“Good morning, Ellar! I’m glad to see you moving about but don’t overexert yourself. You only came back three days ago. After seeing the report of what happened over in the village, I’m surprised things are going so well.”

I give her a wry smile. “I-I’ll try my best. I’ll be taking this quest with a few friends.”

“Oh, Patrick’s group, right? I noticed you guys took on the same request when I was reviewing the papers last night. Did you do it while I was on my break?”

“Ahaha… I guess it was bad timing... Anyway, I’ll see you later, Cecily.”

“Alright, good luck today. Come back successful!”

I leave as quickly as I can without seeming to be too much in a rush. It’s not her fault. Something strange is going on and I feel like I need to figure out what it is before things get worse or before they leave and I never see them again.

I clutch the book in my hand tightly. “Thank you for giving me strength.” I return it to the library before meeting with Patrick and the others.

I’ve been thinking a lot about it since yesterday. Cecily doesn’t seem like she can help me, but it might be different if it’s someone else. I tried waiting for two days but I haven’t seen Iris or Elis. The other adventurers and even some of the clerks are giving me strange looks for being there so long.

I haven’t seen Barric since he appeared in front of Cecily and me but I feel this presence always lingering nearby. Like it’s watching me. The only time it goes away, strangely enough, is at night when I lock myself up and read until I fall asleep. I wonder… If I didn’t go to the village that one time, would any of this be happening to me? If I meet them, will I remember why I’m here? Will I remember how I know them? Why I feel so…

“Over here,” someone calls out.

Patrick seems to be doing much better. He no longer has such large bags under his eyes and he’s less fidgety. Lynn and Aya greet me warmly while the other two, Jonah and Clay, wave from beside Patrick. Those two have been a bit wary of me since the incident with the boar, though we never interacted that much in the first place.

If I’m looking for their help, I should at least try and get them to warm up to me. It’s okay. Talking to people is a little worrying but it’s not always so bad. Most of them are good like Cecily. Deep breaths, remember the book. Be strong.

By the time we exit the town gates, I’ve managed a short conversation with everyone. There’s an air of awkwardness and a bit of tension but it’s bearable. They’re the only ones I know well enough to ask for help.

“It should be around here. Alright everyone, start looking.”

“H-hey, before we go… C-can I ask a something?”

“Yeah, sure,” Patrick responds, glancing at Lynn. “What is it?”

“Uhm. Uh, do you remember that person we saved, Barric?”

“Of course we do. His family gave us a pretty nice dinner. One of the best I’d say we’ve had in a while. I, I wouldn’t go back for seconds though.”

Oh. Patrick’s still afraid of what we saw in the village. He thinks it’s over there now. Maybe I shouldn’t ask them.

No, I have to. I said I’d do it.

“So, when we came back, I went around town with Cecily. And I was asking her about these people who I think might be able to help me r-remember what I’m doing in this town. I-I think I used to know them.”

Lynn gives me a sympathetic smile, “You did seem rather lost when we first met you.”

“Mhm, I agree. You tend to ramble a little bit so could you get to the point?” Jonah says.

His words sting just a bit. “Oh uh… S-sorry. Um, while Cecily and I were walking around town, we ran into Barric. From the village.”

Patrick gulps, causing Lynn and the other members of his party to eye him.

“He talked to Cecily for a little bit and left a-and when I asked her about meeting the people who could help me, sh-she didn’t remember anything. Her memories of them were all gone… I asked her about them again the next day, I even asked her if I could take a look at recent requests to see if they took on anything recently. But Cecily, Cecily she just had this-this blank look to her. Like she was in a trance.”

Patrick turns around, taking in a large breath. “Okay. Okay. Okay. Ellar, I uhhh… I can guess where you’re going with this and to be frank, I don’t really like it. It’s a little too weird for me.”

“N-no! I-I’m not asking you to c-confront him… I just need your help with a few things. C-Could one of you talk to Cecily and ask about two girls named Iris and Elis? A-And um, can someone look out for Barric?”

Patrick shakes his head, “Look, Ellar. We already met Barric and he seemed mostly fine. But, if he isn’t fine anymore then I don’t want anything to do with him.”

“Patrick,” Aya frowns, “How come you were willing to go to the village and investigate the missing villagers then? You weren’t afraid to eat with them either.”

“I thought it’d be good for me to get out of the town where that, that thing was. Okay? I was forced to go too, mind you. And I didn’t know that going to find a bunch of villagers would lead to us finding a massacre! If I knew, I would have let them lock me up for who knows how long. I am sorry, Ellar, but as for me, I can’t help you. Besides, you’re, you’re just overreacting. I’m sure Barric is fine. He’s fine.”

“Patrick’s right,” says Aya. “Cecily probably decided it wasn’t a good idea to share another adventurer’s information and pretended that she forgot. As for Barric, his parents most likely sent him to town to buy something. There was nothing off about him when we first met him.”

“You’re worried over nothing,” Clay and Jonah respond.

Am I asking for too much? I need to know if Barric’s the one who’s watching me.

“Please, c-can’t anyone help?”

“I’m sorry, Ellar. It feels weird to spy on someone for some not so good reasons.” Lynn answers. “I mean, why would Barric, who didn’t even know you before we all went to the village, not want you to meet those people you were talking about. Patrick was having a hard time with everything recently and he had us to help him. I don’t know if anyone’s helping you but you can always come to us, okay? We just can’t help you spy on Barric.”

“Oh, okay…”

They’re the only ones I could turn to and they refused. It was stupid of me to think they would do it just because I asked them to. Now, what do I do? There’s something so wrong here and I don’t know what it is. What’s going on? Who’s watching me? What else can I do?

An idea strikes and I open my coin pouch.

How much do I have on me? One, two, three…

“W-what if I offered to pay you uh, seven- no t-ten silvers!” I pull all the silver coins I have out of my pouch and hold it out to them. “I’ll give you all this money if you follow him for two- just-just one hour! And… And tell me where he was during that time. Please, this is all I have.”

Patrick and Lynn pass each other glances while Jonah and Clay both fall into whispers. Patrick sighs, “Ellar, my decision won’t change. No matter how much money you offer, I won’t do it. We won’t do it. If something is wrong with Barric, I don’t want anything to do with him. I don’t want anything to do with something that might lead to that monster!”

Lynn puts a hand on his shoulder.

“My bad, I didn’t mean to get worked up.”

Aya chimes in, “I agree with Patrick. I saw his journal and the drawings in there scared me more than any monster we’ve battled against. I am sorry, Ellar. I really am. But, I feel like all of us need a break from these events surrounding that monster in the town and everything to do with the village. I want to help but I can’t. I apologize.”

Neither of them can look me in the eyes anymore. Even Lynn’s avoiding me. These are ten silvers. Ten silvers. With this amount of money, I don’t need to take on any quests for the next month or more. To make this much for an hour of work at best, is unfair but no one’s going to take it? What if I put up a request? That could work. I could have someone tail Barric… No, if someone doesn’t take it fast enough, he might see it. If someone does take it, Cecily will have records of it. Can I trust a stranger with this money?

“We’ll do it,” Jonah says as he takes the coins from my hand. “It’ll take us a little bit to find him but when we do, we’ll make sure to follow him for the whole hour. We’ll make sure, well, I will make sure to keep track of what he does. So you can count on me. Clay and I will come to see you in the guild as soon as we’re done.”

“Thank you, thank you so much.”

“Hey, wait. What are you guys doing…?…” Patrick tries to grab the money out of their hands. “I thought I said we weren’t going to be apart of this. You’re just getting her hopes up.”

“You guys aren’t going to be a part of this but me and Clay will be. We decided. It’s our free time Pat.”

“You two don’t understand what I saw. What Aya saw in that journal of his. Something is wrong here and we shouldn’t get involved!”

“We’re not scared by those stories,” says Clay as he takes half the coins from Jonah. “Besides, Barric’s totally okay, right?”

Patrick sighs, “Fine, but don’t scam her out of ten silvers.”

They click their tongues, “I felt bad taking so much anyway,” Clay says, as he and Jonah hand back two each.

“Let’s just finish this quest and go home.”

Now that Jonah and Clay are following him, I can find out if he’s the one who’s watching me. Should I stay at the guild or move around the town a little bit? I don’t know when they’ll be able to find him so I can’t time my movement with theirs but staying at the guild will give them the best chance at finding him. If I'm right, that is. I’ll slip out of sight of Cecily while they ask her about Iris and Elis and I’ll stay in the guild for around thirty minutes before moving somewhere else.

If it turns out that Barric is the person watching me, I can work from there. I might be able to find Iris and Ellis if I somehow avoid Barric. That’s assuming they’re still here… Oh no. I waited in the guild for them but they never came. What if they left after Barric did something to Cecily? No. They might be on a quest or taking a break. The festival is coming soon, there’s no way they wouldn’t stay for that. I just have a feeling they wouldn’t leave.

We kill the hiding monster and cut off its ear as proof. It was harder to see than I imagined. We wouldn’t have found it if it didn’t make a sound. We thought it was nothing at first but we knew it was here so we listened for the sound again and attacked when we heard it. The monster was taller and much thinner than I imaged, like paper. Its skin looked almost identical to the trees.

The closer we came to the town, the more the excitement within me grew. I’m finally getting closer to the truth. When I meet them, I’ll remember, I’ll know why I’m here. I feel that everything will be solved once I meet them.

“Did we come at a bad time?” Lynn comments. The guards that usually man the gate are missing. Lynn cups her hands and shouts, “Hello, is anyone there? We’re adventurers. We’ve come back from completing a request!”

Some time passes and we receive no response. People inside the town don’t seem to care for us either, they walk without even turning their heads to look. The day’s still early with the sun high in the sky making it unusually warm for the season.

“What are you all waiting for?” says a voice from behind.

It can’t be.

I don’t want to turn around because I know who’s there. Barric greets us with a lopsided smile. Tied up and on a horse is the crazed miner who stole away the elder’s daughter a few days ago. His eyes are blank as he stares into the dead and empty forest.

“What are you doing with him?” Patrick asks, stepping back.

“Him? Oh, apparently the captain of the guard wants to see him so the Elder asked me to take him. He wasn’t in any condition to walk so I had to bring him on a horse. On that note, we might sell the horse too. It’s a little bit sad since I like this one but we still haven’t found our other animals yet. Are you guys going inside?”

“Huh?”

We turn around to face an open gate. The guards look at us as if we’ve been standing here for hours. As we walk in, Clay comes close and whispers that they’ll start following Barric right away. They break off as we hit some of the busier streets.

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I can’t help but keep thinking about the meeting at the gate. Did he walk all the way to the village and back or did someone bring the miner here? Either way, it makes no sense. Why was he alone? Did he leave the town at all?

“What a coincidence huh?” Lynn says, not noticing how Patrick is focused on me. We both don’t think that was a coincidence. He keeps looking behind us as if he’ll spot Barric hiding in the crowd of people who are growing by the minute.

“Uhm… Lynn. Why don’t you guys go ahead without me. I forgot I needed to go and get something. Y-You can just have Cecily hold my portion of the reward for me. Oh! D-Don’t forget to ask her! Iris and Elis are two names you can use.”

Lynn and Aya wave. Patrick nods as I disappear from view. I feel somewhat safe in the crowd of people but Barric can sneak up on me anytime. He saw me with Patrick and his friends so I need to act naturally. If he’s been following me then I need to go to where he’d expect me to go.

I buy something to eat and head toward the library. The man behind the counter smiles, “Good afternoon. Always glad to see someone come so often. I know a large number of people still can’t read but we really should be more grateful for places such as these. Do you want another recommendation, Miss…?”

…”Ah, not this time no. I think I’ll browse a little bit this time.”

“Is that so? Did you not enjoy the last book?”

I quickly wave away his fears, “It was a great read. I wanted to spend a little more time in here, that’s all.”

“Alright, well, do go and enjoy yourself then. I will say I’m happy you’re deciding to stay here for a while. Please, read in here too.”

I nod and start hiding among the bookshelves. I forgot that this isn’t something I would do. For the past few days, I’ve been coming in here, grabbing whatever book I’d find or whatever he recommended and rush back to my room. He might suspect something more is going on now! But there’s nothing I can do.

I think about the best outcome and it calms me enough to start skimming the titles of the books which helps even more. By the end of the first row, I’ve overcome most of the worries and fears. I’ve heard this one’s title before. This one and that one too. This one’s about some of the great heroes of the war 500 years ago. I wish I were as brave as some of them.

I stop scouring the library when I have five books in hand. I finish the first four within a couple of hours, they were all fairly short. While engrossed in the fifth book, I hear a person behind me.

“Oh, you’ve picked up a tale from the east I see,” the librarian comments.

I jump but steady myself once I realize who it is. “You know of it?”

“I do. I don’t believe in fate so this story is wasted on me but I enjoyed it for what it was. I won’t spoil it but a little bit of background, this tale originated from the southern continent. The story goes like this. There was a woman who lived in a village and made a living as a seamstress. From time to time when there lacked work to do, she would work on little projects and once she finished, she’d venture to the neighboring villages and sell them.”

I scoot the chair over as he takes the seat next to me.

“One day, as she was selling to someone, a man who had been looking at some of her other wares had a ring of his catch onto one of the strings. As he left, the entire thing began unraveling. The woman noticed and tried grabbing onto the string but by the time she caught it, it was too late. The man apologized and tried to pay for the item but she refused him, telling him to simply leave. She was distraught as this had been one of the works she was most proud of and quickly left back for her village.”

“Does she get attacked?” I ask, leaning forward in my chair.

He puts a hand up to stop me. “She makes it safely to her village and lives her life like usual, forgetting all about the accident until the man comes into her village this time. A part of his shirt had been torn and he needed it fixed. Upon seeing the man, her mood soured and she turned him away. He returned minutes later, begging her to fix his shirt as it was the only thing he could wear to his grandfather’s funeral. She relented and fixed it for him. He thanked her as he handed over the fee and left. When she counted it, she realized it was much more than what she charged for repairs. She tried to call out to him but he didn’t seem to hear her. Occasionally the man would come to the village and ask her to repair clothing and other things for him even if they were hardly significant or easy enough that even a child with a needle and some string could do it. Eventually, she fell in love with him.”

My hands were covering my mouth. I didn’t read many love stories and the title of the book I chose didn’t seem to me like a love story either.

“The woman, however, feared that if she told him how she felt, he wouldn't return her feelings. And, even worse, he would stop coming to see her altogether. So, she ventured into the forest and toward the mountains to where a small shrine was. She had heard from the villagers that the shrine was said to grant wishes and so she prayed. She prayed that the two would be together, that they would be connected in feelings and life. As she prayed, she felt it necessary to tell the god who lived there the story. When she awoke the next morn, she noticed a string wrapped around her finger. It was long and went further than she could see. Try as she might, she couldn’t break it. She could pull on it as much as she wanted but it never broke so she stopped trying. A few days later, the man visited again and she noticed that there was a string that was also tied around his finger, the very same finger that had unraveled her favorite work. As she looked at his finger and followed the string, she noticed that the string connected the two of them. So, she confessed her feelings for him and he did the same for her.”

“Amazing! So the god connected the two of them.”

“Haha. Not quite. The extended version of the story is that the man had been visiting the shrine where the god lived for quite sometime before the woman did but the god didn’t know what to do. When the woman came and told the story, the god came up with the idea to show the woman the very thing that connected the two in the first place. The string that the man accidentally caught with one of his rings. There’s no fate here. Just two people who were too afraid to tell each other how they felt. The string itself is probably nothing but a metaphor. Still, the old wives love hearing all the versions of this story.”

I giggle. “A red string, huh? I can imagine some of them checking their fingers to see if they can find it.”

He shrugs, “Oh you bet they do. The red string is the most common version. It sounds nice but most of the things she ended up selling were white. The reason why she was so distraught over the piece he ruined was that it was made of colored fabric. Some stories have the string as blue,” he winks, “Well, I would love for you to stay but we have to close down early because of the upcoming festival. Most of us are volunteers. I’m glad your stay here cheered you up. You were looking down when you came in.”

“Oh,” how embarrassing. “T-Thank you for letting me stay.”

“It’s a library. Everyone is welcome.”

I hand him the books, telling him that I’ll be back to read the story another time. When I step outside and the chill air hits my face, I suddenly feel terrible. Oh no. I forgot…

I rush to the guild and look everywhere for Patrick and the others. Would any of them have waited for me here? What about Clay and Jonah? I don’t see any of them. I should have come back before dark.

“Ellar!” Patrick spins me around, “Where have you been? We waited here for hours and you never came. It got so late I sent the other two back home.”

“S-Sorry! I-I lost track of time and, and I guess I forgot…”

Patrick shakes his head but doesn’t chastise me. “We asked Cecily and she didn’t remember. But, we asked another clerk about your friends, Iris and Elis. She couldn’t tell us much about them but they’ve been on the same request for a while now and since it’s specific to this town, they won’t be going anywhere.”

I can’t hold back my smile or the relieved laughter slipping through. Tears form around my eyes and I want to run outside screaming out their names in hopes they might hear me but I can’t. Patrick grabs my arm, a furrow in his brow.

“Are you feeling okay? You looked like you were going to fall over,” he says.

“S-Sorry, these last few days have been hard. Cecily might not remember but as long as they’re here, things might just be okay.”

He gives me a half smile and shrugs. “I’m glad it’s working out for you somehow. The others are waiting for me so I guess I’ll see you later,” right before he leaves the building, he turns around. “By the way, uhm, Jonah and Clay, they reported to you already, right?” he asks, looking at me expectantly.

I feel my ears heat up and dread rising in my stomach. I don’t look at him when I answer. “I-I haven’t spoken to them since… since we split up earlier today. I-I’m sure th-they couldn’t find me so they retired for the day. Y-Yeah, that’s right. T-They’re probably with Lynn and, and with Aya right now.”

His whole face turns a ghostly white and he coughs and coughs. He tries to catch his breath in between the coughing. I take a few steps back and he falls to his knees. I lock up and have to force myself to go to him. Patrick swipes me away when I get close.

“D-Don’t touch me!”

All eyes in the guild turn to us. I can barely hear the clerk’s voice over Patrick’s ragged breathing. A chair screeches as the person in it stands, and Patrick runs out of the building. I watch him for a moment, stunned.

“W-Wait!”

I chase after him. He stops a few streets down, as he uses one arm to lean against a building and catch his breath. He looks at me, knitting his brow. The frenzied look in his eyes are gone, replaced with confusion and…

“I’m sorry,” he says, “I don’t know what came over me. Jonah and Clay are a bit troublesome sometimes. If they suddenly got that many silvers, they’d go on and waste it somewhere. I’ll, I’ll head back to them now. S-See you later.”

He walks off, disappearing around the next corner. I sigh and turn to go back to the guild. My breath trails behind as I go on. I rub my hands up and down my arms trying to stop the shivering. I take deeper breaths and it helps a bit but my fingers and ears are getting numb. I think the guild’s this way.

I hear a rustle behind me, somewhere further away but close as well. There’s another one, closer this time. I start to speed up. The sound comes again. I take a random turn and walk faster. Another sound, much closer. I break into a run. I hear someone’s footsteps. My lungs are freezing as I struggle for breath. I hide in an alleyway by some trash. Will anyone hear if I scream? What if no one hears me again?

The person, thing? Stops. Their shadow stretches into the alleyway. It shuffles around before coming in. I cover my mouth. I spot the top of its head and close my eyes. I scream, curling into a ball praying for my hand to stop shaking so I can make a barrier.

“What the hell are you?”

The voice sends a jolt through my body. Why does it sound so familiar?

I lean out from my hiding spot and peek through my fingers. Two figures stand at one end of the alleyway, one the size of a person while the other is taller, legs bending the wrong way. The thing’s head turns, its glowing eyes burn into me.

“Can you understand me?”

The thing turns around and I take this chance to run. It doesn’t seem to care, however, and as the air around it distorts, it disappears. I don’t stop or hold my breath to see if it’ll come back.

“It’s gone? Hey, you! Wait!” he calls out.

I stagger, and slow down, glancing back at him. He’s wearing a hood and some kind of cloth mask that covers the bottom half of his face. An orange light envelops the darkened buildings behind him. He curses and in the blink of an eye, he’s gone.

I avoid the guards and slink into my room at the guild. I bundle up in the corner of the room, watching the candlelight as it flickers in the darkness. I wasn’t imagining it. Something’s after me and I don't think I have much time left.