Flannigan's footsteps could be heard against the marble floor, echoing through the large unlit hallway of the castle. Throughout his years of serving the kingdom, he had never been so nervous as he was that day. He had heard that the king wished to discuss a matter of great importance, the matter was unknown, but something did not feel right to him. 

    That day, King Edward wished to speak to his most trusted commanders, the Sun Soldiers. The group of ten commanders had served him for decades and had shown great skill in leadership, strength, knowledge, and brutality towards his enemies. Each one of the Sun Soldiers had been retired from serving in the front lines and now led the army from the comfort of the capital, Vagna. 

    It had been years since the kingdom had waged war, all that remained to do was to clean up the spoils of war, but Edward had different plans. In the last war, his kingdom had united with others in order to fend off an attack from across the sea. It was in the aftermath, when the invading army had been vanquished, and his fellow kingdoms had been weakened, that Edward found an opening to expand his kingdom. 

    Outside the castle, the night cloaked the capital, it had been the reason for the capitals placement in the middle of a barren plane. Centuries ago, when the great cities were being built, a lone settler traveled the land in search of a place to build. He had been charged with finding a location for a great city, which would rule the land, so he knew that if he failed, his lineage would be executed. 
    It had been after months of searching that the man came across a barren plane, large enough to hold a kingdom. The man knew that the plane would not be what his king would wish for, since the land would make it simple for an invading army to attack, but the man decided to explore the land anyways. He traveled calmly throughout the day, but not once night fell. Walking at night, he found that he had gone blind, he could not even see his hand while holding it in front of his face. The winds traveling the plane would send whispers throughout the plane, which terrified the man. At their sound, the man broke, screaming at the top of his lungs and ran around blindly throughout the night. 
    The man awoke two days later, having suffered a fall off a cliff, he limped back to his kingdom. It was there that he told of a mysterious plane which had the ability to drive men insane. His words were met by the kings anger, he was sent to a dungeon to wait for another scout to confirm his findings. Sadly for the man, the winds whispers had not left him, haunting him in the dark dungeon, he hanged himself on the second night of his imprisonment. 
    Once the second scout had arrived, he told the same tale as the first, and the king was pleased. The king sent out an army of slaves and some troops to the plane, with the orders that they should build a capital that had walls tall enough for no light to make it out, or winds to make it in. His plan was to make his dream capital, and the darkness would be his defense. If the walls were strong enough, all the city would have to do would be to wait till night, and the winds would drive the opposing army insane. 

        Now Flannigan walked through the centuries old castle, built on top of the same cliff the old explorer had fallen from, on his way to a secret meeting that could bring peace to the kingdom, or terrible ruin. After an eternity of nervous thoughts, he reached his destination at the basement of the castle, the war room. It had been the location of the meeting that had unnerved him the most, he could remember the last time they had been asked to meet in the room, Edward had pronounced his intent in joining the war against the invaders. There were no invaders this time, and neither were there reports of a kingdom preparing to attack them, which meant that Edward had his own reason for going to war. 
    

    Walking into the candle lit room, he knew that nothing would be the same come morning. The other Sun Soldiers had already arrived to the room, standing in front of the only furniture in the room, a round table large enough for the commanders and king to be around. Seeing this, Flannigan closed the door behind him and took his place around the table. Glancing around the table, he found the other Sun Soldiers with the same somber expression as his. 
    

    At the table stood the ten commanders, each wearing their customary gilded armor, and with them stood King Edward. The man had brown hair that reached his shoulders and wore armor the color of wine, he was easily the youngest of the group, only having acquired the throne a decade ago, at the age of twenty. Edward cleared his throat, signaling for the men to give him there attention.
    "Welcome Sun Soldiers, I apologize for the short notice, but I have a matter of grave importance. Please sit down" the king apologized, glancing around to make sure everybody had been seated before continuing. 
    "As you may know, the war to conquer the invading army has left several of the surrounding kingdoms in ruins. Their kings have asked for my assistance in their rebuilding. Our kingdom alone was left untouched, thus placing us in an opportune position" Edward explained, confirming the Sun Soldiers' fears. 
    
    Flannigan was the first to speak up, "King, are you suggesting that we go to war with the other kingdoms?" he questioned, hoping to not sound confrontational. The commanders had known that the surrounding kingdoms were in ruins, and many had pondered taking them over. Although the plane provided a natural defense, it was situated in middle of the other kingdoms, leaving them without access to the sea. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to expand their resources, but the thought of invading another kingdom seemed too cruel after they had just defended from another invasion. 

    "I am suggesting that we unite the other kingdoms, this will speed up their rebuilding, as well as deter any other attacks. Of course, not all the kingdoms will agree to the unity, but that is where our army comes in" Edward explained, knowing full well that his commanders had no actual say in the matter. He did not need their permission to attack a kingdom, but he needed reliable commanders, so he arranged the meeting to get rid of the weak. 

    The Sun Soldiers sat in silence, they knew fully well that they could not oppose the king. Flannigan glanced around the table, meeting the eyes of the other commanders. The look on their faces was all he needed to make up his mind.
"Alright King Edward, we shall follow your orders and assist you in this undertaking" he consented, knowing he had accomplished nothing.
    
    King Edward grinned at those words, something that always caused the commanders to fear him. "Thank you Flannigan, but there is one other matter that I wish to discuss. You see, with us taking over these new lands, it seems to me that we will be in need of a new type of soldier, one which is able to assassinate those who wish to bring harm to the kingdom. Along with being an assassin, this new type of soldier should also be able to take out an army to reach their target. The team of doctors has already been chosen and the facilities have been constructed, they are the best trainers and arenas that the world knows, and they are ready to begin the training process. Only one thing remains undone, the choosing of the soldiers" Edward explained. 
    
    Flannigan had heard of Edwards training programs, but had never seen the soldiers that were created. During normal meetings, a report would be given of the activities of the groups created through the programs, it was always a report of a captured criminal, never an assassination. It had been three of these groups who had been needed to capture their most notorious criminal, an insane man which had breached the castle and attacked the king's wife. The groups had suffered great losses, losing many of their members to the man, before he jumped off the cliff and broke almost every bone in his body. It surprised him that Edward wished to speak to them about his new program, he had never needed to do so when he had created the others. 

    Another of the Sun Soldiers, the oldest of the group, dared to speak up. 
"And how will you go upon the choosing of these new soldiers, King Edward?" he asked. The group sat in silence, staring at the king as he smirked. It dawned upon them that Edward had found the perfect recruits, but for some reason, he had to discuss with them first. 

    King Edward licked his lips, savoring the moment before he broke the news to his commanders. "After speaking with my most trusted trainers, we concluded that the new group should have around the same age and be the most skilled in the kingdom. Before, our methods for acquiring the recruits involved tracking down burglars, capturing pickpockets, buying slaves, and a few other methods that were not as humane. Gentlemen, you are my most trusted commanders, people who I chose to lead my army because of your various skills. While in the army, you were the most cunning and the strongest, along with other unique abilities that you hold. Due to this, there is no doubt in my mind that your children have inherited your various skills. It occurred to me that our children are around the same age. So I must ask for each of you to make a sacrifice, in order to save our kingdom. I need for each of you to contribute one of your children to the program, and in show of good faith, I shall give my only child" Edward explained. 
    
    The commanders sat in silent shock, to be asked to give away their children was too much for them. Each one of them knew of the outcome if they refused, but giving up their child, whom they had raised, seemed a worst fate than refusing. Finally, Flannigan stood up, tears rolling down his cheeks. "The thought of giving up my Sylvie to this program pains me greatly King Edward. Is there no way that you will reconsider your selection?" he begged, hoping to touch a chord in the heart of his king. 
    

    Edward sighed, he had hoped to avoid the emotional outburst from the commanders. "I apologize Flannigan, but no, the doctors have prepared to train your children, and they will not accept any substitutions. They wish to train the strongest and most cunning, anything else and they shall refuse to work. I also do not wish to give up my heir, but it is a sacrifice that must be made. For your sacrifice, I shall give you each a piece of the new kingdom, you shall become viceroys" he affirmed. 
    

    Flannigan nodded, being a viceroy meant that he could finally settle down somewhere and raise a family. He remembered just the week before, he had promised his little angel haired girl that he would take them to a nice valley, where they could play in the river and have fun in the meadow. Sylvie had been so happy and had already begun to tell her friends that they were moving. The thought of leaving her broke his heart, but this was an opportunity to make her wish come true. He would move to a valley and play in a river and have fun in the meadow, but it would be without her. 
"Alright King Edward, I shall give you my daughter" he resigned, immediately sitting down and sobbing silently. 
    

    Edward nodded towards the man, fighting his urge to smirk. He had always had a problem with smirking, catching himself doing it at inappropriate times, but unable to stop. Sadly, his son had just begun to do it as well, his little boy, with hair the color of red wine. His son would be the youngest of the group, the doctors had warned him that there was a great chance that he would die during training. When his wife had died, she had given birth to their son, her last words made him promise to protect the boy above everything else. Now he would give him up, with the hope that the doctors would train him well and he would grow up to be worthy of the throne. 

2: The Old Doctor

In Agran, the old doctor had hated to lose all his subjects so easily, but once he did, the doctors and soldiers quickly split up and traveled to the neighboring towns. Doctor Troy had been sent to Vice, while the old man traveled to Vyku. He believed his little subjects still thought the kingdom of Agran and the other kingdoms it bordered were enemies of King Edward, but this was no longer true.

Several kingdoms had fallen to Edward and were now ruled by vice lords who groveled at his feet. If his subjects were unknown of this information their capture would be swift, since they were now being hunted down by multiple kingdoms and the nearest haven was months away. It would soon be winter, the old man could feel it in the air, and once it was, the landscape would be treacherous and his little experiments would need a place to shelter themselves. During this time was when the doctors hoped to catch them, since they could not travel and would have to surrender.

The old doctor had reached Vyku faster than he had anticipated, due to his refusal to allow for his troops to rest for too long. It took them a day to reach the town and once he set his foot in the town, he had authority to take it over and do whatever he wished. He traveled to the towns controlling mansion, where he was met by the mayor of the town in his office, an anxious small man that would not meet the doctor's eyes.

Nervous, the small man did not waste the old doctor's time by trying to argue against the takeover, he quickly bowed to the old man and gave up the keys to his mansion. "Stand up mayor, I need you to give me some information" commanded the doctor. "Yes sir, right away sir, what do you wish to know?" asked the small man frantically, wishing to get rid of the doctor as quickly as possible.

"Tell me of all newcomers and suspicious activity that have occurred during the last couple of days" he demanded. The small man began to give a report of recent events, but the old man could not help but feel discontent at the man's stuttering and grew anxious at the time wasted hearing about unrelated events. It wasn't till the mayor began talking about local bullies beating up a blind boy that the old man grew alert.

The small man noticed the doctor's sudden arousal and stopped talking. Suddenly, the doctor turned toward the old man and demanded for the boys to be gathered and sent to him as quickly as possible. Waiting for the boys was a time of anxiety for the old man, but once they were brought, the boys refused to speak. Silent, the boys stood in front of the old man, fearing that they had been brought to him for punishment. As they stood quiet, with anxiety in their faces, the old man contemplated torturing the information out of them. But he resorted to the simplest method of gaining the information.

"I am not here to punish you boys, I have been sent in search of the blind boy" the old man began, as the boys' faces relaxed with hearing this. The old man continued "now tell me all the information you have of him and we will send you off with a nice gold coin for each of you". Hearing this, the boys quickly began to recount the previous day's events. Instead of all talking at once, the boys agreed to let one of them recount the events, the one who seemed to be the leader.

"My friends and I were loitering at the town market with the intention to just pull some pranks, but then we see this blind kid of about our age walking by" began the biggest of the boys. "Did you see his face? Or how did you know he was blind?" asked the old man, "no, he had it covered with a hood, but we could tell he was blind because he had a blind man's staff" the boy answered before continuing his story. "Well, as I was saying, blind boy strolls through and we thought we'd go take his walking staff. So we followed him out of the market and into the park, where he stops in a clearing surrounded by trees. By this time the boys and I decide to show off to our lady friends and beat the blind boy. As we begin to beat him, the kid seems to be stronger than we thought since he stayed up for half the beating, but we finally managed to get him down and just left him there".

The old man seemed to be skeptical at how Kid had not killed them, but he supposed it was because he didn't want to be tracked. He figured Kid had stayed at the place where he had been beaten and it had rained during the night, so there was a possibility he was sick and close by. Turning towards the mayor, he asked "could you acquire a map of the city that includes the park?" Without a reply, the small man nervously scampered out of the room and returned shortly with the rolled up map. The old man unrolled the map and had the boys point at the spot where the beating had occurred.

Close to the spot where they pointed was Whitewood Manor, the house of a wealthy duke was serving as the leader of an army currently seizing towns in another kingdom in behalf of King Edward. At this time, the office was occupied by the doctor, the mayor, the three boys, and five of the doctor's troops along with his lead guard. The old man handed the map to his lead guard and ordered him to take a group of 50 soldiers to search the park, while he took the rest of the troops and paid a visit to Whitewood Manor. As for the three boys, the old man spoke to them before leaving.

"Boys, you have done what I wished for you to do, so I shall give you the gold coins I promised you. But you have damaged my property, so I shall punish you for that" he said to them. The troops behind the boys seized the boys as they pleaded and squirmed. Coldly, the old man took out three gold coins from his pocket and handed them to his lead guard, who seemed to understand what to do with them.
As the boys attempted to fight out of their holds, the troops grabbed their heads, forcing their mouths to open by pulling down their jaws. The lead guard moved toward each of the boys and forced a gold coin down each of their throats.

3: Missing

As the world rushed by, Sylvie studied the landscape, recalling the route to her destination. She had avoided capture from the guards, but she had still been sliced open by a knife. Now she needed to get to the set gathering point to meet up with the others. The group had agreed to regroup at an area surrounded by trees and a small waterhole in the center.

Sylvie had traveled half the night to arrive to the spot without being seen, and she assured herself that everyone would be there. It was when the trees were in sight when she noticed another hooded figure running towards the area. Sylvie and the shade changed their directions to meet with each other before entering the trees. It wasn't till in was in front of her that she noticed that the shadow was Greg, and he was dripping blood from one of his sleeves. Instead of speaking, they continued their run toward the trees, reaching it in a matter of seconds. The closely clumped trees made it difficult for an armed soldier to get through, but Sylvie and Greg passed through easily.

Inside the clumped trees, they followed the route they had taken before into the center of the area. Sylvie led the way, with Greg making sure no one had followed them inside. In the center was a waterhole and beside it, a large boulder that had been carved out in order to serve as protection from the weather. Before reaching the center, Sylvie made her assigned signal, a bird cry, to announce her arrival, and Greg did the same soon after. They were met with a similar bird cry, which gave them permission to advance. Sylvie and Greg continued their path, reaching the carved out boulder that they had covered the entrance of with foliage. Greg stepped in front of Sylvie to make an entrance for them, making sure to not making it too big for as to let too much light out. He held open his improvised door for Sylvie to step in and then stepped in himself.

Once inside, Sylvie noticed that there were six figures around a small fire. She rethought the arranged plans, which involved her and Greg being the last ones to arrive. Counting Greg and her, there were a total of eight present, meaning that one had not arrived.
"Take off your hoods, now!" she commanded, surprising the figures with her outburst, they hesitated, but quickly made to follow the command. It took Sylvie but one glimpse of the faces to know who was missing. "Where's Kid?" she asked silently, with anxiety in her voice. The group did not meet her eyes, slowly shaking their heads. Till someone broke the silence, "We are assuming he was captured?" ask Greg. The only thing the rest of the group could do was nod their heads in resignation, but not for long.

"Impossible, before the soldiers raided the house, Kid left from the table and escaped out the back. So Kid is probably still free" explained John. "But if he had escaped, why isn't he here?" questioned Kim. "Kid is blind and this is new environment, he may have just gotten lost" replied John. "Or maybe he decided to separate from us" stated Sylvie.
"What do you mean? We've been together for years now, there's no way he would separated" asked John. "As I remember, before the raid, you had told us to either pick a leader or to separate. So I guess Kid decided to separate" accused Sylvie.

The rest of the group acknowledged her point and start at John, to see how he would defend himself. John knew Sylvie was correct, but did not want to be blamed, thinking about it he explained, "I only proposed to pick a leader because it would help us not argue as much and keep the group together. I didn't know Kid would choose to separate since he is blind and needs guidance". The rest of the group nodded in acceptance, but Sylvie did not.

"Well, you all can follow John as group leader, but I am going to go look for Kid" Sylvie exclaimed as she made her way out of the boulder. The rest called out to her, pleading that she stay, but Sylvie would hear no word of it, she stormed off to attempt to exit the wooded area. She did not go far before she heard the footsteps of the group surrounding her.

John stood in front of her, "We should talk about this Sylvie" he demanded. Sylvie looked around to see the rest of the group with their hoods down and ready to follow her in case she ran."You're not stopping me from finding him. Kid needs someone to be his eyes, so every second I spend talking with you may bring him closer to trouble" Sylvie warned as she attempted to walk around John, but again, he blocked her path.

"What do you expect to do, walk around and stumble into him?" John asked. "No, but you say he escaped from the back of the house, so I will go back and check to see if he left any clues to follow" she explained. "We all saw how the doctors reacted when they found that he wasn't with us, they want Kid back more than they want us, if Kid left a clue, the doctors have found it and are on his heels" argued John. "That just makes finding him easier, I just follow the route the doctors took" exclaimed Sylvie as she again tried to walk around him.

"Restrain her" commanded John, at first she believed his order would be undone, but two of the shades grabbed her and pinned her arms behinds her back. "I am sorry Sylvie, but as group leader, I cannot allow you to disband from the group, it could put us in danger if you were captured" explained John.

Sylvie attempted to break free from the grasps of her captors, but their hold was solid, she could do nothing but stand and converse with John. "So what is your plan great leader?" Sylvie questioned mockingly. "We will continue our way out of the kingdom. Thanks to Kid, we now have a map so we know how much of the land is controlled by Edward" explained John. Sylvie looked on helplessly as the thought of leaving Kid alone scared her. She shivered at the sight of her partners deciding to abandon Kid after all they had been through together.

John continued to speak to the group, "Do not worry about Kid, we know he is the most skillful of all of us, and we know he can survive alone. But in order to assure our safety and that you will stay with us Sylvie, I will have you decide right here and now. Will you stay with the group, or do we need to kill you?"

Sylvie was shocked at John's feelings toward her, after those years of wanting to be free together. She knew they could and would kill her, so she had no choice but to follow John and attempt to track Kid later. "I shall follow you John" Sylvie acknowledged defeated.
"Good Sylvie, and as thank you for your loyalty, we shall travel the direction Kid may have gone through" ordered John. Sylvie was released by her captors and she stood staring at John, he had squashed all opposition by humiliating her as an example to the rest. The group made their way back to the boulder in order to plan their route towards the edge of the kingdom. All Sylvie could do was to follow orders and keep her head low.

Once inside the hollowed out boulder, the fire was relit and the group began to discuss the best travel time and resting places. In the end, John decided to travel by night, rest in the small wooden areas, and to stop a day or two in every city they came across. John believed Kid would travel to the border in the mountains, where horses could not go through.

In the planned route, they would go through the towns of Velnad, Vared, Vice, Vyku, and finally the border city of Vak. They would spend nights traveling from town to town and some days at each town, which would mean that they would take at least three months to reach Vak. Sylvie did not want to waste another moment in their camp and persuaded John to have them leave immediately. The group gathered their belongings and moved toward the makeshift door, but before they could open it, John called out to them.

"Wait" he exclaimed, the group turned around to face John, "before we leave we need to check what belongings we have left" he commanded. As a group, they emptied their pockets and placed the items on the floor between them. Sylvie did so reluctantly, but kept her favorite dagger in her pocket. John looked over the small amount of items on the floor, "so we have six daggers, half a loaf of bread, some cheese, and eight gold coins. We will have to get more items soon; we can't risk traveling without weapons". John divided up the items, with him keeping the coins and Sylvie and Jen not receiving daggers.

With their hoods down, the group departed from their hide out after tearing down the foliage that had blocked them from being seen. The group split up, with some of them making their way through the dense plants on the ground and the rest jumping through the trees. It was a starless night and the shadowy figures were able to travel without being seen.

Once they reached the edge of the wooded area, John made the indicated signals to have everyone distance themselves from each other and begin to run towards Velnad. The group would split up until they reached the town, where they had agreed on a meeting point. Instead of traveling individually, the group split up into partners, with one boy and one girl, in order to pass for a traveling couple. Sylvie was paired with Greg; they would travel through barren plains, in between the other pairs and reach the town a day after John and Kim, who were taking the shortest route. The extra day would allow for John and Kim to purchase weapons and search the town for signs of the doctors. Cold morning wind blew through the barren plains ahead as the group separated with little more than "good luck".

4: The Light Stalkers

After hours of searching, the night had fallen and the old doctor met up with his lead guard at the mayor's estate. The old man and the guard sat in the sitting room as the man reported that the park was empty and there had been no sign of a fight, the search ended how the old man thought it would end, with the trail having been destroyed by the rain. With no sight of him in the park, the witness accounts of having seen the duke's daughter, Ellen, being carried by a hooded slave were what interested him most. The hooded slave was in no doubt Kid, but the doctor would have to come up with better proof before mistakenly raiding the house of a duke.

He pondered the situation for a moment before a memory came back to him. When he had knocked at the Manor's door, the daughter herself answered the door, with guards behind her. The old man resolved to hire one of the guards to report to him what went on inside the manor. He turned toward his lead guard and began to instruct him on what they would do next, "Victor, have the men change their chainmail for public attire and have them posted around the town and surrounding the Whitewood's house. Tell them to keep an eye on the inhabitants of the manor but to not have contact with them or give away their identities. If they see guards from the manor frequent a pub or other public place frequently, have them inform me". The orders were carried out swiftly, the guards left the Mayor's manor wearing clothes a commoner would wear and they stayed at the pubs to sleep.

In the morning, the old man awoke in the mayors manors, having slept there and was informed of where the troops had been posted when he went down to the manors dining room. The old man hoped it would take a minimal amount of time to be able to bribe a guard, but it took less than he had thought. A guard was let into the manor, he had come voluntarily, having heard of the doctors take over and seen him at the manor searching for the blind slave. When the old man was informed of the guard's arrival, he cringed at the thought of it being a blabbering dolt, or a weak man looking to gain power, but his fears were dissolved once the captain of the guard stood before him.

The man wore the guards' uniform, but had a plumed helmet and a broad build, he had a chiseled chin and a handsome face, not fit to be a guard. Skeptical, the old man stared at the captain standing before him, wondering about the reason why he would wish to betray the duke. The old man sat thinking of the man's possible reasons when the captain began to introduce himself, snapping him from his thoughts.

"I am Lucer, captain of the guards guarding Whitewood Manor. I come in regard to your visit yesterday to the manor in search of the blind slave", the man spoke in a thickly accented voice.

"Do you come to hand him over or to sell us information, Captain?" inquired the doctor intriguingly.

The captain straightened before responding, evading the old man's calculating eyes, "Information, my lord, I can tell you everything that has transpired since the blind boy arrived".

At this the old man's eyes narrowed, and he proceeded to question Lucer, "Why do you want to help us capture the blind slave, whom your mistress protects?"

To this, Lucer did not hesitate; he straightened his pose and responded, "I have been charged with protecting the manor and Miss Whitewood, but by bringing that slave in, she has endangered both the manor and herself. It is my duty to secure her safety, even if it causes her emotional distress, she will understand my reasoning eventually".

The old doctor now understood the man's reasoning for betraying the duke, so he could now go on with his intention to raid the manor in due time. "Alright Captain, I accept your reasoning and shall wish to repay you after you have answered my questions" said the old man with a smirk, placing his clenched hand on the table and opening it to let out a handful of gold coins. Lucer eyed the gold coins with anticipation and waited for the questioning to commence. The old man moistened his throat with a sip of water and began the questioning.

After his questions had been answered, only an hour had elapsed and the Captain left the manor with five gold coins for answering the questions and another ten for giving the old man copies of the manor keys. The doctor sat pondering the odd situation that had been presented to him. From the captain, the old man had learned that Kid had surrendered himself to the daughter and that he had agreed to attend an academy for the wealthy with her.

The old man was confused over why Kid would agree to this instead of sneaking away from the girl and crossing the border. A light went off in the old doctor's mind, if Kid would be attending a private academy, he could keep track of him by replacing some of the staff in the academy with his troops and himself. By taking over the academy, the old man could attempt to capture him at anytime, while making sure he stayed in the city while he sent word to Troy.

Before the doctor could get up from his chair to give orders, he was given a small note by his lead guard from the troops in Vak. It read:

Doctor,
We have been contacted by King Edward; he is sending his specialized capture group to your location. They shall meet with you shortly after receiving this message.
Dr. Neel

The old man put down the note and sat quietly, he had never met this group. He figured Edward would have another plan to capture the group, but he hadn't thought it would be another group. The old man began to ponder how the group would be able to capture Kid. He had heard of Edward using a specialized group to get rid of high ranking military officials that he no longer had a use for, but he had only thought of it as a pub tale. Suddenly, he felt a slight touch from his lead guard and he quickly opened his eyes to find a large group of masked figures standing in front of him. The old man took a moment to process the sight and reread the note in his mind, till he came to the conclusion that they must be the group from the note.

Before he could utter a word, the lead person began to speak, "Greetings doctor, we come from afar in the behalf of King Edward to assist you". The voice did not sound old at all; it occurred to the old man that this group was around the same age as Kid's group. Silently, the old man inspected the group, noting the groups mask and attire. The mask covered their faces completely, only allowing their hair to show, they were painted differently to resemble wild cats' faces. They all wore the same attire, consisting of a short faded gray traveling cloak that had a thin hood and it only reached to their mid section, and peasant clothing. The one that had first spoken seemed to have noticed the old man's doubtfulness; he thought it over and decided to remove his mask.

"Doctor, I am Zane, and this is my team" motioning towards the group, which bowed in return. "We are King Edwards elite capture force known as the Light Stalkers and we have been sent to assist you in your capture of his prized slaves" explained Zane.

As he had been talking, the old man had studied his face; it seemed like the one of a normal youth except for a scar that ran the length of his chin. The doctor pondered over how to use the group, "Zane, could you tell me the ages of your group?" he asked.

Zane felt a little confusion, but he quickly recovered and responded to the old man. "Our group ranges from 15 years of age to 19 years of age, I myself being 17 years of age".

The old man was pleased with the answer, since it meant that they could pass for students at the academy. "Alright Zane, I would like for your group to enroll at the school here, and I shall be your new Dean", this time Zane could not hide his confusion, and neither could the rest of the group. Calmly, the doctor explained his plan to them, and after some questioning from the group,

Zane agreed to it. The group sat down for lunch, eating silently and without their masks on. As they ate, the old man studied his new group, figuring out all he could from them. Some of the group would notice his stare, but would quickly move their stare as to not meet his eyes. The doctor found that the group was composed of twenty-one members, fourteen boys and seven girls, but he wondered what kind of training they had gone through.

After finishing their breakfast, they waited for the old man to stand before standing up themselves. Once he stood up, the old man had Victor, his lead guard; assign the group rooms, assigning two boys per room and three rooms for the girls. The old man knew the beds would not be used, but the group needed somewhere to change their attire, while he requested for items to be brought over.

From captain Lucer, he had learned that the daughter would move to the academy in two days, giving the doctor some time to advance his plan. It did not take long for the items to arrive, he had sent for a map of the academy grounds and four coaches. Shortly after the items arrived, the group came down to the sitting room, where the old man was studying the map.

The doctor frowned at the small map, noticing the many buildings the academy consisted of. After a short while of looking at the map, the old man set it down on his lap and turned to face the group.
"Due to the little knowledge I have of the school, I have arranged for coaches to take us to the academy today. Once there, we will pay a little visit to the current Dean". The group nodded, signaling that they understood his plans, and they followed the old man outside to the coaches.

Without words or signals, the group split up into coaches, leaving Zane with the old man in the middle coach. The trip was spent in silence; the school was behind a towering mountain, built there in order to keep it safe from raiding armies. During the long ride, the doctor studied his maps, while Zane looked over the contents of his pockets. The old man noticed this and spent a good while attempting to catch a glimpse of what the young man carried and see a clue of how the group hunted. He had been so busy with this that he had not noticed the academy walls approaching them. It wasn't till the coach had stopped in front of the academy gates that the old man took his eyes off of Zane, only having caught a glimpse of a small glass container.

The old man allowed for Zane to step out of the coach first, before being assisted by him to get down. Before the old man stood the large gates of the academy, well over 30 feet tall and 10 feet wide, they were two doors made of pure iron five feet thick. The door was engraved with:

Saint Peter Academy
Serving the Suns
Saluting their Sons

As the old man stood studying the outside of the academy, one of the iron gates began to open, revealing the castle behind it and the large school grounds. Saint Peter Academy was mainly meant to serve the high class, but in show of good nature, Edward had opened it to the commoners. This had gone well with the common people, but what they did not know was that their kids would be treated like trash by the rich ones, leaving them in bad living conditions.

It did not take the school guards long to fully open the gate, allowing for the doctor to see that the school grounds were larger than he had first thought, larger than Vyku. The academy was composed of a main building, a lake, a wooded area, high class buildings, servant quarters, commoner's quarters, sport fields, and the dean's manor. After studying all he could from the school grounds, the old man reentered the coach, with Zane helping him onboard. The carriage started again, taking the paved road towards the main building, but turning at the last minute towards the dean's manor.

Birds chirped and squirrels ran merrily through the lush grass as the coaches neared the large manor. The manor walls were of polished stone with marble roots embedded in them. Outside the manor, the garden was neatly kept, with a lush amount of blue roses blooming, and the current dean stood waiting outside for them, having received prior word of their visit earlier in the day. Once the coaches stopped in front of the manor, Zane stepped out and helped the doctor.

The old man walked toward the dean and acknowledged his bow; he was a plumped man with brown hair, who did not look very wise or very old.

"Greetings sir, I am Dr. Hargrave, dean of this fine academy. I received a letter of your visit, but am confused about it. Could you do me the honor of clarifying it?" the dean questioned, anxiously looking at the doctor as the group stood behind him.

The old man replied to the dean's request. "Of course Dr. Hargrave, all will be explained in due time. Could we step into your office first? My old bones no longer have the strength they used to and I must sit down after such a long ride".

"Of course, right this way sir", the dean replied as he turned around to lead them upstairs toward his office. The group grew smaller as members stopped following and walked silently onto other parts of the mansion. The dean's office was on the second floor, in a large room situated in a back corner of the house. Silently, the doctor and the remainder of the group followed, noticing every detail of the manor.

Once they arrived at the door of the office, only the old man, Zane, and two other boys remained with the dean. Inside the office, the dean sat in his chair, not bothering to ask the doctor if he wanted a chair for himself. The old man remained standing in front of the dean's desk as the dean turned his mood from respectful to serious.

"Alright old man, what is the meaning behind your letter?" the dean asked without the pleasantries or respect.

The doctor stood with a slight smile in his face. "I had hoped for you to give me a reason to decide whether I should keep you alive or kill you. You have given me this answer by not offering me a chair to sit on and disrespecting me" he explained.
"As for your question, I am here to take over the school. I shall be the new dean as of today, and no longer have a use for you Dr. Hargrave" the old man continued.
"Zane" he called as he stared at the deans shocked face, "will you do me the favor of showing me how your group hunts?" the old man asked.

"Of course doctor, right away" Zane responded as he moved toward the dean. The dean hesitated, looking at Zane as he removed a dagger from his pocket. Zane neared the dean, not seeking to kill him in the office, but to have him run out of the manor.

The dean fell from his chair and quickly moved to pick himself up and attempt to attack the doctor. He rushed toward the old man; arm pulled back, preparing to punch the old man. All the old doctor did was continue to smile, unworried of what the dean would do, since he knew that he still had two boys behind him and Zane behind the dean.

Before the dean could get close enough to the doctor, the boys behind the old man stepped in front of him and raised their elbows at the dean's level, waiting for the dean's momentum to carry him towards them. The dean could not avoid them; his face made contact with one of the elbows, all that was heard was the crunching noise of his nose breaking. Zane stood watching as the dean's body hit the ground, he only hopped the dean would still be able to move enough for the doctors wish to be granted.

Slowly, the dean began to move, reaching toward his broken nose and moaning in pain. Suddenly, he seemed to remember where he was and his current predicament and he began to raise himself. The boys in front of the doctor made room for the dean to reach the door, and he noticed this. He moved his eyes from the boys, to the door, to Zane, and finally made up his mind and hurried towards the door, Zane and the two boys on his heels.

Before the last boy left the room, he turned towards the old man, "doctor, do not attempt to follow, please sit down and look at the window, we shall chase him that way".

The old man understood and moved to sit down in the dean's chair, waiting for the show to begin, he saw that outside stood a large forest, it made sense that the dean would attempt to run in that direction to attempt to escape death.

Outside the office, the dean ran downstairs, Zane herding him from behind; he had had his team members posted downstairs to herd the man in the direction they wished him to go. Inside the manor were seventeen members, the other four waited outside for the fat man and Zane. The dean kept running into the members and fell each time one came out of hiding, having a shock and recoiling backwards before quickly regaining his feet and running through an open doorway.

Frantically, the fat man attempted to find an escape route, being too busy running that he failed to notice that they were playing with him. Once the dean made it outside through an open back door in the sitting room, he paused, glancing behind him to see if he had lost them, but instead he found all twenty-one members standing at the door. The fat man faltered, he knew this would be the end of him; he fell down and sat on the grass, looking at the group.

They all wore their masks and Zane stood in front of them with his hands in his pockets, while most of the group either stood with their arms folded or bending down ready to move. Zane watched the fat man, hoping he would stand up again and run towards the forest, but he just sat there, with the expression of a man that has given up.

"Dr. Hargrave, I will make a deal with you" he explained, noticing the man look up at him. "If you reach the forest, we shall let you live and you're free to go" the plump man seemed to not believe him, noticing all the members. Before the dean could make a reply, a dagger hit the floor beside him, tearing a hole in his pants. He did not wait another second; he stood up and began to run towards the forest, uncaring of the pain in his side.

Zane's eyes lit up, he signaled for the group to begin their hunt. A portion of the group ran right; another portion ran left, while the rest followed Zane directly behind the dean. The man had no chance against the group; he was quickly taken over by the groups, when he attempted to turn back and run towards the manor, a volley of daggers landed at his feet and he had no choice but to turn back and run straight, he attempted this some times. But once he looked up, he found himself alone, the group had disappeared, and instead of attempting to run to the manor, he continued forward. He felt he was not far away now, only some hundred feet from it, he did not believe his luck, until he blinked his eyes and something had changed, all he could do was kneel down.

The tree line was not there, he was staring at the group in the same positions they had been when the deal had been made, he was staring at the back of the mansion. Somehow, the group had tricked him into running back and forth between the forest and the manor, wearing him out and leaving him in the same spot he had started. The man did not attempt to flee this time; he closed his eyes for a little, only to reopen them again and find himself surrounded by them.

Zane had wished to keep the fun going, but the man was fat and not capable of anymore movement, he would have to end it now. The group hid the man from the doctor's view for a moment, then turned around and walked back to the manor.

From his view upstairs, the groups hunting skills were superb; they had managed to trick the fat man easily and had even brought him to his knees in the exact same position he had started in. The old man was confused when the group turned away from the fat man, leaving him without a wound; he sat and waited for what would happen next.

Outside, the fat man was as confused as the doctor; he looked himself up and down and found no harm, till he noticed his arm. A red line circled the man's arm and it grew wider, the man was shocked, till he noticed that the red was blood. He touched around it to attempt to find out what it was that had caused it, and to his shock, his arm fell off. Before the man could scream out in pain, he noticed another red line in his other arm, and two more in his legs, and finally, one running across his chest.

In front of the doctor's eyes, the dean was torn apart without the slightest hint of a weapon. Then he turned to look at the group, and through a slight glint, he saw thin wires running from the man's body to Zane's hands. As quickly as he had seen the wires, they disappeared; the doctor could only guess that they had gone into his sleeves. It looked like the team would make catching Kid a fun activity, he could no longer wait for the day he saw him again, so the old man stood up and walked downstairs to meet the group.

The group had relocated to the bottom of the stairs, waiting for the old man to come down. As he looked at them, the old man could see no signs of exhaustion.
"Thank you for showing me that marvelous display of ability, I know it shall come in use when we hunt the big prize" the doctor spoke in a calm voice.
"Now that we have completed this small task, we shall move on to familiarizing ourselves with the grounds" he said as he brought out some notebooks.

The group followed the doctor as he moved to the manors sitting room and placed the books on a small table. As he sat down, the rest of the group surrounded him, reading the first books title "Housing Plans". Slowly the old man looked through the small book, searching for the daughter's name, till he found it "Ellen Whitewood, 2nd tower, 12th floor". The towers were located behind the main building, between the lake and forest, the second tower being reserved for the elite and composed of fifteen floors. He looked through the rest of the planner, noting that the 2nd tower was completely occupied with the children of dukes, while the first contained the professors.

In this situation, he wished to have Kid surrounded by the group, so he made some changes in the planner. The floor below Whitewood was assigned to a boy by the name of Mega, with the same last name as general raiding the towns of a southern kingdom; the old man crossed out the young man's name and relocated it to the bottom floor of the commoners building. In his place, he put down "The Light family, so the group could keep an eye on Kid.

Once he finished that, he opened another book, this one with the class assignments. The old man suddenly realized that Kid may have also been enrolled in the school, so he would have to cross check the kids to make sure he wasn't accidentally changed to another class. In class 4A, Whitewood's class was twenty-five students in total, nine girls and sixteen boys, making it difficult to find out which one was Kid. He crossed out seven of the girls, figuring Kid wouldn't be registered as one, and instead of removing most of the boys and taking a risk that Kid would be accidentally removed, he only replaced Zane with the Mega boy. This way, he would have eight members in the same class and the rest of the group would be scattered around other classes.

Before finishing, he remembered to replace the kids he had taken out of the class and put them in a commoner's class. He then closed the book and stood up, "let us go move you into your new home", he said as he walked towards the door. The group divided themselves into the coaches and they took off towards the towers.

5: The Training Tales

Zane accompanied the old man in his coach, studying the large main building and lake. In middle of the lake stood a small island with a single tree, the lake was crystal blue and was regularly used by the students for recreation. The towers were of a gothic style, they were constructed just for the rich and were the envy of all students since the residents received special privileges.

Arriving at the 2nd tower, the old man led the group inside, into a beautifully designed room, filled with gilded rugs and fine furniture. Zane believed this may be a climb the doctor would not be able to manage.
"Doctor, may we please assist you up the stairs?" he asked, with concern in his voice.

Suddenly, the old man looked up at him, "no Zane, I am able to walk up these stairs" he responded, moving his gaze back to the stairs. It occurred to him that there was another difference between Zane and Kid, Zane still held emotions. While he had trained Kid to not feel emotions and be a cold blooded killer, Zane still showed concern, which could get in the way of a kill. He thought it over as the group climbed up the stairs; he wondered how this would affect the capture.

The climb took little time, but left the old man tired and breathing heavily. Instead of taking a break the old man continued, but he suddenly heard a girl's voice behind him, "Doctor, would you like to rest? You look very tired" she asked, concerned. Again the old man heard the concern in the voice, "no no dear, let us continue without delay" he replied.

He continued, walking through the floor with the group in tow, looking through the rooms. There were ten bed rooms, two sitting rooms, and one kitchen. The floors were meant to have been shared by many residents, but the elite had demanded to have their own floors, and offered much for them. Now the bed rooms were divided between the members, but it left one of them without one, that was Zane, who chose to sleep in one of the sitting rooms.

With the rooms assigned, the group divided up, departing to study the rest of the school, while leaving Zane with the old man. The doctor led Zane downstairs shortly after the rest of the group had left. With only Zane left the old man felt he could ask his questions, "Zane, tell me of your training" he asked.

The old man did not have to look at Zane's face, he knew it would be graven since the training would have been horrible, but the old man felt it necessary to know the extent of it. After a few minutes of no talking, the old man stopped at the 5th floor and sat in one of the chairs in the sitting room.
"I need you to explain to me the training your group has received, it is necessary for me to know what your skills are" the old man explained.

Zane took off his mask and placed it on the table in front of the old man, then took the seat across from him and began his story.

"I was once the son of a farming couple; they were indentured servants that had been thrown into slavery after owing too much. My parents could not be more displeased when they found out that they would have to feed another mouth. They made my life miserable for many years, constantly beating me and pushing me to work harder. Even when I managed to acquire money through doing chores for older people in our village, they punished me for not having received more. They were a cruel couple that did not care of me, but I still cared for them and loved them, blaming their cruelty on our poverty.
When my sister was born, they pushed me deeper into neglect, they grew happy for having been given a daughter they could wed off and receive a dowry for. She was born when I was six, and I loved her very much, but my family did not let me have contact with her, thinking I would ruin her.
From then onward, my parents kicked me out of the house each day and told me to not return unless I brought money. The first few days were difficult, being unable to find someone that would give a six year old a job, but I managed to come up with money.
The leader of a local pickpocket gang found me and taught me how to pickpocket. After that, I learned to run away from the town guards and steal from them without being identified. This went on till I was eleven, when my sister was five, the King came to the town and a parade and carnival were prepared.
It was a warm spring day when he came, and my parents took my sister to see the celebration, not allowing me to go with them because they feared backlash from the King for being seen with a pickpocket. I grew mad, angered at their hatred of me, and disobeyed them, I went to the festival. Uncaringly, I walked out of the house and walked through the cobble roads towards the festival.
At the time, I had had not thought of pick pocketing that day, but that all changed once I saw the guards of the king carrying their purses filled with coins. They strutted around pushing the villagers out of their ways, as if they themselves were kings compared to us, it angered me.
Without thinking, I stalked them how I did my other victims, looking for a chance to relieve them of their burdens. It was near a tavern that I found my chance; a guard seemed to be drunk, in verge of collapsing, so I did not take another thought before bumping into him. His appearance changed the second I managed to lay a hand on his purse; he stood upright and grabbed for me.
Luckily, my prior years of pick pocketing allowed me to evade his grasp, and I ran for it. As I ran, a group of guards followed me and more guards came out of alleys and buildings, but I somehow managed to evade capture. By the time I reached my house, I was exhausted and collapsed on my bed.
Little did I know that the guards had managed to extract my identity from witnesses that had seen me escape. I was not capable of movement and could not move a muscle when they came for me, but I did try. In vain I attempted to stand up and run, but I was no fight for the guards, they shackled me and dragged me out of the house. I was taken to the mayor's manor, where I met King Edward.
He explained to me that the whole reason he had been touring the kingdom was to find kids with my ability. The festival had been a setup, the purses of coins I had been so eager to obtain turned out to be filled with painted rocks. Then, the King gave two options, either I remain in my town, but am branded a pick pocket, or I become his slave, but my family is given a silver coin in return.
The options were not given to me, they were given to my parents, I watched as they did not think of the options, they immediately chose the coin. My father, who I had so dearly loved and respected, walked up to me and slapped me across my face, as a way to show the king that I was no longer his.
I was taken away and placed in a jail coach, where I was told that I would be taken to a training facility and put to train, while King Edward gathered more members. Once I arrived, I was thrown into a dungeon cell and given only some horrible mush and water to consume. My training started out as just physical, I was taken to a small arena and was made to run away from the guards as long as I could. It was terrible; I was only made to run away, while the guards were allowed black jacks.
As I grew more capable of running from them, my group grew, reaching 25 members, but not staying at that number for long. Not everyone could deal with the training, one boy that had been my age was hit with a black jack wrong, killing him instantly, another, a girl a little older than me killed herself. "

Zane paused for a moment, taking deep breaths as he remembered the training he was given and the many experiences he had gone through.

"The second part of our training was having us catch a boar in a certain amount of time, failing to do so would earn us beatings. During one of those beatings was when another one of the members died, an older boy that decided he wouldn't take another beating, he was beat to death.
As we mastered catching the boar, we were trained to catch prisoners with nets and wires, they had been offered freedom if they managed to kill one of us. The prisoners were not so different than the boar, they turned out to be easy to catch, so the instructors changed the arena, they moved us to a larger area, a forest grown inside a dome.
We were given one hour to study as much as we could from the dome before releasing the toughest criminal yet. The man was filled with muscle; he could easily grab a hold of one of us and throw them 100 feet in any direction. To make it worse, the man was given a sharp knife; it was a test to weed out the weak. Hunting him took more than a week, the group had gotten awfully close to catching him, but the man used the knife to cut our nets.
It was on the eighth day, the man managed to catch one of the girls by surprise, the girl that I had taken a liking to. In front of us, he grabbed her by the face and slashed open her throat. We watched as she bled out, and the man held up the dead carcass to show the guards.
The guards proceeded to walk him out of the forest, but I followed. I stalked him, and before he was able to cross the tree line, I wrapped wires around him. Everyone watched as the man took one step out of the forest and was sliced apart. From then on, I was seen as the group leader, and they followed me in whatever I did.
Our training took five years, in which we learned to use different type of weapons to both capture and kill our targets. We were released a couple of years ago and have captured a total of 278 targets, and killed a total of 596 targets".

The old man replayed the story in his mind and extracted the information he needed. "Thank you Zane for telling your tale. It has been very helpful to further my plans" he told Zane as he began to rise.

"Doctor" Zane called out to him. The old man heard and returned to look at him. Zane continued, "Could you please tell me the tale of my target?" he asked, "I have heard that he is part of a new group that king Edward has been training, but that is all I know".

The old man only looked at him and thought it over before sitting down again. "Alright Zane, I shall tell you the story of Kid, since like you, he is also the leader of his group" he explained before beginning the tale.

"Eight years ago, the King wished to create a group that would be able to expand his kingdom, a group that would have the strength of an army. As you may know, Edward has a group of generals, a group of ten of his most trusted commanders, known as the Sun Soldiers. Edward took one child from each of them, and also added his own into the program. I was the head doctor, charged with getting them to peak performance and making sure they were taken care of correctly.
Like your group, this group was kept in dungeons, only fed vitamin mush and water. They were kept isolated for a few days, so they could get used to the mush, but the prince was resilient. When we opened his cell after those few days had passed, he attempted to escape. He did not make it far; one of my colleagues used a black jack to bring him down.
After he had been brought down, I checked his health, and found that he had not been eating, I grew concerned for him. That concern turned to fear when the young boy grabbed my surgical knife and pointed it at my throat, but the poor boy was so malnourished, he fainted.
My colleagues did not like that at all, they wished for me to make him an example for the rest, so I had to. We carried him to the nursery, where I myself proceeded to surgically remove his eyes. The procedure was a success, he gained consciousness in two days and was able to communicate well, but he did not very much like my little experiment.
It was a miracle he wasn't driven insane, having lost all he knew and his sight in less than a day. But what came out of that room was very much different from what went in, I could sense it when we pulled him out of the room a few days later."

Pausing, the old man shivered at the memory before continuing.

"The group was assigned some five instructors and was thought in a room, while they were chained to the floor. One of those instructors was Dr. Troy, who instructed in physical education, he was a tough instructor who pushed them to their limit.
As it turns out, our first death was on the first day of instruction; someone had broken down during their asylum and attempted to escape by lunging for a knife during class.
He was able to reach the knife and stab his guard through the throat, but the rest of the guards beat the poor boy near death. I was able to stitch him up and was made to cut out his tongue, but the operation didn't go well. When the boy returned to class he collapsed during the middle of it, his dying breaths were spent attempting to crawl towards the prince.
Again, I was concerned the prince wouldn't take it well and attempt to commit suicide, but again, he made it through the night. I checked on him the next day, and again, I could feel the boy had changed, it concerned me.
Our next death was in Dr. Troy's class, which was held in a small arena, the class was in middle of their exercises when a young girl could no longer take it. I had seen before that the girl thought that her imprisonment was all a dream, a horrible nightmare that she could not wake up from.
Her death occurred two years after they had begun, so it shocked the doctors when we found out that she still held the belief that it was all a nightmare. Well, on that day, the girl broke and attacked Dr. Troy, even though she was chained to the ground.
Dr. Troy was merciless; she was able to get a few punches in, knocking him off his feet, a show of how well our program was doing. It was a shame to allow her to die, after she showed such nice progress, but we had a no tolerance policy.
Troy himself did the work, right in front of the group, but not all of the group witnessed it.
Dr. Troy liked to make the group work out till they fainted. As it turned out, she decided to attack him after only her and the blind boy were the only ones still conscious. The boy alone heard the beating, heard every single noise of her moaning and bones being broken. It turned out that our program worked wonders, the girl was awake during the entire beating, which took some five minutes, and after it was over, she too crawled to the boy and died while feeling his face.
This time, I was able to see the change that happened in him; he continued his exercise for a longer time than usual. The boy lasted hours longer than he should have, to the point that Troy began to use a whip against him to try to get him to stop, but he wouldn't.
I watched as the boy kept doing his exercise, while his own blood oozed down his back and knuckles, it was a wondrous sight. After some time of that, Troy gave up using the whip, throwing it against a wall and began to kick the boy in the ribs. I watched as after each kick, the boy was thrown to his side, and I thought the boy would finally stay down, but I was mistaken after each kick when the boy got back up and recommenced his exercise.
This repeated itself some nine times, when after all the shouting and ruckus made by Troy, the rest of the group began to wake up. I neared the boy and attempted to have him stop, fearing for his health, but he wouldn't listen to me. Then, a young girl from his group neared him and hugged him, asking for him to please stop, and so he did.
That was not the most shocking; it was what he did after he stopped. The boy stood up, with the three of us watching him, and he kicked at the air with the leg that was shackled. I thought the boy was just kicking in anger, and nothing would come of it, but I watched as the chain broke into three pieces.
It was even more surprising as I saw that he did all of this calmly, without a hint of pain, then he walked past us and went to the dead girl's body, which had just been dragged off to a corner. We all stood planted in our places, shocked at having just watched him break his chain and after having exercised for several more hours than he should have, he was able to walk calmly to the body and kneel down by it.
We watched as this blind boy was able to locate the body without taking one step in the wrong direction, and close the dead girl's eyes.
After that, he sat down with his back against the wall, and waited for us to react. The first one to react was Troy, who called for the guards to put their spears against the boy's throat and keep them their till he said otherwise. At that time, the group stood transfixed watching the boy; I could tell they were deeply shocked, as was everyone else in the room.
The guards feared the boy and what he would do next, their spears shacking in their grasps, but what he did next was raise his arms, in a signal that they could shackle him. This time the guards did not take a chance, they placed three shackles on his arms and hands, and two leg shackles. He was led away from the room and placed in his cell, where they used a black jack to knock him out. I then went in to check on his health and stitched up his wounds. The boy recovered and went on with the next weeks normally, only with more leg shackles and guards."

"Through the years, the group was placed in arenas and pitted against guards, where they were to defeat as many as they could. This turned out to be a marvelous way to train them, they quickly learned ways to defeat as many as they could. We started out asking them how many guards they wanted to go up against and the kids began with telling us low numbers, and we would add to them, but the blind boy refused to tell us. Since he would not tell us, Troy made him go up against ten, in his first day of the exercise to teach him a lesson, while all the rest went up against two or three.
The boy defeated all ten in the same amount of time the others took to defeat three, and did it without acquiring a single wound. After they had been through eight years of the program, each one was able to defeat some fifty guards by themselves in close quarters, but the blind boy was able to defeat at least seventy, and only because the arena's capacity had been maximized.
It was then that a small army from another kingdom was allowed to reach the capital, where the group was held. They had been allowed to reach the city because Edward wished to know what the group could accomplish.
After the boy's first outbreak, no other emotional event occurred, which wasn't entirely a good thing. Without the outbreaks, I had method to measure the extent of the boy's strength, but I have no doubt that it goes beyond breaking shackles.
On the day the group was to fight the army, we placed them in strait jackets, and used some three leg shackles on them. We ended up carrying them to the battlefield, there they were given orders by one of the Sun Soldiers and were warned that running away would earn them the worst of tortures.
The general of the opposing army approached us, as was customary, and looking at our own forces, he laughed at the group, noting that all they wore were slave attires, as was how they had been thought to fight. I could sense the group preparing their muscles for a fight, but not the blind boy, even though he had been the most mocked.
After we refused to surrender, the general retreated to his army and began to tell jokes of his easy victory. We unloaded chests of weapons for the group and allowed them to make their choice. The blind boy decided to only take a dagger, the only thing he had used while training, while the rest were greedy with the weapons.
In actuality, the fight was quite short, they took out the archers first, then the pike men, then the heavy infantry. Due to the army's notion of keeping each other close, our group was able to slip past the soldiers with ease and cause much damage in a short amount of time.
Blind boy was the first one to reach the general, he was completely soaked in blood, and I could just imagine the look on the general and his bodyguard. It was then that the boy seemed to have another outbreak, tackling the bodyguard to the ground, he used his hands to rip open the bodyguard's stomach and pull out his organs, all while keeping him alive. I do not want to say this, because I cannot be sure, but I believe he even took a bite out of the organs and threw them at the general.
After completing that disgusting task, he then killed the man by shoving his arm down the man's throat and ripping it from the inside. He then moved on to the general, by this time the entire group had reached the man, surrounding him and leaving him without a possibility for escape. The general did not surrender to our Sun Soldier, he surrendered to the blind boy, attempting to kiss his feet, but he was only met by a kick in the face.
His death should have been quick, the blind boy punched him, sending him flying some feet back, but he managed to regain his feet and started to run. The group chased after him, at least that was what it seemed like to us, but once they had reached him, they kept going.
It was then that it dawned on us that they had done all they could to have a reason to get as far away from us, and now they were too far away for us to reach them. As they ran to escape from us, I couldn't help but pause and see what had become of the general, but he was nowhere in sight, I could only see a mass on the floor. Once I was able to get closer and horsemen were sent to track down the group, I saw the general. He lay in pieces, seemed to have been severed at the joints, a bloody mess he was, but now it reminds me of your wire trick. It may have been the same thing, since I did not see the group touch him, nor did he die immediately after they got to him.
To tell you the truth, I do not know where the name 'Kid' came from, but it may have something to do with that being the last thing I said to him before I tore his eyes out. As for his team, they have been spotted heading towards Velnad, one month's travel away.
We are not sure what caused for them to split up, when we raided their house in Agran, only the rest of the group was there. It is a possibility that they have decided to separate themselves from him, leaving him without support.

Now I have told you all the information I have of his training, I hope it will help you, but it only concerns me more. I advise you to attempt to capture him without confronting him first, anger will not make him weak or clumsy, and it will only kill you. You may not be aware of this, but I do expect for you to lose some team members" the old man concluded, looking at Zane's face for some reaction to what he had said.

"Doctor, I do fear for my groups safety in this mission, but I must disagree with your proposed outcome, my group is experienced enough to not suffer a single death" Zane told the old man with a serious face.

The old man looked at Zane, then began to chuckle, "Alright Zane, maybe I'm underestimating your talents. We shall see" he joked with Zane. They both stood up and continued their descent to the lobby, where other doctors and guards awaited them.
Zane stood near the entrance door as the old man talked with his doctors and guards, retelling himself the story of Kid, he hopped the old man had exaggerated some details of the story, or that he was wrong. His concern grew every time he recounted the story, to the point where it seemed that the old man was taking too long with his doctors.

The old man noticed the boy's concerned face and quickly ended his meeting, moving to stand in front of Zane. "Is something wrong Zane?" he asked, with a slight smile in his face.

Zane snapped away from his thoughts and attempted to reply to the old man, "no doctor, it is nothing" he said nervously, "it is just that we only have two days left, do you not think we should move on to the classrooms?"

The old man thought about it as he looked outside a window. Outside, the sun had been covered by the academies wall, a gentle breeze blew through the field, and the night would arrive in less than an hour. Finally, the old man turned to look at Zane, "you are correct Zane, let us continue to the main building", he said as he turned to walk towards the main entrance.
"Do not worry Zane" the old man said while he walked out "after today, you shall have two more days to study the area as much as you want" he said as he walked out of the building with the leader of the group. The climate was becoming colder, but the academy grounds seemed to be stuck in spring, with only the air changing.

6: A New Night

After Kid had fallen from the trees, Ellen had called for her guards and had him brought back into his room. As he was unconscious, she decided to stay in his room and care for him, while taking the opportunity to study him. His face was peaceful while he slept, it only moved once in a while, but it changed into a painful expression. Every time it changed, Ellen grew concerned and used a wet cloth to cool his forehead. It did not seem to help one bit, but it was all she could think of doing. She feared waking him, for he may lash out once he awoke. 

Ellen lost track of the time, popping in and out of sleep, till her maid entered the room. “Darling, it’s Saturday night, don’t you think you should get some sleep? He will be fine without you” the maid said as she placed her hand on Ellen’s shoulder. Ellen only nodded, as she put down her cloth and allowed herself to be guided by her maid. 

As the door closed behind them, Kid awoke from his sleep, picking himself up to a sitting position. He felt his face to assure himself that his blindfold was still tied the way he had tied it and checked his pockets. Nothing was out of place; his pockets still contained his daggers, something that showed the innocence of the girl, or the stupidity of her guards. Again, he had to locate his shirt, it seemed that the girl believed he was suffering from a fever, from the feel of the damp cloth beside him. 

Kid stood up and moved to open the door, and again, he was met by an unlocked door. Before stepping out of the room, he paused to sense the location of the maid and the guards. No one was standing upstairs, other than the girl and him. He opened the door and walked to the girl’s room, making sure to open it quietly, for the maid to not hear.

 Once inside, he felt around for her bed and studied the rest of her room, making sure to keep quiet. Silently, he approached her bed and felt her forehead. Her head felt hot, he determined that she may be in the beginning stages of a fever. He instinctively thought back to one of the lectures from the doctors, where he was told that 'if you feel that one of your team members is showing the early stages of a fever, all you do is place a damp cloth on their foreheads and keep it there for the night' the words echoed in his head. 

Slowly, he placed the damp cloth he had gotten form his bed and placed it over the girl’s forehead. Ellen opened her eyes, something he had hoped to avoid, but she closed them back again, thinking him part of a dream. He moved towards the door and left the room, quietly sneaking down the stairs and going out through the kitchen door. 

Outside, he felt the breeze in the wind and heard the leaves of the trees rustling. It seemed that his dream was more than that, he flexed his fingers and stretched his arms. He had noticed a difference when he climbed down the stairs; each step he took seemed to be longer than before, making him overshoot each stair. If this continued, he would be too clumsy to fight, so he decided to stay out through the night, testing out his reflexes and other abilities to get used to the change.

 From the house, he climbed the fence, noticing his change in speed; he felt his flexibility increase and he felt lighter. When he landed on the other side of the fence, the impact did not pain him as it had before, it was odd. In the short amount of time, he had learned that most of his abilities had improved, but he still had to test out his strength. 

He decided to travel to the park, where he could be further from the house and be able to create some noise without interruptions. The distance did not take long to traverse, traveling by running on the ground and jumping from tree to tree. Once he arrived at the park fence, he scaled it and landed softly on the other side, studying his surroundings to make sure no human was around. That caused him to pause in his run, his normal ability to be able to sense the ground for the heart beats of creatures, it had changed. He stood quiet and sensed around for a little, the change was to his licking. 

Slowly, he raised his head and smiled a grim smile, something that would make any person who saw him shudder. Again, he continued his run through the park, searching for a person. Once he neared the clearing, he stood behind a tree, having heard voices nearby. Kid could make out the voices of the same boys that had beaten him some days ago. 

“That old man sure has a lot of guts coming into town, taking over the place, then having us explain to him how we beat up that blind boy, and after all of that, he has his lackeys shove golden coins down our throats” one of the boys ranted to the group. 

Kid repeated the boy’s words in his head, he now knew of the old man’s new role in the town, and it seemed that the old man knew where he was. He stood hearing the group rant, but the rest of the talk was useless to him, so he began to near them, until the lead boy talked once more.

 “Did you guys hear about what went on in the academy?” Kid stopped walking and hid behind a tree.
 
“The dean of the academy was sacked, we’ve got a new dean” he whispered. 

“Turns out that the old man didn’t only replace the mayor, but he also became the new dean. My dad told me he received information from one of the academy guards. Says the old man went to the academy, along with other doctor looking guys and his own soldiers, but that’s not the weirdest part. 
Along with them, there were some twenty other people, but these guys were still kids of about our age. The guy didn’t know for sure since they had masks on, but he could tell from the voices and heights. It might be that they are related to the old man and will attend the academy. 
I say that once we get there, we beat up one of them and shove some coins down their throats; my dad’s already working on getting their names and classes. So far he’s found out that the group took over the 11th floor, booted some general’s kid and sent him to live with the commoners, and sent the guy to live with the commoners.
 Lucky for me, I still have my floor two stories up, on top of the Whitewood girl’s. It would be pure karma for us to beat some of the group up, sending a message to the old man that he can’t mess with me” he exclaimed to the other two. 

“Yeah Andrew, we should so corner one of them and beat them till they’re bloody” responded one of his pudgy companions. After a couple more minutes of hearing the boys rant, Kid decided to make his presence known to them. He stepped into the clearing, turning his head toward the group. 

The boys immediately turned to him, “well, if it isn’t the guy we beat up” the lead boy exclaimed. Kid walked towards them, nearing them as they began to pull back their sleeves in preparation to attack him. 

“You know, you caused us a lot of trouble the other day, and now we’re going to repay you for it” stated the lead boy, Andrew. 

Kid kept walking towards one of the boys, the pudgy one, stopping a few feet from him. Instead of attacking him, the boy just stared at him, noting his wrapped eyes, and then turned to look at Andrew. 

The lead boy had decided to stay behind his two lackeys, like a weak leader. “Well? What are you waiting for Fatty? Hit the guy and throw him to the ground!” Andrew demanded. 

Turning to face Kid again, the pudgy boy raised his fist with a smirk on his face. Before he could make contact, Kid launched himself at him, punching him square in the chin. The boy was thrown against the tree that Kid had slept under; he landed with a dull thud. Without words, Kid walked up to the other boy while the boy kept staring in disbelief at the body of his friend. Kid grabbed the boy by the shoulders, making him turn to stare at him. The boy opened his mouth to utter a word, but before he could, Kid smashed his forehead into the boy's.

 As Andrew stared, Kid let go of the boy’s body and it slumped to the ground, a gash could be seen in his forehead, with his blood dripping from Kid. Now only he was left standing with Kid. The boy turned around and attempted to run away from the clearing. Andrew rushed to get out of the clearing, hoping to find safety in the thick woods. Every step he made towards the tree line felt like a step closer to a safe haven, but his hopes crashed dead to the ground once he looked up at the tree line. 

In front of him stood Kid, knife in hand. Andrew stopped short of him and just collapsed to the ground on his knees, staring at the boy. Calmly, Kid walked towards him, looking down at the boy as he whimpered for mercy. “Please, please, leave me alive, I’m the son of a wealthy monarch that would pay generously for my safe return” he pleaded. Kid grinned, terrifying the boy and forcing him to close his eyes in a desperate hope that it was just a dream.
The night had grown silent, only the whimpering of the boy remained as Kid disappeared behind a tree. Andrew stood up, turning around in all directions to make sure he had left, and then began to clumsily run into town, not bothering to find out if the other two boys were alive.

7: Registration

It was early morning when Kid was awakened by Ellen’s knocking.
“Wake up Mega, we have to be at the academy early so we can meet the professors and check out our rooms” she shouted into the room. 
Her knocking persisted a few moments later, till Kid opened the door and her fist missed, sending her stumbling into the room. 
“Oh, you’re awake” she muttered, surprised at his recovery. 

He nodded at her and walked towards the door, motioning towards the door as he bowed. They both wore the academies uniform, a royal blue blazer for the guys and royal blue sweater vest for the girls, along with white dress shirts and light brown dress pants or skirts.

“Well, since we are running late, we will be forced to eat breakfast in the carriage, so hurry up” she explained. The two made their way towards the entrance, Kid leading the way and waiting outside for her. Ellen took a little time instructing her staff in what to do while she was gone, then moved to enter the carriage with Kid. 

The carriage departed, making its way towards the academy. Inside it, Ellen ate her specially prepared breakfast, a traditional plate specially made to eat on the first day of entering a new school, to give the person luck in their studies. She glared at Kid, who had decided to not eat the plate and just ate a green apple.
 
“You know Mega, in this academy we’re going to, we’re going to live in a tower especially made for the elite of the elite. I’m going to be in the 12th floor, while you will occupy the 11th floor, so it won’t be too awkward for the academy to have a boy and a girl living in the same floor” she explained to him.

 Kid had been facing the carriage window beside him, but when he heard her comment, his face immediately turned towards her. Ellen stood staring at him, surprised at his reaction. 

“What’s wrong?” she uttered.
 
Kid thought about his reactions, noting that it may have been too fast and had shocked her. He decided to not notify her of the room change, he shook his head, assuring her it was nothing. Kid spent the rest of the travel thinking about why he had been moved to another building. After some time he came up with the conclusion that the old man had planned to separate him from Ellen so that they could capture him without having her dad angered if she were to get injured. 

Outside the carriage, the enormous walls of the academy rose up into the sky, casting a shadow over their carriage. Ellen noticed the change and stared out the window, gasping at the academy wall’s size. She attempted to keep quiet though, feeling sad for Kid for not being able to admire the size of the walls. The carriage stopped in front of the gates and an academy guard moved to open their door. 

“Welcome to Saint Peter Academy, please step out and follow the road towards the main building. Your luggage should have already arrived at your living quarters and locked safely till you unpack it yourselves. Stop at the tents beside the road to receive the information you will need” the guard instructed. 

Kid stepped out first and helped Ellen climb down from the carriage. The guard noticed the black silk wrapped around his eyes, it was the first time he had heard of a blind student.
“Excuse me young lad. Are you in need of some assistance?” he inquired. 

Before Kid could respond, Ellen stepped in front of him. 
“No he doesn’t, he’s with me” she explained as she wrapped herself in his arm and led him towards the academy grounds.

 Inside the walls, the sun shined brightly and made the lake water shine like crystals. The grounds were already filled with students arriving to move in and get to know their new home. Ellen led him to the first stand she saw, the registration booth. As they walked towards it, Kid could feel the gaze of a familiar figure following him. 

The old man stood beside another stand across the road, doing his duty as the new dean by looking over the new students, but keeping his eyes on Kid. It gave him great joy seeing that Kid had been with the Whitewood girl and had now walked into his trap.

In the registration tent, Ellen gave a seemingly kind woman her registration papers and Kid's. The lady looked them over and searched inside a box for their assignments. 
“Ah yes Miss Whitewood, you will be in Tower B, 12th floor” the lady indicated, giving her a polite smile and handing her a golden key and ID patch. She then turned coldly towards Kid. 
“You sir will be in Commoners A, room 15” she stated,  rudely tossing a bronze key and ID patch at him, which hit his stomach and fell to the floor. The lady went on, “please have the patch sewn onto your jacket and vest, they are for identification purposes” she instructed.

 Ellen began to argue with her as Kid bent down and took the key from the ground. “What do you mean ‘Commoners A’? I reserved Tower B, 12th and 11th floor, it has to be a mistake!” she argued. The woman looked over the papers, “sorry Miss Whitewood, there is no mistake; he will be in Commoners A. It is too late to change that” she explained.
 Ellen opened her mouth to keep arguing, but Kid placed his hand on her shoulder, shaking his head slightly to have her stop. Ellen closed her mouth and wrapped herself around his arm, leading him to another tent. 

The old man had watched as Ellen had argued with the woman and as Kid had picked the key from the ground. He was confused over what had made the girl argue with the lady, but assured himself that the girl was only arguing over some small thing. Some paces away from him stood Zane, looking over Kid as well, but also attempting to camouflage himself in the crowd, along with his friends.

Ellen led Kid towards stalls, acquiring whatever information was necessary, until the stalls ended and she led him towards Tower B. They walked between the main building and the woods, taking the less occupied path towards the tower. It did not take them long to reach the tower, where they were greeted by guards who asked for their patches. Ellen showed both of theirs, but the guard frowned at Kid. His patch stated ‘Mega, Commoners A'. 

“Scum like you can’t enter Tower B” the guard commanded. 
Ellen again stepped between them, “he’s with me, I’m his guide and he will be helping me unpack” she explained. 

The guard seemed like he would deny his entrance, but glimpsed at her high floor assignment and allowed them through. Ellen led him through the entrance and up the stairs, talking to him about how mad it made her that he had been moved.
 “I’m so mad that someone stole your floor Mega, now you will have to wait for me outside the tower every morning, even when it rains” she expressed.

 It was on the 11th floor that Ellen decided to stop at. She knocked vigorously on main door of the floor, wanting to confront the person that had stolen the floor.
Kid attempted to have her keep moving up the steps, but she wouldn’t budge. When he finally did manage to get her to keep climbing the steps, it was too late, someone had opened the door. 
Ellen climbed back down the steps and stared at the person that had opened the door, with Kid standing behind her.

 A girl had opened the door, she was of blond hair and she seemed to be around Ellen’s age. The girl stared at Ellen blankly, but when she noticed Kid, her eyes opened widely. Before the girl could keep staring, Ellen had regained her speech and anger. 

“Who are you that you steal a floor from a blind boy?” she demanded. 
The girl turned to look at her, seeming confused at what she said. “I assure you that I have not the slightest idea of what you speak of” she muttered.
 Ellen became angrier. “ I reserved this floor for my blind friend here, and then I find out that someone took it from him and now he’s stuck in Commoners A!” she exclaimed. 

The girls eyes opened wider than before, shocked at what Ellen had said. Ellen noticed this and just kept staring at her, waiting for a response. After a few moments the girl regained her composure, “I am terribly sorry for that having happened, I was not aware that he was blind. Allow me to offer you my apologies, but I have some twenty other people living with me. I shall tell them of the predicament and attempt to have our room changed” she explained as she bowed her head. 

Kid noted what she had said, she had twenty others with her; the same amount the Andrew fellow had said had been with the old man when he took over the academy. Ellen accepted the girl’s apologies and bowed as she turned to lead Kid up to the 12th floor. Once they were gone, the girl stepped outside her floor, locking it behind her, and ran downstairs, making her way towards Zane.

The girl ran down the stairs, hurrying towards the entrance, but once she reached it, she slowed to a walk, to not raise alarm. As much as it pained her to waste time by walking to Zane, she had no other choice but to walk and keep others from talking to her. 

The distance seemed endless, but once she reached the tents, she spotted Zane and approached him. Catching sight of her, Zane knew something had happened, since he had ordered her to keep guard over the floor. Once she was close enough to him, she whispered, “Zane, we need to talk, get near the doctor”. 

Zane made his way towards the old man, approaching him from a different direction than the girl. The old man waited for them to reach him, knowing something had happened. Once they were close enough, they looked around them to make sure no one was near to listen. 

The girl spoke first, “we have a big problem involving our floor assignment and our plan” she explained. Zane and the old man both looked at her with skeptical eyes, but kept calm. Zane thought about their location and decided to leave the talk for later. “Find the rest and have them meet us at night fall in the dean’s manor” he instructed. They split up, the old man stayed where he was, while Zane entered to look inside the main building, and the girl walked around the grounds to find the rest of the group.
            
It was nightfall when Kid finally finished unpacking Ellen’s belongings. Sitting in one of the chairs at the main sitting room, he waited for her to give him another order.
 As she sat down, she looked at Kid. “You can go to your room now Mega, I’m sure you need to unpack things as well. Remember to meet me downstairs tomorrow morning, and don’t keep me waiting, just follow the left path to get to your building” she instructed. She then walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Kid did the same, locking the main entrance of the floor and making his way to his own room. 

While he had been unpacking, he had been thinking of the old man’s plan, he believed it had somehow gone awry. The girl had seemed to have been shocked to find out that he had been moved to another building, he guessed the old man had believed he would be living with Ellen. So now that the doctor's plans had actually made him difficult to reach, he wondered how the old man would react once he found out. 

The air outside had turned cold, making his walk a greater joy, since he could run to his room now that no one would be outside. His long strides brought him to the commoners building quite quickly, ending his enjoyment, the building was lit up from the inside, filled with commoners that could not sleep because of their joy of being in an elite academy. He stepped inside the building and used his blind man’s staff to act as if he was finding his room. It was not very useful to him; since he could quickly make out that his room was the one with no one in it. 

Once he reached it, he opened the door and locked it behind him. Standing still, he listened for the sounds of voices, they would help in finding out just what size his room was. From the shouts of glee from the neighbors, he made the room to be no larger than a small office, what he expected for a commoners room. Snapping from his trance, he decided to unpack. Instead of searching through boxes to find out what had been packed for him, he opened his sack that he had traveled with since Vagna, and took out his knives. He placed some knives around his room, in case he ever needed an extra weapon. After he had finished, Kid removed his jacket and crashed onto the bed, interested in the events of the next day.
            
At the dean’s mansion, the capture squad and dean formed a circle in the mansions sitting room. The blond girl stood in the middle, with all eyes on her. Before anyone could ask her what she had meant, she spoke. 

“I met the Whitewood girl and our target earlier today” she began. 

“There knocking at our door, I thought that if I ignored it the person would go away, but it continued. Once I opened the door, I found that it was her and our target. She started shouting about how I had stolen the floor from her. The floor she had reserved for her blind friend” she stated. 

Everybody in the room opened their mouths, not believing what they had just heard. The old man frowned at her, not wishing to believe that he had been wrong and had actually moved the wrong person. 

Suddenly, the old man got up from his chair and walked out of the room, leaving the group staring after him. He returned shortly with the campus map and registration book, sitting back in his chair and handing the map to Zane. 

“If you are correct missy, it would change my plans, since it is too late to switch him back” he started. The old man looked up at them and continued, “Also, he may already know that I made the mistake of switching him to the commoners building, so a change now would only scare him away”. He flipped the pages of the book till he came to the one marked ‘Mega’, studying its contents. 
“It seems that our target is in the first floor of the Commoners building, in a room located in the back of the building” he informed them. 

Zane looked up to him, hoping to ask a question, “Doctor, if I remember correctly, the only one that could watch over him is Angel, the one that has informed us of this. She has his classes, and she may be able to befriend him enough to lure him into our trap” he suggested. 

The old man pondered this, thinking back to all he knew about Kid, and finally decided. “You may have a point Zane, but although Kid has no vision, he may recognize her voice” he pointed out. 

Zane did not have to think about his response, “that is no problem Doctor; we can all change our voices to our whim”. The old man flinched, the boy’s voice had completely changed into something he would believe came out of someone of his own age. 

“Alright then, the girl shall attempt to befriend him, and I shall also post one of my associates as their professor” he muttered after he managed to recover his composure. As he was about to stand up to dismiss the group, he remembered something he read in the academies student handbook. 

The group watched as he lunged towards the small booklet on top of a small table besides him. He flipped through the pages till he came up to the student requirements and found the line he was looking for. The line read: “All students must participate in at least one extracurricular activity”. He read the line to the group, confusing them over what he meant by it. Turning back to the booklet he read on, “‘special needs alumni will be assigned an activity by their professors on the first day of class’, so I shall assign him into a group with your group” he explained. 
They now understood what he meant and nodded in approval as the old man rose from his chair. 

“You are dismissed kiddies, I hope to see you tomorrow in the first meeting of the Combat Club, as well as some 50 other students, get a good sleep” he concluded as he left the room. The group dispersed for the night