"Talk"

'Thought'

Arrival


Noel enters the room they rented and looks about with a sour expression.

"Well we've slept in better places, that's for sure," says Teresa.

"Better? Even a stall would be better then this. There at least you smell the hay, not this damned mold like here," says Noel.

"Calm down Noel. We're only staying for a day, and anyways, if I remember right all of us have slept in worse conditions," says Irene.

Noel glares at Irene.

"Alright, if you don't like it then go shopping with Sophia to the black smith's," says Irene calmly.

Noel's mood brightens, and she is about to leave when she stops in mid-step remembering a very important fact. "We don't have money."

"Don't worry," says Crystal as she hands her a big bag of money. "That's one hundred and fifty pieces of gold. Try to get everything from it. Okay?" Ask Crystal.

"Sure," waves Noel, then runs off.

"Well I better follow her before she loses it or something," says Sophia and runs after Noel.

"Teresa let's have a walk around the village. I want to see it," says Clare.

Teresa smiles and takes Clare's hand. "Sure, let's go," thus leaving Crystal and Irene alone in he room.

"I don't know about you Irene but I am tired so I'll lay down for a little to sleep," says Crystal as she takes one of the six beds.

"You are not alone," says Irene as she takes another bed and tries to sleep.


After a good hour waiting Raki sees his targets. Two of the women walk down the road just passing him. Raki follows trying to be sneaky as possible.

"This place is nice Teresa. The windmills, the farm lands, even the water mill, they are all so nice," says Clare.

"hmmm... do you remember your home village?" ask Teresa.

"No, I don't. The life before you came was one second after another. I forgot everything before the last day of that hell," she answers.

"Sorry I brought up bad memories," says Teresa giving her a hug.

'Clare and Teresa? Aren't those two the twin goddesses of love?, thinks Raki. 'If I remember right mom talked about them a week or so ago.' He follows the two girls as they walk slowly around the village.


Noel enters the black smith's shop and looks over the tools used for keeping sword and armor in top form, but before she can choose something Sophia arrives.

"So what did you find Noel?" ask Sophia.

"Here is a full maintenance kit. There's everything we could need," says Noel as she opens the box.

"Great. Hey black smith, how much does this equipment kit cost?" ask Sophia with a soft voice.

"Ah, I see you girls have good eye for quality. That's the best of maintenance kits you can get in two hundred miles. Sadly, it also cost a fortune. To be precise, eighty gold pieces," he says.

"Eighty gold piece? That's almost half as much as the organization charges for one yoma," says Noel with wide eyes.

"I see, so you girls want something else?" ask the man with a sad voice.

"No we'll take it," says Noel with a grin.

"Noel don't be stupid. Crystal will kill us if we buy this expensive maintenance kit," says Sophia.

"She gave us the money and didn't tell us how much we could spend so we buy it and that's final. Oh and one more thing. I am not stupid," says Noel as she puts the eighty gold pieces on the table.

"But you are stupid if you pay that much," says Sophia.

"I am not!" says Noel.

"But you are!" says Sophia.

"I am not," says Noel again while glaring.

"I guess you're right. You're not stupid, you're a moron," Says Sophia. She then stomps out of the shop.

"I agree with... hey I am not a moron," says Noel, but before she can run after Sophia she is interrupted.

"Miss?" ask the man.

"What?" she shouts Noel making the man jump back.

"I don't mind if you leave here the gold pieces for free, but I think your comrades are waiting for that kit," he says meekly.

Noel looks at the man then she turns around and picks up the kit. "Sorry for yelling at you. Bye." She exits the shop and runs off, hunting her friend to punish her.

"Well that was a surreal experience," says the black smith as he gets back to his work and continues to hammer the steel.


"Teresa do you remember your village?" Ask Clare as they watch the people work on the fields.

"Sadly, yes. I remember," says Teresa.

"What happened? How did you become a claymore?" ask Clare.

"I was born into a large family. I had quite a few siblings, a mother and a father. Our family was a happy one. I loved my four older sisters and three older brothers. You see I was the youngest only six at the time. Then the yoma came.

It killed everyone who it could find. I only survived because I stayed out longer to play with the other kids. When i got back to the house I found them all dead," she says.

"What happened then?" ask Clare softly, hugging Teresa, trying to comfort her.

"The next day a claymore arrived and slew the yoma, but for my family it was already too late. Late by one day. I hated them with all my being at that time. I had no idea I would also become one. You see, my uncle took me in and kept me rather well, so I thought I'd never be recruited."

"What happened then?" ask Clare having a bad feeling of where this story is going.

"After the incident about six or so months the representative of the organization showed up by our house. I was out at that time buying milk so we would have fresh milk home. My uncle, that scum, contacted the organization and sold me to them like some type of slave.

When I got home they knocked me out. The next thing I remember is laying in a bed and the scar was already on my stomach signaling I'd been turned into a claymore," finishes Teresa with a lone tear falling from her eyes.

Clare hugs her in an effort to give her comfort. "Teresa I'm sorry I made you remember those bad memories."

"Clare I never told this to anyone, not even Irene. It's hard to believe it, but now that I've told you I feel lot better. It's like a weight has been lifted from my being," she says with a faint smile.

Meanwhile Raki who hid nearby also heard the story and looks vacantly before him. He doesn't even notice that the two claymores have left. Only when the sun begins to set does he finally return to the world of the living and begin to walk back towards his home in stunned silence.

The next day when Raki wakes up he learns that the claymores have already left.

'Teresa and Clare. I will find the two of you. I promise,' thinks Raki as he swears his oath to try them.


Teresa, Irene, Noel, Sophia, Crystal and Clare where already several miles deep in the Pass. The road on both sides is covered by lush, dense forest giving perfect cover to any bandit or yoma.

The six women walk on the dirt road monitoring their surrounding area with their senses to prevent any ambush.

After another hour Clare whispers, "They're coming."

"Don't joke around. I can't feel anything," says Noel.

"No they are coming now i feel it too. 19... 22... 25 yoma," says Teresa as she draws her sword. 'How could she sense them before me?' wonders Teresa inwardly.

'She is only beginning to adapt and her senses are already having wider range then ours. What will be her final limit?' wonders Irene as she grabs the hilt of her claymore but doesn't draw it.

"Well Sophia. I bet you i can kill more," says Noel, restarting her old rivalry with her friend.

"I don't think so. If it depends on me you will never kill more," says Sophia with a smirk.

"You're on," Says Noel, then she cuts the first yoma in two with a left swing and dodges the other two attacks with several somersaults.

Meanwhile, Sophia cuts three yoma in half. The three fall towards Irene but are turned into little pieces with several other yoma.

Teresa is a blur as she turns one yoma after another into chunks. Meanwhile Crystal stays near Clare while Teresa takes care the yoma.

Clare suddenly jumps to the side as a bigger yoma crashes into the spot she stood on. The yoma doesn't move a muscle after he lands because Crystal immediately cuts him into pieces.

'Intriguing. She could already sense the yoma come before it arrived,' thinks Irene as she turns another yoma into little pieces.

"Ha! I won with five yoma," says Noel after she finishes the last one with an acrobatic maneuver.

"Six here," Says Sophia.

"I only killed four but I didn't try at all," says Irene absently.

"And I slaughtered nine while Crystal protected Clare and killed one," says Teresa with a smile.

"I almost feel sorry for the yoma. They didn't even have a chance," says Crystal.

"So we caught all of them," says Irene with a neutral voice.

"Seems so. Let's get going. This much yoki will probably arouse the interest of the claymores in the area. I want to be out of the pass when they find the remains of this massacre," says Teresa.

The others agree. Teresa picks up Clare and all begin to run quickly.


'What on earth happened here?' Wonder Zira, the organization's number seven, as she looks around the battle field.

Trees and yoma are cut into pieces. Giant gashes run through the ground, and tree have been torn in two vertically. Boulders are mere rubble and there is a big crater in the middle of the road.

"This was nothing short of a slaughter. Whoever or whatever these yoma faced they had no chance to come out victoriously," says Zira as she looks at the slaughter. After not finding any evidence who did it she runs off to give her report to her agent.


After an hour running Teresa and the others finally decide to continue their journey at a slower pace.

"Clare, tell me what did you feel before the yomas arrived," ask Teresa.

"It was like a chill had run through my body, and then I felt numerous presences approaching. I don't know how but I immediately knew they were yomas. They had a unique unpleasant presence."

"Interesting. You not only feel the yoki but the nature of it too," says Irene.

"And when you dodged the yoma I killed? You sensed that too?" ask Crystal.

"Something just told me to dodge to the side. And I did so. At that time the air was already so filled with yoki there was no chance for me to sense one individual yoma," says Clare.

'So she inherited my special yoki senses, and on top of that she got a very sensitive yoki sense,' thinks Teresa as she puts the clues together.

'Amazing. Her abilities are only surfacing, but they heavily resemble the ones of Teresa,' thinks Irene.

"So what now? We arrived in the Eastern Mountain Range. How do we find an ideal location to set up base?" ask Noel.

Teresa looks at Noel for a few seconds making the other warrior sweat when she says, "We'll still go deeper into the mountain range. Anyways, when we arrive I'll scout the area for the location. Your only job will be to sit still and wait. I hope you can do that."

"Why you..." begins Noel but Sophia shuts her up with her palm before her mouth.

Teresa glares at Noel then turns around and walks away.

"Noel please try not to get her angry," whispers Sophia.

"Damn her..." murmurs Noel, but she stays put.


After four days traveling they finally arrive in the deeper section of the west mountain range that separates the western lands from the other parts of the continent.

After they make a temporary camp Teresa tells the others, "Girls, stay here while I scout the area for an ideal base." Then she runs off to to complete her task.

"Crystal how long do you think it'll take for Teresa to find the ideal place?" ask Clare.

"Not long," says Crystal.

"What? How do you know?" ask Noel with raised eyebrows.

"Since we entered the mountain range Teresa was leading us without any difficulty. Like she knows this area," says Crystal.

"How is that possible?" ask Noel.

"I can answer that," says Irene. "Teresa was stationed beside this region when she still wasn't number one. Who knows how much exploration she did while not doing a job for the organization," she says while looking down at the valley.

"So you think she found a good place around this deserted mountain?" ask Sophia.

"Probably. Teresa never trusted the organization, I don't know why, but she never trusted them. The organization doesn't even know that she killed an abyssal alone," says Irene shocking everyone.

"Abyssal one? Who?" ask Noel.

"She told me about it when we met after the incident. Rosemary sent her the black card but when Teresa arrived on Mount Godal she was already an awakened being. Since she was ranked number one before Teresa become number one she was technically an abyssal. Teresa tore her to pieces with only ten percent of her power."

"So this is why you only accepted to go up against Teresa when Priscilla came into the picture?" ask Sophia.

Clare thinks about the things Teresa told her about her childhood and everything falls into place.

"As you could both see and feel on your own skin, even with Priscilla we had no chance. Even after she awoke Teresa probably could have beaten her if she would have released more of her power. However I am not completely sure," says Irene.

"I'm glad I'm on her side now," says Noel while a shudder runs through her body.

"The I suggest you make up with her. Right now you two are not the best of friends," says Sophia.

"Good idea," says Noel. They stay quiet and wait for Teresa to get back.

After an hour Teresa return to camp with the news that she's found a perfect place, so the others gather their supplies and follow Teresa to their new home.

After another half hour climbing an almost vertical wall and jumping over several wide ravines they arrive at the base of one of the tallest mountains in the area. Teresa leads the small party up a narrow serpentine path until they almost reach the top, where the serpentine road broadens into a high mountain plain with a small stream going through its middle that falls into the deep on the edge of the plateau. She then leads them to the opposing vertical wall and there they sight the cave hidden from sight by several large boulders.

"Well this is it. What do you girls think?" ask Teresa.

"It's..." begins Irene, but Clare interrupts her.

"It's beautiful up here. How did you find this place?" ask Clare.

"That's a secret," says Teresa with a smile as she leads the small party into the cave.

When they enter another surprise awaits them. The cave is bathing in white light from the crystals hanging from its ceiling and walls. The cave stands as one giant forty meter high room separated into several levels by the giant balcony like stone ledges standing out on both sides.

"Well, we're here. Now we only have to make it a little more welcoming," says Teresa. "After all, this will be our home for an undefined time."

"Yeah," says Noel then she jump up to a higher level and looks over the whole room. "Wow this place is huge."

"So who will volunteer to go and buy supplies to make this cave more welcoming?" ask Teresa.

"I will do it, but later. We should make it so that everyone has to do it now and then," says Crystal.

"I agree. Now then, let's put up camp and rest for now. We have a tiresome journey behind us," says Irene as she puts her mobile bed near the wall and lays down to sleep.

"I agree," says Teresa, and they make their own little corners and go to sleep.

-to be continued