“You know, it seems a lot less anticlimactic when youre watching it this way,” Khalil said to the rest of the line.

“It is. Real ones should be loud and vigorous, with shouts ringing through the air. The stench of sweat mixed with the bod—”

“You both are annoying, just watch.You asked for a show of skill, the least you can do is pay attention,” Justine cut off Jenny before she could finish her innuendo. “And you. Why? Why are you drawing in the dirt?” Justine asked the aforementioned Darryn, who was playing in the dust by his feet.

“Oh sorry I was distracted. I didn’t know it already started, you should have told me,” Darryn rose to his feet, his carefully interlocked plate mail creaking with the effort. For all the metal groaned, not a sound slipped from Darryn. Justine simply grunted and observed the head of the faction’s IT department —information thievery. It was the unofficial name of the intelligence department for a good reason.

In front of the newly formed party, was a fresh clearing. Fresh since all the tall grass that once occupied the area had been ripped from the earth before being trampled on. In the center of the newborn arena was a massive burnt orange creature. It reached the height of five Reforms, and stood tall with its four legs. Each leg was bent at a near forty-five degree angle. If one was looking at it from the side, the creature would resemble two people leaning their backs against one another. Only, the two people shared the same torso and head.

The creature was referred to by the Reforms as a Janus. The Orthodox called them Juud. Their enemies called them “AAHHHH”. That was typically the last thing they said before they were summarily relinquished from their duties in the mortal plane. The massive behemoth had four hands, but only two biceps. At the elbow, the forearm separated into two distinct limbs going one-hundred and eighty degrees from one another.

These creatures were sentient but not viewed as such. Though they had the intellect of a ten year old, they were not one of the Transmissible. Since they did have quite a lot of sentience, their behaviours were often widespread. They could be highly hostile, friendly, caring, loving, unique, but one thing held true, they were childish. The Janus were looked at as animals. Not because of their intellect, nor their behavior, but because they were not one of the Transmissible. They were never chosen, nor even a focus of the Experiment. No, they were simply fodder, or as the Reform liked to call them: NPCs.

Much unethical research has been done on the creatures since Start. The primary question being how two creatures could share a singular brain. This was essential for those delving into familiar contracts or other such mergings of the mind. The Janus had two faces, one on either side of their head. The phrases “eyes on the back of their head” and “two-faced” became popular with their discovery. The creature had two distinct personalities in one body. Each personality controlled a face of the beast, making it seem as two distinct beings were fused together.

Research had shown that the lacking intellect and maturity of the creatures was due to this fact. If the mind was reserved to a single being, the Janus might have been Transmissible. Yet since the brain was shared, it not only limited the mental development of both stakeholders, but it was theorized that it limited them from the Experiment.

Though attacking a semi-intelligent being would typically cause outrage, none of the five flinched at the fight with the Janus. This was exceptionally impressive as one was currently dodging around the various limbs of the creature. A battle was raging in the clearing. Grass was flying, wind was churning, punches were thrown, dodges were made, but the duel was silent. Facing off the Janus was Meagan.

This had all started earlier in the day. Khalil had decided he needed to unite the group. They were going into a possibly extreme situation, and teamwork was paramount. He also had interesting orders from the Mayor that he needed to follow. His team knew nothing of his private conversation, but as the three had built a trust, he had no fear they would disagree with his secrecy. Their lives were at stake after all.

So, Khalil decided to talk to the two women, dragging his group back so that they could be one unified bubble of walking people. Originally, the topic had started off with Jenny asking how Justine knew Sam, but after a look that would have turned Jenny into stone, annihilated the statue, and disintegrated the remains; Khalil thought it was best to change the topic. The first thing he could think of was what adventurers knew best: fighting. The two had to have classes, and he also wanted to know if they would be assets or baggage.

He had simply inquired as to their fighting style, but Jenny went on to provoke the two. Which was exactly their plan.

“Not like it matters my dude, they seem pretty useless to me,” she had said. The two expected their plan to work, but not in the way it panned out.

“I can prove our skill if you’d like. Justine, think I should show off a little?” Meagan asked her superior.

“Sure, whatever. As long as they leave me alone. Ugh, I thought I was done watching over someone but nope. Instead of watching the husk of my brother now I’m stuck watching children,” Justine mumbled to herself. She knew Meagan could hear her, but was too frustrated by Sam and annoyed by the adventurers to talk louder than a resigned whisper.

“Yay! Okay, in an hour, you are going to hear a rumbling sound. That rumbling sound will be a Janus snoring off the side of the road. It has been sleeping since it ate… something two hours and thirteen minutes ago. I will go fight it, and toy with it all while you watch. Then, the moment Justine says, I will finish it within the second. Will that suffice as proof of our competence?” The disturbingly cheerful way in which the sporadic monologue was made silenced the three adventures momentarily. Khalil was the first to speak up.

“If we even hear the snoring that would be proof enough. Having an ability to see creatures that far in advance will make our jobs incredibly easy. Tracking down the multi-system users would be a walk in a forest. If you went on to fight it, we would better be able to see how to fight as a group. Also, forgive Jenny, she had plans that had to be canceled because of the sudden quest.” Khalil was being honest for the reason Jenny was more abrasive than usual. Typically she would have slightly more tact, but she was going to visit her hometown for her sister's birthday and was reasonably upset. For once in a long while, Darryn spoke up.

“Can I see you fight as well?” He asked Justine. This was not part of the plan. Khalil had briefly mentioned what he would prefer the two to do during the journey, and this was not one of them. He had specific orders to “not find out too much about the testy woman”. Sam told him if they found out too much, the price would not be worth the gain. He hoped the two women would ignore the question, but his hopes were insufficient to sway the minds of the faction members. Mainly Meagan’s, she was far too talkative for her own good.

“Sorry, no can do! If Justine were to fight you would all die. We can’t have that though, then we wouldn’t get paid!” Justine had an interesting thought arise as Meagan spoke, Why are we even travelling with these three to begin with. Yes, we are getting paid, yes, we have information, but we already have plenty of wealth and all the knowledge we need. Theoretically, we could just kill them and move on. Hm. It is an option, but I would feel bad ending the lives of the young before they could mature. Also, though she has been operating on her own for some time, I would like to still trust Chrysanthemum. She may plot and connive, but at the end of the day, would she provoke the faction? Probably not. I’ll let them live for now. Plus I don't want to deal with the Guild, it would be a pain.

“Are you saying you’d kill us once we found out?” Khalil hesitantly asked Meagan.

“Nope! More like Justine is really bad at controlling what she targets. It is a combination of unfamiliar weaponry and intense re—”

“Meagan.” At the mention of her name, the bubbly girl became stoic. The two may be close friends, but Meagan still had a very explainable fear of Justinia. She could still remember the dying screams of the Start Protection Militia. She could remember the juxtaposition between the single-handed slaughter of the millions of single-system Reforms, and the tears running down the face of her commander. Her Administrator. The sorrow she felt at losing her brother, and the sorrow she felt at dispatching those sent to kill him. The Administrator was born that day. The watcher over the possessions of the deceased.

The group continued the next hour in a silence so deep, Yuclaus could drown in it. Each member of their menagerie was lost in their own thoughts. Meagan hoped one day Justinia would talk to her about her trauma. Justinia wished her brother would return so she could leave this world and her baggage behind. Jenny wanted to be with her younger sister. Khalil prayed he would survive this trip. Darryn wondered how easy it would be to write in dirt.

In around fifty minutes after the pause in their conversation, a rumbling was heard. It was a deep bass that shook the rib cages of those in the party. A gut feeling which made the weak of heart feel queasy. Jenny and Darryn were astonished at the fulfilment of Meagan’s prophecy. Khalil’s hope of the Mayor over exaggerating was thoroughly quashed. Justine was unchanged. Meagan was excited. The prophecy was further fulfilled as they followed the noise to see the remains of some sort of animal. In the center of the animal crime scene was a Janus hunched on the ground asleep. Its four legs were splayed like a starfish, its body slightly tilted to one side.

“Alright everyone, if you could take a few steps back, I can wrap this up fast so we can continue on our way!” Meagan said to the four. And so, they formed a line back on the dirt road, where Darryn could no longer hold back, and started doodling on the ground. Meagan bounced towards the Janus, lightly knocking on one of its outstretched legs. The beast woke to a start, and looked at the exuberant woman. She looked back. The Janus opened its mouth but the rest of the party heard nothing. The woman spoke back, but not a word carried on the wind. The beast nodded before it bent each of its knees, and rose to a standing position.

The grass around the two was torn up, swirling around in the shape of a dome. Then as if a switch was flicked, the grass crashed to the earth, flattening into a nice clearing. Meagan bowed to the Janus, the Janus bowed back, and the fight began. Soon into the duel the viewers discovered that they could not hear a sound. It was if there was an invisible bubble blocking all noise from escaping the clearing. In reality, that was exactly what it was. However, rather than wondering about the sound bubble, they were trying to discern the gender of the creature to no avail.

The Janus made the first move. It threw a punch with its right —or left depending on which side you were watching from— fist. You would think the fact that two forearms shared a single upper arm would make the beast unwieldy and slow. You would be wrong. One forearm jerked back its elbow, while the other threw a punch. The sum of the two was greater than its parts, and the biceps, triceps, shoulder, back, and chest were all used simultaneously to deliver a devastating blow.

Had the Reforms ever discovered trolls on Start, they would be disappointed that their strength did not match the Janus. In half a second, the fist was about to crush the small figure beneath the giant. A plume of dirt and grass rose when the earth was struck. Immediately, the Janus used the rebound from the punch to swing its fist in the opposite direction. The woman was on its opposite side. The fist flew over the bent body of Meagan. She dodged it effortlessly, but was seemingly distracted enough for the swung leg to impact her side.

It was blocked, a silent shockwave blowing the green blades out of the center of impact. The Janus strained against her forearm as Meagan slowly carved furrows into the earth as she was pushed back. A golden oboe appeared between her legs, before she was launched to the edge of the arena. As Meagan was about to hit the unofficial boundaries of the fight, she appeared directly to the side of the Janus. The adventurers were stunned that Meagan could teleport. Justinia thought she was being sloppy. Though it was on purpose, Justinia could still critique.

The Janus swung its body to face Meagan, before using the full torque of its legs to headbutt the woman. She stepped to the side, a golden violin taking her place. The head was blocked by a wave of gold from the violin. Had the party been in the dome, they would have heard a beautiful melody. The Janus clenched its abs on the side that was leaning back from the headbutt, gaining a large amount of momentum to throw its fist on the opposite side. Meagan appeared a moment before the full force of the Janus was unleashed. Six seconds had passed at this point. Meagan consistently danced around the Janus, blocking or dodging the devastating blows that were rained on her. The adventures knew that this was no easy feat.

Khalil and Jenny would more than likely lose to the Janus. Darryn could fight it without any armor or weapons, but that man was a beast in his own right. So, the silent fight commenced, golden instruments surrounding the beast in a circle. Punch. Dodge. Swing. Block. Lean. Wind up. Disappear. Miss. The Janus used all of its muscle groups to the maximum capacity, communicated with its other half in the span of microseconds to maximize the force between their strikes. After fifteen seconds, and the four groups of the symphony had been assembled with their respective golden instruments, Justine decided to call it.

“I think that's plenty Meagan, they should know by now how easy you're going. Finish the fight so we can get a move on, I have a nice book to read and I would like a lot of time to do so at camp.” The reply of Meagan was either lost due to the fist that swept the air in front of her mouth, or the invisible barrier blocking all noise. The four golden instruments that surrounded the Janus lit up, and a flash of light blinded all those watching. All except Justine who closed her eyes in time.

The party opened their eyes to four golden musicians in a square. The leg in front of the oboe player was pressed deep into the earth. The leg in front of the violinist was tied with string. The leg in front of the trombone player was locked with rings of brass. The leg in front of the xylophone player was hammered into the earth with mallets. On top of the head of the Janus was Meagan, a flute in hand. Both mouths of the beast opened in unison, both chests shaking likewise.

Meagan smiled, before the golden musicians dissipated into motes of light which scattered in the wind. As if a bubble burst, the four observers heard a laughter that would make any passerby weary of a rockslide. No matter if they were in a flat field. Meagan appeared in front of the Janus. The now released creature bowed once more to Meagan, in which she returned it. She then stooped down to pick up the four golden instruments, before tucking them beneath her loose clothing. The Janus rumbled at her, she rumbled back, then it lumbered away from the party as Meagan walked towards them.

“That was astounding.” Khalil said. In all honesty he was worried Darryn would not be able to handle the woman if things went out of hand. Flattery was a cheap alternative to a slaughter should they annoy their new party members.

“Why didn’t you kill it?” Darryn asked moments after Khalil’s question. Meagan stopped in front of the group. She tilted her head to the side before placing a finger on her lip.

“Because it was nice? Though people speak negatively about the Janus, some can be quite smart and kind. Sadly, as people often kill them out of fear, they never get to age enough to be as smart as us. The brain is an incredible thing that would not be limited by two sharing it.”

“But it could still cause a lot of harm,” Darryn cut in, “not to mention it’s non-Transmissible.”

“Would you kill a familiar just because it wasn’t Transmissible?” Justine was the one who posed the question this time. The adventurers did not expect the callous woman to speak in favor of the creature.

“No, no I wouldn’t,” Khalil answered after a momentary pause. Meagan positively beamed when Justine contributed. The reality wasn’t just that she was fond of the Janus —creatures that had survived on raw combat prowess— but that she knew Justinia would be sad if she killed it. The Administrator had a lot of death on her hands, and when one sees a lot of death, they view all life as precious.

The group stood in silence for a moment. Meagan was smiling as she bounded to her position next to Justinia. Justinia watched the back of the bea… being in the distance. She amended her thoughts in real time. It would not do to think of a creature who was non-Transmissible as a lower being. Maybe, once she had her brother back, she could help them form a society before leaving Start. The three adventurers were likewise watching the being zigzag into the field, lost in their own thoughts.

“Well, I believe that is plenty of evidence of our competence,” Justine said, bringing the adventurers out of their reverie, “shall we continue our journey?”