A pick-up truck pulled into a dirt road driveway that led to a 1510 sq ft two-story wooden cottage nestled deep in the mountainous forest just outside the Makah reservation in Washington. The full moon hung overhead as the pick-up engine died. Out of the truck's creaking door stepped a unit of a man who looked to be in his early to mid-30s. A scar stretched from the top of his right ear towards the left side of his chin.

  His light brown skin shone in the full moon's light. He looked up at the moon hiding behind the dark clouds; he could smell the approaching rain. His brown eyes glowed yellow as he walked up the pitch-black path toward his home. He looked over his shoulder as he opened the door and took off his sheepskin jacket, tossing it onto the chair in the living room. He walked towards the kitchen but was stunned in place when he saw a shadowy figure sitting at his table, with a pair of purple slit eyes glowing in the darkness,

  “I wasn’t expecting visitors.” The man said as he began to fold up the sleeves of his flannel shirt.

  He tried to remain calm, but he was on high alert. There were no signs of something entering his home. His head jerked towards the corners of the kitchen. In the left corner, another pair of slit-glowing eyes was staring at him, leaning against his sink.

  Two other figures were rummaging through his cabinet, while the fifth, a young Asian woman, was in a corner dimly lit by a lamp with a book in hand.

  “Calm down, Jake. We’re not here for your life…yet.” The figure sitting at his table finally spoke. “Jake,” let out a sigh as that was a familiar voice. He quickly turned on the kitchen light and groaned as he stared at Zac,

  “The Anomaly…”

  Jake glared at the man and then looked at Trigger before his attention was drawn towards the Twins, who had just finished ransacking his cabinet and were now gouging themselves on a bag of his chips.

  “Why are you looking for me? We had an agreement. Also, how did you find me?”

  “How did we find you? Are you serious?” Roisin said with a mouth full of chips.

  “Seriously, you look like a Native and named yourself Jacob Wolfsbane while living just outside of a Reservation,” Zidane said.

  “Yeah, you might as well be an Alien living in Roswell and call yourself Hugh Mann. Stupid.” Roisin added.

  “Yeah, idiot.” The twins snickered to each other while “Jake” clenched his jaws, trying to contain his rage. He turned his attention towards Ume, who glanced up at him and then said,

  “You have excellent taste in literature. I had the notion that Lycans were more brawn than brains.”

  “It’s that misconception that makes some Chasers easy prey,” Jake responded.

  “Noted,” Ume responded without paying him too much attention.

  Jake's brown eyes glowed yellow as he stared at Zac with Trigger standing behind him. The seal on their scents lifted, and he got a good whiff of them. However, the smell coming from these two was far outside of his expectations,

  “You two don’t smell human. Anomaly, you always had an odd smell, but it is much more pungent than before.”

  “Because we’re not human,” Zac answered with a chuckle.

  “Why couldn’t I pick up on your scents until now?”

  “Because we didn’t want you to,” Trigger answered.

  Jake's eyes moved between Zac and Trigger; they looked nothing alike, but the scent emanating from them was that of blood relatives. They say they weren’t humans, but he had no reference for this scent. Jake was going to speak but was cut off.

  “I think you asked enough questions. Now It’s time for mine. What’s your name, your real name?” Zac folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. Jake stared at Zac for a moment and sighed as he took a sit across the table from him,

  “Lunara Pursivon,” Jake said.

  Ume looked up from her book and stared at the Lycan named Lunara. That name had a distinct Mytherian sound to it. She was already working under the assumption that perhaps Heka, the being the Persequion worshiped, was a Gteju. It would explain why they used Mytherian. However, now this cryptid also had a name that was blatantly Mytherian. What was happening? She looked at Zac, who simply smirked as if he had confirmed something.

  “Lunara Pursivon, one that longs for the moon,” Zac spoke,

  “It’s a nice name,” Trigger added, as he, too, had picked up on its meaning.

  Lunara’s eyes widened as he looked at the two of them,

  “How can you…”

  “It came into my mind as soon as I heard it,” Zac said, and Trigger nodded, confirming the same phenomenon happening to him.

  “Many answers have been coming to me just from thinking about them lately,” Zac added.

  “Apparently, creation whispers its secrets to us, simply for existing.” Trigger started to chuckle.

  Lunara's eyes narrowed as he stared at Zac and Trigger. Before Lunara could ask anything, Zac continued,

  “You asked why we're looking for you. Let me explain.” The look on Zac’s face softened, and then he closed his eyes,

  “Shaila and I always had this idea. The cryptids were not only far more intelligent but also more willing to cooperate for their best self-interest. Just like humans with similar ideals come together for the greater good. Why can’t the same be true for monsters?”

  Zac leaned forward as he opened his eyes,

  “So my next question is, where are they?”

  Lunara tensed up at Zac’s question. He knew exactly what he was asking, but he didn’t know the reason. The Anomaly claimed that he was not human, and his scent confirmed that. But he could never be sure with this man. However, he knew there was no point in trying to deny the existence of Firmatha.

  “Why do you want to know?” Lunara asked.

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  “I want to use them. Well, I want us to use each other.” Zac answered.

  “For what?”

  Zac was silent for a moment and then explained the situation to Lunara. After Zac had said his piece, there was silence in the small kitchen. Lunara sighed as he rubbed the back of his head,

  “That’s tough… sorry to hear about Dr.Varma. Out of the three of you, I liked her the most.” Lunara looked at Zac with pity in his eyes, and he instantly balked as he saw the look of disgust Zac shot back at him. Lunara chuckled; even in this situation, Zac had too much pride to want a relative stranger to pity him. Lunara gave an apologetic look.

  “Sorry, I’ve been in your position before. I went after Heka for what they did to my mate and pups. It’s how I got this scar. But revenge doesn’t help.” Lunara tried to explain,

  Lunara was centuries old and was a powerful creature by any metric. Heka saw him as a threat and found it difficult to kill him without significant loss on their end. They instead opted to break him. They killed his wife and 3 children. Afterward, Lunara spent 2 centuries tracking down and brutally killing every Persequion that was there that day.

  “After all that, at first, there was relief, and then there was emptiness. I had abandoned my pack for revenge and had nothing left after I achieved it. This isn’t the path you want to go dow-.”

  “Save it!” Zac cut him off.

  “You are incorrect about two things. First, what you did was not revenge. You simply killed the ones that killed your loved ones. That’s just glorified murder. Your ‘revenge’ was shallow. That’s why it left you empty. You let them off too easily.” Zac’s gaze became dark, and Lunara felt a shiver run down his spine.

  Trigger looked at Zac’s back and then turned away. He knew there was no point in trying to get him to calm down. The best he could do was to ensure he wouldn’t go too far and attack Lunara. Ume looked up from her book to look at her Sensei, and the Twins just started to giggle to themselves,

  “Proper revenge is a punishment. The pain you felt when your mate and children died, the tears you cried, the blood you bleed. The feeling of your soul being ripped from you and shredded to pieces. You repaid those feelings with simple murder?” Zac started to chuckle as an unsettling smile stretched across his face.

  “What kind of punishment is that? No! NO, NO, NO! What you do is make them feel exactly what you felt that day. Not only that, you make sure they relive that pain—not every day, not every second, but every waking moment. Make sure they see it in their nightmares. And make sure they live as long as possible. Then, you can fill that hole where your soul used to be with their suffering.”

  Lunara felt the beat of his heart quicken as he stared into Zac’s eyes. What he said sounded deranged, so much so that even the unhinged Twins stopped their giggling and ransacking of Lunara pantry to just stare at Zac in silence. However, to Lunara, those crazed words were like sweet honey, like rainfall in a desert. They nourished the emptiness he felt. It was then replaced by shame at the thought of missing his opportunity to exact such a perfect revenge.

  “That logic informs my next point. I am not seeking revenge. I am going to mete out punishment.”

  At Zac’s words, Lunara felt an elation he could not explain. He cracked his neck, letting out a growl, and his canines elongated momentarily. He regained his composure and stared at Zac,

  “Why me?”

  “You are the strongest Lycan on record and the most benign and reasonable. If anyone had contact with this secret society of monsters, it would be you. You’ve also had multiple collaborative operations with Sensei.” Ume was the one to respond, as she had thoroughly read nearly every record on file. Lunara assisted Zac, Devin and Shaila in the past before they started The Renegades.

  Lunara seemed to hate Heka but had no ill will towards humans. In fact, he acted as a guardian for the Makah Reservation. The lack of Cryptid activity here was primarily thanks to him.

  “We... They called themselves Firmatha Sanguar, which means promises bound by blood, blood forged through promises.” Lunara responded.

  “A covenant?” Ume said curiously.

  “You could say that. Many of us are alone in this world. Some are born alone, others are cast out, or simply lost. So we come together as a family of our own choosing.” Lunara sadly grinned.

  Trigger let out a sigh of his own as he found himself staring at Zac’s back once again. He turned his attention back towards Lunara and then said,

  “So, can you take us to them or not?”

  “Taking you to them is doable. Getting the leaders to meet you is another thing entirely. They know you as a Chaser, and you giving off a non-human scent won’t be enough, especially if you have three very obvious human Chasers in tow.” Lunara frowned.

  “So they need legitimacy, is that correct?” Zac asked.

  “And a good reason to want to listen to what you want to say,” Lun responded.

  “A good reason? Going after the heads of Heka isn’t a good enough reason?” Trigger responded with a look of belief on his face.

  “They’ve probably done something similar in the past and failed. Entertaining our attempt will seem foolish if that’s the case,” Ume answered while closing the book in her hand.

  Lunara confirmed with a nod of his head. The Twins, on the other hand, started to groan. Roisin was the first to speak,

  “So those losers failed, so they expect everyone else to?”

  “Right, they failed because they are them. We will succeed because we are us. Simple,” Zidane added.

  “You heard them, Lun,” Zac smirked.

  Lunara chuckled in return,

  “While I appreciate the confidence, it won’t be enough to convince them to meet you, let alone convince them to give you what you want.”

  “To be fair, I think our legitimacy will be a good enough reason for them to meet with us.” Trigger shrugged his shoulders.

  Ume and the Twins looked over at Trigger and Zac curiously. Ever since the two of them came from their private meeting with Nina, they had a different air. They couldn’t quite pick up on why other than they understood their abilities more. But from Trigger’s demeanor, it was clearly more than that. Lunara glared at Trigger and Zac and asked,

  “Who are you?”

  “What a boring question,” Zac responded.

  “What are you?” Lunara corrected.

  “Have you ever heard of Gteju?” Trigger asked with a prideful grin on his face.

  Lunara quickly stood up from his seat and then backed away from the table. The look on his face screamed an unspoken apology. He quickly dropped to one knee and craned his head. It was an insult to Zac for him to dare to share the same table without permission, even within his own home.

  “So you have?” Trigger chuckled.

  “I apologize for the late greeting. I am Lunara Pursivon, former 7th seat of the Firmatha Sanguar.” Everyone was taken aback by Lun’s quick change in attitude. Zac raised an eyebrow and then asked,

  “How are you sure we’re not lying about what we are?”

  “Your scent is not of this world. Additionally, there is nothing that could escape my senses. However, you hid your presence and these humans' presence. You could do this, by your own admission, simply because you wanted to. Since you revealed yourself, I have felt an almost unbearable pressure, as if the world is bearing its displeasure upon me. There is only one such creature that you could be. May I please ask the names of the Blessed of Creation who have graced my home?” Lunara looked up at Zac and Trigger, not moving from his knelt position.

  The twins seemed giddy and proud as if they were being bowed to while Ume was in deep thought. Firmatha Sanguar were aware of the existence of Gteju. Not only were they aware, they clearly revered them. Was she incorrect in her thoughts that a Gteju was indeed Heka and presented the first Persequions with the means to create Nevilara Mystara?

  If the cryptids revered Gteju, then Gteju giving humans the means to defend themselves would make no sense. Things didn’t add up. This revelation did not discourage Ume but made her more excited. This was the least bored she’d been in quite some time.

  “Interesting! Staying with Sensei never disappoints.” Ume thought as a new hypothesis began to swirl in her mind. Her train of thought was broken when she heard Trigger introduce himself.

  “I am Mythera Harmonia Zymuji Somnion, a descendant of Tiamat, the Keeper of Dreams.” Myth smiled.

  “I am Cefketa Sorvynth Zymuji Somnion, a descendant of Tiamat, Keeper of Dreams. So, do you think they’ll meet with us?” Keta asked with a chuckle.

  Lunara’s body visibly shook at the sound of their names. His head snapped up, and he saw 2 pairs of glowing slit eyes looking down at him.

  “Absolutely, and it will be a pleasure to guide you.” A wide-fanged smile stretched across Lun’s face. He didn’t know until now, but he spent the last few centuries waiting for this.