The twins poked their heads out of the wagon with huge, excited smiles which made my heart tweak. After that invasion, after they almost lost their lives, you’d think they would be taking this just a smidge more seriously. A two person chorus of “Woah,” sang out from the two. I joined them, leaving Len who sat with the open journals.

“Still missing…Hmm, maybe I can. No. Drat.” Len mumbled out as I left. Part of me thought of helping him, but they were his plans, not mine. And how focused some of them were on me, in particular, most definitely creeped me the eff out. The question of how many plans centered around me kept digging at me until my eyes joined the twins’.

My own “Woah,” escaped my lips as I looked out. It was the wall. The wall surrounding the entire Capital, giant trees and vines intermingled together and sealed up together perfectly as if nature itself completely intended its existence. I’d only seen the wall from a distance, but now that I saw them from so close, the sheer height and the size was completely staggering. It must have been a couple hundred feet high.

Each tree trunk was massive, like the California Redwoods. Gramps and I spent a summer in Northern California. I shivered at the memory of being halfway up one of them, disobeying the simple instruction of don’t look down. Pretty sure our climb was just south of legal, but that never really stopped Gramps. And what was I going to say? I was thirteen at the time. I thought it was awesome. It's funny how I made that climb dang near every day while I was out in the woods here on Kniyas. Gramps would have loved it here.

I shook my head slowly, that felt like a lifetime ago, though I guess it was in fact a literal lifetime ago. Once I was back in reality I looked at what the twins were gawking at. They grew up in the city, so I’m sure the wall was nothing new for them. No, their attention was firmly placed on the small line of wagons queued before us. Three of them, each bigger than the one we rode in on. They probably held more troops. Gerre slowed down and then stopped once we caught up to the line.

Dead ahead stood a portcullis gate made of thick metal that went up maybe a quarter of the wall. I looked around and behind. We were in a portion of the city I hadn’t ever been to. Many closely packed together buildings lined the streets behind us. Single homes and apartment-like buildings from the looks of it. Must be one of the Residential Districts Mrs. Warbler told me about. There is still so much of this city I haven’t seen. The thought bugged me for some reason.

But I wouldn’t be given a chance to explore why. Tawny grabbed my arm, pointing at the carriage two spaces ahead of us. From what I could tell, a woman sat in the driver’s seat but that was about it. She spoke with a guard. The guard stood on some wooden scaffolding built just high enough up to let the guard speak with the wagon drivers.

“What is it?” I asked her.

“That’s Commander Rache Gatrel. She is the head of the Third Legion.” She said, voice brimming with glee.

These commanders must be like heroes to the children of Laurel considering the reactions I've seen from these two.

Before I got a chance to ask any more questions about it, Len’s voice came from the wagon.

“Are you certain it's Rache?”

“Yes sir,” Hait answered for his awestruck sister, excited but not nearly as much as his sister was.

”You two twins, back in the wagon. Liam you stay.” Sobriety returned to their faces as the order was given. The twins immediately nodded and rushed back into the wagon without a word. Good to see that they take this somewhat seriously. Hopefully, I can too.

Len climbed up to the driver’s seat but didn’t sit down. He looked out at the wagon where the supposed Legion Commander sat, his eyes squinting.

“Liam, I need to have a chat with her. You are hereby granted the title of Captain of the Fifth Legion’s Squad L7. Do you accept?”

“Wait, what?”

[WATCHERS SYSTEM PROTOCOL 04: AUTHORITY PERMISSION]

[Position: Squad Captain]

[Outfit: Fifth Legion Squad L7]

[Do you accept?]

[YES] [NO]

The words popped up before my eyes, confirming the very same question Len just asked me.

“What is this Len? Aren’t you the one leading our squad? What is all this?”

Len stared ahead. “No, all three of you would die within minutes if I led the squad, it has to be you.” He leaned down and lowered his voice. “Sure they have more world knowledge and were actually born here, but I don’t know them. They seem like good kids, but I don’t trust them yet. And they are missing one crucial part, they lack experience. You have actually fought monsters, not just facsimiles.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I opened my mouth to protest.

“It matters, far more than you realize. I’d venture you probably have more experience fighting monsters than any your age or level, you lived out there for months. Survived. Add in the fact that you have experienced a raid for yourself. That experience is baked into your very bones. It's something that can’t be taught. You are by far the correct choice for this.”

I shook my head in disbelief, dread gnawing at my brain. “No, no I can’t. I was hopped up on Flower Power for almost the entirety of that last raid. I didn’t fight with any others. There is no way I’d be able to lead them. I will just end up getting us all killed. Surely we have time to find Fennel, our squad is probably on the other side of the gate somewhere.”

Len finally turned and looked at me. I turned away, not able to meet his gaze. He grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him.

“Trust me when I say this. They will get killed without you. Lirae has made sure of that.” Len’s voice was hard as steel, not a hint of cheer or whimsy that he typically had.

“How? Why? These are her citizens, I can see getting me,” I unconsciously swallowed, “killed. But these are city born kids. She wouldn’t do anything to willfully harm them.”

Len shook his head. “No, she wouldn’t, but they were at the worst place at the worst time. They’d have been fine if they stayed with Fennel, but they were with us. Now they are stuck with us.”

“Why does that matter? Can’t we just join another squad, that has to be alright.” I said as Len let my face go.

“No, all three of you were labeled deserters the second Fennel’s wagon passed by through that gate. And that comes with a very, I can’t stress this enough, very heavy penalty.”

That factoid stunned me. How ridiculous. We were on our way. Daila said that squads had about two to three hours to form up from the first ring of the alarm bell. Thirty minutes hadn’t even passed by the time we got to the Squad Hall.

“That’s wrong.” I barely got out.

“Yep, she saw the opportunity and jumped. But that’s alright. Say yes to that prompt and that outcome doesn’t happen.”

“What’s the outcome?”

“A trip back to my hometown, Tiamantis. Where you will be conscripted into the Penal Legion, and used as fodder in the Raids up there. Or worse. Bait for the scouts.” Len’s left eye twitched after speaking the word. A spark of anger crossed his face for a split second before he continued speaking. “And trust me when I say none of you would make it a week up there.” Len tilted his head toward the twins for a second. “They’d be lucky to make it a day.”

A cynical scoff broke out of my mouth. “They’ll be lucky to survive today.”

SMACK!

Pain flooded the side of my face. A sting on my left cheek.

“Get your head out of your ass this second. If you don’t, then their lives really will be forfeit. And not only that, the blood will be on your hands. Do you want that? Even more blood?”

The slap forced my head towards the wagon interior, where I saw the twins. Looks of pure seriousness sat on their faces, the gravity of the situation finally settling in. They looked so much smaller at that moment. Less like the teenagers they actually were, and more like kids who shouldn’t be thrown to the wolves like this.

Then a small vision of their bloodied bodies flew through my mind. “Len, I…I.”

“You saved them before. You can do it again. And don’t worry too much. I will be around. But I will only be able to do so much. You have to be strong. Stronger than you have ever been.” Len said.

I closed my eyes. A flurry of emotions swept through my system. Anger, rage, confusion, sorrow. But each of them was nowhere near as large as the feeling that swirled around my very soul, dragging me deeper and deeper into despair.

Doubt.

Doubt that I could do this. Doubt that I could keep them alive. Doubt about whether I should even fight. Maybe desertion was the answer. Going back into the woods. I was already labeled that, who’d care if I made it true?

Their bloodied bodies ran across my mind again. No.

I opened my eyes back up and selected [YES].

[Congratulations and Thank You! Welcome to the WATCHERS SYSTEM!]

[You shall receive messages from your supervisor for further instructions. Check your Character Sheet for more information.]

Len’s eyes stared out into space, moving slightly. Most likely getting a notification for himself. He chuckled.

“Been twenty years since I’ve read that message.” He said in a low voice, a heavy look in his eyes like a bygone memory just passed by. He raised his head. “With that taken care of, it's time for me to go.” Some of his trademark cheer returned to his voice.

“Go, what do you mean go?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be gone for long. Just need to have a chat with Rache for a minute. Show the guard your sheet when he asks. Gerre will handle everything else. Right, my old friend.”

“What would you do without me? Though you might want to make it quick, her wagon’s moving.” Gerre interjected from his spot.

I looked up and sure enough, Gerre was right, the frontmost wagon started moving through the gate.

“Not a whole hell of a lot. See you soon.” Fire bundled around Len’s feet, then he boosted into the air.

I watched as he rocketed across the two wagons in front of us, the drivers nearly falling out of their seats as Len’s flames soared above them. He landed right next to the woman who didn’t even budge an inch, except for what I believed to be a large tail that cuffed the back of Len’s head, almost launching him from her wagon.

I laughed. Thanks, mystery lady. I kind of needed that.