People fear many things. The dark. Insects. Animals. The depths of the ocean. Death, hunger, sickness. But in this age, the thing people feared most could be summed up in a single word: Creatures.
The room was small. Stone walls, a single table, two chairs. The light was weak — no window, just a torch mounted on the wall.
Kael sat on the far side of the table. His hands were folded in front of him. His face held nothing — no anger, no curiosity, no impatience. He was simply waiting.
Eren and Kayra sat across from him.
"Why were you in the forest."
It wasn't a question. There was no rise at the end, no space left for doubt. It was something closer to a statement — or a threat wearing a sentence's clothing.
Eren said nothing.
Kayra did. "We were after a hunting certificate. We wanted to apply to the Academy."
"Am I supposed to believe that?"
Kael looked at Kayra for a long moment. Then his gaze moved to Eren — and stayed there. He was reading something, scanning from the top down, as if the information he needed wasn't on the surface but somewhere underneath it.
"Five people entered that forest. After everything that happened..."
Nobody answered.
"Two came out."
Silence again. Eren pressed his teeth together. Kayra narrowed his eyes but said nothing.
Kael leaned forward onto the table. "That's no longer my problem. It'll be the Academy's problem." He paused. "But I want to ask you one thing. That vampire in the forest — who killed it."
"I did." Eren's voice was flat.
Kael looked at him. One second. Two. Then he straightened, reached into the bag beside him, and pulled out two documents. He set them on the table between them.
Eren looked down. White paper, an official seal, the emblem of the Safe Haven Hunter Academy printed at the top.
Entrance examination papers.
"Since you want to be hunters so badly — here you are." Kael folded his arms. "I may have been hard on you. But you earned these."
Kael walked to the door, turned the handle, and pushed it open. Then he paused in the frame and looked back. His expression was the same as always — dry, level — but something in his eyes was different.
"You're free of me." He looked at Kayra. "But there are two very angry people waiting for you outside."
They stepped out into the corridor.
Two people were standing there. A man and a woman, both in hunter's attire — their posture made uniforms unnecessary, the profession was already obvious in the way they held themselves. The woman took one step forward when she saw Kayra. The man didn't move, but his expression said everything it needed to.
Kayra stopped.
"Mom—"
"Be quiet."
He was quiet.
The woman spoke in a low voice — which was more dangerous than a raised one. The words reached Eren in pieces, clear and sharp but not fully, like catching part of a conversation through a wall. Kayra had lowered his head. He wasn't pushing back. He was just listening — shoulders drawn slightly inward, neck bent forward.
Eren watched from a distance.
There was something strange about watching someone who had a family. Not bad strange — just unfamiliar. Warm and heavy at the same time, in a way he couldn't quite put into words.
Kael appeared beside him.
He hadn't heard him coming. When Eren turned, Kael was already there, just off his shoulder, quiet.
"Duskhaven." He said it like he was confirming something he already knew. "I ran a few missions with your father." His voice was low — he wasn't trying to be overheard by Kayra's family. "He was a good man. Strong." A pause. "He was a senior hunter. Being killed by a feral werewolf—" He shook his head slowly. "That's close to impossible. Something else happened that night. I'm certain of it."
Eren felt something shift in his chest. Right in the center of it. He couldn't find a word for what it was.
"Maybe you should reconsider this dream of yours. Being a hunter." Kael's eyes moved across his face. Then something appeared at the corner of his mouth — not quite a smile, but the closest thing to one Eren had seen from him. "Ah. Who am I telling this to." A quiet breath, almost a laugh. "If you're anything like that old man — there's almost no chance of talking you out of any decision you've already made."
Eren still hadn't said anything.
"Just know this." Kael turned and started walking. He spoke over his shoulder. "The exam is hard. And dangerous. Focus on staying alive."
He was gone.
Kayra's family left not long after. Kayra stood in the corridor for a while, eyes on the place where the door had closed. Then he turned. His face held nothing — no anger, no sadness. Just that usual flatness.
"Let's go."
They went down to the ground floor. At the end of the corridor, in a small office, an old clerk sat behind a desk buried under stacks of paper. They handed over their documents. The clerk reviewed them, stamped them, and reached into a drawer.
He pulled out two badges.
Small, metal, round. Eren took his and looked at it. Turned it over.
There were two numbers on the back. One was a team number. The other was a candidate number.
He looked at Kayra's.
The team numbers were different.
Neither of them said anything. They stood there for a moment, both looking at their badges. Then Kayra slipped his into his pocket. He turned. He walked in the direction of his team.
Eren turned too. Walked in his own direction.
At the end of the corridor, at the point where they split, both of them looked back once.
Then they kept going.