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Ancient history

"My name is John Yerlin Styler," John smiled at us. "And, as you may have heard from Louis and Lionel, I used to be a hunter like Ter and Chris."

"I'm Tony," Tony introduced himself. "This is Nick, Mei, Alex, and Michael," he said as he gestured his hand to each of us.

"So you quit as well?" Nick asked. John nodded softly.

"Ter and I had our reasons. But let's get on the topic. What do you guys want to talk about?"

"We want to know a little more on the fiends," Tony replied.

"And what would it be?"

"When did all these actually began?"

"I see..." John nodded. "Well, this will probably a long story. So why don't you prep up with some tea and snacks?"

We complied by grabbing our cups of tea and plates of snacks as John slowly began to narrate.

"It all began 1500 years ago," he started. "It was a brutal war between two nations. One of them is the nation of Galeriver. The other is the nation of Pyroshock. And as you may have noticed from the names, the two nations have their differences on their elements. One conjures the power ow wind and water, while the other uses fire and electricity.

"The battle went on for centuries, until 1000 years ago, the Pryoshocks created a new spell technique that could destroy the entire universe. The Galeriver retaliate with their own, but it causes a major imbalance on the world and the dimensions. Both side have lost their abilities on using magic, and nowadays, magic users are very rare."

"So, Alex is special?" I asked.

"Indeed he is," John smiled. "But back to the topic. The major imbalance made a rift hole that could destroy a larger portion of the whole system. But a young soul made a huge sacrifice, turning the deadly magic into something that could be disposed, hence the fiends were born.

"Until now, the magic still lingers everywhere. That's why a group of people got together and formed an alliance to fully dispose these things. That's when the Hunter's Guild was born."

"Wow..." Mei said. "That's so detailed."

"Thank you."

"I have a question," Tony said. "What exactly did he sacrifice?"

"No one else but the man knows," John sighed. "But I do know this. It was him that specifically chose the hunters and taught them the art of animorphic."

"So, he was alive?" I asked. John just smiled and nodded.

"Is there anything else?" John asked.

"How exactly do you know all these?" Mei asked.

"The Styler family has been in the war for generations," he stated. "It's no surprise that someone in the family might know a lot more than normal."

"So how long have you been fighting these things?" I asked.

"Longer than you could ever imagine," John chuckled.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Gerald, let's just say you really don't wanna know right now."

I sighed and nodded. I was slightly disappointed of the answer.

"So who exactly is these Gerald and Gabriella?" Mei asked.

"They're old friends of mine," John answered. "We've known each other since we were kids."

"And we're also in the Hunter's Guild," I added. Again, everyone, including me, is surprised when I said it. John, on the other hand, just smiled.

"That's right," he said. "We used to work together. Until that day..."

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"Let's just say, some things are meant to be kept until the time's right," he sighed. The room became silent once more.

"Say Gerald," John called. "Do you still like to cook?"

"Me?" I asked. John nodded back. "Of course."

"Then can you help me in the kitchen? Let's make some lunch for everyone."

"Okay," I smiled. We slowly stood up and picked up the trays on the table. Everyone placed their dirty dishes on the trays and stood up.

"Ter, Chris," John called. "Why don't you take them to the game room? We'll call you when everything's ready."

"Okay Jo..." Ter said midway before John interrupted him.

"If you don't want to be covered in these things, I suggest you call me by my real name," he glared.

"Okay John..." Ter said with a shudder.

"Come on Ger," he smiled at me. We walked towards the room behind the doors. It's a very clean kitchen, with silver utensils hanging here and there. The counters themselves were spotless and all of the supplies are in order.

"I arranged them just the way you used to like," John smiled as he placed the tray on the large sink basin. I awed at the marvelous positioning. He knows what I like more than I do. I placed the tray on the sink as well and scanned the inventory. His fridge and spice cabinet practically have all kinds of ingredients.

"So what do you have in mind?" John interrupted my scanning.

"I think something French," I smiled back.

John nodded and started to help me cook. We started with the garlic bread with french bread and garlic.

"Say John," I said as I began to dice the garlic. "This Gerald guy, is it me?"

"I think so," he smiled back to me as he diced some tomatoes for the main course. "You remember some parts of our past, and you know my name before we knew each other."

"So exactly how long since you've known this guy? Am I his decendent or something?"

"Actually, you're a perfect resemblence of him. I think you're really him."

"Then these feelings I have with Mei..."

"Probably your deep connection with Gabriella. You two were..." John smiled as he stopped midway.

"Were what?" I looked back up. John just shook his head.

"Nothing," he smiled. "You'd probably freak if I told you. Maybe next time, okay?"

I smiled back. We continue to cook the food while talking about my life, as Michael, of course. I really don't know this Gerald, but I became more curious by the second. Eventually, the whole dish was prepared and we smiled in satisfaction. We placed the dishes on a cart and walked to the door on the North, leading to another majestic room. This time, it's a fancy dining room, complete with table cloth, candelabra, flowers, and stuff alike. We set the dishes on the table, positioning them to be like a fancy dinner party.

"They looked pretty good if you ask me," John smiled. "I see you haven't lose your cooking skills."

"Thanks, I guess," I smiled.

"You want to call them, Ger?"

"Why don't you do it? And my name now is Michael, not Gerald."

"Alright, Michael," he smiled back. He stood there looking at me with gentle eyes.

"What?" I asked. I was surprised when he suddenly hugged me tightly.

"Thank goodness you're still alive," he said. His eyes began to form tears.

"H-hey, don't cry," I said as I patted his back.

"S-sorry," he smiled as he pulled back. He slowly wiped the tears forming in his eyes. "I'm just happy you survived the incident."

"Um..." I rubbed the back of my head.

"Don't worry, Ger- I mean Michael. I'll tell you when I think you're ready," he said. He left the room to call the others, leaving me alone in the dining room. I ponder for a moment, trying to remember anything about my past life, or anything that relates with John. But no matter how hard I tried, nothing came up.

"Arrgh!" I yelled in frustration. "What's up with this!?"

"Michael?" Mei's voice sounded from the hallway. I turned to see her walking in the room. She had a worried look on her face.

"Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Y-yeah," I smiled back. "Just got a little frustrated, that's all."

"Okay..." she smiled as she slowly walked to me. The look on her face is very gentle. I don't know if it's my feelings or Gerald's, but whenever I see it, I always felt happy. We slowly leaned into each other and closed our eyes. Our lips were a few millimeters away.

"Hey guys! Ready to eat?"

We jumped back, really surprised of the sudden interruption. Our faces were red when we saw Nick coming in from the hall.

"Uh... did I interrupt something?" he raised an eyebrow.

"N-nothing!" I blurted out. My face and Mei's were burning with embarrassment.

"Okay..." he said as he shrugged it off. The rest of them joined in and sat down on a chair. Mei and I continue to stare at each other for a moment.

'Am I really in love with her?' I thought. I was thinking she thought the exact same thing when both of us started to blush once more.

"Gerald, Gabriella," John called. "If you don't sit down, we can't start this lunch.

"Huh? Oh... right," I said as I took one of the remaining seats as Mei took the other. The both of us were completely silent as the rest of them continued to talk. I wasn't paying much attention as a lot of things are floating in my head. I could tell from Mei's expression, she couldn't pay attention as well. Suddenly, I felt a lot of stares coming towards me. I looked around and saw everyone is staring at Mei and me.

"Are you two okay?" Chris asked. "You two have been awfully quiet."

"Y-yeah," I answered. "W-we're fine."

"If you say so..." he mumbled. The dining room suddenly became very quiet.

"Hey, uh... John," I called. He raised his head once more to see me. "If we're old friends, then could you teach me about my old techniques? I might need some of those old skills."

"No problem," he smiled. "Why don't you come here every Saturdays for your lessons? Perhaps Gabriella would want to train too."

"M-me?" Mei looked at him.

"You were very good when you used a sword," John rubbed his chin. Suddenly, he held his head and cringed in pain. We were about to walk over to check on him when he raised his other hand to stop us.

"It's okay," he panted. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Tony asked.

"Yeah..."

He raised his head once more and saw the change in his eye. The color of his right eye changed into the same shade of green of his left.