They were an illustrious bloodline of influential individuals, and an intimidating force of their own. 貴 猎 Lie Gui is the head of The Lie Family, and Ren’s grandfather. He is the last surviving Lie of his generation, having fought in The Great War and come out with a prosthetic arm and leg, save Ren’s grandmother 猎 翠芬 Lie Cuifen. Following the decimation of his family prior to the age of peace, Gui fathered six children: 猎 雷 Lie Feng, 猎 黛玉 Lie Daiyu, 猎 白 Lie Bai, 猎 朱 Lie Zhu, 猎 青 Lie Qing & 猎 芷蘭 Lie Zhilan.

It is the automatic destiny of a child of The Lie House to achieve greatness. The best case scenario for an heir is to become a Huntsman/Huntress, although there are those that have diverged into other professions such as members of government, scholars, Dust scientists, business entrepreneurs, or have married into monarchy and/or families with notably powerful semblances. Although the largest inheritance would go to the eldest heir, each child was prepared in order to lead an independent road to greatness. Nothing but excellency was expected.

But The Lie Clan was not without it’s own enemies; both political and violent. Their land spans over a mountain range to the north eastern part of The Kingdom of Vale. The entirety of the Lie Family lived together on the same estate, heavily guarded, and with great isolation from the outside world. There were always those that wished to steal their fortunes, kidnap and hold for ransom their heirs, and even invoke violence purely because of political and social views, or any number of other discrepancies. Due to their heritage, Gui, some of his sons, and spotted members of the Lie heirs carried dragon Faunus traits. Because of this, and their alignment with The White Fang before and during their transition into terrorists, the edge of their home was vandalised, and the heirs subjected to outside sources of violence. Gui took necessary precautions in order to make sure that he and his family were safe, while also maintaining the family’s public image.

Zhilan was the youngest daughter of Gui, while at the same time the most treasured daughter. Her kindly and benevolent nature, as well as mischeivous and playful personality made her endearing in the eyes of others. Knowing that she would not have to shoulder the future of her family, relying on five older sibling made for a happy childhood to prepare her for the devastation that would sooner come. A terminal illness hereditary in her mother’s line had skipped a generation, as well as all Lie children, and struck her early into her teens. Although the illness was detected early, it did become stronger over time robbing her of strength. Even through this tragedy she struggled; she abandoned her dreams of becoming a Huntress and threw herself into studies instead, becoming a formidable Dust scientist and healer. While studying as a medic and doctor, she met renowned Huntsman 佐藤 大知 Sato Daichi, having lost his arm in a dust explosion, she was nursing back to health through application of a prosthetic and physical therapy. They fell in love.

Daichi’s semblance had been to manifest weapons at will, able to store ten weapons in a mythical blank space at a time. Because of this, when Zhilan announced that she was being courted by him, her father approved of their union. This was the only thing that made him great in the eyes of Lie Gui; exempting his talent as a Huntsman, Daichi did not have any family, not a lot of money to his name, no stable housing. He didn’t have any known public relations to political figureheads, save for the friends he’d made on his missions and exploration of Remnant. He was a free spirit, and to him offering Zhilan the chance to see the world outside of The Lie Estate was another great adventure.

With some gentle encouragement from Gui and Cuifen, Zhilan and Daichi tried for a child, and for a few blissful months of pregnancy everything was well. But complications arose further into the child’s development. As soon as was scientifically possible, they realised that the child had a 60% chance of being born with Zhilan’s condition, more worrying than that was that the more stress inflicted on Zhilan, the more she was prone to losing strength and even fainting. Not only did the medical information affect her, but the toxic environment with which her nieces and nephews were being raised made her worry for her own child. Though they kept their hopes high, Zhilan’s first child was miscarried, and she was plunged into a deep depression. Having children wasn’t necessary for the sixth daughter of Lie, but she so desperately wanted a child more than she ever had her entire life when she realised that her baby wasn’t a possibility. Heartbroken, they did not try again for a very long time, and she contented herself with spoiling all of her nieces and nephews.

Zhilan deluded herself into thinking that she didn’t want a child to make up for her loss, even managing to convince most of her family that this was true. At this point she was starting to realise that even though her nieces and nephews grew up in an isolated mountain province, the heirs, especially the ones with dragon faunus genetics, were regularly targeted for kidnappings and hate crimes alike. On top of that, the heirs were starting to begin training for the rest of their lives. If they managed to show exemplary combat prowess, or any fighting potential at all, they were to begin their Huntsman and Huntress training. Children are trained in the basics of athleticism from as early as four years of age. They play using specialised jungle gym equipment, and they are issued guardians that are trained Huntsman and Huntresses with long — term contracts, to help and protect their client. If they are deemed unfit to be warriors by the age of ten, they are instead groomed as a suitor in order to marry someone of influence, wealth, or a strong semblance that would hopefully reflect strength in their future offspring.

Lie children are used to having their lives planned out for them with very little leeway. If you are deserving of freedom you must work for it. Everything is attainable if you possess enough passion. There is no reward without sacrifice. Reflections of this message have been drilled into every single Lie child for generations, and Lie Gui was not allowing them to forget it any time soon. Nothing was held higher than status, ability, family, and education. Often the way he orchestrated his family led to dispute and hostile relations, while Grandmother Cuifen would try to dispell and bring about good vibes to remedy the situation. She hated the fighting among her family, but it was to be expected, with so many people in one province all striving for power. In truth, the environment Zhilan was raised in was a very toxic environment; in order to make his sons and daughters strive to succeed, he purposely pitted them against each other, and this behavioural trait was shared among all of their children as well. Catty, degrading, and even violence was brushed aside as long as his children and grandchildren were producing results. Often they pretended dishonorable conduct did not exist, as long as they reached the finished result. Nothing but the image at the end of their pursuits mattered. Eldest child Lie Feng did not approve of the environment his father was constructing, having blamed the issues within the family for Zhilan’s misscarriage. Even though he loved his littlest sister with all his heart, he had fallen in love with a witch on his Huntsman journey and wished to marry her. He made his intentions clear to his father, who violently disapproved, but Lie Feng was the strongest Huntsman among his family, and those who worked under them. Their attempts to convince him and contain him failed, and he escaped into the night.

Lie Feng was officially disowned in Gui’s eyes, but the siblings pooled together their resources in order to find him. They had idolised him. Many of the heirs had strived to be like him. He had been the ultimate representation of a proud Lie heir. That he would give up his life for something like love seemed like an impossible concept. Their search yielded no results. However, in the time since his departure, even though things went on as normal, there was less fighting. The siblings made a silent pact not to act catty and childish with each other, in order to follow Feng’s example. Their children followed suit for months until things slowly regressed into their original level of hostility. During those few months of mourning peace, Zhilan was visited by an old friend; she was dying of an illness and wished to say her final goodbyes. A travelling priestess, and very intuitive, she pressed her hand to Zhilan’s stomach and recited a prayer. Not a week later, Zhilan realised she had been carrying for weeks now.

BEFORE THE BEGINNING.

Lie Ren was the thirteenth heir to the Lie fortune. Daichi had barely made it back in time from his mission. Ren came into the world struggling, pre mature, ceasarean, not crying. Zhilan was in hysterics, she thought that her baby was going to die. It was a frightening few days he spent in the NICU. Miraculously, Zhilan had murmured the prayer her old friend had used to bless her, and a few hours later Ren was deemed healthy enough to go home. When held in his mothers arms he cried and cried and cried and she could not have been happier. Her family rejoiced for the following week, everyone from their grandfather to older cousins took turns carrying him. They had all been so happy for Zhilan and Daichi. A month into his existence, two small bumps near his hairline made themselves apparent, eventually making themselves known as horns once they broke skin, and another dragon faunus was welcomed into the Lie Family.

Ren’s childhood had not been without his fair share of bumps. He was always very tiny, short, skinny, and had a lot of trouble putting on weight. He could never finish his food, and was always anaemic. Ren slept a startling amount, and hardly ever cried. Even as an infant, always in the process of putting his mother through great mental struggle. More often his family would take care of him, as his mother often suffered from fainting spells and weak health, some even noted similar to his own. Ren spent an alarming amount of years in the hospital just making sure that what he experienced was not the tell tale symptoms of his mother’s terminal illness. He was a quiet child, but not necessarily unsocial. Ren played with his cousins all the time, following their lead even when unprompted. Unfortunately, he was regularly involved in unlucky accidents, resulting in broken noses and sometimes broken limbs. Scratches, bumps, cuts. Even though as a baby he would not cry very much, as a young child that now understood pain, he cried a lot. Zhilan was kind, playful, charming, but she was also frightening as well. His cousins were afraid of being scolded by someone who was ordinarily so nice. So, in fear of hurting Ren by accident, afraid of getting in trouble via his injuries, they started leaving him out and isolating him from games. He followed, and he was allowed to watch, but not to participate, and this tore at him, the lonely boy who didn’t know what he’d done wrong. Eventually he stopped following, and learnt to entertain himself, which drove a wedge between him and the other heirs.

Ren instead spent time either with his mother or by himself. His cousins congridated mostly, so there were very few who weren’t in the main group which had isolated him. When he was not with his mother, sometimes he spent time with his uncles or aunties during their lesuire time, all of them asking why he was not playing with the other children. He came to understand that blaming other people in turn would drive their further the wedge between him and and them, and so he shrugged and did not answer. He was a quiet child, and enigma in himself, oblivious and at the same time understanding. With that division between them, Ren became a little hollow, and stopped acknowledging his older cousins with the wide — eyed enthusiasm of someone who basked glowingly in their light. When they ate meals together, he simply nodded when they addressed him, and kept one sided conversations when they asked him where he’d been. Although this was just how his personality had become, jaded and unfeeling, this did not bode well for him. He spent time instead with the heirs chosen to become wives and husbands, during their suitor training. There he learned many things, including the basics of calligraphy, painting, and dancing. They welcomed him with open arms, even though his fate had not been decided for him yet. Meanwhile, Zhilan’s elder siblings, and Grandfather Gui spoke to her about the fact that Ren was developing differently from the other children; a loner personality, no interest in playing, and always avoiding his guardian. It would not bode well for his prospects as a possible Huntsman if he did not succumb to the hidden training practices put in place, even worse than that, if he continued to ellude his caretaker he might find himself in trouble. She waved them off. Zhilan was trying to implement a method of raising a child without such harsh boundaries but in truth, it was partially due to the fact that she couldn’t be with him all the time. Her health just wouldn’t allow it. When Daichi was home, Ren spent all of his time with his father, and he imparted knowledge to the young boy that he might not have been ready for; adventures of the world around him, what it was like to be a huntsman, stories of grandure, and sacrifice. In turn Ren asked him difficult questions that the other adults weren’t willing to answer; Why isn’t Mom a Huntress anymore? What was Uncle Feng like? How come you’re never around? This was accompanied with painful sentiments that Ren did not realise were painful. Mommy said she’s alright, but sometimes I hear her crying at night time. It’s okay Father, you’re not the only one that forgets my birthday. Sometimes I forget. The other kids don’t let me play with them because I cry a lot. It very much depressed him to see his child growing up without him, but not enough to appear more frequently. He too, could not stand the stifling environment that was the Lie Household.

Three years into Ren’s short existence, Daichi accepted a perilous mission that required his entire team to complete. Two months with no communication and Zhilan started to become worried. Five months in and she communicated the families of his team, only to find out they hadn’t been contacted either. She contacted the government only to find out they’d similarly lost contact. Ten months after several search parties had gone out, Daichi and his team members were officially declared Missing In Action. Comming to accept the fact that Ren might never see his father again struck a chord with him; that he might never hear more stories of the world outside theirs, that he might never run into his arms and swing around like something untethered and free. The tales that Daichi had told him were some of the only things that seemed to make growing up worthwhile. Even he, weak, untalented, porcelain, had dreamed of such accomplishments in the back of his mind. Everything that Daichi told him had become sacred, and in return, so did everything that Ren told Daichi. And thus, he presumed to think that no one needed to know what he was thinking. He’d tell his father everything when he returned. And thus, Ren stopped talking, and would continue to function like this for years to come.

Although the mountain village enveloped by The Lie’s mountain province was a generally peaceful area, a fraction of the townsfolks earnings did go to The Lie Estate because various family members were apart of local government and they did own the land. There were many that were resentful towards them because of their wealth, political position, and often their Dragon Faunus heritage. Lies had a reputation for being cold and calculative, and when not so, manipulative in order to attain what they desire. Until the first of their generation began their Huntsman training, this was how the children were seen as well. Only select members of The Lie Family were considered friends by the locals, like Zhilan and Cuifen. Over the course of Ren’s lifetime, the hostility between The Lies and the townsfolk increased, resulting in a loss of power for Lies in local governments, even more property vandalism, and even Lies getting attacked once they stepped outside the property. As a show of good will, The Lies lowered their land percentage and even opened up the Lies private Huntsman classes to the village children, so that they might aim to become Huntsman also. From age five, undecided Lie heirs participate in mandatory training that mostly focuses on self defence, which will slowly morph into Grimm slaying.

Ren showed very little interest, not only in becoming a Huntsman, but violence in general. This was reiterated all the time, mostly by the cousins which had alienated him, as well as some of the village children who they had teamed up with. The Lie Children had very little contact with the outside world, so upon contact with the village children they immediately wanted to show off and dispel the rumours put in place by the people in the village. During breaks between training, it was obvious the divide between those destined to become Huntsman and those destined to become suitors. Being of Dragon Faunus heritage had not made it easy to make friends with any of the villagers. Even Ren’s strongest and most talented Faunus cousins were shunned by the villagers, and so he ended up trailing behind them during team exercises. Despite the villagers hatred for Faunus, Lies were very proud of their heritage, and often hosted celebrations on days of ancient Lie traditions. The Lie Family, before The Great War were much larger than it was now, and was actually considered more of a blood clan due to their immense size and rich culture. Gui passed down stories of their heritage, not only filled with Dragon and Phoenix and Tiger Faunus heritage, but MAGIC as well. The Lie Clan were descended from some of the strongest witches every to have set foot on Remnant ( which made Ren’s semblance : Mana Manipulation , a common occurence among Lie Children, although at this point his semblance is unknown to him ) which were in turn, descended from the people of The Moon. Sun—borne Dragons and Pheonixes, and the Moon—borne witches came together in a clan created for harmony, for Yin and Yang. Lie Dragon Faunus nurtured their abilities from a very young age, all of them capable of emmiting smoke and breathing fire through a specialised ‘spark pouch’. Learning self defence is also very important for Dragon Faunus because their bones are hollow; which aids in speed, and agility, but not with blunt force, and serves as a weakness until they manage to harness their strength. Grandfather Gui is incredibly protective of the Faunus in particular because of very old horror stories of Faunus poaching, kidnapping, torturing, and forcibly removing their traits to sell on the black market. All Dragon traits are magically involved which makes their value incredibly high. This is why he is constantly switching between being very hard on his grandchildren, and incredibly protective of them. He requires them to manifest their own strength. Ren’s horns only served to make his life harder at this point, being mocked and teased for posessing them, and stray comments from his mother about them reminding her of his father. And still, one of his most treasured memories is during one of these celebration festivals, his mother decorating his horns by a petal—filled pond. His trait still served as a great source of emotional pain.

Surrounded by security personel, Zhilan ushered Ren to join her buying groceries and other things in the village. It had been the first time he had been taken outside, having no need to come out of The Lie Mansions. He remembered wearing a hood to hide his growing horns, and sneaking away from their guardians at any opportunity. She’d thought it a fun game. Unfortunately, this had backfired on her when they’d been hiding inside of a crowded marketplace. One second she’d been losely holding his hand, the second he was swept away in a mob and had no idea where he was. He landed on his butt and his hood had fallen from his head. A stranger reached behind him to pull his hood back on, and he stared up at them with wide grey—brown eyes. Something clicked in Ren’s brain, he had recognised this stranger before, but he couldn’t remember where from. Unbeknownst to him, Ren remembered him from some very old photographs that were scattered throughout the estate, if not a little older and scruffier. The appearance of Ren and the dragon horns had prompted curiosity from the stranger, and he ushered him to sit at an open café close to where he’d found him. It was a very public place, so Ren followed him, because although his semblance had not manifested yet, he had a very very strong sixth sense, and sensed no danger from this individual, who he felt was familiar for some reason. It became clear why Ren felt slightly at ease with the stranger. He was also a Dragon Faunus, and the first one that Ren had met outside his family (?) He went by the name Rain, and bought him a sakura bun, which was coincidentally Zhilan’s favourite food. “Who are you?” he’d ask. Even though Ren had not spoken in years, he mustered up effort to speak, prompted by some unknown instinct, “I’m Lie Ren.” “I got the fact that you’re a Lie, already. But who are your parents? Who’s your mom?” “My mom’s name is Zhilan.” Rain seemed shocked to hear this news, and that made Ren curious. The scruffy man simply said, “Say 'hello’ to your mother for me,” and he left Ren there to finish his food. He was eventually found by one of the assigned guardians, and his mother enveloped him in a hug. He passed on the message given to him by the stranger, but Zhilan said she didn’t know anyone who went by Rain.

One evening, with the Dragon Faunus tired and resting, separated from the village children and the other heirs, their guardians and extra security were shot down silently, a large group of black—garbed figures came out from the edge of their property and wrestled down the heirs, hitting them with chlorophorm and dragging them away in bags. Ren had been on the edge of the group, saw the first guardian fall and immediately tried to scream. But it came out silently, having gone years without speaking the air being forced through his throat burned him more than any fire would. He tried to make any noise possible, managing to get up and moving, running as fast as he could and catching the sight of one of his alienating cousins. The poachers managed to catch up with him, and struggled with all his might as he was also chorophormed and stuffed into a bag. His cousin observed with eyes filled with horror, but he was not seen by the poachers, and all Ren saw with his fading vision was an image of him running in the opposite direction.

When Ren came to, he was amongst a circle of nine cousins and two poachers equipped with guns. Four of his cousins were older than him, but only three of them were awake, one younger cousin 妞 Niu was awake and crying silently. The eldest of them were fifteen while the youngest of them were only four. They were in a moving vehicle, dark and dingey, and chained together via handcuffs. One thing that became apparent was that these poachers didn’t know how many Dragon Faunus could breathe fire, let alone all of them, otherwise they wouldn’t have used something alcoholic like chloroform. Dragon Faunus were rare, perhaps these poachers had never scored traits like theirs because they had gone through the trouble of infiltrating the Lie residence. When one poacher spoke to another, it was in the common tongue, so only the elder cousins could understand what they meant. Second eldest and bravest cousin 霞 Xia made eye contact with Ren, her trait was positively the rarest and most valuable, she had scales, and thus needed to be alive in order to make the most value. She noted that Ren was closest to the guard with the choloroform. Noting that all of them were Dragon Faunus, and would most likely survive an explosion or fire made from the chemicals, she spoke up. She spoke in Mandarin first, asking where the guards were taking them. Then she spoke in The Common Tongue, something the Ren of that time did not understand. The poacher on the other side of the vehicle hit her with the butt of his weapon, breaking her nose and spilling blood all over her tank top. He screamed at her and tore at her tank until it was shreds. Ren made eye contact with the child next to the guard next to him, remember that their trait was a long winding tail. With his eyes he made obvious movements to the bottle of chemical in the poachers hand, who was currently transfixed with what was happening on the other side of the vehicle. Nui started crying out loud by the display, and when the poacher moved forward to silence her, Pheo, the cousin with the tail trait, tripped him and spilled the liquid in front of Ren. He used the flint in his spark pouch and breathed, setting the alcohol on fire.

Everything flammable inside the vehicle caught aflame, and the poachers were forced to stop and open the back in order to survive. The fire would consume the vehicle, allowing the heirs to move out right before it exploded in a flurry of bright sparks. The two poachers who were driving in the front two seats were not as burned, managing to put out their flames, and in self defence, his elder cousins used the machine guns dropped by the two poachers in the back to gun them down, making sure they would not harm the younger ones. Not as affected by fire as normal humans, the heirs focused on melting their hand cuffs off of them, and with the threat neutralised, they started walking back home. It was somewhat difficult for them to find their bearings. There had also been the threat that there were more than one group of poachers trying to detain them, but maybe the massive explosion had deterred them from finding out what happened to their first group. For many of them, this was the first time since they were born that they had been outside of The Lie Estate. Eventually, a vehicle with their parents arrived, and with tearful reunions, stayed with them until more transport arrived, as well as policemen and an ambulence came to their aid. After this incident, the security around the compouned was tripled, and each village child that came for training was screened and rid of anything that could pose as a threat. They were also restricted to one massive courtyard instead of the ability to freeroam with supervision. It took all the pursuasion in the world for Gui to simply keep them out forever, and never allow an heir to leave.

If the experience had taught Ren anything, it was that even in a place he’d thought was sacred and untouchable, they were not safe. It had been the only fact stopping him from dreaming of the outside world. His father might not have come back, but one thing he did leave with him was a thirst for knowledge, a desire to see the outside world which had only been quelled by his desire to stay safe. And now? Now that he knew danger lurked on the inside as well as the outside, there was nothing stopping him from wanting to see the world beyond their little village, beyond their mountain province. In fact, he realised, he had barely seen beyond the estate where all of their family lived. There was an entire land in his reach and he had never bothered to look at it. This prompted him to, because not only did he need to know the land where he had been raised, he needed to know how to escape it.

Lie heirs were only allowed out of the estate for very specific reasons. The first was that they had reached an age in which they were old enough to attend a Huntsman academy. If they had not chosen to be a Huntsman, they were qualified to study at a prestigious university. Underaged heirs only moved out of the province, heavily guarded, if they have been deemed unsuitable as a Huntsman/Huntress and have instead chosen to become suitors to marry into other families. Those heirs attend gala balls, and social events, they travel all over Remnant in order to learn about heirarchies, geography, economics, and other things that would pertain to living in those areas. They are expected to be talented, intelligent, social butterflies, but at the same time, enchanting, dirisive, firm, manipulative, willing to do anything in order to shift things in their, and The Lie Family’s favour. They are in the public eye, they are the beautiful face of their family’s future. And so, a young child like Ren; underaged, underqualified, and without dictated future, had absolutely no reason to leave their property, especially a young Dragon Faunus. But that didn’t stop him from trying. He elluded his guardian, and he went over the boundaries multiple times. He memorised the land. He took with him supplies. Sometimes he was just barely an hour away from the village, but his guardians did catch up to him. Still, his attempts each time became more and more troublesome, he was getting faster, stronger, learning to predict his guardian’s movements, and sometimes use this against them. Every single time he managed to escape the compound, security was built up which irritated his grandfather, but Ren was determined to one day make it out of this cage.

UPHOLD THE FAMILY HONOUR.

Ren reached the age of ten, by this point he wanted to become a Huntsman, he was determined to earn his freedom. But his will had been realised too late. Huntsman from The House of Lie must be able to obey orders and Ren had been a thorn in his grandfather’s side since his runaway attempts began. He was unfit for the role, and thus was punished as with life as a suitor. Along with the other children chosen for the role, his training sessions were switched out for ettiquette lessons. His bloody bandages changed for traditional garb and suits. Unruly black hair was tied into a ponytail. This was not the life he would have chosen for himself, but he did not want to disappoint his mother more than he already had. He became complacent, and ceased his attempts to make it to the outside world. Eventually he would be called to represent his family, and then, under guard, he would be able to see parts of Remnant. The parts they deemed appropriate for one such as him.

Exploring the edge of the province one evening, his guards are taken down within seconds, using tranq darts this time around. For a moment Ren was afraid he was going to be kidnapped again, when he saw Rain materialise out of thin air, the emotion dispelled but was not completely gone from his mind. Rain didn’t seem particularly threatening in Ren’s eyes which made him worry about why he’d temporarily taken his guardians down. He couldn’t help but feel he could have taken them down using force, and he came to the conclusion Rain had singled him out and had been following him for at least a little while. Rain released all of his weapons and prompted Ren to sit down with him, all he wanted was to talk. It was short, it would not be long until security found out Ren’s guardians had been compromised. In that small chat, Rain asked how his family was doing. He wasn’t particularly asking anything malicious, he just wanted to know what home life was like for Ren, and against his better judgement he offered sparse answers, soft because he was not used to talking. When Rain was about to leave, Ren asked him where he was from. Because Rain felt he was obligated to provide even a little bit of information, he pulled out a scroll with a map leading to The Lunar Mountain, which is where Rain currently reside. “If you ever make it out of here, feel free to visit.” When Ren searched up The Lunar Mountain, the only information that came up were horror stories about a witch. No one who stepped foot on that mountain was ever seen again. By some, it wasn’t even regarded as a real place.

His curiosity had been refueled. He wanted desperately to know more about Rain and The Lunar Mountain. When he mentioned Rain to his mother again, and asked to go to Lunar Mountain she said she would ask Grandfather Gui for permission, and then Ren knew he would never arrive there this way. He ruminated on starting to sneak out of the province once more, as he was deliberating and wandering particularly close to the edge of the property once more, he ran into a girl. She was like starbursts, bubbly and energetic, but there was one thing that separated them; he couldn’t understand what she was saying. Ren was being taught the common tongue but only knew a few select phrases, and what she was speaking was not common. Another language, like his own. Despite their language barriers, she was expressive in other ways. It was, quite strange to have a random girl on the property without supervision but she ended up becoming roped into his game of hide and seek with his own guardians. The both of them, despite not being able to directly speak to each other, ran a good length of the gardens before the both of them were caught by the guardians. When the both of them were brought back into a common room, Ren was introduced to another girl, older than him by a few years, with a stern expression and a strong aura. The girl he had been playing with was named Nora Valkyrie, visiting alongside her relative, who was now Ren’s betrothed. He was more indifferent towards the news, but one thing he did note was that once he was old enough, he had a reason to leave The Lies behind.

Ren instigated several escape attempts after this, some of them aided by Nora, who visited him every single summer. Each time they met, the both of them knew more and more of the common tongue, so each time they reunited, it was more like learning about each other for the very first time. They sent each other letters, and soon Nora became Ren’s best friend. He neither judged him for his quiet nature, nor his Dragon Faunus heritage. When she met him, she didn’t even know he was wealthy. He was just another kid near the Lie property when she had run away from her parents. No titles had been shared between them. Zhilan welcomed Nora’s influence, because while she provided a bad influence on his rebellious side, she envoked more emotions out of him; affection, frustration, he felt safe enough around her to cry properly. The biggest impact that she made on Ren was that she prompted him to speak, when he had not spoken to anyone other than his mother and Rain of many many years. He wanted to talk again, he wanted to talk to Nora again. Nora quickly became more important to him than his destined fiancé who visited much more rarely than Nora, and any attempts to get to know each other were stiff and uncomfortable. These small sessions were mostly dedicated to finding out what kind of husband his fiancé wanted, but even she showed little interest in their union. She mentioned once or twice she wanted someone complacent and quiet, that wouldn’t get in the way when she came back from her missions. To sway attention away from him in between his lessons Ren exceeded, he worked incredibly hard to finish lessons early and to perfection so he could watch the training Huntsman in his spare time, or figure out new methods in order to escape the property.

Ren’s runaway attempts, sometimes aided with Nora’s help, were actually exercising traits that he otherwise wouldn’t have learnt through suitor means. Aided with the hollow bones and powerful lungs of the Dragon Faunus, his speed was increasing, his agility was getting better, in order to escape he was getting better with climbing, he was using what he knew about his guardians against him, he was taking advantage of their predictability, he was becoming more unpredictable himself, his deceptiveness was improving. Ren was beginning to show an amazing strategic nature. He was using his guardians semblances against them, showing little to no remorse as long as the end goal was still in mind. Each runaway attempt he became more and more successful. Grandfather Gui was irritated with the young Lie, but he was also impressed. His mother expressed worry, but could not blame him for wanting to be away from this environment. This was not what he’d wanted. His skills are developing, they become more and more afraid for him. Of him. But the culmination of his escape attempts come when he actually manages to make it to the village. Although the suitor heirs were ordinarily let out of the compound to travel to different continents, he hadn’t been to the village since the last time he’d met Rain. Unfortunately, there he had been ambushed by the village children training with his human cousins. He was outnumbered, and at their hand suffered a brutal beating. He was left on the side of the road to die. He had multiple contusions, many broken bones, two broken limbs, and possible brain damage. Ren was left there to absorb the pain, until he eventually passed out. His guardians caught many of the grown assailants, who were charged to jail sentences, but not any of the children involved. Ren was in a coma for a week, but when he did wake, it was with a resentment and bloodthirst he’d never felt before. The children who had initiated his beating were still learning with his cousins, but he felt like telling them would do nothing. In order to prevent further hate crimes from affecting him, Grandfather Gui issued the order for Ren’s horns to be filed down until no one could see them. For the first time, Ren cried in front of his Grandfather, he begged forgiveness for being weak, he promised he would do better in his studies and never, ever try to break out of the complex again. But it was all for nought. No matter how much Ren cried, no matter how much Zhilan yelled at them, so hard and with such violence that she passed out multiple times, they would not go back on their order. Ren’s horns were already broken from the assault. He cried silently for hours, more than he had cried in all his years. He was filled with self loathing. All that he could think of was “I’m not strong enough.” “They think I’m too weak to take care of myself.” “I’ll never forgive them for what they’ve done to me.” “I’ll never forgive him.” His mother knelt in front of him, eyes closed and sleeping, with tear tracks wet on her face, and he thought, “I’ve let Mama down.” “I don’t ever want to see her sad again.” “I want to be strong enough to protect her from this.”

Ren’s recovery was very long and arduous. His mother wanted to involve herself in all of his healing, feeding, nursing, even when he could not ask for more, she read him stories. She felt partially responsible for what had happened to him. She was thinking along the lines of “Maybe if I was more of an attentive parent,” though she had been nothing other than loving and just. Because he had been relieved of his suitor duties temporarily, he spent a lot of time observing The Huntsman kids. Occassionally, fromt he sidelines, Ren would catch the eyesight of one of his assailants with bright dead eyes and they would look at him with worry. Not for him of course, but because if Ren told his guardians, his grandfather, that any of them had been involved in his assault, then he would terminate their Huntsman training. They would not have enough experience to attend a Huntsman Academy, and their dreams of escaping their small mountain village would perish. Despite the conscious thought that it would be better to tell on them and eliminate their aspirations, Ren’s sixth sense told him that he should stave of his desire for now. On his exploration around the estate, he came across a photo which had fallen behind one of the ornate couches. He recognised someone in the photo who was not part of his family. He recognised him as Rain. When he showed the image to his mother, she revealed little. His name was Feng, he was the strongest and most skilled Huntsman she had ever known. He was her most beloved eldest brother.

The year of his thirteenth summer came about, he had been spending a year slowly moving back into his suitor training schedule. He had also been divising another escape, but this time he had a goal in mind. He was going to reach The Lunar Mountain, and was taking every precaution to make sure this time he would actually be successful. His body still ached, and he hadn’t run for a very long time, but he was determined to make it. They moved when Ren’s guardians were switching shifts. They pulled on disguises and packed money and some food, supplies for at least two days. They had made it out of the estate many times, but they needed to make it to a bus route and before they realised they were missing. And reach the bus they did; there was a police officer that stopped the bus temporarily, looking for a Dragon Faunus, but since Ren did not have any visible traits, the both of them were left alone. The both of them trekked to Lunar Mountain. The closer they get to the centre of the mountain, the more signs of living and witch craft they see. All at once they seem to materialise out of the ground, chanting, red crackling energy surrounds them. “We will protect The White Witch.” The adrenaline and lingering magical energy in the air manifest in the form of a white—light shield, temporarily protecting both him and Nora from the magical attacks but … Their magic is all consuming. It is suffocating. He is losing air, and blacking out, and all it once it seems his journey has come to an end.

RESURRECTION.

His vision lit up with white light, and when he opened his eyes fully there were three faces looking down on him. Nora was in hysterics, the air around her crackling. Rain was following the movement of a bright purple light, emmitting from a stranger’s hand. She was a beautiful woman with bright white hair, her aura roving over his body and healing it of wounds; deep cuts, dark bruises, veins thick and pulsing, the result of the black magic he’d seen before.

As a unit, the black—robed women, guardians of The White Witch, bowed and apologised to both Ren and Nora, disappearing in the same smokey shadowy way they had arrived. Ren’s physical appearance has changed, where his eyes were once brownish—grey, they are now bright pink. There is a bright pink streak in his hair, the result of Nora’s electric discharge, which defibrillated his heart after he had flatlined. Over tea, Ren recounted his story; he had been denied the right to choose his fate as a Huntsman, because he had run away and gotten beaten down, his grandfather had given the order to make hissed horns away. He had wanted to talk to Rain, he wanted to know how he’d escaped from this lifestyle, he wanted to know what it had been like, when his mother was happy, and his father was present, and everything that his aunties and uncles would not tell him. He wanted to ask Rain how he’d survived so long, as a Dragon Faunus in plain sight. After hearing Ren’s story, Rain didn’t exactly answer his questions, but he did —without prompting— offer Ren a service as Ren’s teacher. Not only did Rain want to spite his father by producing a better Huntsman than he ever could, but he also felt like he could repay a debt to his little sister made by leaving all those years ago. Yui, The White Witch, did not have similar good—hearted pursuits. She was a powerful sorceress, raised and protected within the mountain by her black—robed guardians. It might have struck a chord within her to see Ren had been raised a similar way. Yui noted that he had been using his semblance for the first time, she offered to teach him how it worked, as she was also familiar with mana manipulation/ spell casting. The black—robed women who had raised Yui said that she was a descendant of The Moon Men, and her ability to control and manipulate Grimm had come from them. The black—robed women were a cult that worshipped the shattered moon, and had been protecting Yui’s family for generations. The three of them created an operation. Yui was capable of teleportation, and would transport them to an isolated part of The Lie Property sometime during twilight. It was up to Ren to meet them at the designated time.

It seemed like every day was torture. Ren needed to make up for three absent years of Huntsman training. But he also needed to make sure he balanced his suitor training at the same time. He needed to perform all of it spectacularly, become the epitome of a well—behaved student in order to make sure his evening escapades weren’t paid too much attention to. After Ren and Nora returned from The Lunar Mountain, she had been sent home as a punishment, but was of course welcomed back next year, if Ren could behave. Rain was new to teaching, had rarely interacted with anyone for a length of time, save for his love, Yui, and the other maidens of the The Moon Cult. But one thing he was good at, was bringing out the best of Ren’s abilities. He realised that Ren was not quite that strong, so his fighting style was moulded around his agility, and his saboteur—like nature. Ren excelled in identifying his opponents strengths, and turning them into weaknesses, as well as identifying their weaknesses, and exploiting them. His need to run away had provided him with the few basics of athleticism, above average speed and the basics of free running. He first focused on strength training, as well as increasing his speed, followed immediately by bare—handed combat training. This developed into advanced martial arts, and weapon wielding. Even when Ren was taken away in order to travel to different continents and attend balls, he still practiced his semblance whenever he could, he still did his exercises in his hotel room. He made sure to make use of every single spare moment. He learnt when he was pushing his body to the limit, and when he was over exerting himself. Ren devoted all hours of the day to either studying or training. When he trained with Yui, they first focused on manifesting his aura for as long as he possibly could, learning when his limit was, which was then followed by seeing what kind of shapes he could create with them. Yui was just as much a student as she was a teacher, she wanted to learn all about what life was like for Ren, living in a giant family. She loved learning about his semblance. She told him once to focus on what would happen if he used his power on a wilting flower. When he touched it and focused on it, it rebloomed, more petals replacing those that had fallen. She was even more delighted than he was. Even when Ren felt like he had no information to provide, there was always some aspect of him that she wanted to know about. She wasn’t very good at being social, having lived pampered by a cult her entire life. Yui also didn’t have a lot of experience with the outside world. She was beautiful, and child—like, she and Ren became quick friends. Nora was the only one that knew Rain and Yui came to their property to teach Ren about his combat. Often Rain asked about Ren’s mother, and Ren asked him whether he wanted to see her. But he would remember that she was very loyal to Ren’s grandfather, and would probably immediately tell him what was going on, exterminating any freedom Ren hoped to see until he was of age and could leave.

Often Ren would, while studying or eating his lunch, would observe the Huntsman children. Sometimes it was to see their progress, sometimes to offer Rain some more teaching scenarios he had learnt, but often it was to feed the festering hatred he had for his oppressors. The children who had attacked him were no doubt unassuming, or perhaps stupid. If Ren decided to tell his grandfather what they had done to him, even with Ren’s reputation, he would immediately cease their Huntsman education, and then they would not have enough experience to apply for a Huntsman Academy. They might be able to make it into a combat school, but the chances of applying without any recommendations, halfway through the curriculum, with very little funding, might have been fifty fifty, depending on their talent. Ren held a lot of power in his hands, but he wondered what the consequences of his actions would be? Had it been too long? It had been over a year. By revealing the violent villager children, would he just drive a wedge between him and his human cousins? Between his human cousins, and his Dragon Faunus cousins? One thing was for certain, he was not about to forgive them and walk away.

Ren was already beginning to arrange plans to attend a prestigious high school, although he was sure he wasn’t going to be able to attend it. Lies only escaped via Huntsman Academies and Universities. Beacon was where Rain had attended when he was still Lie Feng, member of Team FNIX (“Team Phoenix”) but it was not Ren’s original choice. He’d wanted to go somewhere far, much father than Vale. But he needed to make sure he had the skill set to get in, rather than worrying about his choices. When he contacted Nora about where she was going (he did not mention his own because he wasn’t sure his mail wasn’t being intercepted) she mentioned the same plans, which prompted him to aim for Beacon.

猎人.

On a day where the suitors and the huntsman—in—training were in proximity, and the Lie household was upgrading security, which would be temporarily down, their worst fears were realised. Even with multiple guardians surrounding the children, and even with some heirs adults now, a group of poachers managed to reach past their defences and messily take down their guardians. Whoever was not killed because of the surprise advantage managed to minimise the attackers from around twenty to ten. Still, their guardians were rendered immobile, even if they managed to alert the police. Because they could not distinguish which child was a Lie heir and which one wasn’t, they managed to round up ten children at random, some of them humans and some of them not, loading them into a van which had come from off the property. Someone HAD to have been providing information from the inside, because no one but the heirs knew, and one heir must have told their villager friend about the security update. It was one of his worst fears, it was happening again, he was being kidnapped again. He remained conscious for the entire ordeal this time, while they dragged him away in a gritty bag, while they tossed him onto the metal of an armoured vehicle. He was having flashbacks. They were different kidnappers, this time, they had muzzles, and were securing them onto the face of each Dragon Faunus, some children too, but apparently some the muzzles had been on one of the men who had died at the manor, and they did not have one for every child. They were afraid to speak, afraid of being shot from close range. Because Ren did not possess any visible Dragon traits, he had not been muzzled.

These poachers were on the level of professional Huntsman, they managed to take the Lie guardians down with surprise, and managed to subdue them enough to get away with ten out of almost a hundred children, which had managed to run away fast enough. Ren was beginning to concoct a plan to get them out of the armoured vehicle. He thought back to the last time he had been kidnapped, he had been with a group of Dragon Faunus, and the kidnappers had used chloroform. They hadn’t used it this time, managed to get the children by force. There were five other Faunus with him this time; two older cousins, and two younger. They were all muzzled. He felt terrible, his little cousin Niu had been kidnapped again. But she had unlocked her semblance since the last time. Maybe it would come in handy. Out of the five of them, two were huntsman—in—training, not including Ren. Out of their group, seven were Huntsman kids, four of them were his cousins. This meant that they wouldn’t be able to set anything on fire, because it might spread and harm the human children. There was also nothing flammable but bags and their clothing. Three armed guards sat among the children, making sure they weren’t communicating or devising any escape plans. They were talking to the other truck, hopefully that of which had not managed to draw away any more children. Ren was stumped for ideas, and would instead have to set his mind in motion possible scenarios once they were let out of the van.

The only advantage Ren had over the poachers/kidnappers was that they didn’t know he could breathe fire. There were also eight out of ten of them that were trained Huntsman kids, but their hands had been bound in order to make sure they had little advantage. He didn’t know where the loyalties of the human part of the group lie, whether if given the chance they would give up and turn the dragon’s side over in exchange for safety. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. When the vehicle stopped and each child was told to stay in line, they were moving towards the back of the van in order to have a blindfold tied around their eyes. Ren was the third in line, hoping not to seem too eager. When it was his turn, he subtly breathed in as much oxygen as he could, letting fire loose like a flamethrower all over the guard’s head and shoulders. Ren did not have time to act, he immediately manifested a shield from his semblance, making sure that everyone behind the shield was guarded. The two guards who had been driving the truck came to the back, and Ren maneuvered his shield so that the guards bullets ricoched right back at them. The two eldest Faunus moved to the back of the truck, starting the engine just as Ren was starting to lose all of his strength, running out of aura. Just as all of them managed to climb back into the vehicle, one of the bullets broke Ren’s shield and a bullet went right through his leg. The elder Faunus, having no idea where they were, drove back along the road they’d come until they became lost. Ren was in pain and starting to lose consciousness. Worse than that, their van was starting to run out of gasoline.

The accompanying van had caught up with him, and they had very little to defend themselves with. Two assault rifles. Luckily they had Niu, a healer who managed to heal Ren’s leg. Those who hadn’t been kidnapped before were frightened and scared, even if they hadn’t been the real targets, while the Dragon Faunus were now calm and collected, regardless of their age. Using their fire breathing abilities, they created a wall of fire. When they arrived, Ren set up another ricocheting shield, while he issued to weeping Huntsman kids to disarm the enemy while they were distracted; four adults against ten children. Ren’s semblance was shiny and glowing, but if he did not put enough power into it, the bullets would kill him, and it was taking all of his power very quickly. His leadership led to the quick take down of all the poachers, but just when he thought it was over, the back of the second van banged open, and the man Ren had burned the face of arrived. It looked like his semblance was advanced healing. His third degree burns were already starting to heal. Non lethal bullets were fired at multiple Huntsman kids who were sent hurtling to the ground. “I remember you,” the poacher said, “From all those years ago.” Ren remembered him now too, he had been the poacher who’d carried the chloroform during his first kidnapping. He wanted to make sure Ren suffered. He’d thought everyone in that car wreck died int he explosion. It was a thrilling fight. Ren was so small and unassuming, moved quick as daggers, and striking with a pink knife made from his own aura. Every blow that caught him completely blew him back; shocking Ren still, bruising skin, possibly breaking bones. Ren used all the information Ren had learnt from Rain, agility, power strikes, and most importantly, using his weapons power against him. His blows were strong, but they were predictable, and Ren managed to gain the upper hand by imagining his movements, and breathing fire in the right direction. The poacher was temporarily blinded, and the only way to keep him down with his regenerative health abilities was to keep on breathing fire. He gained health fast, when Ren ran out of breath he could already see his face knitting together. When Ren ran out of flint, The Poacher had already started healing, but seemed to be unconscious. Shaken to the bone, Ren and the rest of the children made their escape.

Enough Lie money was enough to silence any crimes, especially when the heirs had done more damage than the actual criminals. The word spread, in a family who prized strong semblances, Ren, who had beautiful control and such a rare, base semblance, was revered. His other cousins were also unaware that he could fight either, but this information did not reach Lie Gui, or, he just didn’t feel like acknowledging the rumour. Ren wasn’t even sure he wanted his grandfather to know. He realised his acceptance was not what he wanted, it was his mothers, who was only so delighted to make sure Ren was safe. Whether he could fight or not, that he was alive was the greatest gift of all. The Huntsman kids, their de—facto leader more precisely, in light of Ren protecting those that had been kidnapped, apologised to him, and ran out the children who would not apologise from the Huntsman program. They also offered to remove themselves from the program too since they did not deserve to become Huntsman at the expense of the Lie family, but Ren forgave them under one condition; that they would never discriminate against other Faunus ever again. In one night, Ren closed the gap between both of his Faunus and Human family.

When Ren revealed to his mother that he had unlocked his semblance, she was nothing but happy for him. Zhilan decided to share with her son what her own was. When she pressed her hands to the ground, flowers grew. These flowers she had used as part of her research. They had healing properties. Every time Ren had been sick, floating a lotus into a cup of warm milk healed him. “Because of a blessing from a friend before you were born. You can do this too. I’ve seen you do it, even as a child. It works alongside your semblance. I should have seen it sooner.” And he had seen it; Yui had told him to reanimate that flower and he did. “Maybe some of my semblance worked with the blessing?” she noted, “Every time you make a flower, remember me, okay?”

Things continued as they were up until Ren’s fifteenth summer. Ren continued to improve, balancing his suitor work as well as his private Huntsman and Semblance training. Even though he now feels safer within the confines of The Lie Estate, the hostilities between The Lies and the village have only increased. The angry parents of the students who were run out of the Huntsman program now have children that will not succeed. They are years behind in normal education, but do not have enough experience to apply to a combat school or a Huntsman Academy. They blamed the failure on The Lies, who have rid their children of a future. Even though it was not safe to venture out of the estate, Ren and Nora did manage to bribe some of Ren’s guardians in order to take them to The Lunar Mountain every so often, but only the guardians who had been there long enough to recognise Rain as Lie Feng. On a day of celebration, welcoming the 20th Lie heir into the world, all of his relatives had returned from their jobs and their missions, as per protocol when another child was born. Families, and families of betrothed were invited to celebrate. There was food and fireworks and games. It was the most fun and harmonious the family had been in a very long time.

In the chaos of the celebration, the security personnel were having more than a difficult time keeping track of everyone. Ren and Nora planned to use the diversions to sneak Ren’s grandmother Cuifen out of the province and to meet Rain in Lunar Mountain. By this time, Ren was very familiar with their security measures, and the both of them led her to a meeting place designated by Rain. Their was a malfunctioning camera on the grid which Ren had cut off himself a few days before. Right before they left through the security breach, Ren looked back having felt that someone was following them. He spied the de—factor leader of the Huntsman Kids, who had been invited by some of his human cousins to the celebration. Ren felt like he needed to acknowledge him, and simply explained that they were going to be back before the night was over. He nodded, and moved to return to the festivities.

Yui and Rain were waiting for them in the right position, and all were teleported to the Lunar Mountain. From a cave with a beautiful view, where they could see in the far distance the fireworks coming from The Lie Estate, Rain and Cuifen spoke and rekindled their relationship, while Ren, Nora, and Yui listened and occasionally interjected with some information. Ren gazed over their home and noticed with some inkling of dread that the fireworks were leaving behind a great deal of smoke. When Rain deduced they should return Cuifen wished to take him with her, but he declined, asking that the next time she came to visit to please bring Zhilan. Yui teleported them back to the hole in the fence, after she departed the full scene concerning their hole in security became clear. There were footsteps in the mud, when no one else should have known about the gap. Ren ran after Yui before she teleported back and asked her to take Grandmother Cuifen back to the mountain. Ren and Nora ran back to the main province and into the fray. There were villagers and black—robed people; they had to be associated with the poachers. There was fire everywhere. Each part of the estate was in absolute chaos, but one thing was for certain, the bodies on the ground each belonged to a family member. Ren was shocked into a state of silence. This massacre had been going on for hours. He ran around the state, searching for any family member that was still around, Nora was keeping an eye out for her own parents. Though it sounded terrible, when it became clear he could not find any of his own parents among the burning rubble, he focused on finding his mother. Every single poacher and villager that wished to harm him did not expect his semblance, his shield to reflect the bullets shot at him, or Nora’s, who in her distress sent electricity through them like a bolt of lightning. Zhilan had been kneeling on the other side of the main courtyard next to the body of Ren’s grandfather, crying. Ren and Nora started bolting towards her, but they weren’t the only ones that had spotted her. The Poacher, the one that had tried to kill Ren so many times before, raised his rifle. It truly was less than a second, but for Ren the entire scene seemed to move as if in slow motion. In a second his mother was down. Silent.

He saw red.

“REN!”

Nora’s voice pulled him out of a dream—like stance. Under him, the poacher lie, third—degree burns all over his body, continuing to burn at his clothes. He was still alive, but he would not be for long. Ren knelt over the body of his mother for what felt like an eternity, crying silently. He had not even got a chance to say goodbye. It was risky, but he placed his hands to the grass beneath his mother’s body, focusing all of his semblance into it. Flowers bloomed all over her body, vines lovingly wrapped around her limbs like he no longer could. This would be her final resting place, and this his final goodbye.

Nora never found her parents. Lie Dragon fire burned longer and brighter than any other. The fire consumed the estate, the surrounding mountains, and lead towards the village connected. Although the villagers responsible for his family’s deaths arrived before it reached them, the fire still took everything important to them, seemed to fan harder the more they fought, with water and dampened sheets. It was as if the vengeful spirits of those lives taken wished to seek some form of redemption. The Estate, the village, all burned to the ground. Ren and Nora made their way to Lunar Mountain. In the following year, after their mourning became a little more bearable, Rain, Cuifen, Ren, and Nora held a proper funeral for their loved ones. Over thirty seven family members, and Nora’s parents had succumbed to the flame. Rain left in order to hunt down all of the poachers who had been involved. Whether he persecuted them, or eliminated them completely, they didn’t know. The only one he hadn’t managed to find was the one with burns all over his body, the one who’d shot Zhilan. He didn’t reveal this to Ren, but he thought the young Huntsman was more deserving of deciding the man’s judgement.

For a while, Ren was completely off the grid. Nora’s extended family asked around but she was determined to stay with Ren. He simply assumed his betrothed simply did not want anything to do with him anymore. He lived in Lunar Mountain with Rain, Yui, and Grandmother Cuifen. What had happened to his family had completely turned his world around. He trained in order to fight the illnesses in his head, he fought until his knuckles were red and raw because he knew nothing else. It seemed he held no purpose. So Rain offered him a suggestion. Do what he’d always wanted to do. Become a Huntsman. He could choose two paths; serve to protect, prevent anything like this from happening to someone else again. Or, he could choose the path of wrath. He could find The Poacher, who’d kidnapped his family, him, and now the man who had killed his mother. Maybe then he might find some form of closure. Ren drifted, lost. He accepted Rain’s advice, he would become a Huntsman and Nora would become a Huntress at his side. Whether he had chosen the path of WRATH or PROTECTION, even he hadn’t decided yet.