{-Llewel-}

Their wandering was filled in idle chatter, whatever spoken between them simply meant to fill in the silence. The location on the map was rather far from the city despite being a quest given in it, though it still wasn’t that hard once they got close enough. Xiu Mei really hadn’t been exaggerating when she said they could simply follow the trail of destruction. It was obvious where the beast was… and it was clearer that no one else had attempted to get rid of it before the four of them showed up.

“It’s supposed to spawn in Anthalas, so it shouldn’t be any stronger than we are,” Reynneak remarked. “With the couple of level ups we got from that cave, fighting it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’d still rather stay behind you,” Llewel said, looking at the beast from where they were. He couldn’t help but find it unsettling; it bore the resemblance of one of those fairytale creatures—a dragon—and stomped along in an unnatural movement. “It’s not like we have a perfect record of always gauging our enemy’s strength accurately…”

Myr nodded in agreement, though didn’t actually say anything. She was watching it, too, perhaps trying to figure out why a thing like that would be here and cause this much chaos.

Zetai didn’t say anything either, but motioned for them to move closer. She led the way in initiating combat with the beast, and from there it was a moderately predictable battle. That, at least, assured Llewel that they hadn’t underestimated who they were going up against.

They each attacked before the beast did, then for a while the only change in their pattern was Reynneak healing one of them. Up close, its unnatural movements were incapable of being noticed. Llewel could’ve sworn he heard a humming sound coming out of it, too, though he credited it to his imagination. It only took a few turns for the beast to fall, shaking the ground when it hit it. Myr mumbled something and turned around while Zetai casually walked up to it.

She poked her sword around the throat before casually saying, “This thing’s made of metal.”

Myr looked back. “It is?”

Reynneak gestured for Zetai to step aside and began messing with the beast. “I mean, when the quest’s called [A Heart of Metal], what else did you think it was referring to?”

“I dunno, us being heartless people for killing it?” Zetai shrugged. “I kinda expected someone to come in and talk about how it was the protector of somewhere or something. Xiu Mei’s suspicious enough as it is, I wouldn’t have put it past anyone to point out all the other stuff we ended up ruining by helping her.”

“I got it,” Reynneak announced, pulling an odd mess of gears and metal out of the beast. “Or at least, I’m pretty sure I got it. This looks like it was the power source, so it’s technically the heart, even if it doesn’t completely look like it.” His suspicion was proven when the beast disappeared.

Zetai wandered back to the lead. “Let’s bring this back to Xiu Mei and get some answers out of Zuradu.”

…

They wandered back through the city without the chatter that had accompanied them on their way out. Their mission was in the front of their minds now. Llewel hoped that Zuradu would still be there by the time they got back… Casrane made it sound like the sooner they took care of him the better, and it was the only trace they would’ve had about his whereabouts.

When they got there, Zetai tossed the ‘heart’ in front of Xiu Mei. “This is what you’re looking for, isn’t it? Now let us in.”

Xiu Mei smiled at it, then looked back up at them. “Thank you for giving this to me. It will surely be of great use to me… if they’ll ever implement what it’s supposed to be used for.” She opened up the door to the tavern and gestured for them to walk inside. “You can come in and out of here as freely as you please. I’m definitely not going to stop you.”

They walked in to find it completely empty… except for two people: Zuradu and the waitress he was talking to.

The waitress had the sense to understand what was likely going to happen and walk away. Zuradu didn’t notice they were there until that point, giving them a deep frown.

“I’m beginning to wonder if you want to get taken away,” he remarked, slowly rising from his seat. “You’re making it a bit too easy to tell where you are, don’t you think? Don’t you realize what I’m here for?”

“Not really,” Llewel said, “but we don’t think we want you running around anymore.”

“Cassy talked to you, didn’t she?” Zuradu sighed. “You know, a part of me knew that she would tell you to do this… but she was always the sweetest girl when I knew her. She was her father’s shadow; didn’t do anything that he didn’t tell her to and barely interacted with anyone else on the team. I suppose being here gave her a new sense of confidence. We’ll see how well that does her in the end…”

“Look, I’ve pretty much been waiting since the moment I met you to beat you up,” Zetai remarked. “I think now’s about the time I give you what you deserve for messing with these two.”

“Players, you should really step aside for all of this. You’re not supposed to get involved in all of this. If you know what’s going on, then you’re going to blab it off to all of those other friends of yours… and the last thing we want is another being added to the count of those who know too much.” Zuradu still stepped forward. It didn’t look like he had any weapons on him, though. Was he just trying to look intimidating in the hope that they’d back off?

Reynneak, no matter how wary he seemed to be of the whole situation, stepped beside Zetai. “We’re not going anywhere if you still plan on hurting those two. You at least need to tell us why.”

Zuradu laughed. “You want to know why? Isn’t it obvious? Haven’t you been around them enough already to know that there’s some things here that doesn’t belong? Think about it. They might make a finished picture, but do all the pieces truly have their perfect match?”

Llewel, just as much for his own comfort as for her own, took Myr’s hand before asking, “Why are you here?”

“They sent me to get rid of you,” was Zuradu’s simple answer. “You’re the only way to stop a long list of problems we’ve been dealing with for the past two years. Because of you, everyone that was created has the ability to think for themselves. It’s… practically unheard of. It would be amazing if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s quite troublesome to deal with.”

“Why is that a bad thing?” Myr asked in a mumble. “Why shouldn’t we be able to make our own decisions?”

There was a moment when Zuradu didn’t say anything. He didn’t have any clearer of an answer than anything they could’ve come up with. “After that, it’ll only be a matter of time before it threatens everything else we’ve worked hard to create. No amount of changing the code is able to erase it. We just need to get rid of the source—all three of you—and it’ll finally be finished… several long years of work will finally be what it was always meant to be.” Even after all of that, he tried to walk past them.

Zetai stopped him with her sword. “Do you really think I’m just going to let you walk away?”

“You’re only going to lose in all of this,” Zuradu pointed out. “If they’re allowed to exist as they are, then there’s no telling what they’ll end up doing. There’s a very likely chance that everything you’ve ever done here will cease to exist. Is protecting these two who aren’t supposed to be here really worth all that?”

“I don’t get a lot of things about them and this place, but I know one thing: as long as I’m around, no one’s going to be able to touch them. They’re just as real as we are and they deserve better than whatever you’re going to do for them.”

He scoffed, but it only took a single poke from her sword for him to whimper and run away. With the door almost closed and proving as a buffer between them, though, he warned, “This isn’t the last you’re going to hear from us! You’re going to wish that you listened to what I said when you had the chance. The others Nankohm will send are not going to be as generous as I have.” Then, before he could face any more threats, he fled.

Myr glanced over at Reynneak and Zetai and mumbled, “Nankohm?”

Zetai gave her a confused look. “How do you not know who that is?”

Reynneak had a more casual explanation, however. “I guess it’s not that hard to believe you would just know them as the developers. It’s the name of the company that made the game.”