It was going to be a warm summer.

First Hunter Gilham thought as he stared beyond the horizon, his attention turned to see the sun already high in the sky and the woods that rested at the end of the Serpent Wyrm's Trail. He sighed, taking the moment to raise an arm, and swat a fly that was trying to get in his face. He turned away, looking back at Caer Oldwym and those gathered before him; his staff and his students, the latter of which were either being blindfolded or getting small swats on the hand as they tried peeking through their clothes.

"Children." He spoke in a strong and steady voice, getting the children to stand at attention and stop playing with their blindfolds. "It has been nearly eight years since you have been taken in." He began. "In those years we have taught you many things, both to serve you as future hunters and as a people." He continues. "It hasn't been easy for you. We have worked you to the bone, pushed you the brink and beyond." He paused for a moment. "But I must say, I am proud of you all." Gilham smiled, though they couldn't see it behind their covering. "You have studied and trained hard, and now, now it is time to put your training to the test." He told them as his smile faded. "Today you will be given your first Trial." He stood straighter as he spoke up. "The Trials… the Trials are an ancient tradition passed down throughout the times. They are a Rite of passage, one that must be overcome if you seek to progress down the Path and in doing so, only then will you be seen as a hunter." First Hunter Gilham took a minute to crack his old bones.

"This is your first Trial, The Trial of the Wilds. Of the Trials this is the simplest. Each of you will be led into the forest surrounding Caer Oldwyrm. Your objective is to find your way back home, that is all." He told them and they tried looking at each other. "However, you can not remove your blindfolds under any conditions." He stated firmly. "If they are removed or you are caught cheating you will be punished, understand?" They nodded. "You will have to rely on your other senses to come back to us. You have until the morning, if you exceed that time limit, you will fail." He turned to his staff as he nodded and they each pulled out what looked like a small container of sorts strapped to some string. "Once you have been escorted down into the forest, your teacher will strap an incense burner to your belts. In it will be Beastbane incense; their scent will repel the creatures of the forest below; it will keep you safe, but know this, once the incense has completely burned out, it will no longer work and you will have to rely on your senses and luck to avoid predators." He paused. "Do each of you understand?" Nods in agreement and a chorus of yes sir were directed his way. "Good." He responded. "Now, good hunting children, and may the Five watch over you."

"Alright this should be far enough." Jacob muttered before setting the youth down on the ground and looked at them. "You good?"

"Yeah." Gales muttered before trying to rub his eyes through the cloth. "Can I take this off for a second; I think I got something in my eyes."

"No."

"Come on~" Gales whined. "Please?"

"No." Jacob stated as he pulled out his incense burner and opened it up before lighting the incense within. That done he started tying it to the youths belt and tugged slightly to make certain it was properly fastened. "Alright, that should do it." He muttered as he got to his feet and started walking off. "I'll be off then." Jacob stated as he started walking off, leaving the 13 year old behind.

"Can't you wish me luck?"

"No~" Gales just pouted as he listened to the Hunter wander off, disappearing into the woods before Gales turned elsewhere before trying to make out where he was. "This would be so much easier if I could see." He grumbled as he tried walking off in the direction he was pretty sure Jacob had gone.

He walked right into a tree.

"Oh- fuck!" He rubbed his nose as he used one of Ashe's favorite words. "Ok, not that way." He grumbled before placing his hand on the tree and feeling it. He tried walking around it, using his hand to outline the tree as he did and walked on, putting his hands in front of him to feel out his surroundings.

Lola tried not to snicker as she watched Erza trip over an upraised root and face plant against the ground. She shook her head at the sight, raising a hand to her mouth as she did and caught Erza getting back up, kick the branch as best she could before stumbling, catching herself before she landed on her back.

'And I thought Irene's kid was the mature one of the group.' She thought as Erza started walking off, only to bump into a tree and proceed to kick it as well. "Well, we can't be mature all the time, now can we?" She whispered as she watched Erza head down a path and quietly started to follow after her, keeping her distance so as to not let the student catch on to her presence.

9 hours; That's how long it has been now. Vincent realized as he and the others stood at the entrance of the keep. Still, glancing at the others he found that hunters Ashe and Irene were both pacing, something didn't do often. "Stop it." He muttered, drawing their attention. "You're gonna give me a headache if you keep doing that."

"Sorry." They said together.

"I'm just… worried." Irene muttered

"About Erza." Alan asked from his seated position.

"About all of our trainees." She tried correcting him.

"But mostly Erza." He added as she frowned at him, a glare upon her face as she did. "Come on don't be like that, we know you have a soft spot for her, She is your daughter after all." He didn't bother looking at Ashe. "Same could be said for Gales being Ashe's son." Alan stated. "You're kids are your soft spot.

"Gales/Erza isn't my soft spot."

"Keep telling yourselves that." Vincent stated with an eye-roll.

"They'll be fine." Alan stated as he got to his feet before reaching up to stretch. "They all will, we trained them the right way."

"I know… I still worry." Ashe muttered. "It feels like only yesterday that h - they came here." Alan just smiled at her. "Those are our kids out there, and it's their Trial."

"Trust me, we know." Lucresia stated, adjusting her glasses. "We're all worried, even Vincent."

"No I'm not." Was his response as he turned a page in his book. "I'm not worried at all." Lucrecia and Alan rolled their eyes at his words.

"How long do you think it'll take for them to start getting back?" Irene asked after a minute of silence.

"Maybe another hour, maybe two." Jacob voiced his opinion. "Only the Five really know."

Everyone fell silent as they went back to waiting, and in turn the silence just grew louder. No one really knew what to say, all they could do was wait and see what happened.

We got someone." Ashe perked up as she took a step forward before stopping.

"Who is it?" Alan asked as Vincent stayed silent for a moment gazing beyond before his face started to crack into a smirk.

"My brat."

Everyone hates those nights when you just can't sleep.

Or at the very least Ashe did. Sighing to herself the woman just laid in bed, and stared up at the ceiling. She didn't really focus on anything, instead just stared off into oblivion. Raising a hand up to her head she took a long breath before pulling herself from bed, her feet hitting the carpet as she ran the same hand through her hair. Without a word she got up, tied her robe into place and just headed downstairs to try and clear her head.

It's really quiet tonight. Usually she can hear a few of the creatures in the forest below, like several of the Fanged Beasts who like to howl out under the moon. Guess they were busy sleeping in their dens.

Not that she would blame them for such a decision.

Walking down the halls of her home Ashe took a minute ro run her hands across the brickwork, dragging her fingers across the cold stone as she moved on.

Of all the places she chose to go to, she headed towards the armory, and stepped in. Moment she did she heard what sounded like steel on stone, and turning her head she caught sight of Irene, Alan, Vincent and about 12 other working both the blade, bows and arrows and even the bowguns. "Up early I see."

Irene stopped her sharpening as she caught sight of the woman and gave her a mild smile.

"Ashe." She began. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"You guys were sharpening that blade so loud I could hear it from my room." Ashe joked as she looked around, her attention turning to see a number of weapons just resting either on a mat or in a basket. "You couldn't sleep either huh?"

"I'm afraid not." The redhead woman admitted as she gestured to a spot on the mat as Ashe settled down next to her. "We thought it would be good to do something since we couldn't sleep."

"I see." Ashe stated as she pulled a sword from the basket and looked it over. Settling down she grabbed her own whetstone as she started to sharpen it. "Guess we all had the same idea, huh."

"Seems like it." Vincient muttered as he continued doing maintenance on the bowgun before setting it aside and started again on another one. They worked in relative silence, with only the sound of stone on steel being used to fill in the silence.

"Hard to believe it's been 8 whole years now." Ashe muttered as she continued working. "Eight years since we brought in the kids."

"My, how time flies." Irene whispered. She smiled lightly. "Ezra's going to be 15 soon."

"So's Gales." Ashe admitted as she turned the blade over and started working the other side. "I'm glad they're both growing so well but…"

"You're worried about what will happen in a week." Vincient muttered as he started working on yet another bowgun. "I'm not surprised to be honest. After all, in a week that's when they'll be taking the next Trial. The two women fell silent, not bothering to deny what was said as they continued working.

They couldn't deny that truth after all.

While the Trial of the Wild had only passed a few weeks ago. What would follow in a week's time was the Trial of Merit.

And that was where the real test would be held.

Behind the keep of Old Wyverns, the Old Hunters kept an airship known as the Helmward. It's old, but it's a sturdy ship. It's been well maintained over the years, just in case it was called upon again. The students found themselves resting on the Airship as it carried them across the and. Each of them taking a minute to get used to the sword and shield, the bow and light bowguns that were now in their possession. They'd been flying for a good hour or so now, and it was a bit surprising to see how much ground they had covered in that time. They couldn't see the keep anymore. Hell they couldn't even recognize the jungle that they were flying over now. Let alone the ocean that they had crossed in order to come here.

That said Alan simply took a minute to stare down at the jungle beneath their feet before pulling himself away from the ledge as he turned to those that rested not that far from him. He grabbed one of those rubber balls he always had on his person and tossed it a few times.

"Welcome to Jurassic Isle." He began catching his ball and seemed to hold on to it. "A bit of background; it used to belong to some wealthy old man who hired the Hunters to collect eggs from various species to bring them here. The idea was to create a tourist attraction of sorts, one where people could come and see the creatures without the risk of being harmed in the process." He squeezed the ball and it popped in an instant. "Regrettably that idea fell apart due to multiple containment breaches and the isle was abandoned." He looked at the students discarding the ball he was carrying as he adopted an expression of seriousness they weren't accustomed to. "This will be the grounds for your next Trial, the Trial of Merit. The trial is simple, you will each be individually dropped off with the goal of reaching the isle's old airship dock somewhere on the isle. Your only clue in finding that location will come in the form of a piece of paper that shows only a portion of the isle." He stated with narrowed eyes. "Last student to make it to the airship will be left behind." He turned to the ocean at the edge of the isle. "And its a very long swim home." He watched a few of them gulp in worry. "Now who's first?" No one volunteered. "Gales, step forward."

Gales didn't say a word, but his face said everything; FUCK.

Still stepping forward, he only stopped when Ezra grabbed his hand and got him to turn to her for a moment. She hugged him patting his back with her shield arm as to wish him luck.

"The lake." Gales blinked in confusion before realization crossed his face.

"Right." He whispered back as Erza broke the hug and stepped back, letting Gales reach the edge of the Airship before turning to look at Alan who gave him a nod and gestured.

He jumped.

Touching the ground Gales took a minute to look around as the Airship started to rise and leave him behind. Taking a breath he watched everyone go for a moment before turning elsewhere, staring at the jungle that rested around him.

It looked alien, far different from the woods of the Keep. Just trying to stare into it seemed to offer this sense of dread he honestly wasn't used to, and that alone seemed to make his senses start sharpening. "This place feels…" He wasn't sure how to describe it actually. This place just felt different from what he had been expecting. Shaking his head though he headed off, deciding to head off to the place where Erza had directed him towards.

"By the Five…" The Isle was a completely different world from Caer Oldwyrm. The keep was spacious, but the isle seemed to stretch for what seemed like an ungodly amount of miles. More so, there were just so many creatures.

Herds of Herbivores like the; Aptonoth, Kestodon, and even the mammoth Larinoth were just wandering around. They weren't the only ones, creatures from different parts of the world were here, and Gales only knew that because of the etching he'd seen in the ecology books he'd read.

The creatures weren't the only thing he got to see though. There were things, bits of builds and fences covered in moss and overgrowth. Long ago the owner really had been trying to turn this island into something.

Erza was already at the lake when Gales had reached her, a Velocipray at her feet and her sword stained red. Yes, seeing she'd been attacked surprised him, but that didn't surprise him as much as the sight beyond it did. The lake was… beautiful. It wasn't just beautiful, it was alive. Creatures left and right were here, drinking, grazing without much thought.

By the five there was even an Anjanath just relaxing, though the herbivores were giving it a wide breadth.

"Wow~" Erza turned to him, sighing in relief as she started wiping her blade against the bird wyvern's leathery hide.

"You made it."

"Hey Erza." Gale waved as he smiled walking up to his sister in all but blood and hugged her. Erza just patted his back as she returned it, smiling slightly as he broke away and looked at the dead velociprey. "Been busy."

"Thing tried sneaking up on me." She muttered. "I got lucky that it wasn't with its pack."

"Think it's a rogue?"

"Maybe." Erza muttered as she looked to the forest as she settled down to rest. "Either case, nothing else is coming at me right now."

"Right." Gales joined her in sitting, leaning back as he stabbed his sword into the dirt. "How long do you think it'll take for the others to get here?"

"I don't know." Erza crossed her arms in thought. "Could be a few minutes, could be a few hours." She told him. Didn't matter how long it took, they'd wait for their adoptive siblings.

They only needed to wait about half an hour, or so. That was how long it took for everyone to come together. They shared small talk and eventually got to work, pulling out their pieces of the map as they tried rearranging it to get a better image of the isle.

"Alright, it seems that the airship dock is on a road where most buildings are." Shion stated as she pointed to a spot on the newly arranged map. "Looks like we're gonna have cut through that village to get there."

"Yeah." Zack mutters as looks at the others. "That's what, probably an hour walk?"

"Maybe a bit longer." Shion muttered as the others shrugged, not really knowing how to answer. "Still we better get a move on." She stated as her attention drifted to the sun. "We're burning daylight."

"Yeah."

They were smart kids, and in the end they all came home.

Even though they did have to deal with a pack of velociprey and their alpha, even though they had to deal with a full grown Anjanath chasing them at one point, they came home, bruised and tired as they were.

See the test of merit wasn't one about strength or survival - though they indeed paid a part. It was really a test of friendship, comradery, and loyalty. After all, Hunters rarely work alone in the field, and leaving one of their own behind may very well be taboo. Hunters were like a pack of bird wyvern and fanged beasts, they needed each other if they intended to make it through the day.

That was their truth, that was how they survived no matter how dangerous the Hunt might become.