The boat finally arrived. The four looked out at the city before them, uncertain of how to move.

Joseph was the first to have an idea.

"Oh yeah, I guess I should introduce this place. Hey, Nargy." He got the wyvern's attention "This is where I spent a pretty good part of my life I guess. Nice place, isn't it?"

Nargy didn't respond, mostly due to the fact he was struggling to deal with the desert.

"Oh yeah, that. Ya wanna just wait inside the ship, then?"

Nargy nodded before heading below deck.

"All the monsters are probably gonna have to wait on the ship." Zach thought aloud "Can't exactly bring them around town."

"Then why'd we bring em?" Callum asked.

"What, and just leave them behind? Hell no. Me and Plessy have never been more than a hundred metres apart."

"What about before ya met?"

"What about it?"

Having no way of continuing this conversation, the four finally set off into the city.

Zach was leading. "This place really hasn't changed much, has it?"

"Even though it's been ten years since we last saw it." Callum pointed out.

Ben looked slightly concerned. "Seriously? Feels like it was just yesterday."

"Well… can't say I don't feel the same way about it." Zach looked down as he finished that.

"I think we're always gonna be able to remember this place clearly, right?" Joseph added "After that."

"Yeah. After that."

Attempting to change focus from what that was, Joseph looked around some more.

He noticed a vaguely familiar shopkeeper chasing after a kid who stole some food, barely able to keep up anymore in his advancing years.

"...He's still at it, huh?"

Even now, these streets were still unchanged, leaving them without much to discover. This left them with only one place to go.

The group strolled past graves, before finally discovering the names they needed to find. They stumbled upon them by coincidence.

Maria Gilmore
1301-1339

David Gilmore
1304-1339

"So here's where they left them, huh?" Zach thought. "...I wonder how many here are from that battle."

They thought back to the story's beginning.

The streets could hardly be called an easy place to survive in. That's why they ganged together.

No matter what background they found themselves in before, they were here now, with each other. The only thing that could separate them was death.

Those days were perhaps without a greater meaning, the only aim being survival. But that was all they needed to continue living.

It was fortunate when the couple decided to take them in. It wasn't a perfect life, but a roof and money was all they needed to live. The meaningless let fulfilling days continued for a few years.

It all came crashing down with the start of the One Month War. For whatever reason, monster attacks across the country began to get more aggressive and frequent. High rewards were offered for participation in fending off these attacks so many hunters in need of money signed up. This of course included David and Maria, with the cost of looking after four kids.

"So, we'll be back sometime soon." Maria finished explain "Ya don't have ta worry about food, there's enough money for a while."

"Hey…" Joseph waited a second before finishing his thoughts "Yer gonna be okay, right?"

"Yeah, this'll be no problem." David lightheartedly responded "Just taking on some aggressive monsters. There'll be plenty of other hunters with us, too." We haven't made it this far just to fail at something like this. Don't worry."

They saw the pair set off for the last time.

It shouldn't be much of a surprise that the casualties were heavy. Still, the world did not weep. Hunters were still available in abundance. The few survivors refused to speak of it, leaving the true events a mystery.

All the boys knew, all they needed to know, was that it was a tragedy. It was clear enough from the survivor who returned to them.

How or why David returned, or if what even returned was David, they didn't have time to consider. They had to leave. Quickly.

The one who had done the act was Joseph. But, they couldn't just let him leave alone. They had already been torn apart enough. If one had to leave, they all had to.

As they headed out, Joseph stopped by the sand. A few seconds later, Daimyo appeared before him. The rest didn't react with much surprise, he'd already introduced them a while ago.

"We've gotta go."

Daimyo raised his claws in confusion.

"I dunno where. We just have to."

Without much further protesting, Daimyo started to follow. The five headed off into the night, journeying without destination.

"Still… what are we gonna do for food?" Callum wondered.

"I got it covered." Ben smirked.

"...What?"

"Knife." He raised the knife he'd had hidden this entire time.

"Is that gonna be good enough?"

"If yer not a coward, yeah."

Despite the odds being against them, the group somehow managed to find enough food to just get by. This life wasn't as easy before, but with the four of them, they somehow managed.

The group continued in this way for four years, before they reached Tanzia, where everything finally began.

They finished their reminiscing, still facing these same graves. It's not as though anything about them would've changed in those few minutes. This was the resting place of that couple, for all eternity.

Ben stared at the sky. "Hey, why'd we even come here?"

Zach looked over. "To see if it changed."

"Has it?"

"...Not really. But that isn't the point, I guess."

"Then what was?"

"The fights we had a few months back made it clear, didn't we? We're not gonna live forever. Hell, even back then Callum lost his arm."

"Oh yeah, forgot I had a prosthetic now."

"How? It's made of metal. Did ya never notice one of yer arms being made of metal?" Joseph asked.

"It just became normal to me."

"Well still," Zach continued "I wanted to see if this place had changed or not, since it hasn't then oh well. Don't gotta wonder about it anymore. What about the rest of ya? Got any regrets? Might as well solve em now."

Callum and Joseph thought, before being interrupted by Ben reaching an answer.

"Just one. Why did David act like that? It's what caused all of this, I'm curious."

"Oh yeah, that's a good point." Callum noted "We never really thought about it, huh?"

"We were in a rush, after all." Zach explained "After that just normally living took up so much energy so we didn't have time to consider it. By the time we became hunters, I guess it'd already slipped our minds."

The group continued to think.

"Maybe it's cause we were the reason they went there in the first place?"

Everyone turned to Joseph as he thought aloud.

"The reason he had to face that hell was because of us. If we hadn't been there, he wouldn't have needed the money. So he could've just continued living his life as normal. We were what disrupted it."

"Ya okay?" Ben cut in.

"Yeah, I'm good. Dunno what caused that. We should get goin', right?"

"...Sure."

The group headed back to the airship.

Joseph's thoughts continued.

He was able to pretty clearly see back to a certain battlefield.

All they had was a large-scale hunt. Instead they ended up with hell.

Still, it wasn't as though David was new to experiences like this. But with situations like this, just knowing what to expect was far from enough.

That's why the greatest possible disaster for him still struck. Even if it was difficult, could've accepted any tragedy other than the one presented before him, any other person could've been lost and he could've continued. But he was faced with the absolute worst scenario.

In the depths of that despair, he gained the power for revenge. It was quickly taken up on, the culprits right beside him.

Even with all the blood surrounding him, it still wasn't enough. The hole in his heart was still cripplingly empty. He needed more. A next target.

The cause as to why they were here to begin with.

That was what had to be next.

The man dragged himself away from the battlefield, disappearing into the lonely night. No matter how far he had to pull himself, he would fulfil the objective.

In the end, this plan fell apart. As great as his determination was, getting into a fight immediately after travelling so many miles with barely any food, drink or sleep took its toll. That's probably why he was able to lose to ones that much weaker than he was.

In the end, all he had left was empty anger.

"So… this is how ya felt then, huh?" Joseph asked.

He found himself inside a place that could only be described as infinite nothing.

There was nothing to identify, except for the figure standing before him. Clad in armour, with a greatsword hoisted over its back.

It was without a doubt David, but also not the David he knew.

The not-David drew its great sword. Even beyond death, it still held the will to continue.

The figure disappeared from view. Joseph took a look around to try and work out where to go next. before seeing five more figures surrounding him. He noticed a great sword sheathed on his back.

The figures approached. Joseph couldn't move a muscle.

The figures passed into him. Painful memories flooded through his mind. His own were blended in. They blended together, becoming unrecognisable. He didn't know what to destroy, just that he had to. The weapons flooded through him.

"Hey, ya alright?"

This world was disrupted by Zach's question.

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm good, why?"

They were back on the ship by now.

"Cause yer sweatin' a lot."

"It's hot."

"Sure. Anyways, I was thinkin' about the David stuff."

"That's cool. What's it have to do with me?"

"Cause yer the one who brought it up. Anyways, isn't it kinda dumb ta blame us for it?"

"But they needed money."

"They were the ones willingly taking us in. They could've just kicked us out when they wanted. I'm sure they knew the risks with a job like that, but they took it anyways."

"Isn't that just tryna escape responsibility? We were still the reason they went."

"Sure, we definitely had some impact. But it's not like we're the only reason, like ya were actin' back there."

Joseph didn't really have any way of responding to this. It was true the words hadn't felt like his own, even to him. So he had no way of justifying that interpretation.

Zach continued "Besides, doesn't matter much now, does it? They're gone, we're not. So let's just keep going."

"Yeah, sure. That's not even somethin' ya gotta say."

"Well, with everything recently it felt like it had to be said. Besides, you felt like ya were about to start spoutin' the same shit David did back then."

"Yeah, good point." Joseph sighed and turned away as the conversation drifted off.

His thoughts continued.

"Wait a sec, why did those two even care for us anyways. I know it already didn't make sense, but they have to had some kinda reason, right? I can get pity, but things were hard enough for them."

He had no answer.

"Maybe they were kinda broken themselves."

Even though he could understand the feeling of the battle, there was nothing before that. The life of David and Maria Gilmore remained a mystery to him.

"Well, that's all there is to it, I guess. I'll never get a chance to ask and they'll never be able to tell me. Their stories are gone."

He remembered the figures. "I don't… really wanna think about what that was. I just hope it won't come back. It was hopefully nothing. Let's just go back to being normal."

On that note, he turned to head inside. The ship continued to return the group to everyday life. The past life was left in the distance.

TO BE CONTINUED