To say that adding Vinnia to our lives was less than easy would be an understatement. The schedule changes were not horrible, most work was conducted after the lights in the city went out anyway, so it’s not like I was a stranger to late nights. No, I’d say the most difficult adjustment was the constant in-fighting. Xet and Vinnia always seemed to be disagreeing on one thing or another, and I normally caught the brunt of it one way or another. Classes, if you could call them that, were more a study of monsters, beasts, and humans, and how best to kill them than they were anything else. Sure, there were a few lessons on magic mastery and spell manipulation which helped me get my skills more refined, but that’s about it.

The mathematical adjustment to our living expenses was negligible, as abysspyres don’t really eat normal food it wasn’t as if we would have to feed an extra mouth. Instead, her “food” expenses were packets received on the payout of a mission, which was one way to keep any abysspyre hunters in check I guess. I had a suspicion of what was in those packs, but never felt the need to verify if it was or was not blood. So we kept taking a regular supply of missions, went about our business as hunters, and made the best of the situation we were facing.

It was mid-summer by the time things settled down at all, and by that point I couldn’t wait to get Vinnia out of our hair. And as luck would have it, Vinnia had told us that we would be finished with my training within the next day or two. “Just one last contract to tackle and everything will be finished, one way or another,” was her exact wording. Kind of ominous if you ask me, but if she’ll be gone, I’ll be only too happy to do whatever it takes.

I was going through the fourth or fifth repetition of my daily training regiment when Xet entered the room. She had a look on her face that made me wary, and I stopped so she could tell me what was going on. She motioned for me to keep going and sat off to one side until I finished the last part of the routine. When I was done, she stood up and locked the door.

“There’s rumours of a metga in the city. And it sounds like this may be the last ‘test’ Vinnia has for you before you’re done training. The thing is, if I’m right, this may be my past coming back to haunt us instead of just a random encounter. If I’m right, and the worst comes to pass, I need you to promise you’ll follow these instructions. Do not deviate from this list.” She held up a small, folded, paper.

“Why the need for secrecy?” I asked as I took the paper, “Why not confront Vinnia about this before things get ugly?”

Xet grimaced and I could see her warring with herself about what to say.

“Xet, is there something I should know about? What are you not telling me?” I prodded.

Her face clouded over like the sky before a rainstorm, and I could see her start to tear up.

“There was a time when I was young, and like all little girls, I had developed feelings for a guy. And just like any little girl who wants to be noticed, I showed off constantly. One night, my roommate and I, went to meet the guy I liked on the cliffs overlooking the Hunter’s Association Academy. Vinnia, who was also there at the time, was there to greet us when we got to the cliffs. She claimed she had been called out as well, the thing is, she also was known to go berserk if she felt someone was opposing her. My roommate ended up hanging from the cliff because she challenged Vinnia’s claims. I had to keep Vinnia from finishing the poor girl off, and I was doing admirably for being just a human… that is until the metga came. It sprung on us because it had smelled the blood in the air. Both Vinnia and I lay injured as we saw my roommate get picked up by the beast.” Xet had to take a pause for air, her voice becoming more raw as she spoke.

“The next thing I saw was the damn creature ripping off her arm, blood spraying from the wounds, exciting it into a frenzy. I tried to look away, tried to save myself, all the while my roommate screamed my name… begging me for help. Then the screams stopped as a loud crunch rang out, the beast had bitten off her head and was eating it, bones and all. I couldn’t move then, and Vinnia had fled the scene using her ability to access the abyss, so I was left to stare down the metga.” Another breath, another pause, tears flowing freely down Xet’s face; I couldn’t imagine reliving a nightmare like that.

“And then, right when I thought I was going to die, the boy I liked showed up. He ended up with claws stabbed through his stomach, trying to protect me. As the beast threw him off the tips of its claws, a teacher showed up. Apparently Vinnia had run off to go get one when she ran away, so we made it out alive. But, you see, when you’re injured by a metga… if you don’t die…” she trialed off, unable to finish her sentence.

“Any mixed blood on an injury makes you become one.” I finished her sentence. So this boy had hurt it enough to draw blood… and he became a metga as a result of saving her.

She nodded, unable to speak any more, her efforts to keep from sobbing were straining her otherwise kind of cute face.

“But I don’t get it, what makes you think it’s this guy? It could be any old metga out and about. There’s no evidence-“ I started, but Xet cut me off.

“The one that’s in town has two identifiable marks that prove it’s him. A discoloration on its arm in the shape of the tattoo he had and… a bangle on the neck. The bangle was a gift from me to him. It was a thank you present for saving me, before he lost his mind to the sickness and transformed.” Xet said, her voice harsh and hardened.

Even I couldn’t argue with that, it was a cut and dry case of the past coming back to beat Xet down.

“So why are you handing me this? If you can’t go out there and kill him then I’ll do it for you. Simple as that. It’s how we’ve lived for the last… what is it now, a year? Year and a half?” I responded.

“Because I may die out there.” Xet said, her voice dejected, but sounding very matter of fact about it.

I wanted to tell her to stop being dramatic, that joking around like this wasn’t cool, but I couldn’t find my voice. Metga, like long lived abysspyres, were considered high priority, high risk targets. Unless you were an “Unres” you wouldn’t be tackling one of those very often.

Oh, right, almost forgot, an “Unres” is what we call Unrestricted Hunters. While normal hunters are on a 0-12 scale, the Unres were like rank 14 hunters, they didn’t have any restrictions on hunts or any rules that bound them. They’re like the ultimate badasses of the Hunter’s Association. As far as I could tell, the Unres were pretty rare.

“Do you still have those hellfire bombs you made? I want you to keep one or two on you, but don’t tell Vinnia. Something feels off about how she’s acting, and I’d rather not play our ace in the whole just yet. I’m glad you’ve kept that power under wraps while she’s been here.” Xet said, turning to leave.

“I’ll get my stuff ready. And… um… Xet? I don’t know if I’d have done much better in that situation.” I said.

Xet giggled girlishly, “You know, if you were just a bit older, I might have taken that as flirting. I wonder… Do you think we could have made it as a couple?”

I was stunned into silence by how un-Xet like that was. The gentle tone and kind demeanour… it was as if she was someone else for a second.

“Back to training, little brother.” She called as she closed the door.

It took me a few hours to calm down, mostly because whenever I thought about how Xet said what she did my heart fluttered a bit and my face heated up. But eventually I had to stop because my body couldn’t take more punishment physically. So I went out to the garage and began getting my equipment ready.

Polished and sharpened splitting sword, check. Polished and sharpened knife gauntlet, check. Two hellfire grenades, check. Twin pistols, cleaned and ready for use. Four ice bullets, four wind bullets, eight hellfire bullets, check. And one last test of the wrist comm/ear-bit system I had put together over the last year as a science project… success. All I need now is a shower, some dinner, and a rest.

Oh, crap! Dinner! I thought as I dashed out of the garage, I had totally forgotten to prepare anything. So I made the quickest run I could down to Mertintes, grabbed two of their “pittsa” dishes and dashed home. Pittsas, I learned, were made by some guy who claimed to be from another world that wasn’t the Abyss. It was some kind of flatbread with sauce and cheese on top that then was baked in an oven. It was the greatest thing I had ever had, and I had not gotten Xet to try it yet, so I figured now is the best time.

It was an uneventful dinner, which I guess was nice. With Vinnia not sparking an argument, and Xet doing what she does, I was able to relax a little. After dinner was done, I was able to go take a shower and retreat to my room. It was kind of a nice moment, quiet and pleasant. So I decided to do some minor magic practice, just enough to work my brain out a bit but not enough to tire me out. I started by making a large chunk of ice and took out one of my daggers, then I set the ice on a tray I made to spin while I used a small concentration of wind magic to rotate it.

As the ice spin, I took calculated stabs and dragged the edge along the surface of the ice. After an hour or so, I had a small figurine of a woman. I then froze a new block of ice around it and began again. I did this another two times before I was satisfied, eventually I had a figure within a figure within a figure, and it shone magnificently in the lamplight. I took the finished result and set it on the balcony, a small display before I launched it over into the empty lot that used to have the warehouse I burned down. Sometimes destroying things is just as calming as creating it.

I went and sat down on my bed and prepared for tomorrow. It’s kind of odd, the memories you return to when you’re alone with yourself in the quiet hours of the early morning.

It was autumn, and I had finally managed to escape the training my grandfather was piling on me. I had hidden myself away in one of the caves in the region, and nobody had found me yet, so I considered that a win. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that there was an ambush for me just around the bend in the cave until it was too late. By then I was slammed into the ground by the force of another body hitting my own.

“Guess who, birthday boy!” a voice said from behind me. The faintest outline of breasts pushed themselves into my back as if someone was trying to emphasize them. Someone like…

“Lin, get off of me.” I said, trying to force my way up to my knees, but she outweighed me by a bit and I hadn’t hit puberty yet, so I couldn’t do too much.

“I bet you wanna feel me up, huh? You wanna eat the cookies I made off my body, right? Pervert!” Lin started to tease me.

“I don’t know where you get that idea, and I’m not certain I want to know. I just want you to get off of me!” I shouted.

“You want me to get you off? Well isn’t that bold of you? I guess for a birthday gift I could try.” Lin teased even harder.

I determined the only right way to handle things was to play dead. This worked about as well as expected, she eventually got bored a few minutes later. I then felt the weight remove itself from me, and then I felt a tug on the waist of my trousers. I rolled over and ended up straddled by the devious girl who had spent the last few years dogging my every step.

She smiled at me and leaned in, puckering her lips. Then a knock came from outside my door waking me from my reminiscing. Xet stuck her head into the room and told me it was time to get ready to go. This made me look out the window, and indeed it was sunset. Talk about one way to spend your time.