“I will knock you unconscious if you try anything sketchy, so don’t think about it. Now, what exactly does the military want with us?” I watched as her breathing calmed and her gloved hands stayed still by her sides.

“I only follow orders. They didn’t give me any information other than what I told you.”

She didn’t seem to be lying, but this wasn’t the first time I’d been lied to straight to my face without realizing any better. “Tell me, what do you know then? What does all the gear your wearing do and how does it work? Why is the military so interested in this area?”

We talked back and forth until I was satisfied with the amount of knowledge gained. She explained that other than everyone being mobilized immediately for the capture of the spotted Siberian tiger, no one knew what all the fuss was about. Someone higher up might know more.

It startled me as she mentioned all the gear she wore and its capabilities. Each item she wore had body-enhancing effects innately imbued into them. The weird part was that it wasn’t enhanced with magic and was instead the result of science. The entire suit of armor from head to toe reduced the force of impact several times, but that wasn’t the coolest part. It also generated a complete optical camouflage turning the wearer invisible based on their surroundings. The boots acted as motorized rollerblades and the gloves provided enhanced grip strength.

She eventually got to the helmet about how it had a radar system and was interconnected to everyone else wearing one. It made sense now why I was the center of attention after a single soldier found us back then.

“Wait, what did you just say?” I interrupted as Mia paused and repeated her previous sentence.

“I said our helmets have a comms device that lets us report back to base and talk to others in our unit.”

“You what?!” I raised my fist ready to knock her unconscious and flee.

“STOP!!! I didn’t tell anyone! Please, I promise.” Mia held up her hands to halt my fist.

Liar was all I could think but still hesitated from her plea. It made little sense why she would reveal the comms unit if she decided to betray me in the end. She had many options to deal with her current situation and with the help of all her equipment she might even be able to successfully escape.

“Who was following us?” Eris caught up and peeked over to have a look at Mia.

At this point, I relaxed and figured if she were lying there wasn’t much that could be done at this point and to deal with it as it happened.

“She can tell you herself.” I motioned to Mia, and she re-introduced herself. I felt more at ease with Eris around and backed away to think about what to do next while they conversed. Even if it was suspicious for the two of us to be traveling out here, I don’t think they would waste resources tailing us, especially given that they offered no escort back to the outpost. They must be searching for something out here and are willing to do anything to find it, even if it means following kids.

I listened back in on their conversation. Supposedly Mia dealt with some of the military’s more shady matters which enlightened her to the corruption within the ranks. That wasn’t the only reason for her being so straightforward with us though and after a pause, she looked at me and said a single word. “Rebirther”

I knew what the word described, but based on my understanding it didn’t fit. I wasn’t eighteen years of age nor did I have any magic. Those two qualifications alone brought about confusion as to her assessment of me. Now that I thought about it, I have magic but I still don’t meet the age requirement and I didn’t know anything about my past lives before the age of eighteen. That’s to say even had a past life.

“Do I look that old?” Eris and Mia looked at me in silence. “Come on, Eris you should know better.”

“You do look a lot more muscular than most. It’s not hard to imagine someone mistaking you for being old.” Eris didn’t make eye contact.

“Huh, I thought you were…” Mia’s voice grew quiet as she mumbled a few extra words.

“What is it? Tell me!”

“The general public doesn’t know this, but there are rare instances where Rebirthers remember their past lives regardless of their age. The government has no way to monitor these individuals since they’d know to avoid getting their ID card updated once they turned eighteen. I figured if the government hasn’t interfered with you so far, then you must be from a lineage of royalty.” Mia’s response sounded perplexed that she had gotten it wrong.

“What do you mean by interfered? What happens when someone goes in to get their ID card renewed?”

“I’m not entirely sure how it works but somehow the government has sealed memories until the person turns eighteen. An average citizen coming to age will only remember bits and pieces of their past lives when they should normally be able to remember everything. If they deem the person useful and loyal, then they will join their ranks otherwise a Reforcer will dispose of them. They are also tasked with finding those rare individuals.”

There was a silence after she finished speaking. Why have I heard nothing about this? Were the government and those in seats of power really this twisted? This could all be a big conspiracy theory she concocted, but some part of me found it not too hard to imagine. I looked at Eris to see if she could hopefully enlighten the matter.

“Sounds about right.” Eris answered when I turned to her as if reading my mind.

“Huh, you knew the whole time? Why haven’t you said anything before?”

“You never asked, I thought you already knew. There’s never a good time to tell you anything. Just like how I found a hidden passageway earlier and instead you thought I spotted Mia.”

“There’s a hidden passage?” I looked back to where we came from. “Is there anything else I may need to know in the near future?” My voice hinged on sarcasm with my reply.

“You need to be careful and lie low now that there’s the possibility of a Reforcer on our path. Depending on their rank, we could be in some serious trouble.” Her tone changed with a rare troubled expression.

“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. We will talk more at home. Let’s go check out this passageway you found while I figure out what to do with Mia.” I wanted to ask more but we wasted too much time already.

“You have two choices, never let me sense your presence again, or convince me I can trust you.” I walked away with Eris not waiting for a response.

“I’m coming even if you didn’t want me to!” Mia picked up her helmet from the ground in a hurry to catch up with us.