They found Kaiden, Tobias and Fiona chained with a group of tier one cadets after going deeper into the caves. For a while now, they'd only encountered tier ones.
Kaiden was more battered than most Zephyrion had seen. Broken ribs, bloodied face, mouth leaking blood. Knowing Kaiden, it wasn't hard to imagine what had happened. Regardless, the boy had grabbed a sanguine during the fight, biting into the man's throat until he went limp.
Mouth stained with blood and eyes crazed, Horus and the others had been too scared to approach. Zephyrion had to free the boy himself.
However, Kaiden merely gave him a nod, as though he'd done nothing unusual. Shakily, he rummaged through the sanguine's corpse for a dagger before turning back to Zephyrion, waiting.
'Odd.'
Zephyrion had always imagined the boy had gone through a lot, considering the fierceness in his eyes. But it seemed he had underestimated the extent of it. He returned Kaiden's nod before turning to the others.
