Hey everyone! I have been trying to keep these updates coming as fast as I can. But senior thesis is quite a commitment. Anyways, enough moaning and groaning. Here is the next installment of Template! Enjoy!

"Phew, at least this gets her out of the city…" Elsword muttered under his breath as he loaded up his cockatrigle, that he had named Choco. He had found an egg in the fires of Velder when they were fleeing the city and he thought it was going to look great on his dinner plate. But when Aisha told him it was a cockatrigle egg, he thought he might try to actually create something for a change, as he had a knack for breaking things.

So, during the invasion of Hamel, he kept it safe, and then during the gang's excursion into Hamel, the egg hatched. The cockatrigle chick proved to be just as feisty as he was and he could still to this day remember the pain of the talons carving crimson marks into his face. But he felt connected to the little guy and eventually settled on calling him Choco, despite Aisha's protests to call him Archibald. Who calls anything Archibald anyways?

But the true bonding came when Joaquin, the insane demon alchemist, trapped the ElGang in a hallucination with drugs during the final push to retake Velder. Apparently, as the gang fought off illusions and struggled to survive the chemicals coursing through their veins, Choco engaged Joaquin in combat, tearing into him with his talons and firing lasers from its face and eyes until help arrived and the allied alchemists made an antidote.

After the ElGang was cured, they relieved the battered cockatrigle and finished off Joaquin. Throughout the following days that Choco was recovering, Elsword never left his side, citing that he did not abandon him when he was in need. Ever since then, the two were considered two peas in a pod. They were an inseparable team and partners in crime in some Elsword's occasional mischief.

Choco's ruffling snapped the Infinity Sword's trip down memory lane as if it agreed with his previous statement. The two partners looked to the Crimson Avenger now, who was finishing tying down her gear onto her own cockatrigle.

"Yeah, I know. She has been making you uneasy too, huh? I just wish there was something we could do to help her…" At his master's mumbling, the cockatrigle let out a small screech, something that Elsword attributed as supportive.

"Thanks partner maybe that would work. If we find a hot spring or something, maybe we can get her take a load off." He smiled to the bird who then sent a chirp in his direction, making his eyes go wide. "Hey! Not so loud. If she knew we were planning to peep on her too, she would-"

"Who would do what, Elsword?" The two perverts jumped at the sudden voice and turned to see Raven had already finished packing and was checking in on them.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" The knight and his mount both shook their heads so rapidly that they were nothing more than blurs, earning a cocked eyebrow from the Veteran Commander.

"If you say so. You about ready to go?" Raven shrugged off the suspicion.

"Need you ask? Me and Choco are always ready to go. Just give the word and we are ready to turn on the heat." Elsword grinned as Choco nodded his feathered head. The veteran let a small smile creep onto his face at the youth's confidence.

"There is no guarantee that we will be seeing combat, but then again, you never know. We are all counting on you." He snapped off a crisp salute which the young knight promptly returned. Raven then turned and strode to his own bird to double check the knots on his supplies, leaving Elsword and Choco to continue hatching schemes…

Just as Elesis finished her preparations for the trip, she caught a familiar figure out of the corner of her vision: Raven. The Veteran Commander was checking his pack and making sure it was secure for the trip. A wise course of action, but that was not what made her mind wander.

Ever since yesterday's events, she had replayed the situation over and over in her head, wondering what could have gone differently. She had actually felt an urge to not just hurt Raven when he told her to back off the other day, she wanted to kill him.

This urge… it was not normal.

Sure, she had quite the murderous streak ever since her brush with death in Feita, but never before had she wanted to hurt her allies. Her heart and mind knew that Raven was a friend and boon companion, but something was pushing her yesterday to tear into him and kill him.

How could she lose control like that? Lately, she felt this burning rage and anger inside of her. When she was traveling with the ElGang before, those urges were fed with the blood of her enemies. Now, however, there were few to no adversaries to stymie these murderous urges. And it was getting to the point where she would attack almost anyone who showed even the slightest hostility to her, even if it was not directed at her.

That poor child a couple days back, she could still see his tear-filled eyes widen in fear as she brought her claymore down on his tiny form. If not for her brother diving in front of the blow, she would have killed him. This was not including other incidents, like beating a mugger with her bare hands until his face was nothing more than a swollen, red mess, or when she nearly impaled a mother on her blade for attempting to steal formula to feed her three month old child.

Before Feita, she would have let these people off with a small warning or ignore them entirely, but now…

She hated this. She wanted to stop this, but she felt that she was no longer in control anymore. It was as if –

"Alright, looks like everyone is ready to go. Here is what we know." Her second in command, Cross Guard Chief Penensio , interrupted her thoughts with his booming voice and she gave him her full attention, as she had not seen the reports until just last night. "The city of Elder has gone silent for almost a week. The last reports that came through indicated that something massive was skirting the edges of the city and that the Elder garrison and the Red Knights we sent would investigate. We lost all contact after that, so now we are heading over to find out what is going on. Are there any questions before we march?"

"Yes sir." A Red Knight officer whose name slipped Elesis' mind spoke up. "Are we assuming that the demons have generated another gate near Elder?"

"Right now, we do not have enough information to make that call. However…" Penensio's tone darkened. "Assume that whatever is over there is hostile. Be ready for anything, demon or otherwise."

"Understood!" The officer from before snapped off a crisp salute, as did the remaining knights as they mounted their cockatrigles and prepared to leave. But as Elesis swung her legs over her mount, a feeling of ecstasy overtook her for a brief moment.

She was excited. She hoped against her better judgment that the demons had truly returned. Despite the pain and suffering they would bring on their return she would now have her target of vengeance back to cut into bloody ribbons.

How it excited her! She could not wait to get to Elder and see for herself who this enemy was.

But there was one more reason she could barely keep her cool.

Wally. Lord Wally of Elder.

That bastard of a lord extorted his citizens a couple years back and showed that the ones meant to serve as leaders were far from the saints that she initially believed. It was because of him that she started down a darker path, becoming a Dark Knight in order to mete out justice no matter the culprit.

Her actions back then brought Wally to death's doorstep on Altera, but she left him alive for the authorities to apprehend. But, after she and the ElGang retook Velder, the Lurensian continent was in a state of disarray. Much of the leadership had been wiped out in the wake of the demon's assault, and Elder was in need of a leader.

Unfortunately, there were no other lords that could step up to lead the city. Except one…

Wally was released on the sole conditions that he be under constant surveillance by the Red Knights and that he would follow the directives from a team of advisors appointed by Penensio and Elesis. However, Elesis was far from thrilled at this decision, and she neglected in choosing candidates for the position, leaving Penensio to do all the work.

And to top it all off, Elesis was given a restraining order by the surviving Velder nobility to prevent her going anywhere near Elder. It seemed that they were concerned that she would cut down Wally the next time she saw him, and that she might actually go out of her way to hunt him down.

They were right. For the first two weeks since Wally's reinstatement, Elesis was caught attempting to sneak into Elder on four separate occasions. Each time they forced her to return to Velder through force using special restraints that were designed with the intention of holding demons captive, more than enough to hold a crazed knight. She was held for one day in solitary confinement for each offense and the next day, upon her release, she would try again, only to fail and be returned in chains.

Eventually, she gave up the notion of exacting her revenge on the corrupt Elder noble, but her blood still boiled at the thought of such a man being given a second chance. What of her comrades that she had to watch die in Feita? Why could they not get a second chance? It angered her to no end.

But there was a single silver lining to this: She was permitted to enter Elder under supervision in the event of an emergency. And a city dropping out of contact for a week certainly qualified as such. The Crimson Avenger was unsure if she would be able to find and kill Wally during their investigation, but she would figure the details when she arrived.

With these thoughts, she spurred her cockatrigle forward along with the rest of the Red Knights…

It only took the legion of Red Knights plus Raven a day to reach Bethma where they would await the arrival of Chung Seiker and Ara Haan. The cockatrigles were given a well-deserved rest at a nearby spring while the Red Knights ran scenarios for the coming investigation, with Raven and Penensio spearheading the exercises.

Since Elsword was participating in these drills, this left Elesis to brood in the shadows of the inn. She just wanted to get to Elder and put these urges of hers to rest, but she would not get far without an escort, so she had to wait. Being the leader of the Red Knights, she could excuse herself from these maneuvers as she knew each one like the back of her hand.

As she watched her little brother attempt to disarm Raven in close combat, which he failed epically in as the Veteran Commander tossed him off like an old sock, she felt something well up inside her. It was a feeling that she could nearly consider foreign now. It was a feeling of pride and sisterly love for her sibling's drive.

"I hope we are on time."

"Miss Haan, please watch your step!"

With a comical cry of despair, a black and white figure fell from the roof of the very building Elesis was leaning on, landing in a pathetic heap on the dirt. Elesis almost brought her blade down on the intruding presence, but after hearing the pitiful mass of flesh and cloth moan in a familiar fashion, she released her weapon.

"Ara, how can you still be this clumsy? One would think that these past couple of months would have made you less of a klutz." The Crimson Avenger sighed as the pile finally struggled to its feet, revealing a young, sable haired woman with ample proportions and a less-than-conservative attire.

"But Eun said she would help me land. Eun, you tricked me!" The young maiden's round, heterochromic eyes were on the verge of tears as she cried to an unseen perpetrator. Shortly after Ara had recovered from her fall, a small dragon, called a Hamling, glided from the roof carrying a blonde, armored boy.

"Sorry for the scare Miss Sieghart. We didn't see you there." He scratched the back of his head nervously as he dismounted and unfastened a rather large cannon from his mount. Finally free of its cumbersome load, the white Hamling sprawled on the ground with an explosive exhale, earning it an apologetic look and pet from its rider. "Get some rest, you worked hard."

"So what have you heard about this mission?" The Crimson Avenger inquired to the newly arrived pair. She noticed that their expressions almost immediately darkened and Ara was the first to recover and answer.

"We heard that Elder has been awfully quiet and there is something massive on the outskirts of the city. Do you think… it is the Dark Nephilim? The one from Velder?" Her voice slightly quivered at the mention of the beast, and Elesis felt herself inwardly cringe. That monster was a terror and the thing that secured the demons' victory in the humans' first attempt to retake Velder. She could still remember the behemoth plowing through barricades and smashing fixed cannons like they were ants as it tried to crush the remaining human forces into paste.

The Elgang was barely able to critically wound the beast before it made it to the port, forcing the demons to retreat and allow the humans to escape. But they never finished it off until they returned months later with Hamel reinforcements. Then, they had restricted its movements with the Hamel Guardians laying down a continuous siege on the demon while the ElGang moved in for the fatal blow.

The thing was dead, but it was entirely possible that there was more than one Dark Nephilim, as Chloe, the dark elf who summoned creature had been capable of summoning it again and again. But that was according to intelligence before the battle, so when they engaged the demons in combat, Rena had slipped through enemy lines to find and take out her evil counterpart. Though the Night Watcher was unable to kill the dark elf, she did force her to retreat and prevent her from summoning additional reinforcements. Following this line of thought…

"If it is the Dark Nephilim, there has to be a summoner somewhere. We have no intelligence regarding that. Also, have you heard of the homes vanishing on the outskirts?" Elesis posed a question to the duo, and their eyes went wide.

"Vanished? Not destroyed?" Chung was bewildered. If homes were vanishing, which meant they never existed in the first place, it might be something they had never faced before. Seeing that her question got the pair thinking a little too hard, she gave a light wave of her hand to indicate that they should disregard it.

"Don't worry. Whatever it is, it apparently doesn't have any back up or foot soldiers to support it. We should be able to manage with the legion here and us just fine." She attempted to reassure them, something that she normally did not do anymore. But around the members of the ElGang, she felt that she had to be a little more understanding.

"Ah, they arrived. Good." A voice from her peripheral caught her ear and she turned to see Raven, slightly perspiring from the exercises. He held up his human hand in greeting. "It's been a while you two. How have you been?"

"Oh, Sir Raven. I have been well. How have these past months been treating you?" The Asura bowed gracefully to the Veteran Commander, unwittingly revealing a bit more than she should, earning a small, but exaggerated cough from him. She quickly straightened her back like she was struck by lightning and the bow on her head seemed to perk up like fox ears.

This girl… She still has some growing up to do. Raven mused to himself as the Tactical Trooper strode up to him, hand outstretched.

"It is good to see you, Commander Raven. Have the Crow Mercenary Knights been busy?" As Raven was about to grasp the boy's hand, a crimson blur leaped over his head and onto the unfortunate blonde victim.

"Man, you gotta lighten up, Chung! We haven't seen each other in a long time! Come on, give me a hug!"

"Damn it, Elsword, get off me! Why can't you just greet me like a normal person!" Raven and Ara chuckled as the Infinity Sword and Tactical Trooper scrambled over each other, one trying to hug the other and the other trying to get him off. Only Elesis remained stoic throughout this small event.

"So anyways…" Elsword finally leaped off of Chung and swept off the dirt on his pants. "It really has been a while. How have you two been holding up?" Raven could have sworn he saw the boy's eyes drift slightly down when looked at Ara, but chose to not say anything seeing as it was taking a considerable amount of effort on his part to avert his own eyes.

"We've been doing pretty good. Miss Han and I – "

"Wait wait. Back up. We?" The Infinity Sword cutoff his blonde haired compatriot with a huge grin plastered on his face and began waving his index finger from the girl to the boy. "When did this become we?"

Chung and Ara both looked to each other with looks of confusion before turning back to the young knight.

"Um… What Sir Chung is trying to say is that we have been working together over these past few months to locate my brother. The Hamel Guardians wanted to interrogate him and I just wanted to find him, so he contacted me a while back to tell me he wanted to collaborate with me on my search." The young girl clarified to Elsword, resulting in him giving an audible groan of disappointment.

"You are okay with your brother being interrogated by people that might want to see him dead, Ara?" Raven posed a small question and the Asura shook her head.

"Sir Chung has assured me that no harm will come to him if he is no longer possessed by the demons. Seeing as they have vanished from Elrios, I am sure that Ran is no more and my brother Aren has been restored." A small light in her golden eye seemed to shine, giving voice to her hope.

"I see. That is one way to look at it. But you are also okay with putting your search on hold? You seem to be awfully accommodating on this goal." Raven was legitimately curious. Normally, this girl was fiercely protective of her brother, even going so far as to bond with a spirit to find him and, if need be, protect him from her new companions.

"Actually, Sir Raven, we think that Aren might be involved with this Elder incident." Chung spoke up, earning him the attention of everyone present. "If demons are indeed the cause of this loss of communication, Aren might be there trying to stop them. That was how he was possessed in the first place, trying to halt the demon advance on Fahrmann."

It was sound reasoning. Although, one could also say that they were now grasping at straws, as it seemed they were no closer to finding him now than they were months ago.

"Whatever your reasons for being here are, as long as you don't get in the way I think everything will sort itself out." Elesis finally separated herself from the wall and began to walk back to camp. "Just bear in mind that I will kill him if I catch him and he is working with the demons."

The remaining four watched her as she walked away, Ara heaving a huge sigh as she left earshot.

"Is Miss Elesis still… upset that the demons left?" She wrung her hands in front of her chest as a worried look crept onto her face.

"Yeah, she has gotten better, but that is still not much." Elsword answered with a sigh and began to scratch his head. "I really don't know how she is going to adjust to the way things are now. She has been destroying the training dummies less often, but…"

"She will come around eventually. We just have to be patient and help her as needed." The Veteran Commander patted the Infinity Swords shoulder with his human hand before looking to the rest of the group.

"You probably had quite the trip to get here. Let's get your bed spaces set up and get some food into your stomachs. We leave tomorrow morning at first light." Ara and Chung's eyes seemed to brighten slightly at the mention of food.

"Yes, of course!"

"A warm meal is just what I need. Miss Han's pot stickers are great… Too great. I ate my whole share during breakfast…" The Tactical Trooper moaned as his stomach let out a beastly growl.

Laughter filled the air as the reunited friends, plus a Hamling, strolled back into camp for a night of conversation. They had several months to catch up on after all…

Now, I am well aware that many of my chapters lack the action a lot of other stories do, but I feel like fleshing out the characters is very important, if not more important than the action sequences. We are coming to a point in this story where things will get really exciting, but for now, you will have to deal with the establishment of the characters. Anyways, please Read and Review because it motivates me and that leads to faster updates. The next Boundaries update is in the works now that this update is up and I will be starting a Fire Emblem story after that. So, continue with the support and I will continue with the writing. Until next time!