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Steps paced over rustled leaves as movement occurred on one of the trails. Two hooded figures were crossing terrain unexplored in years. One of them tugged at the other's cloak and whispered.

"We shouldn't be here… they're probably already wondering where we've run off to!"

"You're such a worry-wart. Why can't you just stay quiet and trust me?"

"I do trust you; it's just that sometimes you can get a little in over your head!"

"C'mon, Xavien, you seriously gotta learn how to relax and go with the flow."

"I can't "relax" when you suddenly sneak off from the school group to check on some random rumor you heard while sneaking around the bar in town."

They turned to him and smiled with a thumbs up, self-assured that everything would be fine.

"I, Terra Farren, solemnly swear that you will get home safely, especially if you don't tell anyone about our little excursion."

He looked at her with disbelief as she spouted those words; Xavien felt he had dragged himself into a situation he couldn't escape if he wanted to return home safely with her. His head dropped, and he sighed before willingly following behind her. The two had snuck off from their group from the Kingdom, which was currently on a school trip to see the Eurus Mountains, but Terra had other plans. As she pulled out a piece of paper to show Xavien, it was a photo of the rumored suspect she had to see.

"Don't you see, there's a chance that something so interesting could be in this village? A mix of a beast we've never seen before and a human could be here! Doesn't that intrigue you at least a little bit?"

She pressed the badly drawn photo in his face as he pushed her hands away from his face.

"Okay, okay! No need to push it in my face! Let's see if there's anything of the sort and return promptly. I don't want to hear the professor's mouth if we're caught…"

Xavien then pulled out a wand and seemed to cast some words before a glow came from his wand, and vines began to sprout, connecting to the odd terrain and creating a way for the two to climb over the rocks that typically blocked the railways. She hopped down happily as he followed closely behind. The trail opened up past the rocks, so the two continued down the path. 

"See, absolutely nothing to worry about! Now, search the area before reaching the village, which should be straight ahead."

"Alright. It'll totally be fine. Right…" he said, spotting something in the near distance. It seemed to be a small cave, with noise from the general area.

"H-hey…Terra?"

"What? Are you wussing out on me again, Xavien?"

"That's not it…I feel something over there by that cave, is all…"

He pointed in the direction with his wand, and she looked. The small cave closed off until she looked at the surroundings. They walked closer to inspect and found tracks of footsteps around.

"Maybe some of the townsfolk still come around here? Wouldn't be too surprising…" he said as inspecting the trees around, though Terra's attention was more attuned to the sound he heard before, from what seemed to be muffled noises within the cave, slowly became more legible.  It sounded as if something or someone was crying.

She inched closer to the cave, leaving Xavien without him noticing. As she peered slowly into the cave, the sniffles became louder as the sound bounced off the cave's cold walls. Whatever was the cause of this noise was residing within this cave. The thought of what or who it may have been came into mind as she turned around to see if Xavien could hear what she was, but there was silence. 

"I hope he didn't make his way back to the group…that guy's always playing it too safe." she thought as she slowly followed the sound before seeing an opening finally appear.

 Spotting many things sprawled about on the ground shocked her as her intuition was correct. Something or somebody was here. She took silent steps before inspecting more; she held her hand on her wand in case something appeared before she was met with a figure sitting in the corner. They didn't notice her as they were curled themselves, facing the wall. They had the shape of a boy, possibly around the same age as her. 

She tried to peek at her paper silently to make sure the description matched, but the paper slipped out of her grasp, and a panicked yelp left her mouth, alerting the boy lying about on the ground. His sharp eyes darted at her. She looked to see him in shock before noticing his features matching the description. This was the boy she had heard rumors of. She looked at him for another moment before realizing something was off about his face, specifically his eyes.

"It looks like… he's crying-" she thought before instantly falling out, not knowing what could've possibly snuck up behind her and restrained her movement; all she could see was black before she realized that there was something amiss...