers.

It was at that moment that Reima noticed Loca had been scurrying back and forth from the campsite to the shadows. Puzzled, Reima followed after her only to nearly trip over a pile of sticks lying on the ground near a large pine tree.

“Careful!” Loca’s voice called from above. Reima glanced up in time to see her hop down from one of the branches.

“What are you doing?” Reima asked.

“I’ve been setting traps!” Loca replied proudly.

“Traps?” Reima echoed with a tilt of her head.

“Yup! We know hardly anything about the ghouls, so I designed some traps to try to catch one to bring home!” She gestured to a snare hidden in the brush that was attached to the tree she had been in. “I figured if we catch one and bring it back, they can do a bunch of experiments on it and maybe find some kind of weakness!”

Loca seemed so proud of her idea that Reima didn’t have it in her to point out why bringing a ghoul inside the walls was a terrible idea. Instead, she let Loca drag her back to the campsite to show off more of her designs.

Bacheo, who had risen from his seat with a grenade in his hand at their sudden return, immediately sat back down again with a frustrated growl.

Anthony chuckled softly from beside him. “Was that really necessary?” he asked, raising a brow.

“I’m doing exactly what you ordered me to,” Bacheo replied.

“I told you to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, not blow up the entire forest!” Anthony teased. “Where did you even get that thing?”

“Hmph…” Bacheo glared out towards the darkness once more.

“You know, if it wasn’t for that temper of yours, you could really make a name for yourself as a captain one of these days,” Anthony said suddenly.

Bacheo narrowed his eyes at his comrade. “What the hell are you talking about?” he asked.

“You act all high and mighty, but I think your heart is in the right place,” Anthony explained. “All you want is for everyone to get home safely. You bash guys like Jonah and Mel for their age, but I think its because you don’t agree with putting such young lives in danger.”

“Nope,” Bacheo said simply. “They’re both completely incompetent. We’re in this mess because of their childish ways,” he grumbled. “Scarface is half blind, and the Steiner kid is like six cows away from having an even remotely stable bone structure. They are too immature for this and always will be!” he snapped.

Though his words were harsh, Anthony could just make out the slight pink tint that had formed on Bacheo’s cheeks and he knew he’d hit the nail on the head.

“Right,” he said, trying not to laugh. “You keep telling yourself that…”

Suddenly, there was a loud snap from somewhere in the darkness ahead of them. Once more, Bacheo stood up, grenade in hand, ready to fight anything that moved, but Anthony put a hand on his shoulder and sighed.

“Stop that,” he ordered. “It might be Jonah. Let me investigate first.”

Bacheo relaxed slightly, but remained standing as Anthony pushed past him and disappeared into the shadows.

A few moments later, an agonized scream rang through the air, and before anyone could react, something flew out from the shadows and over Bacheo’s head. It landed right in the campfire with a sickening crash and the entire squad leapt from their sleeping bags in surprise. Bacheo stood frozen in horror as he realized that the mangled bloody object now being devoured by flames was none other than his squad captain. And it was only moments later when something even more terrifying emerged from the shadows in the wake of the corpse. There, with Anthony’s dismembered arm between a set of sharp, pointed teeth, stood Xyozara. Blood dripped from a gaping wound on her neck and her eyes were white as snow. It looked as though pieces of skin had been peeled from her body to reveal an odd black leathery skin hidden beneath. Her hooves had somehow spit in half and now resembled something more like talons. Bacheo watched as she dropped the bloodied arm and lunged for straight for him.

“Shit!” he cursed, feet frozen to the ground in terror. Just then, a familiar red-haired figure leapt into view and plunged a knife into the apparently undead horse’s right eye. It was Jonah.

The impact was enough to knock Xyozara off balance and she fell to the side with a terrifying screech. She flailed about angrily as Jonah kept his hold on the knife, twisting and stabbing ruthlessly as he clung to her neck. Finally, Xyozara managed to get back on her feet. She reached across her chest in a way that would normally be physically impossible for a horse to do. She took Jonah by surprise as she attacked on his blind side and raked her claws through Jonah’s shoulder all the way down to the elbow, dislodging him from her neck and throwing him to the ground next to Bacheo with a thud.

The sudden appearance of his injured comrade lying at his feet seemed to pull Bacheo from his shell-shocked state. Hauling the now unconscious Jonah over his shoulder, he dashed away from the screeching beast to where the remainder of the squad stood staring at the scene before them in a state of utter confusion.

“Why the hell are you all standing around!?” Bacheo shouted at his panicking comrades. “Get moving!”

The recruits didn’t need to be told twice as they bolted for the woods. Reima, however, stood watching as Bacheo struggled to outrun the raging Xyozara while carrying Jonah’s deadweight. She felt Elias’ large hand grab her arm and pull her back towards the trees. “Snap out of it!” he yelled. “We need to move, now!”

“They won’t make it…” Reima said quietly.

“What?” Elias asked incredulously.

Reima pulled her arm from his grasp and charged straight for Xyozara. She flew past Bacheo, whose eyes followed her for a brief moment before landing on Anthony’s burning corpse once again. The captain’s kind eyes and friendly laugh burned into his mind and he felt his blood boil with rage. It was then that he remembered the grenade still clutched in his hand.

I’ll kill you…

He stopped in his tracks and pulled the string before turning around and launching it in the direction of the snarling, slobbering beast chasing after him.

“DIE, YOU FUCKING REVENANT!!!!!”

The last thing Bacheo saw was Reima crashing into Xyozara’s chest before the grenade exploded and he felt himself being blasted backwards.