The Sand Insects (1)

Faust didn't know when he blacked out but it must've been some time after the ceiling had collapsed. It was the last thing he remembered.

When he woke up, the suffocating darkness of the cave had been replaced by the pristine whiteness of a hospital room. Faust sat up and was relieved that there seemed to be nothing wrong with him.

He unhooked himself from the monitoring machine and shut it down. Besides the creaking of the bed as he stood up, it was strangely quiet and empty. There were no signs of anyone having visited his room.

Ah, he thought, did everyone else from the hunt die?

Faust changed out of his hospital gown with the clothing he found folded neatly on the chair next to the bed. His phone wasn't there; he'd wanted to check the headlines but now that he couldn't find his phone, he should go check it out himself.

After descending five flights of stairs to the lobby, Faust found a TV to sit down in front. There was a water dispenser next to the TV so he got up and got himself a cup before sitting back down leisurely.

It took it a while before the news came on. "The United States has decided to fully embrace the opening of White Gates following the successful clearing of its first White Gate yesterday," the anchor was saying. "However, the international hunters that participated in the hunt warn that this new type of gate is far more dangerous from the previous Moon Gates the hunters are used to. Despite that, the rest of the world has begun moving forward with opening White Gates on their soil as well."

A success? Faust frowned. Then why was he in the hospital? Support-type hunters should be the last to fall.

Regardless, it seemed like no one had died. Faust supposed he was glad.

Faust drank the last drop of the water from the cup and tossed it in the trashcan nearby. He had a lot of questions but now that his biggest concerns were resolved, he wanted to go for a well-deserved break and wait until someone filled him in on other things.

The thought that nobody was waiting for him when he woke up threw him in an awful mood. Not that he wanted the attention but to think that not even Matt from the assault team was there upset him immensely.

Faust stalked out of the hospital. He had no money, no phone, and no ID on him which limited the places he could go. Despite that, Faust knew that someone would come searching for him soon, seeing that he was placed in a hospital and nobody had chased after him for not paying the bills.

The hospital wasn't too far from the Association's building so Faust decided to head there first to visit his brother Collin. Visit perhaps wasn't the right word. Peek was better because ever since Faust had become famous, Collin had stopped talking to him. There was a lot of jealousy and bitterness.

Collin worked as an instructor at the Association and since Faust didn't frequent the Association as often, they didn't really have the chance to 'accidentally' meet.

Collin seemed to like that a lot but Faust wished his older brother wasn't so petty.

Faust snuck in through the back door and quietly headed to the training center.

"Is Instructor Collin not here today?" he asked a passing manager as he scanned the people on the first floor and couldn't find his brother.

"Yeah, he took the day off. Said it was a family emergency."

Family emergency? Faust frowned. Did something happen to Father? That was the only person Faust could think of when it came to a family emergency. However, Faust found that unlikely since he'd just talked to his father the day before.

Haaaa…

Faust sighed as he leaned against the second-floor railing. His displeasure was easily drowned out by the loud trainees below. The gate from yesterday had completely disappeared as if nothing had happened.

He wanted to enter the gate again. The enhanced resonance in the light realm was both pleasing and challenging. While it increased the power of his every spell, there also seemed to be an upper bound holding him back.

It was a peculiar feeling and Faust wanted to master it. The more fluent he was with the light in the Light Dragon's realm, the better the chance he had against the Light Dragon.

He must participate in more white gate hunts.

The guilds in the near future would be split into two parts: one dealing with black gates and the other the new white ones. Without a doubt, Faust would volunteer to be part of the white gate group but he wasn't sure if Nathaniel would. That man didn't quite seem to enjoy the suspense and the element of surprise.

For now, Faust needed to speak to the Dark Dragon about a concern of his before the dragon was to open more gates.

Molding himself into the light, Faust barely had time to blink before his feet lightly touched down onto the soil of the Socotra Island. The air here was always fresh and the Dragon Blood trees around him gently held back the rays of the sun above.

The Dark Dragon was resting when he entered the dark cave. However, Faust knew it'd sensed him as soon as he had set foot on the island.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯, the dragon said quietly but it did not reveal itself. The cavern shook slightly at the echo.

Faust nodded.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥, 𝘮𝘺 𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘵? it asked.

"When will you open the next gate?"

𝘚𝘰𝘰𝘯, the dragon told him. 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘮?

"I don't know," Faust confessed with a shake of his head. "The hive we entered, I don't what it is but it wasn't like what you described."

𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦.

"We encountered only a wolf and a…" Faust trailed off, frowning a bit. "I believe it was a satyr, a large satyr, but I don't know what happened after."

It certainly did feel like a satyr. Faust could sense the healing energy from it despite its impression.

The cavern rumbled again and the cliff he stood on shook as the dragon rose from the bottomless depth to stand before him. Dark eyes pierced him from high above. Faust hurriedly bowed his head and averted his gaze.

𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, the Dark Dragon said, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦.

"Then do you agree that it was a satyr?"

The dragon let out a low roar that sent the ceiling shaking. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸, it replied. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘺 𝘪𝘵.

"Satyrs are healers," Faust added, hoping the dragon would understand what he meant. Why would the Light Dragon create healers when it excelled in creating the most vicious monsters and had a seemingly unlimited supply of creatures? There was no need to reuse monsters.

The Dark Dragon settled down. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘚𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘜𝘯𝘵��𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯.

* * *

"He's gone?" Nathaniel arched an eyebrow. "When?"

Ms. Emilia's secretary consulted her phone. "Five hours ago. He managed to leave without alerting the people we have in the hospital. We tracked him to the Association's building but he disappeared after that."

She glanced at his incredulous face and explained, "As you know, Mr. Faust is the only light-type hunter which makes tracking him very easy. We just need to find strong traces of light elements. However, all the traces vanished after he left the building. This loss of signal happens when hunters enter a gate. But since there weren't any gates near the Association at that time, our only conclusion is that he disappeared again."

"I know that," Nathaniel said. "I just find it surprising that he left without notifying anyone."

"I don't find it surprising. Mr. Faust has always preferred quietness," the secretary replied and changed the topic. "I've arranged a meeting for you and Ms. Emilia in an hour. She wants to talk to you about the creature you brought back. However, if the timing is inconvenient, I have also cleared up Ms. Emilia's schedule two hours from now."

Nathaniel looked at the shorter secretary. She looked not at all flustered by Faust's disappearance. "Aren't we gonna find Faust?"

"Ms. Emilia wants me to tell you that Mr. Faust will come back when he has done what he needs to," she said, looking at him in a way that reminded him of a robot.

Of course, this wasn't the first time Faust had disappeared on them but Nathaniel was still unnerved by it.

To think that Faust could manipulate the light like this…

Nathaniel wondered what else Faust had kept a secret from them. And he was sure he wasn't the only one who wanted to know. After all, Ms. Emilia wasn't someone who would take in a hunter who could neither hunt nor grow.

Besides, back then���

Nathaniel remembered that moment when Faust had looked into Corentin's bleeding eye. The man's eyes had flashed. And then the bug plaguing that french hunter's eye was gone, just like that.

That wasn't healing magic…Was it?

And then there was also the creature they brought back. Nathaniel thought the wolf had died from having its head severed but that wasn't the case. After they'd dug their way out of the fallen debris, the wolf had been standing near Faust's unconscious form as if ready to bite down on his neck. Somehow, the animal had regrown its head and amended the broken ice shards.

They'd tried to kill it but it'd darted agilely away from every attack and latched onto Faust. No, it didn't dart away; it simply disappeared into the air and reappeared elsewhere. However, it targeted Faust with no intention of attacking them.

The Association was currently keeping it on the fifth floor underground after the guards had trapped the animal within a barrier.

Nathaniel reached into his pocket as he felt his phone vibrating. "Hey."

"Mr. Nathaniel team leader sir!" Matt said cheerfully. "I heard you were looking for Mr. Faust. Well, we just picked him up in front of the Association headquarter. Mr. Faust doesn't want to spar with us so we're gonna go get dinner together. Would you like to join us, Mr. Nathaniel?"

Faust was back already? No, hold on. "...Did Faust agree to dinner with you guys?"

"No, but it's my car."

Nathaniel had a suspicion. "Did you lock the car doors?"

"I did," Matt replied happily. "Are you gonna join us, Mr. Nathaniel team leader sir?"

The address the assault team gave him was that of a steakhouse. Faust was dressed in the casual clothes Nathaniel had left in the hospital room; the yellow hoodie fit him well.

"You're late," Faust told him as the taller hunter sat down next to him and began piling his plate. "Did you wash your hands?"

"Did you?" Nathaniel shot back.

"I did." The light-type hunter frowned at him. Nathaniel looked as if he was angry at him. "How's Mr. Dubois doing?"

"He's fine," Nathaniel replied. "He wanted to thank you personally but he left yesterday already."

Faust nodded as he chewed on a piece of bread. Seeing his expression, Matt eagerly pushed the bread basket toward him before a new message from his phone pulled the assault team leader away.

"I have a press meeting on behalf of the guild first thing tomorrow," Nathaniel said as he eyed the bread basket wearily. "The assault team should be there as well."

"Yessir!"

"While Ms. Emilia and I take care of the press, the president of the Association wants to see you." The hunter nudged him in emphasis.

Faust nodded again and took another piece of bread.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"I am." Faust was a bit offended. "Matt, pass me the other…?"

The captain of the assault team was staring at his phone in dismay. "…Team leader, Mr. Faust, the Association is asking all the hunters who went into the White Gate to come to the island immediately."

"What happened?" Nathaniel frowned. Just then, his phone rang. "Ms. Emilia? What...I understand...Yes, I understand..."

The man's voice grew graver with each repetition of, 'Yes, I understand.' The rest of the assault team was watching the two of them with anxious eyes.

"A large gatebreak?" Faust asked.

Nathaniel shook his head as he stood up. "It seems like the sand insects came out of the gate with us. There's been a lot of reports of bleeding eyes and people scratching themselves to death in Guangdong province."

"...That's where Xiu Cai returned to." Faust grimaced at Nathaniel's nod.

"Let's move. Ms. Emilia said the chopper taking us to the island will meet us at the nearest field. It's a five-minute drive."

"Sir, we'll drive you," Matt offered abruptly.

"No, stay here." They exchanged a glance. "If Xiu Cai didn't realize the insects were on her, it's possible that they were also on all the other hunters—including us. If you start feeling pain behind your eyes, return to the guild immediately and see a healer."

"Yessir. Please be safe."

As he left, Faust quickly scanned the assault team as well as Nathaniel for the insects. He then nodded in relief; no lights were identified as insects. They should be fine.

However, he couldn't help but feel anxious. Since the insects weren't a disease or a wound of the body, they couldn't be removed by healing spells. He hoped that the hunters would learn that quickly without his help.