"What in the hell is wrong with you?"
Chase asked Equan, as he nervously paced around the carriage.
"I wasn't just gonna stay at the academy and watch all of my friends go off to war and never come back..."
Chase frowned.
"So you sneak out, and plan to never come back with them...?"
Equan's confidence was quickly snuffed out, and his shoulders slumped.
"Whatever, its too late now. I needed an archer anyway."
Chase reached over to his left side, and picked up the scrunched piece of paper.
Using a small weak flame on the tip of his finger, he wrote down Equan of House Lightning at the bottom of the list.
Then he handed the other boy the paper, and looked out of the window.
"I need someone else's opinion, did I recruit enough to take down The Wendigo...?"
Equan flinched.
"The Wendigo..."
"Yup, were gonna go kill him..."
...
Once the carriage arrived at its destination, the two stepped out, and were greeted with the outskirts of The Rider Kingdom.
Equan was still shaken from the truth of Task Force Unity's mission, but had attempted at steeling himself.
Chase was taken by surprise at the sight of the stunning city in the distance.
Each building had vivid purple roofing, and several giant towers lined the inner walls of the central part of the city.
The outskirts weren't bad either, dirt trails led them through nice wooden buildings, where shops and small houses filled the gaps between them.
But there destination was a large building at the end of the far end of the trail. They passed by several kind strangers who waved, and greeted them.
Chase didn't look like a civilian though, he was wearing leather gauntlets, with a steel breastplate, and military standard leather pants.
Equan looked no different, with a suit of expensive, yet light armor resting on his short stature body.
With a beautiful bow slung across back, and his black hair had been tied into a ponytail.
Chase had also redone his hair a bit before he left, he had tried to cut the cursed hair on his own.
His now somewhat blonde hair was uneven and shaggy now, but it was at least out of his eyes.
Once the two finally reached the stone fortress at the end of the trail, they entered through the iron gate at its front, and were greeted by soldiers and blacksmiths, as well as a few other professions.
The three kingdom alliance was now at war with the kingdom of Frostfang, and needed all sorts of equipment and soldiers, so it wasn't a surprise to see so many different types of people in a fortress as mighty as this one.
"Hello! You must be the task force that Leander had notified me about..."
A mighty voice called out from behind the two of them, as they turned they spotted a man with short black hair, and violet eyes.
"My name is Rider..."
The king had two very powerful soldiers at his close left and right, one had an eyepatch with a terrible jagged scar running across the left side of his face, and the other had a smug smirk resting on his lips.
"These are my war generals, Picto and Fish, but ignore their presence, I just came to make sure that you find yourselves at home in my kingdom, and to ensure that your entire team arrives safely."
Chase nodded.
"Thank you your majesty."
He said politely, as he gazed around the fortress.
"That barrack over there, will be your base of operations until tomorrow when you are tasked with heading north."
Chase thanked the king once more, and as he turned to head toward the barrack, the king spoke again.
"Also, I wish you the best of luck for the war that knocks at our front doors..."
With that Chase and Equan opened the rusted iron door that led into their temporary room.
Inside two familiar faces, and two unfamiliar faces were chatting aimlessly, as they sat around a small wooden table.
Gabriel and Michael had already arrived, and were talking about the weapons and tools that they had brought for the journey.
The other, who had joined their talk, Chase could only assume as Talon of The House of Terror, who had a small scar over his upper lip, and yellow eyes.
His hair was blonde and tied back into a bun, and the other man was a lot older then any of the other members of the team, yet his stature was strong.
He was wearing black medium armor, with purple veins glowing within the armor's weak points.
His hair was slicked back, and darker then the shadows.
Yet his eyes glowed with a strange amount of power and pride, even though a normal person would assume that they were dark and empty.
Chase walked in front of the table, and set a hand on it.
"Hello, first and foremost, as we await the other members, I would like to thank everyone for joining me on this operation, both those who were invited, and those who were not."
He scowled at Equan, but met nothing ill by it.
Then Chase pulled out a map, and set it on the table.
"Let's do a quick rundown of the journey as we await our team."