The Fourteenth Night - Part 3 - The Hexix!

The one who survived through the nights of Gantlet, the one who defeated two Gigansliks, the one who proclaimed to have even defeated the Water Sentinel, and the one who saved them all once is this sweet child.

When they first saw him, they were amazed by his power. The Water Sentinel then swept them away, putting guilt on him. The blameless, nevertheless, risked his life multiple times in the flood and saved them one by one. They were touched by his kindness and his great will to get what he wanted. On top of it, he wasn't selfish for he wants wasn't for himself.

After that, he saved Sceke from the Water Sentinel even with the thought of risking his lives.

And they were awed by his determination to separate himself from them even in exchange for his protection of the indestructible mountain and danger into the flood.

In the end, they admired him when he came back full of brim and confidence much like the heroes in the legends.

No, that was not the end. In the end, he defeated the Water Sentinel...

Renir, who accomplished this all in just a few more of a dozen nights was this man who bashfully longed for a friend.

If Renir knew this is how they viewed his words, he would have many sleepless nights with his messy bed due to his regret and cringe.

But fortunately, this struck the cords of the Pentafive's hearts.

Renir was soft... he is kind and honest. To be put into this world should've been harsh for him more than anyone else. Yet, he accomplished feats none of them would've reached or expected from him.

At that moment, they saw Renir as precious.

Sceke smirked.

When Renir saw this, he felt dumb for saying that, 'Really?! Friends?! For all the words you could use, you used the word friends?!', his face was itchy to be slapped by his own hands, 'Are you that desperate for a friend?! Now they would think you are friendless and weak!', but he could only sigh since he expected no less from him.

Even in his past, he was a target of bullies, rumors, and all things bad. It would not be an exaggeration to call him the opposite of luck. But he himself knew that his intentions were pure and kind.

Although it was not so "humble" to admit your intentions are pure and kind but Renir wouldn't deny it because even under the pressure of life itself, he persisted not to turn into someone's enemy. Revenge won't do any good.

Renir long acknowledged that the problems all lie within him.

He believed not all people are bad just like not all people are kind. But none of these people are perfectly kind, no matter how kind you are, there is someone who you will vent your hate, and that someone happens to be him.

But now, Renir realized his fault. Before, he was kind, but also weak and accepting.

He already thought of this but through these harshest nights, he changed and became strong!

It might prove him right since these people are kind to him and not with malicious intent.

Or that what it looked like at first but when Renir blurted out "friends", it made him look weak.

'Even if they are kind people, they will saw me as weak and never treated me the same.'

These are all the thoughts running through his head just because of Sceke's needless smirk!

"You know, Renir.", Sceke placed both his hands on Renir's shoulder.

In comparison, Sceke was taller with half a head than Renir.

This made Renir nervous, 'Am I going to be mistreated again?', he sadly thought.

"We are called Pentafive."

"Kuh-!", Veronia "coughed" and quickly whispered, "We call ourselves Pentafive-"

"Heh...", Hanzee and Ye laughed.

While Old Ze showed her what a real cough is which worried the others for a moment since this old man just woke up panic from being unconscious out of fear.

"No, I'm fine. Just a mild cough, I am not dying.", Old Ze honestly said and became the reason why he was punched in the chest by his granddaughter multiple times.

"Ehem", Sceke cleared his throat to gain the attention back since he felt coughing was being overused if he did so. Which is absolutely pointless...

"We call ourselves Pentafive because when we met together in the City of Misfortune, we found another without a mark on their foreheads.", Sceke continued with a smile as if nothing happened, "Being mocked by the Sinners, we were grouped together and found we are better if we teamed up. Seeing that all other people are merciless and cruel, we named our group Pentafive. Only for the five of us."

"Yes, and it was a stupid name.", Veronia with her nasty tone interrupted again.

"Shut up, it was a brilliant name!", Sceke shouted without looking at her, "But I am now changing it to Hexasix!"

Renir's eyes widened as he realized what Sceke meant!

Nobody argued but instead, they felt lucky to have this chance. Everyone except for Hanzee.

"Isn't Hexix better?", he suggested.

"Ohhh, good job, little boy.", Veronia liked the name.

"That's cooler!", Ye added which Old Ze supported, "Yes, absolutely!"

Hanzee lifted his head high, ignoring Veronia's mean remark while they chanted, "Hexix! Hexix! Hexix!"

Sceke with a darkened face nodded weakly.

Renir scratched his cheek, wanting to laugh.

"Yes, as a leader, I shall name this group, the Hexix!", Sceke proudly announced as he came out of his darkened face.

"Tsk!", Hanzee laughed as he clicked his tongue in banter, "Getting all the credit, huh?"

"And, Renir,", Sceke looked at Renir's sincere eyes, "Are you fine with that?"

Renir's heart floated in his chest, he couldn't help but had watery eyes, "O-okay..."

He looked at the five of them, people with kind hearts.

Finally... he was in a group, and finally... he has allies!

"Now that it ended well, I should get back first to the City of Misfortune.", Sceke's became solemn as he removed his hands from Renir's shoulders.

They wasted too much time, but nobody really complained.

It was better if they now hurry.

Even though it's far from the fifteenth night, it was better to play safe. Any delay will let them get closer to the Wind Sentinel.

Renir nodded with a furrowed eyebrows as he sensed the urgency.

He then asked, "How will you go back to the Gantlet Desert?"

"It is easy, we just need to touch the rune and pinpoint the other rune in the Gantlet Desert. It will be quick since Trisha and her brother must be on their way to that rune as we speak.", Sceke felt guilt behind his happy face before explaining further, "Those who reached the Gantlet Desert have the power to use the runes to teleport back to the woodland whenever they want to."

He lied, the truth was, it would take 2-3 nights to travel back to the City of Misfortune from the rune, and this Trisha and her brother were not on their way.

Sceke was conflicted if he will just leave the water creatures there in hope for Trisha to get it herself after the Pentafive had not come back.

'I am sorry, but it will now depend on your choice if you choose to come after us.', he thought.

This Trisha was just also a Sinner but was forced to, the same with his brother. The Pentafive saw them helpless with a stigma on their forehead so they lend a hand.

That was another reason why they came back to the Gantlet Woodland.

"You? Or do you mean along with me?", Veronia snubbed.

"And me too, you know that I am the only one with a good sense of direction.", Hanze raised his hand.

Old Ze didn't have the strength to join so he suggested, "I guess I have to join Renir here."

"Uhmm, you are?", Renir politely asked, he just remembered there were this old man and a young girl whose names were unknown to him.

Knowing Renir was now an ally, Old Ze was regaining his strength as he introduced himself, "I am Ze, you can call me Old Ze just like them and this is my granddaughter, Ye, you could call her Little Ye."

"Although, I will never always be little just like Hanzee.", Ye proudly said.

"You, little-!", Hanzee angrily pointed.

"What a good girl!", but Veronia praised.

Sceke then decided, "Then the Hexix will split in two!", although he planned to leave the water creatures into their cart and leave them there. The danger isn't rare so the more the better. And he didn't have to worry about leaving Old Ze and Little Ye here, Renir himself could protect them from almost anything.

"But the problem is how do we get to the rune?", Hanzee raised his eyebrow, "Are we going to dive the flood? If we do, how will we carry these water creatures?"

The real problem was set in front of them but Renir nonchalantly said, "I can help you with that."