“Matthew, I’m sorry.”

Sarah’s apology was met by nothing, Matthew lost in his own world again. Instead of attempting to reach him again, she simply joined him in letting her legs guide her back home. The once excited and inspiring wind now felt taunting and mean spirited. Getting devoured was a terrifying experience but listening to the knight relay his earlier encounter was heart breaking. Even without knowing their relationship, watching the reserved knight slump into depression was all the explanation needed.

“Sorry for what?” Sarah’s heart skipped a beat, almost forgetting her prior statement in the time it took for him to acknowledge and respond. They had walked more than half way back to the kingdom, the sun beginning to set as the gate became visible. “I feel like I could have done something if I hadn’t lost you.”

The knight suddenly stopped dead, the archer digging her heels in the dirt to avoid crashing into him. “Sarah, there was nothing you could have done. My sister made her choice, I doubt dragging her back would have solved anything. We’ll rest and think of what to do tomorrow.” The rest of the trip was silent between the duo, letting the ambience carry the somber tone.

Passing the front gate, the two had caught sight of the others. Matt had caught a glimpse of their expression, boredom; combined with their unscathed appearances, it seemed they hadn’t encountered the sins.

“Hey Matt’s back!” The excitement on their faces had quickly become concern. “You alright man?”

He explained to them what happened at the town, the strange appearance of the people, and what he had went through. Concern had twisted into outrage and heartache, not unlike what he had just went through.

“So let me get this straight: your brother kidnapped the princess and is now a devil girl.” Eric’s summation was met with a nod. “One that can kick his ass!” Brian’s outburst earned him a smack by way of ice rock.

“He’s right. She was too fast to strike, and she hit me with enough force to send me flying. Worse still, she knows more than what she told me. That’s not all either. Sarah, tell them what happened to you.”

Stepping forward, the elf explained her part, how she lost Matthew, the two people she encountered, and what she experienced.

“Those two must be related to Luke. I don’t what’s going on, but I have a bad feeling there’s something deep going on, and I think I have figured out.” Eric’s words had enraptured his friends as they all learned in to hear his explanation. “Clearly these sins are a decoy met to distract us from the real evil, and they’ve captured the princess to keep us busy while the real villain carries out their scheme. Who is the real villain you ask? None other than the lizard people!” And like that, he lost them.

“Eric, not only is that vaguely racist, it’s one-hundred percent dumb.” The mage, as well as the others, were neither impressed or convinced. “Well if you or anyone else has a better idea, let me hear it!”

“I might.” All eyes turned to Sarah. “I need to be honest with, entirely honest.” There was a collective sigh from the group, a sense of déjà vu filling everyone else’s mind with a certain woman from Temperas.

“My team isn’t lost, they weren’t kidnapped or anything like that.” The archer felt a chill, the stares around her becoming more antagonistic by the word. “The truth is…they were killed.”

All five teens had taken a step back in shock and horror. “Wait what, you mean these things killed your team?! That might have been good to know before we went out!” Brian watched the archer cry, assuming it was the result of his outburst.

“No, it’s not that, it’s just-“ “It’s just what?” The mage joined in the outburst. “It’s just, I think there’s a connection between what my team found and these people.”

“If this situation is dangerous, if you even think it’s dangerous, you need to tell us right now.” Adriana had stepped out of her natural aloof character to scold the girl. “Yeah seriously, we don’t wanna end up like th-“ “ENOUGH!”

Matthew’s shout was enough to shake the frenzied teens and to draw attention from nearby residents. “Let her finish, we’ll think on things after she’s done. Go on, Sarah.”

Wiping the tears from her face, she continued. “We were sent by Umbro’s government to investigate a structure that was recently discovered in the Doran Mountain Range. There was no exact directions or specific location to check, we just had to go exploring the mountain range until we found it. When our swordswoman, Vanessa, had sighted it, we approached the tower, hoping to inspect it.”

“Not to interrupt, but why did they want you to search it? Did they no why it was there?” Eric’s question was met with a no.

“They didn’t seem to know anything about it, just that it was not there originally. When we got close, we saw…him. A man in a black cloak, with long black hair. He was walking toward us, we had assumed he either had some relation to the structure or was just as confused as us. Vanessa, being our leader, stepped forward to greet him. As the man pulled out a dagger, Vanessa must have assumed he was dangerous and attacked him with her greatsword.”

The archer had paused, taking time to breathe. Despite her best efforts, she was in tears again. “That’s, that’s when it happened. Before our eyes, the man had instantly warped behind her. He stabbed our leader in the back of her neck. Our dragoon, completely losing his mind, had tried to assault the man; the man had done the same thing, warping in front of Thomas and stabbing him in the throat. Realizing there was nothing we could do, we ran. We ran, and we ran, and occasionally we turned our heads back, watching him slowly gain on us. Me and our mage, John, caught a glimpse of our cleric Karren getting slaughtered. My vision was starting to become to blurry to see where I was going, but I kept running, even when I could no longer see John behind me.”

The girl had stopped again, the group hoping for some relief to the tragic events, some light in the dark, miserable recounting of events.

“Eventually, I tripped. I scrapped my knee, unable to draw enough mana to protect it. Flipping on my back, I checked for any sign of the man, but there was nothing. I continued, hoping I had lost him. I didn’t bother to take note of where I was or where I came from, I simply kept going. After what felt like years, I finally found a town in Umbro.”

“I’m so sorry I doubted you early.” The mage embraced Sarah, then Brian, Eric, and Adriana. “If there’s anything we can do for you, let us know. Do you have a place to stay?”

The girl had given the negative, Matthew jumping in to save the day. “You can stay with me then. Now that Lucy is gone, you can take her bed. It’s small, but I’ll have that fixed tomorrow.”

Matthew turned his gaze from the archer to the rest of his team. “We’ll rest today and plan tomorrow. I’ll relay the information her majesty.”

The group disbanded, Sarah shadowing Matthew on his way home. As they stood atop the hill, Sarah gazed at the castle, captivated by the view. “I’ve never seen the castle before.”

“Wait, if you’ve never seen the castle before, how did you know about us? And that the princess was missing?” Matthew had turned to the girl, still in awe of the royal building.

“Talk of the princess’ kidnapping was all over town. People had said that your group would be able to find and rescue her.” Finally moving her gaze to her companion, her solemn expression became apparent. “I hope you don’t mind me staying.”

“Not at all. Speaking of, let’s go inside, I’m guessing you’re as hungry as I am.”

“Matthew” The archer embraced the young man, “thank you.”