The guards stepped out of their station and blocked the path into the town as their job called for. Although normally, they were required to stand in the road for carriages and caravans, they could make an exception for a suspicious person walking about. Especially one like him.

It didn’t take long for the suspicious person to make his way to them. When he saw them, a bright smile appeared on his lips and a bright light sparkled in his eyes. He approached them with an extended hand and a giddy atmosphere. The guards raised their hands and wrapped around them was a black strap. Stitched onto the palm of the strap was a small purple gem in the shape of an oval. As soon as they stuck their hands out, the gem shined, and the person slowed their pace, eyes focused on the gem.

“What’s your name?” One of the guards shouted. The person didn’t seem to hear them, since his eyes stayed glued to the gem. “State your name or you’ll be arrested!” The guard shouted much louder.

The person paused his inspection of the gems and turned his attention to the guards holding up the gems. He looked at the both of them, then crossed his arms together. He continued to smile despite his life being inches away from ending. The guards didn’t know if he was insane, bold, or both.

“The name’s Oculus.” The person introduced himself. “You see, there’s someone here I’m searching for.”

The guards looked at each other, both of them wondering what they should do. They couldn’t just let this man walk in looking like that. He could scare the citizens and break trust in the government’s laws and guidelines.

“Who are you looking for?” One of the guards asked.

“I’m looking for a girl named Zaundra Oing.”

The guard went wide eyed and blinked rapidly. He shook his head, thinking he heard the man wrong.

“Can you repeat their name?”

“Sure?” Oculus said, wondering why they looked so weirded out by him saying her name. “I’m looking for Zaundra Oing.”

The guards looked at each other, then back at the kid. They repeated that three more times, before ending by looking at each other. Once the man’s request settled into their mind’s, they burst out laughing.

Oculus didn’t understand what was going on, but them laughing with such joy transferred over to him. He began laughing alongside them which turned their exchange into a barrage of laughter coming from all of them. The few people walking about the streets who saw the scene shook their heads and returned to their daily chores.

All of a sudden, Oculus looked up, only to find a gem pointed straight at his face. The laughter froze in his throat, but it tried to force its way out of him. The guard pointing the gem at him wiped a tear from his eye and stifled the few remaining chuckles left in him.

“I’m sorry, but Zaundra Oing is the person you’re looking for? Sorry, but she ain’t anywhere near here.” The guard said. His partner still chuckled alongside him, but he regained enough composure to point his gem as well.

Oculus straightened himself and scratched the back of his neck, confused. “I’m pretty sure she’s here.”

The guard sighed. “Why do you think that?”

Oculus shrugged. “I just know.”

The guard groaned. He realized at that instant that the man wasn’t just going to leave. If he wasn’t going to leave, then there’s one place someone like him could go.

“You want to see Zaundra, right?” The guard asked.

Oculus nodded. “So you know where she is?”

“I sure do. In fact, I think she’ll want to see you too.” The guard grabbed Oculus’ shoulder, and they began walking into the town.

Oculus grinned while the guard led him to Zaundra. Since she managed to get away from them, then he would applaud her and celebrate the occasion.

***

Harold walked out of the hospital door, waving toward the nurse behind the counter. Taking a deep breath, he looked around the town, a sense of excitement wandering through him. He’s never been to this town before, and the sense of exploration that he’s thrown away a long time ago crawled into him once more. It was somewhat relieving in a weird way that he hadn’t tossed that feeling away.

A single road cut through the town, connecting the entrance and exit. A single building obstructed the pathway, and it was the largest building in the town. The two story tall city hall sat in the center of the town. People walked around it, carrying their laundry from the manmade lake where they washed their clothes in while others headed off to their respectful jobs. Three guards stood in front of the town hall door, one in front of the door and two of equal length beside her.

Although it was a sizable building for the town, compared to the big cities Harold grew up in, it paled in comparison to even the smallest houses of his home city. The quaint air that blew his hair was so fresh that if it weren’t for the rampant poverty in these smaller towns, he would end up living in such a small vista.

Harold breathed in deeply, closing his eyes. With the absence of sight, his hearing only became stronger. The footsteps of the people stomping their feet on the dirt road calmed him. The smell of the diseased ridden water nearby where people washed their clothes because they were so poor that they couldn’t afford anything else filled him with such nostalgia of his own childhood. Even if he didn’t see himself ever returning to that old life of his, he would be wrong if he said the allure failed to attract him.

The sound of a familiar voice broke through the sound of footsteps. At first, Harold wondered why it sounded so familiar, so he opened his eyes. He expected to see someone coming from the hospital, but the voice wasn’t like any of the others. In fact, it was a voice he had heard rather recently.

When he opened his eyes, his mouth shot open, and he hid behind the nearest tree he could see.

“So Zaundra’s this way?” Oculus asked.

“Yeah, she is. Just don’t go wandering off or my partner will have to apprehend you.” The guard said, sounding like he had heard that line multiple times before.

The residents looked on as a shirtless man with a weird hat was being taken away by the guards. Harold’s mind ran through so many questions that he made himself dizzy. How in the hell did Oculus get there so fast? How did he figure out their location, and how did the guards figure out they had Zaundra? Many more questions beyond those went through his head, but first he had to report to Ont and Yelm. They would know what to do better than him.

Acting as nonchalant as possible, he entered the hospital with fingers in his pockets and his lips pursed as he whispered the anthem of Brigand.

***

In a room with three brick walls and the fourth wall only consisting of iron bars, Oculus sat on the floor. A single guard leaned against the wall, her eyes unwavering from him.

“How are you?” Oculus asked the guard.

The guard looked at him and shrugged. She refused to say anything, even when all Oculus wanted was to make small talk. He was getting bored waiting for them to bring out Zaundra. After minutes of sitting essentially by himself, he had begun using the dirt and dust on the ground to make interesting looking pictures.

When the guards brought him into the building at the center of town, they took him down a flight of stairs and said that he should wait until they brought Zaundra down to him. Apparently, she was busy and needed some time before meeting up with a guest. It had been an hour since they left him, and the existential boredom piled up higher and higher.

The guard didn’t make it any better. She just continued to stare at him with a stare that could kill him. Shrugging off the glare, he continued to draw with the dirt.

***

“When is he going to be done?” The guard asked the two guards standing outside the commander’s office.

“Give it a few minutes. He’s taking an important call from the capitol.” The guards said at the same time.

The guard tutted and approached his partner who was sitting in a seat at the opposite end of the hallway. He sat next to his partner and grimaced while biting his nails.

“Still on the call?” His partner asked.

“Yeah.” The guard said, leaning back against the chair. “Why would that guy ask if, out of all people, Zaundra Oing was here?”

His partner shrugged. “Beats me. Maybe he’s insane?”

That was a possibility going through the guard’s mind. However, there was something nagging at the back of his head, as if he had certain pieces, but still no idea how to fit them together. The strange feeling all began back when the carriage rolled into town, and it only grew stronger as time passed on.

It was almost like there was someone poking a needle at the back of his neck, and every time they would drive the needle to near penetration, he would anticipate the pain only for them to bring their hand back at the last second. It was a feeling he would very much like to be rid of, but the needle refused to just get the ordeal over with.

Suddenly, the sound of someone knocking three times sounded throughout the hallway. The guards blocking the way to the commander’s room looked at each other and nodded.

“You two can go in now!” They shouted at the same time.

The guard and his partner stood up, and they approached the door. The guards moved out of their way as they opened the door for them. Upon their entrance, the guards shut the door behind them, leaving them with the commander.

On an ornate chair swiveled away from them, a man sat with his back turned toward them. He looked out the large window that let him get a complete view of the entire first half of the town. He watched as the people below him went about their daily lives, unknowing to the travesty that he was just called about.

“Commander Itkim, we have a report regarding some important matters.” The guard said, back straight with his right hand lay flat directly below his chin.

Without turning away from the window, Itkim raised his hand. “Go on.”

The guard took a deep breath knowing that what was about to come next, no matter the context or situation, could send their town into disruption. Still, he couldn’t just let this matter slide, especially with that needle poking his neck.

“An hour ago, a man of scarlet hair walked to the front gate. He asked us about the whereabouts of Miss Zaundra Oing.” The guard chuckled to himself, realizing how silly it was to get so worked up about such a thing. In fact, all there would really need to be was a simple talk with the man, and that would be it.

However, Itkim turned so sharply in his chair that the air picked up in the room. A piece of paper sitting on the commander’s desk fluttered to the ground, and the sound it made was the loudest noise in the room at that moment.

In the eyes of the commander himself, there was a hint of wild terror. At that moment, the guard realized there was something rotten happening in the world.