Chapter 4 - The Offer

Aquilo

We were finally out of those caves, or whatever that place was, not that I really cared that much at this point, being outside and all, a big city in front of us, which meant people, which meant we weren't alone. We all just stood there for some seconds, some thanking the heavens for finally leaving, others just looking around, some even simply laying down for some more rest, just listening to the sounds of nature and the sporadic voices from the town every now and then, it gave us some sense of normalcy I guess, and yet not.

On one hand, it felt like this was how things should be, but at the same time, not quite, like there was something off, but I couldn't put my hands on what it was, and if anyone noticed that too, they apparently decided it wasn't as important, so I let it go, especially after someone quite literally pointed something out.

"Why is the moon blood red?", someone asked, I think it was that helper girl from before but honestly, I'm not trying to remember voices right now, anyway, she said that pointing upwards, and when we looked there, true to her word, there it was, gleaming in the night sky, the half moon, only difference this time was it's colour, some part of me thought it wasn't supposed to be that way, but I had no idea what other colour it was, plus the other part was telling me to just forget about it, and frankly, I agreed with the second part, we had appeared on a completely strange location, with no memories whatsoever, the moon having a different colour wasn't really that important at the time.

No, the important thing right now was the two people moving in our direction, coming up a dirt road from the town, with round shields in one hand and spears in the other, I froze at that sight for a second, they were armed, not only that, they were prepared for combat, they had some sort of armor on their torsos, and helmets too, or something protecting their heads anyway, I quickly tapped the shoulder of whoever was closest to me while trying not to stop looking at those two, whoever it was started calling the others while I started to think about what was happening.

On one side, these are people from the town, we appeared out of nowhere and they don't trust us, which makes sense, but at the same time, we ourselves don't know how or why we are here, and they might know, or they're the culprits, which to be honest makes this whole situation even worse, on the other side, since we've appeared just outside of this... tower, and it's close to the town, so maybe they know what happened and will help us, hopefully.

Our leader got up front and started giving orders, mainly, the ones that could stand with no problem would stay in front and the more tired ones or those that couldn't stand too well would be moved to the back, just in case these people were hostile, it was a pretty sound plan and we started moving following it, moving people to the back and going to the front, some even moved back with the others, though whether because they were afraid or because they wanted to protect the others in case anything happened to us I had no idea.

The two of them arrived, stopped a few meters away from us, and looked at each other, it sounded like they were talking, but we couldn't hear anything so we just stood there waiting, before one of them pointed towards us, the other moved up a bit more, and started speaking, it was a man, not too old from his voice, but he was fairly tall, taller than me anyway. "We are guards from the town of Advena, we've been ordered to escort you to Matthew, he'll answer whatever questions you have." Although he wasn't exactly full of confidence, the way what he said it sounded like we didn't have a choice, if we wanted answers, which we do, we'd have to go with them.

I looked around, to the ones beside and behind me, some where thinking about it, others were starting to get up and move towards the two guards, seemingly too desperate for answers to think about trusting those two, we didn't really have a choice though, so we reluctantly started following the two guards, moving away from the tower.

Before we left though, I looked back, and noticed the 'door' closing behind us, it seems there is no way back anymore.

Let's just hope we get some answers this time

Paul

The doors closing behind us, those two guards coming to take us to someone, this whole thing feeling normal and yet not, it was honestly unnerving, made my head hurt more than it had before, but we had to keep going, now that answers had been presented. We collected ourselves and started following the two guards, all the while keeping an eye around us.

It looked like this wasn't even outside the city, just a part of it, the 'tower' was in some kind of hill overlooking the town, and the closer we got, the bigger it looked, it was however too dark to actually see anything, so in the end I just decided to keep looking at the two guards leading us, not much to do really.

Once in the town we noticed just how big it really was, the buildings were big, most had two floors, if one counts the ground floor as the first floor, some buildings had alleys in between, and I could swear I saw people in them, looking at us, but I can't say for certain if they were there or not, since it was dark and all, some places had torches, but the alleys near those places were empty every time we looked.

We even passed through some guards, they just looked at us and kept walking, torch in one hand and sword in another, hopefully just doing a regular patrol, if this town is in danger of attack or something like that... I tried to focus on where we were going, better to think on those later, right now I needed answers, at the very least know where we were and why.

We rounded a couple more corners before we heard a call, seemingly coming from a fair distance away, "Thief, get him!", was heard multiple times, and the guards seemed to think for some seconds as to whether or not to go chase him down, another call caught our attention.,

"He's heading to the market square! After him!", this call seemed like it came from behind us, and as we turned around we saw about three figures, one hooded figure pass beneath a torchlight, running away as two others, guards from what we could see, chased him through the streets, soon, the guards we had passed came into the scene, and even other shouts could be heard, supposedly from other guards.

"Let's keep moving", the first guard said, prompting us all to look at him, back to the road the thief had run through, and back to them again, I'm fairly certain some of us were thinking on whether or not to ask them if we should be worried, in fact someone did, which was answered with "The other guards have it under control, plus we have orders, take you to Matthew." which meant they were serious about getting us to this Matthew guy, so, since we didn't have a choice, we kept moving, occasionally looking around to see if we could get a glimpse of the chase.

After a few more blocks of guards shouting and running, we passed a fairly bright building, full of voices and music, the first word that came to mind was Tavern, the second one was Inn, whether any of them was correct I have no idea whatsoever, and frankly, it wasn't important at the moment, so I decided to just call it a tavern, I was about to look away before a loud shout from the Tavern caught not only my attention, but the attention of others nearby. "Hey everyone, new arrivals!" a cheer followed that, along with some people coming to the doors and some windows opening.

There were all kinds of people there, some with more armor than the guards, others using just robes, some with barely any clothing, but all of them armed in some way, and all of them looking at us, not all of them were happy though, but the ones that seemed happy, they cheered, some fewer were even shouting welcome to us, and a loud call of "One round for the new guys" was received with another cheer from the tavern, they stayed at the windows for a little while longer before going back inside.

"What was that?" Someone asked, still not sure who, some answers from the group were simply "I have no idea" while others just didn't say anything, instead just looking around and at the guards, the taller one kept walking but did answer us.

"You'll understand soon enough." Was all we received, clearly only Matthew could tell us what had happened, either that or they just didn't want to talk, not that we had a choice, so we just kept following them through the streets, past other houses and guards, though these were not in any rush, they were just doing their patrols.

After a few more minutes walking, we came to a building located right in front of a big wall, it wasn't even a big building, it was simply a wooden building, built like an overturned boat, with a board with some papers on it outside, the guards stood on either side of the door and the taller one addressed us again. "Matthew is inside, he'll answer your questions." So this was it, the place to get answers, whatever they were.

I just hope it's not as bad as it could be.

Advena

They stopped in front of the wooden door of the boat shack, as she had decided to call it, they looked around at the others and at the building, there seemed to be something written in a wooden board, but it was too dark for the to see.

"In we go then, not like we have a choice." Paul said with a long sigh, Some people near him answered with a grunt, before starting to move inside, through the door, to meet the person who had all the answers they wanted.

Past the front door they were greeted with a large space, fully wooden, with some weapons and pelts hanging on the walls, pillars separated in between the middle of the building, a big fireplace in the middle of the whole building, and a small room to the left side. Around the fire were five benches, making a circle around the fire, over the fire was a cooking pot, and near the other room there was even a counter at the corner, and sitting behind the counter was someone else.

Behind the table, an elderly man was seated, looking at them, hands on top of the counter, they stared at each other for some time before the elder man stood up and made his way to the group. "Sit down, you must be exhausted." Some of them didn't even wait for another word, and moved to sit down at the benches, the others looking at him for a second before following the rest of the group, even though there were more than enough benches for people to sit down, some decided to keep standing, and instead leaned in the pillars.

Matthew sighed, and made his way to the remaining empty bench, and sat down, looking around at the new group, some of them were just tired, others, were looking at him wearily, and some just seemed lost in thought, staring at the fire. He cleared his throat, both to actually clear it and to call their attention, "My name is Matthew, current commander of the Crimson Moon Volunteers of Advena, I will try to answer your questions to the best of my ability, though I can't promise to have all of the answers, or if they'll be what you're expecting." Some of them looked at him, expectantly, others just kept staring at him, it was happening just as the others had said it would.

Before any of them asked anything, he started speaking again, "First of all, I would like to apologize for all of us, but we do not know why or how you got here," some disturbed faces turned to him, a small hint of fear clear in their eyes, he sighed, and kept on talking " You weren't the first ones, and probably won't be the last, we don't know where you came from, nor how to send you back, not yet." Some exasperated looks were sent his way, again, expected, he looked around, a big, large and muscular guy was holding his hand in the air, looking at Matthew, he nodded at him, and the man started speaking.

"So we're just stuck here, is what you're saying? Can you even prove there were more like us before? For all we know you could be lying to us." A handful of people seemed to nod and agree with him, but Matthew just shook his head, and looked around, there were some just staring at him waiting for him to continue speaking, and that he did.

"Simple, for starters, not a single one of you said anything, and yet I knew exactly what you wanted to know, secondly, whenever you have free time, talk to the people at the Tavern, they'll all tell you the same story you guys have right now, arriving at a strange place, with no memories whatsoever, and with no way to return." Some of them were looking scared, and he could see a few of them simply staring at him, as if they didn't want to believe what he had just said.

"So, we're stuck here, with no memories, and nothing to maintain ourselves..." Someone said, in between deep breaths, Matthew knew what was happening, they were getting hopeless, not what he wanted, but sugarcoating things was never how he worked, he briefly wondered if by 'maintain themselves' she meant something to pay for basic necessities, before deciding that there probably wasn't another option for that question, he looked around once more, stood up, and spoke again.

"There is something for you to maintain yourselves, although I'm not sure you'll like it," He turned and started moving back to his counter at the corner, he could have sworn he heard someone say "Not like we have a choice." but he wasn't exactly sure if that was what they'd said. "The town of Advena has always had some problems with outside threats, goblins," A reaction from some, mainly widened eyes, "and orcs," more reactions, some even moving their mouths as if trying to say something but deciding not to, "along with other threats, not only that, but thieves inside the town keep us occupied, and some years ago, people like you started appearing in our city, with nothing to do, as such, a choice was made to offer you all a job."

Matthew made it behind his counter and leaned on it, looking at the group near the fire, "We need people to keep those outside threats controlled, and since the guard is imperative to the cities protection, we are willing to hire you as a volunteer force," A few of the group looked at him, not willing to believe or not understanding what he was saying, the tall muscular man spoke again.

"So you want us to go out and kill for you?" The group stared at the man in disbelief, then back at Matthew, "What is the offer? You said it yourself that you'll hire us, so what will we gain by doing this?" A handful of them nodded and looked back at Matthew, who analyzed the situation, it seemed unlikely that they would readily agree to this, but at the same time, he knew it was the better alternative to the many jobs the town offered.

He sighed, pulled a small bag from below the counter and spilled it's contents on top of the counter, before he started speaking, "For starters, 10 silver coins will be provided so that you may pay for your initiation in whatever area you wish to dedicate yourselves in, secondly, free housing in the Volunteer barracks will be provided to any to decide to accept the proposition, lastly, whatever you manage to grab while outside will be your property and can be sold for more money." He paused to let them process this information, they looked at him, then each other, then him again, he continued "Sometimes we might get special requests which come with their own bounties, which will all go to your own,possession, we won't take a single coin for you."

"We don't have another choice?" A female voice said, Matthew looked at the source, and found a girl seating in the benches, he asked for her name, which she gave as Ashlyn, and to the tall guy, which he gave as Ivan, before, he finally spoke.

"Some other places in town might be willing to give you jobs, but they won't pay as well as the volunteer force, nor are they as stable, nor do they come with the same benefits." He looked back at her, she seemed to be thinking things through, Ivan's face meanwhile, betrayed no emotion, he simply stared back at Matthew, "If any of you are interested, please approach the table, you'll get your 10 coins and I'll register you into the volunteer force." They looked back at him, their eyes moving from him to each other every few seconds.

"Can we think on this?" A small guy said, leaning on one of the pillars, Matthew thought about it for a second, while they could wait for a day, they would not be able to use the volunteer barracks until they decided to accept the proposition, he asked for the man's name, which was answered with a short "Sen", before he answered.

"If you want to wait until tomorrow, it's all fine, but you will have to find someplace else to pass the night, and you will have no money for food come tomorrow." It was the best choice for them to take, and if they couldn't make any more money, the town had jobs for them to rok at.

And refuse they did not, a few of them, right after his answer to Sen, moved forwards to collect their money, he made sign a paper with whatever they could remember of their names, and handed them the gold, before motioning to the door, "Wait outside or near the door until I'm done with the rest, and I'll guide you to the barracks, a few of the others came to the table looking defeated, before finally signing the paper and taking the coins, some others were hesitant, but seeing and there was not any other good alternative at the moment, they decided to join in, and soon, all of them had signed, the papers, though if all of them would stay with them, it remained to be seen.

He folded the papers and put them behind the counter, before moving towards the door, as he opened it, he turned around, and told the new recruits, "Welcome to the Crimson Moon Volunteers." and stepped outside, thinking about how they had been pushed into this choice, the best offer they had, or as someone had once said:

An offer they couldn't refuse.