After a long and tedious journey, the town of Redwood was finally caught in sight by the group of rangers.

"We're here? About time..." Gilbert yawned, just woken up.

"You just leaned on my back and slept..." Merlin replied curtly.

Bryce looked at the horizon silently. He hardly had any sleep yesterday, and now the face of the tired ranger was looking horrible from the bags under his eyes and his wrinkles showing.

Clyde also kept silent. Nobody knew what he had on mind, but if yesterday's events were any hint, the young apprentice was not in his best form. His calm and kind nature long erased from his face, he didn't act any different than a wild animal. Having seen the status of his relationship with the child looking grim, Bryce felt even worse.

Approaching Redwood, the group first entered through the gate. Being a small town, the gate system of Redwood was not as good as a Fief, being constructed of wooden spikes and protected by two guards in front of it.

Once inside, the first thing to look for was an inn and some rooms to use. Gilbert went ahead to handle that job, leaving the rangers to look for any cult activity.

"Have you checked Clyde?" Asked Merlin monotonously. The boy had his wrists tied up so that he wouldn't try to harm anyone, especially himself.

"I have..." Bryce didn't look at Merlin as he answered in an aloof manner.

"Fine..." The atmosphere was getting unusually strange, even for the dark haired ranger. "You think they really are hiding here?" He tried to change the subject.

"I don't know."

Just when Merlin tried to progress the conversation, Gilbert came back from the inn and walked over to the rangers upon seeing them.

"The horses are still there. Didn't you take them to the stable? You guys are so slow... Talk about a ranger."

"Gilbert, would you kindly stay silent?" Merlin asked with an exhausted voice. "You're trying my patience and I don't like it."

Merlin went to take the horses as Bryce decided to go to the inn to look for some information.

"Look after Clyde." He left the writer with the silent apprentice. Clyde was looking down on the ground and ominously mumbling about Hyrd'mis.

Inside the inn was nothing like Norgate's silent, cold and lonely spot. Redwood's warmer weather and carefree people made the inn look much more inviting. The door with a bell hung over it opened into a large room with lots of chairs and tables scattered about and the tall ranger stepped into a wave of moisture and heat as he pushed the door open, making the small bell ring as the unimaginable cacophony of noise coming from the nearby tables swallowed the sound of it.

The cultist group had already started to infiltrate the town by the looks of it, and Bryce didn't spend a long time looking for the red robes among the waves of townspeople.

"They could have picked a less noticable color." The ranger mumbled to himself as he moved around while secretly eyeing the group of cultists. In this crowd and among the different, red colored wood of the inn's walls, using his green camouflaged cloak would be of no use, so his next safe bet was to act natural and hope to mix into the background this way.

Slowly approaching the group, he focused on their conversation. Their appearance and weird movements suggested most, if not all of them, were drunk from drinking too much beer, despite the beer looking obviously watered down. Whether it was because they couldn't afford a full cup or because the innkeeper was a cheap skate, Bryce couldn't decide.

"Pah! I'm sick of this wheat juice. Not even a bit of beer mixed in." One of them groaned.

"It's okay. I'm used to... diluted beer, anyway..." Said another, caught in a storm of hiccups.

"Hehe... Once William seizes a town or two, we'll all be rich."

"Cheers for William!"

The cultists raised their diluted beers and kept drinking.

"Ergh... Everything's fuzzy... Hot..." The cultist that spoke first threw his thin robe away. The crimson coloured cloth landed on the dusty floor.

This is my chance, thought Bryce. He swiftly took his cloak off and dusted it a little. It was a little small for him, but he managed to wear the uncomfortable red outfit. Wincing at the smell of poorly made beer coming from the cloth, he slowly sat on a chair he pulled near to the table.

"Finally made it. This place is brimming with drunkards." Bryce tried to speak with a harsher tone.

The man that had just raised his beer squinted as his eyes fixed on the crimson colored stranger.

"Richard, is that you?"

"Yeah. What's the matter, can't see?"

"Nothing, nothing." They had no suspicion, and soon the carefree attitude of the cultists continued on. As he listened to them and waited for an opening, The tall ranger just remembered that these were also people that were taken advantage of by William. Given the promise of wealth, many people, with good or bad intentions, had joined the hordes of men and women that formed the expendable part of the cultist group, unlike those who had been kidnapped and hypnotised.

"Weird thing, those crystals, huh?" Bryce asked with a curious tone.

"Yeah, yeah. So creepy, rite?" The speech of the cultists were starting to break apart. "I've herd about that kid. Didja see dat?"

"No. What did you d-" Bryce was about to rise, but managed to maintain control. "What happened to him?"

"The poor brat got tested with that goggle thingamajic." They kept telling as the beer on the table was nearly finished. "William says he'll never recover. Like dose slaves in Morocco." The cultist was talking about the warmweed addiction that were commonplace in slaves. Bryce felt himself shaking in frustration. In his most vulnerable moment, he couldn't even manage to protect his apprentice, just like he couldn't save his wife or his daughter. Did he lose the child forever? All he wanted was to see him smile geniunely and enjoy himself, but now it was impossible? He couldn't handle himself for too long. The chains of despair had already started to crawl towards him.

"N-no way, I bet there is a way." He tried to deny it. After all, these men were all drunk.

"Nah, I've heard it right from the man himself, the goggles won't come off."

"And why is that?"

"He'll die of a heart attack if it does, tha's why."

Bryce's breaths turned into little whistles from the amount of pain he felt. The hot inn, all this pressure, the uncomfortable robes, this disgusting feeling that made him hate himself... He wanted to do away with them. All of them. Just for a moment, he wanted to forget.

Merlin had returned from the stable and looked around as he noticed something amiss. The clouds covering the meek sunlight of the evening, everything was shroud in a darker shade. But even in that dark shade, chunks of red were visible all around the town.

"Darn... Those red turnips really mean it, huh..." The dark haired ranger focused his deep blue eyes onto them as he walked towards where he left Gilbert and Clyde. After walking for a while, he noticed that something else was missing, and that something was Gilbert and Clyde both.

"Seriously... I trust you one bit, then this happens!" He furiously dashed around the town to find Gilbert and hopefully, Clyde. The first thing that came to mind was that the tetchy writer was actually working for the cult, but it was a conclusion that Merlin jumped into without thought. Turning around a few streets, he finally found the writer in lavender coloured clothes hiding behind a house with some paper in his hands, watching the cultists' preaching on the street the house was next to.

"Just what do you think you're doing!?" The dark haired ranger appeared suddenly and startled the writer.

"Augh! Ah, it's you." Gilbert calmed down slightly. "I was enlarging my report on the cultists, of course!" He smiled, but was answered with having his collar lifted up by the furious ranger.

"Where the hell did you take Clyde!?" He shook him to intimidate him further.

"Wh-wha!? Him? I told him to stay there. Don't they listen to orders?" Gilbert looked panicked. Merlin let out a big sigh.

"I just really wish you were a traitor, so I could cut you down without Bryce telling me off for an hour." He looked directly into the eyes of the writer. "Clyde listens to cultists, not us. He likely ran away and it is all your fault."

"Oh, really?" He looked really ashamed for a moment. "That won't do, I guess. Despite everything, you guys helped me out a lot so I'll do the same for you."

"I don't need your help, you imbecile! Don't you dare act buddy buddy to me!" Merlin suddenly grabbed the young man and dragged him as he walked away from the streets and towards the stable, pushing Gilbert forward. He binded the writer by his hands and ankles and shoved him next to the ranger horses.

"If you had stood still, I wouldn't even bother with this." He left to meet with Bryce in the inn.

Looking at him as he ran back towards the town, Gilbert sighed.

"Well, I guess I'll write a report on rangers instead... In my mind." He heard Ace and Pfeil stomp their hooves to the ground.

"What? Is that also a crime? Look at me, talking to horses..."

Eyeing the front of the inn, Merlin saw a large red figure struggling to stand on two feet, wavering and tripping along the way.

"You really didn't..." Merlin felt even more frustrated as he saw the long haired ranger in this pitiful state. But he felt something else, some feeling that he refused to name. He couldn't find it in his pride to accept that.

He quickly sled under the arm of his old friend and helped him walk straight. Walking with him as they make their way to the outskirts of the town, Bryce finally noticed Merlin with his fuzzy mind.

"Merlin... It's you.." He struggled to not vomit as he felt a surge of disgust. His mind was foggy and he felt so thirsty. There was a bad taste in his mouth.

"Of course it's me, idiot. Why did you make yourself drunk... We need to keep our minds sharp! And you don't even drink!" He looked at Bryce furiously.

"Ahh... I didn't want to at first, but I was at the same table as the cultists..."

"Spare me the lies. You reek like age old wine. Probably drunk a glass and couldn't even stand it." Merlin said as he sat on the fresh grass and helped his friend lay on the ground. "I get it. You want to forget."

"It was foolish. I just... can't hold anything together anymore." The long haired ranger laughed hysterically as he cried a few tears.

"It was foolish, but..." Merlin looked really bothered for a second. "But..."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay!?" He finally let out the words he had been waiting to say.

"This whole time, dealing with stuff like this should have been hard. I know I said that I have been born into this, but..." He took a deep breath and looked at the worn out face of his old friend.

"You became a ranger, but also the kind of person that makes others relieved, you know... Whenever you sensed I was tense, you'd be there for me. Nobody else would notice." Bryce turned his face to him in surprise as Merlin kept talking.

"When you're like this, I want to help too. I want to help in return, but just like when Cecile and Mary got killed in that ambush, I mean, what's left of your family just went away and I couldn't even say anything... I'm not like you, Bryce. I don't know how to help. I just don't..." Merlin couldn't continue his words. He hung his face and turned away from Bryce.

"Merlin, are you crying?" The long haired ranger asked. This being the most emotional his friend had been since the last few years, he started to come into his senses, startled.

"I'm not crying. I just don't want to look at you."

Bryce got up and limped over to his friend and lifted his arm that he pushed onto his eyes. There was a single tear on his small face.

"See? You're crying."

"N-no, I'm not!" Merlin turned away from him once again.

"Okay, suit yourself." Bryce gave him a small smile.

"It's okay, Merlin. It's nice to know you are with me, too." The long haired ranger looked up into the sky. The clouds were dispersed and the starry sky was in their full view.

"You know, that Cecile... She was so alluring in her looks, but more so in her personality. You know when I told you I gave up on being a knight? I did it for her, so that she could live in her own country."

"What's this about?" Merlin turned to him again with a curious look.

"I was so lost without a purpose, but in time, protecting her and her town became my purpose. That's how I ended up being a ranger. To protect."

"Yeah, you kinda have a knack for that." Merlin chuckled.

"But you... When we met, I was sure you would surpass my bow skills in no time. Whenever it came to anything but experience, you always beat me, even with the seven year difference between us." Bryce smiled. "I admit it. I relied on you a lot."

"No, I relied on you a lot." Merlin argued. "You kept making everyone feel better with your... Bubbly nature... Or something." Bryce laughed loudly as he heard Merlin stutter.

"Well, I guess we just need to rely on each other now." Two old friends shook hands and looked into each other's eyes with determination.

"You won't run away." Said Merlin convincingly.

"Even if I tried to, you just keep finding me." Bryce smiled once again. "I made a mistake. But I won't falter, for Clyde's sake and my own."

"Shoot! How could I..." Merlin slapped his hand on his forehead.

"What's the matter?"

"Clyde's missing. Come on."

Under the light of the moon that shone on the branches of the tall trees of Redwood's forest, Bryce and Merlin kept searching for the ginger headed boy. As it got darker and darker inside the forest, Bryce felt uneasy.

"Are we sure he is in the forest?" He asked in a concerned way.

"He isn't around the town, he has to be here." Merlin answered in a less panicked tone.

Suddenly, the path they had taken lead them to a large, moist tree trunk filled with beige mushrooms inside, with more mushrooms scattered along the way.

"I think he went that way." Bryce approached the path with mushrooms.

"Isn't that a little on the nose?" Merlin asked, slightly annoyed.

As they went through, the surroundings got even darker until the gleam of the silver moon above them was merely a small sparkle in the sky, drowned by the sea of branches covering it.

"Clyde!" Bryce yelled into the space.

"Hush! What if there are cultist along the way?" Merlin told his friend off.

"Good. We have a bone to pick with them, too."

"Fine, but I won't save you from that mist thing one more time, just so you know."

As they were talking, Bryce heard a sudden rustling in the nearby bushes. Moving slowly, he approached the bush and swept its red leaves away.

"G-gah!" What laid under the red leaves was the boy in crimson clothes.

"Clyde! There you are." Bryce watched as he got out of the bushes, then signaled him to follow, but the boy wouldn't budge, even after they walked a few meters away from him. The ginger headed apprentice slowly pulled out a bow from the bush and loaded it with a sharp arrow.

"What the- I thought-" Merlin went in shock due to the unexpected movement.

"Apparently, we didn't think he'd take our weapons while we took his." Bryce said in a melancholic tone. The dark coloured bow in the boy's hands was definitely Merlin's.

"Enemies of Hyrd'mis... Die..." Clyde pulled the string of the longbow and aimed for the long haired ranger.

"Clyde... Don't you remember me?" Bryce asked, his heart beating as if it was about to burst out of his chest.

"You're... A ranger... Enemy..."

"Clyde, I'm not your enemy, I'm your mentor." The tall ranger slowly approached his apprentice.

"Bryce, it won't work!" Merlin signaled his friend to avoid the boy.

"It will work this time... I'm sure of myself now, thanks to you." Bryce smiled as he kept approaching.

"Stop!.. Don't take one more step!" Clyde's hands shook as he raised the bow.

"I won't hurt you. I'm a friend, aren't I?"

"N-no, lies! Just like him, you just pretend like you won't hurt me... I won't fall for it!" The boy's hands were shaking even more.

"Okay, if you don't trust me..." Bryce took his knife belt and his longbow and threw them aside. He turned his head to look at Merlin.

"You're actually doing this... Fine." The dark haired ranger nodded.

Bryce kept taking small steps forward. With each of his steps, he saw the old Clyde that he got so used to, the pure hearted child that tried not to show his wounds to anyone, in the shaking arms of the boy in crimson.

"Lies... It will be the same once again, everyone I love dies and nobody cares about me... Hyrd'mis loves me and gives me happiness... Don't separate me with him!" The goggles of the boy sparkled with a bright red light as the few rays of moonlight shone on the crystal lens.

"Clyde, return to your senses! There is no Hyrd'mis, there isn't..."

"B-but he has to... Who will care for me then? Not any of you!.." The boy's face went blue and took a frightened look.

"Of course it will be us. Don't you recall my face? All the time we ate breakfast together, when you scored a bullseye on that tree bark, when you met Gale..." Bryce smiled warmly. There was barely three meters between them.

"Bryce?.. N-no, I have to forget!.." Clyde shook his head. He had lost his focus.

"Why? Why forget all the time we spent together? Weren't you happy? Wasn't it fun?"

"It was... Fun... But I lied. You'll find that out... Then you'll hate me, j-just like everyone else..." Clyde started to break down. The shaggy bearded ranger gently embraced the ginger headed apprentice as he reacted mildly.

"You really think that matters? You didn't even speak to me about anything. Why did you assume I would be mad?"

"B-but I tricked you... I'm a bad person, selfish, useless..." Small tears trickled from the pale, freckled face of the boy. He held onto the green cloak of his mentor and hugged him back, burying his tears onto the cloth of the cloak.

"Shh, don't say that, you're not a bad person at all. And you are quite capable as well. At least allow your mentor to deduce that from one year." Bryce ran his hand down the curly hair of his apprentice and continued to speak to him until he finally calmed down.

"Are you better now?" He said as his apprentice let go of him.

"Huh...Hyrd'mis..."

"Is not real, right?"

"Is not... real. It isn't." Clyde opened and closed his eyes a few times, confused by the effects of the hypnotic goggles.

Suddenly, the goggles fell off and hit the ground, to the young apprentice and his mentor's surprise.

"Clyde!" Bryce yelled in panic.

"H-huh? Bryce? What's going on?" Clyde looked around in geniune confusion.

Lifting the goggles off the ground, Merlin removed his cloak and appeared right in front of them.

"I knew it was a bluff. You're too soft, Bry." He smiled slightly.

"Merlin, you're here too!" Clyde ran to the short ranger and tackled him cheerfully.

"Whoa! Who are you and what did you do to Clyde?" Merlin shook the kid off of him.

"I was so scared I'd never... Get to see everybody..." Depleting all of his excitement, Clyde started to breathe heavily.

"Hey, do you recall anything from the time..." Bryce started his question before Clyde answered in advance.

"Bits... and pieces... But there's something more important..." He looked down at his feet.

"Hm? What's that?" The mentor asked curiously.

"I want to tell everything. About me... I was scared but... It's you, so... I won't be scared anymore."

"I will tell everything too. It's not like I have the mildest story." The long haired ranger smiled. "You're so strong, son. I'm so proud of you." He pat the hair of the short apprentice.

"Son?.." Clyde tilted his head sideways.

"Oh, sorry, did that bother you?" Bryce asked, concerned.

"It didn't! Heehee, son..." Clyde giggled.

"Hey, I don't want to cut your dramatic reunion stuff, but... I kinda left Gilbert all tied up in the stable, so we better pick him up." Merlin chimed in.

"Oh, alright." Bryce replied.

"Wait, you what!?"