He entered the guard station and noticed that the inside was barren except the receptionist sitting at the front desk, still looking as professional as the last time he had seen her. It was a stark contrast from the last two times he had been here where there were always people waiting in line even in the early morning.

“Welcome. How may I help you?” The receptionist said, shocking Ilon out of his thoughts.

He walked up to her, “I’m looking for a guard named Lysa, is she here?”

“One moment please.” She said as she looked through a couple of papers. “You’re in luck, she’s in today. What’s your name and purpose of visit?”

“Ilon. I’m an acquaintance of hers and wanted to mention something to her that I never got the chance to before.” Ilon gave an innocent smile towards her.

The receptionist gave him a lookover for a moment. “Ah, I remember you. So you’re the one.” She stood up so suddenly that Ilon took a half step backwards in shock. “I apologize for what our Captain has put you through.” She said while performing a salute, her right arm over her heart and the left tucked behind .

“Ah..” Ilon was at a loss of words. “Umm, thanks?” He awkwardly said. He really didn’t know how to deal with the suddenness of the apology and whether or not he was even able to accept it.

“Guard Lysa is through that hallway and is the second door on the right.” She pointed to one of the hallways on her left. “Just make sure to knock before you enter.”

“Thanks for the help, and the apology.” Ilon said as he made his escape from the awkwardness. He followed the receptionist's directions and easily found her office. The door was open, but it seemed that Lysa was lost in thought as she didn’t notice him standing at the entrance.

Her black hair was once again in a neat ponytail and her eyes seemed a little less puffy than the last time he had seen her. It seemed that she was on track to getting better, but Ilon knew that the pain of losing someone lasted far longer on the inside than what was shown outside.

He knocked on the door and watched as she almost jumped out of her skin. “Hello?” He asked at the same time and enjoyed the modicum of joy he got from scaring her.

“Geez, you scared me.” Lysa said as she held a hand over her heart, taking deep breaths to calm it.

“Sorry about that.” Ilon said with a grin tugging at his lips.

“So, why are you here?” She gestured at an empty chair in front of her desk after calming down. Ilon looked over her office and noticed that it was pretty bare. There were a couple small potted plants and flowers, but there was nothing that stood out besides the fact that it looked relatively organized.

Ilon took a seat, “I just wanted to check up and see how you’re doing.” Although his petty revenge was at the forefront of his mind, a portion of him did want to check up on her and make sure she was well.

“I’m … as to be expected.” Lysa hesitated before saying her true feelings. She wanted to reassure Ilon that she was okay, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie like that.

“Sorry for bringing it up.” Ilon said in a soft voice. “It’s just, I have a question that I need to ask.”

Lysa was internally celebrating managing to hold in her tears when she heard that. “What is it?”

“What did Tain tell the guards that day?” Ilon didn’t outright say when they slaughtered all the Shamans as he didn’t want to be insensitive and bring up bad memories.

“Tain has been telling us for years that most of the Shamans are under the Duhnovo influence and don’t care about the citizens of Antoss at all. That day he told us that they were making a move in order to get rid of him and even the Mayor so that they could have full control of the town.” Lysa recounted what had happened before the fight that day.

They had been informed beforehand that there were actions that the Shamans were going to take. The guards were already filled with hatred towards the Shamans from them thinking that they were better and pushing the guards around. Tain had told them to hold it in, but a lot of them were already at breaking points.

The thing that set their hearts on fire was the incident that occurred in front of the Bronze Cudgel Inn. A Shaman had used his totem to cause innocent citizens of their town to do despicable and horrific things, destroying hundreds of lives.

When Tain told them that the Shamans were likely to take action against him, they knew that it was likely to be an all out fight between the guards and the Shamans. After hearing that the Head Shaman killed the family of his own Vice-Head in order to frame it on Tain, they knew they had to take a stand in order to end their tyranny before it actually turned into one.

So Tain never told them that it was his plan? Ilon thought to himself. It seemed that he had been preparing this massacre for a long time by the way he was turning the Shamans against them.

“So, Tain never told you?” Ilon said in his best disappointed voice. He aimed to perk the curiosity of Lysa. Curiosity was a strong, strong tool, he himself knew that best.

“Never told us what?” Lysa asked as she unconsciously leaned forward slightly.

“When I visited him in the medical ward, I ended up interrogating him about a couple of things. He told me that … he and the Mayor planned all of it.” Ilon said in a slow and measured way. He felt bad for using her, but as Mayor Azeus said, ‘That’s just how life is, use and be used’.

“All of it? You’re saying that he planned the murder of Bi’wan’s family and the Shamans setting him up?” Lysa said in doubt. Her gaze had turned from curious to suspicious in an instant, showing the incredible amount of trust and loyalty she had towards the Guard Captain.

Ilon kept his calm and nodded his head. “Yes. He used someone in the guards who he knew was a spy for the Shamans to deliver the information about us, then used his own spy in the Shamans to suggest the plan.” Ilon thought for a moment before deciding to add, “Why do you think only one Shaman was able to escape?”

He wasn’t actually sure if the one Shaman that escaped was the spy that Tain had talked about, but that information certainly made it more convincing.

“Hold on. Who was the spy for the Shamans?” Lysa had a hard time believing what Ilon was saying, however the more and more she thought about Tain’s actions, the more likely it seemed to be true.

Ilon didn’t respond instantly, only directly looking her in the eyes.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Lysa’s face slowly fell. As Ilon didn’t say anything, her face fell more and more as she started to realize who it was. Tears started to pool in the corner of her eyes before slowly falling down her face.

“You should ask Tain about it yourself.” Ilon said as he got out of his chair. Seeing her crying because of him was a bit too much for him to handle.

“Thank you.” He heard Lysa call out as he exited the room.

He felt like garbage for using her against Tain, but perhaps it was better for her to know after all.

He exited the guard station with contrasting feelings, before re-entering and getting directions from the receptionist to his second destination.

He walked in the mostly deserted streets of Mazual. It’s chaotic layout made it even more difficult for him to try and find where the library was, so he had to ask passersby for directions several times. Even then it took him a lot longer to get to his destination than a regular person.

Ilon paid the high entry fee of 1 silver and asked the person at the front desk about where he could find books about the Deadzone.

“Third row of shelves on the left, they should be around the middle.” The person manning the front desk was an old lady who gave off a kind, yet stern aura. “You’re not allowed to take out or copy the books. If you damage them in any way, you’ll have to pay for them. Understood?”

“Got it.” Ilon nodded his head and made his way to where she said the books were located. There were a decent amount of books about the differing theories on the Deadzones, but there were only a couple that tried to dive into the history of it.

He picked out a small book titled ‘The Early Stages of the Deadzone’ as his first read and took it over to one of the many desks in the library. There were only a couple other people in there with him and all of them looked absorbed in their books.

As he skimmed through the book he learned absolutely nothing, the name ‘Perdita Empire’ not even appearing once. All it was was a book attempting to calculate the speed of the growth at the beginning based on vague context clues and highly inaccurate historical statements with no sources to back them up.

After several hours filled with frustration at finding little to no useful information, Ilon noticed Quyon coming in his direction.

“You came?” Ilon thought that she would have used the chance to have some alone time with Maymun.

Quyon gave a small smile seeing how many books were piled around Ilon. “I figured you’d need some help. Finding specific information is a lot harder than it seems.” She grabbed a couple of the books that Ilon had been reading.

Ilon nodded after experiencing it first hand. “I’ve been looking for hours now and have found exactly zero mentions of the Perdita Empire or anything even remotely related to it. On the other hand I’ve gained plenty of new ways to subtly disrepute both Duhnovo and Killian.”

Quyon gave a little chuckle as she put down the book she had picked up. “You’ll find nothing of interest reading these. Just theories trying to prove their patriotism and dismissing all other points of contention.”

“Come with me.” Quyon said as she led him to a different row. Most of the books were about some sort of in-depth look into the history of certain historic places. None of them seemed to have anything to do with the Deadzone, so Ilon wasn’t sure why she was bringing them here.

One of the books she picked out was called ‘A Look Into the Rising Stones’. “This is actually the book where I found the name Perdita Empire. It was later when I learned that was where the Deadzone first appeared.” Quyon said as she quickly flipped through the book.

The two of them spent the next several hours flipping through dozens of books searching for keywords. After getting tired of reading about obscure historical landmarks he grabbed one of the books that he thought he might find interesting titled ‘Best wines of the past’.

“Hmm?” Ilon was about halfway through the book when he came across his first actual piece of interest. “Hey Quyon, look at this.” Ilon said as he passed her the book.

“Wines?” Quyon asked in curiosity. “Let’s see. ‘One of the best wines I’ve ever had the pleasure to taste came surprisingly from a small nomadic tribe on the edge of the Deadzone in Duhnovo. They claimed that their recipe was passed down from an ancient family that once resided where the Deadzone had overtaken.’’' Quyon paused for a moment upon seeing that.

She quickly continued in a more excited tone. “‘I asked many times, yet they refused to tell me what family it was each time. The only information I was able to acquire was that they were one of the few that were blessed by a Totem named Inzoga, the reigning totem of alcohol.’” She let out a small sigh of disappointment seeing that there was nothing concrete.

“It’s a start. The book is only from 22 years ago so they should still be around. If we look for a nomadic tribe blessed by Inzoga we might be able to find them and get some more clues.” Ilon reassured her.

“It’ll have to do.” Quyon nodded. “It’s already this late?” She said as she looked outside the window. The sun had already set and the moon was high in the sky.

“We should go. It’s also probably close to closing time.” Ilon said as they started to place the books back where they belonged.

Ilon and Quyon exited the library just in time as moments after they heard the calls for closing time.

“Thanks for the help.” Ilon stretched, trying to get rid of the stiffness of sitting for hours upon hours.

Quyon shook her head, “You’re welcome, but I was also curious. Besides, isn’t family meant to help each other out?

Ilon couldn’t help but smile. “That’s true. Shall we go? I hope Cudlin has some food left.” They had been in there so long that they had missed supper.

“You want to bet on it?” Quyon asked with a devious smile.

“Against you? I’m not that foolish.” Ilon started to walk, ignoring the jeers trying to egg him on. She stopped fairly quickly after seeing they had no effect and joined him in walking back.

They got some food from a place that was luckily still open. Quyon had told him that Cudlin would be out for the night and suggested that they eat elsewhere, meaning he would have lost the bet if he had taken her up on it.

They reached the inn with no troubles and split off to their own rooms.

Once Ilon got inside he flopped down on the bed. So much had happened in the past tenday that it was difficult to sort through it all. He had reunited with Quyon and Maymun, had witnessed people eating eachother, had fought two Horrors, witnessed a town civil war, and experienced someone attempting to make an artificial Horror.

He was glad that this was the last night they would be staying, yet at the same time depressed as it would be the last night with a bed for a while.

With those thoughts swirling around his head he fell asleep.

Ilon woke up bright and early and packed the remainder of his things. He left the room and noticed that the door to Quyon and Maymun’s room was open. He poked his head inside and noticed that it was already empty.

He headed downstairs and saw them with several packs at the front desk talking with Cudlin.

“You’re finally awake.” Maymun said when she noticed him walking over.

“I thought I was going to be the first one awake.” Usually they took their time in the mornings. “You’ve already taken care of everything?” He wanted to help with the packing, but it seemed that they were far more prepared than he was.

“You two took way too long yesterday and I had nothing to do, so I decided to pack.” Maymun had a smug grin that shouted ‘praise me’.

Ilon patted her on the side of her shoulder. “Good job Melon!” He teasingly called her by Kachuk’s nickname that she detested.

Surprisingly she didn’t freak out at the mention of it. “If you get to call me that, then I’ll call you by your nickname, okay? Third wh-.”

“Sorry, I won’t do it again.” Ilon instantly interrupted her.

“Stop playing around you two. We’re leaving.” Quyon called them out.

Ilon and Maymun walked over to Quyon at the front desk. “Thanks for everything Cudlin.” Ilon said when he reached there.

“I should be saying that to you. You’re the one that saved my life afterall.” Cudlin had a big grin on his face. The bags under his eyes seemed to be much less than before, but his rapid weight loss was still obvious.

“Is it true you’re moving out of Mazual?” Ilon would be glad if that was the case. He liked the man before him and didn’t want to see him getting caught up early in the potential war.

“Yeah. I won’t be able to protect my family if I stay here.” Cudlin spoke in a tense voice.

Ilon returned Cudlin’s previous grin, “A commendable choice. I don’t know if we’ll ever see each other again, but I wish you a good life either way.”

“Thank you once again. May your journeys be blessed.” Cudlin gave a farewell that was used amongst warriors that were close with each other.

“I’d love to chat more but it seems Quyon’s getting impatient. Give my farewells to Fessal and Isoko.” He gestured to Quyon who had already gathered her portion of the packs and was ready to leave.

“I’ll pass them along. Get going then.” Cudlin said as his grin returned.

Ilon ran over and collected his portion of the packs. “We have everything?”

“Just waiting on you.” Maymun teased.

“Ready to go?” Quyon asked. Seeing Ilon and Maymun nod, she strode out the door. “Then, let’s get going.”

Ilon and Maymun followed after her. Once outside Ilon gave the inn one last look before continuing on.

“To the Capital.” He whispered to himself.

- End of Arc 1 -