"One of who?" Jade asked.

She took a closer look at the man. He was human, in his middle years with a dark complexion. Judging by his appearance, she assumed he was from Earth. Ethnically, Jade guessed he was Indian. He had short black hair and was wearing a rather ragged looking dress shirt that had probably once been white but was now so stained with dirt and sweat that not much of the original color was left.

Before he could reply, she pulled up his status screen.

* Harish Rao

* Level: 3 (Mark of the Wayfarer)

* Race: Human

* Class: Frontier Scout

* Origin: Earth

"Yesterday," he began, still regarding them with caution. "We were attacked by two people. A man and a woman who threatened to kill us if we didn't give them everything useful we had."

His expression darkened.

"If you are with them, then you are wasting your time. We don't have anything worth taking."

"We are definitely not." Naomi said, crossing her arms. "Who would do something like that?"

"Really, Naomi?" Jade asked. "You're surprised that some people are selfish in a crisis?"

Her friend didn't seem to have a response to that.

"How many are with you?" She asked the man, glancing at the hut's open door. A dim light flickered inside. "What's your name?"

She had already gleaned his name from the status window, but it felt strange to just start calling someone by name without being introduced.

"Harish." He replied. "There are two others here. One is wounded, and we don't have the means to help her."

"I'm Naomi. This is Jade, Luis, and that's Siora." Naomi introduced them. "I might be able to help your friend, can we see her?"

"I can help too." Siora added. "I have some healing ointments."

Harish's gaze lingered on Siora, eyes wide with surprise.

"Yes, she's not human." Jade said. She avoided mentioning that she wasn't anymore, either. The man looked like he might already be cracking under the stress of their situation. Fortunately, her shape change power changed her label to 'human' while disguised in this way. "We can talk about that later. Can we come in?"

"Y-yes… Yes." Harish said, beckoning them closer. "Please, help Marie."

They followed him into the small structure. The hut was comprised of one circular room and was sparsely furnished, lit by a crackling hearth. It had a cobblestone floor, a small table, and two rickety cots pushed against the back wall. One of them was occupied by a slender young woman. She was topless save for her undergarments, and her torso was wrapped with multiple layers of improvised bandages that looked to have been made by cutting apart clothing. The dressings were soaked through with blood in some places, and her face was pale.

The room's other occupant, a fit young man, knelt at her side. He looked up as they came in.

"Who are they?"

"I don't know." Harish said. "But they say they can help, and we need it."

"Do they know what the hell is going on?"

"Probably not any more than you do, if you've been to a sanctuary." Jade said, stepping aside so Naomi and Siora could get to the bed.

"Oh, we've been." The man said darkly. "For all the good it did us."

He did a double take as he caught sight of Siora, openly staring at her slender features and pointed ears. Under other circumstances, Jade would've found it comical. Right now, though, she was merely annoyed by the distraction.

"Yes, she's not human." She repeated. "Her name is Siora, she lives on the second floor. Now get out of the way so they can take a look at your friend."

He reluctantly moved aside, letting go of the woman's hand. She stirred, giving a soft whimper followed by a cough. Her eyes didn't open.

"What happened to her?" Naomi asked, crouching beside the bed.

"A beast attacked us." Harish explained. "When we had to leave the sanctuary, we were trying to find somewhere safe to get our bearings. Before we found this place, we were attacked."

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"By the monster that was outside?" Jade asked.

"No, that showed up later. First, we were set upon by a couple large lizards. Erik and I killed them, but not before one of them sliced up her side." He said, nodding towards the woman he had called Marie.

"Can you help her?" Erik asked anxiously. "We gave her a potion after the fight, but before she could take another one those assholes showed up and robbed us of everything we had."

He balled his fists in anger.

"We should've fought back." He growled.

"We were tired and injured." Harish said calmly. "If we had, they probably would have killed us."

While they spoke, Siora gently removed the makeshift bandages. The elf's fingers moved with delicate grace, exposing a nasty series of oozing cuts on the woman's side. She frowned, inspecting the wounds.

"Wait." The elf said, putting a hand on Naomi's shoulder as the other woman began to chant her healing spell. "Not yet. It's starting to blight, see?"

She indicated the angry red border that surrounded the wounds.

"Let me clean it first. Magical healing can be dangerous on older wounds if they've begun to fester. It can trap the decay in the body. I carry some herbs that can help, I'll apply those first."

The rest of them watched as Siora retrieved a collection of vials from her satchel and got to work mixing them. The elf ignored the attention, focusing on her task.

"How about you tell us what happened, amigo." Luis said to Harish, once it became clear that Siora's work would take some time. "From the start?"

Jade listened as Erik and Harish took turns relating their story. They had all been pulled into the Labyrinth several days ago, around the same time as Jade herself. Harish had been taken from his home, while Marie and Erik had been transported together straight from the middle of a train car as they were crossing the German countryside.

They had met each other outside the nearest sanctuary, just as Naomi and Luis had, in this very quadrant. After the Labyrinth attendant explained the nature of the wayfarer trial and what was happening to Earth, the three had elected to wait in the relative safety of the sanctuary in the hope that someone would come and help them. Unfortunately, it turned out that the Labyrinth had little patience for wayfarers that were hiding in safe rooms. After a few days spent in the safe zone, the system had informed them that their sanctuary access would be revoked if they did not begin completing quests.

With no other choice, the three of them had emerged back into the Labyrinth proper. That is when they had been set upon by marauding monsters, and Marie was wounded. When they encountered another pair of human wayfarers in the jungle nearby, they thought they had finally found someone who could help. Unfortunately, as Erik described in a seething voice, the two had threatened to kill them if they didn't hand over all of their class equipment and loot. With a wounded companion and aggressors that were unwilling to negotiate, they'd had no choice but to comply.

"After that, we found our way here." Erik said. "We still have food and water from the sanctuary, but not much else."

"To make things worse." Harish added grimly. "Marie told us yesterday that she's been receiving system messages that monsters will be continually drawn to her until she begins making quest progress."

"Harish and I have defeated some monsters, which we all have a quest for." Erik explained. "But she hasn't done any fighting. I don't know if she has it in her."

Jade glanced at Naomi, who had reacted in a similar way when she'd first arrived.

"She'll have to learn." Jade said, crossing her arms. "None of us wanted this, but we have to adapt."

"I hope she can." Harish said. "Not everyone is cut out for the stress of battle. I was in the Indian army reserves in my younger years. Some of my friends couldn't even handle the training, let alone real fighting."

"Who are these people that threatened you?" Luis asked, his expression grim.

"I don't know who they were. It was a man and a woman, both wearing armor and well equipped with weapons and supplies. I got the impression that we were only the latest of their victims."

"Where did they go?" Jade asked, feeling a familiar fury beginning to grow once more inside her. If there was one kind of person she couldn't stand, it was bullies who abused the power they held over others.

"Across the bridge. That was yesterday." Erik said, pointing in the direction of the river.

Jade and Luis exchanged glances. The large man gave her a curt nod. She could taste his anger through her demonic senses again, and the feeling only served to heighten her own.

"I think we need to pay these people a visit."

She was interrupted by a sudden gasp. The semi-concious woman shuddered as Siora poured a bubbling liquid over her wounds. She cried out in pain and Erik stepped closer, reaching out to stop Siora before Luis grabbed him and held him back.

"She knows what she's doing."

Jade hoped that was true. Truthfully, she had no idea what medical knowledge Siora possessed, or if it was even applicable to humans. But the potions she had created worked well, which was at least something to go on.

"Now heal her, Naomi." Siora said quietly, holding the woman's hand as she continued to whimper. "I could use a potion, but we don't have many left."

Naomi began to sing softly, the soothing notes of her song filling the room with a sense of peace. Jade didn't understand the words, for some reason the Labyrinth didn't translate the foreign tongue the bard had decided to cast her spells in. Even still, the harmonious melody carried with it a tranquil feeling. Both Naomi and Marie glowed softly, and, before their eyes, the woman's wounds began to knit themselves back together.

"By Vishnu…" Harish breathed, stunned by the miraculous healing. "I still can't believe this is real…"

Luis released Erik when the spell was complete, and the man sank down next to Marie, resting a hand on her shoulder. She stirred, speaking in a voice too soft for Jade to hear. He said something back, squeezing her shoulder.

"Are you really going to follow the people who robbed us?" Harish asked, visibly pulling himself together.

"Yes."

"What are you going to do when you find them?"

Jade glanced at her companions. None of them spoke up, each looking back at her for an answer. She drew her lips to a line, steeling herself. As much as she didn't like it, there was only one reasonable way to stop such people in the lawless world they now walked in.

"If they really are doing what you say." She began coldly, curling her fingers into fists. "Then I'm going to kill them before they can do it to anyone else."