An ear-piercing gunshot jolted me awake. Hurriedly I jumped onto my feet, swiveling my head in search of the noise’s source.

“Morning sleepy head, got your beauty sleep?”

Eagle called out to me from across the clearing. The old man and knight were standing next to him, inspecting something in their hands. Eagle jogged the distance between us wthin five seconds.

“What were you shooting at?” I asked, looking over his shoulder.

“Me? Nothing. It’s the old man trying to figure out how the guns work.”

Eagle turned and looked in the direction of the two men turning the pistols over in their hands. I followed his gaze.

“So last night really wasn’t a dream?”

“Are you kidding me?” Eagle looked at me, eyes wide with disbelief,

“This is the best thing that could've happened to us!”

“Putting aside your little fantasy, have they found out about the spare clips?”

“No.”

Eagle shook his head as several more gunshots rang out across the clearing sending the remaining birds streaming out of the tree tops.

‘At least we will have some spare ammunition once they return our gear.’

“I'm going to go see if I can get them to move on.”

With that I walked around Eagle, and leapt forward, taking the longest strides possible.

‘Was that drug or whatever was in our food permanent or long lasting?’

‘Are there any side affects?’

Taking only three strides to cover approximately ten meters, I stopped in front of the two men. Not even a quick glance was spared from them as they continued turning the P226’s around in their hands.

Just as I was about to get their attention the knight started taking off his gauntlets. He pointed the gun at his palm,

‘Retard-’

Before I can even finish my thought the knight pulled the trigger and another shot echoed across the field.

I searched the knight’s palm for any sign of blood but there was none. Not even the leather gloves were damaged themselves.

‘Do bullets have no affect on these guys?’

“.raeps nedoow a htiw liamniahc ecreip ot gniyrt ekil s'ti ,esac tsrow ,knil a htiw enoyna ot taerht a esop t’ndluohs yltsenoh yeht ,meht ot kcab syot eseht evig tsuj s'tel ,nedraM yeH”

The knight said something while examining his hand from both sides. Satisfied, he placed the gauntlet back and tossed the pistol to my feet along with the rest of our gear on his back.

“Hey Eagle! Come get your stuff, they’re feeling charitable.”

I shouted to Eagle while throwing the backpack over the potato sack and let my other clothes slide over my shoulder. The rifles and intervention were missing,

‘Guess they don’t feel confident giving back the bigger calibers yet…’

An unexpected slap on the back pulled me out of my thoughts and I spun to face Eagle.

“You okay there? If you had looked any more menacing then I swear miniature storm clouds would loom over your head!”

Eagle broke out into a slight laugh while picking up his gear from the ground. Meanwhile, Marden and the knight,

‘Wait, what’s the knight’s name?' Realizing I didn’t even know their names I asked Eagle,

“Hey, what's the armoured guy’s name?”

“Barth”

Eagle replied, his left eyebrow raised. Making a mental note of the name, we followed the two people towards the campfire. There were only several embers glowing amidst ash and burnt wood. Marden snapped his fingers and a mist started parting from my left, revealing someone covered by a blanket.

“Oi Cato, isn’t that-?”

Eagle put a hand on my shoulder pointing at the same boy I shot yesterday.

“No doubt about it.”

I started groping the shirt over my shoulder in search of a sidearm. A brush with a cold surface, clasping it in my hand I pointed the pistol at the third boy. Not a moment too soon as the boy’s eyes were flung open, his left hand reached for his shoulder. We made brief eye contact and I watched as his face turned a few shades paler.

‘Better not try anything this time.’

Barth then stepped closer, placing his enormous hand over my gun, pushing it down. I turned to face him but he only made a strange flinging motion in the air with his hand, as if trying to flick off an invisible speck of dirt.

‘Fine, then.’

I turned around and increased my distance from him.

Seemingly satisfied, the knight turned around and faced Marden who was now crouched beside the boy. It seemed like the mage was placing his hand over the wounded shoulder and the familiar green glow seeped from the wound.

‘No way, is he healing him on the spot? If Eagle and I can return with that kind of knowledge, then the medical field would be turned over onto its head…’

“.wol secaf dna no sdooh rieht peek yeht erus ekam ot deen tsuj eW .won tuo daeh dluohs ew ,enif s’eH”

The two men started conversing in the incomprehensible language once more. I looked over at Eagle but his face was strained in an attempt to decipher the meaning.

“EaGle!”

One of the man shouted out in a strange accent. Eagle’s turned towards the noise, it was the mage.

“HoOd”

The man said a poorly pronounced word, he brought both of his hands behind his neck, curled with the thumbs down. With a swift motion, he flicked his wrist so that the thumbs were now pointing upwards.

Confused, I reached over my shoulder and found that there was a hood attached to my potato sack. 

Regardless, understanding what was expected of us wasn’t difficult. With our hoods and faces down we started following the two men towards the forest. Once more, I stepped into the single shadow of the forest and felt the cold breeze blew all around me.

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“Hey Cato, I think we’re heading towards a village.” Eagle said looking towards me.

“How do you know that?”

“Oh, well, I forgot to mention this but when I was out scouting the area, the direction you headed in had a village about a klick away. In the other directions were mountains and trees that only increased in size the further away they are.”

I raised an eyebrow and inquired,

“And why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“Ah, hah…things kind of came up and I didn’t get the opportunity.”

Eagle gave a simple explanation and shrugged at the later part.

We continued walking under the trees’ thick canopy, passing countless trees, roots, branches and shrubs. There were several bushes that bore berries but they were all vibrantly colourful shades of cyan, blue, pink, yellow and green.

‘Is the rest of this world this dangerous, or just this forest in particular?’.

Tch… ‘There is just so little we know and being under the control of these people is severely hampering us….’

We drearily walked for several minutes in complete silence. Rays of light began to pierce into the forest lightening the glum mood around us. Just a few paces ahead of us the vegetation began to spread and a bright light spilled into the darkness. I closed my eyes and stepped over the shadow’s edge, bathing in the vast sunlight.

We were standing on a miniature hill with a village below us, just as Eagle had said. There were various wooden structures, somewhat reminiscent of the medieval houses yet all the roofings were the same style of flat. Save for a few oddballs. There weren’t any walls, sentries or towers of any sort to provide security for the inhabitants.

‘Do they not get attacked at all? Or are they all as powerful as the two we’re following?’

“I think it’s best we stay on the good side of everyone we meet, we have no idea how powerful the rest are compared to Marden and Barth.” I told Eagle.

“Sure thing, but man, this is a breathtaking sight. What do you think is inside that center building?”

Eagle asked pointing into heart of the village where an excessively large structure was located.

“Perhaps a meeting place? Some sort of village hall?” I suggested.

It literally towered over all the huts surrounding it. Not wasting anymore time I started jogging at a pace that would put a national sprinter to shame, just to catch up with the rest of the group.

Without breaking a sweat, I stepped back in line, hood covering my face. Unfamiliar noises filled my ears. People talking, laughing, shouting, doors creaking open, metal clinging, and horses neighing. There weren’t any roaring engines, advertisements playing or planes flying overhead. We must have passed several taverns as the delicious aroma of food led me to salivate, people haggled under stalls and others just passing by with genuine smiles on their faces - not the kind plaguing Earth.

‘The people here seem truly free, able to enjoy themselves without restraint and continuous glances over their shoulders.’

The realization of just how backwards the society was dawned upon me as I walked on the dirt road witnessing the extraordinary sights. The sheer simplicity of such lifestyles were incredible.

“Eagle, this must be what people lived like hundreds of years ago.”

I glanced over at Eagle, but he was nowhere to be found. Absolutely lost in the microcosm that this village represents of the Alien culture. His head was swiveling about, left, right, up. It was a miracle he didn’t lose his footing or trip while walking.

Even while taking in the all the extraordinary details around us, I did not fail to realize our direction was headed straight for the very center of the village. An enormous wooden structure. It was a house that had several smaller houses upon it, almost a pyramid pattern but instead made up of decreasing, rotated rectangles.

Each section had a roof that smoothly blended from one to the next, supported by countless pillars several men in width. Barth and Marden continued walking forward, approaching the grandiose front door. However, before taking the two wooden steps upwards they were stopped by two people whom emerged from the nearby pillars.

“.ytitnedI”

One of them commanded something. Barth removed his gauntlet while Marden pulled back his sleeve, they extended their arms for a brief moment before pulling them back. The two guards nodded in satisfaction. They both stepped aside motioning with their hands to come inside. Marden cupped his hand around one of the man’s ear and leaned in. A brief moment later the two guards looked us up and down with quizzical looks.

Marden turned towards us and gave a single command, ‘Wait’, thankfully Eagle had learned the word and was able to immediately translate. Despite their size, the large door opened and closed without a sound leaving the three of us in an empty area.

I turned to the other kid and asked,

“Who are you?” 

“What is your name?”

No response. Eagle had already caught on and circled around, limiting potential escape routes.

“I won’t ask again, What. Is. Your. Name?”

I watched the boy closely as his eyes danced around the surroundings, trying to find a possible escape path.

“My name doesn’t matter, why don’t you tell me yours instead?”

The kid finally answered, placing his left foot forward.

‘Going to fight me now are you?’

“Cato, yo-” I was interrupted mid sentence by the brat.

“Never heard of you, you wouldn’t happen to be the person who took out several of my men several days ago?”

Any innocence was cleared from his eyes instead replaced by a soul-less gaze.

‘So it is him, damn Eagle was right again’.

“Listen, why don-”

The bastard cut me off once more. I was forced to hop to my left to dodge a flaming projectile.

‘Wait, what?’

I replayed the scenario in my head but there was no explanation. The kid raised his hand towards me and out came hurling a ball of fire. However, that one trick left him rather fatigued. Not letting him repeat the motion I closed in while he took a battle stance.

His form wasn’t bad, only extremely obvious. He went in for a punch with his right hand but the stiffness in his left gave away the fake. With a quick sidestep and swatting motion I avoided both of his blows.

Overextended, he left his side wide open and I delivered a crippling blow to his gut. Instead of being completely disabled he was pushed sideways a few feet. However, Eagle didn’t let the opening go to waste and finished with a blow to the sternum knocking the wind out of him.

He buckled over onto the ground making wheezing sounds, trying his best to catch another breath of air. The hood no longer masked his head. Our little was fight was over in a minute. I took several steps towards the boy before a tugging motion on my shoulder stopped me.

“Eagle not now.”

I talked before looking, a bad mistake as I turned my head and saw one of the guards that stopped Marden, now staring at the little boy. Nothing but fury seethed from his eyes. Very slowly he turned towards me, his vice claw grip preventing me from taking a single step. With the other hand, he pulled back my hood.

‘What has gone into him? Is something on my face?’

I tried to comprehend why there was now a large grimace on his face to no avail. He grabbed my ear with an icy hand. Disappearing at the same untrackable speed, he appeared before Eagle and pulled his hood back as well. A wave of cold air picked up despite the sun still beating down on us and not a single cloud being present in the sky.

‘This is not good…’

The guard clutched Eagle by the neck seam and flung him towards me. I did my best to catch him but the force of the impact sent both of us tumbling backwards. Minutes passed by, but the guard did nothing else. He just kept staring at us through anger filled pupils. Several of the passing villagers were now looking over with curious glances.

With a swift motion, the guard retrieved several pitch black throwing knives from a leather pouch. Some were held between fingers, others by the tips.

‘Shit, are those for us?’

I looked over at Eagle and see the same worried expression mirrored on his face as well.

Lowering my center of gravity, I took several steps backwards increasing the distance between myself and everyone else. Silently the guard brought his right hand to his left shoulder.

‘He’s going to attack!’

Every fiber in my body screamed of incoming danger. I just managed to lean slightly to my left as a burning sensation erupted from the other side of my neck.

I placed my hand on the cut and felt a warm flowing sensation.

‘Had he not made it any more obvious there is no way I could have avoided that!’

A heavy metallic smell pierced through my nose, overpowering anything else. I turned my head to the right to where the other kid should be. Instead there was a limp body bathing in a pool of red, glistening in the bright sunlight.

‘Eagle!’

Spinning my head in the other direction I spotted my squadmate still standing. However, his breathing want controlled. That's when I noticed that he was clutching his left arm which has numerous streams carrying his blood onto the soil below.

‘Not good…’

“Run towards the entrance!”

I shouted in desperation and hoped that somehow the duo will save us once more.

‘But will they?’

I pushed down the thought.

We managed to only take several strides before another figure emerged, blocking off our escape.

‘Shit, I completely forgot about the other one!’

“Now what?” Eagle asked through clenched teeth.

“Watch this one, I'll handle the one behind us.”

“Just what am I supposed to do to stop him?”

“Anything you can! We just need to hold out until those two come back.”

With that I finally faced the enemy behind us, locking our gazes. His eyes were a cold shade of blue, lifeless.

He casually walked over to the still body and yanked the knife out, blood spraying from the exposed artery.

‘The damn guy didn’t even bat an eyelid! Does he not feel any sympathy or emotion?’

‘No. To him we are no more but flies to be squashed, worthless in every aspect.’

I tried to reach for the knife that should be somewhere in the pile of gear over my shoulder.

‘Maybe I can predict where he will throw the knife and intercept it-’.

However, the moment I reached over, the bloodied throwing knife already left the guard’s hand creating a red trail behind it.