With Amaya's sensing, she and Lilith were able to track down Sorin after some time, the young man in the middle of checking out the local park for any suspicious activity. As they approached him, he seemed surprised and confused at first, clearly uncertain about this new person now with Lilith.

"Well, look at that, you actually made a friend," he sneered, crossing his arms over his chest. "So who is she?"

Lilith first looked around to see if there were any who could possibly eavesdrop, motioning to Sorin to follow. "Let's talk over there, at that table," she said, pointing to a table under the shade of a large tree. Amaya was silent the whole time, though she did eye Sorin a bit, trying to get a first impression of him. That and she figured it polite to wait until Lilith introduced them. Making their way to the table, they sat down with Lilith and Amaya together on one side, Sorin on the other.

"This is Amaya," Lilith started, a hand gesturing to the girl beside her. "We met in a shop earlier when I was looking for that map."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Amaya said enthusiastically, offering her hand out to Sorin for a handshake. Keeping his arms crossed, Sorin eyed her hand before averting his stern gaze to Lilith.

"And why did you bring her," he asked, not sparing a glance at Amaya as she slowly brought her hand back to settle on her lap, her own gaze averted to the table instead from being so callously dismissed. Lilith's own gaze hardened as she met Sorin's green eyes - abrasive or not, she didn't take too kindly to his rudeness toward Amaya.

"I wouldn't bring her with me if she was any other person," Lilith pointed out, resting her arms on the table to lean forward a bit. "You really believe I was that stupid?"

"Well, I was definitely hoping you'd prove me wrong," Sorin shot back, shoulders relaxing a bit. "And you did. Anyway, one thing I should make clear about all this: I'm only here to help you. Whatever goes on with her is her own problem to deal with."

"And why's that," Amaya spoke up, annoyed by his attitude. "How am I any different from her?"

"She's the one paying me, not you." Hearing this, Amaya's eyes widened a little before she turned to Lilith, waiting for an explanation.

"He means that we have something of a business proposal between us," Lilith told her, meeting her eyes. "I asked him to be my guide and he agreed, so long as I can pay him for it."

"That's... That's it? He's only sitcking around for the money?" Before Lilith could even respond to that, Amaya turned her gaze back to Sorin, her eyes glaring at him. "How could you use her for money like that? Shouldn't we be trying to help each other out? To give us a better fighting chance against this whole world that's against us?"

"Don't go criticizing me about what I should or shouldn't do," Sorin said with a huff, shaking his head. "I made it clear and was upfront about why I was sticking with her. Not like I lied about it or anything. We made this agreement. You're just the extra that decided to tag along when no one wanted you."

"That's not true! I asked Lilith if it was alright to join and she said it was fine! Lilith, tell him!"

"Both of you need to calm down first," Lilith said sternly, having enough of this arguing. "Sorin, I'm alright with her coming along with us. I'm not asking you to watch out for her, but can you at least tolerate her? I don't want to leave her behind to fend for herself."

Sorin sighed as he scratched the side of his head a bit, occasionally glancing at the glaring Amaya. As with Lilith, he had only been trying to be upfront of what he was intending to do. She was the one to get offended the way she did. Wasn't it the truth that the deal between he and Lilith was only for them? It really had nothing to do with her, and that was what he was trying to point out.

"Tolerating her is the most I'll do. So long as she understands that our arrangement is between you and I. Once you're unable to pay me, I'm out," Sorin explained to Lilith, the other girl sighing in relief that there could be some civility.

"Is that alright with you, Amaya," she asked the blonde, the other girl huffing a little as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I still think he's being unnecessarily rude and a jerk but... Alright. I did say I mainly wanted to stick with you, so I guess I can deal with him," she replied, lowering her arms to smile at Lilith.

"Then that settles it. She'll be coming along with us, so you'll have to tolerate her, Sorin," Lilith said with a nod. All Sorin did was shrug, getting up from the table and then looking at Lilith.

"You said you got the map, right? I think the next town we should head to is Ristroff," he told her, Lilith taking off her knapsack to get the map out. Reading it over quickly, she found the town to be north from where Bethelburg was, looking to Amaya out of curiosity.

"Which way did you come from, Amaya? Have you been to Ristroff," asked Lilith, wondering just where this girl's origins were.

"Oh? I came from the west, my town is a little one called Turnpike. It was kind of close to the border of Argus. I left because-"

"She didn't ask for your life story," Sorin said with a roll of his eyes, sighing. "We have to get going anyway. I don't want to stick around for someone of Dragon's Blood to show up while we're messing around here."

"He has a point," Lilith said to Amaya, the blonde crossing her arms over her chest indignantly. Putting away the map, Lilith got up as well and waited for Amaya, who followed in turn before nodding to Lilith. Now it was time for the three to head out together. Unfortunately for Lilith, she could already feel that she'd have to play mediator between these two, given how antagonistic they were to each other. Though she did wonder if this was because of their personalities, or perhaps their dragons had something to do with it.

----------------------------------------

"So I really left because it was time to move on from that small town - see the world and all that, you know? I wanted to experience what was out there beyond that little bubble," Amaya said enthusiastically to Lilith, the trio having made progress to the next town. "I guess I do miss my parents, but I'm sure they're happy for me that I decided to strike out on my own."

A quiet sigh came from Sorin, Lilith glancing up to see he already seemed like his patience was being tested severely with having to deal with Amaya. Maybe the whole tolerating thing might be a bit more difficult for him to handle after all. But, so far, he hadn't said anything rude, which was a good sign in itself. Though, Lilith supposed he wasn't all bad... In the short time they've been together, he had his moments of being somewhat considerate. Which was... something... At least.

"You're lucky, to have parents like that," Lilith commented, giving a wry smile. "My parents.. They weren't like that at all."

"Oh.. the controlling type? I'm sorry, here I am talking about my parents when it might be hurting you," Amaya said with concern, her expression falling a little on hearing this.

"Way to go, Amaya. How insensitive of you," Sorin chimed in, glancing at her to see the blonde glare at him. Worth it for that reaction.

"No, it's okay. That's.. It's all in the past now," Lilith quickly said, not wanting yet another argument to rise up between them. "I'm free now, and they won't ever have that hold on me again."

"Well, if you need someone to talk to about it, I'm here to listen," Amaya added with a comforting smile. "Ah, I can see Ristroff up ahead. Maybe there we can get some treats, Lillith. I have some I can recommend you."

Lilith would nod at that, looking forward to having these treats. Well, she did eat some while in the manor, when she was able to sneak some. But in those days, she was just glad to have food whenever she could get it. It was hard to make "favorites" when you were willing to take anything you can get. While she definitely had the freedom now to choose what she wanted to eat, she had to admit that she still needed to be conservative about what food she bought. It might be difficult to make more Lamna later after all. However, as they walked a bit closer to the town of Ristroff, Amaya would suddenly stop walking, her pale blue eyes wide as she stared ahead.

"Amaya? Are you alright?" Lilith paused her walk, looking over her shoulder at Amaya. Sorin would stop too, but he'd cross his arms over his chest impatiently.

"Can we hurry it up? We don't have all day to wait for you when the town is right fucking there," Sorin huffed, unable to believe the timing this other girl had.

"Shut up, there's something I'm sensing there," Amaya shot back, clenching her hands into fists. "I don't... I'm not sure what it is exactly. Not from here. But we have to be careful. It could be another carrier, or... Dragon's Blood."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

At this, Lilith and Sorin exchanged glances at each other, Sorin stepping a bit closer to Lilith to put a hand on her shoulder.

"If Dragon's Blood is in there, you need to run," he told her firmly.

"And what? Just abandon you to your fate with them," asked Lilith, brushing his hand off her shoulder. "I might be paying you to stay around, but I'm not heartless to leave you to die in their hands."

"And what makes you think I'm gonna die? Listen, you finally got your freedom now, right? Don't throw it away for someone you barely know." He turned away and started walking ahead of them, Lilith watching his back. It was a bit surprising to hear him say that, and it was conflicting with how he acted. Was he really abrasive or did he actually care? Well, for now, she wasn't sure what was the right thing to do here. As much as she wanted to trust him as the guide she paid him for, part of her didn't want to leave him behind to save herself.

Don't sacrifice your life so foolishly, girl. You know not what or who your opponent is. Do you really think you'd make a difference?

Right, she was just getting ahead of herself, wasn't she? She had no battle experience whatsoever... What could she possibly do if it turned out this person was hostile, whether they were a carrier or not? There was a tap on her shoulder, Lilith glancing to see Amaya was right beside her. The blonde smiled before taking her hand and pulling her along, Lilith following close behind. Well, she supposed there was no avoiding this, was there? They had to know who this was, and if it was Dragon's Blood, maybe they could get away before being found out.

Compared to Bethelburg and Clovermead, this Ristroff town was a little underdeveloped. The buildings were mainly made of wood, and they also seemed a bit rickety. There were no sidewalks, and the roads were only dirt with the occasional rock sticking up. And that wasn't going into how there were more animals around, all kept in animal pens that made the air smell like manure. Lilith wrinkled her nose at the smell, bringing her free hand up to cover her nose. Not that it helped any. And there were many horse-drawn carriages around, with their manure obvious on the roads. This town really seemed a bit on the poor end. Sorin had stopped again to wait for the other two to catch up, settling a hand on his hip as he gazed at Amaya with a bored expression.

"Well, Amaya? What are you sensing," asked Sorin, motioning to the crossroads up ahead. "You better tell the difference between carrier and them before it's too late."

"Mn, give me a minute," Amaya said with a small roll of her eyes, letting go of Lilith's hand. She closed her eyes to focus, bringing one hand up to the side of her head. Her brow furrowed some and relaxed, then furrowing again. "It feels like... I think it's a carrier."

Sorin stared a moment, eyes narrowing before asking, "You think or you know? A fuck-up like that won't be easy to bounce back from, for your information."

"Okay, um... Dragon's Blood. It's definitely them." She opened her eyes, hooking her arm around Lilith's. "This means we should get going then, right? Lilith needs to get out of here."

"Yeah... Lilith does," Sorin pointed out, stepping toward the two and pulling Amaya away from Lilith. "That means you're coming with me to find this Dragon's Blood member. Lilith will get the hell out of here."

"What!? You said you were gonna hold them off, didn't you!?" Amaya struggled to get out of his grip, which was working in the least until Sorin grabbed both her arms.

"I never said anything like that. I just said that Lilith should run away from a fight like this. I didn't say I'd be doing this alone. Now shut your fucking mouth for once and help her get out of this before it gets bad." He let go of Amaya, the girl rubbing where he had gripped her so harshly. Amaya turned her head to Lilith, a worried expression on her face before she began to walk away. Seemed like she planned on leading Sorin to where she sense this Dragon's Blood member.

Lilith watched as they walked away from her, hands clasping together over her chest. Her expression fell a bit, the realization that she couldn't do anything hitting harder than ever. Couldn't do anything right for her parents, and now she couldn't do anything right for Sorin and Amaya. She turned around and took a few steps in the opposite direction, away from where the other two were heading. She stopped after five steps, standing in the middle of the road as some horse-drawn carriages drove around her.

What's this? Are you actually thinking you can help them?

I am and I will.

And you believe you stand a chance against Dragon's Blood? I can tell you that some of my past carriers had died at their hands. Will you not listen to Ignatius' carrier and run away as instructed?

That's the thing now, isn't it? I'm done taking orders, I'm done running away. I'll face the problem.

The dragon's laugh echoed in Lilith's mind as she turned around again, taking off in a jog to where she last saw Sorin and Amaya heading. While it didn't seem long, they were already gone, Lilith left to keep moving to find them. Where exactly they headed off was a mystery, though, and she didn't have any leads to go on. At this rate, she wouldn't-

An explosion of fire came from around the block, the roof of a building blown apart, Lilith sighing and already figuring out who could have done that. Picking up her pace to a run, she kept her eyes on the dark smoke that was rising up, townspeople running away from the explosion in panic. She really hoped the worst hadn't happened, that they didn't get hurt. As she turned the corner, she was met with the scene of Sorin chasing after a woman of average height wearing a black cloak. Her hair was light brown and wavy, in her hands a wooden staff, the woman running past Lilith. Sorin's eyes were focused on her, at least until they caught sight of Lilith, green eyes widening in surprise.

"Don't let her escape!!" Sorin pointed at the fleeing woman, Lilith's eyes widening as she turned around to chase after the woman. As she gave chase, she realized this woman was much faster than her, Lilith gritting her teeth. Her eyes were on the woman's backside, her gaze lowering to her shadow. Of course... Clawed black hands would suddenly rise out of the woman's shadow, grabbing at her legs and causing her to fall over. The woman would scramble to turn, using her staff to smack away the shadow hands, her eyes soon looking up to Lilith. Her light brown eyes narrowed before pointing her staff at Lilith, the black-haired girl feeling a burning a sensation on the back of her hand. Looking down, she saw a strange symbol burning into her skin, her lack of focus causing the shadow hands to loosen their grip on the woman. This didn't go unnoticed by the woman, who quickly got up and took off on a sprint. Lilith growled a bit out of irritation, soon joined by Sorin as he caught up to her.

"She's heading east.. If she gets to that forest, we're gonna have a hell of a time trying to find her," Sorin alerted her, though quickly smirked. "That's where we want her to go, Amaya is waiting there. Ain't much water around here to use. Whatever you did to slow her down, do it again if that woman decides to go a different direction."

"Alright, that I can do," Lilith assured, panting some as they chased the woman. "Guess you ambushed her?"

"Sure did. Heh, it was pathetically easy, too!" He smiled proudly at this, Lilith surprised by this revelation. For someone said to kill dragon carriers, she really thought this woman would have put up more of a fight. Was it maybe a facade so they'd let their guard down and she'd strike with a hidden ability? The woman ahead of them would skid to a stop as she neared the forest, taking a hesitant step back. Sure enough, it was because she saw Amaya, the girl having water tendrils rising up behind her, the water taken from the plants of the forest. The woman looked over her shoulder, seeing the other two catching up and approaching.

"Tch, didn't think I'd be surrounded by carriers," she hissed, hands gripping her staff. "Since when do you travel together? Traveling in pairs is one thing, but three at once is very rare."

"None of your business," Sorin called out, staring intensely at her.

"Ignatius, Melantha, Naida... What a reputation the three of you have," she started, looking between the pair and Amaya. "The dark dragon that massacred the Frostdane estate; the water dragon who slaughtered her whole town; the fire dragon who burned down his own home and mother, then rampaged in his town. Your kind only brings death and destruction, there's no place for-"

"Shut the hell up! Now, Lilith!"

The shadow hands rose up again out of the woman's shadow, grabbing both her arms and legs to keep her in place. Sorin bringing his hand out and unleashing a stream of fire at the woman, burning her alive. Lilith took a breath as the shadows disappeared a moment, instead rising up to strike with pointed ends to impale the woman as well. The flaming figure collapsed into a burning heap, left to burn for a good moment longer. Amaya, however, would eventually move her water over to douse out the fire.

"What, you felt bad that she was burning up like that," asked Sorin, scoffing.

"No, I thought.. maybe she might have some things on her that we need to look over. She... I need to know what it is that makes them different from us carriers," Amaya told him, her voice low.

Sorin stared at her a moment before nodding in agreement, walking over to start dragging the burnt corpse closer to the forest. Lilith, however, could only watch with stunned silence. This woman... She knew. She knew what happened at the estate. And it wasn't just about what she had done, but apparently also what Sorin and Amaya had done. Both Sorin and Amaya... the former had killed his mother, much like she had done to her own. And Amaya.. that was the more surprising one. She never would have guessed that someone who was as kind as her would do such a thing. Then again, Sorin did say that dragons can influence their carriers, make them more aggressive with time. Even the meekest of carriers would eventually become drawn to violence.

She took a deep breath through her nose, stepping forward to see what Amaya planned to do with this woman's corpse. The blonde kneeled beside the body where Sorin decided to leave it, her clothes burned through in many areas with deep red charred skin exposed. Amaya's hands reached for the first thing that caught everyone's eye: a silver pendant necklace. Etched onto it was a symbol - the rune of pertra - the very same symbol Lilith had seen on her hand. She quickly took a look at her hand, sighing in relief that it was now gone. Was it something that disappeared now that the one who casted that magic was dead? Flipping over the pendant, there was writing also enscribed into the silver, it reading "Industria."

"'Industria?' The fuck does that mean," Sorin asked, raising a brow.

"It means diligence," Lilith replied, gazing at the necklace to make sure she was reading that right. "But I'm not sure what that has to do with this woman. Might be a nickname?"

"Well, whatever it is, we're keeping that pendant." He paused as he saw Amaya reaching to rip the remains of Industria's clothes off, focusing back on Lilith since that really wasn't a pleasant sight. "Also, why the fuck did you come back after I told you to run away? Especially when you barely even know me?"

"Because I want to know you more." Lilith looked up with a stern gaze, crossing her arms over her chest indignantly. "That's why I came back! That and I didn't want to be taking orders anymore. I already did that my whole life... I've had enough of it."

Sorin glanced away, putting his hands in his pockets. He wasn't sure what to say to that, so instead he focused back on what Amaya was doing as a distraction. He saw her turn the body over, and it was then that something conspicuous was spotted now that the woman's clothes were gone. Embedded in her charred skin... was an opaque scale.