As Lucius stood just a few steps away from the three children on his way back to the farmhouse, a sudden thought struck him. He turned around and walked back over to Maryanne, reaching one hand forward as he stepped up to her. Maryanne looked up in time to see her thick storybook appearing in his outstretched hand.

"I almost forgot to return this to you,"

Lucius flipped the book open to the inside cover, retrieving the family picture taped there before handing the book back to Maryanne. He held up the picture for Maryanne to see as he spoke.

"But let me keep this for now—it’ll help me on my search."

A gasp escaped her mouth as Maryanne's hand quickly shot up to stop him when she first saw Lucius removing the treasured image from her book. But when he explained its importance in finding her parents, she suppressed her reaction, biting her bottom lip before nodding firmly to his request.

"Okay Lucius, please don’t lose it!"

Maryanne accompanied Lucius back to the farmhouse to store away her precious book. As soon as they stepped inside she darted away from his side, heading toward Nana's room. He watched her hurry away, tightly hugging her book, for a few seconds before letting out a sigh and continuing on his way.

Patrick and the three soldiers were gathered around the kitchen table when Lucius walked in. Patrick was hard at work adding an inscription to Garrick's longbow. A pair of boots from Roland, and Tiber’s Kevlar vest sat beside him, waiting in line for their own inscriptions. The smell of boiling meant, vegetables, and spices lingered in the air from the big pot of soup slowly cooking above the wood stove. One of the older women of the group was slowly stirring the stew with a long wooden ladle.

The men turned their heads toward the door in unison when Lucius walked in—all except Patrick, whose eyes remained glued to his task. Roland gestured for Lucius to join them with a wide grin across his face, sliding over to make room at the table. The large bald man was the first to speak, his tone as jolly and welcoming as usual.

"We're almost ready to head home. Your friend Patrick here generously offered to add inscriptions to our equipment to improve our chances of survival on the dangerous journey through the city."

Tiber remained silent, taking a small sip from his canteen as he rested his eyes. After Roland finished speaking, Tiber slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Lucius, a hint of worry on his stern face as he took his chance to speak.

"What are your immediate plans? We could really use your help when the time comes to move the civilians, and I’d like to introduce you to the base commander. He’ll want to meet the young man who single-handedly bested his three strongest soldiers."

Lucius nodded as he approached the table, extending his arm to place the family photo in the center where everyone could see it. In the picture, Maryanne was perched on the shoulders of a large, bearded man. The man grinned from ear to ear, revealing two rows of even white teeth in the center of his handsome face. His attire resembled that of a typical lumberjack—a tight black beanie on his head and a red plaid shirt covering his thick arms and upper body. To his right stood a petite woman who bore a striking resemblance to Maryanne. It was obvious at a glance that they were mother and daughter. The woman wore a flowing white dress adorned with a blue flower pattern, smiling lovingly at the man and child beside her.

After placing the photo on the table, Lucius took a seat across from Tiber and addressed his questions first.

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"I’ll meet you back here when you return with the engineers. I should return long before you finish constructing the defenses, that way I will be here to make the final trip back to base with you to collect the civilians."

A relieved grin spread across Tiber's face when he heard the words. Their chances of escaping the city alive would go up immensely with Lucius by their side. After promising to be there for the dangerous move, Lucius gestured at the photo as he continued.

"In the meantime, I want to find these two people. The man in the photo is named David. He disappeared over a week ago, southwest of where we first met. The woman is Sarah—Maryanne's mother, she went missing not long after. Please take a close look and tell me if you have seen either one of them before."

Garrick reached forward and slid the photo across the table toward himself, lifting it up casually for a closer look. The archer’s relaxed expression turned solemn as his eyes drifted over the woman in the picture. Without a word, he handed the photo to Tiber. Tiber’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he noted Garrick's reaction. He quickly took the photo in his hand and stared at it for a few moments before his shoulders slightly dropped, shaking his head slowly.

Lucius tapped his fingers against the wooden table, his eyes narrowing slightly with interest as he waited for Tiber to explain. Tiber passed the picture to Roland with a regretful sigh, his face etched with guilt as he glanced toward Lucius.

"We’ve seen the woman," Tiber admitted. "A few days before we met you, we encountered a group of over two dozen well armed men. They’d set up a temporary camp off the road ten or so miles southeast of the cabin where you found us. We ran into them while scouting the area. Unfortunately, they weren’t interested in talking and attacked us as soon as we crossed paths. Instead of engaging while being so outnumbered, we retreated. That woman was in the camp. She… didn’t seem to be there of her own free will."

A deep frown spread across Lucius’ face as he listened to Tiber’s account. His fingers, which had been lightly tapping the table, were now curled into a tight fist. His expression darkened as he lowered his gaze to the floor. The sudden, loud slam of a clenched fist striking the hard wooden table caused everyone in the room to flinch.

When Lucius finally spoke, his voice was devoid of warmth.

"Show me where. Now."

Tiber motioned to Garrick, who nodded hastily as he retrieved a map from his nearby rucksack before spread it out over the table in order to search for the location. Tiber placed his canteen down on and glanced at the upset young man, a mix of conflicting emotions evident in his expression as he spoke.

"Tragic scenes of injustice like the one we witnessed that day are commonplace in this new world," Tiber began. "If we tried to help every person, regardless of how outnumbered we were, we’d be long dead. And we cannot afford to die while we have a mission to carry out. Nevertheless, I am sorry we left Maryanne's mother behind. Had we known, we would have done what we could to free her from her captors."

Lucius remained silent, his gaze fixed on Garrick as the archer scanned the large map with his fingers as the bearded man searched for the location of the bandits camp. Lucius knew that Tiber's words were likely true, but they did nothing to quell the searing anger in his chest. In just a few days, Lucius had grown fond of Maryanne, though even he wasn’t fully aware of how emotionally invested he had become in reuniting the girl with her parents.

He couldn’t help but connect her plight to his own painful childhood. Unlike him, Maryanne still had hope—a chance to be reunited with loving parents. That hope stoked a desperation within him, fueled by the traumatic wounds of his past.

Finally, Garrick located the spot. He slapped his hand down on the map in triumph, quickly circling the area with his pencil and sliding the map toward Lucius. Leaning in, Lucius scanned the details with his enhanced perception, committing both the location and the route to memory.

Once he had his target, he stood from the table. But before leaving, he paused, almost forgetting that he still needed to warn the group about something crucial.

"I'm leaving. I'll meet you back here before it’s time for the move, whether I find the woman or not. Also... stay out of the forest to the south. There’s a creature there named Magar..."

Lucius explained the origins of the creature, detailing the truce between them and the benefits of allowing Magar to protect the southern forest. He specifically warned Patrick to ensure that none of the hunting parties he was about to organize ventured into that area.

"Magar probably wont attack anyone unprovoked, but I'd rather not take any chances." Lucius warned.