A loud knock came from the wooden door, startling Shani. Regaining her sense of awareness, she instantaneously hid under the bed next to the entrance, making sure the blankets covered the gap between the bed and floor. A voice pierced through the door, ordering for someone to open the room. Feeling a tightness within himself, Sebastian faltered as he reached for the knob. The knocking persisted once more. Not wanting to keep them waiting, Sebastian turned the handle, uncertain if this was the best idea.

Three guards in wrinkled light guard uniforms stood looking unprofessional while giving off an intimidating presence from the past guards he’s encountered before, most notable the man in the middle. The short man wore a vertical scar from the right side of his lips, almost reaching his small eye. His greasy dark hair peeked from underneath his sturdy helmet covering the top of his head down to his nose. Connected to the back of his headgear, two plates enveloped his cheeks, leaving his chin visible followed by a sinister grin. On his hip, two one-handed swords dangled in their brown sheaths.

“May we come in fhr a bit?” His accent filled with musical intonations danced into Sebastian’s ears with an icy sting. Without another word, he along with his men forced themselves through Sebastian until he noticed Aiden blocking his way with his robust torso. The man’s eyes widened looking up at him, “Is dat you Aiden? It’s been years! How have you been old friend?”

Scoffing, Aiden’s upper lip raised on one side, looking the most furious any of the group had seen him be to that point, “I’m not yer friend, Sephtis. Not efter whit ye did to me.”

“Aw come on, laddie! It was eider me or you, and I knew you’d take wan fhr de team.” Sephtis’s cackle cut through the air, digging its way deep into everyone’s mind. Settling down, he continued, “Anyway, I’m not 'ere fhr you, but it’s nice to see you playeng along with others.” As he spoke his sentence, Sephtis glanced toward the rest of the group, ominously smirking at every one of them, “Who are dey, by de way, your new friends?”

As Sebastian was about to answer, Aiden interfered, “They're wi' me, aye 'n' from whit I’ve seen, they would never betray me as ye did to me.”

“Oh, please -” Pushing his way past Aiden with the help of the other two guards, Sephtis’s group began to search the room, “- water under de bridge, move on, will you?”

Remembering how Shani tends to hide from guards, Sebastian tilted his head at Aiden to the bed where she was under. One of his large eyebrows raised in question to Sebastian’s gesture. It hit Aiden within a second to understand and moved himself in front of it before Sephtis reached Shani.

Looking at Aiden’s feet, Sephtis let out a small chuckle through his teeth, “Do you mind?”

Standing tall with his chest puffed out, Aiden stared at Sephtis, “I do. Whit exactly are ye looking fur?”

“If you must know; I’ve gotten reports av sightings av a girl in town; dark skin, wearing 'eadwrappengs av some kind, and carrying two swords. Have you by any chance seen 'er?”

Now with concrete evidence they were searching for Shani, Aiden didn’t let up, “Na, she isn’t ‘ere as ye can see. She may have left toun already, so why don’t ye ‘n’ yer men get oot of our room before ah batter yer head in?”

A devilish giggle escaped from Sephtis, “You don’t want to do this.” Reaching for his weapons, he looked up straight into Aiden’s eyes towering above him.

“Oh, trust me -” One of Aiden’s hands reached behind his back, grasping the grip of his new war hammer, “- ah do.”

The atmosphere in the room changed heavily; Sebastian’s hand trembled while holding the handle of his katana. The two other guards had their armored hands on their own weapon, and Nia stepped back with her back against a corner with no way to reach her bow. Feeling the weight of the situation, Nia knew that if anything happened, there would be no way for her to help in such an enclosed place even if she had her weapon. The best option she had was to stay away from all the fighting if it broke out so she would not get in their way.

Scouting the environment, Sephtis noticed all who had a weapon ready to attack. Thinking more about the position he was in now, he retracted his hands from his swords as he smiled, closing his eyes, “'ey 'ey now, let’s not cause any trouble fhr de innkeeper.” His hand softly patted the blankets on the bed while he kept his eyes beaming at Aiden, “These sheets must be a pain to clean, wouldn’t wanna spill de blood av my former friend 'ere.” Backing away from the bed, Sephtis snapped his fingers at his men, making them retreat their hand away from the handles of their weapon and move back to the front of the doorway. Once Sephtis joined them, he turned back to Aiden who had not moved an inch, “You best not get in my way again, Aiden, or you’ll regret it.” Then with a mocking tone, he continued, “You wouldn’t want your old mahm and dad to know where you are.” Laughing under his breath, he left the doorway with his men, leaving the ghost of his laughter in the room.

As the severity dwindled down, Sebastian noticed he was holding his breath during the confrontation and inhaled air deep into his lungs. Nia was completely paralyzed in the corner, her eyes wide open and her skin prickling in fear. Deflating his chest, Aiden released a brief sigh, finally being able to calm down from his vengeful frame of mind.

Sebastian decided best to close the door, but as he did, Camila’s door opened and let herself in their room as if she had her belongings in it. Behind her, she closed the door with one of her hands while entering, “So, was that really Sephtis?”

Judging from her voice, Sebastian recognized her anger was increasing by the second, “It sure seemed that way. Was it him, Aiden?”

Aiden let out his words with a soft sadness in them, remembering what Sephtis said, “Aye, 'twas.”

“And we’re just gonna let him get away?! We should go and kill him right now!”

“And then what? To you, it seems so simple, but to everyone witnessing it, they’ll think you just killed a soldier and they’ll want your head on a pike.” Sebastian lashed out due to her reckless behavior, “I was ready to fight, everyone had their hand ready to start the attack, but for some reason or another... he retreated -” Turning his head to Aiden, still processing everything, he asked, “- why did he?”

Shaking his head to come back to the world, Aiden sat on the bed he was protecting, “He saw that he would have bin overpowered. I know fur a nice fact he tends to fight by outnumbering his opponents ‘n’ letting his underlings do all th’ wirk.” Scoffing, Aiden spit out, “He’s a coward.”

From under the bed, the sheets covering the bottom of the bed raised up, followed by Shani crawling out. Once she was standing up, she dusted herself off from the dirty floor, “I-I don’t know how to thank you, you all saved my life.”

Recalling the argument, Camila approached her snorting, “Well for starters, why was he looking for you?”

Falling back into a rock and a hard place, Shani let up what she experienced, “It w-wasn’t too long ago that I witnessed him and his men… raid a village north of here.”

“A village that’s…” Like a mallet hitting a large bell, Camila rapidly turned around and grabbed the knob on the door.

Sebastian leaped between her and the door, using all of his libs to push against opening it, “Camila, don’t!”

She could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears, rage consuming her, “Get the hell out of the way! Voy a matar ese hijo de su madre!” Camila grabbed Sebastian’s arm and used all her strength to pull him away, causing him to fall onto the floor.

Standing up swiftly, Sebastian tackled her against the door. Struggling against him, he pinned her the best he could, but her stamina was higher than his own, “Stop! Do you have any idea what will happen if you go out there now!? He will kill you too!”

“So what!? He killed my parents! I want revenge for what he did!”

She was beginning to get the best of him, so with what little power he had left, he pushed harder, “Think about the people here! He may have his men lurking around and you’ll be putting innocent people at risk! Do you want their blood on your conscience just so you could have a chance to kill him?!”

Knowing Sebastian was right, she clenched her teeth, abruptly letting him win, causing a loud bang on the door. She took a second to breathe, “Fine… you win, now get off of me.”

Sebastian didn’t take pleasure in this, but he was glad she would not do anything hasty, “Thank you, and for the record -” He let her go and backed off, “- I know I speak for everyone here when I say we are all just as mad as you are.”

“If you are -” Shoving Sebastian back, she opened the door, “- then don’t stop me next time.”

Camila slammed the door behind her. Coming out of her state of shock, Nia settled down on the bed, “Piecing everything together, this must mean that… he’s in charge of the group that raided our village.”

Sitting on the bed across from Nia, Shani spoke up, “F-From what I heard when I saw it happened, they call themselves The Whisper.”

“So he’s the one in charge of them…” The name stabbed Sebastian in the heart. He had to find his family before any more harm came onto them. Yearning to see them again, a tear dropped from his cheek, his vindictive pumping the fires of his flames.

The room stayed silent for a while, each not knowing what to say. After time had passed, Nia broke the ice by commenting on what else they may need to cross the lake. Aiden was out of the loop so Sebastian told him they were going to the middle of the lake to help Shani find something, and after that, their next destination was Mt. Elra. Not wanting to stay in the same town as Sephtis, Aiden asked if he could come along with them. Sebastian, surprised he would wish to join them, agreed, although he noticed why he would want to accompany the group to the highest peak in Nuria, and he didn’t blame him. Once a small list had been written down of the things they might need, all four of them headed to sleep. The following day would be long.