...The End of This Road...
"Are you really sure he's fine?" Yunyun asked.
"I said I'm sure he's fine, really you have to stop asking questions over and over. No wonder you were always bullied and didn't have any-" Megumin whacked Aqua. "Hey! What was that for?! You've said stuff like that before so what's wrong with me saying it?!"
"People change," and she turned away. The question she kept asking and the reason she kept asking was because Aurdel was unconscious. He had been right in the middle of a conversation with them, about to leave the town, when he suddenly fainted and fell to the ground. They knew that it wasn't because of any lingering injuries because Aqua made sure to heal him, multiple times in fact. And they also knew that he wasn't dead because he was still breathing. His head rested quietly on her lap as he slept, softly breathing. She was worried about him. It was times like these that helped her remember how much he'd done for them all.
He always gave it his all, pushing himself to his limit to make sure they stayed safe and got what they wanted. He died protecting them all the Crimson Demon village, it'd almost happened when they encountered that dragon and it'd almost happened again here. She wished he could just have some time to relax, not to worry about the next fight or quest and just enjoy things. Because even when everyone else was relaxing at home when they weren't on a quest he was always getting ready for the next one. She stroked his head, it looked like he almost flinched in response. It hurt to see that. She knew he'd been through a lot, most of that time fighting, but she really didn't know all of what had happened. Hopefully sometime soon there'd be an opportunity to ask about it. "When he wakes up, I"ll have to say sorry to him," Anatalia said, "If I didn't make him take us on this trip then he wouldn't have been injured like he was or end up like this.
"I don't think he'd let you say that," Yunyun said.
"You're right," Anatalia smiled, "He'd probably just say that it's fine, that he's willing to do anything for us."
Darkness nodded in agreement, "I do think that he would say that too. But don't you think it's odd?"
"What's odd?" Megumin asked.
"That he always throws himself into such horrible dangers. Really I do appreciate it, but it should be a job for someone with the likes of me. He leads us but always makes sure that he's the one that takes the brunt of every impact or fight."
"Isn't that what party members are supposed to do for each other?"
"It is, but he seems to do it almost religiously. It worries me, especially if we really are going to have to defeat the Demon King at some point."
"Who cares if he goes and gets himself killed? I just want to get home at some point, and that means he has to defeat the Demon King," Aqua said, putting one leg over another.
"D-don't say that," Yunyun stuttered, "Now you're really making me worry."
"When you say that, I'm not so sure going after the Demon King really is a good idea," Megumin whispered. "If we did, he'd almost certainly try to protect us no matter what happens. And if he struggled so much just against that man who knows what the Demon King is really like?" They looked at each other with worried eyes.
"Eh? Where's all that enthusiasm you used to have Megumin? Didn't you say you wanted to be the one who took down the Demon King?" Aqua said almost mockingly.
"Quiet you," Anatalia said, wrapping something around Aqua's mouth. She struggled and let out muffled shouts as she tried to take whatever it was off of her mouth. "Even if we told him all that I don't think he would change his mind on going to defeat the Demon King. If anything, it'd just encourage him more."
"You're probably right, I just hope that despite it all he'll stay alive."
"Puah!" Aqua managed to tear the thing that was on her mouth off, "If he does do it it'll be because he gets a wish for defeating the Demon King, one with no limits."
"What would he wish for?" Yunyun asked, pondering the possible answers.
"Probably something boring, he was always a real stick in the mud."
"Why don't you ever show any respect towards Aurdel? You're always making remarks towards him."
"I say all the things I do because I respect him."
"I'm not sure I understand…"
"If I didn't then I'd act like a prim and proper Archpriest, though may I say I am an exemplary Archpriest and Goddess, but because I do I let loose whatever's on my mind."
"That makes sense, in a messed up kind of way," Anatalia could at least see where Aqua was coming from with what she was saying.
"Fox Lady!" Everest shouted, "We're where you wanted to go!" They all looked out the front of the carriage, staring out at the large sight before them.
"What is this place?"
"This is the city of Avalon," they all looked out at the sprawling city before them.
"It's… amazing…" Darkness said. The city was filled with tall buildings, some taller than even those in the capital. But the city itself was near the scale of the capital itself and built upon an island in the middle of a massive lake. They passed over the paved brick bridge and entered the city limits "Why are all these towns and cities we've come across here so far so much bigger than the ones we have?"
"Our species has a much higher reproduction than humans do. That means more people, and more people means more space is needed to house them all."
The bridge ended and they entered the city itself, passing through a large gate. The streets were all filled with people going about their daily lives. "Anatalia, how exactly did you find this lead about your sister?"
"I still have connections here in the country, a few friends working in government and as professional Thieves. They kept an eye out for me and eventually they found the guy who teleported my sister here."
"Are you sure he'll even remember where he teleported her? A year is a long time and it's very possible that he forgot where he put her."
"If he doesn't remember, then I'll make him remember," she showed claw like hands to emphasize her point about what she intended to do.
"And if that doesn't help either?"
"Then I'll just have to keep looking, no matter how long it takes." It became silent between them after that.
Darkness broke the silence, "Anatalia, I'm only seeing other foxes like you in this part of the city. Why is that?"
"Different subspecies tend to keep to themselves, we just happen to be in the quarter for foxes. That island community that Aurdel found was a rare case, it doesn't really happen that often here on the mainland. Those that were like that sat around where the North-South split happened, so they got destroyed early on."
"This continent is a lot darker than our own," Yunyun said, carefully stroking Aurdel's head again.
"Everyone has their own way of living, ours just happens to this way. Everest, stop here." Everest stopped, Anatalia stepped out.
"Hey Fox Lady, I want to have something to eat."
"Sure, worse comes to worst I'll feed that guy to you."
"Hurray!" The Griffin changed into her human-like form, flapping her wings.
"Because I know that Aurdel wouldn't allow that, I'm going with you," Darkness said.
"And we'll stay here with Aurdel," both Yunyun and Megumin said.
"Hey, what about me?" Aqua whined
"Sleep," Yunyun put her to sleep. Neither of them really wanted to have her around so this would be the best solution.
"Alright then, lets go."
"This feels strange..." Darkness said, "I can tell that there are a lot of eyes following us, specifically me, as we walk."
"Not many humans come here, those that do are usually mercenaries. Can't really blame people for being a little wary." They kept walking. "And besides, I'm not exactly an unknown face either. They can't help but stare when they see someone with a multi-million bounty on their head. We won't find trouble though, not even with the guards, given how well know I am."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely, it's how I got out of the country in the first place."
"Fox Lady, I'm hungry!"
"I told you that I'd feed you that guy if things didn't go well, didn't I?"
"And I said I wouldn't let that happen, did I?" Darkness sighed, "What's this guy like anyways? I feel like we should know before we just burst in."
"He really didn't show up until right before the war, but the community trusted him so I did. I only had him send my sister away because other people sent family away through him."
"But he disappeared at some point?"
"He did, no one knew where he went until recently. My friends found him living here under a different name."
"That sounds suspicious to me…"
"It does to me too."
"Somehow I feel like Aurdel would assume the worst in it, that he was some manner of criminal."
"Don't say that, you're making me worried now," she creased her forehead, "I don't want to assume the worst because there's no fault in believing in the best."
"I suppose you're right."
They continued walking down the street. "Hey! Someone stop that man!" A voice shouted, they looked ahead. There was a wolf man running away from a pair of women, purses in his hands.
"That should teach you to be a little more careful in public you damn broads!" The wolf man shouted back towards them. He didn't get too far.
"Bind!" Anatalia used her skill to tie the man up in ropes, he tripped and fell to the ground. "I forgot to mention, there's a lot of tension between the quarters because of people like this." She kicked the wolf man in the side, then picked up the purses.
"Stupid broad, I'm just trying to make a living."
"Well find another way to do it," she kicked him much harder in the stomach and threw the purses back to the two women. "We can leave him to the crowd that usually takes care of cleaning up this trash. Come on." And they walked away, able to hear a mob forming around the wolf as they left.
"This is the place," Anatalia pushed open the door to a store at the side of the road.
"Ah, welcome, please come in. Everything here is for sale, for the right price." The man who said it was snake-like, sitting behind the counter. Rather than a human lower body he had that of a snake, scales and all.
"Everything?" Anatalia asked, "How about information?"
"Sure, I have plenty to sell. A lot of people pass through here."
"I'm sure of it, most of them by teleportation I presume."
"Yes they-" The snake stopped and narrowed his eyes, "What are you after?"
"I know who you are Nachash, I want-"
"Don't say that name so loudly!" He hushed, "You'll get me arrested, just what do you want?"
"I want you to tell me where you teleported my sister to," She leaned on the counter.
"Your sister? Who are you…?" Once the snake had a closer look at Anatalia something changed in his eyes, fear. "Oh, your sister! I teleported her to Alcanretia. Yes, that's where I sent her."
"No, you didn't. And I know that because I spent quite a long amount of time there. That's strike one for you," she extended out her claws.
He put his hands up, "Look! I don't know where she is! Honest!" He backed away from the counter a little, but Anatalia made sure there wasn't any serious distance between them.
"Wire Trap!" She set up a trap on both sides, making sure he wasn't able to leave.
"You're crazy! You two!" He shouted, looking at Darkness and Everest, "Get the guards, she's going to kill me!"
They said nothing to soothe his fear, "That's strike two." She gave him a cut under the eye with her right claw, "You're going to tell me where she is or that's going to be your throat." Her white fur looked like it was beginning to change color, there was a pink hue that seemed to be turning red more and more. Everest let out a coo, questioning what was going on.
"Alright, alright! Just back off." He brushed himself, wiping the blood from his cheek as she stopped leaning on the counter. "They forced me to do it."
"Do what? And who?"
"Some female Demon, with red hair and light skin. Said she needed a bunch of kids for something, don't know what she was planning to do with them." It looked like the thought was processing in Anatalia's head, then came to some realization.
"You bastard! How could you!" She grabbed him by the collar of his her and growled, her fur turning ever more red.
"She would have killed me if I didn't do it for her!" He was keeping his eyes locked on her, unmoving and unflinching.
"Then what the hell do you think I'm going to do about you?"
"You're going to die!" His head sprang up and fangs popped out from his mouth, he'd prepared to sink his fangs into her flesh. But he never had the chance. A loud bang sounded out and Nachash fell to the floor, dead.
"No she won't."
"Aurdel!" All three of them turned to look, they saw Aurdel in the doorway slightly leaning on Megumin and Yunyun.
"I had a feeling something like that might happen," he tossed over a bucket that caught Everest's interest, the Griffin dashing straight over and beginning to eat from it. "They told me what you said while you were still in the carriage, I could tell something was going to go wrong from the start so I came over as quickly as possible." He put away the weapon he'd used, and looked straight at her. Her fur was a full red, some of it coming from the blood that splattered out of Nachash. She slowly walked over to him as he sat down at a chair by the wall, then she collapsed onto him in a mess of sobs. He brushed her head and rocked her gently back and forth, "It's okay, it's okay. We'll get her back. I promise." And eventually she calmed down, the red hue disappearing from her fur. "We'll get all of them back."
They all sat with each other in the carriage, they were heading to a place outside the city. "There were two secrets that I was keeping from you all," Anatalia held herself, "The first was that, what you saw in the store." She sighed, "I'm not normal, even among my people. In my family there was this special ability we've had, though only one person at a time, coming from my father's side. It's how I was able to defend my sister from the Hyperboreans."
"When I heard that you somehow had killed all those massive beasts to protect your sister, I felt that there was something you were leaving out. I didn't want to press you too hard about it."
"It's fine. But because of that ability I was able to protect my sister, my fur becoming red because of it is just because of all the blood I was covered in when it happened. For some reason it always comes back."
"A permanent mark."
"Right," she lowered her head. "I didn't want to say anything about it because I was never really proud of who I was. I'm a Thief now, but for a long time my parents were prepping me to become a Knight. They probably did that because of the ability, but…" She gripped her hands on her knees, "I don't think they ever imagined things would ever turn out like this. "
"As much as you might feel like there's something wrong with you, or that it's your fault, it's not. You didn't do anything wrong, you were just caught up in things too big for you," he comforted her. "But now we need to save your sister, that's what it's important."
"Right," she smiled, but it faded. "That's why we're going this way, because of that second secret I need to show you."
The place they were heading towards rested upon a hill, barred of with iron gates and fences. "Is this… a cemetery?" Darkness asked.
"It is, my family's cemetery." With the gates open they were easily able to roll in and stop the carriage, all of them climbed out. "It's where my parents and everyone before them were buried, here on this hill. My dad always took us here when we were young to see one specific grave. Back then I never really understood it, I only thought he was being overdramatic about his grandad. But after I met you, Aurdel, I understood everything he meant."
"What do you mean?" She led them all towards a large mausoleum in the middle of it all. Once at it she pulled out a key and opened the door,
Aurdel fell to his knees, "S-Sam?" He couldn't believe his eyes, he had to be imagining it… No, he wasn't imagining it. In front of him was a casket, one put together with careful dedication and effort. But next to it…? Next to it was a set of armor set in place with three numbers. Zero, Three, Four.
"Dad always talked about how great of a person he was, but I never got to know him. But after meeting you I feel like I've learned it all."
"Eh? Are we looking at dead people?" Aqua chimed in.
"You!" He shouted, shooting up and grabbing Aqua by the shoulders. He shook her violently, "How could you?! After everything we went through?! After everything all of us went through?!"
"What are you-?"
"We lost our homes! We lost our families! We lost our childhood! We lost everything! And then we fought for years, years! There was no end and the only way out was dying, but everyone relied on us!" There were tears in his eyes now. "We all went through so much… How many of us did you send here?! How many of us did you take away our only chance for peace because you were too lazy to do anything?!" He fell to his knees again, holding his head. "God I remember what they were like, I remember what all of them were like! We were all scared and we had no other choice! We…! We…" He couldn't hold it together anymore as he broke down in front of everyone, leaning against the wall. "God I still have nightmares because of it all, because of everything."
He covered his eyes as they crowded around him to comfort him. "We lost thirty all in one day because of those stupid augmentations, thirty of our best friends all at once! And none of them went quietly either. I was lucky because I survived, but I wasn't lucky enough to be knocked out. I heard all of it. The pain, the agony." He pulled himself together a little bit, but it immediately slipped away. "Then there were all of those that died while I fought in space, and I couldn't do anything about it. I could only hear about them. Sam, Kurt, Cal, Randal. Then there was everyone at Reach, everyone I couldn't save." He took a deep breath and shook his head, "And to think, when my dad asked me what I wanted to do when up I said that I wanted to help people. I can't help anyone."
"That's wrong," Yunyun said, "You've helped plenty of people, you've helped all of us."
"Yeah," Megumin said, "Who knows where any of those would be if it weren't for you."
"And it's not just us," Darkness said, "Everywhere you go you try to do what's best for everyone, you make sure to put yourself in the line of fire to make sure other people stay safe."
"You've helped everyone more than you can imagine," Anatalia said.
"As much as I don't want to say it, they're right," Aqua added. Everest simply nuzzled her beak into his shoulder, softly.
"And you did that all without asking for anything in return. If there's anyone to be proud of, it's you." With that he looked up, and he smiled through the tears.
"Alright, let's go save your sister."
...We Are Here…
"So, what exactly would the Demon King's want with a bunch of kids from here?" Aurdel asked.
"Luciferites, that's what," Anatalia said.
"Luciferites?"
"They're a race of Demons from local myth, stories of children being kidnapped during the night and being cursed to become them.
"I see, that is really cruel."
"Aurdel, are you really going to believe some crazy local superstition?" Aqua whined.
"Superstition or not, kids are being kidnapped by the Demon King and his army and I'll be damned if I leave and let it continue. That means we're going to save them. But at the same time that means no using lethal means, and no purification magic either. The last thing we want to do is kill the kids we're trying to save. He turned back to Anatalia, "Is there any way to differentiate them from normal Demons?"
"They'll look extremely similar to their former selves, but somewhat corrupted. That means you have to look for tails, ears, wings or anything else like that."
"Alright, got it. Yunyun, Megumin, Anatalia, you'll all come with me. Aqua, Darkness, you two will go with Everest and go in from the other side."
"But if I can't use purification magic then how am I supposed to fight?!"
"You're not going to fight, they're just kids. We need non-lethal means so we can save them all." The carriage stopped and all of them climbed out. Darkness and Aqua climbed onto Everest's back, the trio stampeding away towards the camp. He and the others meanwhile went on foot towards the camp, which wasn't that far away. Apparently this camp had been here for quite some time, but with the war going on neither had the time or resources to spare on wiping them out. It was a mistake he was going to correct. "Yunyun, make sure to use only Sleep and Paralyze. That won't hurt them."
"What about me Aurdel?" Megumin asked.
"You'll prepare an Explosion spell. If they have some big operation like this going on, then they're bound to have a General or some other strong boss around. I want you to be ready when that happens."
"You can count on me!" With that they had their plan. He dropped a point in the fields as they ran. The encampment itself wasn't too far away from where they stopped, comprised of a few buildings and mostly tents all surrounded by a large stone brick wall.
He ran his hand against the wall as they came close. "How are we supposed to get in?" Yunyun asked. It was a fair question. If they went in through the front they were sure to be spotted and either captured or forced to kill. What they needed was another way of entering, one they wouldn't expect.
"Give me a moment."
Aurdel dug his fingers into the stone wall, feeling along the edges of each brick and searching for the cracks between them. Eventually he had what was essentially a map of the brick layout in his mind. He figured that now was a good time to put those supposed powers he'd received from that man who'd attacked them. "What are you…?" Megumin began to ask. He pulled his hand away from the wall slowly, there was the sound of stone grinding on itself as chunks of the wall began to slide out. "Woah… How are you doing that?"
"If I'm going to be honest, I don't know how. But it takes a lot of concentration," he closed his eyes to focus on pulling out the stones. Eventually they became free and he gently placed them down onto the grass behind them. "Alright, in we go." The four of them stepped through the human sized hole and entered the just that he felt a rush of emotions. He could feel it all, everyone in the area. It was almost overwhelming.
"Aurdel, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's keep going." He led them through the camp, going behind the buildings and tents. From there he was able to see the kids turned into Demons. It was a heart wrenching sight, their bodies emaciated and discolored from whatever had been done to them. His right hand curled up into a fist. "Anatalia, can you see her?"
"No, no yet. I don't see her among any of them. I'd have to see more of them to be able to tell."
"Then we'll just have to get in closer," he wasn't entirely sure about it though. "But I don't think I should, if we go in there and the start to attack us I can't exactly hold back enough to not hurt them. I don't want that to happen."
"I understand, we'll go in," Yunyun said motioning to Anatalia, who nodded.
"Wait," he put a hand on her shoulder, "Let me transfer you some mana, so you don't have the chance of running out while you're there." He transferred some to both of them, also handing some rope to Anatalia to use with her bind skill.
The pair ran forward and further into the camp where all of the Luciferites were, attracting their attention. They charged towards them. "Sleep!" For some reason Yunyun's magic appeared to be much stronger than usual, people a whole group of them to sleep. The same could be said for Anatalia's skills.
"Bind!" She was able to bind a much larger amount of people with a single use, they thrashed around on the ground trying to break out of their bonds. But even with seeing the others get taken down by them they continued to rush towards them. Watching them work together well brought some ease to his heart, then he thought of something.
"Hey, where is Darkness and Aqua?"
"Hmm?" Megumin looked around, "You're right, where could they have gone?" They searched through the sky and the area around them, but they were unable to find them. "Could they have gotten lost?"
"I mean it's possible, but I didn't exactly expect them too. Everest doesn't seem the type to run off and I thought that even if she was, Darkness would be able to control her."
"Then maybe they're waiting to do a counter attack?"
"I wouldn't give them that much credit, let's just wait and see if they show up." And so they waited, watching Yunyun and Anatalia as they put to sleep and secured more and more of the Luciferites. Looking at all of them made them wonder how exactly they were supposed to help them all. If they couldn't use purification magic, then what would work? He had to think back to what Anatalia had said. There might be some sort of clue there…
"What's going on here?!" A woman's voice shouted, sounding oddly familiar. Where had he heard it before?
The woman stepped out into view of everyone, she held up her hand and the Luciferites stopped charging towards Yunyun and Anatalia. "What do we have here? A Fox and a… Crimson Demon? Wasn't Sylvia supposed to deal with you?"
"Us Crimson Demons aren't ones to be pushed around, so we dealt with her instead."
"I see…" Now he recognized where he knew that voice from. Back at Alcanretia, at the baths. There'd been a woman and a man in the mixed baths talking, one of them having turned out to be Hans. That very same woman he'd been with stood before him now. "I can't have you disrupting things here, so I'll just blow you away." She reached out a hand and began chanting, Megumin gasped.
"That's… Explosion Magic! I know that woman!"
"You know her? Well, great, but right now we have bigger issues to deal with. More importantly she's about to blow away our comrades and the kids included."
Megumin's expression became determined, she realized the gravity of the situation. "Be ready to hit her with Explosion once I drag her out of the camp."
"But how are you going to do that?"
"I'll make it up as I go," and he charged out from cover behind the building, nimbly dodging between the Luciferites that held position around Yunyun and Anatalia.
"What the?! Who are-?!" The woman shouted.
"Long time no see!" He charged towards her, making it look like he was about to throw a punch at her. She raised her arms to defend herself. But he feigned her, "Wind Breath!" He opened his palm and shot out a gust of wind, one more powerful than he'd ever seen himself do before. The woman went flying. Had that man really given him some amount of power?
The others looked stunned as he charged towards where he'd thrown her, seeing her crash through a tent. He did it again, "Wind Breath!" She went flying straight up into the air, he really felt like he was in his prime. As he looked up he heard a loud eagle screech, followed by the woman being grabbed by Everest's large talons and being tossed completely away from the encampment. "Megumin, let's go!"
"Got it!" She rushed over towards him and grabbed his arm.
"Teleport!" For the first time he used the Teleport spell Yunyun had taught him, teleporting to the point he'd set outside the camp.
"Damn…" he heard the woman say, holding her head as she stood up from the grass.
"Do you remember me?" Megumin asked, pointing her staff towards the woman.
"Who are you? Another Crimson Demon, you all look the same if you ask me." Then she got a closer look, "Wait a minute… you do look familiar." Another moment passed by, "I know you, you're that little girl who wanted to learn Explosion from me!"
"I'm not a little girl! I'm a grown woman!"
"You don't look very grown to me… But what do you want? Especially if you're with that man," she pointed towards him.
"I wanted us to compare our Explosions, to see if the apprentice has surpassed the master."
"You really want to compare our magic?" Megumin nodded, "Very well, I'll rise to your challenge." She began chanting her Explosion magic once before, then stopped. "Aren't you going to chant your magic?"
"I already have. Explosion!" And Megumin blasted her with everything she had.
Aurdel and the others gathered all of the Luciferites into one spot of the camp. "Aqua, it's your turn."
"You got it! Sacred Highness Break Spell!" A cloud of darkness appeared above all of them, then was lifted from their bodies. It was as Anatalia had said, they were cursed. Fortunately for them they had a Goddess that could break any curse that she came across. An army of cherubim descended to lift the dark cloud up to the heavens where they disappeared. All of them began to wake up once it'd been limited.
"Saria!" Anatalia shouted, grabbing one of the kids and hugging her tight.
"Big sister Anatalia!" A young voice shouted back, the two of them spinning and laughing together.
"I was so scared," Anatalia's sister said.
"I know you were, but you stayed strong. And I came to get you like I said, didn't I?" There tears of happiness in her eyes as she looked back toward them, they all walked over. "Saria, these are the people that helped me find you and save you."
"Thank you so much!" The young fox ran up to each one of them and gave them all a hug.
"So Aurdel, what happens now?" Yunyun asked, "What's going to happen with all the other kids?"
"We'll try and get them back to their families, they'll want to know their children are safe and sound."
"And if we can't find them?"
"Then we'll find them homes, loving ones. No matter what it takes. Now come here, all of you. I think a hug is in order." They all grouped together, that's when he noticed them all rushing over. "I WASN'T EXPECTING ALL OF THEM TO RUSH OVER!" They were swarmed by the kids they'd just saved.
"Ready?"
"Ready." It took them some time to do, but over a length of about a few days they were able to find homes for all of the kids. Now all that there was to do was to go back to their own.
"Teleport!" The two of them cast their Teleport spell together. After having saved the kids he also made sure to look for the prefab he'd requested, finding it in the mountains of the countryside. There he found it among other things that had somehow drifted here. Even the wreck of the UNSC Io was here, leading him to wonder whether or not Cole was buried somewhere around here. But it was besides the point.
The world shook around them for a moment, but then it steadied. The two of them wobbled around a little bit after having used so much mana to teleport such a long distance. But safe to say, they were home. "Anatalia, you can start getting things ready for your sister. The rest of you can go too. I'm going to have to sit down for a little."
"Don't worry Aurdel, I'll have everything set up for her by myself." They all left the prefab, parked in the yard of the mansion in a spot he'd set before this long journey. He yawned as he entered the mansion.
"Welcome back everyone," Wiz said, "Hopefully your journey was a success."
"It was, we-" He stopped for a moment, looking at the three people with Wiz. "Wiz, why are they here?"
