The transition from child to adult is subtle. Not even a mother can spot the moment it happens. It happens when the ideals upon which they are raised solidify, and they recognize responsibility. Somewhere in between, they gain a personality which is the first moment a parent can see a glimpse of who their child will become.

~Mother Danu, The Primordial Goddess of Nature

Crow drew back on his bow while perched in a tree, hidden within its canopy. The tip of his arrow moved as it tracked his enemy. Barnes taught him that an assassin’s arrow can take down powerful foes. If a mortal can take down a high-ranked Shield, there was no reason he couldn’t.

He tried to keep his killing intent down, knowing that it was something that those with strong Spirit could sense. It was how he often sensed danger around him. Barnes told him the best way to track the enemy was to have the arrow follow the man to where he will be and not point his intent directly at the opponent.

It’d been two weeks since Crow and Otto left town and headed north. They took two days to stock up, but he never saw the white-haired woman again. He didn’t seek her out because he wasn’t sure what to say to her. Four days into their journey, some weak bandits raided their camp at night.

Crow was cultivating and not even sleeping. Otto spent two years remaining alert to protect Song Xue. Whatever energy was in him made him hypersensitive to danger. He knew something was happening before Crow even opened his eyes. There were five men total, and Otto killed four of them before Crow put an arrow in the fifth one.

“Win,” Otto chuckled.

“Bastard,” Crow growled but was thankful Otto killed them. He realized he’d just gained a new soul in his Soulscape and wasn’t happy about it. However, after sorting through the man’s memories, he realized the danger they were in. Not bothering to finish resting, both fled the scene.

Several days later, the bandits had caught up. Crow knew their leader was a five-star Wood Shield, and this was a fight he’d wished to avoid because he wasn’t optimistic of victory. Otto offered to be bait, and it didn’t sit well with him to use his brother that way, but they couldn’t outrun someone of higher rank.

“Do you know what you did wrong?” The leader asked Otto.

The giant pointed at his face and said, “Pretty.”

Crow almost fell out of the tree, and a few of the bandits laughed.

“You have jokes?”

Otto scrunched up his face as if not understanding. “No? Otto not.”

“What? Are you a retard?”

Otto’s face lit up as if he had an epiphany and pointed at the leader’s face. “Pretty.”

“Sonuvbitch. You killed my brother. Do you understand? I’m going to kill yo—”

Crow released his arrow at the space where the bandit leader’s throat was going to be, and the man never even flinched. Dumbfounded, Crow decided the bandit leader was the least self-aware opponent he’d ever come across. Even after the arrow punched through his throat, it was like the guy didn’t even feel the arrow enter and exit. Unbelievable as it was, the man didn’t even know he’d died.

“Heh,” Otto chuckled and pointed at the leader’s face again. “Pretty dead.”

Since the main threat was killed, Crow kept firing because none of the bandits realized their boss had died yet. Ten of them died before Otto finished off the last three.

Otto was frowning when Crow approached.

“Why are you pouting?” Crow asked.

“Lose,” Otto replied, and Crow laughed, realizing his brother was mad because Crow killed more of the bandits than he did.

“Baby,” Crow joked.

Otto punched Crow, and the blow knocked him back at least a meter before he regained his footing. Crow pivoted and landed a kick on Otto’s hip, causing the big guy to stagger. Back and forth they went, Crow dodging and Otto blocking as if Crow’s attacks were nothing more than bug bites.

Thirty minutes went by, and both of them were panting and sweating. Almost as if it was choreographed, Otto stuck out his fist, and Crow bumped it. They both conceded while laughing. Crow was glad that some things never changed.

“Bodies?” Otto asked.

Crow shrugged and dumped them all into the garbage pit he built in his Soulscape. None of them had anything on them worth anything, and he doubted their Shields had anything either. After doing that, he checked the leader’s memories to make sure they weren’t borrowing trouble. It turned out they were a group of nobodies, which made sense since this was the worse area for a bandit group. The townsfolk said there were no settlements out this way.

“This idiot got lost,” Crow told Otto. “He was looking for small villages to extort protection fees and couldn’t find his way out of the forest.”

Otto snorted, and the two continued on their journey. Crow realized Mara was moving in their direction, so he just headed directly north. Two more weeks passed when they both stood at the edge of a shrub-covered prairie. A three-meter-wide stone ledge lined the edge of the realm.

Crow stepped out onto the ledge and saw that it ran east to west, and if he judged right, its height was set at sea level. Looking over the edge, he was surprised that he could see land far below him.

“That’s Skyfall. I’m told it’s visible from every floor.”

Crow turned around with a big smile on his face. Mara stood there, her strawberry blonde hair blowing lightly in the breeze. It’d been months since he last saw her, and he felt like a piece of him was missing.

“I promised I’d be your Shield, and I’ve made good on it,” she grinned while exposing her cleavage. The pavise-shaped Shield was exposed, and a gold light glowed within Crow’s green eyes.

Cough.

Otto shifted uncomfortably, but Mara laughed at the big guy.

“Missed you, too, little brother.”

“Big.”

“Nope.”

“Big brother,” Otto said, pointing at his face, then pointed at Crow’s face. “Little Brother.”

“Nope. You are my little brother,” Mara laughed and teased the big oaf. Crow grabbed her waist and pulled her close before locking his lips on hers. He missed her smell, the softness of her body, the way her mouth seemed abnormally large when she smiled, and the strong sense of connection he felt with her.

“Tell Faelan,” Otto huffed.

“Pfft,” Mara couldn’t stop her laugh mid-kiss, and even Crow couldn’t tamp down his happiness at having these people at his side once more.

“We’ll rest here for the day and then head toward Rosdoe.”

Otto grunted and collected wood for a fire, leaving Crow and Mara by themselves. He knew his little brother all too well and decided to go hunt as well. There was a fire already going by the time he returned, but he didn’t miss the ruffled clothes and messy hair.

“I think you’ll like Acco,” Mara told Otto with a chuckle. Crow rolled his eyes but inwardly laughed at Mara’s tricks. He had tried to forget about that guy, but the Constellation made that hard. For better or worse, that guy was part of their group.