TRIP START

Maple Falls

August 2040

Now that they had largely gathered everything together and their luggage was already ready to go, they could set off.

Marga was worried but knew she couldn't stop the two young men. She wasn't worried about Joshua, he had often made it here without being seen but the boys had never made it out of this small town. They had been trained and well trained here, according to the instructions she had received from Alec, but she had never taken the two of them with her to another city.

He had been the one who had been through Manticore's training the longest and knew all the important details and all the units of the training exactly.

He was also the one who regularly sent Joshua out to check on everything. She even always had the feeling that he was watching her. He had sent instructions regularly and had not always been squeamish about it.

The two children had to follow strict and often harsh instructions from an early age. Despite everything, she had tried to do her best to create a home for the two of them in which they felt comfortable and secure and did not rebel against the often tough training requirements.

Both of them had cried more than once and had been desperate, had asked questions and longed for their parents, but in order to protect them both she had to suppress her sympathy and continue to try to keep them both happy.

In the end it wasn't that difficult, because the two of them quickly found a feeling of community and belonging in the small town, they trained hard, learned incredibly quickly and became more and more resilient over the years. Since the trainers were also from the X series, the boys had no idea how special they were and how much more they could achieve than any normal person. They felt normal and that was more than she wanted all these years. It was only when the two of them roamed around the national park for days that she became afraid that the Familiars had not lurked for them somewhere out there. She was always happy and relieved when they returned safely.

But now it was actually supposed to be a farewell for an indefinite period of time. She had to let them go.

This development was foreseen and in a certain way already laid out in the basic plan, but Marga still didn't know whether this was the right path.

Ben came down the stairs. He was wearing a leather jacket over his hoodie and slightly faded jeans and for a moment Marga wasn't sure who she was looking at. The 15-year-old, so similar to Alec who arrived here with Max, she was amazed at how this little bundle that he had given her back then could already seem so grown up and even more so how it could become so incredibly similar to Alec.

The training and all the instructions from his own experience must have had a lot of influence on Ben.

Seth had dug out a pair of old troop camouflage pants from the Manticore collection. He was a little more practical with his clothes and now stood there next to Joshua, looking almost small and delicate compared to the giant but, as always, radiating enormous strength and unwavering self-confidence.

They were ready, Marga now saw that too.

She briefly went into the kitchen and with a smile gave each of the three travelers a small snack packet wrapped in paper. She handed Ben his medication one last time and he looked at her gratefully like he always did before. He had a deep gratitude in her eyes from the first moment she accepted him as a small bundle.

She had also already packed and would now have to leave the house before the trio and say goodbye.

It was late afternoon and she had to take the train to Canada to see her daughter so that she could finally have a bit of a family life after such a long time.

She was happy to do it. The two young men had quickly grown fond of her and she now left with a crying but also a laughing eye.

She hugged the young men, said goodbye to them both and set off. Later, under the cover of twilight, the three would also leave the house and begin their search for their identities.

Ben, Seth and Joshua had checked everything again and looked through the luggage more than once when Ben remembered the map. The card was still in the drawer from which he had pulled the ribbon for its pendants. He also put it in his pocket without knowing exactly why he would need this card.

It was slowly getting dark outside, dusk and with it the departure was getting closer and closer.

When the time finally came, the two looked into each other's eyes and Seth nodded at Ben as if to say:

"It's okay, we're doing the right thing."

Joshua was ready and they looked around one last time before closing the door of the small cottage, their home, behind them forever. It had quickly become dark and all you could see were three shadows walking up the hill towards the national park.

The three of them were standing in the same place where Alec had waited until Max gave the green light to see if they were at the right house. The place where Alec stood half-hidden, without being seen from the house, is where the unthinkable happened.

They heard something like an explosion, saw a huge fireball, wooden beams bursting, glass shattering, and in a second the small country house was on fire.

A pressure wave of hot air even reached their location and the three of them instinctively threw themselves on the ground. The flames lit up a large area around the house, but not the area where the three had just fallen to the ground.

"Enemy"! It was all Joshua could say and "Run" could be heard before the giant jumped up and ran as if the devil himself was after him.

Ben and Seth followed suit and ran, they ran and ran until they were deep in the national park.

"What the hell was that," Seth uttered breathlessly as they took a short breather to orientate themselves there in the shelter of the trees.

"Familiar"!

Joshua said this with an undertone that made both boys shudder.

So now it was time. The two looked at each other with determination but also concern and it was clear to both of them that difficult times lay ahead that they would have to face.