Chapter 28: You Again?

When we walked into the guard station we all froze. The receptionist was sitting at a desk reading a paper, her unemotional face staring at it with excruciating scrutiny. Just like always, she didn't bother to look at who just walked in.

“Milanda?” I asked, my throat dry.

“That's me.”

“Why are you here?” Finn asked, his voice thick with suspicion.

“I am always here.”.

“What are you?” Hazel asked.

She looked away from the paper, “That’s none of your concern. What is, is your contract. I wanted to give you the update in-person.”

She pulled a piece of paper from the pile beside her and put it on the table. Finn grabbed it and as soon as he did, text appeared in my vision:

Quest Updated:

Go to Hedrenshire and join the Adventurers Guild.

(Optional) Help Velajn and her mother.

Reward: Adventurers Guild Membership, (optional) 5 platinum.

“Five platinum?” He asked, his voice in awe. “Wait, aren’t we Adventurers already?” He handed the paper to Hazel for her to read.

“You are Adventurers,” she answered. “But, if you want to continue taking contracts, you must first become part of the Adventurers Guild.”

“What if we don't want to?”

“I wouldn't recommend that.”

“Answer the question.”

“You are quite demanding,” she stared into him and for a moment I wondered if she wasn’t going to answer it. “If you do not choose to become affiliated with the Adventurer’s Guild, you will no longer be given contracts by us. Only by physical being, will you be classified as Adventurers but anyone who knows better will not listen to any business you have. Including me.”

“Doesn’t seem much like a choice then,” Gronan said.

“There’s always a choice,” Finn grumbled.

“Finn,” Hazel gave him a sharp eye.

He sighed, “Fine.”

“So you accept the contract?” Milanda asked.

“Yes,” I said, “We'll take the contract.”

Gronan put the contract up.

“Don’t disappoint me,” She said and went back to reading her paper.

“We’d never try to,” I said.

“I know.”

As the door closed behind us, Finn whispered, “She’s so creepy.”

“A bit,” Gronan agreed.

Hazel gave a heavy sigh. “I think I am growing accustomed to the weirdness of being an Adventurer. It is late, we should rest until the morning.”

“Sure thing,” I said, “where should we set up camp?”

“The tavern?” Gronan asked.

“Probably not, Trey could be there. I don't wanna have to explain to him about how his bride doesn't want him and runs away.”

“That's a fair point, where do we set up then?”

Finn answered, “Why don't we just set up in the forest on the path toward Hendrenshire?”

“There could be danger in the forest,” Hazel pointed out.

I’m with Finn. If something gets inside, we have a giant bird in front of the house. I feel like that'll deter unwanted guests.”

“Or it'll eat us,” Finn commented.

“I wouldn't worry about her,” Gronan said. “If Hedge said she's nothing to worry about then she's nothing to worry about.”

“What are we to do with the bird, we can not just keep it around in there,” Hazel said.

“One thing at a time,” I said. “Let's get set up and then go to the city. We can deal with the bird after that.”

“Then, let it be so.”

It was incredible how quickly the siblings were able to move through the night. Even with the bright moon shining down upon us, I could barely see the path we were walking on, yet they were constantly getting ahead of me and Gronan and had to wait for us to catch up.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Even in the dark, however, it was a relatively simple task of getting out of the small town. Once we were back in the forest, we headed slightly off the path, walking through a thick swath of bushes and tall grass before stopping.

“This should conceal us quite well from anything that may cause us harm,” Hazel said.

“Good enough for me,” I said and slipped my robe off. It did its job and the portal was set right in front of a big, sleeping bird. “There we are.”

I have to say, even I was pretty uneasy as we went through the portal. The last time we saw her, she had tried to kill us. And when I stepped through, the bird rose quickly, her wings going protectively over her kin. At that moment, I felt sure that my unease was about to be rectified.

But then its surprised anger quickly subsided as it saw me, replaced with a dull dislike. Even so, at least it wasn’t going to kill me. It lay back down and shut its eyes, taking in long, peaceful breaths.

I turned to the rest of the group still on the other side of the portal and waved them over. Begrudgingly, they obeyed.

I knocked on the front door and almost immediately Hedge answered it, wearing a big kitchen apron.

“There you all are!” He exclaimed and shook my hand. “Ah, I see. So you met Milanda…again?” He gave us a wink and waved us inside. “The girl is already at the table eating, your food is waiting for you.”

“Wait, you know Milanda?” I asked.

“Already said too much, come and eat.

What the hell is she?

My question was quickly forgotten though as I walked inside. The room smelled delectable and on the table were four plates waiting for us, just like he had said. There was a big cube of meat on each one with what looked to be mashed potatoes and to top it all off a thick, brown sauce smothered the whole meal.

We all sat down and dug in. As good as it looked, it tasted even better. “God, you are such a good cook, Hedge.”

“What is this place?” Velajn asked as she pushed her fork into the last bite on her plate.

“A different world, that’s all Hedge has told us about it,” I said with a shrug.

“What about the bird?”

“We brought it here.”

I could see the awe in her eyes, “You mean it’s from our world?”

I nearly said ‘your world’ but thought better of it. It was probably best to not drop that bomb on her just yet. “Yup, and we’re going to return it back to the world at some point. When we can release it somewhere that won’t harm people. The…” I stopped myself before remembering everyone already knew about the boxes that I could see. “Bestiary told me that gendrids live in the mountains in District One, so we’ll have to release it there.”

“It tells you that?” Hazel asked. “That is good information to know.”

Velajn began to look around the house, taking it all in for what seemed to be the first time. “I can’t believe I’m inside an Adventurer group’s house.”

“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” Hedge asked.

“Very, I’ve never been inside a place so nice! Well…” She trailed off and I saw her face visibly droop.

“It’s my greatest work,” Hedge said, not reading her new emotions. Clearly, he could only truly read someone when he touched them. “But ye just wait, I’m planning to add some renovations soon.”

“Renovations?” I asked.

“Yer’ll see, give me a few months.”

“Tease.”

“If I told ye then all the anticipation is gone!”

We each finished our meals and I had to hold my stomach to keep it from bursting. “Hedge, thanks for the food.”

“Anytime,” He said and hopped out of the chair.

He began to pick up all of the plates when Velajn asked, “What was that light that came out of your staff? And how do you heal so fast?”

I shrugged, “I was told it's from magic. Wish I didn’t get scars from it though. But it does kind of fit this body here a lot better than the one I had on Earth.”

She blinked, “What’s Earth?”

Well, shit.

“You don’t wanna know,” Finn told her then directed a question toward me. “What do you mean by the one you had on Earth?”

“You don’t wanna know.”

He stuck a finger out at me, “You don’t get to use my line. Did you steal that body?”

The idea of having my body invaded by someone. Not even someone I could see but their Soul, or spirit? “No, that can’t be it. It can’t be.”

“Then what is it?”

“I...I don’t know,” I looked at my hands. I felt my stomach drop and looked down at my freckle-less hands with no hair on the backside. I knew this wasn’t my body but it couldn’t have been someone else’s. Right?

“You don’t know? You don’t even know who you are?”

I looked back up to him. “My name’s La’Quet,” I told him.

“For the person’s body you stole, maybe!”

“I didn’t steal it!”

“Are you sure?”

“Finn!” Hazel yelled.

I felt my blood boil, just because I didn’t have the answers didn’t mean this guy got to push me around. “Look, I’ve been nice to you since you nearly died but I’ve about had it with-”

“Just admit it, you stole that man’s body!”

“Screw you!” I felt something hot radiating through me.

“No, screw you! How can we trust you? You’ve lied the whole time! First the boxes, now this?”

“Why do you have to be an asshole all the time?”

“I’m trying to protect our group!”

“Protect? By bullying me?”

“I only bully those who stole someone’s body.”

“At least I didn’t steal my whole life!”

“I stole because I had to!”

“GUYS STOP!” Hazel slammed the table, making a massive bang through the house.

Finn huffed and as he got out of his chair, I saw his eyes shift toward the wall. I looked and saw my staff. It was glowing a dull blue. “And this is why I don’t trust you,” He muttered and walked toward the stairs. I watched as he took the stairs two at a time out of view.

The room fell completely silent.

I cleared my throat, “Um, sorry.”

Hedge clapped his hands together, “Well, that was excitin’. Why don’t ye get a nice bath, La’Quet?”

La’Quet, a person I wasn’t. “Su- sure,” I said with a nod.

“I think we all should get one,” Gronan said. “Come on, Velajn, you can get one too.”

She didn’t move, staring down at the table.

“Velajn?” Hazel touched her shoulder.

She jolted to life. “Oh, sorry, yeah. Um, what?”

“Would you like a shower?” She asked.

“Oh, yeah, that would be nice. Where is it?”

“Come with us.”

Something was definitely wrong with that woman. Though, I guess I would’ve been pretty jacked up too if I had just been through what she had.

What if La’Quet had been through something like that?

As soon as I made it to the bathroom, I let out a long sigh. Blood was pumping in my ears faster than I had thought my heart had been pumping.

I wasn’t myself. My body was a lie. I was a lie.