One thing to know about the four leaders is that they have their own “base”. It really technically in a sense a base, but it was more like a facility where each lived and trained their recruits. Each had hand-picked their own place and customized it to their desires. Despite being in different places, they were connected through portal’s the Head set up. However, you couldn’t enter a base without the proper permission.

Jo Kwon’s base mimicked a scientific lab facility hidden deep in the wintery tundra, away from civilization and off the grid. No one but high personnel knew where it was. Boa’s was on a vast dirt field but had multiple buildings lined side by side, somewhat near civilization but far enough that people thought it was private property and never tried to enter. Not that they could. Tablo’s was situated straight in the middle of a city which had the appearance of a extremely normal and tall building. The inside was a different story where it was much larger than it appeared from the outside. At least five times the space. Jay’s was smaller than the rest, a large mansion like manor deep in the woods. She never needed anything larger for she was the only one living there even though it was rather big for just one person. Even better, the woods provided a good place for her to train in solitude and provided a more natural setting.

She stared at the closet that had a pile of clothing stuffed into them. She didn’t know what Seungcheol would like to wear, but she pulled out a white shirt and a black hoodie along with some black and white streaked jogger pants. She set them in the sink area as she heard through the door the shower run.

She then went to the kitchen to whip up a light meal.

She was almost finished when the boy stepped into the room. She smiled at him and motioned for him to sit at the stool in front of the counter.

He stared at her before speaking up. “I didn’t think you would have clean clothes for guys. It looks like you’re the only one living here.”

She raised an eyebrow and chuckled. He was more intuitive than she thought. “I do live here by myself. But sometimes the others ask to train some of their guys here. I have to accommodate quite a few males. Hence all the extra clothes. But I digress, you must have a lot of questions.”

“Less than you would expect,” he replied.

“Oh? But before we get onto all that nitty gritty stuff, let’s eat!” She placed a bowl of soup and side dishes in front of him before serving herself some as well.

Seungcheol looked at the food suspiciously but hunger obviously won him over as he immediately starting shoveling the food into his mouth. But as he was eating, tears began to fall of his face despite the blank look on his face.

She looked at him. “Remind you of something?” she asked softly.

“My mum,” he mumbled through the food.

She smiled sadly.

And she left it at that.

She set a cup of warm tea in front of him as she settled into the couch. He sat across of her, knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.

“Before we talk about me, I would like to know what happened. I know it’ll be hard, but it’s important that we know.”

He blinked at her before looking down at his feet.

“It was late at night. We walking back to the car after staying out so late. Everything seemed normal. I thought it was normal.” He paused before continuing. “It was my dad. The one that turned into...whatever he turned into. Took out my mum first. Happened so fast that we didn’t know that it happened before it did.”

His voice started to choke up at the memory. Jay offered the box of tissues to him, but he shook his head. He wiped the tears with back of his hand and cleared his throat.

“It was then me and my brother after that. He went after me first, but my brother… my brother jumped in front of me. Clawed him straight down. There was a lot of blood. I tried running after that. I didn’t get very far. I tripped and fell. Stuff that only happens in stupid horror movies happened to me. I laid there in hopes that he would ignore me. So scared that I couldn't move. But before he could get to me, well, you guys appeared.”

Seungcheol picked up the tea and downed it in one shot. Jay didn’t even have time to tell him to slow down.

He set the cup down with a loud clink. “And who are you?”

Jay looked at the him and bit her lip. The sudden change of topic was obvious, and she obliged. “Where to start? Hmm. My name is Shin Jay. And I’m the leader of the Azure Dragons, a team of one that was organized to destroy nibras. And that is what your father had turned into.”

He stared at her, a slightly perturbed expression etched on his face.

She smiled lightly. “Before I continue, I need to you ask you one thing.”

“And what would that be?”

“I proclaimed in front of Boa that I would put you on my team, but I don’t want to force you.”

He blinked. “And what do you mean by that?”

She put her hands on the couch and looked up at the ceiling. “Mmmm,” she hummed. “You would become one my recruits. I would tell you all about nibras, train you to defeat them, and,” she paused and looked at Seungcheol. “You would have to live with me, stepping completely away from your ious life.”

She gazed at the boy head on. “So, Choi Seungcheol. You need to make a choice. Choose to join me or not. Everything will be taken care of if you do. And if you choose not to, we will help you return back to your life. You have the choice to stay here with me or go back.”

“Back to my life?” he angrily repeated. “My life has been destroyed. You act like I can go back like it’s nothing. My family is dead!”

She calmly listened to him and gave him a wistful smile. “Opportunities are powerful things. They give you the ability to change your future. I’m not telling you to return to your life like everything’s perfectly normal. In fact, I would rather have you stay here with me and join me, but I do not advocate forcing my own opinions on others. You make your own decisions, and you work through the path laid out for you. You are the only one who choose your future and fate. So choose, Choi Seungcheol, and make sure you understand the consequences of both actions. Live a life peacefully, away from the things you saw last night. Keeping what you saw a secret. Or put yourself in harm’s way, but know everything. Fighting against those that harmed your family.”

He blinked at her, feeling his rage die down. He had no right to get mad at her and yet she peacefully retaliated against him. He felt immature and like a child.

She was giving him an opportunity, and he knew immediately what he was going to choose.

“I’ll… join you,” he said softly, laughing bitterly. “I have nowhere to go back to anyways.”

She nodded and smiled sadly.

She told him the basics. The four factions and their leaders.What each was known for. What nibras were, how they are formed, and how to kill them. She told him how she was only person on her team and how she was looking to fill it up. Why she And she told him the one thing that was going to get him a lot of attention amongst them all.

“You were on the verge of being a nibra yourself, Boa was going to kill you.”

“But you saved me.”

She looked away. “That I did.”

“Why?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I never liked killing nibras when they are in transition. They still feel human to me. That is why I usually take on harder, more dangerous missions that involved fully transformed nibras. Perhaps it was my selfishness talking, hoping that I could save you.”

“And I’m not one?” he asked her.

She looked at him. “I told you what a nibra in transition looks like, right?”

He nodded. “I saw it on my dad. Nobody saw it too, so I thought I was imagining it.”

“Can you see on yourself?”

He shook his head. “I look normal to me.”

“I don’t know what happened, but when you calmed down, it disappeared. But with that being saying, the leader of the Black Turtles will be very interested to meet you. In fact, he’s been pestering me the moment we got back.”

He looked nervous, an emotion Jay found funny seeing how he kept a poker face most of the time. “He’s not...going to dissect me or anything, right?”

Jay grinned. “Now, I can’t promise you that.”

The boy simply stared at her with no amusement in his eyes.

She laughed. “But I can promise that he wouldn’t do anything to anger me. But I’ll officiate you before we go.”

Seungcheol merely looked at her with wide eyes. “Officiate?” he questioned.

“How else are you going to properly join my team? Don’t worry. It doesn’t hurt.”

“Wear this and this.”

Seungcheol was handed a heavy parka, gloves, and a scarf.

He looked at them in confusion.

“Hmmm. This looks like these will fit you.” She handed him snow boots.

“Where are we going that we need such heavy clothing?”

She gave him an annoyed look. “Jo Kwon hates interacting with people he finds idiotic, which practically means everyone. So he put his base in the middle of a tundra off the grid. It’s freezing there until you get to the building. And I don’t want my first recruit die from frostbite. You went through too much to die in such a stupid way.”

Seungcheol didn’t say anything, merely put on the extra clothing. He didn’t think much of it. He was simply going with whatever she said. He accepted her offer because he thought it was his only choice despite her telling him otherwise.

He didn’t have a home to go back to.

He didn’t have anywhere else to go to except here.

He chose this path and he wondered if he would regret it.

But once he chose to do something, he would stick to it to the end.

This was his new life and he was going to try his best to survive.

They stepped outside and one might think it was an odd sight. Two people dressed in complete winter gear on a sunny warm day.

Seungcheol followed her towards the back of the house, venturing into the depths of the woods. He didn’t know exactly where they were going. All she had told him was that the portal was in the back.

Jay stopped suddenly, almost causing him to run into her.

He peeked behind her to see a large metal ring in the middle of two trees. The branches were intertwined, curling around the top of the ring, while ivy had twisted itself around the sides.

It was rather large and very much out of place.

“Aren’t you afraid of someone finding this?”

She grinned. “You can’t see it unless you join one of the faction. One of the Head’s powers. And since I officially accepted you into my group, you can see it too.”

With the mention of him entering her faction, Seungcheol could feel the heat rush to his face. He immediately thought back to the moment she officiated him into her team. It was simple. She said a few words under her breath. A gust of wind hit them suddenly which was gone as soon as it appeared. But what happened after is what surprised him. Right when the last few words left , she reached over and kissed him lightly on the forehead. There was a blue light that appeared for a second. He had felt a slight tingle, almost soothing feeling, before it disappeared. Seungcheol wasn’t the type of person to get embarrassed easily with such things; he had girlfriends before. However, the way she acted nonchalant about it somehow made him embarrassed. Not to mention it was her second time doing it.

He brushed his forehead where she had kissed him and sighed. He started to remember things again. Life when everything was normal. Where he had a family, friends, a girlfriend. A life he didn’t he could back to. He wouldn’t be able to do it. He sometimes thought about them. He had asked Jay before about how she was going to explain his absence. She had smiled at him and told him that they had their ways. They wouldn’t forget him, but he would become a memory instead. He didn’t understand completely but accepted it nonetheless. She had asked him he wanted to see his family one more time before they took their bodies, but he refused.

He couldn’t. He couldn’t bear to see their them while he was still alive.

And he didn’t know if he could be able to face his father, the person who was the cause of it all.

He had mixed emotions about it all. He admired his father a lot.

But he was the one who killed his family and the thought made him choke.

He shook his head, trying to force the thoughts out. He didn’t want to start feeling this way again. Vulnerable, angry, frustrated, pitiful.

He glanced at Jay, standing tall and looking forward. He caught a glimpse of a small smirk on before she walked up to the portal and put her hand on it.

“You’re not alone.”

That was she had told him in the dark of the previous night.

He had broken down, the rush of memories flooding his brain in the middle of the night. He never felt so alone at that moment. He felt the sadness rushing, the unfairness of the situation, and how he simply didn’t want to feel anything anymore.

But she had walked into his room, the soft light illuminating behind her.

“Seungcheol,” she said in a whisper.

He didn’t say anything, as he curled up in a bigger ball in the corner.

She remained silent as she walked up to him, crouching down to meet his height.

His head was in his knees, wanting her to go away but also not wanting her to leave.

And then he felt warm arms around him, pulling him to the warmth of her body.

She stoked his hair before soothingly patted his back.

“You’re not alone.”

Lies, he wanted to say. How would she know?

“I’ve been in situation before. Where I lost my family. And after that you start to think that it’s pointless to start over, to put your feelings into another person. But I promise you this, you will find another family. A second one. People who will be just as important as your first. You may not share the same blood, but you will be family. I promise you.”

She pulled away, a sad smile on her lips and teary eyes. She wiped his silent tears.

“Because the moment I saved you, you were already part of my family.”

Seungcheol felt the tears rush down his eyes even harder, trying to keep his gasping breaths to a stop as she pulled him into another hug.

He wanted to believe her; he really did.

But he didn’t know if she was simply saying that just to say it. How could two complete strangers act like a family? They knew nothing about each other.

She accepted him so easily, but he wondered if he could the same.

Because after all, weren’t they strangers?

“-Cheol. Seungcheol.”

He was startled out his thoughts when he heard his name.

She rolled her eyes. “I really hope you aren’t the rebellious kind.”

He looked at her with questioning eyes.

She nodded her head toward the portal.

“Come hither.”

He walked up next to her.

“Put your hand on the portal.”

He did what he was told and immediately felt a shock. He pulled back with discomfort and looked at her with betrayal.

She laughed. “Sorry, I should have warned you. It only happens the first time. Just a way for the portals to remember you.”

He blinked at her.

“Stop that. I tell the truth,” she laughed again.

He only snorted in response.

“Come on. Time’s a wastin’.”

She stepped through the portal, disappearing through the other side. Seungcheol didn’t even look back and followed her.