Severo put some fresh wood onto the fire to keep the fire going into the night, and carried the leftovers of the Yan to a place way outside the camp. The smell would attract monsters, and having them too near the camp would be bad.
After he was finished, he went inside his own tent. It was smaller, and discolored slightly with age and use, but was just as warm as the King's. He too slept well, but had odd dreams.


He was at the top of a mountain. Wait; was it a mountain? It was smoking... A Volcano! Severo peered down into it, but saw only darkness. It looked as though he was safe from it, as long as he didn't fall in. It looked like it was not erupting.

So he turned his attention to the sky. Three dragons were circling it, a red one, a green one, and a blue one. But the green and blue ones were slowly spiraling toward a mist that covered the ground.

They faded as they descended lower, until Severo was unable to see them at all. Were they still circling down there? Below the mist? He did not know, so he looked back up for the red dragon...

It was gone...

Everything was silent for a long moment. Deathly silent, not even a hiss from the volcano broke it. Then the mist from below began to rise. Or perhaps the volcano was sinking into it. It was impossible to tell.

Time passed, and before he knew it, Severo was surrounded by the mist. Everything was still silent, but now he could barely see anything. Just white everywhere. He tried to speak, but he found he had no voice. Like he was allowed to watch, but not to interrupt.

Then suddenly there was a terrible roar behind him. It shattered the silence like glass and was loud enough to hurt his ears. Almost as if the shards of the silence were cutting them.

He spun around and there was the red dragon, it was speeding toward him, its huge mouth open, and sharp teeth coming right at him! He only had time to raise his arms in a futile attempt to protect himself.

“SEVERO!!” It screeched more than said, just before hitting him.

“Severo!” Drake called again. “Severo, wake up!”

It was... early, to say the least, but Drake had been awake for a while, having sensed something and feeling the need to investigate. A monster he'd never seen up close before, so Drake ran back to camp to wake up Severo.

Severo woke with a start, sitting half upright. Just as the dragon should have hit him, it suddenly got a lot colder, and the impact was suddenly only the small shoves from the boy.

“Lad?” Severo asked, as he began to realize it was only a dream, and sighing a little in relief.

“Sir Severo, I found a Vepal!” Drake exclaimed. “A green one!”

Severo licked his lips and cleared his throat while sitting up. “A Vepal? You sure?” He asked; his voice a little hoarse.

Drake nodded. “I'm positive, now hurry!” He jumped up and took off back out of the tent and followed his own path back to where he'd seen the monsters.

“WAIT!” Severo called. He could be a bit reckless at times, but not reckless enough to let a child run into a group of monsters. Luckily, he slept in his clothes, and only had to grab his bow and quiver on the way out of the tent.

Ellipsis was woken up by Severo's yell. He knew almost immediately that it must be Drake. Who else would it be? So he forced himself up and out the tent as quickly as he could.

Chaucer… slept through it all. It was 5am. Not even Hades coming to Gaia to collect souls would wake him up.


Drake kept running, having already memorized the way. He went around the forest, through a narrow pass, over to some boulders and there they were.
Just over the rocks. The green Vepal had been joined by a heard of four red ones. They soared above the frozen lake like a bird would fly over the trees.
Drake stopped, perched on one of the rocks and carefully peering over the stack of boulders at the monsters gliding over the pond.

Severo followed the boy as much by scent as anything. He didn't seem to have considered that people wouldn't be able to follow if he went out of sight, eventually arriving at the rock where the boy was perched.

Ellipsis followed after Severo, only just managing to keep him in sight most of the time. He arrived, slightly breathless, but trying to hide it, a few seconds after Severo. He was about to break character and shout at Drake when he noticed the monsters.

“See? I told you. Vepals.” Drake whispered, making sure he didn't frighten the monsters.
He was, secretly, proud of himself for finding them. Proud enough that he didn't care about the rules he'd broken by leaving camp the first time without telling anyone, and then running ahead this time.
Besides... Eclipse wasn't here, thus Drake figured he could not be punished.

Ellipsis was very upset, almost as much as he was about the cave incident the previous day. He fully intended to make sure the boy was punished for this. Frankly, he was surprised that Eclipse had not got him to be more obedient yet... but he would... That thought was what let his anger diminish. A boy this independent and disobedient would not be what Eclipse wanted... and Eclipse always got what he wanted. One way or another, he'd get Drake to obey him.

Severo on the other hand was rather excited. You rarely ever saw this kind of display. Usually Vepals attacked faster than you got a chance to see them. In fact, Drake was probably lucky they didn't see him first. He probably wouldn't have been alive to wake him from that horrible dream...

He shook his head; He didn't really have time to worry about that now.

“They were closer before,” Drake stated. “I heard them in the forest, and when I got here they were right by the rocks. They seem to be staying over the lake, though...”

“An interesting find,” Severo complimented. “Especially considering how rare the red ones are this time of year!”

Ellipsis found it hard to believe that the wolf wasn't mad at the boy. Or at least lecturing him on safety. He suspected Eclipse would have personally disemboweled the boy for doing it, and then disemboweled Ellipsis himself for allowing the boy to do it, and that's if they were lucky.

Drake watched the monsters. They hovered over the lake, occasionally snapping at one another.
“That green one on the far right is the weakest.” he observed, “It backs away when the others get close.”

“And keen observation too... have you done this before?” Severo asked, sounding rather impressed. Ellipsis just rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe that he was encouraging the boy! Were all the King's minions and friends complete morons? Besides, hunting was... pointless! Drake did not need to get interested in such a thing-- it would be yet another thing that Eclipse would disprove of.

“No... Never really been out of Daguerreo, except once. But, I got ill and ruined that trip before I even got off the boat. This is the first time I've been out of the palace in about a year, and I've never gone camping or hunting.” Drake stated, honestly.

The Vepals continued their miniature battles a moment before the weak green one turned and sped off.

Severo had a strange feeling when the boy said he had gotten ill on that trip. What was that sensation? Never mind, he had just seen the weakling speed off.

“You seem to have a talent for this,” he whispered to the boy and then leaned in closer. “Would you like to make your first kill?”

Ellipsis got a little nervous when Drake was mentioning the time they had taken him to the Occultations Island. He saw something in Severo's eyes... but luckily, it disappeared quickly. He had something new to worry about just as quickly, though. What is he doing?! What was he talking about? Going after that weaker Vepal!? He can't be serious!

Drake looked at Severo like he was crazy for a minute.
Then he grinned which was more than enough of an answer.

“Come on!” He said in a loud whisper and headed off back down the rocks.
Then over the next quarter of an hour or so, led them around to the part of the woods where the Vepal had headed. It was too dangerous to head directly there, because of the others.

Ellipsis struggled to keep up and fumed the entire way. Eventually, Severo caught sight of the green Vepal and pulled Drake behind some bushes, and then Ellipsis too when it was obvious he wasn't planning to get behind the bushes.

“There it is...” Severo whispered.

Drake already had it pinned with his sharp red eyes.
Fire... Green Vepals were weak against fire, very weak! And wind, which could explain why they hid during this season.
Drake saw it in his mind. Fire would take out the Velpal even faster than it had the Mu. As he envisioned this, his eyes flickered like an open flame, burning out of control.

He wanted to attack. Drake had never liked things being hurt, but right now, he wanted to kill that Vepal. It existed as if for him, as if Drake's sole purpose were to chase, hunt and kill anything he sought after.
Drake had a number of bows, guns, whips… all at home, all for ‘practice’ all for show and none for use.
But this… feeling, now, wouldn’t leave. Drake slowly crept forward, not making even a hint of a sound. The leaves of the bushes seemed to part for him, and his mind told him exactly where to move—where to place his hand, his leg and he crawled, when to get lower to the ground, his senses told him when it was okay to peek up and when not to. The entire time he stayed in the shadows. The Vepal had turned and looked in his direction several times.

Drake crouched low, balancing on one hand and the tips of his boots. He brought his right hand to him, feeling his own power course through his arm, then he shot his arm out toward the creature, and though it was looking right at him, it never saw the fireball coming until it was too late.

Severo had suspected that the King underestimated his son's powers, and this had proved him right. He had been a little concerned when he had lost control at dinner the previous night, but being able to take out a Vepal in one hit was no small accomplishment! Escpecially at his age!

He vacated his hiding spot confidently now there was no threat. True, Drake had made the mistake of approaching the Vepal from upwind, and he doubted that the prince had learned they had a very poor sense of smell... but that was not important! For a beginner, he showed true skill. Even Severo himself had not done that well on his first hunt. He ran to the boy and slapped him on the back hard.

“Excellent!” He cried, and then looked down to examine the Vepal.

Drake smiled and got up, following Severo over to the fallen Vepal.

“It's dead,” Severo announced redundantly when he reached the dead Vepal. It really was dead too, in fact, it was half cooked. Though unless you liked a cross between chicken and fish, Vepal was not very palatable.

“Well that's good, seeing as that was the purpose, hm?” Drake grinned again. “The scales sell for a fortune in Treno, I've heard.”

“They sell pretty well anywhere,” Severo informed with a smile. “Bit of a trek to get all the way to the mist continent, though.” Just then, Ellipsis walked calmly over to join them, but offered no input.

“So, how did you like it?” Severo asked the young prince, with a wide, enthusiastic grin.

“I like it.” Drake grinned, still feeling the rush from the kill. “I really like it!”

“Good!” Severo nearly shouted. “But perhaps we should get back to the camp before your father wonders where you are?” He added. It was not really a question he expected an answer to, even Severo had some responsibility. Ellipsis was relieved. He hoped he could get just a little more sleep...

“Somehow, I doubt my father will be awake... or care.” Drake shrugged, but he turned and obediently headed back for camp, having remembered the entire trip there and following the footsteps in the snow.

“Oh, I know Chaucer. He won't be up before eight, for sure.” Severo told the two others, “But we have to head back now if I'm going to show you how to get these scales off before breakfast.” he said to Drake, and pointed to the dead and half cooked Vepal which he was dragging behind him.

Ellipsis couldn't care less. All he cared about was getting back to camp, and not have anything to do with that foul-smelling dead monster.

Drake snickered about that, though he did not notice just how annoyed Ellipsis looked.


Upon arriving at the camp, Chaucer was, interestingly enough, awake.

Oh, great... Ellipsis thought as they walked back into the camp.

If Severo was worried about the King being angry, he didn't show it.

Chaucer yawned. “You all missed it; a silver dragon nearly crashed into this place. Turned back and headed to Mt. Gulug. It was quit odd...”

“A silver dragon?” Severo asked, interested. They were very, very rare; in fact, he had only ever seen one or two of them, and as far as he knew, they did not typically reside in Mount Gulug. Perhaps after this trip he would go to investigate.

Ellipsis was intrigued too. He had, of course, heard of silver dragons, but he had only ever seen one. He turned to look toward Mount Gulug, but, saw nothing.

“Yes, it was an odd occurrence...” Chaucer shrugged it off, “Where did the three of you run off to so early?”

Ellipsis was about to say that Drake had run off, put himself in danger, used his powers without the proper permission... almost gotten killed. Maybe he could convince the King to keep the boy in his tent for the rest of the trip!

But Severo beat him to it.

“This bugger got pretty close to the camp and woke us all up. We decided to go after it since we were already awake.” Severo said with a grin, and dropped the Vepal's tail. “We didn't want to wake you.”

Drake was aware that the answer was a lie... but he wasn't going to correct it, so he just nodded, looking at Severo a moment, then back at Chaucer.

“Oh,” Chaucer looked at the burn marks. “... It run into the bait fire, too?”

Severo glanced down at it. There wasn't really any other explanation, so he had to go with the truth. “Actually, I thought this would make an excellent specimen for your son's first kill.” He answered, with a wide enthusiastic grin then slapped Drake on the back again. “He got it good! You should be proud!”

Any amusement that was in Chaucer's face faded completely as he looked at the dead Vepal. His mind flashed the images Eclipse had secretly given him before they had even left on this trip. If Drake could do this to a monster, what would stop him from doing it to a human? Drake's power had slipped once on this trip and he'd used it three other times without Eclipse seeming to do anything to control him.
That worried Chaucer.
“Oh...” Chaucer suddenly found himself very busy with things around camp, they were leaving tomorrow morning, anyway.

Chaucer made breakfast; he took a few strolls... the day was not nearly as eventful as the last. Severo showed Drake some hunting techniques and how to de-scale the Vepal. Ellipsis stayed only close enough to be sure he could hear what was being said... Eclipse would be mad if he didn't. Overall, it was just another cold day.

And as the sun was going down and people were preparing for bed, Chaucer remembered something important. “Oh, Drake!”

Drake looked over at him.

“Happy Birthday,” Chaucer gave a half smile.

Drake glared at him a bit. “... Thank you.”

Chaucer nodded and went into his tent.

Ellipsis said absolutely nothing and went into his own tent. He was very fatigued; he was not used to so much walking, and he'd never had the chance to get any more sleep. Drake and the king had been nothing but annoying all day. Severo was the only bearable one, and even he was annoying in his own way. 'Think we should head back?' someone would ask. To which the wolf man would reply; 'No, no, no, I think I smell something this way.' or 'You want to give up the trail now?!'

He just needed sleep now, and was so relieved once he was inside the semi-warm tent, and could wrap himself in the comfortable blankets, that he was asleep almost instantly. Despite the throbbing pain in his back, and the feeling that his legs would fall off.

Severo was gnawing at the bones of a creature they had killed that was no longer recognizable. It had been a rather long day. Whenever someone had suggested heading back to the camp, he had seen how disappointed Drake looked, so he had kept it going as long as possible. He'd had no idea that it was the boy's birthday though, and an idea began to form in his mind.

Drake lay in his tent wide-awake. He liked the hunting part, loved it. No rules, just the primal desire to stalk.
It just felt... right, to him.
He had the Vepal scales in a small bag in his larger one... he wondered what other rare tings could be collected—what mysterious treasures did the monsters outside Daguerreo hold?
Most of the weapons of the world were designed for fake battles, hardly anything was meant to actually kill.
When the knights of Daguerreo went out to rid the kingdom of the monsters who had come too close, who were a danger to everyone, their finishing blows simply teleported the beast to a different location. What did that solve? The monster would come back and the process would repeat itself.
If there was a more permanent option, why not take it? The monsters they worried about were not the sacred dragons, though they had to be fought often to keep them from harming people directly around the castle. He could understand not wanting to kill them, but the others? Why not?

Drake sighed as his thoughts continued. They were going home tomorrow. They had accomplished… what? One dead Green Vepal, which gave a bag of scales and more bait.

Severo sat up for a while. Gnawing on the bones, waiting until he was sure the King and Ellipsis were asleep. Eventually he heard the king's snores, and was sure Eclipse was asleep by now. That man had looked half dead before he even had dinner.

Then it was time. He set his plate down quietly, and then moved quietly over to Drake's tent. “Lad?” He asked a little above a whisper, his head near the opening and not going inside, just to be polite.

Drake looked, and then crawled over to the tent flap, opening it quickly.
“Severo?” He whispered. “What is it?”

Severo grinned, wide enough that the moonlight glinted off his huge sharp teeth and he leaned in a little closer.

“How do you feel about a bit of night hunting? A little birthday present from me?” The wolf man asked, but quietly. So as not to wake the ever-watchful Eclipse.

Drake smiled a wide, excited smile and nodded, getting up.

Severo prepared by walking back over to his tent, and picking up his bow, quiver, and an unlit torch, just in case. Then he proceeded to the edge of the camp and gave Drake hand signals to follow. He would stay quiet till he was sure they were out of earshot.

Actually, that was a lie. He would stay quiet nearly the whole time. This was night hunting, after all. But he would at least chance a whisper or two once they were safely away.

Drake ran over, as soundless as a shadow. The further into darkness they went, the more his eyes adapted till they seemed to glow a demonic red.
He didn't notice it-- never had. Sure, he'd seen that they got brighter at times, but if this was anything but a normal occurrence he wasn't sure.

As of yet, Severo hadn't noticed. He was leading the way, letting his eyes, nose, and ears guide him, looking for any sign of prey...

Drake heard... something. A whooshing, like from the Vepals, but a thicker sound.
“I hear something,” He whispered, “Up ahead.”

“Me too...” Severo whispered lightly. Moving even lower, and quieter, Severo approached until he caught sight of the creature. It was a Feather Circle, it glowed slightly with it's own body's luminescence, and looked like a shark or stingray with feathered wings and tail. It was hovering over a small pond that was little more than a puddle, but was currently frozen over.

Circling around, he managed to find a vantage point from behind a slight hill.

Drake stopped next to Severo. He looked the Feather circle over. It was larger than most... and wasn't weak to fire.

“Do you want to take it?” Severo whispered to Drake. He wasn't sure if the Feather circle actually had very good hearing, but he didn't want to take his chances.

“I can't.” Drake replied, sadly. “I'm getting away with using my fire, but my other powers wouldn't help here either. And my weapons are all at home.”

Severo smiled as if he had been expecting this, took his bow off his shoulder and offered it out to Drake. “You may use mine. Do you know what Feather Circles are weak against?” He asked in as quiet a whisper as ever.

Drake was surprised by this. He grinned, taking the bow. “Lightning and wind,” he replied.

Severo lowered the quiver to the ground and pulled out two of the arrows. One, the lightning arrow seemed to be arcs of electricity contained by some invisible barrier. It sparked, and the arcs crawled around inside, as if someone had cast Thundaga in there. It was soundless, and the very tip of the arrow seemed to be the source of the arcs, so that it always looked sharp and pointed. The shaft was the same as the shadow arrow, but the flights were dark blue.

The other, the wind arrow, seemed to be a misty substance, like a thick cloud, somehow molded into the shape of an arrowhead. It swirled, and some parts even spiraled like miniature storms inside the arrowhead. The shaft of this arrow was again the same, but the flights were gold, and almost looked like Chocobo feathers, small ones.

He offered them out to Drake. “Which element will you use?” He asked. Either would do, there was no difference in how they would shoot. There was no difference in the damage they would do. They would both kill. This was just to offer the boy an interesting choice.

Or perhaps, it was a question that would give Severo some answer... To a question that he had not shared...

Drake picked the electric arrow. “Thunder,” he said.

Severo gave a slight nod, staring at the boy a moment longer than needed, before turning away. His reaction was unclear. If he had been expecting an answer, it was impossible to tell if he had received it. He slid the wind arrow back into the quiver.

“Alright, take careful aim. Try and hit near its… uh... 'head'.” He whispered the last piece of advice, before leaving the rest up to Drake.

Drake hooked the nock of the bow into the string. He took hold of the grip with his left arm and pulled the string back till his right fingertips were parallel to his lips. He aimed for the beast's mouth, taking Severo's advice, and let go of the string.
The arrow took off before Drake had even fully let go, he was shocked at the speed. It zapped through the air as fast as light and stuck it's target before the bow had even unbent from the pull.

Severo laughed when he saw the arrow hit. The monster had not even fully gone down yet, but he knew it was as good as dead. He smacked Drake on the back again. “Bit of a shock, aren't they?” He asked. His voice louder now. They were far from the camp, and anything in the area would have known they were there by now anyway.

The Feather Circle swayed a little, then crash landed into a bank of snow at the edge of the pond.

Drake jumped up, excited about the kill. “Wow! That arrow... WOW!!” He cheered. “That was so cool!”

Severo climbed to his feet more slowly. “That was a nice shot, lad.” He complimented, and started down the hill toward the fallen Feather Circle.

Drake ran down, sliding on the ice and sliding to a far from graceful stop by the dead feather circle, the ice crunching slightly.
He pulled the arrow out, carefully not to break it.

The arrow looked much as it had before it was fired, but like the shadow arrow, the only sign of blood was on the shaft. Strange blue blood, in this case. Severo took it, and wiped off the blood on a cloth, before putting it back in his quiver.

“Feather Circles have these interesting teeth that you might want to take, and these feathers they have glow for almost a year...” Severo told the Prince.

Drake grinned, “Alright.” His own glowing eyes glowed brighter with his excitement. Remembering how the Vepal was de-scaled, Drake carefully removed the feathers from the feather circle, though he wasn't sure how to get the teeth.

Severo was strong, but even he wasn't strong enough to tear out the teeth with his bare hands. “We'll need to take it back to the camp and use the tools there to get the teeth,” he explained to Drake.

Drake nodded. “Okay,” He smiled yet again and turned back toward the camp just as dawn was breaking.

The wolf man put the Feather Circle over his shoulder, and held it by the tail as it if was a sack. It had strange and kind of slippery skin, so it was harder to carry around than the Yan or the Vepal. Perhaps the only benefit was that it was still glowing, and lit up their path the slightest bit.

Drake led the way, mostly. He could see in the dark fairly well, “Thank you for taking me hunting.”

“That's quite alright, Lad.” Severo replied, “It's a pleasure to go with someone who really enjoys it; unlike your father. He just likes to relax.”

“Yeah... I don't know why he even planned this trip,” Drake said as they approached the camp.

In the distance, you could make out a boat sailing their way.

Ellipsis was waking up as the boat got closer. There were noises outside his tent. So he got up to investigate. Ellipsis narrowed his eyes until they adjusted to the glare of the snow. Then he noticed the bright blue thing that Severo was pulling the teeth out of...rather gruesomely, in fact.

He had not seen the ship yet. “Where did you get that?” He asked both Drake and Severo.

Chaucer woke up and yawned as he walked out of his tent.

Drake looked at Ellipsis... unable to come up with an answer that wouldn't get him into trouble.

“Oh, this? I went out to do a little night hunting, alone.” Severo answered, confidently, not taking his eyes off the mouth of the dead monster that was receiving very unprofessional dental work.

Ellipsis looked dubious, but did not say anything. He couldn't really call the man a liar. Drake was also unharmed, and not wandering off, so there was no reason to make a scene. So he turned around...

That's when he saw it. The ship.

Like a huge cooked meal being slowly delivered to a starving man, Ellipsis felt almost overwhelmed with happiness. He barely managed to stop a smile coming to his face.

The ship docked and the crew immediately went and took down the camp.
“Ready to leave as soon as you wish, Your Highness.” The captain said, giving a slight bow before returning to the ship.
Chaucer nodded and turned to Severo. “Thank you yet again, Severo. Perhaps you'll come visit the castle some time?”

Drake noticed Ellipsis smile and snickered to himself.

Severo finished filling a little pouch with the teeth, and offered it out to Drake.

“Perhaps,” he said to the King. Chaucer offered the chance to visit the palace every time they went hunting, but he had never gone yet. Severo felt as uncomfortable there, as that Eclipse guy did hunting. He doubted he would go.

“Farewell, all of you. Have a safe trip,” Severo offered his farewell.

Though Ellipsis didn't acknowledge it, he just boarded the ship. Inside, he was trying to not run, he was so enthusiastic, but on the outside, he looked calm, and made his way casually up the ramp.

Drake looked back at Severo. “You're not going to come visit, are you?” He asked, though he knew the answer.
“Thanks for showing me how to hunt, I enjoyed it!” He grinned.

“Drake!” Chaucer called. “Come on, we have to go!”

With a sigh and a slight bow, Drake turned and ran to board the ship.

“You're welcome, young prince!” Severo called after him. He never did answer Drake's first question. There really was no need, and while the ship prepared to leave, Severo began to take down his own tent. He had a long hike up to Mount Gulug ahead. He had plenty to think about on the way...
Chaucer had been so excited when he had found out he was going to be a father... even when he'd told Severo about the strange power his readings had sensed, he had still been happy to know he had a child coming... once the child was born, Severo expected to meet him a lot sooner, but Chaucer always came alone on the few times he did come... When he spoke of the Prince, he never said much.
Seeing how he treated his son confused Severo. What were they so afraid of?... and what was that strange dream about?