The group sat down around the campfire, fish cooking and causing Raphtalia's tail to sway once again. Finn was staring at the tail, seeing how fluffy it was and wanting to pet it but restraining himself. Luna was chuckling at his struggle mentally.

"So what was your world like?" Naofumi broke the silence between the group, causing Finn to break his gaze from Raphtalia's tail and turn to the Shield Hero. "You seemed quite skilled so you clearly have some battle experience, but you also look like a child so clearly there are different rules in place than my world."

Finn sighed a bit, taking a deep breath before looking up at the stars overhead. "If I told you that humanity is nearly extinct would you believe me?" Naofumi didn't answer, keeping his gaze on the food he was cooking. Taking that as his cue to continue, Finn spoke once again.

"My world was just like yours or at least I assume it was, I don't remember. Humanity discovered an object floating around Jupiter, this object ended up terraforming multiple planets and moons in the solar system. We called it the Traveller.

"Eventually, it made its way to Earth and humanity thrived under its guidance. We created starships and colonized other planets in our system, it was a golden age for humanity. But, all good things have to come to an end.

"The Traveller had an enemy that it was running from, one that had chased it across the galaxy. When they reached our solar system the Traveller used its power to push them back, and with its dying breath created the Ghost's."

Finn held out his hand, Luna appearing in a flash of light and beginning to float around the campsite. She flew around Raphtalia's head causing the girl to chuckle, then floated to Naofumi who curiously gazed at the Ghost.

"The Ghost's were created to choose champions among the human race, beings capable of wielding the Light of the Traveller, Guardians. They brought us back from the grave to defend humanity, push back against the darkness. The reason I look like child is because when I died I was a child.

"I don't know how long it was since I died, I don't even remember my own name, my family, I remember nothing." Finn shed a couple of tears at that, Luna coming over to rest on his head. "I was brought into a world at war, and all I was told was to kill.

"The first firefight I got into was around 15 minutes after I came back. I was running from a group of Fallen, trying to make it to the other side of the wall and to find a jump ship to make it to the last city. Unfortunately, my aim sucked and I was hesitant to kill.

"But, my soon to be unofficially adopted father was on patrol that day and he ended up spotting the group of Fallen chasing me. After dealing with them and taking me back to the tower he showed me the ways to be a Hunter."

Finn formed a fist in his hand, creating his bow once again as he admired the purple glow. Then he stood up and let the bow dissipate before holding his hand out as if he were going to shoot a gun, a golden gun appearing in his hand that he aimed and fired at a tree, causing it to burst into ash. Then he let the gun dissipate and held out his other hand, clenching it and forming a staff of lightning that he swung and released a wave of energy.

"I quickly became on par with any of the Vanguard when it came to wielding the Light, though they were still hesitant to send me out on a mission. That is until Cayde-6, the Hunter Vanguard and my father, pulled me out and took me on a mission behind the Vanguards back."

"Why would you go behind this 'Vanguard's back? Wouldn't it have been easier to gain their approval?" Naofumi was confused, surely after seeing Finn's combat potential they would include him in their fights.

"You would think so, but no. See, I'm a rare case in the Guardians. Every single Guardian is an adult when they are risen, me being a child put people off from letting me join the fight." Finn smiled while he was reminiscing.

"So, Cayde decided that we would go on an unsanctioned op and prove to the Vanguard that I was ready to join the fight. I was still hesitant to kill a living being, probably a side effect of having a child body, so I was taken to kill robots instead.

"These robots were nothing like the kind Cayde was, mind you. These were robots hell bent on galactic domination, were capable of time travel and even teleportation. They were the perfect targets for my first kills, dangerous and not really alive. We ended up killing an Axis Mind of the Vex, a high value target.

"After completing the mission, both me and Cayde were scolded by Zavala and Ikora; Cayde mostly because he was supposed to be looking after me, but they eventually started taking me on more missions.

"On my most recent mission though, there was an incident. Everything was going fine, me and Cayde were kicking ass against the Hive, having the time of our lives, competing to see who could get the most kills, it was great. Then it wasn't."

Finn sat down once again, sighing as he remembered his last mission and the mess that came from it. He wondered if he would ever find a way back home, staring up into the night sky and wishing he could see the Traveller and its light.

"The Hive were performing a ritual, not sure what for, but it end up intercepting the summoning magic of this world. Or at least I think it did cause when I woke up I was in a summoning circle in Calinthea. They tried to make me their hero and I ended up killing one of their candidates to join my party. Then I left to go find you and now we're here."

The party sat in silence, Raphtalia not really understanding what the two were talking about and focusing more on eating her food. Naofumi sat their, thinking about what kind of world Finn had come from. It was nothing like his world, or any of the hero's world for that matter.

Humanity had traveled to other planets, colonized them. They had made robots that used to be humans. Aliens existed and they wanted nothing more than to destroy humanity. The dead were coming back to life and trying to defend humanity. It all sounded like a video game!

And yet, Naofumi couldn't help but think that Finn was telling the truth. The distant look in his eyes as he looked to the sky, the confidence that he spoke with, it all made him want to believe the boy in front of him.

"We'll find a way back." Naofumi spoke, not entirely sure why he spoke but continuing anyway. Finn looked at the Shield Hero, seeing pure determination in his eyes. "We'll beat these waves and get back to our worlds."

Finn stayed quiet for a moment, staring at Naofumi after hearing his declaration. Then a smile broke out on his face.

"Yeah. Yeah, we will."


Finn stood on a tree branch, keeping a lookout for any monsters or threats that would approach their camp. So far, it seemed like the fire was keeping them all at bay, but it had never hurt to keep vigilant, especially in uncharted territory.

Naofumi was also awake, by the campfire mashing some herbs and making some medicine, something that one of his new shields let him do. He figured that maybe the group could use the medicine to earn more cash, and maybe have some spare for the waves.

Raphtalia though, was asleep, her child body needing its rest after a long day of work. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the young girl would be doing much sleeping if her tossing and turning was anything to go by.

"NOOO!" Without warning, Raphtalia shot up, screaming with her arms out. Naofumi, startled by her outburst, rushed over to the young girl and quickly scooped her into his arms. "They're dead! They're dead!"

"Raphtalia, what's wrong?!" Cradling the girl in his arms, Naofumi rocked side to side, hoping to calm her down and stop her screaming.

"Father… Mother… No… They're dead, they're both gone…" Raphtalia clutched the Shield Hero's tunic, crying into it as Naofumi rubbed her head still.

"Calm down, it will be alright." He whispered into her ears, hoping that hearing his words would calm her down more. After a few more minutes of crying, Raphtalia passed out in his arms.

Finn chose this moment to appear, gun in hand and looking from side to side as if expecting an attack. "Any idea what caused that?" If they wanted to stop any other outbursts then it was best to try and treat it from the source.

"No, but it's likely that she saw her parents die." Naofumi laid the girl down again, laying her blanket over her once again. "Where were you?"

"I was making sure that no monsters were attracted by the noise." Finn explained and Naofumi nodded his head. It wouldn't do to have another problem with one of them out of commission. "We need to figure out what happened and try to get her over it."

"Yeah, but she's just a kid. We shouldn't force her to speak about it." Naofumi countered and Finn nodded his head as well.

"Alright, but if nothing changes then I'm questioning her. Maybe she'll trust my child body more and open up." The Shield Hero nodded to Finn's reasoning before returning to his herbs. He had a plan to sell the herbs in the city tomorrow after some more grinding.