Chapter 1

Tic, tic, tic. "Hey, can you shut that off, please? It's really getting on my nerves," a voice said. A
hand quickly turned off the blinker of the car, stopping the ticking. "Crap, sorry, I didn’t realize I
left the turn signal on." "You’re good, man. Don't apologize; you're just distracted by the rain. It's
cool." The windshield wipers swiped off what almost looked like gallons of water, only for it to
quickly blur again with more rain. Thankfully, the driver had the wipers on full speed, so the rain
wasn’t obscuring the view too much.

"Jesus, this rain is bad. I’m just glad we’re almost home. I swear there wasn’t a single dark
cloud in the sky on the way here," the driver said, glancing back at the passenger. The two were
returning from the gym when the heavy rain hit, catching them both off guard. "Yeah, I know. It’s
not like you haven’t said it ten times already." "It was actually only three or four times, but go
off." "AcTuAlLy, I only said it four point five times." The driver couldn’t help but laugh. "Man, if
you don’t shut up... I’m trying to keep us from crashing in this downpour."

Suddenly, a loud screeching noise grew closer. They had just turned left into their neighborhood
when a food truck, apparently hydroplaning, hurtled towards them. The driver attempted to
speed up to escape the impending collision, but the surprise and panic caused him to slow
down instead. His tires lost traction. In a brief, harrowing second filled with the sound of metal
crushing metal, pain flashed through their bodies. Before either could comprehend what
happened, the impact of the truck obliterated them inside their car.

The next thing they knew, they were standing in a blank, featureless room, both screaming at
the top of their lungs. The sudden silence of their voices, as if someone had hit a mute button,
snapped them out of their shock. "Good, now that I can finally hear myself think, I can
explain to you two what's going on," a voice rang through the room. It was like an explosion
going off with each word, the sound reverberating and shaking them to their cores. They both
tried to locate the source of the voice, but all they could see was white. That's when they
realized the 'room' they were in wasn’t just white—it was a blank void with no doors, no
windows. The boundaries of the space were indistinguishable; floor and ceiling blended
seamlessly into an endless expanse of nothingness.

“Ah, it seems you two have figured out where you are, or should I say, where you aren’t.
You see, I brought you to this in-between space to give you a small heads-up before I put
you both in front of the two mean bean brothers. You were going to die in that accident,
but with all my power, I saved you. Now, you must you must be wondering what you did
to deserve being rescued by a God, and that’s with a capital 'G,' by the way. You see, I
made a deal with two other gods after getting a little too close for their comfort. Normally,
I'd just wipe their minds or vanish, but these two have just enough power to resist such
tricks. So, I struck a deal to ignore my presence and let me observe their creations. The
catch? I needed a valid reason for my interest. Declaring mere curiosity wasn't an option;
I couldn't have other beings learning of that. So, I concocted a deal: I'd introduce two
beings from my own watchings into their world, to see how they'd fare. You two may not
be my direct creations, but I've observed your species enough to consider it a fair
exchange. And now, I'm about to send you off to meet the 'two big beans.' Just
remember, don't disappoint me, or I'll find ways to make your eternity quite unbearable
Toodles.”

The two boys stood in a trance-like state. They had just encountered what they believed to be a
god, and the overwhelming sensation of the voice was just beginning to fade. The one with dirty
blonde hair broke the silence. "What the actual fuck was that, Orion?" He looked over at his
cousin, who seemed to be in shock as well. It took Orion a few seconds to muster a response.
"Man, what the fuck was in that gas station cart?" Panic was setting in. They were dead? About
to be sent somewhere to converse with other gods? Before they could process further, the world
around them began to shift. Colors bled into the space, the walls and floor morphing, flipping,
turning inside out. It was disorienting, painful to their eyes, until suddenly, they felt their
stomachs drop. They were falling!

The world around them began to morph, with the god's words echoing in their minds, “Don’t
disappoint me.” The words seemed to have a physical effect, causing their bodies to shake
slightly under the weight of the being's presence. As they landed on their backs, light exploded
in front of them. Their stomachs felt as if they had been turned inside out, and for one of them,
their chest began to feel numb. Before they could comprehend what was happening, the world
transitioned again. Now they were kneeling in a bright void. The periphery of the darkness was
too bright for their eyes, yet their gaze was irresistibly drawn to the center, as if compelled to
stare into the void. Then, abruptly, the void blinked back at them.

Two figures approached them, one radiating golden grace, the other a walking dark void, both in
humanoid forms. While both appeared humanoid, The golden one seemed to be more
muscular, his muscles more defined, while the dark figure was slim and lean. Both devoured the
view of darkness and light in front of the boys. The golden one walked slowly towards them,
speaking in a bright, silky voice, yet maintaining a calm demeanor.
“So, you are the two chosen by the Spectator. I must say, I expected more,” the darker of
the two said as he walked closer, his head tilting slightly, accompanied by a cracking noise. “Do
not mince words, brother. We both know this is not what the other meant. These two are
nothing like we expected; they are weak, sharing none of our gifts besides vaguely
similar shapes,” the darker brother said, his tone filled with disgust, as if the mere sight of the
two was physically repulsive.

“I do not understand why we don’t just strike these two down now and rid ourselves of
the pungent god they came from,” the brighter brother turned. “Because we made a deal,
we will honor it,” the brighter brother said, turning to his darker counterpart. As the gods
bickered, William and Orion exchanged wide-eyed glances, silently communicating through
gestures. Eventually, one of them took a deep breath and cleared his throat loudly enough to
catch the gods' attention.
“You dare interrupt—” began the darker god, but he was cut off. “Ah, my apologies, we
seem to have strayed off topic,” the brighter brother interjected. Before William could speak,
the God of Light continued, “You two will be brought into our creation, the world we crafted
long ago. Given your limited capabilities, your creator has arranged for you each to
receive a familiar gift.” The gods slowly rose to their full height, having leaned down to be at
eye level with the humans.

“We understand you may have many questions. However, our deal stipulates minimal
interference in your journey through our creation. We hope you will learn as you
proceed.” The God of Darkness gave them a final scrutinizing look. “Do not dishonor our
agreement as others of your kind have in the past. Now be gone, and good luck. You will
need it.” With a wave of his hand with a wave of his hand, a blast of darkness shot toward
them. Before they could react, it enveloped them, creating a sensation of limbs being stretched,
contorted, and broken, only to be put back together. The pain was excruciating. They tried to
scream, but their cries were muffled by the rushing sound in their ears and the impact of hitting
a solid surface. Both were mercifully knocked unconscious, spared from anymore agony.

Pain was the first sensation to greet Orion upon awakening. His vision was initially blurry, but it
cleared after a few blinks. He felt sore all over, reminiscent of a strenuous gym workout. It took
him a moment to realize he was lying on the ground. “Fuuuckkkk, my head hurts, man,” Orion
groaned, propping himself up. “Dude, I just had the weirdest dream... or was it a dream?” He
paused, surveying his surroundings. Beside him, Alex lay motionless.

Alex was lying down beside him, but he was completely unrecognizable. His clothes, face, hair,
and body had changed drastically. Orion struggled to make sense of his cousin's appearance,
which now seemed almost cartoon-like. “Damn, I really shouldn’t have taken a hit off that cart,”
he muttered. Outside, a light drizzle fell, nothing too intense. Orion turned his head to survey
their surroundings. He and Alex were in an alleyway – dark, wet, and dimly lit by the overcast
midday sky. “Where are we?” he wondered aloud. Spotting a puddle on the cracked concrete,
he looked into it, finding confirmation of what he thought. The reflection wasn’t what he was
expecting. “What the hell??!?” His own face, body, and clothes had transformed just like Alex's.
“YO ALEX, GET UP!” he yelled, shaking William's unconscious body, trying desperately to wake
him up.

Alex jolted up, his arms flailing as he frantically looked around at the surroundings until his gaze
landed on Orion. Recognizing a familiar face, he calmed down. “Dude, I had the weirdest dream
too. It was like some random god thing brought us to the brother gods from RWBY.” He was on
the verge of a tangent when Orion gestured to interrupt. “Wait, those were the brother gods?”
William paused, tilting his head.

“You say that like you had the same dream. You didn’t, right? Please tell me that was just a
dream, not something that actually happened.” William’s breathing picked up. “Nah, I can’t
believe that.” He quickly stood, wobbling as his foot slipped on the damp concrete. Orion stood
up beside him. “Hold up, man. Let's figure out where we are first, and check if we still have all
our organs. We just woke up in an alleyway.” William hesitated, then moved quickly to the end of
the alleyway, stepping into the street. The view opened up before them, revealing

Emerging from the alleyway onto the street, the boys were greeted with an unobstructed view of
their surroundings. The distinct cliffs, adorned with giant mushrooms growing along their sides
and base, gradually revealed their location. The sight of flushing airships and a bustling crowd,
some with what seemed to be animal parts, finalized their realization, particularly for Alex. His
voice was faint and incredulous. “There’s no way this is real.” Then, as if on cue, an airship
descended near a landing pad at the cliff's edge. A blue screen flickered to life nearby, and a
booming voice announced, “We hope you enjoyed your flights and welcome to Mistral.”

Chapter 2

The sound of footsteps echoed off the concrete walls, reverberating around the two boys until
the taller one finally snapped. "Bro, seriously, can you sit the fuck downdown for just two
seconds? Your pacing is getting on my nerves," he said. The shorter one, Alex, retorted sharply,
"Oh, I’m sorry, I just found out I'm dead and was used as a pawn in some god's game. Excuse
me if I'm a bit nervous and struggling to calm down!" The taller one sighed, "You do realize
you're not the only one in this situation, right? It's not all about you."

Both were breathing hard as they returned to the alleyway, the gravity of their situation finally
sinking in. "What do we even do now? We're stuck in Mistral, in the world of RWBY, with no way
out. We don't even have our IDs... Wait, do we?" In a rush, they searched their pockets, finding
their wallets and phones, along with a pocket knife on Alex. "Okay, we've got our IDs and
phones. You don’t think there's any signal here, do you?" They checked their phones, lifting
them high in search of a signal.

"Man, this is weird," Alex murmured, staring at his phone, much like Orion. They were both
trying to figure out if they could communicate or use their phones for anything useful. "What?"
Orion asked, glancing over at his cousin's screen. The old pictures he had taken were
displayed. "All my pictures look like they're from the show now," Alex said, flipping his phone to
show Orion. True enough, all the images seemed to have transformed, RWBYfiying them.

The distraction from their phones helped them both to calm down quicker than they normally
would. “Alright, let's just focus and figure out what to do from here, one step at a time,” Orion
suggested, trying to remain level-headed. “The god—” “Brob,” Alex interjected, “Let’s call him
Brob, so we don’t mix him up with other gods, and because he deserves it." “That’s stupid but
alright.” rolling his eyes William got back on track. “They said we had a gift of some kind right?
Something we were familiar with? Any ideas?” both of the two boys began thinking of different
series of powers, weapons, and other items they might be familiar with, that the two might have
been given.
“I know this sounds insane, but can you check if I have any kind of rock or gem on me?” William
asked, scanning Orion but finding no visible rock formations or protruding crystals on his
cousin's body. “Alright, so no gem abilities, then,” William concluded. “Okay, my turn,” Alex said.
“Why are we taking turns trying to figure out our gifts?” Orion asked, puzzled. “It gives us a
chance to brainstorm ideas for each other, plus it’s more fun this way,” Alex replied with a grin.
He then started to rub his hands together, adjusting his stance by spreading his legs farther
apart and clenching his fists. Closing his eyes, he began to yell, “HAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” His
voice intensified as he attempted to summon any kind of ki or power by powering up. It didn’t
take long for him to realize he was both out of breath and that his power wasn’t any form of ki or
dragon ball power.

“Hah, alright, so either I don’t have ki from Dragon Ball, or I haven’t unlocked it yet,” Alex
finished, catching his breath. “Okay, my turn. I just hope I don’t embarrass myself like you did.
Honestly, man, that was cringe,” Orion said, adjusting his stance. He calmed his breathing, then
suddenly raised his foot and slammed it down onto the ground with all his might. “FUCK!” he
exclaimed, clutching his now throbbing foot. “God damnit, fucking piece of shit,” he cursed
under his breath. Alex watched, barely containing his laughter. “You okay there?” he asked,
smirking. “Yeah, I'm fine, just thought I might be an earthbender or something,” Orion replied,
trying to laugh it off. After a moment, as the pain subsided, he regained his composure.

“Alright, I’m okay. But before you try your thing, let me test one other power I’ve been thinking
about,” Orion said. He lifted his hand and closed his eyes, focusing intently. Slowly, he moved
his finger in a circular motion. A red light followed, tracing a slightly misshapen circle in the air.
Once complete, the air inside the circle glowed bright red before suddenly erupting in flames,
unfortunately aimed at Alex.

“Crap!” Alex yelled, scrambling to dodge the fire. In his panic, he collided with the alley wall.
Flames engulfed the wall's vegetation flowing off Alex in the process, turning it the plant into ash
smoke billowed ou of it. Alex grunted, but rather than pain, it appeared the smoke and ash were
reacting to him, swirling and gathering around his form, slowly it coalesced around him until
slowly being absorbed into his skin, Alex sat there staring at his own hands watching as the rest
of the smoke got absorbed into him, until he tried to replicate the feeling of it going into his skin,
the smoke was quickly gathered around his hands and lower arms. “Holy shit.”

“Alright, let's go over this again,” Orion said, as Alex seemed partly preoccupied, tossing a smoke
ball between his hands. “I have powers from the Owl House, and you have powers from a game
called inFamous?” Alex paused his smoke manipulation, absorbing the ball back into his hand,
murmuring about how he was never going to get over his new powers. “Yeah, it looks like I've
got Delsin’s powers, or maybe Hank’s technically” he mused, trying to stay on topic.

“So in inFamous, there's this mutation gene thing that lets people unlock special powers, usually
related to elements like ice, fire, neon, electricity, and so on. But they also have enhanced
abilities like super strength and durability – anything that makes them superhuman or just better
than a normal person. And you said your powers are from the Owl House. I remember a bit from
watching it with you. Something about glyphs and magic circles?” Alex asked with a hint of
amusement. “Kind of,” Orion snickered. “They have these sac-like organs attached to their
hearts that—” He was suddenly interrupted by his cousin. “Wait, wait, wait, you have a new
organ now?! Does that feel weird?”

“I’ll get back to you on that when I use it more, but it's kinda like when you flex a muscle that's
tense, and then it kinda like leaks out something that comes out of my body when I make the
circles.” Orion replied, showing the various circles and burn marks on the ground and wall, some
made with his feet and legs. Burn marks and smoke still lingered in the air. “Anyway, basically
they have things called bilesacks that let them make magic, biologically, and there's a whole lot
of other kinds of magic.”

“Alright cool so we both learned what our powers are what should we do next? Where do we
go?” Orion looked like he was having an aneurysm. “Dude, are you serious? You’re the one who
knows exactly where we are. I don’t know jack shit about RWBY. You should know where to go,
and who to contact. How the hell am I supposed to know anything about what to do? ” almost as
if on cue a small piece of paper seemed to blow in front of them gliding on the wind, they would
have ignored it until it literally slapped itself onto Alex’s face. “Muthfke.” he quickly grabbed the
piece of paper and ripped it off his face. Alex unfolded the note, revealing neat yet slightly
scratchy handwriting it read:

“Congratulations on figuring out your powers, newbies. Now, make sure to keep your life-saving
friend happy, please.”

“I’d recommend sticking to where the big things happen, to make things more entertaining, and
you know, make sure you know what's going on to keep whatever ‘knowledge’ you have of this
place.”

“Oh, and also remember, I am always watching, so enjoy me seeing you everywhere you go.
Have fun and try not to die.”

With little regards: your friendly B.R.O.B.

The two read over the note in silence before watching as it quickly erupted into flame into Alex’s
hands which thankfully didn’t do much as he just absorbed the smoke and flames from it. Alex’s
eyes seemed to have a distant look as he looked past Orion and everything for that matter. He
began to think and use all the knowledge that was just given to him and what he knows up till
now. “Alright, ok I think I have a plan or the beginnings of one, from what the BROB told us we
need to stay where all the action is, or more directly where all the plot takes place at which
thankfully I know where is, Vale one of the four main kingdoms of Remnant, this places earth the
kingdoms are Vale, Atlus, Vacou, and Mistral.”
Alex brought his hand to his chin as he kept riding the train of thought. “Most of the plot follows
the people in Beacon which is in Vale, and since we’re in mistral it’ll probably take a while to get
to Vale.” Orion looked confused, “Why?” “Because Mistral and Vale are on different continents
and if I remember right it took the main characters a few months on foot to reach close to Mistral
on foot, honestly it might be more since they skipped over a lot of the journey.” Orion started
nodding along. “Alright, so we need to get to Vale any advice on how?”

“That’ll probably be the hard thing we’ll probably need to get an airship or maybe train. Burt
unless you have some money in your back pocket I don’t see either of us affording any type of
ticket.” Orion’s eyes seemed to glare at the other boy or that's what Alex thought until he
realized that no he was staring just past him “What are you looking at?” Orion snatches
something off the wall and hands it to Alex. “I think I found our way there.”

Looking down Alex looked at what Orion had handed him, a flier of some kind.

Vale Caravan: Journey to Vale

Embark on a Grand Expedition!

The renowned Vale Caravan, having concluded its endeavors in Mistral, is now gearing
up for its return voyage to Vale. We offer a secure and adventurous journey across the
diverse landscapes of our country and the vast expanse of the ocean, leading directly
into the heart of Vale.

We Are Seeking Companions!

Are you in need of safe passage? Do you possess skills that can aid our caravan?
Whether it's culinary expertise, protective vigilance, or valuable labor – your
contributions are vital. We welcome travelers who can enhance our journey and ensure
a harmonious experience for all.

Limited Space Available

To maintain safety and efficiency, we are limiting the number of travelers. This
precaution helps us avoid overcrowding and minimizes the risk of attracting unwanted
Grimm attention.

Join Us!
 Interested adventurers, please visit us at the following address to discuss your
participation. Be part of a journey that promises camaraderie, discovery, and a secure
passage to Vale!

Alex reread the poster over and over a smile blooming onto his face. “Yes, this is exactly what
we needed! And now that we have an address we can go there now, I'm just making sure before
we rush off to go there now, are you okay and ready for this, it's going to be hard and we’re
going to be roughing it from the sounds of it for probably months at a time.” Orion rolled his
eyes, “Dude of course I’m okay with it, I wouldn’t have given you the damn flier if I didn’t.”

Alex just smirked, “Alright fair enough let's start heading that way then, let’s just uh, pick up a
map on the way there first.”

Chapter 3

The overwhelming sounds of chatter, chitchat, mutters, and everyday street noise from the
surrounding people were almost overwhelming for the two boys. All they were trying to do was
to get to a map, or someone who had a map. “We had to pick the busiest time to try and choose
our next action plan, didn’t we.” Alex said as he tried to push past some guy standing in the
middle of the street, neither of them knew where they were going, just that they would pick a
random direction and go from there and from the looks of it they ended up choosing what could
only be described as a town square mixed with a farmers market.”It’s not like we chose to do
this on purpose it is annoying, though.” Orion said while avoiding a lady walking with her kids,
both of whom had animal ears on their heads, Alex did his best not to stare as he walked past
them.

Finally, the two would end up near a train station, or maybe it was a bullhead landing place. Alex
noticed how the thing on the ground was some landing site maybe they just missed the ship or
something. “Alex, I found one!” turning around, the boy would see Orion standing next to a
board with a giant map of the city and some pamphlets under it, probably some smaller maps
for tourists, or interdimensional travelers, eh potato, tomato. “Nice, alright, where are we then?”
after searching the map for a few seconds, Alex answered his own question and pointed to a
spot on the map that said, “You are here”

“Alright, now we know where we are where is the caravan place at?” Orion pulled the flyer out of
his pocket, unfolded it, and then reread the address, “387 Saoirse Street.” with that, the two
opened up the packet and started trying to find the street they were looking for, it took them a
few minutes, it took this long mostly because they started near the center of the city but as it
turns out the place was actually pretty close to the edge of the city. “Huh, I guess they plan to
leave pretty soon, then?” Turning, Alex noticed Orion grabbing a marker and circling where the
address is and the route they were going take to try to get there.
Looking at the route showed that Orion had tried to avoid the bigger areas Alex raised his
eyebrows and looked at his cousins, who seemed to notice his look and responded before he
asked the question. “I don’t want to be in those crowds like last time, and so we can try and
practice a bit on the way there, and so we can actually plan on what we’re going to say.” Alex
grimaced his cousin was right, neither of them really planned on what they were going to say or
do, for that matter. “I was kinda hoping we could say we’re going to help with protection and
maybe labor? You’re good at cooking maybe you can help with that?”

The two had started making their way to the meeting spot now, both of them doing their best oi
try and practice with their powers thankfully, both of them had powers that were pretty easy to
conjure back up, Orion was mostly trying to get his basics down, at least from what Alex could
tell that’s what he was doing, to him he was just sprouting ice and plants all over the place,
thankfully the plants actually helped him with his own powers, he could burn them and drain the
smoke, turns out the two learned that they could mix there powers a bit, mostly the flaming plant
tentacle things, it took a few tries but once Orion was able to summon a planyt tentacle Alex lit
the thing on fire via his fiery smoke and then he could both drain the smoke from the burning
plants to get even more and Orion now had a flaming plant tentacle with thorns.

The two cousins looked to be about halfway to the meeting spot when they had two people step
in front of the alleyway they had been cutting through to get to the spot faster, “Hey, you two,
come here real quick.” the older of the two motioned with his hand at them, he was wearing
what might have been hunter clothes? That or the guy really really liked the color orange, he
wore metal grieves and gauntlets. The guy standing next to him seemed a bit younger maybe
his mid-thirties? They both looked pretty old and well odd looking they both had short hair and
some scars on them, be it their face or arms. The younger guy had a metal flail it looked pretty
normal, all things considered. The hilt looked like it might have a few extra buttons on it, but
besides that, it looked rather normal.

The two boys looked at each other before they shook their heads. “That's alright, sir, we’ll just
go the other way,” Alex responded, already having a bad feeling about these two, Orion leaned
over to whisper to him. “These guys are fuckin weird let's go.” the two were about to turn around
before they watched the two guys in front of them throw some type of rock at them it sailed over
their heads and hit the ground behind them. Which promptly exploded into a well of ice blocking
the alley's backway. Orion and Alex would quickly jumped back to get away from the ice and
turned back to face the men.

“Here’s the thing kiddies we aren’t asking get your asses over here, now!” The man with the
armored legs and arms yelled at the two now walking towards them. Orion and Alex both looked
at each other, whispering in a hurried manner. “We need to be careful. These guys got dust, the
ice stuff.” “I noticed how strong do you think these guys are?” “No clue, but if they have dust,
that means they either have some sort of training or just have money to rob people.”
“The hell are you two whispering about!?” The two men were just about on them now, both now
holding their weapons in front of them now or, in the armored guy's case, slamming his fist into
his palms, slamming them together. The boys were getting nervous; they needed to do
something quickly! “We need to do something now!” Alex’s eyes frantically looked around for
something they could attack them with before he remembered, duh, they had powers. All they
needed to do was hit them hard enough and hopefully run away! “We need to bum rush them
and use some of your magic, the most you can use at once, that big fire you did earlier should
work.” Alex turned back at the guys about to be in front of them.

Alex put his arm behind him he began forming smoke along his arm, they needed something big
if they wanted to get out of this he focused on pouring as much smoke as he could into his palm
and arm it was quickly growing bigger and bigger by the second. Orion started tracing his foot in
the ground around himself, doing his best to do it without drawing any attention to himself, the
men were now standing right in front of them, “Alright, kiddies, all we need you to do is drop
everything you have and nobody gets hurt alri- What the!” the man's eyes quickly lurched
downwards seeing the glowing circle, right before it was completed. The man’s arm was halfway
in the air, about to bring his mace down onto Orion, when Alex threw his arm forward, aiming at
the two of them, letting the held-back ash and smoke fly forward, smashing right into the men.

The force of the blast flung the men backwards, their backs hitting the alley wall near the boys,
the ash cloud following them the whole time, they both let out pained cries as the fire, ash, and
smoke filled their lungs and lit them ablaze even if briefly, right after this Orion's circle was
finished bright fire quickly erupted from below his feet and was quickly blasted forward the
smoke cloud that surrounded the two would-be robbers was quickly enveloped by the flames
and so to would be the muggers. They both let out pained screams until the fire quickly
dissipated.

Orion and Alex looked over at each other before looking back over at the two bodies near the
wall. “Holy shit, that was bright.” “Yeah, no kidding, I- do you think they're okay? Actually, those
two tried to rob us screw them.” Even if they both pretty much agreed the two got what was
coming to them, they still walked over to make sure they didn’t kill the two, it was pretty bad they
both had burns and burnt clothes some of their skin had started to turn a reddish black color.
Alex hoped they weren’t as bad as they looked. “Okay, they’re alive, I think, come on we need to
go, for all we know there could be more guys, and we weren’t exactly quiet here,” Orion said,
looking over at his cousin, who seemed to be messing with the robbers.

“What are you doing we need to leave.” Alex nodded before he finally was able to do what he
had been trying to do, he was able to pull the man’s gauntlets off, “Hold on, also here, put these
on we’ll need them more than these guys will.” Orion looked a bit off-put by putting on a burnt
man's armor even if he was alive then again, they did try to rob them and probably did the same
to other people, so they were probably helping the people out around here. “Alright, man.” it
took a few minutes to get the grieves off, but once he did, he handed them to Orion, who quickly
put them on they covered his feet and lower legs and reached about an inch or two onto his
upper legs.
After giving Orion the armor, Alex grabbed the other man's flail and stood up after having to
bend down to get the armor and weapon. “Alright, now we can leave.” Looking up, Orion now
had armored legs and gauntlets they had a bit of a shine to them, it looked like the fire and
smoke had cleaned the metal some kind, giving the light orange-colored armor a shine to it. “If
we plan to get anywhere near the people in the main show, we’re going to need weapons.”

“Then why didn’t you give me the weapon.” “Because I’m already pretty durable conduits in
inFamous can tank bullets pretty easily hell, they can get shot at by machine guns and
helicopters, sure those hurt them a lot more compared to the other things, but as long as they
can drain their element they can heal, but from what you’ve shown me from the owl house
they’re still pretty much normal humans so if you get shot by a bullet you’re screwed.” “Alright,
fair.” Alex nodded, “Yeah, which reminds me, we need to get someone to unlock your aura as
soon as possible.” “Oh also-” Alex was interrupted by a pained groan coming out of the older
guys mouth. “Right, we need to go like now!” “Yeah, no shit, sherlock.”

With that, the two started running, which quickly turned to sprints when they heard sirens from
what they assumed to be cop cars going to the spot where they had just come from. Thankfully
all the adrenaline and fear seemed to be a good thing because Alex turned into a cloud of flying
smoke briefly before he turned back into a person mid-sprint, causing him to fall, almost
faceplanting directly into a busy road, the only thing that stopped him was Orion grabbing onto
his shirt, looks like he grabbed him right after he had reformed and before he could fall.

“Holy crap.” Alex’s breathing picked up as he looked at his own hands, much like when he first
unlocked his powers. “You're welcome. Are you okay, man?” Alex rolled his eyes. “Thank you,
Orion,” he said it sarcastically, but he did mean it even if he was pretty sure he could tank
getting hit by a car, he would still rather not know what that feels like. “Okay, so that.’ Alex
motioned his arms around his body, smoke trailing off him when he did. “Was awesome! That
means I can turn into a smoke cloud! I can go through things this helps so much!” “Alright, cool
you can turn into an ash cloud, but we still need to get to the caravan, so come on.”

Alex nodded, calming himself down. “Right, right, sorry, I-we” Alex quickly caught himself. “Need
to stay focused on that right now.” “Come on, the map says we need to go this way, we’re
almost there anyways.” and you could tell they were almost there, too, the area around them
seemed to be less inhabited by people and more by a few small shops here and there almost no
homes, looks like people don’t want to be living close to the edge of their city, Alex doesn’t
blame them if he knew nightmarish shadow creatures would try to get to them no matter what
he wouldn’t want to stay here either.

Along the way, Alex would continue to turn into a smoke cloud, and he quickly learned that he
could stay as a smoke cloud for just about as long as he wanted to, and he could actually go
higher into the air with it too! It seemed that the games only showed them briefly turning into to
smoke because of game mechanics, but, in reality, he could do this for he didn’t know how long.
He also learned when turning back into his regular solid form, was it felt like he was running
when turning normal. “Hah, hah, okay, I need to get better stamina if I want to stay a smoke
cloud.” “No shit, dude, you look like you just ran three miles. Come on, the meeting place should
be a few streets over, try not to spaz out before then.”

It didn’t take long after that for the two to finally arrive at the place where the caravan meet-up
area was at. Surprisingly enough, there weren’t that many people there sure, a few people were
talking with each other, but it looked like those were the people who were already on the
caravan if the wagons and horses were anything to go by. There were maybe ten or fifteen
people there altogether. Them not included, looking around the two boys tried to figure out just
who was in charge and who they were supposed to talk to, they must have stood out like a sore
thumb because the next thing the two of them knew, they felt a hand on each of their shoulders.

Turning around, they found themselves looking up into the weathered face of a tall, rugged man.
His deep green eyes held a mix of curiosity and authority. He had salt and pepper colored hair
put up in a ponytail he was wearing a brown and red coating that was covered in small patches
and symbols. "You two seem lost," he said, his voice deep and resonant. "First time with the
caravan, I presume?" the two nodded. “Yes sir,” Alex managed to reply, his voice carrying a hint
of nervousness mixed with respect. The man’s expression softened slightly, a small smile
playing at the corners of his mouth. He released their shoulders, stepping back to give them
some space.

“Well, newcomers are always welcome, provided they pull their weight. What skills do you bring
to my caravan?” he asked, folding his arms as he waited for their response. Alex glanced at
Orion, a silent understanding passing between them. This was their moment to prove their
worth. “We’re quick learners, and we can help with anything you’ll let us help you with,” Alex
started, his voice steady. “But more importantly,” he continued, a determined glint in his eyes,
“we have unique abilities that could be invaluable on the road.”

The man raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. “Unique abilities, you say? I’ve seen lots of things
on these travels, but I’m always open to surprises. Show me what you’ve got.” Alex looked at
Orion and nodded he quickly formed smoke along his arm, gathered it into a balk, and threw it
an an unoccupied spot on the lot, where it quickly exploded into a cloud of red and black smoke.
“I can control and manipulate smoke, at least to a certain degree I can even turn into smoke,
too.” he then showed this off, briefly turning into a cloud of ash and moving around before
landing in front of the man, his breathing having obviously increased. The man had a raised
eyebrow before looking at Orion. “And how about you?”

“Uh the best way I can explain it is I have magic?” “Magic? That's a new one, mind showing
me?” “Not at all.” after that, Orion gave the man and the group around them a brief show of his
powers a small circle for fire, ice, and plants he explained the bigger the circle, the more
powerful the outcome. “There's more, but that’s the gist of it.”

Again the man looks at the two before responding to them. “Alright, you showed me your
‘abilities,’ but you didn’t tell me much of what you can do to help, although I will admit your
semblances do look helpful, especially yours.” he nodded to Orion. “I don’t mind helping out with
food or cooking.” the man once again nodded. “Alright, and you?” he looked over to Alex. The
boy looked a bit anxious, more so than his cousin. “Honestly, sir, I don’t mind helping with
anything I don’t really have any specific I can say I’m good at, but I don’t mind learning or being
shown how to help with anything.”

The man seemed to consider Alex's words for a moment. His gaze shifted back and forth
between the two boys as if weighing their sincerity and potential. Finally, he nodded slowly, a
hint of approval in his eyes. "Honesty is a good start. We always have room for those willing to
learn and adapt. You'll find plenty to do on this caravan." Alex’s and Orion's faces brightened up
immediately. “Yes! Thank you, sir, you won't regret this!” he nodded before doing his best to
calm the boys down “Alright, there’s just a few more things, alright. Also, I still haven’t gotten
your names yet.” the boys quickly introduced themselves. “I’m William, and this is my cousin
Orion.” The man’s face now had a small smile on it. “Alright, nice to meet you two my name’s
Marlowe Thorn, and welcome to my caravan.”

After the greetings, the two were introduced to a few others in the caravan. Eventually, they
would be given a small bag of supplies as the two had nothing but the clothes on their back and
their weapons the small group gave them a few things but were told it was their own
responsibility to keep up with them. Not much happened that day besides introductions and
small interactions and helping the rest of them get ready to leave, which they learned they had
just caught the group before they were going to leave the day after. With that, the boys would
make sure they had everything ready for the next day, then would fall into a peaceful slumber.

Chapter 4

The sound of a gentle wind blew through the small forest path the caravan had started on. The
slight hum of conversations filled the air, and our two cousins stood further in the back of the
caravan. It had been a few weeks now, almost a month that the two cousins had been with the
caravan, which also marked a month in the strange world they had found themselves in. Only a
little has changed so far. Besides helping with the caravan, Orion focused on cooking and any
manual labor that someone needed help with. Much like Orion, Alex concentrated on helping
with manual work, where he quickly learned that super strength helps immensely with moving
things and holding them in place.
While the two were helping out with the caravan, eventually, someone asked if they wanted to
be hunters since they had semblances, both of them decided to roll with that idea and tell them
that yes, that is why they were going to Vale. They wanted to go to Beacon to become hunters.
After this conversation, it was revealed that some of the other people in the caravan already had
their aura unlocked, with it being explained to them that having aura while on the road makes
things easier, mainly for protection. Still, it also means if someone gets hurt, they won’t have to
wait as long for them to heal.

After this conversation, Alex convinced Orion they needed to try to get someone to unlock his
aura for some of the same reasons. Sure, right now, sure, he has these incredible powers they
both do, but he’s more squishy than he was, Alex could tank bullets, or at the very least, he
could survive multiple shots and heal himself, but Orion, without his magic was a regular
person, which leads to an interaction with the Caravan leader.

The two boys had managed to get a private moment with Marlowe. It was near the end of the
day, with night surrounding the small camp dinner, which had just finished, and most of the
others were having small conversations or getting ready for bed. Making it the best time to have
a private conversation.

“So what can I do for you boys tonight?” Alex stepped forward, deciding to try and start the
conversation. “Mr. Marlowe, we were wondering if you could help us out with something?” He
nodded towards them. “Depends, but I can do my best, so going on with you two?” “So you
know about our semblances, right?” Once again, he nodded to them. “So we have our
semblances, but we kinda don’t have an aura, or at the very least, Orion doesn’t.” The man’s
face morphed into one of confusion. “I didn’t think anyone could have a semblance without an
aura.”

“Well, we didn’t really think that either, especially from what we’ve been taught, we always heard
that you had to get your aura unlocked and then unlock your semblance, but we think we know
why.” “Alright, lay it on me. How did you get your semblances before your aura.” “Before we
decided to join the caravan, we were living somewhere else, and we had been living there for
our whole lives, but something bad happened to where we lived and us.” his voice wavered
slightly, if he needed Marlowe to believe this, he needed to act it, Alex did his best to remember
bad memories or thoughts to keep it going. “I-I don’t really want to go into full details about what
happened, but we were put in a horrible and stressful situation where if we did anything, we
would die, so I guess under stress, our bodies went straight to unlocking our semblances
instead of our aura.”

“Or, at the very least, it unlocked Orion’s semblance, so we were wondering if you could unlock
his aura.” The two boys stood there anxiously, watching as Marlowe took in all the information.
“I’ve heard of situations where someone was put into a stressful or dangerous spot, and their
aura was brought out, so I doubt that a semblance appearing before an aura wouldn’t be too
different from that. Although, usually, a semblance drains aura when in use, so maybe it's less. If
your aura isn’t fully unlocked, it might just be laying dormant as a fuel source and nothing else.”

“That can be dangerous not knowing how much aura you’re draining from yourself; if you drain
too much or try to pull aura when you’ve expended it all, you can hurt your soul. So unlocking it
should make it easier for you to track your semblance usage, and it also comes with the obvious
of you having full use of your aura.” The two boys were looking back and forth at each other.
This was it; one of their goals was being completed already! “Orion, come over here. If you want
me to unlock your aura, I need to touch you physically for it to work.” Alex let out a slight snicker
before pushing his cousin forward. “Go on, go get touched.” “I hate you.”

Orion would move to stand in front of Marlowe, his cousin's comments going ignored as he
focused more on getting this thing unlocked. “Alright, you can keep your eyes open or close
them for this, but unless you want to stare at me, I’d suggest closing them.” Deciding to take
Marlowe’s advice, he closed his eyes. He flinched when he felt something touch his head, and
then he heard Marlowe start to talk, he could tell he was close, almost directly in front of him.

"In this world, kid, your aura is your shield and your strength. It's not just a force; it's a part of
who you are – your grit, your resolve, your will to keep moving forward. It's the quiet fire that
burns in your heart and the unyielding shield that guards your journey."

He paused, letting the weight of his words sink in. "You've come far, and you've got further to go.
But remember, your strength comes not from the light of your aura alone but from the bonds you
forge and the choices you make. Let your aura be the reflection of your spirit, and let it guide
you through the darkest roads."

With a gentle push of his aura into Orion, Marlowe continued, "Now, let the journey you've
embarked on awaken the power that lies within you. Rise, not as a mere traveler, but as a
guardian of your own path. Your aura doesn't just protect you; it defines you." As he finished
speaking, the glow of Orion's aura began to manifest orange in color; it quickly flashed before
slowly seeping back into his skin. Much like Orion’s, Marlowe’s aura quickly flashed around him
a deep blue before sinking back into his skin. “You can open your eyes now, how do you feel?”

Slowly opening his eyes, Orion was able to catch a brief glimpse of his own aura as well as
Marlowe’s he felt the sensation go down to his core, it felt like a warm ray of sunshine was
hitting every part of his body and warming him from the inside out. His body felt rejuvenated as
before it had been a bit tired from a full day’s work, but now? He felt amazing, like he just took
two shots of expresso mixed with an energy drink lemonade. “Amazing. I feel awesome right
now.” Marlowe couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. “Hehe, yep, that’s pretty much the same
reaction everyone has when they first unlock their aura. It feels like they can do anything and
everything, yeah?” Orion nodded, feeling like he could do just that, which is why when he
suddenly found an aura-enforced punch to the gut, it brought him to his knees. His aura quickly
flashed around his body before quickly bursting, showing that it had broken, the air was
knocked, out of him as he fell to the ground, he looked up to see Marlowe looking down at him,
his arm still extended.

Alex looked at the scene in shock, not having moved an inch as he watched it happen. He could
hear the blood and adrenaline rush to his ears. Smoke was flaking off of him as it gathered
around his arms and upper body. But before he could even think to do anything, Marlowe raised
his hand in a surrender gesture. “That’s why you need to be careful.” he kneeled down and
helped Orion back to his feet. It took a few seconds, but he was able to breathe again. “I know
that was bad, but I needed to remind you.” he looked over at Alex. “Both of you that even with
aura, you can still be hurt, killed even, you don’t know how many people I’ve seen get killed
thinking aura was the one all be all for protection only to find them weeks later dead on the side
of the road being eaten by Grimm. You both seem like good boys, so I don’t want to see that
happen to you two, okay?”

Both boys stood there in silence, digesting the hard lesson they had just witnessed or been a
part of. They have these powers, but they aren’t invincible. “Yes, sir.” Alex was the first to
respond, while Orion just shook and nodded his head. Yes, he understood the lesson, but he
was still angry about how the man did it. “Thank you. I understand it was probably a rough
approach, but you both needed it if you were to get anywhere with the way you’re both going.”
He looked over to Orion and nodded. “Here, Orion, I know that Tobias might need some help
getting ready for his hunting tomorrow. Do you mind helping him?” The boy nodded. “Sure.”
“Thank you, Alex. Do you mind if I talk with you for a minute?” he was a bit hesitant, mainly
because of what the man had just done to his cousin, even if in good faith. “Sure, sir.”

“Early, you mentioned how the situation you both were placed in unlocked both of your
semblances, but not your aura. Why is it you didn’t mention yourself or ask me to unlock your
aura?” his voice was calming, as if trying to reassure the boy it was okay to talk to him. The
jokes were on him, and he was already okay with talking about it. “My situation is a little
different, from what I can tell, my semblance was unlocked like Orion’s, but my aura is odd. It’s
like it's halfway there you probably already know how strong I am, right? I think my aura is
always active, but under my skin? Or something like that's why I can use my semblance and still
have my extra strength.”

The man got quiet as if thinking, “So you don’t want me to try and draw out your aura then?”
Alex paused. He could definitely try, but he knew his powers were different than Orion’s conduits
had a kind of elemental type of powers to them, but they drew it out of the power they have in
their bodies, so if someone tries to put a new energy in there or draw it out he didn’t really know
what would happen he might lose his powers for all he knew. “No, that’s okay, sir, I think I’m
happy with the abilities I have right now. I’m not as squishy as a regular person I can tank a
decent bit.” Or he assumed he could the day he tests that is going to suck.

“Alright then, one last thing before you go then.” The boy looked up he had already started to
walk out when Marlowe had started talking again, “Yes, sir?” “I can see you’re trying to help your
cousin out, and I wanted to say you’re doing the right thing so far; from what I can tell, you're a
caring soul, so try and keep that up when you make it bigger out there eh, it’ll take you far just
don’t let people take advantage of it, now go on I’m pretty sure your cousin will start to worry if
you don’t come back soon.” Alex felt heat blossom in his stomach as he heard this. It felt nice
hearing someone tell him he was doing the right thing so far, it’s a nice feeling. “Yes, sir, and
thank you.”

To think that’s how Orion had gotten his aura unlocked by the leader of a caravan wandering the
forests of Vale and Mistral, only to get punched in the gut immediately and have it shattered.
Alex snickered at the memory, “What are you laughing at?” Orion looked at his cousin, an odd
expression on his face. “Just remembering how when you got your aura, you immediately got
shit on.” His cousin rolled his eyes at him. “Alright, I’d like to see you take a punch to the
stomach by a super-powered man.” “I know I wouldn’t have my super cool power immediately
break and fall to my knees, unlike you.” “Alright, come here, and we’ll test that theory, smartass.”
The two looked like they were just about to get into a ‘fight’ when they heard someone talking
ahead of them.

“Hold it, guys. It looks like there are some tracks ahead that look like people.” They hadn’t
encountered any other people besides the occasional farmer on the road. They had only seen
other people in small villages. The cousins looked at each other. Orion moved his head to try to
tell his cousin to try to talk to him. He made sure no one besides his cousin could hear him and
started whispering. “It might be bandits, there was a group that wondered mistral, and if it is,
we’re fucked they have one of the strongest people of the series there right now.” “It looks like
it's only two people from the tracks.” They heard Tobias call to the rest of the group he was the
Caravan’s hunter and tracker, mostly keeping the place fed if they needed or wanted extra food,
plus he’s been helping the boys learn to hunt a bit as well.

“Orion, Alex, and Nadia, come with me, the rest of you. Try to stay back. We’ll signal if it's
trouble,” Tobias called to them he was wearing his hunting gear, his rifle slung over his shoulder,
a brown overcoating white undershirt with a brown belt underneath that had a few pockets on it
full of ammo, dust, and his knives, his pants were a light gray with brown combat boots. Nadia
joined the boys. She was one of the caravan's hired protections who had stayed long enough to
call the caravan home. She wore a black button-up shirt with a black scarf, and she had a
strap-on knife and holster for her pistols. She wore jeans and regular boots. Her hair was a dark
black the boys theorized she dyed it regularly because some days it was lighter, then suddenly it
would darken again. When asked, she told them to stop asking and stay away from her stuff.

“Come on, we’re going to go ahead a bit to try and find where these people are. They’re pretty
close since these tracks are fresh. You can tell because of the dirt's sharp angles, and it hasn't
dried yet. They would be more rounded off and drier if they were older.” The two boys nodded,
taking in the new information, and the small group began rushing ahead, Alex was about to walk
through some bushes when he was suddenly pulled back. Tobias had grabbed him and covered
his mouth, pointing ahead of them where they could see two figures ahead of them they looked
like they were resting. Looking back at Tobias, he motioned for him to go up. It took a few
seconds for it to click on what he meant.
Crouching slightly, he tensed his legs before jumping and turning into smoke, launching himself
higher and into some trees closer to the two. Alex reformed higher up into the trees, a few small
smoke particles flying off into the distance from his hiding spot. Alex looked down, looking for
the people he had seen seconds ago. It took a few seconds, but when he found them, he
realized they had also found him, the two figures staring right at him, One holding a giant
hammer and the other holding two pistols with green blades attached, both aimed directly at
him. “Shit.”

It was Ren and Nora.

Chapter 5

The smell of smoke was overwhelming, and the trees were burnt to a crisp, much like the
surrounding area. They were doing their best to keep up in the fight, not wanting to let them get
a chance to hurt them, but that was already too late; they had already hurt some of the other
caravan numbers.

Moving quickly, Alex turned to smoke before quickly reappearing next to the orange-haired girl,
quickly blasting her in the face with a smoke blast. Her aura quickly flashed as flames licked her
face, Alex had to dissipate as she swung her hammer at him quickly. The smoke particles were
separated before regathering in the air where he reformed once again, "Raaaah!" he let out a
cry as he dove downwards at the girl, his mace held over his head, smoke billowing off it as he
tried to smash the girl into oblivion; unfortunately, that wouldn't come as he was smashed
mid-air by her hammer.

Alex's body was flung to the side, his body smashing through a few burnt trees along the way;
all he felt was pain; each tree and rock felt like a hammer against his insidious. He raised his
arm into the air, absorbing the smoke that was clouding the air, healing his body back to what it
had just been and refueling him.

He didn't know where Orion was or how he was faring against Ren. He needed to get to him; he
had just started to get up when he heard noises in front of him. When he looked up and saw
Nora once again standing right in front of him, her hammer raised above her head, seconds
away from smashing into him, he brought his arms up to shield himself, but it was no use! The
girl's power was overwhelming! There was no way he was going to be able to defeat her; she
was all-powerful!

"Nora, that's not how that went at all." "What? That's totally how that went!" Alex couldn't help
but bring his hand to his face as he let out a groan. He didn't even know how many times he had
heard Nora change up their first meeting. Yet here he was, listening to her do that again with the
other kids and, surprisingly enough, some adults at the library they were at; they had come here
to get a few recipes Orion wanted and a few books for Ren! Why was he the Nora wrangler
today?

Alex slid in front of Nora, taking her attention from her and putting it on himself. "What actually
happened was that after Ren and Nora spotted me, they asked who I was. I had to do my best
to explain that I was with our caravan, and we were making sure they weren't bandits or
someone else trying to attack us." Nora crossed her arms and pouted slightly at my
attention-stealing.

"After that, our group revealed ourselves to them, telling them we were not there for a fight;
thankfully, Nora and her friend Ren understood and apologized for aiming their weapons at me.
After that, our caravan leader asked if they wanted to join us because they told us they were
also heading to Vale so they could apply for Beacon. We also asked because more numbers
made it safer." I looked at the crowd, who now seemed slightly disappointed at the relatively
normal retelling of the events. So, I shared a bit more, mainly because I enjoyed the attention I
was getting. Sorry, Nora.

"But that doesn't mean we didn't fight at all. Nora and Ren are actually helping my cousin Orion
and me train for Beacon, which means we have to spar with them pretty often, which may or
may not have led to a few forest fires here and there. But we put them all out, eventually." This
seemed to cheer up the small crowd, and Nora said, "Now, if you excuse us, we have to get
these back to our group now." I gave a short bow as I motioned for Nora to come on. She gave
the crowd a giant smile before rushing off ahead of me, where she, of course, physically
dragged me out of the library; I could hear their laughter even after the door closed.

Alex, slightly out of breath from Nora's enthusiastic exit, adjusted the stack of books in his arms.
"You know, you could help carry some of these," he joked, trying to catch up with Nora's brisk
pace. Nora, already a few steps ahead, turned and flashed a mischievous grin. "But you're
doing such a great job, Alex! Besides, I need to keep my hands free in case of surprise Grimm
attacks. You never know!"

As they made their way back to the caravan, the soft glow of the campfire came into view,
casting dancing shadows across the path. The usual sounds of the evening routine filled the air
– the clatter of cookware, the murmur of conversations, and the occasional laughter.

Orion was waiting for them, a look of concentration on his face as he practiced manipulating
small flames in his palm, a circle in the center of it. "Oh, you're back! Check this out," he called
out, his eyes lighting up as he showed off his latest control over his magic. Alex set down the
books and watched, impressed. "Nice work, man. It looks like you're getting the hang of it."
almost as if on cue, the fire would sputter out, and the small circle glowing around Orion
dissipated.
Orion stared down at where the flame had been before sighing. He looked back up at his cousin
as if remembering something. "Oh, Yeah, we're training with Ren, and Nora has been really
helpful. Speaking of which, we've got another session planned for tomorrow morning. Early."
"Early, huh?" Alex groaned playfully. "Can't wait."

Orion's smile flickered as he watched the last remnants of the flame fade away. "You know,
these sessions with Ren and Nora are really something. I never thought training could be this
intense... or fun."

Just then, Ren's calm voice approached from the darkness. "Training is not just about intensity;
it's about understanding your own strength and learning to channel it," he said, stepping into the
campfire's glow. Nora was right beside him, her hammer resting on her shoulder.

Nora piped up, her usual vibrancy filling the air. "Yeah, and you guys are doing awesome! I
mean, sure, we had to put out a few fires," she winked at Orion and Alex, "but that's all part of
the process!"

Alex couldn't help but chuckle. The bond they were forming with Ren and Nora felt like a real
team, something he hadn't expected when they first joined the caravan. "Thanks, guys. We
really appreciate the help. Beacon won't know what hit it when we arrive."

Ren nodded, a subtle smile on his face. "The path to becoming a Huntsman is challenging, but
you both have the potential. Tomorrow's training will be essential. We'll focus on aura and
semblance control." As the evening wore on, the group shared stories, laughter, and plans for
the future. The caravan felt like more than just a group of travellers; it was a place where bonds
were forged and destinies were shaped.

Orion glanced at Alex, a sense of determination in his eyes. "We've got this, right?" Alex met his
cousin's gaze, nodding firmly. "Yeah, we've got this."

The following day, Nora greeted them both by shaking them out of their hammocks, "My ears
burn!" Nora just laughed at the two. Thankfully, Ren chose now to walk over and help the two
up. "Sorry, but you two are heavy sleepers; I expected you two to be used to this by now; Nora
isn't very quiet." "Reeeen, I'm not that bad." "Nora, last week you woke up the entire caravan
because you saw a nest with baby birds in it." "But they were so cute, though!"

After the warm wake-up call, the group left the grounds of the caravan; they weren't too far out
from Katashina, the small village where Nora and Alex bought the books and recipes.
Thankfully, the four had decided to train a bit further away, mostly to make sure any fires didn't
go too far.

"Alright, Orion, you're with me today. I can be more helpful with your aura than I can with Alex,
Nora, you're with Alex." this led to a small groan as Alex realized he had to fight with Nora
again. She had been his sparring partner for just barely under a month; sure, he sparred with
Ren often enough, but once they realized his strength was above average, he even learned his
full strength was actually a decent bit stronger than Nora's strength, which had actually made
him feel better about himself, until they followed it up by saying that he may be stronger.
However, Nora was still more trained than him, and she could control her strength better in
combat.

Orion had closed his eyes and went through the aura basics Ren had taught him, bring out his
aura and holding it above his skin for as long as possible; he learned pretty quickly that most
people could hold aura to shield their bodies for an undetermined amount of time, but holding it
wasn't the problem it was keeping it up during combat and keeping it held even while out of
combat.

Orion was improving with his aura, much like his magic; they seemed to work like a muscle. The
more he used it, the stronger it got and the better he got at using it. Crrrr! Orion gritted his teeth
as he felt Ren's blade scratch off his projected aura. It was only for a second or two, but he
could still feel the force behind each slash at his aura.

They learned that the idea for strengthening his aura as quickly as possible was holding it out
for as long as possible and trying to tank as many hits as possible before his aura was brought
into the red, or in some cases with Nora and Alex, it shattered. Nora and Ren were a bit hesitant
when they asked about aura strengthening and at such a quick pace, but once they explained
their situation, that they were training to go to Beacon and had joined the caravan to get away
from an old and horrible life, they agreed to try and take them up on the task.

Orion was gritting his teeth when he felt the final attack hit; it was aimed at his neck. It had just
barely held, bouncing off his aura before it shimmered brightly for a second and shattered. "Hah,
hah." He opened his eyes to see Ren now kneeling in front of him. His eyes closed; it took a few
seconds before Orion understood what he wanted to do.

Orion closed his eyes once again and focused on the feeling of his aura. It was hard, like trying
to do a push-up after a full day of working out your arms, but eventually, he was able to bring it
back up where he focused on regaining his aura. It took a good few moments of total
concentration, but eventually, he was able to do it.

Orion stood checking his arms to make sure his gauntlets and grieves were on correctly before
he started the same on Ren, he drew a bright circle in the air before it glowed a light green
before vines quickly sprouted out of the circle towards Ren. It was brief, but Orion was able to
catch where Ren's aura briefly glowed out of his body where he was about to be hit.

Quickly, Orion mobbed forward, then to the left of Ren, aiming a punch to his arm. Ren's aura
didn't outwardly glow until he landed the punch, his aura flaring briefly before settling down,
besides the brief glow from the beginning. He moved backwards again drawing a circle with his
legs, it glowed a bright yellow before light blasted out of it he pushed his arms out, launching
them towards Ren; he ran to the side of the blast and watched as it ran over Ren's body in a
bright flash the boy grunted his eyes straining even while closed.

Right after the light hit Ren, Orion lifted his hands in the air and slammed them downwards onto
his skull. This time, the light shone after the attack, and he watched Ren wince in pain; his eyes
opened, looking directly at Orion; he rubbed the spot for a few seconds before smiling, even if
briefly, at the other boy.

"Hiding your attack behind another is smart, although maybe be careful next time with how
much strength you use behind your swings. You'll tire yourself out if you try to hit with all your
strength all the time. You're similar to your cousin in that regard. Hit too hard and too much, and
you'll tire out. Also, I could hear where you came from. Try to be lighter on your feet." Orion
nodded along, trying to run the information in his head and use it for next time. The next thing
the two heard was a loud smashing noise of metal hitting metal before they both watched as
Alex was seen getting flung overhead and hitting a tree with a loud groan.

Orion and Ren looked back at Nora, raising a single eyebrow; Nora held her hammer in both
hands, looking a little embarrassed, "Whoops, my bad, I might have gotten a bit carried away
there." Orion just smirked slightly, "You think?" Alex groaned before sitting up against the tree,
"Break time?" "Yes, Alex, break time."

The four would gather in a small group setting, or, in Alex's case, Pacing back and forth, each of
them was holding a small plate in hand, a snack sitting on each plate, "Soooo." began Nora, her
voice breaking the silence. "We still have a little way out before making it to Beacon. How much
money does everyone save up so far?" Alex and Orion blinked at the girl, not thinking she would
be the one to ask about their financial situation.

Alex spoke up first, "If I remember from last I checked, I have around 2900, I think? So better
than last week. It helps we stopped into town yesterday and later today; maybe we can find
some odd jobs?" The three nodded to his thought. Ren responded first, "Not a bad thought, and
I already looked over to what we have since we both just bought some recipes and books. Ours
is a little low. Thankfully, the books were pretty cheap; I'm standing at 3500 lien."

Orion let out a small sarcastic huff, "I'm at a whopping 2500 lien." now everyone turned to Nora,
waiting for her to tell them how much she had; it seemed it wasn't the best time since she was in
the process of shovelling her snack into her stomach and was trying to steal Alex's other
sandwich half, "Hey! Bad Nora!" he gave her hand a small smack before shovelling the rest of
his sandwich into his mouth. "Owww, Ren help I've suffered a grieeeevious wound!"

Nora held a hand to her head in a mock dying pose before flopping and landing on Ren's lap.
"Bleh." Alex and Orion snickered a little at the girl's antics before Ren once again raised his
eyebrow at Nora and then at the other boys; Alex coughed into his hand, trying to hide his
laughter. "Ahem anyways, uh Nora how much do you have saved up?" She layed down her
body still stretched over Ren's lap playing dead. "About 5000 saved up."
The three looked at Nora with different versions of a surprised look on their faces; they were all
astonished that Nora, of all people, had saved up more money than them. "How, how did you
end up with more than us?" "Easy, I hoard it all like a glorious dragon! And I just don't spend it."
The two cousins grumble something along the lines of 'It's not fair' and 'But the food looked so
good.' "Ren, what was the place you said we were trying to get to for the airship?" Alex asked.
He was trying to remember why the name sounded so familiar to him the first time Ren brought
it up.

"The village is Shion. It is close to a familiar village Nora and I know of. It's the best choice for us
right now; the other villages we already went through and Mistral City does have an airship port,
but we don't have the money for it right now, and if we tried to go there, we would need to
backtrack on our own." Alex scrunched his eyebrows together. Why did that place sound so
familiar? He knew that what Ren was hinting at was Kurogiri, the village he was in that got
destroyed, so what was the other village?

"We also still need to save up a bit more before we try and buy airship tickets for us. If the
amounts we all have saved up now are any indication we should have enough in around two
more months, which is also about how far out we are from Shion, I asked Marlowe already. That
was what he told me." Ren sighed moving his arms as well as moving Nora off of him and
gathering up the plates. "Alright, that was a rather nice break, but now it's time to get back to
training."

They had finished training about an hour later, having already been out there for over an hour
before the break. Once they completed training, they rejoined the caravan, where they could
see just about everyone was up and moving, some already packing things to sell to the town or
trade with some of the others. The small group looked around, trying to get a grasp as to what
they should do next. "Let's try and search for some of those jobs then."
With that, the small group of four left for the small village, planning on getting some small job or
helping around anywhere they could, hopefully making enough money to get four tickets from
Shion to head to Beacon.