The sun was rising and Sky hadn't gotten a bit of sleep. He and Cerra had spent the last few hours of nighttime interrogating Darius. He did live here in the forest, had since he was sixteen. They had asked why he moved out to the forest and he had responded with a simple 'it's complicated.' Sky wasn't very happy with that response but Cerra had determined that if it had nothing to do with them breaking any laws then it'd be fine. Darius was twenty-one now, approaching twenty-two. He didn't live alone though, he roomed with someone he called 'Jabali' and had offered to take them to their cabin so that he could give them some food and a bed to actually sleep in. But by then the sun was rising and Cerra told him that they couldn't.

"Why not?" Darius asked, curious as he watched Sky put out the already half dead fire while Cerra sat on a tree branch to squint at the city off in the distance. "What're you going to the city for?"

"I live there," Cerra said. "Well, used to. But I'm part of the BladeDancers," Darius gasped and jumped to his feet.

"Really?! Wow!" He gushed. "I've heard all about the BladeDancers!"

"They're not that great," Sky grunted, more like growled, from his spot by the fire. Cerra glared at him.

"Watch yourself," he growled, and Sky put his hands up in mock surrender. Cerra only rolled his eyes and began to climb down the tree. It was strange, but he found it wasn't much different from scaling up and down the many buildings in his hometown.

"I used to be a BladeDancer, but I've been framed for treason and now I'm on their kill list." Darius blinked and tilted his head, scratching it in confusion.

"Then why are you going back there? Do you want to die?" Cerra scoffed.

"No, but I need to get my other dagger. They're just going to destroy it, and that's a waste!" He lifted his other dagger after pulling it from his shoe. "Looks just like this; beautiful isn't she?"

"She?" Sky drawled. Cerra ignored him.

"Anyway, I'm not leaving without that other dagger. But they're gonna destroy it by today, more than likely by tonight. So we've gotta get there fast." He put his dagger away and stretched, sighing as his back popped a few times. Sky looked at him in bewilderment but didn't say anything. "So, it was real nice meeting you, and we appreciate the offer, but we've gotta go."

"Let me come with you!" Cerra paused, as did Sky. They looked at the young man who grinned at them widely. "I wanna help you out!"

"That's sweet and all," Cerra laughed nervously, "but you don't know anything about the city! You've been living out here for, how many years? Uh..."

"He got here when he was sixteen," Sky muttered.

"And he's twenty-one now." Cerra began to count on his fingers. Darius stared at them, a bit bewildered.

"Five years." He offered, then smiled wide. He smiled a lot. "Gonna be six in a couple of months!" Cerra waved his hand dismissively.

"You've been here for five years, when was the last time you were in a city?!" Darius huffed.

"I don't just live out here. I go into the city quite a bit in the winter for food! It's hard to hunt when it's snowing like the world's about to end!" He laughed. Cerra snorted.

"We do get pretty rough winters here." He said.

"Great," Sky grunted.

"But, please, let me come!" Darius said, clasping his hands together. "I can sneak around pretty easily, and I'm a great shot!" Sky raised an eyebrow.

"Shot?" Darius beamed and reached around. When he pulled his arm back around he was holding a small, recurve bow.

"I've been shooting since I was six! I've got a great shot, whenever I'm hunting I almost always get the animals in the eye!" Cerra looked extremely startled while Sky looked, dare Cerra say impressed.

"The eye? That's pretty good..."
"Yeah! It doesn't-"
"Damage the meat!"

Cerra stared as the two males said it at the same time, and Sky smiled a little as Darius laughed. "I only knew one person who had such a good shot." Sky said, and he peered at Darius closer. Darius's eyes softened before he smiled.

"Michael, right?" He asked, and Sky nodded. "Oh, I doubt I'm his descendant... I don't even have his last name, I'm a Haik! Darius Haik!" Sky shrugged.

"Last names can be changed through marriage."

"You know about that weird prophecy thing?" Cerra asked. "Am I the only one who doesn't?!" He was ignored.

"Even if you aren't, I need someone to take his place. Someone has to train and lead the Archers." Darius's eyes widened. "I think you should come with us. I can see if you'll be able to pull your weight."

"Uh, hello?!" Sky and Darius finally looked at Cerra. "I'm pretty sure I'm the one leading this crazy mission. Don't I get a say in this? I'm already lugging you around old man! I don't have time to be pulling mister tree hugger around." Darius frowned.

"I'm not a treehugger!" He claimed.

"Let him come." Sky said simply. "He can be on a lookout."

"What good is that if we don't have any way of contacting each other?"
"I have a walkie-talkie, but Jabali has the other one."
"That doesn't help us at all."
"We could set up signals or something."
"With what, smoke?!"

Sky shook his head. "Cerra, I doubt we'll be able to get into that base all by ourselves. It'll be good to have someone watching the exit and entrance, in case something goes wrong." Cerra looked at Darius.

"Ever killed a man?" Darius looked thrown before he swallowed.

"No... Not really." He admitted. Cerra looked at Sky with a deadpan face. Sky stared back calmly. They stared at each other for a few more moments, before Cerra sighed loudly.

"Fine! Fine. You could at least wound a few guys." He said, turning away as Darius cheered. Sky chuckled in amusement.

"Alright, we need to get going. We've wasted enough time." Sky said, then looked at Darius. "Don't you think you should warn your friend?"

Darius snorted. "If I radio him about this, he'll come tearing through the town looking for me. No, it's alright! Most of my hunting trips take a few days, and I've only been gone for one." Sky nodded.

"You know what, tell me about this Jabali. I get the feeling he might be able to help us too." Cerra sighed loudly as they started walking.

"You never stop, do you?" He asked Sky. He smirked bitterly in reply.

"I don't have any time to."