Chapter 43 A Game Of Connection

As the sound of birds chirping ahead came through, the group made their way into the large forest. The view of the gate slowly disappeared within the thicket of the trees as they walked along the path leading out of the cradle.

While it may not have been as stuffed with wildlife as the place Sunday’s cabin was located in, it was still quite a large area, with somewhat tall trees of oak and a mix of pine.

The ground was dry, lacking bushes, vines or anything of sorts. But the hue of leaves filtering the sunlight made up for it, painting the ground in a pale, minty green.

“Where are we all going?” Valentine asked while still holding onto his book, his steps wet.

Noah glanced back at him, as he was in the front leading the group like before, and turned back towards the road.

“Me and Lillith have come up with an interesting thing yesterday, a test to see what everyone here is capable of. You could say it’s a game, or a way of entertainment that could, maybe, bring some of you together?” Although Valentine could not see it, he felt Noah’s smile through his words.

‘Is he hoping to get us to know each other?’

Valentine snorted while keeping up his step along the group, he found the idea mildly amusing and rather silly. No one can force someone to like another just by playing games together, in a forest at that. It would be more appropriate if he was planning to scare them or intimidate the oddballs, not for recreation.

Well, those were only Valentine’s thoughts, others didn’t act as grumpy about it as he.

They seemed excited even.

“I like games! I want to play!”

The little girl squeaked happily, her cherry hair jumping up and down.

“I love playing games too! Hooray!”

Carina’s innocent smile shone bright despite the mild weather and Livia joined in with her, holding her hands like that of a fragile doll as Carina’s dragged steps began turning into half-hops.

The longer he stared at them, the more confused Valentine grew by their behaviour. Livia and Carina seemed like sisters, always sticking close to each other and never letting go. But Carina didn’t look older than twelve, and the supposed sisters didn’t look remotely close to each other.

They were the polar opposites.

Carina was tiny, with rosy hair and violet eyes. Her head could barely peek out from beneath her coat's collar, only showing her tiny eyes and a part of her puny nose.

Livia was almost three times her size with visible girth in her build, violent blue hair and vibrant red eyes. She looked more like Noah’s sister with how similar their natural features were.

‘And why the fuck would they bring this kid again?’

“I wish it wouldn’t be too physical, I’m not in the best shape lately.” Martin spoke, an unlit cigar balancing between his lips.

He seemed to enjoy its taste more than inhaling the smoke.

A small smile also appeared on Vesper’s face as he burrowed his hands inside his pockets, looking around the countless branches above their heads.

Noah looked back at the group, his armour creaking at the shift.

“Do not worry, this will be both easy and enjoyable for all of you, we’ll make sure of that.”

Lilith looked back.

“Yes, I’m sure everyone would love that, wouldn’t they?”

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Her jade gaze sent a silent message to the two boys trailing behind. They carried a single word inside them, a command that instilled fear in the two boys that they could not refute.

“Right.”

“O-of course.”

Valentine held his chin lower while Matthew waved his head vigorously.

Val glanced at Matthew from the side.

‘No shouting this time? You learn quickly don't you.’

It brought a faint smile to his face, watching Matthew fumble with his fingers uncertain what to do. His expression was showing just how much he hated being spoken to this way, and yet he held himself back from cursing the person out, what improvement.

‘Guess getting your nose broken wasn’t for nothing.’

Even today, his nose was tended to. This time there was a slightly cleaner and more practical cast that covered his nose, a little less of his already massive nose wouldn’t hurt.

Valentine was a little surprised by how much he had done with a single strike, if not for Noah interfering, who knew what he would have done during his brief outburst.

‘I need to control myself, my temper is going to be a problem as time goes on.’

He knew when to acknowledge his mistakes, looking at Matthew walking a step in front of him.

‘I should say something when I get a chance.’

As the sound of steps became less frequent, the group came to a halt near a small clearing littered with broken branches, bark and dead grass. It looked grey.

“I think we’ve gotten far enough from the Cradle to start our little game.” Noah spoke up, breaking off the group and going into the clearing. He turned around - like some kind of toy soldier - and looked down at everyone present with a vibrant gaze.

“Lillith?”

“Yes.” She came to his side, arms behind her back.

Her uniform was the same as the day before, with a pair of thin pauldrons and leg gear for some change.

Noah nodded at her, then looked back at the oddballs that were lined up in a shabby line.

It was good enough.

“Today, we will conduct a simple game to test your capabilities and see how you can work together as a team.” Noah said as his hand went behind his back, returning with something inside it.

“Lately we’ve noticed that you all don’t have as great chemistry as we expected, so I thought that it would be a good idea to postpone the lessons for today onto a later date and give you some time to figure things out.”

Noah looked at the six people in front of him, their eyes all focused on him, full of expectation. After taking a shaky breath, he continued and opened his palm.

“You all will be split into four different groups, two people each.” In his hand were eight thin sticks. “Who you are with, is going to be decided by drawing the sticks I’ve made, they’re marked with numbers, and whoever matches yours, is paired up with you during the game-Yes?”

He raised his brow as everyone glanced to the side at the raised hand.

Valentine lowered it slowly before finally speaking.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we all were together? I don’t see a reason for splitting everyone and four groups? There’s only six of us here.”

“Those are great questions!” He beamed.

‘You’re bad at acting like a teacher.’

Valentine smirked as Noah began to explain, slowly letting everyone choose their stick from right to left. Of course, Valentine was last to choose.

“As to not overwhelm you all, it would be better to get to know someone one on one, you can talk clearly and settle your differences between each other.” As he came over, he looked Valentine straight in the eyes while handing him the last remaining stick. “And of course, me and Lillith will join in as well, it’s more fun this way isn’t it?”

“It could be.” Valentine smirked as he took it.

“Are we together!?”

“No… mine is four. You have a one.”

The two girls were already announcing their draws out loud, the number of candidates for Valentine getting cut.

“Mine’s two.”

“I guess we’re together.”

Vesper came over to Lillith in a calm stride, he was as quiet as always, a mysterious fellow.

They fit.

Valentine held the stick in his hand for a few seconds longer than others.

He looked it over. It wasn’t special, just a thin wooden stick barely the size of his index finger. On its surface was a number written in ink.

‘Three… I wonder who else has it.’

And by complete coincidence, Valentine noticed the person immediately.

It wasn’t that he was exceptionally intelligent to deduce who could have gotten the same number as him, he was just curious to see what the others have gotten.

The closest person to him as they were walking, was Matthew.

And who would have known, his number was also number three.

The blonde boy's face was as pale as a sheet of paper as his neck stiffly turned towards Valentine, the corners of his lips already struggling to hold themselves in place.

‘I really hate fate.’