“Can someone explain to me for why are we wearing this?”

Mikhail said with a scream which was secluded to a hushing noise.

“Because we needed a disguise,” Maria followed him with an answer.

“I understand that, but why do I get to be a women?”

He ranted again.

I looked at him, dressed in small skirt and a top he was. They were Maria’s clothes to begin with, but for why we were wearing this was because we were entering Kayo.

The town which was destroyed, where people were killed, yet again resurrected. I watched the roads which were cracked, houses which were demolished. The atmosphere in Kayo was somewhat demeaning yet people around seemed a little enthusiastic about building their houses back again.

I progressed on the road further to find that not everyone was enthusiastic, there were some people who just sat on the corners, some who stared the sky. They acted completely lifeless and most of them had tears held back in their eyes.

It was my mistake that the town had suffered, I had to come and see what I could do to help, but Avon insisted on coming with and so did the others.

As I walked in front, something pulled my trousers back. I turned around to look, but couldn’t see anything.

‘Eh?’

But then the pull continued, so this time I looked around and downwards. I saw a boy who seemed familiar. The boy lifted his head to smile at me.

“Hey, mister.”

He said as he smiled again.

“Kadoc?”

I recognized him immediately.

It was the boy Brandon and myself had saved.

I sat on my knees and looked him in the eye.

“Where is your mother?”

I asked. Concerned raised consciously in my mind as his mother had already been careless once, but there could well be another reason as well…..she might be dead.

“She is there.”

He pointed his finger to a lady who sat with another who wept.

Kadoc’s voice made her look at me. She got up and walked up to me.

“You are the one from the forest.”

She said as she instantly recognized us.

‘Guess, the disguise was useless after all.’

I thought as I looked around to check whether someone had noticed me. I mean, it was a disguise for real, just that it lacked the means to disguise. I had covered my face with a scarf borrowed by Maria.

She had three scarfs which she gave it to me, Krial, Avon and well Mikhail got to wear what he looks best in.

‘She definitely did this on purpose.’

I felt bad for Mikhail who had was now roaming with skirts and tops.

“Mortis?”

I heard Mikhail’s voice.

“Don’t running off on your own.”

He said as he walked up to me.

Kadoc was definitely confused at Mikhail’s attire as Mikhail did look like a women, but with a manly voice. Young minds had to boggle over it and so I didn’t pay any attention to him.

But, as soon as his mother heard my name, her face turned grim and she became deathly silent.

“M-M-Mo-“

She tried to process it, but it looked like she felt quite uneasy about knowing my name.

“Look-“

I tried to consolidate her, but she moved two steps back.

“Iris, be quiet.”

I heard a voice of a man. I looked at this direction of the voice and it was Mr. Silvester.

“Don’t say his name out loud,” Silvester said as he pulled us all on one side, “The War Council still has a bounty on his name, maybe they have doubled it now for you have resurrected us.”

He said as he walked, but then turned to look around. He walked close towards us and then looked at Mikhail.

“Mikhail?”

“Yes?”

They both reacted unfazed for a moment and then instantly realize that they should be acting differently.

“What happened?”

“Um—Silvester, I can explain.”

Mikhail rebutted, “It was Maria, and this is a disguise.”

“Of course.”

Silvester reacted with a complex reaction which made me feel like he wasn’t really satisfied by the answer.

“Mr. Silvester?”

Another voice came closer to us. It was Maria with the other two.

“Thank god, you are alive.”

She commented as she saw Silvester neat and clean.

“Thank god? Really?”

Krial added as he walked close to me.

Maria looked away from him and then walked close to Silvester.

“You’re fine, right?”

She asked him again.

“Yes, I am, but…” He said and pulled Maria’s hands and asserted us on following him.

He took us to a corner of the road.

“You need to get out of here.”

He said.

“Get him out of here.”

He said it again as he looked at me now.

“Why? What happened?”

Maria fired question as soon as Silvester finished his speech. Silvester appeared to be in some hast, probably getting us out of here, but I couldn’t apprehend for why he was acting like this.

“He might be coming for you all, get out of here. Quickly!”

He replied with the same haste as before.

“Who’s he?”

Mikhail asked him.

I looked around, everyone was surprised by how Silvester was acting, but for some reason Krial remained silent and calm.

“What’s the matter?”

Avon asked him again.

As Silvester was about to reply, someone interrupted him.

“Look who finally decided to show up,”

A familiar echoed in my ears.

“Wong, this is not the time.”

It was the one who had ratted us out earlier. The one who claimed to be Silvester’s friend, but quite wasn’t.

“Hey, don’t be alarmed. I am not here to do anything.”

Wong said as he walked close to me.

“I just want to ask a question to you.”

He said as he walked in front of you and looked me in the eye.

“Is it true that you resurrected us?”

He asked me.

The air around him felt tense, he wasn’t happy about it, neither was I.

I would never dare go against the laws of the world, yet my mistakes had led us to this point.

“Is it?”

He asked me again.

I was so engulfed in my thoughts that I forgot to answer him.

I looked at him again and then at everyone.

I couldn’t stall him anymore. So, I nodded to accept that it was indeed me.

He didn’t bat an eye, nor did he give any reaction instead he went to say another line.

“Then why only so many of us, why not all of us?”

He asked me with the same look as before.

Everyone’s reaction had turn into astonishment in just a sudden moment.

I was failing to understand for why this question was even asked, but what bothered me was the way he framed me in it.

‘I did something..?’

I was sure of doing something, but I just didn’t know what exactly.

“Mate, isn’t that just too much to ask?”

Mikhail walked in front as he asked back.

Wong felt his footsteps and gradually turned his gaze towards him, but then again watched me.

“There are kids without their parents, wives without their husbands and brothers without their siblings. Half of them don’t even what to do…..how to survive. What will you do about them. Many of us have lost their loved ones, then why resurrect us, but not them. Why?”

He asked me.

I now understood the situation.

I had nothing to say or to do.

“Um—Mortis can do the others—“

Avon tried saying something, but I knew where it was going.

So, I slashed in between,

“No, I cannot.”

I said with a firm voice.

“Mortis…”

“What do you want to me to do, Avon?”

“If you don’t do this, then the very people you helped will hate you.”

“I don’t care.”

I replied in a flash which made Wong much angrier than he was before.

He walked close to me and pulled me by my collars.

“You don’t care?”

He asked me.

“I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Then which way you meant it?”

He tightened his grip, but with some quick reflexes I freed myself from his grip.

“Mortis?”

Maria tried to show her concern by walking towards me, but I stopped her halfway.

“There’s a reason for why we live, a reason for why we have to die. Bringing someone back from dead is an insult to ones who have been dead.”

I said as I looked down, but then raised my head and looked at Wong who stood in front of me.

“As much I hate it, resurrecting you all was a mistake. I didn’t have the knowledge that something like this would happen. I am really sorry—“

I spoke out, but was interrupted by Iris, who ran towards us.

“Silvester, there are guards here….”

She said as she trembled. She had lost one of her footwear, probably because she came running here.

“Is he here?”

Silvester inquired.

“Who?”

He didn’t answer her back, instead walked in front where the guards had gathered up.

From afar, it looked like they were guards of some other nation or maybe even of War Council themselves.

“Hear me out citizens of Kayo,”

One of the guards yelled out as he pulled a scroll out of his right side pocket and started reading it.

“We are here on the behalf of the War Council and the Pentacross,”

He said as he proceeded to read further things. He had grabbed everyone’s attention by this point.

“As you all know, that there have sightings of people coming back from the dead which we don’t know the cause of and might even be the work of the Darkels. The so-called Revivers who are said to perform this act are now confirmed to be the culprits of the Darkels. So, by the order of the War Council and the Pentacross, we are supposed to apprehend anyone who is said to be resurrected and we kindly ask you to do this without any objections. If anyone fails to atone to our warning, then they shall be taken in custody by force.”

He completes as he closes his scroll and looks upwards. The faces of people being confused were evident. Some of them couldn’t understand what was happening and some were not in state of understanding.

“People, we are doing this for your—“

“What is the meaning of this?”

“We haven’t done anything!”

“This is—“

He was cut off as people started to rile up and being arguing with the guards present there.

“No harm shall be done to you provided you surrender yourself.”

He says again, but the people become more and more repulsive every time.

“But, why should we?”

Many of them started asking, but there was no response by the guards.

As the commotion was taking place, an arrow struck the ground behind the guards.

The guards and everyone looked at it, but only the guards showed movement as soon as they saw it.

They unsheathed their swords and titled their lances and started their march towards people.

‘It was a signal.’

“You should leave—“

Silvester tried to convince us, but it was too late as we had already started walking towards the dogfight in front of us.

The guards still had some distance to reach, so to halt their progress, I threw my spear right between them both.

It struck the ground creating a huge impact and stopping everyone in their tracks.

I called it behind towards to me again by just raising my hand. With me walked Mikhail and Krial. Mikhail dragged Avon and Maria followed us as she had no choice.

“Are they the “Revivers’?”

Asked one of the guards as he saw us emerge from the crowd.

“Revivers?”

Mikhail spoke out curiously.

“Is that what they are calling us now?”

He asked openly.

Everyone turned their gazes towards us. Some were of appreciation and some were of just nothingness.

“No, I don’t think so. The report said that they have four males and one female.”

The guards started talking among themselves, “But it appears that there are two females and three males.”

Mikhail looked at Maria as the conversation between the guards took place.

Maria looked the other way and gentle placed her hand in front of her mouth and chuckled in order to tease Mikhail even more than he was getting already.

“I’ll pay this back to you.”

Mikhail said.

“What do you mean ‘payback’?”

Maria rebutted.

“You wore this, you could’ve refused.”

They both started arguing between themselves losing the purpose of what they are doing here. I looked at Avon and then Krial. They both seemed to have applied the strategy which involved ignoring them.

“Wow, this is getting interesting now.”

A voice came from behind the guards.

A tall figure with red drapes and a long-sword behind his back walked in front of us. His eyes were narrowed and he had a big grin on his face. It was indeed evil, yet it looked more menacing than evil.

Mikhail quickly turned to look at him. It somehow felt like he had recognized who it was.

Mikhail swiftly moved his hand over to Maria’s shoulder and pulled her in front of him. He was definitely trying to hide, but why was the question.

“The Revivers are here……what possibly could’ve made this more interesting. I am so grateful for you lot to show yourself. I was getting bored, but then…..this is just amazing.”

I took a step back as everyone did. The man looked at us with some eyes that embarked the sense of insanity within them.

“Beril, kill the others…..I just want the Revivers here and no one else.”

The man ordered one of his guards as he started walking towards us.

But as he did, suddenly a ball fell in between us. It exploded as it fell, creating smoke everywhere. Our vision was tarnished as well as the enemy’s. People started panicking, but voice came in all the commotion.

“Run!!”

The voice said and everyone did as the voice directed them.

As we assessed the situation, a figure walked towards us.

“Follow me, John is waiting for you.”

The figure said to us and walked right past us. Mikhail was the first one to run behind it. Maria followed him and we followed her.

We trailed through the smoke swiftly and exited in the Forest once again.

As we entered the Forest, the smoke cleared and the figure wasn’t there anymore. Instead was a letter which was stuck to the bark of a tree.

It read:

“Follow this route and enter the Kingdom of Terra, I am waiting for you in the Capital city, Artium.”