Prologue:

“I think they look kinda cute.” Gale of the Song clan proclaims as the group she’s in sits down to rest.

The group she’s a part of includes Trae and Sae from the Crest clan and Hona from the Westin clan. Their mission today is to clear out the shadowy-looking demons from the mines belonging to the Trudo clan. Their group is one of three that have been dispatched for the job. For most of them this is their first time ever encountering demons, but no one is worried. The Trudo clan had meticulously scouted the mines ahead of them and made sure that all of the demons are low-level creatures. These creatures are no match for the teenagers that have been training their whole lives to fight monsters.

Gale had spent the majority of the morning and afternoon cutting and slashing down demons twice as hard as anybody else. Since she’s the only girl in her group she had felt a need to prove herself. Not to mention the trio of boys were already familiar with each other before coming to the mines today making her feel like an outsider in their group.

Of course Sae and Trae are brothers, but since the Crest and Westin clans are relatively close to each other and are connected by the water ways it’s not unusual for the two families to visit each other. The Song clan on the other hand is far south and east of the rivers, in the open plains. But now that Gale has grown more familiar with the boys she starts to open up and show more of her true self.

Sae grins, “Watch what you say or else bossman Trudo is gonna give you one of his signature frowns, like this…” The young boy turns the corners of his lips down and makes his face overly serious. The expression is so foreign on his face that Gale can’t help but laugh. Sae’s older brother smirks as well, but shakes his head at the foolishness. Hona is the only one who keeps a benign look. Sae turns to him and dramatically throws his arms around his shoulders, “You didn’t laugh!” He cries out, “Don't you think I’m funny?” He bats his lashes and wears a perfectly innocent look.

Trae grabs his brother’s collar and yanks him off, “Stop messing around so much. There are still demons hanging around.”

Sae pouts as he straightens out. “Those demons aren’t so scary. I could cut them down blindfolded.”

“You think their cute too?” Gale tries to steer the conversation back to the starting point. “I kinda wanna take one home. They look like they could be cuddly lap cats!”

Sae grins, “I suppose they’re cute enough, but that’s just cause these are baby demons. All babies look cute until they grow up. I wouldn’t dare take one home!”

“Bullshit!” Trae interjects, “That sounds exactly like something you would do. I swear to the gods that if I find one these monsters in your room I’m throwing it and you outside!” He promises.

Gale laughs as Sae turns to Hona, “What about you? You think they’re cute?”

Hona looks back at the group, “I think they’re all about to be dead. Nothing looks cute when it’s dead.” He points out.

Gale wrinkles her nose and frowns. All the fun from earlier seems to have dried up at the Westin boy’s cold words and chilly demeanor. She doesn’t understand how the fun and easy-going Sae can be so friendly with him, but even as she watches them interact and eat their lunch together she notices that Hona never once looks annoyed or bothered by Sae’s antics, his expression remains neutral throughout their break.

Once the group has finished eating and packed everything away they return to the task at hand with renewed vigor. Trae keeps a watchful eye over everyone with him. Since he’s the oldest he feels like it’s his responsibility to look out for everybody and make sure there are no mishaps. The group doesn’t technically have a leader, all the teens work together as equals, but Trae still finds himself at the front of the group leading the way down the dark passages. He keeps a light talisman in one hand and his sword in the other. All of his senses are honed and focused acutely on their surroundings.

Even though these demons are low-level and mostly harmless there are a lot of them and they’re hard to see in the inky blackness. A single slip up could still result in injury. Trae is already envisioning his parents and the lecture they’ll give him if Sae or anyone else in his group gets hurt. A shadow tremors in the corner of his eye and moving purely on instinct he lashes out. His blade sings as it cuts through the air before finding its target.

“Ooh, good catch big bro!” Sae cheers him on with his goofy grin. The demon withers and quietly dissipates into the darkness. Trae and his group continue their trek deeper into the mines.

Hona walks behind the group and keeps his eyes peeled for any demons that the others might miss. Since these demons are so small it’s not impossible for one or two to sneak past them. They hide themselves in the dark shadows cast by the teenagers themselves and can easily hide in waiting until their guard is down to strike out.

Unfortunately for him and the rest of the group Sae is hardly one to stay focused or stay quiet making himself as distracting as possible as they work. He skips and jumps around causing the shadows to dance and he talks nearly nonstop. Trae, who is overly familiar with his brother’s nature, easily ignores him, but both Gale and Hona have to work extra hard to ignore the boy.

It doesn’t help that despite his casualness and seemingly oblivious demeanor Sae has killed just as many demons as the rest of them leaving little room for criticism. The boy seems to have some sixth sense when it comes to killing monsters. He’ll be running his mouth at full speed, hardly paying attention to his surroundings, when in a flash he'll swing his sword out and a demon will inevitably be killed by the action. Then he’ll carry on with barely a pause in whatever he’d been saying.

It’d be impressive if it wasn’t so annoying.

Hona listens with only half an ear as he sweeps his gaze over their surroundings. The demons have definitely started to thin out. When they’d started the little critters had been swarming all over the place and all four of them had been neck deep in writhing shadows, but now they’ll go long stretches without even seeing one demon.

Sae bumps shoulders with him playfully, “You think the Trudo’s are going to feed us after we’re done? I’m starving! I could go for roast beef… and roasted potatoes! The baby kind, and bread, a nice thick loaf of fresh bread slathered in butter! Ahh, I’m so hungry!” He whines.

Hona stares at him evenly, “We just ate lunch.” The lunch in question had been lackluster, but it’d still been enough to fill him up so he has no reason to complain about it.

Sae pouts and then stops mid-step, “What's down here?” He asks no one in particular as he suddenly turns and disappears into a shadowy recess.

The other three all turn immediately. Trae curses under his breath and quickly backtracks to follow after his brother while Gale anxiously pulls out the map to see what tunnel Sae has just gone down. Hona follows behind without even a hint of worry. If it’d been anybody else he’d be quick to follow after, but it’s Sae and he knows that Sae is more than capable of looking after himself. Not only is he capable, he’s seems to be blessed with godly amounts of luck which allow him to come out of any situation unscathed.

“Sae! Get back here! You can’t just run off on your own down here!” Trae yells after him.

Gale, quick on his heels, says, “It's a dead end anyway. The map says that it’s just a small alcove.”

The sound of Sae’s laughter though coming from ahead of them causes Trae’s stomach to drop. Leave it to his brother to get into some kind of mischief while they’re on a job, on a job for the Trudo clan no less! He groans in aggravation as he enters the alcove and spots his little brother standing with his back to them. He turns when they enter, and Trae glares at the dopey smile on his face, but frowns when he notices that Sae has his sword unsheathed.

“Hey Gale! Remember when you said you wanted one as a lap cat? I don’t think that one would agree.” He giggles as he points at a large mass of shadows in front of them.

The other three teens turn their attention away from Sae and onto the thing he’s pointing at. All three of them have the same internal reaction of shock and fear when they realize what is standing in front of them.

Trae grips his sword tightly enough to make his knuckles go white. “Just leave it.” He breathes out anxiously. He swallows down his nerves and in a more firm tone adds on, “We'll go back up, tell the Trudo clan. Gale mark this section on the map. Sae just back away, don’t get it’s attention.”

They’ve been fortunate that the larger demon has been distracted by a number of smaller demons swarming around it. Sae had thought that the smaller demons were fighting the larger one, maybe competing for food, but as he stood there watching them he saw that the large demon was allowing the little ones to run around and jump on it. Like a parent with a bunch of little cubs playing… “I think we found the mama demon.” Sae says aloud to the group.

Trae curses under his breath and in a sharp whisper says, “Sae, just back the fuck away.”

Hona steps forward and quietly calls for his friend's attention, “Sae.” That snaps the boy out of his shock.

He glances back with wide eyes and then stares at the demons before nodding his head. “Oh, right…” He mutters, he tightens his grip on his sword as he slowly takes a step back.

Carefully, without once looking away from the demons, he retraces his steps until he’s back within the safety of the group. Hona gives little reaction other than to tug on Sae’s sleeve, but Trae lets out a relieved sigh. Sae notices that Gale’s hands are trembling as she grips the map. He worries for a moment that she might actually rip the map in her anxiety, but then she rolls the paper up and stuffs it back in her robes.

“Let's get out of here.” She whispers furtively.

Sae nods his head, “Hmm.” He turns his back on the demons and begins to follow Trae’s lead with Hona hovering close beside him. Gale keeps her eyes trained on the creatures to make sure that their group still hasn’t been noticed.