Eagle and I followed the kid around the marketplace, towards an inn where the merchant resided. After what the kid saw I doubt he would lie to us. And even if he told the authorities, well, who would believe him?

A pair of kids killing several armed thugs in cold blood?

‘Yeah right.’

It didn’t take long for us to arrive at another inn in a more secluded part of the city. There wasn’t anything special about the place and after Eagle asked the kid whether he knew anything else, we let him go.

Eagle went inside to check if the merchant was actually in the inn while I moved onto a roof across the building and waited. I barely had enough time to settle down as Eagle left the building,

‘Well that was fast, did the brat really trick us?’

I watched as Eagle scaled his way up and plopped down next to me.

“Well, the guy is definitely in there. No sooner had I walked in that I spotted several people dressed in armour surrounding a table at which sat a man getting himself piss drunk. They wore flashy clothes, the kind you’d see at a play. Someone muttered about bandits getting rich and went passed me.”

Eagle told me nonchalantly.

“Fair enough, let’s wait for him to leave and trail him once he’s left. No way will the guards let the bandits just wander into the city and neither is he going to let anyone else handle his merchandise. I’ll stay here. You go to the other side and keep an eye on the back doors.”

“Sure, but you’ll seriously owe me after we’re done. Sitting on the rooftops for god knows how long just to find some wolves.”

Eagle got up and while still muttering, hopped downwards to the ground and out of sight. Both of us were left to roast atop the roof under the sun for a short while. By which I meant from noon to dusk.

Only once the moon was visible did the merchant and his gang exit the building. He seemed a bit tipsy, but the group walked without making a noise. I notified Eagle through the ear piece and together we trailed them past the two gates and out of the city. Out in the open following the merchant was a breeze as they trampled anything in their wake.

We found the location of the bandits’ camp after an hour of tracking through the dark forest and the merchant group was greeted by a sentry. Several sentences were traded before the merchant and a single of his escorts was let through. Compared to the countless high tech headquarters I was tasked with infiltrating, the bandit’s camp was a walk in the park. Especially when it was night time and most people were asleep.

To make things even easier the merchant and his guard were led to a single, oversized tent at the very end of the camp; far from any prying eyes. As soon as the three men entered the tent we followed suit. It was obvious the wolves were held there.

‘I am NOT failing this time.’

Beckoning with my left hand for Eagle to follow, we crept inside the tent. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the inside, dimly lit by a single lamp with a flickering candle in the hands of one of the men. The three spoke of something but I didn’t bother listening in, instead hid behind a stack of crates and waited for them to leave.

A few more dark minutes went by as I sat motionless, listening to the footsteps dying out.

[Hu...man?]

A familiar, but distinct voice echoed in my mind. I took out a flashlight and scanned the room, careful to not shine through the tent. At the far end, past countless containers, hanging chains and other miscellaneous stolen merchandise were two medium sized cages.

I directed the light inside the two cages and spotted the cubs. They were still covered in the cuts from the previous fight, several injuries were covered in pus. A faint sizzling sound came from them. I chipped of a piece of wood from a nearby crate and threw it into one of the cages.

Electricity arced out from between the bars to burn the wood and after it landed inside a continuous sizzling came from it. The two beautiful cubs were being held in electrified cages. Fury began to well up within me as the two cubs were replaced by Asher and myself when we were kids

‘Those bastards, I swear…’

Eagle placed a hand on my shoulder and shook his head. I calmed myself down and looked behind the cages. There was a rack of some sort. Getting closer to inspect it I realized it was a tanning rank, on which the otherworldly coat of their parent hung.

[Mo...ther...]

Even though the voice came quietly across in my mind the grief behind it was clear as day.

‘Those ASSHOLES took their mother, cut her up and hung her in front of the same children she died saving?! And they had the heart to put the almost dead cubs in ELECTRIFIED cages?!’

Within a split second logic and reasoning ceased to exist within me as something greater than fury took over. Only one emotion fueled me…

A voice whispered in my mind but one word, [revenge] and I wanted to do nothing but comply.

********

I retracted my hand back from Cato…

‘No, that, whatever that is… it's no longer him.’

The thought that the man who never lost his temper, killed thousands without batting an eye was now frozen in rage was unthinkable.

I took several steps back, the bloodthirst coming off him several magnitudes worse than before; it was constricting and painfully nauseating. After looking at the tanning rack I could tell something snapped inside of him. My knees shook in protest as I tried to stay standing while Cato’s body approached me. His eyes no longer containing a trace of white but a swirling vortex of black and strands of red.

Perhaps he recognized me subconsciously or didn’t see me as a threat but he walked towards the cages and with a single flick of his knife, cut both of them open.

‘How the fuck? There is no way he could reach several meters in front of him without moving!’

He crawled inside and lifted the two cubs out despite the furious arcing coming from the cages’ bars.

‘I knew that he went through some serious training, but to shrug of that much electricity?!’

Once the two were safe on the ground he pointed at them and uttered a single word, “heal”.

I wasted no time in kneeling before the cubs and using my essence to clean or cleanse their wounds. Whatever took over Cato’s body could wait until later, for now I needed to make sure I survived.

Having done the most I can without a better understanding of their bodies’ structure Cato said another word,

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“Stay.”

The fact that he gave me two consecutive commands eliminated all doubt that Cato was no longer in control. ‘He despised giving commands more than anything, was never sure why. Shit. How am I going to turn him back?’

He marched towards the exit of the tent, not caring to avoid any crates in his path, merely walking through them as they splintered and shattered. Once he stepped outside, a crimson red aura enshrouded him and he took off.

I couldn’t even follow him, only by enhancing my vision and hearing could I hear the distant screams as he moved from one bandit to the next. I tried to follow him but he might as well be teleporting for all the good it did.

Several bodies lay in my path and I examined them. A clean cut across their neck or pierced through the heart they all were. The frightening part that their faces were all scrounged in pure terror or those of men tortured for months, the face of complete defeat.

After several more minutes of screaming and frantic shouting the camp became silent. I found Cato collapsed in front of the central fire, his previous blood red aura replaced by a sweet, golden one. I stepped closer and the two cubs limped towards his body. Both curled up around him and fell asleep. 

********

“Come on small guy, time to haul your ass out of bed.

I groggily opened my eyes, awakened by Eagle.

“Morning sleepy head.”

Sitting up I looked around.

‘When did I go to bed...dammit, must have passed out again.’

“You know Cato, I’ve lost count of how many times I woke you up over the past month.”

Eagle got up from the chair beside my bed and tossed me my clothes.

“Come, Marden and Barth are waiting for us.”

I jumped out of bed and got dressed, not worrying about Eagle watching me. The two of us both saw each other in far darker and more gruesome situations.

“What do those guys want with us? And what happened at the camp? After we entered that tent my memory becomes foggy.”

Eagle led me through the door,

“Well you busted a nut or something. Never seen you that pissed in a… well never actually. Your essence completely enshrouded you and turned blood red. After that you cut down bandit after bandit so fast that you may as well have been teleporting.”

I clamped my eyes and tried to bring back the memory but my mind remained an empty void.

“After you calmed down a bit the two farts arrived with a chick that was about to cut us down had they not stopped her. It took a bit to get her to calm down but eventually they led us back to the guild place where you spent the night.”

I followed Eagle around several more corridors before we arrived at a large door made of an exotic wood. The likes of which I have never seen before.

Eagle pushed it open and we entered the room.

“.llew uoy fo htob ees ot dalg ,otaC ,elgaE“”

Marden, who stood to the left of some women elf, spoke up with a smile.

“Tell him to get to the point, with him beaming like that I don’t need to understand what he’s saying to see the matter being pranced around.”

There were two chairs in front of a large desk behind which sat the lady elf. I seated myself as Eagle exchanged several more sentences before looking at me. I got a brief opportunity to look at the leader of the guild, a stunning elf beauty. She had silky white hair, charming green eyes and figure that stood out even through the loose clothing she wore. No doubt would she be the most desirable woman on Earth.

“Listen, the two were forced to tell her about us and after seeing our talent, she wants to send us to an academy for several years to bolster the guild’s reputation and further improve our talents. Apparently it’s the best there is and two passes have been acquired for us both.”

I thought over the information for a bit as Eagle motioned with his hand and Marden showed two glowing envelopes, also sneaking a peek at the elf.

“Eagle, convey what I am about to say with identical expression. Got it?”

A curt nod was all I needed,

“Like FUCK we are going to some academy. Tell both of them that if they give me that pass I will shove it up their ass and set it on fire. And if they send me by force the student body will quickly dwindle and no way in HELL will they find proof it was me. I ended up here for god knows what reason. I. DO. NOT. WANT. TO. BE. HERE. My only goal for the past several years is to find Asher and that has not changed.”

I finished my barrage of words,

“Hahaha”

Eagle started laughing.

“Sure thing, boss.”

A glare shut him up, he stuck out a hand and a single finger, indicating for the other three to wait.

‘Well, I suppose it would take a bit of time to translate that.’

I watched as Eagle did his damn best to replicate what I had said and judging by their stunned expressions, did one hell of a good job.

I patted Eagle on the back and let a smug smile creep across my face as he turned towards me and gave a thumbs up. The elf woman was the first to recover from the shock and spoke to Eagle about something.

“She wants to know if there is anything that would make us reconsider. And before you say no, I inquired about the rumoured artifact of unknown origin.”

Eagle’s previously happy-go-lucky mood took a one-eighty turn.

“And?”

I asked him.

“While she has limited information about it, I’ll be damned if it doesn’t sound like something of Earthen origin. Something akin to the rovers we sent out. Only it’s not clear if it is the more modern ones or the decade old ones sent to neighbouring solar systems.”

It was now my turned to be completely shocked.

“Moreover, it is currently in possession of the royal family and is being tinkered with as we speak. Cato, we need to get our hands on it before they cause irreparable damage and I believe that elf can act as the medium.”

I clenched my jaw and thought of what this meant.

‘Were in the same solar system as Earth?’

‘Or are we in a different one altogether. Knowing this is crucial to find Asher, but to go back after I had Eagle translate for me earlier…’

With a deep breath,

“Fine, tell her that if we can get that artifact within five days we will go to the academy until we sufficiently bolstered the guild’s reputation and have little to nothing more to learn.”

I was never one for negotiations more complicated than information extraction, so I did my best to look for clues on the ladies’ face. She replied to Eagle with several words. No emotion displayed.

“Well, looks like we got ourselves a deal Cato. Perhaps getting back home and finding Asher isn’t a pipe dream for you after all.”

“Enough, tell them we’re leaving.”

Giving Eagle a short moment to translate I turned and headed for the exit. Eagle caught up to me within a minute and passed on more chores,

“They gave us this mission that’s been ignored by most adventurers. It has something to do with finding out why the local livestock kept disappearing around the neighbouring farms. There were footprints of…”

Eagle stopped reading for a second,

“...wolves.”

A stream of information filled my mind, reminding me of the horrid conditions the cubs were being kept in.

“Eagle, where are the cubs?”

Eagle almost tripped as I posed the question,

“So you still remember them? I told them to wait just outside the bandit camp until we returned.”

“You’re going to lead me to them, and I will ask if they had anything to do with it.”

Eagle gave me a confused look as we left the building.

“Ask? How are you going to do that?”

“Dunno, they just sort of reply to me with a single word telepathically.”

I looked at Eagle as he just shook his head and muttered something to himself.

“Before I forget, here is your identification card. Pouring some essence should radiate the light of our rank and our name.”

Sure enough, by pouring a bit of essence the card light up in a white light and shortly afterwards my name was spelled out in letters glowing the same colour. Pocketing our cards, both of us cut any essence we had and relied on pure muscle to jog to where the cubs were. It took us nearly two hours but provided a good workout for the morning.

As we walked past the last set of trees I spotted the two cubs sitting straight, their bodies shaking, struggling to stay upright.

“That’s, that’s exactly where I told them to stay…”

Eagle said with a stumped voice.

“You retard!”

I shouted and flicked him on the side of his head.

“I didn’t think they would would listen to me!”

Eagle tried to justify his actions,

“Much less understand me.”

I ignored his muttering as we approached the two cubs whose eyes lit up in fear, but quickly softened after recognizing us.

“Hey you guys, don’t take our orders literally, you can relax now. Why did you listen to him anyways?”

No sooner had I finished saying that, both of them collapsed and followed us with their eyes.

[Because...you...did...not...kill...him]

‘Oh, they must have made the connection….wait what? Kill him? Just who did I- oh the bandits.’

“Hey Eagle, can’t you heal them?”

He shook his head,

“I already did my best, unless they can freely control their essence and remove all of it from their bodies, I won’t be able to inspect their insides to learn how they are made up. Unless I know what makes them tick, I can do little more than-”

[It...done]

One of the cubs sent me a message, I turned to tell Eagle,

“No, I heard it that time as well. Guess you weren’t kidding that they can speak with their minds.”

As Eagle sat down to analyze their bodies and heal them,

“You guys aren’t responsible for eating the local animals in… cages that other people had?”

[No...choice...other...wolves...not...let...hunt...we...needed...food]

“Thought so.”

I started gently patting both of their heads, avoiding any cuts not yet healed.

[When...others...found...out...they...hunted...us]

“Eagle, once you’re done. We’ll go hunting for some food and head back. These guys were forced to steal the livestock because the other wolves didn’t let them take their prey. Once they found out what the mother and the cubs did, a war broke between them.”

I told Eagle.

“Let me guess; you ended up being called out to help in your mind, managed to kill the wolves and save these two?”

Nodding I replied,

“Pretty much.”