At night, in the middle of the forest, a dim orange glow lit up among the trees making this small exposed area distinguishable from all the other plant growth under the moon. It was Ted's group, everyone was still sleeping except Ted and Prio, the latter taking the former by surprise and had been the one to light up the area using her pinecone given by Gavin. Ted was the lookout for the group, but had fallen asleep, doing a poor job. Prio woke him up as she climbed down the trees and landed nearby with a thump. Their eyes met as Prio lit her pinecone.

"Shhh.. Hey.. I know who you are." Prio's whispers fell to deaf ears, as Ted was terrified and too focused on saving himself from the threats he saw in his paranoia.

"Prio! Thank god! Throw it in the pit! Quick!" Ted shouted desperately wanting her to warn the group, not realizing Prio was the source of all the noise he had heard.

Prio shut him down with a steady response shushing him once more. "Shh... Stop panicking... there is no danger." salty water formed at the edges of Prio's eyesockets "*Sniff* you really are nothing...*Sob* nothing like Bamm". Despite her best efforts, Prio couldn't hold back her tears "You may have fooled the others, but you can't fool me".

She was the source of the noise that woke Ted up and in his panicked state, he had been slow to put it together.

Ted eventually put it together and his shoulders dropped, as he exited his panicked state. "Wh-what are you talking about?" he asked Prio with a stutter.

Prio did her best to sound threatening: "You will answer all my questions or I will raise the alarm and have you killed", he could tell she wasn't fooling around, as she was acting unusually independent.

He inched towards her and attempted to calm her down. "I am Bamm... just look at me." He couldn't afford to have her break down and cause a commotion. While he doubted she could convince them he wasn't Bamm, he knew they held a strong hatred towards him and wouldn't hold back, if given another reason to take his life. She furiously shook her head side to side.

"Don't lie to me!" She shouted and raised the burning pinecone in her hands ready to throw into the pit and raise the alarm. It was a shortlived burst of rage and shortly after she retracted back into herself. "Sit down... tell me your class in the status panel" Ted felt she was becoming uncertain. About to comply, Ted caught himself on the way down and kept himself standing as he responded in a confident tone "I won't have to check! I am Bamm the Warrior." He could vaguely remember Shirley calling him a Warrior of the tribe. It was a long shot, but he ran with it.

Prio stood silent and Ted broke a slight smile, but before he could speak, Prio broke into tears, stepped back and raised her arm ready to throw as she exclaimed: "He was my brother!" Ted was taken aback, she had fooled him. "What did you do to him?" She never needed to know his class, Ted had been exposed. "W-wait! I'll answer your questions! Please... lower the pinecone." Desperate, he thought about what he could say to calm her. "I will do what you ask, I won't try to fool you anymore. Please, bring down the cone".

Prio obliged, lowering the pinecone as she asked her first question: "I heard about the metallic core Bamm exposed from inside the golem. It was you inside of it. Right?"

The metallic core was news to Ted. He thought back to his fight with Bamm where his healthbar only drained after Bamm broke through the rocks at his chest.

"Yes." Ted answered, he concluded the metallic core got damaged and that was why he lost health points. "Bamm could still be alive. I can help you resc-" Ted got interrupted by Prio "How? How did you do it!" she took full control of the conversation, leaving no room for him. Ted became nervous, as he now understood he had to leave it at short answers and had been treading the line.

Ted stuttered as he recalled: "I-I used a Skill, i-it was called [Soul Swap]" and he elaborated "I got lucky and pinned him down. I then used [Soul Swap]. Days later, I woke up in Bamm's body to cheers from the soaring monkeys. He should sti-" he stopped, as he realized Prio had stopped paying attention to his explanation. He stood mute, awaitng the next question.

"So Peacebringers can have abilities similar to Cerberus..." Prio muttered to herself and asked a third question "Were there more of you in Petramus tower?"

"More of me? What do you mea-" Ted couldn't understand her question and Prio quickly clarified "More metallic cores!"

"No... I don't re-recall. The tower was filled with shelves, mostly occupied by books. There were no other golems, but there may have been metallic cores laying around. I-I don't know. I didn't know I was inside one! I've never even seen my own."

Prio stood still intensely listening and was deep in her own thoughts. Then she sat down and put the burning pinecone next to her, it was getting dimmer. She pointed infront of her and then proceeded to move her fingers rapidly, as if she was writing on an invisible keyboard. Ted looked on, bewildered by her actions, he had many questions of his own occupying his mind.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"I-if you don't mind me asking... are... are you a Peacebringer?" Ted pushed out his question despite all his worries for the consequences.

"Yes, of course! Don't you reme-" Prio looked up as she answered, but stopped midsentence and rubbed her chin. Ted stood with a guilty frown and sweat trickling down from his forehead in uncomfortable silence, while he waited for Prio to finish her thoughts. "Ah!" Prio exclaimed and flung out words as she rapidly brought out her thoughts beginning with: "Of course~ I have not only switched my name, but my body is completely different! You can't tell who I am." she then tried to remind Ted about their past.

"I was Rita, we may not have talked, it was a large group after all. After the examination, the three men wearing Rottweiler masks extracted your soul and put it into a metallic core. Bamm and I were among the lucky few who came last. There weren't enough metallic cores to capture everyone, so they instead resorted to trapping us inside wild animals' bodies. We woke up, having been released into the wild. I speculate they wanted to keep the Peacebringer bodies. Our souls may only be useful to them when they can be kept under control inside a core." Prio had lost focus and continued talking while also supposedly writing it down using her invisible keyboard.

As time passed the light from the pinecone dimmed and was about to go out. Ted had been standing in the same position the entire time, fearful of Prio, who was still noting down her thoughts. Ted had been having his own thoughts:

The flame is almost out. I am much bigger than her and all she got is that stick they gave her. I should be close enough to jump her, but then what. I can't have er scream for help, but I have nothing to subdue her, even if I successfully wrestle her. Should i choke her? Can I... I may have to.

He slid a step towards her, testing the waters. Prio didn't seem to react, too occupied with her writing. About to take another step, she turned away from him and reached for something. Ted saw his chance to jump her as she looked away, but froze up. Fear of the unknown held him back: What does she have, maybe she is way more dangerous than she looks. This world is crazy, after all!

Prio brought up another dry pinecone from her belt and lit it, brightening the surroundings once more and replacing the old one.

"Wha-" Ted stood in disbelief. He had seen Gavin give each of them one pinecone, yet Prio was igniting another. "How do you have two?"

Prio looked at him shortly in confusion and broke into laugther: "Hahaha- These cones are not the once Gavin gave us." She made a broad wave around her with an open hand "Look, they are everywhere. Did you forget where we were?" Ted covered his face in embarrasment, he had been walking on top of pinecones the whole time, but had never thought much of it. Then why did Gavin give us these... Ted thought too himself, but was too embarrased to ask.

She stood up, finished with her writing and turned her attention towards Ted "Come over here" she waved him closer to her, as she grabbed her stick from her belt with the other hand.

Ted complied, he didn't feel threatened by her anymore, but fear still lingered with a mix of embarrassment. She grabbed his wrist with her free hand and looked intensely at his swollen and bruised palms. The stick, she was holding, had many healthy, green leaves growing from it, but as she lowered it onto his hands and brushed them, one leaf morphed into autumn colours, as it dried up and eventually fell to the ground. Dead.

"Interesting. Small wounds like this takes exactly one leaf..." Prio noted and sat down to type it in on her invisible keyboard. "This may be the most accurate assertion for the [Stick of Mending]'s power yet!" she seemed thrilled.

"Thanks..." Ted's hands had fully healed, but his appreciation was met with contempt: "I am not doing this for you!" Prio shouted while raising her head "I am preserving Bamm's body." a tear fell down her cheek as she explained "and it's for research".

Despite her angry retorts, Ted felt relieved and saw her in a much friendlier light. She was the first person he had met, who had every reason to hate him. Yet she had treated him kindly and held a gentle attitude throughout. Ted decided to keep her company throughout the night as she wrote, but eventually collapsed and fell asleep on the ground where he had been standing all along.

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Early morning, Ted woke up to Gib and Gab sitting at the now lit fireplace in the middle of a discussion.

"I tell you! This whole mission is a waste of our time!" Gib exploded, his face was as red as a baboons butt "Instead of relying on Bamm, we should be reaching out to the humans!"

"This again?" Gab asked as he sat at the fire calmly "You really still believe Shirley can talk to humans?"

Gab's question visibly upset Gib further "Why Gab! Why won't even you believe me! I saw her! She can speak their tongue! They stood tall like humans, I know what I saw!"

"Even if she could speak to them, wouldn't it be too desperate? We have never been on good terms with the humans." Gab remained calm and smiled "I can't even imagine Shirley standing and talking with a human" he chuckled.

"Desperate!? Relying on Bamm recovering is fucking desperate!" Gib ran over to the fire and stomped it out as he continued to shout "You heard it as well, back in town!.. They say Petramus is planning to bring a whole platoon of those golems." he sat down infront of Gib "And just one brought Bamm down!" he put in some force as to punctuate his point.

Gib remained silent, he had no retort and nodded in agreement. Eventually saying "I am with you on that, but we must trust Shirley's judgement."

Prio emerged together with Gavin walking on the forest floor, they were carrying dead leaves. Gavin instructed: "Gib! Wake up Bamm. We are going as soon as we have covered our tracks." Prio spread out her leaves around the fireplace. "I-I am up!" Ted exclaimed, with a jump to his feet. He wanted to avoid a kick in the face or what other method he could imagine Gib would use to wake him. Gib and Gab laughed at Ted's reaction bringing their discussion to a hold.

Ted felt unusually high-spirited and ready to face the challenging journey, as he stood on his knuckles and embraced walking like a gorilla.

If a frail girl like Prio can survive, so can I.