Chapter 6 - Fenres the Ranger Captain

Quin sat by Hayden who was laying in his gurney, unconscious. He stared down at the ground, regret filled his eyes.

The door to the room flew open. Eizik Vath looked at him in disappointment.

“Quin, it’s been a day. Are you going to keep sulking like this?”

Quin twitched his eyebrows in anger, “Huh? Why shouldn’t I?”

“Never mind that, I have someone I’d like you to meet. Come with me.”

Quin stood up and looked at Hayden for a moment before responding, “Fine.”

Eizik left the room, and Quin followed.

“Who do you want me to see? Is it Mariah?” Quin asked as they walked.

“No. Although, we might meet her on the way,” Eizik answered.

“She’s moving around already?”

“Are you familiar with the term *Epiphany?”

“Like when people finally spend a long time thinking about something, and then they finally understand it, or are you talking about some sort of spiritual revolution?”

“I suppose both of those apply,” Eizik replied, “You underwent one yourself, Quin.”

“You mean the Arima ‘becoming one’ with me?”

“Yes, that Epiphany is the first one of several on a Ranger’s path, and is the secret to their strength.”

Quin scratched his head for a moment.

“Are you telling me Mariah had one of those, too? That doesn’t make sense, she should’ve easily been able to beat trash like Lek, then.”

Eizik cleared his throat.

“It’s true that Lek was one of the weakest Savants out there, but she merely began to use the Arima’s energy; she was unable to absorb it completely at the time. The energy that she took in alone, however, was more than enough to keep her on her feet.”

“Only a partial Epiphany, then? Will she ever be able to get a full one?”

“She’ll have to work hard and wait for a more opportune time. I’m staying behind for the time being to guide her, I finally got approval from Earth.”

They stepped into an elevator, and it moved to the main lobby as they continued talking.

“Wait a minute,” said Quin, “if an Epiphany can improve healing, why don’t we just do the same thing for Hayden?”

“It’s not that simple. I’ll tell you something else that you should know. All Rangers and their equivalents are known as *Savants; people who naturally understand some part of this vast world.”

“Okay, makes some sense, so why can’t we just awaken Hayden to his abilities as a ‘Savant’ as you call it?”

“Normally, when put under extreme danger or pressure, the Arima will automatically react to a Savant,” said Eizik.

“But that didn’t happen for Hayden, meaning…?”

“Very few people in this world actually turn out to be Savants,” said Eizik, “When going through the testing to become a Trial Ranger, he displayed the qualities of a Savant through hard work and talent alone.”

Quin clenched his fist as he spoke, “So that’s even more reason to-”

“Rest assured, Quin. We’ll do everything we can. Hayden will be alright.”

Quin stared down at the ground. They reached their destination floor, and stepped out of the elevator.

Quin spotted Mariah on her normal patrol out of the corner of his eye and awkwardly raised a hand to wave at her. She glanced at him for a moment, then turned her head away. Quin rested his hand back to his side.

“Don’t hold it against her,” Eizik noticed Quin’s awkwardness, “She’s just as frustrated as you, likely even more so.”

“Yeah…”

They remained silent for the rest of the walk. After some time, they reached the waiting room that they were moving towards.

“You should know, Quin, the squad that you’re about to meet is a somewhat eccentric group of Rangers.”

“Isn’t that just how all Rangers are, though?” Quin asked sarcastically.

“I suppose…” Eizik hesitated, “Well, you’ll see.”

Eizik opened the door. There were five men in the room, all of differing races. 

In one corner of the room, there was a Tothan who was standing particularly tall, even for a Tothan. His arms were crossed, and he was staring at the ceiling as though he hated the sight of the ground. 

Sitting in one of the armchairs was a Suran, a race known for being short, normally barely growing over a meter in height, bald heads, and green or orange skin. This one had orange skin, he was sitting with his hands resting behind his head as he turned to face the two people at the door.

There were two people sitting on the couch on the right side of the room. One of them was a Yujunoan. He had jet black hair, with a hot-pink streak dyed on the right side of his head. His nails were long and painted black. He smiled at Quin with his eyes closed and waved.

The other person sitting on the couch was a Derian, a race characterized by it’s gray skin, horns coming out of the back of the head, white hair, and sharp eyes, similar to a dragon’s. He was sitting up straight and staring off into nothingness.

In the middle of the room was an imposing Veetan. His dignified, fluffy tail that rested near his arm matched his matted, long gray hair. His tufted, fox-like ears were drooping slightly. He sat with his legs crossed with his head resting near his arms. 

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Quin,” said Eizik, “Quin, meet Squad Fenres. The Veetan right there is Fenres, he’ll be your captain. I hope you all work well together from this point forward.”

After saying this, Eizik patted Quin on the back, moving him forward a couple of steps. Once Quin was fully inside the room, Eizik slammed the door from the other side. 

Quin stood there silently. It was just him and Squad Fenres, who he was supposed to be working with according to Eizik, but he had no idea what that entailed. He finally managed to mutter out part of a sentence.

“N-nice to meet-”

“Quin is it?” Fenres interrupted him and perked his head up, “Hey, say something philosophical.”

“Huh?” Quin said, taken aback.

“Really? Again with this, Captain?” said the Yujunoan, “I told you, that’s just a stereotype.”

“That can’t be true, Seil,” said Fenres, “All the Humans that I’ve spoken to had very deep thoughts.”

“You haven’t spoken to any,” the Suran interjected, “You always get scared and back out before you can actually get a word out.”

“Forget that, Chugol,” the Tothan said with fear in his voice, “Just let me sit in that chair. C’mon, you’re already so low to the ground, there’s no way that standing could be a problem for you.”

“Isn’t it time to get over your acrophobia already, Teek?” asked the Derian, still staring off into nothingness, “Can’t you just sit on the floor if it bothers you that much?”

“That’s mean, Vaichehen. What if my legs give out and I fall to the floor from this high up?” Teek protested, “Besides, the floors here are too dirty to sit on.”

“Suit yourself,” Vaichehen said then muttered under his breath, “Freak.”

Quin understood what Eizik had meant by saying that these people were eccentric. 

Fenres cleared his throat loudly, ending the argument before it could properly start, “It’s nice to meet you Quin. We should all introduce ourselves, right guys?”

“Right. I’ll go first,” said the flamboyant Yujunoan, “My name is Seil Maina. Let’s work well together, Quin!”

“Chogul, at your service,” the Suran said with aloofness.

“I’m Teek,” said the Tothan. He glanced at Quin, then quickly shot his eyes back up to the ceiling as if he had done something that he shouldn’t have, “N-nice to meet you.”

“You can call me Vaichehen,” the Derian said coldly, still not moving his gaze in any particular direction.”

The Veetan sat up in his chair, “Well, there you have it. My name is Fenres, the captain of this rowdy bunch.”

Quin stared at the squad for a bit, then got ahold of himself, “It’s um… nice to meet you all? I’m Quin.”

“We already knew that,” said Fenres, “I’ll say it once more. Say something philosophical.”

“Huh?” Quin gave the same response as the last time.

Fenres sighed, “Look, if you’re gonna join this squad, the least you could do is show us what you’re made of,” he said confidently.

“Join the squad? This is the first I’m hearing of this.”

“Lord Vath didn’t tell you? That’s typical of him. We were originally going to escort him to the Unending Promise, but plans changed and he’ll be staying here for a while. Yeah, you’ll be joining us officially as a Ranger, that is if you can pass our test. So what do you think? Can you do it?”

Quin was taken by surprise. He wasn’t even aware that he was officially promoted from a Trial Ranger into a full-fledged Ranger. 

“Well uh,” he tried to get a coherent thought out, “Decartes once said… um…”

Fenres sighed once more, and got up out of his chair. He walked up to Quin, his tail flicking behind him, and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Look, I understand that you probably don’t like being put on the spot. We’ll put the test on hold for now, Quin. Sound good?”

“Not that there was a test in the first place,” said Vaichehen.

Fenres turned his head and glared at him, “You shut up,” he turned his face back to Quin “Anyways, you’ll be temporarily placed with us for a time. I’ll decide if it’s permanent or not. You’re not off to a good start. Work hard, Ranger Quin.”

Quin wasn’t sure how he felt about this group, but still, he respected them as Rangers. Wanting to impress them was normal.

“Right!” he yelled out.

Fenres’ eyes widened, then a smirk came across his face.

“Very good.”

He turned around to get back into his seat only to find Teek already slumped back in it, a look of relief overcoming his face.

It was in this way that Quin met the men that he would come to respect more than anyone