Chris woke up early, he knew because the sun was still rising. He looked around, and saw that Anisa was not there, he guessed she was still sleeping. He remembered Anisa telling him that Darius will be arriving in the morning, but he didn't see him around as well.

So he sat there, watching the trees and the stream passing in front. He could hear the morning birds' calls, there was a coolness in the wind which delicately kept kissing his skin. The dark and hidden spots in the forest were disappearing with the sun coming out.

Everything felt in the right place, he felt peaceful, something he felt rare in this world.

He recollected his life from the mansion to now, thinking of Sarah and Ignatius, not much of William who didn't even show himself on the day he left. He missed the mansion and the estate, he missed wandering through them, teasing the servants, the young maids would always blush when he spoke to them, a part of him missed that life.

He didn't regret leaving the mansion though, traveling through the kingdom he saw things he never imagined, the people the places, there was so much to take in.

He missed Roger and Larka, he missed her, the first friend he ever made in this world, he missed how she followed him everywhere, he really hoped she is ok somewhere.

He felt guilty that he missed Eva so rarely, it's been more than five years since he had her memory. Everything about her remains a mystery. He feared that she was fading away.

But it's the last few days which have been the most eventful, the spar with Terran, Roger and Terran's fight, the journey through the no race zone, the attack, Toor's Betrayal, meeting Darius and Anisa, and how she introduced him to the "Laubek Lizard" he still got shivers thinking about it.

He liked her, she was different, especially when it comes to her devotion to her brother, her love felt pure, not obsessive. She knew more than she showed.

Meeting them also made him realise that there were others as powerless as him. Seeing them live their life he realised even the weak can survive as long as they don't give up. He wanted to learn from them this spirit of theirs.

He suddenly caught a movement and saw Darius coming out from the forest, he saw Chris and started waving his hand. He got up to meet him.

Darius came closer and greeted Chris "How are you, Philip?"

Chris replied, "Hey Darius, I am well, how was your trip?"

"It was good, where is Anis..." he trailed off and looked at the egg which was kept nearby. His expression started to change.

"Where is Anisa, what is the meaning of this?" he was breathing heavily.

Chris was puzzled, he looked at the egg and spoke "That's a funny story Darius, we went into the forest yesterday..."

Darius grabbed Chris's neck, his eyes were red. Chris started choking.

"Brother let him go," Anisa shouted while rushing towards him.

Darius let go of Chris, who fell on the ground holding his neck.

"What are you doing brother, why are you hurting Philip?"

"Why is a Laubek egg here, are you okay, are you injured?"

Chris recollected himself "What was that strength?"

Anisa explained the whole story to him from yesterday. Darius sat and listened. Chris noticed that she skipped the part of entering the Anabastha forest and lied about how they escaped. Chris kept silent.

After finishing the story, Darius kept looking at Anisa, patting her head, and spoke.

"You silly girl, next time don't do something so dangerous ok?" She nodded at him.

But he didn't look at Chris, who expected an apology, but none came.

There was an eery silence after that, Darius kept to himself, Chris didn't bother talking to him. Anisa tried cooling things down, she even apologised for her brother, but It didn't go through Chris's head, he was angry at Darius for acting like that and even after hearing the whole thing, he refused to apologise.

Chris wanted to ask Darius about the village, but with the current situation, he couldn't. So he did the only thing he could do, he sat there.

--------

After a while he noticed Anisa and Darius inspecting the egg and talking to each other, but he couldn't hear them. Once they were done, Darius came to him and spoke "Let's go for a hunt Philip."

Anisa stood behind Darius and started making pleading signs to say yes to him.

He looked at her and thought again "she is crazy!" and gave in to her silent pleading and said yes.

------

They both went into the forest carrying their spears and a sack, Anisa stayed behind saying she has something to do. The silence between them continued. A distance into the trail he noticed that they were taking the same path he and Anisa had taken yesterday. Chris worried if they were going to the nest again and if Darius wanted to get rid of him? He made his resolve that he will not fall for the same trick as Toor pulled on him.

To Chris's relief after a while, Darius took a different path.

After moving some distance, they reached an area with a surface made of hard rock, and in the middle of it, there were some dark grey-colored structures. They were shaped like towers, with the tallest one at least twenty feet high. They had numerous holes in them with some insect-like creatures inhabiting them. They were almost as big as his hands.

Chris didn't understand what he and Darius were doing here.

Darius opened the sack he carried, and said "They are "Rocha Termites" we need a sack full of them."

"Huh? There is no way I am eating those," he thought to himself.

Taking Chris's silence as yes, Darius spoke, "I am going to attack the mound, and use my magic to keep them focused on me, they will start attacking me. Use that opportunity to kill the ones which are not attacking me, we need them, they will look different."

"But you will get hurt, it's too risky," Chris replied.

"I am a beastman, I have ways to protect myself from insects."

He didn't ask much and nodded. He got the sack ready.

Darius turned his eyes red and started hitting the mound with his spear, it was not easy to break the mound or even crack it, he had to put a lot of effort into it, eventually, he made a crack, the termites reacted to the disturbance and started crawling out, some started attacking Darius.

Chris noticed the ones attacking him were different they were bigger, darker, and had two extensions that looked like jaws. The others which were not attacking were pure white. Worrying that Darius cannot prevent the attacks long, he kept aside his remorse towards killing and used his spear to pierce the white termites while simultaneously filling the sack.

After a while Darius spoke "Philip I can't hold much longer, are we done?"

Chris who had just finished filling the sack gave him the cue.

Darius rushed towards him, they both held the sack and ran like their life depended on it. The insects didn't chase them beyond the rock surface.

After running a while they stopped to catch their breath. They were silent again.

Then Darius spoke "If you are expecting an apology, I won't Philip, what you did was wrong, I trusted you to keep her safe, she is younger than you, she doesn't know what is right and wrong, as elders we must make the decision for them, I trusted you, Philip. What if the lizard had caught up? What if something had happened to her?"

Chris didn't respond, he watched Darius' expression and he knew he won't listen to whatever he had to say.

"She is everything to me, Philip, I must protect her no matter what."

He stopped speaking, Chris matched it with his own silence.

After a while, Chris spoke, "I won't apologise either Darius, neither will I try defending myself, I have only one thing to tell you, you should have more faith in your sister, she is not someone who doesn't know what is right and wrong."

With that, he got up and lifted the sack by himself, and walked towards the hut. While walking he asked himself "Why did I defend that crazy girl? she could have actually killed us yesterday."

They reached to see Anisa preparing something on the fire. She had a big smile on her face seeing them emerge from the forest.

Anisa had stayed so that she can make the stew, it was made from the forest herb she had collected and the remaining pork meat. Chris's taste buds exploded after tasting it. It was delicious.

He knew why she did it, it was to reconcile things between the three of them, mainly him and Darius and from the looks of it, it did the trick. Darius didn't have his hard expression anymore.

Anisa kept talking nonstop, eventually, Darius and Chris had to join in just to make her stop. They sat there late in the night laughing and talking, like three long-lost friends.

-------

The next day Anisa told him the purpose of raiding the "Rocha Termites" nest, and to Chris's relief, they were not going to eat it. The Laubek lizard's eggs were hunted for their toughness, true to their name it was not easy to break, conventional methods won't work.

So they had to use the same method the lizard used to crack open them. While the eggs are about to hatch, the lizard will attack the "Rocha Termites" nest and eat the white ones they just captured.

It was because the "Rocha Termites" make their nests under hard rock surfaces and the white ones secrete an acid that can melt rocks turning them into mounds like the one they saw earlier, the lizards after consuming them would regurgitate it on the eggs, making them softer and easy for the baby lizards to break them from the inside.

They were going to do exactly the same, they would squash the insects together until they turn into a liquid mix. They will then pour it on the egg in a way to get pieces of armor in different shapes. Those pieces will be merged to make the armor. The whole process will take a month to finish.

The armor once made can be used to protect oneself from all major attacks, though it is not strong as the scales of the lizard it is still considered of high value.

------

Chris asked Darius about the village and how he can go there. Darius told him that the village was a dangerous place. It consisted mostly of beastmen from the saugetier tribe who escaped the onslaught of the other two tribes. They will not take kindly to a human and especially one who looked well off like Chris.

He was feeling indecisive, he knew he cant stay with Anisa and Darius for long, he needed to move, he needed to find Roger. Chris knew he was alive and looking for him.

"Why don't you stay with us, Philip?" Both Darius and Chris turned to look at Anisa.

"But I can't Anisa, I need to go, I am sure there are people looking for me," Chris replied.

"But you are safe here Philip, we can all live together here, we don't need anyone else, we can all take care of each other, tell him brother he can stay."

Darius after pausing for a moment spoke: "It's not our decision to take Anisa, Chris has to take that decision, he is right, there are people looking for him, unlike us he has a family to go back to."

His last words hit her hard. She stood there and unable to hold her tears rushed into the forest. It was the first time Chris saw her cry.

Darius and Chris stood there.

"I will speak to her Philip, I will make her understand," Darius said and went after her.

Chris nodded, but Anisa's words asking him to stay, stayed with him, he felt conflicted.

For the first time in his life, he was surrounded by people like him. "Why should I go back? What is out there for me? Will it really matter if I didn't go back?"

-----

Later they spoke and decided that after a month once the armor was ready, Darius will guide Chris halfway to the clan outpost and from there he can travel on his own. Anisa didn't say anything.

Chris thought about leaving in a month and maybe ending up meeting Roger in the outpost. He thought of finally reaching the village.

He also wished that the month's end didn't come.