Cleo sat still, armor stripped off, wincing as Durrus applied alcohol to her wound. Horrus sat on the opposite side of the room, hands wrapped around his legs, still clutching tightly to his axes. After disinfecting the wound, Durrus quickly wrapped up her shoulder in bandages.

“This ain’t your dominant arm, right?”

“Thankfully, no.” She ran her hand across her bandaged shoulder. “Although it’s going to make using that rifle a bit more of a pain.”

“I’d recommend against that, and have Caelos take care of anything that we need to take out at a distance, all right? Give that wound a few days of rest at most so you can at least start healing.”

“Speaking of Caelos, actually…” She used her good arm to help climb back up to her feed. Walking out the door, she caught sight of the root staff sticking out of the sands, lit up by the waning moonlight. She made her way over and plucked it out of the ground, returning to the house.

“I had a hunch that Curi wouldn’t have been kidnapped too far if she still had Caelos, but I’m afraid not.” She sat down against one of the walls.

“Well, are you going to break the news to her?”

“What now?”’

“She needs to know what happened to Curi as soon as possible. We’re going to need her to rescue her. That, and she is also kind of our only source of water right now as well.”

“All right.” She held the staff out in front of her. “Caelos? Caelos can you hear me? We need to speak with you.”

Silence from the staff.

“Caelos please, it’s important. We really need your help.”

Still no response.

“Do you think she’ll only listen to Curi?”

Annoyance built up over Durrus’s face.

“I’m sorry, we don’t have time for this!”

He swiped the staff from her hand.

“Listen up Caelos, are you going to keep moping around like this, or are you going to sit around wherever you are and let us all die? We need your help NOW!”

A white flash encompassed the room, Caelos appeared with a similar amount of annoyance painted on her face.

“After working selflessly for you for days on end, you dare imply I would let you all die?”

“Considering your moping nearly got us all killed, of course I’m implying that!”

“And what exactly do you mean?”

Cleo suddenly walked between the two.

“Please, calm down you two, we need to focus. You didn’t call out Caelos to scold her, right?”

Durrus paused before taking a deep breath.

“Yeah, you’re right. Well Caelos, Curi’s been kidnapped.”

“S-she’s gone?”

“Likely still alive. We were attacked by bandits, they kidnapped her and tried to kill the rest of us-”

Horrus suddenly shot up, tears streaming down his face.

“They didn’t fight hard enough, they let them get away with her!”

The two suddenly stared daggers at him, while a sullen look grew on Caelos’s face. Cleo marched towards him.

“Oh WE let her get away now, is that right? Sorry, I didn’t know that cowering in the corner slowed down those bandits!”

“Honestly kid, I respect your combat abilities, but now is not the time to be slinging crap like that. The hell is up with you?”

“Boo hoo, look at me! I’m so brave and strong and skilled that I’ll let murderers kill me with no fight!”

“Kid, come on, you’re skilled enough. Seriously, you could have dealt with a few of the men here easily and let Cleo get a good shot on Curi’s captors.

More and more tears poured from his eyes.

“I don’t wanna kill them! I don’t wanna be a monster!”

Cleo got closer into his face.

“As I said before, boo hoo! You’re the monster here for not doing anything for Curi!”

“Cleo, please, that is not necessary…”

She turned to face Caelos.

“I was there with Horrus as he and Curi grew up together, please calm down with him. You’re dragging out memories that are best left in the past.”

She looked back to Horrus, who was now sobbing continuously.

“You’re not the first to call him a monster you know. Everyone else his age treated him like he was one, all except for Curi.”

“Well considering his attitude, no wonder why nobody liked him.”

Durrus put an arm on Cleo’s shoulder.

“I’m willing to bet there’s much more to it than it seems.”

He sat himself down next to Horrus, placing a hand on his back.

“How about this: Why do you think killing another person, even scum like those bandits, would make you a monster?”

“O-only monsters k-kill other p-people. I-I only hunt… I only hunt a-animals.”

He continued silently sobbing into his hands. Cleo sighed.

“This is a waste of time, we need to get to Curi as soon as possible!”

“Cleo, this might end up better for all of us. We can’t just leave Horrus here alone either. Now then.” He turned to Horrus. “You still haven’t answered me: Why do you believe that to be true?”

“W-when I was younger… I-I was still a great hunter then as well…” He rubbed tears out of his eyes. “Only my dad recognized that fact though… Everyone else said I was a monster… that someday I would kill them all… I don’t kill humans, I’m not a monster! I don’t…”

“That’s odd to hear. At your age I’d probably be jealous of your combat prowess.”

“Nobody loved me, nobody respected me!”

“That ain’t all wrong you know. Remember when I said I was discharged from the military and forced to live on the streets? How nobody respected me? I exaggerated a bit there. ALMOST nobody respected me. My salvation mostly was thanks to the fact that the Tortoise Mercenaries were hired for a local job, and I managed to prove myself to em, and dear god did I make some memorable allies there. The meaning of this? Don’t let a few pieces of crap hold you down and define your life. Find those who respect you for the good you can do and stick close to em. Honestly, if I let all the insults that were slung at me get to me, I’d be hanging from the rafters by my own hand, no doubt.”

“People who respect me… That would be Curi… and… My father…”

Suddenly he broke into tears again.

“Hey hey, what’s wrong now?”

“I left him… I ran away from him…”

“Well I knew that obviously, but why?”

“My father wanted me to join the military a week before I left… He said I’d do great and easily climb the ranks… I called him stupid for it!” He dropped his head into his hands, sobbing profusely. “He taught me everything I knew and I just called him stupid and left! I’m the one who’s stupid… Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

“Sheesh kid…”

Cleo walked over and crouched near him.

“You know, I may not act like it, but me growing up wasn’t all perfect either. My father taught me everything I knew as well, but I kinda had to fight for it. He didn’t think I was capable enough to be a soldier for Naha’Ja, I constantly yelled at him, he yelled back… But no matter what, we were still able to make amends. If throughout all that insult slinging you went through he still loved you, I’m betting he’s still waiting for you to come back and say you’re sorry.”

He looked up at her, his face tearstained and with a hint of annoyance.

“I don’t want to admit you’re probably right but… I hope you are…”

“And reminder, that other person who still cares for you? She’s kinda kidnapped by a bunch of bandits.”

He stared at the floor.

“I don’t know… It still feels… wrong if I killed somebody…”

Durrus patted him on the back.

“Remember, don’t let scum drag you down. This is about saving somebody who cares about you.”

He sniffled. “R-right. Just give me some time…”

With an electric buzz and a clang, a mechanical door rose up, revealing a small storage-closet sized room. Curi was literally thrown in there, crashing onto the floor, as the door slammed back into the ground. She rubbed her head, then got up to her feet. Thankfully, the room was lit up by a brighter version of the original green lamps she saw in previous compounds. They revealed a compact room which consisted of nothing more than a few shelves loaded with empty containers and scrap. It was then she suddenly realized: She was in nothing but her sleeping garments, and her root staff was nowhere. She quickly realized that perhaps the bandits stripped her of her cloak, her rapier, all of her charts, and possibly took Caelos from her as well. She charged towards the door and started banging on it.

“Caelos? Caelos please are you there? Caelos!”

She still wailed on the door.

“Cleo? Durrus? Horrus? Help me! Caelos please help!”

Suddenly another stronger bang came from the other side of the door.

“Quiet! All of your friends are dead anyways. If you stay silent, maybe we’ll make your time in there a bit easier!”

She suddenly jolted back from the door. Tears slowly built up in her eyes as she fell to her knees.

“N-no…” she muttered.

She had no idea where Caelos could be, she obviously couldn’t be dead, but the others? What if they were overwhelmed? There were a lot of them that she remembered, and perhaps many more inside the compound. They also had those strange weapons. Could they seriously be dead? Like a looming dark cloud, tears finally broke free from her eyes and streamed nearly endlessly down as she sobbed and sobbed. Her sobbing turned into full out bawling as every gruesome possibility that could have happened to her friends slammed into her mind. This was where this grand fun adventure would finally end, she thought. Locked away in a dungeon with all of her heroes dead. She collapsed onto the floor, crying harder and harder. Suddenly another loud bang on the door: “Shut the hell up kid!” There she lied, silent, but tears still streaming down her face, every awful thought still bouncing around in her head. Suddenly, a new memory breached the cloud of negativity in her mind: It was of her and Durrus, back at Louiseville. She remembered he had warned him about this possibility, but more importantly, how he said she had to be prepared for any problem. Another thought breached her mind: Would Cleo just sit around and cry and do nothing? She rubbed the tears from her eyes and crept up to her feet, still sniffling. She remembered how talented of a fighter Cleo and Horrus were. A bunch of bandits couldn’t best them, right? They had to still be alive, right? What if they thought she was dead? Then she had to get out on her own right? That’s what Durrus would do, be prepared for anything? At this point Cleo would cheer her up. That last hint of resolve in her muddled mind told her she had to find a way out. She sniffled and rubbed her eyes again. There was nothing she could do if those bandits were still watching, they’d just throw her back in. She put her ear up against the door and could make out the voices of some of them.

“…why exactly did we have to kidnap this kid?” spoke a deep scratchy voice.

“How about this: Why would anyone take a child this deep into a hellhole like Chidetah?” Spoke a raspy voice. “She’s worth something obviously. You still haven’t heard, have you, Who this child is?”

“What’s so special about her?”

“We went through her cloak and belongings, and one of the men from Rexius recognized a sigil on some of her papers. She’s a noble, a noble from House Avitum. This is probably a privately funded expedition.”

Curi gasped.

“What’s to say she didn’t steal those documents?”

“Again, why did they bring a child out here? Perhaps she wanted to tag along and her crap parents let her. It’s the only real explanation.”

“I guess you do have a point. So, how much we ransoming her for?”

“Now you’re thinking properly. It’s a simple plan: We ransom her for enough gold to buy us all an estate somewhere in Rexius. I doubt they’d turn us over to Naha’Jan authorities anyways. We set up in that estate, recruit some more manpower, have Fulgous provide us with more weaponry, and soon we’ll be strong enough to rival the rest of the noble powers. Maybe even get a few of those rotten nobles to surrender to us.”

“And then?”

“I don’t know, who cares? We’ll be filthy rich and near uncontestable in terms of power. What more could a man want?”

“You’ve told the other men this plan, right?”

“Tonight, actually.We’re having a feast tonight, and I’ll announce it then. After that, we’ll make our move towards Rexius in the morning.”

Suddenly more footsteps arrived.

“Uh, sir, the four we had try to attack those other adventurers haven’t returned at all. Should we assume the worst?”

“Hmm… I guess I should have sent a few more men. Well, we all know where they’re coming, right? I say we prepare a good surprise for them. Rally everyone to hide near the entrance. We’ll kill them all before they even have a chance!”

“Yes sir!”

A collection of footsteps began to move away.

“Hold on, you stay here and keep the kid in her place, got it?”

“Ugh, fine.”

The footsteps began marching again until they left earshot. Just one bad guy, Curi thought to herself. Just do what Cleo does and she can take care of him easily. The only issue was getting the door open.

Horrus still sat in the corner, his tear-stained face staring off at the wall, with Durrus sitting next to him with a hand on his shoulder. Caelos watched sullenly over the two as Cleo investigated the bodies of their assailants. Her eyes were focused on the hand of one of the corpses, gripping tightly onto the still-glowing sword. She turned his hand around, breaking the sword free from his grip, picking it up and swinging it about in the air. She thrust it into the wall, surprised as it burned clean through the stone. She pulled it out and turned to another one of the corpses gripping onto another strange sword. She quickly swung hers down onto his, both swords suddenly shattering each other upon contact. As shards of metal flew about, the swords lost their strange glow, revealing them to now be broken kilijes. She cocked her eyes at them, taking a closer look at the hilt of the blades, finding the all too familiar tree insignia carved into the handles. She turned to the other two.

“They’re using stolen Naha’Jan Equipment! You don’t think they could have been responsible for the disappearance of the first expedition team, right?”

“Or they could just be bandits from Naha’Ja. These wastes are right at your borders, right? Easy way for them to escape.”

She walked over and grabbed a blade and scabbard from the last of the bandits, sheathing it.

“Either way, they’re parasitic scum to Naha’Ja. Maybe they attack borderside traders?”

“No use thinking about it at this point.”

“Well if there’s one thing that’s worth thinking about, it’s how they well… Survived, you know? I really doubt they ate only water-worms.”

“Maybe we’ll figure it out when we deal with them.”

Caelos hovered down between the two.

“I do not think I understand yet. Why exactly did they take Curi away? Why are they scum?”

Durrus turned towards her.

“Firstly, no real idea. Ransom? Pleasure? Slavery?”

“S-Slavery? Why would they have a child do work?”

“Caelos… Is this your first time outside of Curi’s estate?”

“I’ve traveled out to the town with Curi and her parents, without them knowing of course… so no.”

“Well to answer the scum question as well, some people like bandits like to kidnap the young or those who can’t defend themselves and put them to work because they’re easy to contro-”

“ExCUSE ME?”

The walls shook with her fury.

“We must go, now! There is no way I will let them harm her like that!”

“Well um… Yeah all right, just please be careful with your powers all right? Just let me grab a new scutum from the wagon. My old one was destroyed.”

He picked up the staff and marched out of the house, Caelos following along. Cleo tied the scabbard to her belt, looking over at Horrus.

“You still doing okay?”

“I’m fine, please.”

She huffed.

“Despite all that you’re still gonna keep that attitude, huh?”

“I said I’m fine, I’ll be up soon.”

“But will you be willing to fight?”

He went silent.

“If you’re lucky, Caelos might just deal with all of the bandits before we have a chance to even act.”

“All right.”

She walked over and sat next to him.

“Since you care about him so much… What do you think your father would think of you? Dealing with child-slaving bandits?”

Still silence. He looked up.

“I dunno. Maybe happy I’d be open to joining the military?”

“Maybe happy is a bit of an understatement! It’s not every day somebody gets a chance to show themselves off as a hero, you know?”

“A hero?”

“There have been multitudes of rumors about bandits from Chidetah attacking traders close to the borders, ruining several lives and businesses, and here you are at their doorsteps.”

“So?”

“So? People call you an evil murderer right?”

He punched her on the arm, a tear rolling down his cheek.

“This is your chance to prove to them that you can do something good, right?”

“I… I guess?”

“You can go home and yell to all those kids ‘Hey, I stopped an infamous group of bandits plaguing us for decades, and what did you do?’”

He turned his head to the floor, smiling.

“I see that smile of yours! This is your chance to prove yourself, that you’re a good person… In actions at least.”

“What does that mean…”

“It means, you gotta prove all those others wrong. You up to go hunt some bandit scum?”

He gulped and slowly stood to his feet.

“I’ll at least try! Than-… I’ll try.”

He hurried out the door with axes in hand. Cleo smiled to herself and stood up as well.

“Guess there is a bit of hope for him…”

With a sharpened flat-headed metal pole in her hand, Curi slowly and carefully fitted it in the crack under the door. She silently pressed down on the bar, finding the door rising up surprisingly easily. With the small amount it rose up, she reached under, pushing up the door altogether. She looked around finding herself in a room full of lockers, lit with the same lighting as her room. Near the exit sat one of the bandits, who had dozed off and fell asleep upright. She silently moved the pole across the ground, and lowered the door to the ground, letting it quietly touch the ground. She snuck close to the bandit, looking him over. Maybe I should just sneak past him? He’d figure I was gone though, should I knock him out? I don’t think I’m strong enough. Maybe I should take his sword, just to be safe. She reached out her free hand for it, grabbing the hilt of the blade. She tugged at it, finding it snugly tucked away in the scabbard. She tugged harder, harder, and then harder. The man jolted awake, causing Curi to lurch back, yanking a blade crackling with power out. She quickly returned to her feet and scurried back as the man approached, holding out his hand.

“Look here girl, just give the blade back, get back into your room, and everything will be fine, all right?”

She backed against the wall, holding the blade in front of her as he approached.

“Stay back!”

“No, you need to give my blade back! Give it back nicely and I promise we’ll forget all about this!”

“No!”

She closed her eyes and lurched forward, hearing a wet slicing noise. She opened her eyes, looking into the now-dead stare of the bandit, mouth gaping wide open. She looked down, noticing the blade had cleanly entered his stomach, blood staining his clothes around the wound. She screamed and lurched out the blood-stained blade. She dropped the blade, clanging of metal reverberating through the room as the man slumped over onto the ground, a small pool of blood beginning to pour from his stomach. Unable to tear her eyes from the sight, she fell to her knees as more tears began to pour from her eyes. She retched and gagged, trying to keep her dinner in her stomach. She feel down to her arms, sobbing even more and even more. Several minutes passed before she came back to her senses, tears clearing from her eyes and the body coming back into focus.

He was just a bad guy, a villain, it’s all right.”

She shakily stood up, gripping tightly onto the crackling blade. She took slow, shaky steps out of the room and into a well-lit corridor.