In the twenty-three years that Aelene Alys had been alive, she hadn’t once wished that she could travel outside the walls of Alarna. There was some passing curiosity here and there, but there was no doubt in her mind that her reality couldn’t compare to the stories that filled the little world she had built for herself. True bliss was to retreat to a secluded spot in the temple and read the day away, undisturbed by anything and anyone. She would learn of how societies came to be, read accounts of what humans had managed to accomplish, how the gods created this world, their sacrifices, how they had struggled with their own creations, and much more. There were so many fantastical tales to experience in the warmth and security of your home that you truly wouldn’t need anything else for your happiness.

Sitting in a gloomy forest, surrounded by things she had only ever heard about on the other hand made her anxious. The trees, the open, crackling campfire in front of her, the dead animals that were slowly transformed into a hopefully passable dish; all of it was new to her. And she wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

“I’m surprised you agreed to accompany us this readily,” Reurig said while tending to the fire and their food.

Startled, Aelene’s eyes snapped from the fire to his face. He wasn’t looking at her, and for a moment she wondered whether she had just imagined the voice. She had seen him around Tomar and the others multiple times, but he hadn’t once talked in her presence before. He might as well have been a mute, and the statement she heard might have been a reflection of her own thoughts. An eventual glance in her direction suggested that he had in fact spoken, however.

“Hm, hm. Me too,” she said quietly. “I’m... actually not sure what I’m doing here.”

“Seeking safety and security?” Reurig suggested. “For your child’s sake?”

I guess he knows about my situation, she thought.

“That’s a part of it. Though it seems contradictory to leave Alarna in search of safety.”

“Not if you travel with them,” Reurig chuckled. “Not to mention that you’re rather capable yourself. It isn’t any more dangerous out here than it is inside. The beasts who would dare approach you in the Wildlands couldn’t be stopped by a wall anyway.”

“That’s somewhat reassuring. And also very worrying in hindsight.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Reurig said, smirking through a frown. “There are things you don’t really want to know if you’re just trying to live your life.”

“Mhm,” Aelene agreed. “I’m starting to wonder how much knowledge was hidden from the people, so as not to worry or even scare them.”

“Hm...” Reurig looked up at the sky in contemplation. “I’m not sure such information needs to actively be hidden from them. Like you said, people don’t want to know. That’s why some stories are so obscure. Like a beast supposedly killing Celeth. If that were possible, what chance would humans stand against beasts? Nobody wants to constantly be scared.”

Aelene nodded. “You’re probably right. Aren’t we fortunate, to be in the know of the dangers that lurk around every corner,” she said sarcastically.

“I believe it’s a matter of perspective. When the world changes, I’ll be there to witness it. Truly witness it, knowing what the alternative was. A common Alarna citizen might not even realize how special it will be.”

“Tomar said something similar once...” she said, her head drooping. “But he couldn’t tell me how he was planning to accomplish that goal.” Aelene reminisced about the talks she had had with Tomar. A sad smile on her face, she looked up at Reurig again. “It sounded nice though. Is that why you’re with them?”

“Pretty much. I don’t know how it will happen, but I know Miles is the key. And the little one, of course,” he said with a grin, nodding at Riala, lying on the ground near them.

“Miles...” Aelene whispered the name. It still sounded weird. “He just lost Alarna though,” she said.

“That doesn’t matter. It was just a town. If he decides not to go back, we’ll set up camp somewhere else and continue. Everything will work out.”

Reurig sounded very confident, but also somewhat delusional. While Aelene hadn’t met him during that time, she knew he was a temple agent before meeting Tomar and the others. In that line of work, he would be used to carrying out orders without asking questions. And now he appeared to more or less blindly follow Miles. He might have traded one master who just used him for another.

There was a pause in the conversation as Aelene thought about Reurig’s loyalties and his motivation, at least the latter of which had also been Tomar’s. Reurig eventually broke the silence.

“So, what’s the other reason for joining us?”

“Huh?” Aelene looked at him in surprise and confusion, her thoughts interrupted.

He poked into the fire with a stick while clarifying. “You said safety was one aspect of it.”

“Ah... Right...” She wasn’t sure how to say it, but she chose to just come out with it. “It sounds silly, but I still see Tomar when I look at him. When he asked me to come with you, it felt like he was asking me.”

“I see. That doesn’t sound silly at all. It was confusing for me as well when they started switching back and forth. But they are very different. You’ll probably stop seeing Tomar in time. For better or worse.”

She nodded, acknowledging this inevitability. Looking back, she was able to pinpoint the moment she first interacted with Miles instead of Tomar. It was when she began to feel like they might not fit as well as she previously thought. Knowing that this wasn’t Tomar brought her some small amount of comfort, though it wasn’t much.

Aelene wondered what might have become of the two of them. Or the three of us... she thought, looking down at herself. What would Tomar have said to this news? They would’ve probably become a family. And if their short time together was anything to go by, it would’ve become an enjoyable life. Things were easy with Tomar, and she felt so at ease around him. Despite his youth, he had been incredibly dependable, and while it might have been a little selfish, she had enjoyed immensely how he took care of her.

“I guess I’m... chasing after that feeling I had when I was with him. Even though I know I’m not going to find it here.” Her voice was deprecating.

“For what it’s worth,” Reurig said, “I think coming with us was the right decision. If nothing else, you will at least be safer this way.”

“That’s the hope.”

In the end, she came to the conclusion that she couldn’t have taken a different path. Despite the potential powers inside her, by and large, Aelene still felt helpless. If she wanted to protect this child from the dangers of this world, and preserve a part of Tomar in the process, she needed help. And this somewhat strange group of people was her only real option.

The woman walking on air, the guy who lived in other people’s bodies, the little girl who was supposedly able to summon fire... She was happy that there were at least two normal humans in Reurig and Hayla. And then there was the last member...

“Hungryyy!” Hati complained, rolling around on the ground behind Reurig, unperturbed that he was interrupting their conversation.

“You could go and catch some more if you have nothing better to do,” Reurig chided.

At risk of being told to do any actual work, the wolf shifted gears. “Tired...” he said, suddenly lying still on his back.

“Lazy beast...” Reurig said, exasperated.

Yes, it was a bizarre experience to sit out there in a forest at night, far outside her usual comfort zone, in the company of misfits. But strangely, she didn’t absolutely hate it.

***

After the people of Alarna brought the situation in the main square under control in a joint effort of commonors, guards, and even some Rulers, there was one thing left to do: The disposal of the bodies. Dead beasts and humans alike were carted away and piled up just outside town to be burned. There was little consideration regarding the dignity of the deceased once there were too many bodies to count on two hands. It was a heap of dead flesh that needed to be disposed of, nothing more, nothing less.

The squads of guards assigned to this task had done such jobs many times in the past, though the extent of lives lost on that day was staggering, and carting all victims out of town in the middle of the night was a hassle. These factors contributed to a strained atmosphere among the guards. Little mistakes, like bumping into each were met with immediate hostility.

“Ugh! Watch where you’re going, Nady!” Omet berated.

“How about you don’t suddenly slow to crawl!? And don’t stand in front of the lamp, I can barely see where I’m going!” Nady shot back, dragging a naked corpse after her.

Omet was annoyed, but stepped aside. The sooner they got this done, the sooner they could go home, and the longer they would be able to rest. With their next shift planned to start in four hours, any minute would count.

Nady hefted the lifeless man onto a large cart already laden with bodies and pushed the limbs inside so they wouldn’t dangle around. She stretched her back and glanced around with a heavy sigh. There were no more dead citizens in sight.

“That’s it?” she asked, exhausted.

“I wish. There’s still the big one,” Omet lamented.

“Eh? I thought Yeva and Kaius took it already! That’s why they wanted to ‘stay and organize the pile’...” She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity.

“It is what it is. Let’s get this over with,” Omet said and turned in the direction of the dead category ten.

Even with some light from the moon and their lamps, it was rather dark that night and Omet squinted his eyes as he scanned the square. The beasts having black fur certainly did not make it easier to see them in these lighting conditions. He searched for several seconds before he turned to Nady, confusion on his face. “Uh... It was over there, right?”

She turned away from the cart she had briefly rested against. “Are you serious right now? Ugh!”

Throwing her head back and hanging her shoulders, she grabbed the lamp and started trotting forward, exasperated by her colleage’s inability to locate a three meter high humanoid beast. Granted, she didn’t immediately see it either, but she knew exactly where it had been hours before, when it was still light out. She kept going, but the more steps she took without stumbling over it, the more she began to question her own sanity.

“So? Where is it?” Omet teased.

“Just shut up. Are you sure the others didn’t take it?”

“Yeah. I’m certain I saw it when we got back here.”

“Well, I’m certain we’re standing where it was lying before.”

Both of them looked around, but tired as they were, neither wanted to execute any extended searches anymore.

“Hm. Maybe I am wrong. Let’s ask the others then,” Omet said.

Nady agreed, but was not happy about it. “I swear, if we have to do another round just for this one beast, or they messed with us, I’m going to rip someone’s head off.”

“Scary,” Omet said dryly and turned on his heel, heading back to the cart.

The two started pulling it through the office district towards the eastern gate and through it, eventually arriving on the grassy fields outside the wall, and the pile of death on a particular patch that had seen fires before. Kaius sneered as they approached.

“What took you so long?” he asked innocently.

“We were looking for the cat ten,” Nady said, irritated. “Did you take it?”

“Huh? No.” Kaius looked confused, suggesting that he had in fact expected the others to bring it. “You’re not messing with me, are you?” he said as he peered into their cart.

“I want to get done, not play around,” Nady said with a piercing stare.

“Hm... Maybe Wryn’s squad took it? It did lie somewhat in the center,” Yeva suggested.

“Voluntarily? I have my doubts,” Nady said, rolling her eyes at Kaius, who kept acting innocent.

“Well, you checked that it’s gone, right?” Yeva asked. “If we didn’t take it, the others did, and if it’s not there anymore, we’re good. No citizen is going to stumble over it in the morning,” she concluded.

Nady and Omet watched with slight frowns as their teammates started pulling bodies off their cart to add them to the pile. Based on how the squads usually split such work, the category ten would’ve been on their half of the main square, and now it was gone. Yeva clearly didn’t care anymore and just wanted to get done, but while Nady was in the same camp, she wasn’t quite as ready to brush this off.

“I’m going to take another look, just in case,” she said with a heavy sigh.

“Yeah, I’m going with you,” Omet said.

Kaius stopped in the middle of carrying a corpse. “Wait, wait, wait, you want to leave us with your cart? Was that the plan?”

“No, Kaius, that’s just a bonus,” Nady said. “But feel free to consider it payback.”

Omet and Nady ignored the ensuing complaints and turned around, trudging all the way back to the main square. They proceeded to check every inch of it. However, after half an hour of fruitless searching, their patience had finally and thoroughly run out. They decided to go with what Yeva had said. The beast was gone, and it didn’t truly matter who burned it in the end, as long as it was not rotting in the town center. A long day could finally come to an end after they lit the fire outside of town.

But the entire situation became a little stranger yet when they checked in with the other squad the next day. They were adamant that they hadn’t touched the beast. Instead, they mocked Yeva’s squad for somehow losing this huge lump of a dead monster. This was a negative mark on the group’s record that they wouldn’t lose for a while. Though very few mysteries stayed a mystery forever.