Tonathan, Dryan, Bell, and...

Lyn jumped back to dodge a sword swing, then blocked another swing using the shield strapped to her left arm. She pushed the attacking blade away and brought her right arm forward in the same movement, thrusting forward, trying to hit her opponent.

But her thrust was swatted aside by a gloved hand, and she had to block another swing with her shield.

Taking advantage of the fact that she was close to her opponent, she tried to push her opponent off-balance by suddenly moving forward.

However, the edge of her shield was grabbed and pulled; she was the one off-balance now, and the next instant, she felt the blade meet her back.

"Ugh!" She grunted and swung her arm back, trying to use her shield to get her opponent to retreat.

She did hit nothing, but something hit her.

She was suddenly in the air, due to a leg sweeping hers out from underneath her.

A blade stabbed into her side before she even hit the ground, and the moment she did. a blade stabbed towards her eye.

She managed to divert its trajectory as it stabbed into the ground. The next instant, she curled up and shot her legs out towards her opponent, who moved to the side and swung at her as she shot up into the air.

The sound of clashing blades sounded in the forest, followed by a soft thudding sound.

Lyn groaned as she got up from the ground after having been kicked into a tree by her opponent. The shock of the impact had knocked the sword out of her hands.

A blade came to rest in front of her face. She sighed and looked up at the person almost completely encased in armor in front of her.

"This is unfair." She grumbled, and the blade was moved away.

"That's the point." A gruff male voice spoke out from underneath the helmet.

"Let me complain in peace, will you?" She huffed as she got up.

The man in front of her raised his arm, and a moment later, all the armor he was wearing disappeared, revealing his appearance.

He was on the taller side, with shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes, a fair complexion, and a body more thicker than most people.

He looked like he could uproot a tree, and probably could do so.

"What's for lunch?" Lyn asked him.

"Dryan's making lunch, so I don't know, but be prepared." The man chuckled as he said that last part, making Lyn groan again.

"Why is it him again?" 

'I don't want to eat his cooking again.' Lyn had eaten his food three times now, and she wished she had never found out what it tasted like.

The man chuckled again.

"You know what boss's orders are, besides, the food's not bad."

It really wasn't, but there was a problem with Bryan's cooking.

"There you are, took longer today." A woman's voice sounded, and the two of them looked at her.

"Be honest with me Tonathan, did you go easy on her?"

The man beside her, Tonathan, shook his head.

"She's just getting better."

"You better believe that." Lyn could not help the smirk that appeared on her face nor the feeling of satisfaction and pride that arose in her heart.

The woman raised her eyebrows.

"Feeling cocky, are we?" Tonathan looked at Lyn. "That's going to disappear soon, Dryan has gotten his hands on some new ingredients."

Lyn's smirk vanished from her face as a look of horror took its place, while the woman gained a smirk of her own.

"Oh... noo..." Lyn murmured. "Please tell me that that's a joke." The smirk on the woman's face grew in size. "Please?" The woman chuckled. "God damn it." Lyn looked down at the ground and accepted her fate.

"Bell! They here yet?" A voice called from the distance, directed towards the woman.

"Yeah! They're back!" The woman named Bell shouted back an answer, then turned back to face the other two. "Come on, let's get it over with."

'This is a bad day.' Lyn sighed, and accepted that today was just a bad day. 'Hopefully, nothing worse happens.' She shuddered. 'Was that a red flag? Did I just condemn myself?'

Lyn walked to the carpet laid on the ground, where Tonathan, Bell, and Dryan were waiting for her.

It had been a few days since she had been introduced to these people, and the fourth one was currently helping Reed with his experiments, and she was quite glad to stay away from all of that.

She got close to the pot containing steaming curry.

She sniffed the air, and immediately recoiled, grabbing her nose.

"Oh, god..." Her face gained an expression of despair, and the man named Dryan smiled.

"Do you like it? I guarantee you've never tasted anything like this before."

"I don't want to taste it." She spoke, her eyes tearing up. Just the spice in the air had managed to make her eyes water, so she was now positively terrified of the thought of eating the actual dish.

She could hear Tonathan and Bell giggle.

'How do the five of you guys eat it so calmly?' She wondered as Dryan handed her a plate.

"Come on now." He said.

She stared at the steaming food in her plate for a solid minute, wondering if she would survive this meal, and what she did to deserve this kind of torture.

She broke out of her trance to see that the other three had already started eating.

They weren't screaming in pain.

'Maybe it's not that bad...?' She looked down at her plate again, and immediately banished the thought.

'If any spirit, deity, or entity is listening, please give me strength to survive.'

She trembled as she picked up a piece, swallowed once, and was about to put it into her mouth when suddenly a voice blared in her mind.

"All of you, come to the base."

It was Reed's voice, in his commanding tone, which meant that it was something important.

Lyn almost shouted aloud with joy.