After the events, Desza and her band of followers found refuge in a forest far from Resistance, in an abandoned house. There they waited until night fell, having managed to elude Almirón's capture squad after an afternoon filled with attempts. Luck was on their side, as they lost thirty-eight of the forty men sent to eliminate them. It was easy to reward the survivors with ten million dollars each, who left with a suitcase full of money. Desza was euphoric for having obtained the secret documents of the Guilds, which they had sought for a long time to bring back Tanatos and purify the corrupt world.

As night fell upon them, Rŭsseŭs provided the necessary light for them to see, the group having dwindled from a thousand to just eleven members. Desza settled into a chair, the wood worn by dampness.

"Who would have imagined that this house would be our refuge?" Dockly commented as he cleaned his rifle.

"Did you live here before, Desza?" Jørgen asked as he looked out the window.

"Of course I did, here I starved."

"Sounds sad," Jørgen remarked.

"Ja, it would be if it mattered, wouldn't it?" Desza replied before bursting into a wild laugh that left everyone puzzled. Jørgen, curious, turned to see what made him laugh in such a way.

"Life can be a box of surprises; it just depends on how we give it meaning, whether good or bad."

Everyone paid attention to Desza's words until she decided to end the conversation.

"Enough talk. Today we will celebrate the achievement of our comrades Jørgen and Isabel. I ask for applause for them, please."

Desza plunged her machete into the ground and everyone began to applaud with joy on their faces. Isabel felt flattered by the adoration she received, while Jørgen, despite his sad and empty expression, lifted his head and stared straight at Desza.

"Sir, would you mind if I take the first watch?"

"No, of course not," Desza responded, confused by the request.

Once permission was granted, Jørgen opened the door and stepped out of the house. As he walked away, the sounds of celebration grew fainter. Transforming his arms into metal, he began to cut through the tall weeds surrounding him before sitting under the light of the full moon, which provided enough illumination. For the first time in a long time, Jørgen showed a smile as he gazed at the night sky.

Isabel suddenly stepped out of the house and decided to follow Jørgen. She walked scanning the area until she finally spotted his back. She immediately noticed that Jørgen was at peace, which was a rarity. Every time she had seen him before, he was always on high alert. Plus, she remembered the nights they shared the same sleeping space; he spent hours staring out the window at the night sky, never closing his eyes to rest. He was an enigma when it came to sleep.

Isabel approached cautiously, trying not to startle him, until she decided to touch his shoulder. Jørgen didn't react abruptly, he simply turned to meet Isabel's gaze. Despite the deep circles under his eyes, he managed to offer a faint and calm smile.

"Good evening, Isabel."

"Good evening, Jørgen. Do you mind if I sit beside you?"

"No, of course not."

Isabel adjusted her dress and sat on the log, making sure to place a handkerchief on the spot to avoid getting dirty.

"Why aren't you inside with the others?" she asked.

"I could ask you the same, Isabel. Why are you out here?"

He looked into her eyes for a moment and then returned his gaze to the night sky.

"As I mentioned before, I'm on watch."

"Jørgen, in all meetings and celebrations, you always keep yourself apart or simply ignore our presence. Why? Today is a special day; we've dealt a deadly blow to the Guilds. Please, celebrate with us."

"...,"

"Please, answer me," Isabel insisted.

Jørgen lowered his gaze but kept his head held high.

"Celebrate, you say?"

"Yes, celebrate."

"What is there to celebrate? Celebrate the fact that we slaughtered children?"

"If you think like that, why did you come with us?"

"I seek a fairer world; I don't want to destroy it to rebuild it. Those creatures, they were surely ordinary people like you and me, with a close-knit family, and we took everything from them. Is that what you want to celebrate?"

Isabel pondered his words but then decided to ask again.

"If you think that way, why do you stay with us?"

"Because you are my family," Jørgen replied. "I lost everyone I cared about four years ago when I was ten years old. Fire appeared and ravaged everything, my brothers, my parents, and my mothers, all of them, killed in the night by a stranger. It was then that I met Desza; he took my hand when no one else would. He gave me a home and gave me to you. That's why I decided to keep silent and not reflect on what I do or what he does. However, every time I go with Desza to cause trouble or to beat up guildsmen I've never had dealings with, I feel Sister Rosa in my head telling me that I am a disgrace to the things she taught me. But I can't do anything because I don't want to lose you."

Isabel was stunned by everything she was hearing. It was the first time she had seen Jørgen in this way, regretful for the path he had taken. She decided to ask him more about himself.

"Does all this have to do with the fact that you don't sleep?"

Jørgen looked at Isabel, surprised by the question, but decided to confess. After all, it wasn't a secret.

"You see, I lost my loved ones while I slept, and to this day, I blame myself for that. If only I had been awake, they would still be alive, and I wouldn't have become what I am now. But when I met you all, I felt like a door opened before me, giving me another chance to protect what I couldn't protect. And since that day, when I shook hands with Desza, I made a promise to myself never to indulge in sleep, to be alert to any danger that could harm you."

"But you must have rested at some point, right?"

"I haven't slept in over three years."

"How do you manage to stay standing?"

"My blood has metal, so it doesn't matter. My powers renew my cells, although they don't remove my fatigue. But one gets used to it over time."

"I think you should rest."

"I can't. My actions have harmed so many people that they could come after you. No, sir, I'll be awake and alert. I don't want to lose you."

"But at least you'll be able to celebrate with us next time."

"Okay, I will."

Isabel stood up and took Jørgen's arm.

"What are you doing?"

"Let's go inside and celebrate."

"What?"

"It's a long way until next time."

With those words, Isabel led Jørgen, pulling him into the house. When they entered, they saw everyone having fun. Playing music and dancing. Dockly blew the flute, Guz played the guitar, and Jane played a violin, which belonged to Isabel. Then there were those who danced. Desza danced with Rŭsseŭs, Joel danced with his Rose, Azricam danced with Chesulloth, who had taken off her mask, revealing a beautiful ash-white hair and striking green eyes.

"Hey, Jørgen, I didn't think you'd come back. Come, brother, and leave the guard duty for later," Desza said as she danced with Rŭsseŭs.

"I'm sorry, I think I..."

Isabel dragged him onto the dance floor, and they both danced.

"Look at Jørgen dancing. Pinch me, it seems like the moon is going to fall," said Azricam.

Everyone laughed, including Guz and Joel.

"Isabel, I don't know how to dance."

"Neither do I, but since we're here, let's dance."

Desza, who was laughing out loud, pointed to the musicians.

"Comrades, play something more lively."

Dockly winked at Guz and Jane.

"Let's do what the boss asked for."

Dockly stretched his flute, Guz spun his guitar around, and Jane simply switched shoulders with the violin. And once they finished doing everything they were doing, they started playing a music they had invented for special occasions, more lively and dynamic.

"There it is, I like it," Desza said as she danced with Rŭsseŭs.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Joel got tired and sat in a chair with a white sheet, while placing Rose on his lap.

"Everyone is happy today," Rose said.

"Yes, really. Today we've dealt a hard blow to the guildsmen."

Rose didn't answer; she just felt disappointed for a while, but then showed a cynical smile.

As they continued dancing, Jørgen began to feel uncomfortable. He had never danced in his life, but despite his lack of experience, he wasn't doing badly. In fact, he was doing very well, but he was so worried about making a mistake that he didn't notice he was dancing well. His insecurity was so evident that it was funny for the group.

"It's like watching Van Gogh trying to imitate Martín Quinquela," Guz said.

"What?" Jane asked.

"Oh, nothing."

"Come on, Jørgen, you're not doing that bad!"

"Uh, thanks, Dockly."

"Don't worry, just follow my lead."

"Which one?"

Isabel let out a giggle, but quickly recovered and guided Jørgen in the steps to make him feel more comfortable, and indeed, she succeeded.

"YOU'RE NAILED IT!" Azricam shouted.

Isabel guided the step towards where he was and gave him a strong stomp. So strong that Azricam let out a muted scream, feeling like his armor was sinking.

"That's what you get for messing with the iron lady," Rŭsseŭs said.

"Ha, that's what happens when you mess with strong women, baby," Desza said as she quickened the pace.

But then, Isabel leaned into Jørgen, and this time nobody paid attention to them and they kept doing their thing.

"I don't know this step."

"Relax, I'll guide you."

Isabel, nestled against Jørgen, their dance began to slow amidst the movement around them.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know, are you okay?"

"Me? Of course."

"I'm glad," she then let out a slight smile, "Thank you for bringing me here."

Isabel buried her face in Jørgen's chest and said, "There's nothing to thank for."

The party went on and on. It was one in the morning when it all ended, and an hour later, everyone was asleep, everyone except Jørgen, who was sitting on a wooden chair with a mate in his hands, looking at the night sky with a cold gaze. With each sip he took from his mate, he never stopped seeing the moon and the stars. He felt at peace. Using his senses, he could determine what was around him. Then he turned and saw Isabel asleep on a chair beside him. Due to the proximity he had to the chair, Jørgen placed his hand on her forehead, brushing away a few strands of hair and exposing her forehead. Jørgen stroked Isabel's forehead with his right hand; his black leather gloves were very thin, but he could feel Isabel's forehead with the tips of his fingers. Then he withdrew his hand and looked at the sky again. Afterward, a door opened behind him. Jørgen didn't turn, he only moved his eyes to the left as if trying to sharpen the sound and guess who it was. When the first foot touched the room, he closed his eyes, showed a smile, and whispered softly.

"Is it you? Joel?"

"Oh, seems like your senses are sharp," Joel whispered.

Jørgen stood up and brought his chair to the table, which was at least two meters away from Isabel, so as not to wake her. Joel followed and sat at the other end of the table, while Jørgen sat on the opposite side.

"Trouble sleeping, huh?"

"Ha, something like that. Rose was having nightmares, so I took her to her sister to calm down a bit. When I returned to my bed, sleep had vanished, so I thought of taking a stroll outside, but then I ran into you."

"Well," Jørgen refilled the mate with water and offered it to Joel. Joel accepted and took a sip.

"Thanks, now I won't be sleepy anymore."

Jørgen released a smile and took another sip from the mate.

"Where did you get this from?"

"I brought it with me. Why?"

"Oh, nothing, just find it strange that you drink this."

"Why?"

"Well... Your name is Jørgen Czacki, right?"

"Of course, but in the place where I lived, mate was always consumed."

"Ha, I guess so, it was more plausible to believe that," Joel said sarcastically.

Then, Jørgen lowered his gaze.

"Tomorrow morning, we'll have to deliver those documents to Pullbarey."

"Yeah, I hope after what we did today, it was worth it. Believe me, I had a really tough time with that strange guy; he hit me hard in the chest, nearly killed me."

"Ha, it's amazing that you're skilled with needles, but not with powers."

"Very funny. I hope you have that confidence when you have to fight Candado."

Jørgen wiped the smile off his face and showed his serious demeanor again.

"I'm sure Candado will come after us. After what we did, it's more plausible to believe he won't stay idle."

"You talk as if you fear him."

"I should fear him. After all, Candado was capable of stripping Desza of his powers. If he were to catch me, he'd strip me of mine too."

"Thank God I don't possess powers like you guys, only my sight is powerful."

"That's not enough for you not to fear him. It's foolish to say so."

At that moment, Guz interrupted the conversation; he was leaning against a wall, watching them attentively. His mask in the darkness was eerie, and his clear eyes gleamed in the darkness like those of a cat.

"Guz, I thought you were asleep."

"Jørgen, Jørgen, Jørgen, I always wake up at this hour, it's just that you don't notice it, since you and I don't share rooms."

"Sorry, I've never noticed."

Guz walked up to them and took a chair, sitting at the head of the table, resembling a director in a boardroom.

"Hello, early birds."

"Hello, I see you love getting up at this hour."

"My body's parasites need it. I sleep four hours, five at most, so it's very common for me to wake up at this hour."

"Wow, you're an enigma for our group, always so reserved."

"Don't talk like that, Jørgen, because there's no one more mysterious than you here. You don't sleep, you don't talk much, and you don't even attend the meetings Desza holds."

"Better keep my mouth shut then."

"Exactly, better shut it. And what were you talking about?"

"We were talking about Candado and his danger to you," Joel said sarcastically.

"You should fear him too," Jørgen said.

"I have no reason to fear him, he can't take anything from me, I don't have powers, although they think I do."

"And what about your sisters? What about Jane?" Guz asked.

"I wouldn't let someone like him lay their damn hands on them."

"Now that I think about it, I never saw Rose's powers," Jørgen commented.

"Ah, her, only Jane has powers in our family," then he changed his demeanor and became nostalgic, "After our parents."

When Jørgen heard that, he stopped drinking his mate and set it aside.

"Sorry for asking."

"No, it's okay."

"Once, when I was cleaning the house, I overheard Desza talking about you guys with Azricam, a year ago. I remember he mentioned you as 'mercenaries' and called yourselves 'The Wandering Brothers'. That got me thinking, why do you call yourselves that?"

Joel pulled an old watch from his pocket and slid it across the table. Jørgen picked it up and examined it closely.

"That belonged to my father. He gave it to me when I turned nine."

"It's a very nice gesture on his part, also old and expensive," Guz praised.

"He was a Circuista and my mother a guild member, however, that union wasn't compatible. Three years after he gave me that watch, while I was on my way to school, some guild thugs killed my parents. I remember I took Rose and Jane, we ran and ran, until we jumped into the river to survive."

"What happened next?"

"We became mercenaries. Jane and I took jobs from anyone: kidnapping, stealing, and above all, making life impossible whenever we could for the O.M.G.A.B."

"At no point did I hear the word 'kill' from you."

"That's because we only focused on that, it never crossed our minds to murder. But Jane and I had the experience."

"Murder? Whom?" Jørgen asked.

"To anyone who bothered us: kidnappers, murderers, and rapists."

"Did Rose ever kill?" Guz asked.

"No, I never allowed her to. In fact, we were the ones who did the job," Joel replied.

"Where did the surname 'Wandering' come from?"

"One afternoon, a businessman from the United States came to us, on a rainy afternoon. He wanted us to kill a family to make his employee suffer for winning a lawsuit against him. We refused, but he wasn't satisfied. He came back the next morning with our sister in his arms, threatening to kill her if we didn't accept the mission."

"And what happened?"

"The response didn't take long. We went to where the kidnappers were and took them out, each one of them. We reached where Rose was, chained up, dirty, and beaten. Seeing her like that was enough for us to end his life, but not before torturing the man. His screams and insults didn't reach us, as we didn't understand anything he said. We had killed his translator, so there was no way to understand him. But we did pick up one word he kept repeating: 'Wandering'. He said it the first time we saw him. So from that day on, we called ourselves 'The Wanderers' or 'Wandering'."

"It was too chilling, I can almost say it scared me," Jørgen said as he drank his mate, with his serious demeanor.

"I think you'd better keep those comments to yourself."

Guz adjusted his mask and looked out the window.

"I wish I could know what will happen tomorrow."

"You can find out. It's fun to know things than to predict them. It would be boring to know in advance what might happen," Jørgen said as he drank his mate.

"In my case, it would serve me well because I would like to know how long this will last."

"It will last as long as it has to," Jørgen said.

Guz leaned forward and looked at Joel.

"It will last as long as it has to? Sure, I guess you have enough tricks up your sleeve to say that."

"What do you mean?"

"Joel, don't be naive. How long are you going to fight to secure a future for your sisters?"

"I'll fight until my body says enough."

"Nice words, but..."

"Guz, silence," Jørgen said as he watched Isabel move on the couch. Guz fell silent and reclined in his chair, while Joel looked at him trying to figure out what he was going to say.

"Wow, smitten, staying silent for a brat like her," Guz whispered.

When Isabel quieted down, Jørgen turned around and continued drinking his mate, completely ignoring what Guz had said.

At that moment, a door opened and Rose came out, half asleep and wearing her teddy bear pajamas.

"Joel, I need to go to the bathroom."

"I'm coming."

Joel stood up and headed towards her, took her hand, and they walked down a hallway to their right, disappearing from view.

"Ha, that boy. How long is he going to be her babysitter? A girl who can't even go to the bathroom on her own will be an easy target."

Jørgen poured the mate and slid it into Guz's hands.

"Drink it, you'll feel better if you give it a try."

Guz lifted his mask a bit, partially showing his chin, took the mate, and took a sip.

"It's been a long time since I had mate."

"Then it's your lucky day," Jørgen said with a crooked smile on his face.

"I think I should make a hole in the mouth area so I can drink. It's too annoying to drink like this, I can't see."

After saying that, Guz lowered the mate and slid it back into Jørgen's hands.

"Thanks," Guz said as he adjusted his mask.

"You're welcome."

At that moment, Jørgen took out a book and started reading it.

"You know, I think this is the first time the three of us have talked together."

"I thought so too, Guz."

"I think we should do it more often, don't you think?"

Jørgen looked up and showed relaxation on his face once again.

"That would be great, yes."

Guz was surprised to see that expression on Jørgen's face, so much so that he was about to make a comment, but at that moment Joel appeared with his sleepy sister Rose and a smile.

"Good night, everyone," he said in a very low voice that was almost incomprehensible.

He nodded in acknowledgment, while Guz just waved his hand. Rose smiled but wobbled; she couldn't stay still for a moment.

"I think you should send her to bed, Joel; she can't even stand up," Guz said.

Joel lifted his sister and carried her to her bed, opened the door, and placed her beside it. She quickly hugged her sister and fell asleep instantly. Joel smiled, stroked both their heads, and kissed them on the forehead. Then he left the room and sat back down with his companions.

"You know, I think you should teach that little one how to fight."

"What makes you think she can't defend herself?" Joel asked as he sat down in the chair.

"Lower your voice, please."

"Sorry about that."

Jørgen slid the watch into Joel's hands and said, "Take care of it. It's a gift from you and your family, and I imagine it's the only one, so take good care of it."

"In fact, it's not the only memento from my parents," Joel smiled and pointed his thumb behind him, continuing, "They are also a memory of my parents. I think you should think about that, always."

"Wow, how profound."

"We all have something we want to protect, that's how we Testigos are, right?" Joel asked.

"That's true, I protect my identity."

"How subjective," Joel said with a smirk.

"Now that you mention it, it's true, everyone protects something," Guz said.

"Rŭsseŭs protects his cat, Dockly protects his family, you protect your identity, Chesulloth protects his uncle, Azricam his parakeet, my sisters protect each other, and I protect them, Isabel protects her jewels, I suppose, Desza seeks to protect us."

"Wow, you seem to be bored," Guz said.

"What you call being bored, I call passing the time."

"Wow, you really are bored," Guz repeated.

Joel just laughed at the comment, then looked at Jørgen, who had stopped drinking mate to read a book the size of his palm.

"And you, Jørgen? Don't you have something to protect or someone you consider valuable?"

At that moment, the first lights of dawn graced the windows; the night had ended, but the sunlight passed through one of the house's windows and landed on Isabel's sleeping face, causing her to open her eyes with difficulty. She got up and looked around the room, her clean and blue dress shimmering in the early morning sunlight. But after surveying her surroundings, her eyes rested on Jørgen's back, while the sunlight continued to bathe her.

"Protect someone important?" Jørgen asked as he closed his book and gazed aimlessly around the room.