I have no idea, the idea just kinda popped into my head one day… Anyway, some sources say he's eleven and some say he's thirteen.

"…"

I'm gonna say he's eleven.

Today was peaceful. Lately there had been a lot of peaceful days. He closed his eyes as the wind blew through the stone arches. His seat from the windowsill gave him an encompassing view over a large distance of land. The Inner World was beautiful; no doubt about it. The bright flowers and fruit stood out harshly from the dark leaves on exotic geography with a drawn out intensity. The molten core of the Earth cast a dull yet steady light over it all to complete the dreamy landscape.

The scene still awed him sometimes.

"Hunter!"

Said person was jolted awake.

"Aw, what for?"

Hunter glared at Igneous for a few moments before gazing outside again.

"Something wrong?"

"No, I'm just bored."

It was times like this when Igneous wished his friend could understand that fighting wasn't the only way to relieve boredom.

"Don't get me wrong, it's kind of nice not fighting. We only have to worry about any Invectid dissidents, major crimes, or random monsters," he added absentmindedly.

Igneous raised his eyebrows. This was new. He'd have to tell Magma about this later.

"It's just that it's kind of empty here. Aqune and Corona are out exploring the world as handmaidens of the Oracle now that we can afford less Riders and searching for their parents. Even Princess Sparkle is assisting Grasshop with helping the Invectids recover and Prince Lumen is just, well, Prince Lumen. If that's the case, what are the three of us?"

Igneous was sad to realize he actually sort of agreed with Hunter. This was Hunter the Chronic Idiot after all.

"At least you've matured a bit and…" he said tapping Hunter's pocket where the Oracle Keys were, "you are also the Oracle's knight. Not bad for only being here a year or so, don't you think?"

Hunter mulled over the Igneous' words and laughed.

"I guess you're right! I did turn twelve a few weeks ago. It's hard keeping track of Surface time with only an Inner World calendar but I managed," he said, obviously proud.

This made Igneous slip. Today was a strange day if Hunter Steele was actually surprising him. Most of the Riders knew each other's birthdays and took pains to celebrate them if even only a little bit along with help from a few townspeople. The entire kingdom also joined the festivities during Princess Sparkle's and Prince Lumen's birthdays. However, with all the chaos surrounding Hunter's arrival no one had even thought to ask. Even Magma had offhandedly mentioned his one time and the date was dutifully recorded later. Birthdays were important here. They meant you were growing wiser with each passing and coming closer to of age. For a warrior they were of even greater esteem. It meant you had survived another year of battle.

Even if nowadays there wasn't such intense fighting like those in the long, bloody, and drawn out fights in the battlefields of war (which there hadn't been one for over a century since his generation didn't count), the psychological importance had been handed down from generation to generation.

He frankly more surprised that Hunter hadn't raised a fuss over his birthday being completely overlooked. Maybe they weren't that important to an Earthen or the Surface?

"Is that so? Well, Magma's waiting for us at the training site. We started looking for you after you didn't show up."

"Oh," Hunter flashed a sheepish look, "I forgot."

Igneous sighed.

"That's just like you to forget," Shadow quipped.

"Shut up Shadow!" Hunter shouted at his purple Manacle. Igneous sighed again.

"You're just as guilty Shadow. You have been strangely quiet. Why didn't you remind him?"

The spider was silent.

"Well, everything felt so calm, and I kind of…"

Igneous quickly ushered them both to where Magma was.

-o-o-o-o-

"This brings back memories," Hunter said, looking over the rock field where he and Shadow had first fought together.

"No kidding, you told me to die and rolled a boulder down at me."

"… Sorry about that."

"Hunter and Shadow are chatting up a storm, don't you think Brutus?" Magma said loudly on purpose.

Brutus chuckled.

"They are. I heard Venus say when they first met the only thing they did was argue."

Hunter fumed but said nothing.

"Quiet!"

Hunter and Magma both straightened up immediately.

Satisfied he had gotten their attention, Igneous raised his Manacle and gestured the other two to do the same.

"ARACHNA POWER!"

The armor grew over and warped their clothes. When the process was done the three were arranged in a triangle formation.

"I'm gonna win this time Igneous."

"Maybe not today. Why don't we take out Hunter for a change?"

The new target groaned.

"Why me?"

"You forgot that you had a training practice today."

"Now that Igneous mentioned it, I waited here for an hour," Magma grumbled.

He swung his club and the head detached to swing at a frightening speed towards Hunter's head. He stopped whining and immediately deflected the club with the staff of his spear. His hands jarred at the impact but he ignored his trembling bones as Shadow leapt forward while he swung his spear. Magma took the opportunity to wrap the cord of his weapon around the base of the blade. Hunter t'ched and his eyes widened as he saw Igneous coming in from the side.

"Shadow!"

"Don't worry!"

Hunter leapt off of Shadow's back dragging Magma down with him. Igneous' lance was hurtling towards him but he stuck out his tongue as he untangled his weapon from Magma's. A careful shot from Shadow on a craggy outcropping pulled him to safety. The lance only cracked rocks and dry soil.

"Flame, after them."

The spider gave chase.

"C'mon Brutus!"

"Got it!"

The spiders each shot after Shadow as they jumped from one rock formation to the next. Hunter yelled gleefully from the adrenaline rush. Flame and Brutus were catching up.

"Let's stop!"

Hunter uttered his consent and Shadow slammed onto a narrow ledge, digging his legs in for traction. Hunter's fingers tightly grabbed Shadow's side as he streamlined his body and hoped he wasn't thrown off by the inertia.

"Hey!"

"Watch your back!"

Hunter couldn't yell at Shadow anymore since Igneous was trying to score another hit against him. He deflected the blow with his buckler then stopped another hit from Magma by using his spear again and bracing it with his knee. The two didn't let up and Hunter struggled with all his might to stay in place as the weapons continued to push at his weak defense.

"Never give up," he muttered, "never give up, never give up, NEVER, GIVE, UP!" he howled as he threw them both back. The effort had completely drained him though, and there was little he could do to stop Magma from getting up and smashing him in the gut.

He flew off Shadow and curled into a ball on the ground. Even Igneous winced at his pained moans.

"Hunter, you all right?" Shadow asked calmly.

"Ugh, yeah. Gimme… a few minutes…" he trailed off and gagged.

"I think I overdid it," Magma apologized half-heartedly.

Hunter was in too much pain to respond. He felt like throwing up.

-o-o-o-o

"You aren't hurt too badly, are you?"

Hunter didn't even look at Magma.

"Oh I'm perfectly fine, if you count a ginormous bruise and that I can't laugh or sneeze without feeling like my stomach's getting stabbed as fine then yes, I'm fine!" he snapped.

"It's your fault for not conserving your strength properly," Shadow argued.

"I know, I know! Don't forget that you almost threw me off."

"Stop that. Riders are supposed to be partners with their spiders."

Igneous gestured discreetly at the small crowd that was forming in the corner of the rock plains where they were training.

"Let's go another way around."

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Ha ha! St-stop it! I can't laugh! You have to be joking!"

"I'm having trouble believing this too Magma."

"I'm serious; those birds were dancing and had these weird clothes on. I saw them as I was wandering through this creepy part of a cursed forest. Not the one where you met me by the way."

Hunter was caught between pain and laughter and there were tears at the corner of his eyes.

"I said stop-!"

He was cut off by a yell. His eyes shot up to higher ground. The path they had been walking on was low and a good yard or so below the main one to the side. A woman with a hard cane of polished wood had savagely hit a girl multiple times going by her condition. Igneous narrowed his eyes.

"Igneous, I think we need to step in," Magma said, his voice dead serious, "she's bleeding. I'm not sure how much more-" he paused abruptly.

"… I'm not stupid. Hunter, are you in? Hunter?"

His words were lost on the boy's ears. Blood was roaring in them and he stared blankly at the sight. His mouth opened and closed, making no apparent noises. The cheerful expression so evident on his face moments ago no longer existed. To their surprise, Hunter sprinted towards the sharp incline and accurately jumped then pulled himself up. His fingernails scrabbled at the dirt for a bit and left gouges in the road. Without anyone telling him what to do he ran forward and caught the cane. The woman screeched then sharply pulled away the polished wood and hit him again. This time he got caught on the knuckles. The sharp crack told him they were probably broken. He didn't mind. He couldn't feel the pain anyway. Her curses and incentives never reached him. He vaguely picked up "brat", "don't interfere" and "Oracle render you dead in a ditch". Not much really. Every time she scored a hit on him, he ignored it and let her have it. He wondered why he wasn't using his training on her. He could have wrestled the cane away with ease. Then he remembered if her attention left him, she'd notice how Igneous and Magma were escorting the girl away right this moment and then possibly give chase.

Pretty girl actually. All soft features and dark hair with bright eyes.

Crap, he needed to focus on the task on hand. Granted, there was no pain, but he could sense his own body beginning to slow down and refuse to move properly. He hoped someone would come soon. No, it was okay for him to fight off this old lady, right? He snatched away her stick and knocked her back with it. Finally, she could see his Manacle. The gold metal piece on it glinted and reflected in her eyes. She changed and began begging for forgiveness instead. Hunter left her sobbing and looked down to see him covered in blood and bruises. This was a bad day. All the blood would take forever to clean out, not to mention he was going to feel like shit in the morning.

"HUNTER!"

He jolted out his strange mood or daze by Shadow. And then, each bruise and cut began to dig their sharp teeth and claws into him.

"A-ah, Sha-dow. AAAAHHHHHUUUUUGGHH!"

His piercing scream was followed by a sharp collapse onto the road as he could barely move now. The hag, sensing her chance, gripped her stick tightly. Manacles could go for amazing prices no matter where you went in the Inner World. If one could sell a Manacle that basically guaranteed your future to be posh and comfortable. Other nations or kingdoms would turn a blind eye to these rare black market items if it meant more power and troops for them. Manacles were ordained to choose a new master should its old one perish in any way. And for the Manacle to choose a new Rider, its original owner had to be as dead as possible.

Her arms slowly raised themselves. Hunter could barely catch the wood from the corner of his eye. So, this was how he was going to die?

How pathetic.

So, what do you guys think? If you want it to continue, give a lot of reviews please! It's always nice to hear feedback, heheh! Also, I think the story's going to turn out dark, since I've been reading all these good but depressing mangas ALL BY CHANCE. I mean, really? The idea of why Hunter doesn't miss his home has actually been gnawing at me, so I set to clear that discrepancy.