Ruin camp - evening

The evening had come, the sun was setting and the moon was coming out. Dinner was being served by Proxy. If I admire one thing about him: it's his cooking. Proxy took a seat after he was done serving.

"Man, we need more people to help me out. Just me and that little girl aren't enough."

He was right, maybe it wouldn't hurt to help him out.

"Proxy, would you want me to help you out," I asked him.

"If you want to, Richard. But hear me now, you'll be working more than you can handle. Can you keep up?"

"If Racheal can handle it then why can/'t I?"

"For one she has more muscle than you."

I know there's a reason behind it, but that one hurt my pride.

"Hey, I'm sure I can handle it. Besides, I'll have Nunnalé help me, right? Nunnalé?" She was eating the sweets from the bag of sweets. She was enjoying it but not even paying mind to us. To be honest, it was pretty funny.

"She seems to be having the time of her life," Proxy pointed out.

"Yeah, it turns out she loves sweets."

"Ah, she has a sweet tooth. If Lauren could develop a love for them, why not Nunnalé?"

As we all ate our meals I noticed that Alexander was not eating, and so did Marie.

"What's the matter, brother?"

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Then why are you not eating?"

"I was just getting myself ready mentally."

"Are you sure about this? Is there no way to convince you away from this?"

He shakes his no. Alex stood up from the ground and went over to the rock slab that looked like a table. He jumped on top of it and looked over at us.

"Everyone here, I must ask you this question: how did you suffer? Was it from being imprisoned in the Hell mine for so long? Or was it due to the Fire Wraiths? At any rate, you have suffered from forces that were beyond your control, and there are many more that suffer. Today, we saved five people that were captured by the Fire Wraiths. If you do not know who they are, they are a group of bandits that spread out through the land. They steal and kill people outside their group. They also pillage and destroy villages that aren't with them. As a result, there are more people out there that are alone, scared of these bandits. And yet, the kingdom does nothing about it, they don't stop these fiends by using their resources. No, they just allow these attacks to happen and they don't even dare lift a finger."

The kingdom does seem like it can spare the resources and manpower. I mean, they would be overturned by bandits by now if they didn't have a strong military power and the weapons to back them up.

"But I don't know about any of you, but I don't want to sit around while others are hurt by these bandits, and are rejected by the kingdom because they weren't born there. The only way to get documentation is by being a merchant, and most of them are under the thumb of the Wraiths. I for one want to end this terrible time of fear; I want to stand up against the Fire Wraiths. So from this point forward, I shall now be dedicated to fighting the Fire Wraiths from this point on, and I must encourage you all to help me do so!"

He just made a call to arms!? It was just out of nowhere to the part where I hopped off the floor. And to add to my surprise, Proxy was shocked as well. The others in the camp were beginning to talk amongst themselves as well about this.

"I know that it's a lot to ask, that you risk your lives to fight against them, but I need all your help. For the longest time, I wanted to combat them to get rid of their viciousness from these lands, but I lacked a proper army and the kingdom wasn't going to do anything about them. So for the longest time, I could only call it a flight of fancy. But now that I look upon this camp, full of people who might be capable of helping me change the status of this world; It inspires a glitter of hope inside of me. However, I won't force you all to comply. If you all want to stay out of sight then you may do so. And on top of that, I will leave the camp in your hands by leaving it."

Is he insane? What will he do if everyone here wants to just stay out of sight? I don't think Marie would allow that to just happen. In fact, she'll be inclined to kick everyone else out if that's the case.

"Please, take a moment to discuss it with yourselves. Choose carefully on what you all wish to do."

Everyone began to talk about this matter amongst themselves. There was an underlying pressure, and who can say it was undeserved? This decision is a big one, one that could change everything...

"Proxy, what are you thinking here, should we agree with Alex?"

"Why not, that's pretty much the only way to solve this bandit problem, right? Then all we need to do is band up and kick some ass."

As simple as it sounded he wasn't wrong. Change happens when someone or multiple people take a stand. That's what history proved in our world and it would seem that's what is needed now.

"We agree with you!"

Someone was standing up from the ground out of a group of five.

"Long before our village was burned to the ground, the Fire Wraiths would harass us by demanding we share %80 of the crops we grew. Even when we did share they would still come around and destroy our things and hurt our loved ones. But we thought as long as we did what we were told they would just cause a bit of damage and leave us alive. We were wrong though. Even when we did, they didn't care, they still burned everything down. And it was by the mere thought that we disrespected them by handing them crops that went bad. They took everything from us, but that didn't matter in the end."

I could feel the regret and anger seeping from his words. Not only that but a burning desire.

"We thought about rebelling but we didn't have the weapons, or the skills, but most importantly, the courage to stand up to them. We lost our village due to our inability to act, we thought that they were undefeatable, that they were like giants. However, when I saw you fight them earlier, it inspired me, it made me wish that I could be like you; a man that wasn't afraid to fight back against them and come out on top. That's why . . . That's why if you decide to leave, then I'll go with you! I want to fight them to avenge my village!"

The other villagers stand up too. The feeling I got from them was anger, entitlement, and determination. They went over to Alex to stand with him.

“I feel your determination. I will make sure I help you deliver your vengeance towards them seven hundredfold!"

"Just teach me how to fight like you and I'll deliver it myself."

"Not a problem."

Alexander shook the man’s hand. I could feel that both of their determinations to fight were amazingly synched.

"Yeah, these guys have a point!"

Proxy jumped up from the floor to stand on top of the rock slab with Alexander.

"What's the point of discussing this? It's real simple: you either fight to live, or you don't and wait for those Fire Whatever-you-call-them to show up here. So why don't we just stop talking and take some action!"

Proxy's declaration was rather unrefined, but I wouldn't say ineffective. I sensed that some of the people that probably disagreed with fighting against the bandits were reconsidering about fighting them. Most of them probably realized that it was in their best interest to fight. They took another minute to make a decision and then had someone stand for them.

"We know your pain, losing people unfairly by an imposing and evil figure. So as a result of sympathizing with this pain, we have agreed to give all our strength to fight against the Fire Wraiths."

"All right! Now I'm getting fired up!"

Proxy was getting hyped up, and everyone else was feeling his excitement as well. He had that effect on people and I can't say that it didn't work on me. However, it was only by a bit.

"So, it's finally begun," Marie said to herself.

"You knew that he was going to do this," I asked.

"Of course I did, I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. To be honest, I knew stopping him wouldn't work, but I just thought I should try one last time. Since it didn't work out I'm just going to have to follow him with him."

Marie always came off as a person who didn't want to get involved in a conflict. Maybe because it would be trouble if it were to bite her back later on, or something to that effect. However, now that I see that she was sticking with her sibling, it made me see a determination that I lacked.

"What will you and Nunnalé do?"

I knew that if we strike out on our own, it will bode badly if these bandits captured us. Plus, I'd be putting a strain on Nunnalé if she were to be the only one to defend us, so I don’t want her to strain herself. I also don't want to abandon Proxy.

"We'll be staying, only because I don't want to leave Proxy behind. Someone needs to be there to get his back."

"You're a good friend. I pegged you as someone that would turn tail at the first sign of trouble."

"Do not insult my master," Nunnalé countered.

"He is not a coward. From all that I observed about him thus far, I have gathered he is not a coward. Do not assume things that are not true."

Her voice was as neutral as ever but that didn't bother me as much as it should. I was actually surprised she stood up for me like that.

"I'm sorry, you're right, I shouldn't say things like that without proof. I didn't mean to come off as rude."

Marie patted me on the back.

"Don't worry, we'll protect you two and Proxy, I promise."

Wow . . .

"Marie . . . you're acting a lot nicer than usual."

"What does that mean!?" Oh shit.

"Um, nothing, nothing at all. Forget I said anything."

"Uhu. At any rate, I'm tired, I'm off to bed. But before I forget, can I borrow Nunnalé?" Marie picked her up from the floor. I gave Nunnalé an okay gesture for her to go with Marie. They went off to another part of the camp. I saw the bag of sweets Nunnalé had with her. Not knowing when they would come back it would be bad if the candies went stale. So I took it upon myself to have some.

"Yo, buddy!"

Proxy came from behind and plopped down on the ground.

"Oh, you got some sweets, can I get some?"

"Sure."

I handed him some from the bag and we went to town on them. Sorry, Nunnalé.

"Man, things are starting to get crazy, huh,"

Proxy said.

"Yeah, and you seem excited about it."

"Nah, that was just to hype up the crowd. I was just helping Alex get his point across, ya know?"

"I guess I do. I think I was a bit concerned."

"For what?"

"I don't know, maybe it was just me."

"Maybe?"

We both looked at the crowd that was gossiping among themselves about everything that was said today. To be honest with myself, this was starting to hit the fan real quick. I don't know if going home was still on the table or not anymore.

"Proxy, you think we can still find a way home?"

"If we got here, then there's bound to be a way with that book." He's gotta be right. If that book was capable of taking us here, then it's capable of bringing us back.

"I promise I'll bring us home, and I'm a man of my word, Richard."

Hearing him say that with a serious tone was actually pretty relaxing. It gave me confidence in his word.

"Thanks," I graciously thanked him.

"No problem. Now, let us enjoy our sweets."

"Sure thing."

We enjoyed ourselves to the sweets in the bag for the rest of the night. Everything was moving quickly and I was barely able to keep up. Heck, it even kept me up at night, making me wonder what was going to happen next. The answer to that wasn't clear, but all I knew was that I was going to have to try to keep up as best as possible...