They left the small room only to run into Juna who couldn’t help but be right up against him at all times since he had met her.

“So, how’d it go? Are you going to join?” Juna had a hopeful look on her face.

He looked at Lar who for some reason was still in their human form and naked no less. “We’re going to be thinking about it.”

“Aw, I really hope you decide to say yes. We could really use more people to help our cause.”

As he accumulated more knowledge, he wanted to make fewer rash decisions. He needed to think it over a bit and consider his options. It sounded like they were fighting for a good cause maybe, but that wasn’t enough to say yes instantly.

“Um Juna, do you happen to have anything that we can have to cover up Lar?”

“Oh yes! In fact, if you’d like I could pick and choose the exact getup that would look great on her.”

“That would be helpful,” he said

Lar crossed her arms as Juna left for a moment. “You have a problem with me as I am in my most natural form?”

“I have a problem with you drawing more attention than necessary.”

“Oh, it’s not because you can’t seem to keep your eyes off me? Don’t even think for a second that I don’t notice. We are close companions after all. In fact, I’d go so far as to say I know you better than you know yourself.”

“If you’re going to be in your human form, it’s best to not be naked the entire time.”

Lar pursed her lips and blew air out of her mouth. “It’s burdensome. If I’m in my human form and dressed and need to suddenly change into my cat form, then those clothes end up left behind. You’d only be hassling us.”

“It’s a burden worth putting up with.”

He could tolerate her naked form as a cat but as a human, it was distracting and not at all tolerable as far as he was concerned. Thankfully Juna arrived with some clothing to remedy this problem for now at least.

“Here you go. I tried picking what I thought would look best on you.”

Lar grabbed the garments from her hand and began putting them on.

He realized quickly that perhaps Juna wasn’t the person he should’ve gone to and got clothes for his companion. They were even skimpier than the outfit she wore and the distracting part of his companion didn’t go away. Most of their skin was still showing and even Lar seemed to like how it fit and made them look.

“It fits you so perfectly!” Juna said. “And if you ever need to swap outfits or anything just let me know.”

“Thanks,” Lar replied. “I think I might actually like this.” Only because it hardly covers anything up!

Both Lar and Juna were becoming the best of mates—or perhaps they already had been—and all he could do was think of how he could get away from them. They’re going to be the death of me, aren’t they?

Soon thereafter, they left and headed outside to get a view of that same lovely graveyard and the thick smell that wafted all around. Nothing quite beat the smell of vomit and piss from over a hundred different sources.

They walked along a sidewalk beside a metal fence that wrapped itself around the graveyard until they stopped at a certain point so they could discuss matters away from others.

“You seem unsure about joining. Why is that?” Lar asked.

“I’d be joining a cause that I don’t know enough about.”

“So what? They’re offering us protection which buys you time to figure things out. It’s also not like we have to stay with them permanently. If we join and it proves to not be what we need, then we scram, just like that.” She snapped her finger and leaned up against the metal fence. “You think too much for your own good if you ask me.”

Or he didn’t think enough about things. “Do me a favor and explain to me the animosity towards humanity and familiars. It would make sense for me to understand the context that could help me make my decision.”

“That’s a story that goes on for hundreds of years. You’d have to be more specific but I’ll try to give you a general overview of it.” He began to listen intently to the words of his companion so he could gain a better perspective on this matter involving humanity and familiars and why they had grown to hate each other.

According to Lar, many years ago humanity one day appeared on this planet which was already inhabited by familiars. These two different, yet similar beings worked together and possessed peace in the beginning but eventually, the ties between the two slowly eroded away. Conflict after conflict ensued only worsening their relations until eventually a sacred pact shared between humanity and familiars was eradicated and massive wars all across the world began to ensue between the two.

Such circumstances would eventually, in Lar’s words, lead to the world’s ruination although it was not the only source for it. While it was fair to say that Lar had a biased perspective, she was willing to admit that the history they knew of those days long gone was that even familiars committed immense atrocities that far outweighed mankind’s atrocities during certain periods. It was quite clear that both sides were more than happy to use whatever would give them an edge against the other, no matter how fragrantly evil they may end up becoming.

Eventually, when the world became fractured and split into five domains, their conflicts would cease somewhat. Survival instead became the focus. But once order became partially established, the same contempt both humanity and familiars shared in the past blossomed yet again leading to more conflict that resembled conflicts of the past.

The fact that a group of people such as this coalition wanted peace to exist between the two was somewhat an anomaly. That was why she had been trying to make friendly relations with them since their arrival since they were all they had to work with.

“I hope my brief explanation has helped illuminate things a little,” Lar said.

“I still have many questions, but you know that already. It does seem clear to me that both sides have somewhat valid reasons to hate each other. Although I also think that it’s unfair to condemn an entire species for the actions of a few no matter the extent of certain atrocities done to the other.”

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“Yes, but it does feel futile to explain that to people. And it appears adamantly clear that neither side are willing to admit that they screwed up and should’ve tried to rectify things before they got out of hand in the past and even now. That’s one of the reasons why I like this group of people. They’re not acting as if both sides are saints or merely pure evil. They’re genuinely wanting to pursue some form of neutrality and recognize each other’s rightful sovereignty and maybe, I don’t know, try to not kill each other ceaselessly as they’ve been doing for centuries.”

“You seem like you’re quite passionate about it.”

“I am. You don’t know what it’s like being a familiar in this domain. It’s either choose to live in Liall knowing that you’ll be hunted down constantly or live out in the wasteland with nothing or nobody around besides ravenous monsters. Which by the way, don’t exactly make for great company even to us familiars.”

As for which side he ought to choose or even consider, he liked that there were more than two options available. It wasn’t purely a choice between humanity or familiars. He could choose an option that wanted both sides to exist in peace and not uphold one over the other. It was not an easy choice to make since it put both sides against them, but at the same time, he saw little other choice if he was to continue his companionship with a familiar and not forsake humanity by siding purely with the familiars.

This is all much more difficult than it needs to be. I just want to go back to working at that inn and be with Della. It was a simple circumstance he had found himself in. Good meals every day and a nice family he enjoyed working with. Instead of sweeping floors and attending to patrons, he was getting involved in a conflict that had been going on for centuries with no end in sight.

He let out a sigh and ran a hand through his long black hair. “I guess I’ll agree to join this coalition for now.”

Without any further delay, they met with Hoghdar again who sat there at his desk eager to hear what he had to say.

“We’re both willing to join for protection and willing to help out so long as the goals are noble and good.”

Hoghdar shook his hand and accepted them. “We’re adamant in upholding what is noble, and we’re certainly not a group of people who go out of our way to commit murder and commit other egregious crimes for the sake of our cause. You have my word on that.”

That remained to be seen but he hoped that it would be true. And if it wasn’t, then he would not hesitate to leave immediately. For now at least, he would be a member of this coalition who wanted to unite both sides and combat somewhat against the queen’s oppression within Liall, especially in regards to how she directed it towards familiars.

“Juna,” Hoghdar said loud enough so his voice would reach from beyond the small room they were in.

“Yes sir!”

“I’m leaving these two in your hands for now. Make sure they’re taken to our nearby shelter around the corner from here and given some supplies. It’s also your responsibility to let them know where they can go to receive some of our training from our specialists. Officially speaking you two aren’t going to partake in anything crucial until we have a better idea of your abilities and that we see that you’re not going to stab us in the back. Consider yourselves under probation in the meantime. With that said, you’re under our protection now and we’ll do our best to keep the queen and her people off your back. Just don’t go wandering around outside of specific areas that we’ll let you know about and you should be fine generally speaking.”

“Alright you two,” Juna said, “let me show you around.”

They followed Juna out of the room and they left out the back. They all wandered down the street while she whistled a happy tune to herself. She waved towards a few stragglers hanging around.

“Alrighty, over here’s where you can call home at least for now.”

The building she brought them to was on its last legs. It was made out of dark rotting wood that had seen better days. At least it still had a roof. It had that going for it he supposed.

“It’s not much but once you’ve been with us for a while, you’ll be given better accommodations I promise.”

“It’s much better than many of the places we slept at in the not-so-distant past,” Lar said.

Juna nodded her head knowing full well what conditions they had dealt with for quite a while far away from Liall since Lar spilled the beans to her the previous day as she kept them company. “You know I’ve spent a fair few days out on the streets myself. I’d take practically anything so long as there are somewhat intact walls and a somewhat intact roof. It’s not the best living around these parts, but it functions. My pa always used to say that I should be thankful for what I’ve got and I sure as heck am.”

She had a good mentality. Although the grimness of their surroundings was a constant eyesore, her attitude and demeanor brought a bit more light and peace to how things were in these parts of Liall.

Unfortunately, that sense of peace crumbled away the instant he opened the door to the building only for the door to fall off its hinges and fall over. A cloud of dust went flying in the air causing him to sneeze.

Without even taking a single foot inside, he was already having a good time with this temporary shelter provided to them. He strode on in only to run into numerous webs that entangled around him.

“Sorry about that,” Juna said with a nervous laugh. “This place’s been abandoned for quite some time.”

“I can see why,” Lar said while she tried her best to get the webs off of him.

Parts of the floor were rotting out due to water damage. There was a big hole that he almost stepped into which would’ve caused him to probably injure himself. A giant spider spotted them and hid away in a hole in the wall.

And as if things couldn’t get worse, he heard Juna yelp.

When he turned to see her frightened expression, he saw her pointing into another room of the abandoned structure. Inside there was a skeleton covered in webs and numerous insects crawling in and out of its eye sockets.

He didn’t even give this place any further thought. He walked out of it and felt relieved to be outside again.

Juna nervously laughed and brushed the back of her head with one hand. “Um, uh, I didn’t think it would be that bad in there. Sorry about that.”

“It’s alright. I think I might rather sleep out on the streets than deal with that place.”

“Well actually if you two wanted, you could stay at my place. It’s not all that far from here and while it’s not the biggest place, you could stay there temporarily at least until another place is available.”

“You sure about that?”

“Absolutely.”

He realized he should’ve turned her down immediately. Maybe the place full of spider webs and skeletal remains isn’t so bad after all?

“It’ll be a bit tight inside my place but that just means we’ll all get the chance to be closer to each other literally and figuratively. And you’ll even get to meet Fred.”

“Who’s Fred? You never told me about Fred.” Lar said to her seriously.

“What? I told you about him plenty of times! He’s my dog silly. Just wait until you get to meet him Lar, you’re going to love him.”

“Oh,” Lar said with a frown. “I kind of hate dogs actually.”

“But you’ll for sure love Fred. He’s the best. He likes cats too so I bet you two will get along quite swell.”

He had traded one rough location, for another kind of rough location. Whether he should’ve just tolerated the old abandoned building or tolerate Juna and her place, was up for debate. He reluctantly followed her with Lar at his side in their human form.

It seemed that all roads led to Juna. Since he had met her, everything always kept bringing him back to her. He supposed that he could just be at her place when it was time to sleep and whenever he was awake, just be sure to be out the door immediately. Whatever the case may be, he prepared himself.

As they neared what he thought was her place, he could hear a dog barking. Her residence was small. It was just a tiny building of sorts that had been given a rough paint job in numerous colorful colors. It really fit considering her personality but he then thought about how they would all fit inside that small home of hers. Especially if a dog was in there as well.

I sure hope I don’t end up regretting this. Eh, what’s the worst that can happen? So long as there are no spiders, I think I can take whatever is thrown at me.