(A/N): Hello! It's been a while since I've updated... I'm a slow writer that's why the updates are slow… Hehehe… Anyway, Please Read and Review..

ANGUISH

ONSET

My blood turned cold when I heard the familiar drawl that could only be Ferias'. This puts Arthel in danger. Ferias enjoyed killing humans as much as he liked himself, which is very much. He rarely, never is the more correct term, allows any opportunity of making humans suffer. I doubt he will spare Arthel from his conquests even if I tried to reason with him. Ferias never listens to anybody. My efforts would be futile against his hardheadedness.

"Ferias…," I whispered scathingly.

His leer widened. His smiles always irritated me. There was always malice in them though sometimes it could not be seen. I did not believe a single word of the reason he gave for his visit. He followed me from earlier. That scum of earth!

"Imare," I heard a voice called out.

I froze in my tracks and turned towards the source of the statement. Ferias, an annoying acquaintance, drifted over and smirked questioningly at me.

"You seem to be in a hurry."

I chose not to answer for replying would only get you a bad bout of taunts and nasty remarks from this irksome creature.

"The get-together is that way, Imare."

He sneered as he indicated the direction away from town.

"Or is your scholarly brain finally failing you?" he added maliciously when I remained silent.

"I know where the gathering will take place, Ferias," I replied disdainfully.

"Oh…" Ferias gave an unconvincing look of surprise. "So what business do you have in town?"

"It is of no concern to you!"

His malevolent eyes narrowed and then gazed at me quizzically.

Not waiting for another of his remarks, I turned from him and fled towards town, all the while feeling his malicious gaze on my back.

I watched him warily as he hovered in front of me and then began his usual taunting remarks. Usually, I wouldn't be affected by them but this time the situation was different. He was talking about Arthel and about killing him. Murderous rage erupted within me as I listened to his derision and it was all I could do to refrain myself from hurting him very badly. And then... he moved towards Arthel.

The anger became barely controllable as I watched him touch Arthel. It would be fatal for the child. He was not going to survive it despite his immunity to the dark mist.

I felt a fiery sensation somewhere in my chest and then came forth a blinding light. The room was basked in it. Next thing I knew, Ferias was gone and the room was in darkness. I felt weak and I could still feel the recesses of the fiery sensation that had erupted in my chest.

With great effort, I drifted slowly to the desk. Ferias' call changes everything. Impassively, I stared at the piece of parchment I had been writing on. Its contents were already useless. I have to get Arthel out of here fast and without their knowing…

I pulled a fresh piece of parchment, got hold of the Pecopeco feather quill, and then started to write. The thoughts were slow in coming at first but when the outline of the plan was sketched clearly, my scribbling picked up pace.

This is the only thing that will be able to save Arthel… Nothing else would…

oooOOOooo

Exhausted… I was exhausted beyond mobility. I could no longer move a single muscle. If I take another step I know I would die. I had to rest! I don't care if my pride would take a very hard beating for showing such weakness and I don't care if that no good of a hunter would taunt me later, I just have to REST!

This is crap! Why am I even here, huh?

Adventure… That magnetic pull the unknown have on me. That was what had driven me to sign up to this expedition.

I glanced weakly at my companions. I could see that they were tired, too, but their exhaustion was light compared to mine. I sighed heavily.

"Do we even have a way out?" I muttered under my breath.

What had started out as a party of fifteen was now reduced to five people. Monsters so deadly attacked us stealthily and in the most unexpected times that we were never able to save the ones who were targeted.

I flopped down on the ground and exclaimed rather angrily, "I give up! This is useless… We had been walking in circles and still we can't find any way back to camp. We're lost and there is nothing we can do about it. I just want to die…"

To my surprise, my other four companions flopped down on the soft grass, too.

Reisha moaned ecstatically as she stretched her legs. "I've wanted to do this hours ago…"

I laughed tiredly at her statement. A pretty blonde with long straight hair that swayed to her every movement, Reisha was a very seductive dancer. Though at first glance you will mistake her for a helpless damsel, she was rather feisty and could be deadly when she wanted to.

"One minute, that's all the rest you can get."

I looked over at Lanther. He pulled a thin cigar from his pocket and lighted it as he leaned back on a tree.

Green eyes, devastating good looks and a body that would make women drool; he was a man that could capture the hearts of maidens. If not for his arrogance, I would be smitten with him too. Well, I had been smitten with him when we first met. My attraction to him just sort of dropped when his arrogance began to show.

"Hey baby… Want me to massage you sexy legs?"

I bit my lip to keep myself from laughing. Reisha rolled her eyes in disgust as Raizen murmured suggestive statements near her ear.

Raizen, a notorious flirt, was the type of guy that wouldn't last five minutes without hitting on a girl. Almost all the girls he had met were subjected to his incessant flirting. It wasn't that he lacked looks that he had to use his flirting powers just to get women's attention. In fact, Raizen was better-looking and more gorgeously-made than Lanther. I guess he just like to make a sport out of flirting and of breaking hearts. And maybe he just liked to test the full capacity of his charms.

"How about me? I wouldn't mind a foot massage," Yushin, a hunter, stated with a grin.

Raizen glared daggers at him.

Yushin was a very annoying person, in my point of view that is. He teased everyone for their weaknesses and was the type of person that said the wrong statement for a situation. But he was a very skilled hunter. He had saved the party from monsters in many a number of times.

"Yushin, mind your own business," Reisha snapped.

"Oho… so you do like me," Raizen said with a self-satisfied grin.

"Shut up Raizen before I get irritated with you."

There it goes again. Those biting remarks, and tone, that could and would make any person feel like a total idiot. An impatient command or a stinging remark was all that you will ever hear from Lanther. Never had he uttered even just a simple compliment nor had his face showed any emotion aside from blankness, impatience, and annoyance.

Reisha's gaze and mine met. She raised an eyebrow as though implying "What's with him?" and then shook her head, telling me silently that she couldn't believe that someone could be so arrogant and so annoying as him. I just shrugged and lay down on the grass to enjoy the rest of the minute-long break.

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To Be Continued…

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