As night began to fall she watched her old village mates milling around the village. Surprisingly there seemed to be several people she didn’t recognise who must have moved to town, and it was now closer to the size of a town, since she departed. This matched the extensions she’d seen around as well as the wall project that seemed to be taking place. Noticeable though even the new people seemed to all be level 2 or under with most being level 0. Clearly the idea of a place resisting the change and trying to maintain as much of a grip on the old way of life as possible was appealing to a lot of people and had drawn them in.

Walking around the town though were also the clear signs of hypocrisy and corruption that were the mayor’s chosen. These people all walked around openly carrying matching swords. They were of a lower quality than Beth had seen in her Trials but were similar in quality to those in Newcastle. Clearly, they had found a blacksmith and bound them to their cause. They also wore a red band clearly making them clearly recognisable as special. These chosen were all around her own level with none below level 3. She kept her eyes out for familiar faces and eventually spotted Lewis. She had a new life, new friends, she wasn’t Bethany anymore and though she would never offer him forgiveness she no longer had the energy to hate him, or at least that’s what she told herself. Noticeably though he wasn’t wearing the red band she had expected to see and while he did carry around a weapon it was a wooden sword. Above his head hung the same name tag that had been there when she left [Lewis Askstock, 2].

Eventually she watched what she hoped was the last customer leave the shop and Steven’s father head out towards his house. She gave it another minute just to be sure no surprises were in store for her. Creeping in it was slightly like she had travelled back in time. She stood there for almost a minute watching him clean and waiting for him to notice her. He hadn’t levelled since she had last seen him, something she found disappointing. She had hoped he would buck against the trend of the village turned town but it seemed like that wasn’t the case. He turn and did a double take on noticing her, and though he rushed in for a hug his face had an expression more of concern and alarm than of joy or excitement.

“Bethany, what are you doing here? It’s not safe for you to be here!” Steven shouted pulling Beth away from the window as they hugged.

“It’s Beth now” Beth said firmly, “I wrote you a letter, I just wanted to see how you were doing and help you get out of here.”

“A letter? Wait get out of here? I don’t want to leave.” Steven responded releasing the hug and taking a step back.

“You didn’t get my letter? It should have rolled straight here.”

“That was you? It was destroyed at the gate to the town. It freaked a lot of people out.”

“And you are okay with that?” Beth asked incredulously.

“Yeah sure people want to feel safe here from that kind of stuff.”

Beth was starting to get annoyed “That kind of stuff? What happened I thought you were against the direction of the town. You know it’s all a result of corruption.”

“Maybe that’s how you see it but people here are happy and safe. This invasion has killed many many people and has provided little benefit. If people want to live a life free from it’s influence is that so wrong.”

“And you? You want to live here. Under him?” Beth was getting more and more heated. Seemingly she hadn’t moved on from her past in this town as much as she’d thought.

“No he sucks and what he did to you was awful. But Lewis doesn’t have nearly as much influence now than he once did, Sam has all but disowned him. Plus my family is here and people here are doing good stuff. We’re content with the corner of life we’ve maintained here.” Despite Beth’s increasing volume and passion Steven remained calm.

“This is clearly just upsetting you Bethany, why don’t we change the topic. How have you been, how’s you mother? Have sales of butter been affected much by the changes.”

This just enraged Beth all the more. “Its BETH! Butter sales? I don’t care about butter anymore life is bigger than that. I’m strong and I’m getting stronger I’m going to explore other worlds. Who cares about shitty sales.”

This did manage to get a reaction out of Steven. “That’s uncalled for Beth.” His voice forlorn. “I’ve not been knocking your life decisions so leave mine alone. The town is improving. We have new people moving in almost weekly who want to escape the influence that’s creeping in the world over. Personally I have nothing much against it but I like this village, what it’s becoming it’s my home.”

At this Steven picked up his broom again and began to brush the floors, turning his back on Beth. She stood there for a moment, unable to take in what she had heard. Eventually she stormed out. Slamming the door as she left. Left behind Steven whispered “I’ll miss you Bethany” towards the door.

Beth was not taking precautions as she left the butcher’s. She was mad and didn’t care who she barged past. In fact while she didn’t aim for people she made no attempt to avoid them and didn’t slow down as she headed towards them. This caused quite the commotion and quickly there were guards running to intervene. Beth pushed forwards towards the gate until a familiar figure was in her path.

“You shouldn’t be here, Bethany.” Lewis said, “The guards are coming to take you away.”

Beth went to barge past him too but he held his ground. Beth pulled out her weapon.

“Step aside, Lewis.”

Lewis stood his ground. Hand on his wooden sword. Beth was having none of it and swung for him. Lewis clumsily tried to dodge but Beth was expecting that, and turned into him move hitting his side.

He began to fall to the ground and she swung again. And again. And again. Until he was lying in a heap on the ground. Around them a small ring of people had formed both guards and civilians neither willing to engage with the beating that took place. Beth stepped back from Lewis’ body and continued towards the gates.

The circle parted for her. Even the guards not willing to bar her way, regardless of her apparent criminal status. As she left the town, she glanced back taking in the scene she had left behind before picking up pace, letting her skill take over as her speed increased. Soon she was flying back home. Escaping from the town and the encounter that she wasn’t willing to process.