Chapters on this particular story are about to get more frequent. Sorry about that temporary delay. I finished another book so I've got some open space for now.
____________________________________

        Ara could not sleep. The rest of their day had simply been a few meetings with the locals and the Crow Mercenaries introducing themselves. They were collectively quite a large group but it was clear that Raven's particular squad had the most skill. They would be the ones to execute tomorrow's mission which meant that Add was going too. They said his presence was absolutely necessary if they wanted a one hundred percent success rate.

        That's not what was keeping Ara awake though. It wasn't even that shocking vision or whatever that was keeping her awake. No, it was the constant fear of being attacked in her sleep that kept her awake. The more she thought about it, the more she decreased her chances of going to sleep. That and the ever so slight sounds of creaking that she heard outside of her and Add's door kept her wide awake. Add had seemed to be sound asleep and Ara had peeked over her shoulder several times finding that he remained unmoving from his spot. He had only shifted once but other than that, he'd given no signs of an uneasy sleep.

        They'd both argued for several minutes over who would take the bed and who would sleep on the floor. In the end, they'd both ended up taking the bed but Ara had made sure she had her back to Add and he had done the same. Ara had chosen the side furthest from the door but she now wished she hadn't because she felt a bit trapped considering that there was no other exit in the room except that door. No window, no vent large enough for her to crawl though, no anything.

        "If you are so worried for your safety and cannot sleep, why don't you sneak out and find a place to train yourself a bit. I'm sure you'd be tired enough to rest once I'm done with you," Eun suggested. Although it wasn't too bad of an idea, Ara didn't really want to leave the room knowing that she was already a person that the Crow Mercenaries had on their stalk list or something. And she also didn't want to accidentally run into Raven. Although her "flashback" hadn't been affecting her sleep as far as she knew, it was certainly fresh on her mind and she didn't want to be anywhere near Raven unless she had no choice.

        "I assure you that you won't be caught. If you borrow my power for a bit, you'll be able to use a particular skill that allows you a degree of extreme steal for a short period of time. In fact, one we get outside, I can teach you this technique. It might be useful in the near future," Eun coaxed, still trying to get Ara to go train. Ara sighed and carefully lifted herself from the bed. Training in a night gown didn't sound too cool to Ara but what choice did she have?

        Going to the bathroom a couple of doors down just to change into some decent movement allowing clothes would only make the situation worse. Ara sliped from under the covers that kept her from the biting cold and slipped on her shoes. Thankfully they were good enough to train in. The gown that she was allowed to borrow from Seris would likely be restrictive. Just before she reached out to open the door after walking to it, Eun's voice stopped her.

        "You aren't going to go out there like that are you? Didn't I tell you that you'd need my power to become stealthy to an extreme degree? I do remember saying that," Eun chided. Ara just rolled her eyes but before she could accept Eun's power, she heard her name being called. "Ara...where are you going? It's late...and I'm tired...need sleep," she heard Add mutter. She was startled by him at first but turned back to see his eyes slightly open and clouded with sleepiness.

        He looked a lot more serene than usual and Ara wondered why he hadn't had any more visions or memory flashes...not that she wanted him to have any but she was still curious. "Just go back to sleep. I'll be okay. You seem to need your rest," Ara whispered as she walked over to him and knelt down in front of him by the bed. "You aren't safe...don't leave," Add muttered, closing his eyes as he did. "I've got Eun with me. Besides I can't sleep so I'm going to go train a bit. Nothing will happen to me so don't worry," Ara said with a smile as Add fully opened his still sleep clouded eyes.

        "You can't promise that. I know you feel uneasy around them all of the time," Add said. He was starting to wake up now. "No, well, yeah that's true but go back to sleep. I wasn't trying to wake you," Ara whinned but Add didn't seem to want to comply since he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "You can still go train all you want but I'm coming with you. Eun can only do so much to help you," he said as he activated his dynamos with a lazy wave of his hand. They came to him and circled around him twice before floating around in an idle manner.

        Ara pouted at him but now that he was awake, she couldn't stop him. "How are we supposed to be stealthy now? Add's coming with us and I don't think he can borrow your power while I do," Ara thought. "Just tell him to be stealthy. I'll have to do the listening and looking for the two of you. No turning back now," Eun replied. Ara sighed and stood before heading to the door. "You're going to have to follow my lead until we get where we're going," Ara said before opening the door. Add only nodded a bit seeming as if he was only vaguely aware of his surroundings.

        To Ara's surprise, there wasn't anyone keeping guard of the halls or even the bottom floor. She and Add had to sneak past the lobby attendant but other than that, no one else was around to see them leave which Ara found to be strange. As much emphasis as Raven's group put on her actions in the supposed past, she found it sort of eerie that not a single member of the Crow Mercenaries was on night watch duty in the building she was in.

        "Alright, Eun. Where do you suppose we go train? It has to be somewhere I'd never go but also somewhere I'd still go. That way I can't be found if someone comes looking for me," Ara thought. "Child, you aren't making sense. Just go behind the building. The windows are only in the front and its such an obvious place that no one would think to look there," Eun replied. Ara nodded, looking around the corners of each building that she could see before sliding around to the back of the building with Add following after her without a care in the world or so it seemed.

        Luckily, the tents in front of the building that Seris and the others camped out in weren't visibly open and there were no lights on inside them to cast any shadows. Although this worried her a bit, Ara pushed the matter aside. "Alright, this is it. I'll train here," Ara whispered to Add who gave her a blank stare before heading over to the back of the building and sitting down with his back to its wall. He brought his dynamos over to one side of him and used them as a makeshift arm rest as he sat there and watched over her.

         "From here on out, I'm going to be a teacher, not your overly generous friend. I will make you learn the technique of stealth and you will master it before morning. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please feel free to think them instead of saying them but I can't guarantee that I'll pay them any mind," Eun said. Ara didn't say anything, not really bothered by Eun's words or training conditions. She was sort of used to it to be honest. Most of her time, whenever it hadn't been spent with Aren, Add, her mother, abusive other siblings, or Ryu Jin, had been spent training in such a way.

        "First you need to relax. I understand that your superstitions are causing your nerves to be bad but that's good. You'll need to learn how to perform this task under pressure," Eun instructed. Ara nodded and tried to keep her mind focused on only her training. "Now I'm going to perform the hand signs for you but you're going to do them from here on out. To release your stealth mode, you must force your mana throughout you body. Otherwise, you're going to have to wait until the time limit runs out. Understood?" Eun said.

        Ara nodded in response, allowing Eun to take partial control of her in order to perform the special skill. "This skill has been a favorite among my past hosts and was created by my third host. It's name is Shadow Walk," Eun said as she guided Ara's movements. Ara felt her mana slightly diminish as Eun preformed the hand sign but nothing else seemed to change. "Did it work?" Ara asked since she could still see herself.

        "Of course it did. I performed it afterall. I can also tell when you are in your stealth mode or not. You have about ten minutes before this state times out. Once you're able to do it correctly every time, you should be able to perform the skill without fail even when you aren't standing. Now release the skill and try it yourself," Eun said. Ara did just as she was instructed and forced her mana throughout her body to which Eun commented on. Then she tried the hand sign again and waited for Eun's response.

        "Good. You catch on quickly. For now, I will provide you with the mana you need to continuously perform this skill but it will cause you to be tired beyond reason afterwards. You will need to be aware of your mana level when using this skill in battle or in steath required situations," Eun counseled. With that, Ara began repeating the skill, getting it wrong a number or times but also getting it right far more time than that. "Alright. I think that's enough practice for you. We'll pick this up tomorrow so you can master it and I'll teach you another useful skill," Eun said. "Thanks, Eun," Ara thought.

        She looked over to where Add was supposed to be watching her finding him fast asleep in the grass with his dynamos lazily floating in random directions while somehow still circling him. Add must have really been tired or perhaps extremely stressed for him to have fallen asleep in grass of all things but then again, Ara had woken him up in the middle of the night. Who knew what time it was now.

        Ara walked over to him and smiled a bit at his sleeping form but frowned when she realized that she'd have to wake him again to get him back to their room. Just before she could try waking him, she heard a noise that didn't line up with the natural sounds in the area and out of reflex, she used the new technique Eun taught her. "Nice and successful even in a dire situation. Perfect, child. Just perfect," Eun complimented. Ara wasn't worried about that though. She searched her surroundings for the source of the slight noise as she stood protectively in front of Add.

        The slight noise got closer and Ara realized it to be a person's footsteps that she was hearing. She could now determine the direction that this person was coming from and spotted the carefully making their way around the coner with a knife. The blade glinted a bit as the person moved around the building, obviously not seeing Ara. She didn't recognize this person but they were obviously a member of the Crow Mercenaries or else thet wouldn't be in the hidden city...right?

        The attacker, which Ara could tell was out for blood, froze upon spotting Add asleep in the grass. Ara fought the strange urge to growl in warning as the person examined Add who was still sound asleep. He didn't have Ara's keen senses and wouldn't have heard the person sneaking up on him even if he'd been an extremely light sleeper. He wasn't a light sleeper but that didn't matter at the moment. The person welding the blade was getting dangerously close to them and Ara wasn't entirely sure what to do.

        She couldn't risk him crying out in pain if she attacked him for she wasn't even supposed to be out at such a time and his cry would alert those in Raven's tent group. If he got too close, he'd likely notice her or attack Add. "You're invisible. Use that to your advantage. Disarm him and use his weapon against him," Eun said. Ara nodded and sprang into action, leaping forward and knocking the weapon from the stranger's hand and grabbing the blade's handle midair. Before the assassin could do anything, Ara pinned his arm behind him and pressed his own blade to his throat.

        Of course the moment she'd taken action she had become visible so the assassin knew he was in some serious trouble and stayed silent. "Who are you and why are you trying to kill us? You have five seconds to answer or I'll take your life," Ara threatned although she didn't plan on actually killing the man. "I'm nobody. I was following my orders. They told me to reset the timeline. That's all I know," the assassin answered. His answer was sufficient enough since Ara already had a pretty good idea of who'd sent him. Her only question was why but even with his life threatened, Ara doubted this man would tell her anything else.

        Agitated by his murder attempt, Ara knocked him out by striking the back of his neck with just enough pressure in the right spot. He fell to the ground and Ara tossed the blade aside looking over to Add who was still asleep. Her anger subsided upon seeing him and she made her way to him and gently shook him awake. "Come on Add. It's late. You fell asleep watching me train. I don't think you want to stay out here," Ara whispered as he woke up. He stared at her rather lazily for a bit before he got up. Ara knew that Raven and his team knew they weren't in their room so she didn't bother to be stealthy. If they saw her, so what. They'd begun a war with her and she was going to give them the fiercest battle she could manage.
____________________________________

I need to do some more research on some things before I start any new books but so far I've got plenty of ideas for this one so you guys are promised another good bit of chapters. Until next time you remarkable readers!