I felt like I had to question him that. I’m a pretty damn fool for not thinking about this as soon as I saw him, but you gotta give me the benefit of the doubt. I was too bewildered to know what was going on back then and considering that I haven’t met any of those “creatures” yet, I presumed everybody looked human. That’s why I didn’t inquire too much.

But now that I’m somewhat fresh and after all we just went through, I couldn’t hold this more; I had to know. He can answer with multiple things, but I’m confident I can spot if he’s lying or not.

Kotlin stopped. He didn’t turn back for a good minute. He just stood there and silence fell. There were people all around but Eve didn’t seem to care for any. She was just waiting for her query. When Kotlin turned with his passive face he finally said:

“I don’t really know.”

Silence fell yet again. Eve was perplexed about what just had happened. She had thought about all the possibilities on what Kotlin could’ve answered, and this was damn well one of them. She hadn’t however thought about what exactly to counter him with. So she just did what she usually does.

“What?” said Eve. “Do you think this is a joke? I saw the way you tricked those guards, and I never liked you since your first ‘random’ appearance. For what I know, you may even be lyin— stop there, don’t say anything. How can I know that Lirius’ real name was exactly that, what If everyone knew that already and you were just tricking me so you could take me to their fortress and hand me to them. This is all coming to fruition.”

“Eve, don’t talk non-sense. Please, we are almost at the exit; don’t make a scene out of it here, we can talk when we get out. I promise.”

“Oh yeah? When you’ll hand me to your beloved friends? Oh no no, that ain’t gonna happen. You either tell me what you are, or I ain’t moving.”

Silence fell again. Eve never seemed so convinced before. She was determined to find his true intention one way or another. She had all eternity to wait for what she knew.

“Well,” finally said Kotlin. “ I have no idea. As I previously said, I have been living my entire life with Lirius and he was the closest to a human, or whatever you call them, I’ve ever known. I’ve never been outside, apart from that time I told you and the memory of that thing is pretty vague. I can tell you that he wasn’t like you, like us at all. As for not knowing what I am, that is true. Lirius never told me anything and I presumed everyone was like us, so I didn’t bother. That’s the truth, you have to believe me. Now let’s get going!”

She was so puzzled. Deep down she knew Kotlin was telling the truth, but something told her he wasn’t. She didn’t know what to do. She knew she was bluffing before, she didn’t have nowhere else to go, and if they were to split apart she wouldn’t know what to do.

“I’m still uncertain about all of this.” said Eve. “But my gut feeling tells me we have to get out of here as soon as po—“

“WATCH OUT!” screamed Kotlin.

And he threw himself at her. A spear was coming their way, directly at Eve. It was the goddamn guards. Eve knew it had been way too good to be true.

Kotlin intercepted it and was on his guard. Eve got up and saw herself surrounded by them. Apparently, every single ‘person’ had gone missing. They either used some ability she wasn’t aware of, or they are just the fastest she had ever met. Either way, it wasn’t time for that. They had to find a way to get out of this mess.

When she mentioned surrounded, she actually just meant 3 guards. It weren’t many at the moment, but she was sure more were coming.

“Good act little boy.” said one of the guards. “You almost had us, too bad her aura told us otherwise. No one we’ve ever met has an aura like that. And don’t worry, as soon as we take care of her, we’ll be sure to deal with you too. Traitor.”

“This may be a misunderstanding.” replied Kotlin. “We are just on our way ou—

“Silence!” screamed another guard. “Cockroaches aren’t allowed to direct us. Just turn yourselves in and let’s end this quick.”

The remaining guard rapidly assaulted Kotlin, hurting him badly. His speed was something else thought Eve. Kotlin stood on the ground panting.

“What do you think we actually take care of this one first?” said the guard. “The girl seems to be already traumatized. Let’s give her a good show.”

“Great idea.” replied the other.

The guard slowly started approaching him and Eve felt powerless. The guard was about to stab Kotlin when suddenly he reacted by stabbing the guard instead. And he lay dead.

Kotlin sit up, with a knife in his hand from only he knew where it came from; on his task of protecting Eve. It almost looked believable, apart from the fact that the fast guard was already on his Kotlin’s back, with a knife of his own.

It can’t end like that thought Eve.

“NOOO!” Eve yelled.

And suddenly everyone seized moving. Eve realized she had stopped time.